You never know what the future will hold, so it is important to be prepared for any situation—you never know when you could be suddenly facing a disaster like a hurricane, earthquake, fire, pandemic, recession, and/or other, unforeseen situation. Stay prepared for all the possibilities by following these few pieces of advice.
Keep Tools On Hand
Keep tools for repairing your home on hand. In the case of a natural disaster or pandemic, you may not have the option of calling professionals to fix problems with your home. It is possible you could become isolated and cut off from others in an emergency, or perhaps not have the resources to call on the help of others.
If your house is damaged in a storm or disaster, you will be happy to have the tools on hand to begin repairing your home yourself, and being able to make repairs right away when needed can prevent small problems from evolving into greater issues. An emergency toolkit could be just the thing you need in an emergency.
Keep Your Pantry Stocked
Keep your pantry stocked with food staples and non-perishable items. Recommendations vary when it comes to the amount of food you should keep stored, from two weeks to one month to three months to as much as a year’s worth of food for you and your family. There is no one-size-fits-all recommendation for how much food can feed you for your desired amount of time; you will need to factor in your own caloric needs when it comes to planning how to keep your pantry stocked.
Common food storage items include rice, peanut butter, pasta, flour and other baking necessities, canned chicken, canned fruit, crackers, pickled vegetables, and more. Make sure you include supplies that cover all the necessary food groups to ensure you get your nutrients. As you amass food storage, make sure you rotate through it in order to use up foods that will expire and replenish your stores.
Power Generators
It is important to prepare for power outages by keeping a power generator in case of emergency. A backup generator will not only provide you with power during an outage to continue your normal day-to-day activities but will also protect your home. A generator will ensure that your house continues to have heat, preventing pipes from freezing, and ensure that your sump pump continues to work, preventing your home from flooding. A backup power generator is such a great investment that many insurance companies offer discounts to homeowners who have generators.
Propane generators are great for producing power during outages, and there are various sizes of propane tanks that suit different home or commercial purposes. When choosing the right propane tank for your home, do some research first.
First Aid Kits
An at-home first aid kit is essential for any house. Make sure yours includes the necessities, such as a first aid manual and emergency phone numbers, including the number of your physician, poison control center, and local police, fire department, and ambulance service. You should also have medical consent forms on hand and medical history forms for each family member.
Along with these necessary documents, store over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and allergy medicines. You also need bandages and other wound care supplies like tweezers and hydrogen peroxide. It is also a good idea to include a thermometer.
72-Hour Kits
Keep 72-hour emergency preparedness kits on hand, one per person. In the case of an evacuation situation, you can easily grab these kits and be out the door to safety with all your necessities covered for the next 72 hours.
In these kits, you should keep all the basics needed for a minimum of 72 hours. This should include, at least, food, water, a flashlight, first-aid supplies, a whistle, sanitation items, and clothes. Choose foods that don’t need preparation, and take calorie requirements into account to make sure you will have enough with only your kit for 72 hours.
You also need an appropriate container, such as a sturdy backpack, to hold all of these supplies. Your container should be easy to transport by carrying or pulling. A bag with lots of pockets is a good option for helping stay organized. Take into account your age, strength, and any physical difficulties when choosing your container—your kit won’t be helpful if you can’t get it out of your house easily on short notice. It is also a good idea to choose something waterproof.
Take inventory of your 72-hour kits each year in order to switch out foods that are about to expire, make sure clothes still fit, and make any other necessary upgrades to ensure your kits remain up to date.
Survival gear is inevitable and you ought to have them during emergencies. You may overcome crucial time by making use of items like solar powered radio that can also power up your cell phone or emergency light. Read more about it at zuarticles survival article.
Keep a Supply of Water
It is important to keep an emergency supply of water. You should have access to one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days’ amount of time. You can buy packaged water that is already suitable for drinking for your emergency stores or prepare yourself to purify water from existing water sources like a water heater. You can purify water with water purification tablets or a water purifier.
Save Money
In the case of a loss of job, medical emergency, or any other disaster, extra savings will come in extremely handy. Set aside money regularly for an emergency fund, and consider making cuts in your budget in order to build up your savings. Good places to keep your emergency fund include a high-yield bank account, money market account, certificate of deposit, or Roth IRA. Having several months’ worth of expenses saved away can help you breathe easier and weather the unprecedented storms of life.
Know Evacuation Plans
Educate yourself about what to do in different emergency situations. When it comes to the possibility of fire, a hurricane, or other natural disaster, know your exit route. How will you evacuate your home, if necessary? Where will you go for shelter?
Make a plan for emergency situations, such as a fire safety plan. Have a predetermined meet-up location and practice gathering there, even including climbing out of windows and rehearsing different exit options. Talk to kids about how to respond to these hypothetical situations. For example, teach them about how to act in fire situations: how to stop, drop, and roll in case of clothes catching fire, and how to crawl low to the ground in order to avoid smoke in the air. Teach them emergency phone numbers like 911. Being prepared to act can save lives and prevent injuries in the case of these emergencies occurring in real life.
Being prepared can be the difference between being a victim of disaster, or a victor. Taking precautions and getting ready at home for whatever life throws at you, by stocking emergency items and preparing for uncertain times, can mean thriving despite unforeseen difficulties.
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