Emergency preparedness- 72 hour kits

With the disaster in Japan on my mind, I feel so helpless and scared. My heart is heavy with compassion for the people there and my head is full of worry about my own little family. Many of the recent disasters in the world have shown me that I need to be prepared, because a large scale disaster can strike any time and anywhere. So to combat my worry, I decided on a plan of action. My first step: to create 72 hour kits.

John and I were lucky enough to be gifted with kits for Christmas several years ago (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa T!) So I had a good start. First, I gathered clothes for our kits (which we had never added to ours). We happened to have gone through our closet last weekend in preparation for a yard sale, so I had a large stash of clothes to look through. I chose a pair of pants, shirt, and sweatshirt for each of us (along with socks and underwear). Then I found some comfortable shoes that were starting to look shabby but still had plenty of wear and added those. Charlie didn't have a kit at all, so I found an old backpack to fill with supplies for him. I chose clothes that he'd fit into for at least six months (my plan is to check and replace/replenish our kits every six months, more on that later). I added diapers, wipes, a blanket (lovey), and shoes. I had hand-me-down clothes and shoes for him that I didn't mind sacrificing to the kit- I recommend using the upcoming yard sale season (or your local thrift store) to find clothes for yourself or kids that you don't mind putting in your kits.

Next, I pulled out the contents of the kits to check the expiration dates on the water (yup, water expires) and food. Our kits have dehydrated/ration type food and a small amount of water. In our kits, the food was still good (several years later) but most of the water needed replacing. I just replaced it with bottled water from the grocery store. Each bottle had a small expiration date stamped on it, but I rewrote the date on the lids in Sharpie so it'd be easier for me to read next time I check it. For Charlie's kit, I put in some water and some packaged food that will last at least six months (mostly dehydrated apples and granola bars). As I did this, I wrote a REPLENISH card (idea from this excellent post by SeattleMamaDoc on emergency preparedness) which has the date I checked our kits, when I need to check them again, and when the food and water expires.

The rest of the kits' contents were in great shape. We have toiletries, toilet paper, garbage bags, a basic first aid kit, flashlights (both regular with batteries and emergency hand-crank), road flares, emergency solar blankets, waterproof matches, and an emergency whistle in ours.

SeattleMamaDoc's post lists more important items that our kits are missing: children's medicine, prescription medications, copies of important documents, games/books, and storable milk (for our milk drinking toddler). I will be tracking these items down and including them in the next few days.

Our finished kits- the shoes are attached on top for easy access (and because I couldn't fit them inside)

Another recommendation from her blog post that I think is excellent is purchasing a large storage tub for your kits and/or supplies. Our kits are in backpacks and are meant to be portable. However, we don't have enough water or food in them to last for 72 hours. Each person in your family needs 3 gallons of water per day (more for nursing mothers). So for our family, we need to have at least 27 gallons of water (and likely more). There's no way to fit that in our backpacks! We need a separate container for the water (perhaps some jugs like these) and all the food we will need.

Now, about the REPLENISH card. Writing a card and putting on or in the kit is not going to do me any good if I don't remember that it's there! SeattleMamaDoc recommends setting an appointment in your day planner, iCal or Google Calendar to check your kits every six months. I set mine up in Google Calendar to email me a reminder to check our kits. That happens to fall about four weeks after this baby is due. So our food and water and clothing needs will change at the time that I next check the kits.

It feels so good to have started to organize some emergency preparedness for our family. I'd love to hear about your ideas- it really helps to have buddies in this process!