Be Prepared- CFS Style

It’s theme day (again!!) at b5media Science and Health Channel. This month’s round up of posts can be found at The Homely Scientist, which is written by my very good friend Tris. In fact, since I know absolutely nothing about being prepared for an emergency, I consulted Tris earlier this evening….and he was extremely helpful to me. So helpful in fact that I am a little panic stricken,since I am not at all prepared for any kind of emergency….out of all of the things that he suggested, I only had bottles of water (and blankets) and nothing else. Did you know that you should be able to be prepared to live without electricity for 72 hrs? Again, I had no idea, until he said something. So his post will definitely be interesting, as will all of the others who write for this channel, they are very smart people.

After I calmed down enough, I visited the Canadian Red Cross website, to see what they suggest I should do….they were most helpful. Here is what they suggest (anything not written in bold, is an addition made by me).

Call your local Canadian Red Cross or Emergency Management Office.

Makes perfect sense to me, I am sure that 911 would be flooded with callers, and the Red Cross and other similar organizations would be happy to provide overflow assistance. Especially if you are calling for information. That way you can free up some 911 calls for the people who need it.

Know your enemy – find out which disasters could occur in your area.

In my area, we need to be wary of earthquakes, and excessive rain. Vancouver (my home town) had to deal with an excessive rain emergency this year (complete with mudslides), where we were not allowed to use tap water for well over a week. Even supermarkets were not prepared for this “emergency”, as on 2 seperate occasions I got the last couple of bottles of water that were in the entire store.

Ask how to prepare for each disaster.

You can do this by calling your local Red Cross chapter, or go to one of the many websites that are devoted to emergency preparedness.

Ask how you would be warned of an emergency.

In my case, I think an earthquake just happens and that there is no warning (unless your pets start acting kind of funny), at least thats how I remember it from the ones that I have lived through. None of them being very big though. All other information that I have found out during “state of emergency” times, is via radio….but you may know of better ways.

Learn your community’s evacuation routes and emergency plans.

I am not so sure about this one. While I think its a good idea in theory….would everyone be taking the same route, and then we are all just stuck in traffic???? I am a little bit confused by this.

Ask about special assistance for elderly or disabled persons.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!!

Ask about your workplace emergency plans.

For those of you who work, this might be worth asking. I don’t know if my workplace has one, but I will be asking about it tomorrow.

Learn about emergency plans for your children’s school or daycare centre.

Again very important for your kids to be and feel safe.

Avoid potential emergency situations.

I WISH!!!!

Earlier I mentioned that Tris Hussey of The Homely Scientist gave me a list of things that I should have in my house, in case there is an emergency. I thought I would do the honorable thing and share this list with all of you (just in case there are a few of you out there, that are as clueless as I am in this area). Here is what he had to say (well edited so it makes some kind of sense:

what do you need to be ready if there is no power and such?
do you need medications?
do you need anything special?
water – you need 4 litres per person per day

they say you need to plan for 3 days

what about food – how will you cook? do you have a grill?

do you have gloves?
duct tape for patching leaks -like if a door or window needs to be covered by plastic and duct tape(this is genius…i never would have thought about duct tape)

first aid kit

how about one of those nice tool kits for women that come in pink, and have all the stuff you need for repairs. having tools and knowing where they are is really important.- in case this bothers some of you….i think Tris was just trying to girly up emergency preparedness for me….he knows that I am very daunted by this, and not at all prepared. oh and he knows about my love of pink.

Of course it goes without saying that if you are on medication, make sure you have enough to last you a few days, as drug stores may not be accessible. Also, extra blankets, clothing, batteries, and money may come in handy as well.

OK I am off to make my emergency preparedness kit…..if any of you have lived through a real life emergency and have some useful tips, please let me know. I certainly could use the help.