September is Emergency Preparedness Month

[NY Disney fan]

So since Sept. is Emergency Preparedness month I was wondering:

1.) Were you ever prepared for a emergency or disaster which resulted in you being relatively comfortable while everyone else was struggling?

2.) Were you ever NOT prepared for a disaster/emergency which resulted in you learning a valuable lesson?

 

[bettymae1121]

I'm lucky enough never have been in a disaster. We're kinda sorta prepared, depending on what you mean by "disaster". We have a generator for extended power outages, batteries and a pantry full of non-perishable food. We don't have drinking water on hand and don't usually keep much cash, and we should probably start keeping those on hand too.

Around here, the biggest natural disaster threat are tornados, and honestly if your house is destroyed by one, your emergency supplies will likely get wiped out along with your house. But a power outage or major ice/snow storm, we'd be set for the most part.

 

[KiminChicago]

DS just completed his work on the Boy Scout Emergency Preparedness badge. We now have two Rubbermaid containers in our basement filled with three days worth of non-perishable food and water, some towels, soap and clothing, a first aid kit, pots, pans, waterproof matches and kitchen utensils.

If a tornado were to hit the house, we'd be in the basement anyway, so I'm hoping we're set.

 

[Noah]

I always buy extra food for emergency storage purpose. I know I can't do it all at once so I buy a little at a time. Then I label the expiration date where it's visible. As I continue this process, I become more comfortable in my emergency preparedness.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

I wasn't really prepared when we were hit by the 8.8 earthquake in February. I'd gotten complacent about the locations of my flashlights, and since the earthquake happened in the middle of the night (and the lights went out 20 seconds into the 2.5 minutes it lasted), I was in a bit of a precarious state when the ground stopped shaking and I had to make my way to my DD8's room (avoiding broken glass on the way). Luckily my shoes were in an area between me and the glass, so I was able to get to them safely.

We all now have shoes under each of our beds and flashlights on our bedside tables. I have lots of spare batteries as well, and plenty of candles (since our power was out for four days).

My DDs said after the quake that they really didn't know what to do when the shaking started. Although we'd had a discussion about duck and cover, we hadn't gone into specific details on what each of them should have done in their own bedrooms. DD11 was away at a sleepover, and they all did one of the worst things you can do by running outside (most people I know who were injured were hurt when they were trying to move around during the shaking). DD9 panicked and just sat on her bed (whimpering "Mommy..." she told me after ). We've now made a plan for what to do in each room of the house should we have another really good shake.

Although we didn't really need food (I keep a fairly well-stocked pantry), we didn't have nearly enough water. The stores ran out of bottled water very quickly when they opened, and they weren't restocked for about a month. We lost all of our water about 12 hours after the quake (the power was out so the reservoir wasn't being filled and water main leaks drained it really quickly). In future I'd make sure that all of my bathtubs were filled as soon as possible (luckily we have a pool, so we used that water for flushing toilets). We also have several 5 litre bottles of water in our storage shed in case of emergency.

Those are a few things I can think of right now. If I think of any more, I'd add them later.

 

[golfgal]

We keep flashlights, a weather radio, extra shoes and a couple blankets in a safe room in our basement in the event of a tornado, other than that we don't really have any other natural disasters that hit our area that you really need to prepare for. Flooding would be the only other one but even then they would be flash floods and you can't really prepare for those. In my 40+ years I have never had to use any emergency supplies, thankfully.

 

[KiminChicago]

We keep flashlights, a weather radio, extra shoes and a couple blankets in a safe room in our basement in the event of a tornado, other than that we don't really have any other natural disasters that hit our area that you really need to prepare for. Flooding would be the only other one but even then they would be flash floods and you can't really prepare for those. In my 40+ years I have never had to use any emergency supplies, thankfully.

At the height of the H1N1 virus scare I was watching one of those "Mega Disaster" shows on the Discovery channel about what could happen if the H1N1 virus had really been powerful and deadly. It was amazing how quickly everything started breaking down. So it isn't just natural disasters that can get you. Of course, when I was telling my DH this, he wanted to know why we didn't have a gun in our kit too. I don't want to have a gun in the house, but we do have a bow and arrows.