Are you secure in your belief that our government (or anyone else for that matter) could and should take care of your every need following a major disaster or calamity? Regardless of what you view as the responsibility of government, their power over nature is limited, and the response time may be lacking. Having a well-thought plan of action ahead of time could possibly help you avoid serious stress, injury, or inconvenience, and at best could save your very life, and be instrumental in sparing the lives of others as well. There is no better person to trust with your well being and sustenance than you.
Some very basic items to take into consideration in your preparation for unexpected emergencies may seem obvious, but these are things we need and use every day, and thus we are sometimes lulled into complacency concerning them. Without pinpointing specific types of disasters, let’s list and discuss here some of the must-haves in preparing ahead of time for an unfortunate event. Consider the following as life insurance. Only this life insurance pays not to someone else, and not when you die, but rather insures that you will live.
1. Water: a ready source of water, preferably stored close at hand, with the ability to supply collectively the inhabitants of your household for a period of two weeks. Provided you have enough storage space, a 50-gallon drum is a good choice, and is very much a set-and-forget item. If need be, after having stored it for a period of time, and it becomes necessary to draw upon it for use, a very small amount of bleach (one teaspoon per every 5 gallons) can be added as a precaution. Just as important, don’t forget that if you face an extended emergency, a portable water filter is especially useful. Most of the quality camping/emergency types of filters on the market today filter out 99.9% of all protozoa. Just think of yourself as having the whole lake as your water supply- you just have to get there to use it.
2. Another item that should not be overlooked, but might easily be, is prescription medication. If you have medication that you cannot do without, or it would be life-altering if you could not administer it to yourself for an extended period of time, take it upon yourself to get access to a supply that extends over a lengthier period of time. In most cases this can be done legitimately through mail order, and this method can even save you money. Check with your health insurance provider to see if you qualify for this option.
3. A supply of food that lasts for a minimum of 3 months is essential. This should include nonperishables and things that you really will eat so you can rotate it, never letting it get too old and go to waste.
You should always have a short-term emergency plan and a longer one. Both are necessary, because you don not want to be unprepared if a short-term catastrophe turns into a long one.
Just-in-time (JIT) inventory was made famous by Toyota. Think of your short-term emergency food supply and survival kits as your JIT inventory. Just as the shelves in Wal-Mart would be made bare in a matter of just a few days (or less) with a supply shock, so (relatively) will your short-term emergency food/water supply. If you have the whole lake (or at least half of it) for water by owning a water filter, and a whole potential acre of produce for your long-term food supply (read seeds), you will have the best of both worlds. That’s the long and the short of it. You won’t be caught not in time (NIT). Oh what a feeling!
Related posts:
A Simple Sample of an Emergency Food Storage Solution
Adding to Your Emergency Food Storage- Building Without Burdening (That’s a Promise!)
The Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Survival Readiness Pyramid
Disaster Survival- Food for Thought and Belly
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