Emergency Preparedness

This post may seem a little bit silly to most people. And maybe emergency preparedness is a little bit silly and maybe if I had more of a life, I wouldn't have gotten interested in this topic (ya, right, I've always been a little overly paranoid, not to mention overly prepared, how is this any different?). Or MAYBE someday when Mt. Rainier explodes and triggers a massive earthquake, Brad will be glad I took on this project and be sorry he made fun of me!!

It is so scary looming there in the background!!!

Anyway, this all started on 10/17 at 10:17 AM when my office participated in "The Great Shakeout" which is an earthquake drill. Our office administrator mentioned something about this area "expecting" an earthquake soon based on historical earthquake frequency. Did I look this up and verify her information? Well, no, but it scared me enough to look through the resources on the Washington Military Department's Emergency Management Division about how to prepare your family and home. The have a whole series of things to do (one for each month), from preparing an action plan, to making a 72-hour emergency kit and copying important documents.

These all seemed like good ideas that would just put me at ease to know I had done them. The main things I am going to focus on right now are:

• Storing 3 gallons of water per person (that is enough for 72-hours of the water being shut off at your house). Rather than buy jugs of water, I am saving plastic juice containers and filling those. I only have 2, which is 1 gallon. But its a start, and much cheaper than buying water.
• Making a 72-hour emergency kit, which would be good if we were stuck in our house and unable to cook OR if we had to evacuate and would potentially be sitting in the car in traffic for a long time. My plan is to go to the discount grocery store right by our house and stock up on 3 days worth of cheap canned goods and non perishables. But this includes more than just food, they also suggest you have first-aid supplies (duh), tools, toiletries and a change of clothes (smart, I wouldn't have thought of that), and copies of important documents. They also mention setting aside a supply of your pet's food, which I NEVER thought of. Sometimes we wait until its almost gone to get more cat food, and it would be really inconvenient if a natural disaster struck then, since she eats a harder to find brand. I've already set aside some of that delicious kitty kibble. 

  

  I'll just have cereal and milk, thank you very much.

• Under the bed supplies. This seems a little silly, but it makes sense to store a pair of shoes next to the bed, along with at least a flashlight so that if we woke up in the middle of a earthquake, we wouldn't hurt our feet stepping on things. I don't know about also keeping a hardhat and gloves there, as the article suggests...

There are several other articles on the site about topics such as retrofitting your home to withstand disasters (something we won't do, since we rent), and learning how to shelter in place and turn off your utilities, which I have yet to read.

What do you think? Is all of this overkill or a good idea? Anyone else every done any emergency planning (any one else ever live within 60 miles of a HUGE active volcano)?

Just trying to keep my family safe! Especially this guy, who just finished a full week of Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training (he's holding his certificate there)...with his knowledge and my planning, we'll be so super safe in the event of ANY kind of  natural or man-made emergency situation! Our mom's will have us to thank for our survival :-)