I live in tornado alley. When the weather turns bad, really bad, we don’t have the hours and sometimes days of advance warning people have in the face of hurricanes and wildfires. There isn’t time for sheriffs and deputies and concerned neighbors to beat on doors and say “Disaster’s coming, gotta leave now!” We have, at best, a half hour warning that a tornado could rip through our home and blow away everything we own.
The worst thing about tornado warnings that the warning is so often applicable to only a few people (and they really, really need it). For the rest of us, it's a drill – there is no guarantee that my house will suffer any damage at all, while my neighbor’s house could be flattened rubble in seconds. There is no way to predict whose homes will suffer in a tornado, unlike a hurricane where every house in an area will suffer the same flood and wind damage, or houses in a wildfire will burn or have smoke damage.
A lot of disasters give you time to pack up and get to a safe place. Not all do.
In a tornado or an earthquake, we don’t have that luxury. The sky roars down to smack us or the earth’s mouth opens and swallows us – and it’s over in minutes. We might have 10 minutes’ warning, or even a whole half hour, if we’re lucky. There is no guarantee the shelter we seek will be safe, and there’s no time to outrun the disaster. We have to find a place quickly and hunker down and hope that in 15 minutes (the longest time it might take for a tornado to pass by), we’re still alive to gawk at the damage nature wrought upon us.
So what do we save? What do we grab as we dash to what we hope will be a safer place?
Major disaster survivors keep their documents in floatable, waterproof boxes, have coffee tables that convert to trunks, and garbage cans they can use as latrines. They know a hand-crank TV or radio is essential among their evac-packs. Their own pillows and blankets, shoes other than flip-flops, cat litter for human waste when the toilets don’t work, plastic bags of all sizes, learning to text message, and never depending on the government are part and parcel of their evacuation preparations. Some are rather extreme, and some may not be quite enough, but those who've survived a major disaster are far more likely to be prepared for another if they continue to live in the same place.
For those in the wildfire areas, they, too, must have an evac-pack ready. For them, the basic survival kit of food, water, important documents is also essential, but they have time to go through their homes and select what they’ll take away. They can have a list of items they want to save and collect them in the minutes that earthquake and tornado residents don’t have. I suppose this is one of the few times I think owning an SUV might be worth it – you can pack so much more into one of those than into a Mini Cooper.
Tornado alley and earthquake folk have different obstacles to face in a disaster. They don’t have time to evacuate, so keeping an evac-pack and list of things to take isn’t an option for us – except those who live in areas where wildfires may also happen. In the event of wildfires, an evac-pack and list would be useful. For us, go bags and caches are more useful. A GPS device is an excellent tool to have to locate the caches.
When tornado season arrives, I pack my essential treasures, the irreplaceable things, away in safe places. What I keep out are the things I can easily replace.
The caches are just that – buried collections of survival gear all tucked into a large tight-lidded waterproof pail. These are buried and I mark their GPS location so I can find them again at need. Every 6 months, I dig them up and trade out the food and water, test the equipment, and decide if I need to upgrade or add anything. I admit, sometimes, it’s a year between checking the distant caches – but I have them, just in case.
For most major didaters, these caches are useful. If you live in an area that doesn't have major disasters, or if you have solid Go Bags instead, you don't need to cache. A lot of people prefer not to cache things.
I keep a Go Bag with me at all times with the basic essentials to survive to get to one of my caches or get home. The Go Bag has copies of personal documentation in it along with a bottle of water, some non-perishable foods, water purification tablets, a flint and steel kit, a pocket chainsaw, a squeezable LED flashlight, some cash, spare keys, a first aid kit, a sewing kit, a manicure kit (surprisingly useful for things other than manicures), utility knife, sample sized personal hygiene items, notebook and pens, a wallet emergency card with allergies, next of kin, and essential numbers and information. It's very compact - I keep it in a standard zipper cosmetic case I picked up at Target in their sample aisle of toiletries.
Each of the family vehicles has a more extensive survival kit in them which includes better food, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, shovels, and such.
Did you know that in 44 states, hospitals have no obligation to call next of kin if you are brought into a hospital unconscious or unable to speak for yourself or give consent? Did you know that more than 1 million people are brought into emergency rooms in just such a situation each year? Did you know that one of the most difficult tasks in disasters is locating the victims’ ID, emergency contact information, and brief medical history? Did you know that a full week after 9/11, more than 2,000 children were still unclaimed by relatives because day care workers had no valid or current emergency contact information for the children? Did you know most accidents happen within a few blocks of home, while out jogging or running a quick errand – when most people feel comfortable leaving their home without a purse or wallet containing their ID and information?
Disaster preparedness isn’t just for tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, blizzards, ice storms, or terrorist attacks – it’s for the times when you might get mugged or in an auto accident or suffer a heart attack while out jogging. Even if all you carry around is a shoewallet or a neck pouch, you should always carry something that has your ID with you. This is particularly true in places where community is weak and your neighbors and local tradespeople and emergency responders don’t know you.
And if you have precious items you want to save, make sure you have plans in place for them before any disaster strikes you.
Scan your important documents and photos into the computer. Photograph each room – each wall and corner and space of each room, and add an inventory list of everything in the photo. If you have it, attach the sales receipt or an estimated value to each item on the list. Keep a current inventory of your books, movies, and music so if you need to claim insurance, you have proof of ownership of these items. Photograph each piece of jewelry and each family heirloom separately. If you have collections photograph it both in toto and individually. Use Librarything for your books. Back them up on discs that you stash in various places (at work, in a safe deposit box, at friends’ homes, in caches….).
When disaster is impending, you'll know what you have and where they are so you can quickly pack what you consider to be the essentials and be loaded up and ready to roll at a moment’s notice so when the sheriff’s department knocks on your door and tells you “evacuate now”, you can do so speedily and with a minimal loss of your most important things.
If you don’t have to evacuate, if the disaster is averted or never reaches your location, consider it a drill; practice for the next time, when it may be the real thing.