develop a sensible disaster plan and survival kit

I have a blue plastic bin in my bedroom filled with my journals, a headlamp, photos, all my CDs, and a file folder with all my important paperwork. It’s ready to throw in my car on a days’ notice when I hightail it to Baton Rouge. Out of immediate danger but not so far from New Orleans I can’t get back quickly.

And my roommate is not allowed to leave the area at the height of hurricane season next year. I’m not going through that again on her behalf, and she will know that on no uncertain terms when we get closer to summer.

I’ve gotten started on this. I have a document that includes all the appropriate emergency numbers, including insurance numbers. I completed a first aid/cpr/aed class today, so I have a better idea of how to prepare my first aid kit and how to use it once I have it.

Next step is to assemble the kits and put them in places that make sense—like the car and easily able to move boxes for evacuation purposes. Need to organize the shelter in place options.

I have an out-of-area phone number, as do half of the people who live in New Orleans. 504 (local) numbers didn’t work after Katrina because all the local towers were down, but out of area numbers did.

I will keep my car’s gas tank at least half-full at all times.

I will check the weather and the National Hurricane Center website daily to track any storms that might be developing.

My roommate has been through this before, so I’ll trust her decision on whether to stay put or evacuate. She also has the supplies we need: generator, battery-operated radio, flashlights, bottled water.

I have a first-aid kit in my car along with jumper cables and a tow rope and additional fluids (oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid) to keep my car going.

I have friends in Baton Rouge if I need to get out of New Orleans for just a day or two, and family in Maryland and Michigan if I need to leave for longer than that.

I do need to stock up more on non-perishable foods, which I will do next time I go to the grocery store. In a pinch, I have some poptarts in the pantry and granola and cereal bars and pecans and Gatorade powder. Which sounds like enough, but if we’re staying put we may very well need more than three days’ worth of supplies.

Why the Gatorade powder? As a distance runner I know you sweat more than just water, and you need something to replace the electrolytes you lose. If the power goes out in the summer it’s gonna get meltingly hot indoors very quickly and we’re going to be sweating a lot. Given the neighborhood, opening the windows and doors while we sleep is just not an option.

I should have a Louisiana ID so I can prove I live here. I’m a full-time graduate student so I’ve been able to put that off thus far, plus I didn’t want to transfer my car registration here and incur all of the associated fees and hike in car insurance rates. If I wait until my next birthday I’ll be 25 and should be able to save on insurance, plus I should have a teaching job by then and so be able to afford it. That’s early August and the risk of a major storm by then is relatively slim.

Before my roommate left on vacation, her instructions to me were to take the truck in case of evacuation, shove the cats into the cat carrier, shove the boxes of photo albums and documents in the back and tie them down, and get the heck out of New Orleans. As for my car, I can offer it to someone who has no other way to evacuate.

Oh, and feed the animals and take the dog for a walk and here are some important phone numbers in case you need to reach me.

Baton Rouge roadtrip, spent the day touring the old and new state capitols, lunch at Louie’s on LSU campus, tour of LSU campus, sushi dinner, spent the night with a friend and soon to be fellow special ed. teacher.

And I hate to think about this, but if I need to evacuate New Orleans next summer for a hurricane, I have a place to go. So this entry should go under the disaster plan and kit goal too.

I’ve done this by believing on the Lord Jesus and accepting Him as my savior.

Hello, I came across your posts and thought I might help. I’ve lived in South Florida for 37 years, been through more than 10 hurricanes(including Andrew) and can help. After Wilma, my planning was put to the test when I had to go for nearly 3 weeks with no power and had extra people in the home which brought the total to 8 adults. I had been careful to stock enough water and food supplies so that we all ate well for those 3 weeks. I was even able to take care of Mother’s special diet considerations and the 6 pets. I had a big bag of suckers stored which we gave out at Halloween and lit our walk with candles….yep, even after a hurricane we had trick-or-treaters! I keep a 3 month supply for 8 adults. I set up a “kitchen” outdoors and cooked with the gas grill. We had a generator after the 10th day but believe me, even a generator isn’t that convenient. It is loud and must be constantly watched. You have to store dangerous fuels for it. People who live in apartments CANNOT have a generator. Some cannot use a grill either, so plan for your personal situation. I have a personal rule, that if the storm is going to be a Cat 3 or higher, I will not stay at my home, but leave. Hurricanes are one disaster that gives you a lot of lead time, many other emergencies happen fast and furious. For most of those, a 72 hour kit that you can grab while flying out the door is the best choice. I will not go to a shelter, but drive out of the way of the storm and take a kit with me. This means you have to have what Captain Dave calls a “Bug-out-Bag” ready to go. This bag should be good for 72 hours at a shelter or for a trip. If you think you will be able to remain in your home, depending on your type of emergency then 72 hours is NOT ENOUGH! I assembled my supplies OVER TIME. This is important, you have TIME to get ready. Get a couple things each time you shop, you will be completely overwhelmed if you try to do it all at once. Don’t buy stuff recommended if you know you don’t eat it, it just takes up space in your cabinet where better things could go. I will provide the link for Captain Dave, which is in my opinion one of the best sites out there. The US Government has a lot of info also. If you want to REALLY be prepared long term, the Church of the Latter Day Saints advocate a survival plan for 1 year minimum. They tell what you need and how to rotate your items to keep your supply up to date. There is great information in the Survival sites even if you think the end of the world is coming! At the minimum plan for 10 days to 2 weeks and go to Captain Dave’s site. There are many links from his site to other ones, the sky is the limit on how well you want to prepare. Would you rather be over-prepared in an emergency or hungry? My personal opinion is the prepared kits are just junk. Save your money. They are very expensive for what is in them. Review the lists of what is included in the bag and make your own. The Red Cross has good info for what to take to a shelter if you’re going to one. Get a good used bag from the thrift store and purchase your own items for it. I like breakfast bars, fruit cups, applesauce and jerkey. I have big bags of rice and pasta & beans but you need a heat source to use this kind of food. Most canned goods are a no no for us because they have too much sodium. Soups are versatile also as gravies, but watch salt content, it makes you thirsty for more water. Allow 1 gallon of water per person per day. Just put food you like in your pantry. What good is stuff you won’t eat? There are still blue tarps on roofs in my neighborhood, over 2 years after Wilma. Our community had not gone through a storm with Wilma’s power. Now, the grocery stores and gas stations will have back-up power. The traffic signals are on solar power. Can you imagine half of the state with no power? God Bless the wonderful people who came to us from all over the country to get us back up. Be well supplied so you can stay OFF the roads and let the emergency crews do their work and get the injured to the hospitals.No matter where you live, you may face an extreme situation someday so just make sure you are ready. Get into these sites and do your homework, knowledge is power.

Hope this helps! I find that when I KNOW I’M PREPARED I DON’T PANIC! Good luck to your all and stay safe! Someone in every family has to take the initiative to protect their loved ones, so GET STARTED!

Here are some sites to look at- lots of great info.
http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/
http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/index.html
http://survivalcenter.com/emergencykits.html
http://lds.about.com/od/preparednessfoodstorage/Food_Storage_and_Emergency_Preparedness.htm

living in LA, I know its just a matter of time before we need this kit. Although we have a good survival kit, one could always add more stuff, and I’m always thinking of this when I shop. I always buy lots of canned food (mmmm, bernie O’s!), and we have water stored… but is it enough?

One scary thing is that we keep most of our supplies in our shed. Will it be the first thing to fall down in an earthquake? Hope not!!

Also, I wish we could store a bit of gasoline. But honestly I’m more worried about fire!

If I could give one word of advice, especially to women, it would be to keep some sneakers or running shoes in your car. Simple thing to do, but could be very helpful if you had to walk home from somewhere…

There is an axe in the attic, just in case. I hope I never have to use it.

There’s a reason so many houses in New Orleans, particular in the Lower 9, have holes chopped in the roof.

As I’ve been observing Hurricane Dean’s progression toward the Yucatan Peninsula, I cannot but remind myself to retake this goal and put it together.

I withstood the major hurricanes Emily and Wilma in 2005, when I more or less began a hurricane plan for these kind of contingencies. When I left my home 8 months ago, I left it behind well prepared as much as I could and to my knowledge. But turns out withstanding a hurricane “in the distance” seems to be more nerve-racking than actually being physically there —especially right now as Hurricane Dean’s eye is hitting land about 300 kilometers south of my house, and the satellite images show it extending well beyond the whole peninsula.

Though I can never be totally prepared and ready for disasters, to quiet my mind, for now, I will go over my lists, notes, plans, etc., for hurricanes and floodings. Yet, having lived most of my life in “shake-prone” areas, I shall next be thinking of an earthquake and volcano-eruption plan.