How many are prepared for natural disaster?

[betharoo0]

What do you have on hand? Iam trying to put some stuff together, I went to the fema site to have a look... and Iam totally unprepared!

[lottaLove]

I am absolutely unprepared. We have flashlights and extra batteries, a small propane cookstove that we use for camping (with lighters and matches), and lots of extra blankets.

A natural disaster around here would most likely come in the form of an ice storm/snow storm. I think that in preparation for something like this, we could definitely beef up our water stores with maybe a spare Culligan bottle or an extra case of water that we always have on hand.

I am interested in hearing what types of things other people keep on hand just in case!

[yankeegal]

I have canned goods, dry milk, jugs of water, flashlights, batteries, candles, matches, extra gas for the generator, phone cards, first aid kit, feminine products...I'll have to check the rest of my stash...that's what I could remember off the top of my head.

[Persimmon Lace]

We are prepared for the most part. We have an ample pantry, camping supplies for roughing it, extra ways to heat the house, feed the animals and take of ourselves pretty well for awhile.

[oct2667us]

You would think with me going thrue Katrian I would be ready. but I am not even a lil ready. I have some can food. i do have my kids info in my purse. I never took it out after Ktrina. As far as any thing elase nope not ready .that is so sad

[Neeley]

We keep a rubbermaid box with most of the basics in it:
candles
lighters
matches
flashlights
batteries
radio
manual can opener
decks of cards
puzzles
pens
paper
batter operated push lights
first aid kit
Things like canned foods/non-perishables are kept in the laundry room and stay stocked up year 'round. Not a lot of need for other stuff for us. The only two types of things that happen here are hurricanes(but we are 175 miles inland so they are pretty weak by the time we get them) and tornadoes. If something were to happen to my house and I needed to stay somewhere else, all of my family lives within 15 miles of me so I could go to any of their houses. We mainly stay prepared for the power outages that last a couple of hours BUT, if one lasts more than 5 or 6 hours or if it gets too hot, we head to a hotel.

[Telephus44]

Up here we'd most likely get a blizzard, possibly a hurricane but we're pretty far inland. We don't have an official kit or anything (although we should have one!) but we have plenty of food in the pantry, including canned goods, a manual can opener, candles, flashlights, blankets, and a ham radio.

[Valerie in WA]

We all have emergency backpacks (change of clothes, hygiene items, 3 weeks supply of medications, first aid kit, 1 day of water, 3 days of limited rations, wind-up flashlight/radio/compass/siren - walmart $20).

My pantry is up to about 3 months supply. I can cook without power (on propane) for quite some time, but I'm not sure how long to calculate those propane tanks lasting.

I have about 2 week of water stored.

We have an indoor-approved propane heater (no fireplace or woodstove).

I have a box with emergency cooking items (such as cheapo-metal pans to use for baking in the propane BBQ), and emergency lighting (oil lamps, parrafin, wicks, etc).

We always keep a half-tank of gas in both vehicles and we also have another half-tank each stored in gas cans (that are rotated).

[nwmissourigal]

Most of our disasters are ice, snow, and toranadoes. But I have lived here all my life so we are prepared for the most part. We keep, candles, extra batteries, water, extra animal food, my pantry is always full, we burn wood so we stay warm, lots of quilts, cat litter for melting the ice, flashlights, bbq grill for cooking and we use the fireplace for cooking if we have to, extra medicines, like asprin, ibuprofen, benedryl..first aid kit, but most important our family has a plan of where to meet if it was really a horrible situation. We did that when the bird flu came into the picture. Also almost a year ago, in November no less, we had a tornado hit us. It was horrible. It was such a fluke that it happened in November. A real odditiy. But we were prepared and got along ok and most important we weren't hurt, but it took a while to get electricity back and to round up all the horses....but life is good now....Blessings...Kathy

[sunshine]

Ok-- I think we're more prepared than most. . . still need to work on a few areas.

We have bug out bags for each person, that we change with the seasons. Winter ones now contain:

heat packs for hands,feet and body
candles
waterproof matches
3 day supply of water
emergency blanket and fleece blanket
extra socks/mittens/hats
candy
jerky
nuts
zuni traveling food
hand crank for cell phones
emergency info
tarp (for use as shelter if needed)
fishing line and hook
hunting knife
first aid kit
change of clothes


at home:

propane filled (in house, and motorhome, and portable tanks)

we have 2 wells and a cistern for backup water supply, also hooked to city water

lots of canned foods, including meats - in case power goes out and we lose the freezer foods

3 months supply of prescription meds

hand cranks for cell phones

hand powered flash lights and the newer shake lights

candles, oil lamps and oil

hand/solar powered radios

lots of blankets

extra warm clothing

wood stove - and wood (only to be used in dire emergency, as we don't have insurance for wood stove-- so it's hooked up in the summer kitchen)

board games, jigsaw puzzles, books, craft items to occupy time

air mattresses, hammocks to use in one room so we can conserve heat by only heating one room.

guns and ammo -- for hunting game

fishing supplies

emegency kits for friends and neighbors (bottles of soup mix, candles, etc.)

solar cooker (works even in the winter -- just slower)

BBQ grill and charcoal

[frugalfoster]

I thought we were "somewhat" prepared until there was a power outage this week. I need to go out and get a battery powered radio for info. There's always enough food and candles and I cook with natural gas so that would be okay, but I did feel out of the loop without knowing what was going on........

[MarshHen]

We are good to go here. I still have my hurricane box intact with enough supplies to last the three of us at least 2 weeks, plus I have extra food, water, animal feeds, blankets and meds. stored as well. We have extra gas for the generator, oil for lamps, matches and candles. We have a gas range and a full 150 gallon tank so cooking is not a problem. We have a large wood burning fireplace and plenty of dry split wood, so staying warm is not a problem either. Plenty of extra batteries for flashlights, radio and scanner. We have extra bedding for the goats, lab and cat, but if it gets to severe, we will bring the lab and cat inside.

[sunshine]

I thought we were "somewhat" prepared until there was a power outage this week.

Exactly! We "think" we're prepared too, but inevitably find out we've forgotten something important.

We do seasonal emergency drills-- at least one day & night with no power. That way we have a better idea of what we need to improve, what supplies we wish we had, etc.

[dmvezina]

I guess I could say that I would be prepared.
We have all our camping stuff, so that could be used complete with camper, propane, grills, etc.
I also have bottled water, plenty of foods, candles, flashlights, etc.

[Sari]

We have a pretty good first aid kit, the "shaker" type flashlights, and some canned food. We have a water cooler, so usually have 2-3 filled 5-gallon jugs of water sitting around. I am not nearly as organized as I should be, and still need a lot of items. Luckily, hurricane season is over (or about over - I never remember if it ends Nov 1 or 30) so that's 1 big worry behind us.