Thursday, June 17, 2010

How to Prepare For Disasters

You never know what can happen in the world today. Global warming has made natural disasters much more frequent and powerful. Wars are happening everywhere. Virus outbreaks are getting more frequent and dangerous as well. When it happens, there is nothing we can do to stop it but we can make sure that we prepare ourselves for it. Following the steps below will help you increase your chances of survival.

1. Plan for an Emergency
Planning is critical if you want to survive a disaster. Plan for anything that can happen to you in any situation. It's important that you know where everything is and to keep them in the same place where it is accessible. Having a small survival kit in your car is a good idea in case something happens on the road. If possible, everyone involved should know what the plan is.

2. Build a Complete First Aid Kit
I have yet to find a ready made medical kit that caters for everything but it's a good place to start your collection. Try the professional version of the emergency kit. It's still not complete but it's a very good place to start with.

Be sure you have enough to cater for everyone. There is no such things are having too much medical supply. In natural disasters or other emergencies, a lack of supply is much more common. Always buy extra bandages and antiseptic wipes for better protection.

3. First Aid Training
All that time and money to build an emergency kit won't do any good if you don't know how to use them. Courses like CPR, First Aid and AED are offered by the Red Cross but that's not all. Always improve your knowledge, learn about injury prevention, blood borne pathogens and community disaster. Knowing these skills can be lifesaving.

4. Store Emergency Water
There might be a water shortage during an emergency so better stock up. Store them in containers that are not easily punctured and replace old water with fresh water every three months. Fill up all your containers if you think that a disaster is coming soon.

Remember to have a stock of water purification tablets but be aware that they're only safe when used for short periods of time and with the correct dosage.

5. Save Up Some Food
You should have a variety of food stored in case of an emergency and remember that you might not always be able to heat up your food. If you've built your emergency kit well, you'll be able to warm up your food on a wood fire.

6. Cooking
Access to a stove may prove difficult in a emergency situation. In this case, propane stoves are a perfect companion. Having hot food to eat keeps your body nourished and helps you deal with the cold better.

7. Replacement Lights
In tornadoes and hurricanes, losing power is a very likely situation. That's why you need emergency lighting. If you're using an electric lantern, be sure to stock up on batteries. Light sticks are excellent because they can last very long. They're fairly cheap and you can get them in varying lengths of hours and different colors. Stock up several of them.

8. Emergency Tool Kit
In an emergency situation, you might need some tools for whatever tasks comes your way. You might need to dig of hole, cut wood, fix the camp stove or tons of other stuff. A multi-tool is always handy so make sure you have that.

9. Emergency Radio
To keep up-to-date with the news and weather reports in a natural disaster emergency you need a radio. It's important that an emergency radio can still play even without power e.g. a wind-up radio.

10. Guides
There are a lot of useful tips you can get from survival guides. Check with other guides to see if the information has at least some truth in it. Pay particular on the part about foraging. There are many deaths as a result of eating poisonous food. Mushrooms, in particular, have been responsible for thousands of deaths through the years. Foraging and survival guides can help give you that extra edge.

Where your life is concerned, it's always better to be safe than sorry. To be prepared may take some work but it's the best way to make sure you and your family come out safe in an emergency.




Jonsky is a writer for Hiking-Camping-World.com. Portable propane stoves are very useful in an emergency situation but you might also want to consider liquid fuel camp stoves because they have a higher fuel efficiency.

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