Week 11: Assemble a 72-hour Kit, Part 1

This week's task: Begin to assemble a portable 72-hour kit for your family.

Pretty much everyone in the disaster preparation community agrees that you should put together a portable 3-day supply of food, water, clothing, and other necessities for your family (including pets).  These are often called 72-hour kits or go-bags.

If you don't have one or your disaster supplies are not organized, now is your chance.  If you want to purchase a kit, the Red Cross offers individual and family kits.  Many other companies offer pre-assembled kits as well. Here, for example.

If you want to assemble your own kit, the following list comes from the Red Cross website:

Essential items:

• Water: We talked about water in Week 4. The recommended minimum is a gallon per person per day for 3 days (4x3=12 for a family of 4).  I have 2 gallons in a jug that I could carry on foot and 10 more gallons in 5-gallon mylar bags that I could hoist into the car.
• Food: This is a big one - I will talk specifically about it next week
• Flashlight and radio, plus extra batteries (see Week 2 and Week 9)
• First Aid kit, including any medications you require (see Week 10 for more information)
• Multi-purpose Tool
• Sanitation and Personal Hygiene Items 
• Copies of Personal Documents, Emergency Phone List, and map of the area (see Week 3)
• Cell phone with charger
• Extra Cash
• Emergency Blanket

Suggested items to help meet additional needs:

• Medical supplies (hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses, syringes, cane)
• Baby supplies (bottles, formula, baby food, diapers) 
• Games and activities for children 
• Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food, carrier, bowl) 
• Two-way radios 
• Extra set of car keys and house keys 
• Manual can opener
• Whistle 
• N95 or surgical masks 
• Matches 
• Rain gear
• Towels 
• Work gloves 
• Tools/supplies for securing your home 
• Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
• Plastic sheeting (for sheltering in place)
• Duct tape 
• Scissors 
• Household liquid bleach (to purify water)
• Entertainment items 
• Blankets or sleeping bags

Rotating your supplies:  Perishable items need to replaced in your kit periodically.  If you're like me, you probably have a disaster kit you made 15 years ago that hasn't been touched since.  A couple years ago, I finally came up with a system that makes it is easy to rotate my supplies.  It takes a little effort to set up, but it works pretty well:

1. Make a list of everything in your kit and put expiration dates by the perishable items (a spreadsheet works great for this).  Setting this up is a bit of an investment, but will be worth it later.
2. Every six months, look at the spreadsheet to see what is expiring soon and make a shopping list.  (Put a reminder on your calendar and schedule the next rotation every time you do one.)
3. Go shopping, bring the stuff home, lay it on your table, and update the list with the new expiration dates. 
4. Haul out your kit (I have the food packed together in a separate bag to make it easier to swap out), switch the old for the new, and put it back.  

For me, the key to this system is that once you set it up, steps #2 and #3 are really easy, so I'm inclined not to put them off.  By the time I get to the hard step (#4), I'm almost done and it doesn't seem overwhelming. I'm not good at maintaining complicated systems, but this has worked very well for me.  If you want to see my family's list, you can download it as an Excel spreadsheet or pdf (I didn't include a detailed list of food or clothes - I'll put that up next week).

Week 10: First Aid Supplies and Training

This week's tasks: 

1. Put together a portable family first-aid kit to keep with your emergency supplies and a first aid kit for your car(s)  
2. If you don't feel confident in your ability to administer simple first aid, look into taking a CPR/First Aid course.

First Aid Courses: Knowing how to act quickly in an emergency can save lives.  If you haven't had first aid training in the past few years, it's a good idea to refresh your skills.  I took a class recently and many of the recommendations have changed since my last training some years ago.  Basic first aid training also now includes training to use AED's, which save many lives each year.  You can look for classes in basic CPR and First Aid in your area on the Red Cross Website.  Or check with your HR department to see if your employer sponsors on-site courses.  If you're interested in something more comprehensive, REI offers 2-day wilderness medicine courses. Click here for a list of courses in the SF Bay Area.  Also, many communities offer free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training that includes a first-aid component as part of a larger course.  Check your city's website for more information.

First Aid Reference Material:  You can download the Red Cross First Aid Manual here for free (you get a hard copy of this manual when you take their course).  If you have a smart phone, you can download the Red Cross's First Aid App.  But keep in mind that reference material is not a good substitute for proper training when you find yourself in a situation where every second counts.

First Aid Supplies: The Red Cross provides a list of things that should be in your first aid kit here.   The easiest and cheapest solution is to purchase a first aid kit and supplement it with anything from the Red Cross list that it is missing (commercial kits tend to lack decent scissors and tweezers) as well as any special supplies your family needs (e.g. allergy medicine, infant Tylenol, etc.).  Our local Target store, the Red Cross Website, and Amazon.com have a large variety of first aid kits to choose from.  I have these in my car and this in my 72-hour kit (I added a few things to both kits, like more Advil, a bigger tube of antibiotic ointment,  children's pain medicine, etc).

An important note about calling 911 from a cell phone: If you call 911 from a cell phone, your call will be routed to a central dispatcher who will try to figure out how to route you to your local emergency services.  In the SF Bay area, the central dispatcher is the California Highway Patrol in San Jose.  The re-routing process can be slow and local emergency personnel strongly recommend that when using a cell phone to report an emergency, you call the local dispatcher directly, if you can.  Here are the local numbers to put in your cell phone (if you live somewhere else, you should be able to get this information from your city website or local police department):

Albany: 510-525-7300
Berkeley:  510-981-5911
El Cerrito: 510-233-1214

Week 9: Light

This week's task:

1. Put a flashlight or lightstick by each person's bed and in your car(s).   
2. Evaluate whether your family needs additional emergency lighting.

There are many reason the lights could go out.  And an extended outage is possible after a severe storm or earthquake.  In a disaster situation, adequate emergency lighting will help family members carry out the tasks they need to do to cope and take care of each other.

First, put a flashlight or lightstick by each person's bed.  Ideally, put it in a box or tie it to the bed frame so that it won't be flung out of reach during an earthquake.  Next, put a flashlight in your car.

Here are other emergency lighting options to consider (feel free to share a link to your favorite light in the comments):

• LED Lanterns:  LED flashlights and lanterns are bright and have great battery life.  I have this lantern, which runs for 40-90 hours on one set of 3 D batteries and it works great.  It won't light up the room like a 60-watt lightbulb, but you will be able to see what you are doing. Other well-reviewed options:  quad lantern with removable panels, folding lantern, solar rechargeable lantern.  Remember that gas and liquid-fuel lanterns are generally unsafe for indoor use. 
• Flashlights: Lightweight, bright, long-lasting LED flashlights are easy to come by.  They are easy to find in stores and Amazon has a huge selection.  I keep this tiny one  in my purse and it's very bright for its tiny size.  I also have this one, which is very bright and sturdy.  A headlamp like this or this is another good option.  Or this cool thingamajigger, which has flexible magnetic legs that can be attached to lots of different things and can give you lighting from just about any angle.  If you are looking for a hand-crank flashlight, check out these quirky and inexpensive lights at Ikea. (Thanks for the tip, Kendra!)
• Light Sticks: Immediately after an earthquake, you shouldn't use anything that has an electronic switch if you smell gas.  These light sticks are an inexpensive and safe alternative light source. They are fun for kids and will glow all night as a nightlight.  I have one taped to the underside of my kitchen table (our main 'cover' spot if there's an earthquake).
• Power Failure/Emergency Flashlights  These units plug into the wall and sense if the power goes out.  When it does, they automatically light up brightly to provide emergency lighting.  They can also be unplugged and used as a flashlight.  I got this one for Christmas, which works great and also functions as a nightlight.  This one (not a nightlight) and this one (can be used as a nightlight) get good reviews too.

Week 8: Carbon Monoxide Alarms and Exercise

Task: Make sure you have working carbon monoxide alarms installed in your home.  Also, get some exercise. 

As of Jan. 1, 2013, all residential dwelling units (single-family homes and multi-family units) in California are required by law to have properly installed carbon monoxide detectors.   The State of California website describes the dangers of carbon monoxide:

You can't see or smell carbon monoxide, but at high levels it can kill a person in minutes. Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal is burned. If appliances that burn fuel are maintained and used properly, the amount of CO produced is usually not hazardous. However, if appliances are not working properly or are used incorrectly, dangerous levels of CO can result. Hundreds of people die accidentally every year from CO poisoning caused by malfunctioning or improperly used fuel-burning appliances. Even more die from CO produced by idling cars. Fetuses, infants, elderly people, and people with anemia or with a history of heart or respiratory disease can be especially susceptible. Be safe. Practice the DO's and DON'Ts of carbon monoxide.

Here are tips from the same website about where to install your carbon monoxide detectors:

• Install CO alarms outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home including the basement. The CO alarm can warn you if too much CO is in your home.

• Keep CO alarms clear of dust and debris.

• Ensure CO alarms are plugged all the way into a working outlet, or if battery operated, have working batteries.

If you are renting, your landlord should install the detectors if it hasn't been done already.   And be aware that the mechanisms in these alarms deteriorate over time.  Check the manufacturer's instructions to see when yours should be replaced.

Note that carbon monoxide is odorless and is different from natural gas (made up primarily of methane), which is also odorless, but usually has a strong-smelling compound added to it by the gas company so that you will be able to smell a gas leak.  You won't be able to smell carbon monoxide.  It will just start to make you feel tired and nauseated or give you a headache.  People who die from carbon monoxide poisoning are often asleep when it happens and just never wake up.

Now, let's put this in perspective.  There is disagreement about how many people in the U.S. die from carbon monoxide poisoning each year, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200-500.  In contrast, around 600,000 Americans die every year from heart disease.  So install your carbon monoxide detectors, but then stop worrying about that and start figuring out whether you are eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise.  Also, read this article from the Harvard Alumni Magazine if you want to be amazed at what scientists are discovering about all the good things exercise does for your body and brain.