Each of us lives in area prone to natural phenomena that could possibly put our, as well as our family’s lives, at risk. It is too late to begin preparing just 24 hours prior to an event. Some events occur with just a few minutes notice. Others we may have at least a week to plan and prepare for. Hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, drought, and other phenomena are experienced on a yearly basis in regions of the country. Preparing and planning for those most likely in your area should begin weeks, if not months, prior to a possible event.
Livable shelter, water, food, medicines, fuel, and protection from marauding looters are just a few of the things requiring planning and preparation. What happens if your home is severely damaged? How much water should you have stockpiled? What kinds of food will last for days or even weeks should you lose refrigeration and power? How will you cook your food? How much fuel will be necessary for your vehicles should you decide that you need to leave the threatened area? How much of your maintenance medications should you have on hand? What basic first aid skills and training should you possess? What should be your priorities to survive the first hour, twelve or twenty-four hours after an event? What communication appliances should you have hand to know what is going on during and after an event? How will you communicate with family out of your area? What support can you expect from your neighbors? What support will you be able to give to your neighbors? If you have pets, how will you take care of them? What will you do, how will you deal, with serious injuries to yourself or loved ones? What will you do if medical facilities are not capable of providing normal services or are unreachable? How will you access your money if banks are not capable of functioning? What will you do if someone is trying to break into your home to take your supplies, or much worse? These, and many other questions, need answers long before a specific natural event.
To answer those questions you need to sit down and draw up a survival plan. Once the plan is developed you face the task of securing and protecting the supplies, capabilities, tools and equipment that you identify. Not having a plan, and secured materials, means that the potential for your survival decreases dramatically. Remember the key survival priorities: shelter, water, food, warmth and cooking, communication and personal safety/security. Those categories, at a minimum, should be well thought through parts of your survival planning and preparation.
An example of not being prepared. In 2008, as Hurricane Ike bore down on the Gulf Coast area of Houston, countless tens-of-thousands of families heeded a broadcast to evacuate the metro area. The evacuation notice took place continually starting 48 hours before the eye of the storm was to hit. Families jumped into their cars, vans, SUVs, any vehicle possible, and headed to the major highways to go west or north out of the path of the storm. Within hours of the first “get out of Dodge” notice every major highway had turned into a parking lot. Nothing moved. Vehicles ran out of gas. Families ran out of water. Little food was available. Access ramps were clogged completely. People died due to the heat of south Texas. Eventually many, using any means possible, got off the highways and headed back to their homes to face the hurricane. At the last minute the storm veered slightly to the east missing downtown Houston. Even with that torrential rain brought serious flooding. Winds knocked out power from three days to three weeks across the city and its outlying areas. Post storm temperatures climbed into three digit heat indexes. Homes were destroyed. Thousands upon thousands of trees were down. For a few days there was no gasoline. Grocery store shelves were empty and took days, if not weeks, to restock. People were left to their own means to try to weather the storm’s aftermath. Most had little if any supplies put back to get them through. Tough times were experienced by many.
Those who had a plan and had prepared did better. Most had decided to stay put and ride out the storm. They had the supplies they needed to be self-sufficient for weeks. Once the storm passed they set out to clean up the mess. Neighbors cooked community meals to use up frozen food before it spoiled. Within hours of the winds quitting neighborhood crews were out clearing trees from roads, patching roofs with tarps, helping those who needed supplies. A week after the storm, if you drove around, you could pinpoint neighborhoods who were prepared, homes and families quickly returning to a more normal life. You could also see areas where little planning and preparation had been done. It would be weeks before those areas and homes were reasonably normal.
My question to you is quite simple. Do you have a plan to deal with your regions worst? Have you prepared the basic areas mentioned earlier that will enable you to survive the natural event? Have you made a concrete decision to stay put? Or, have you decided to get out of the area early enough, and have a specific plan to do just that? The responsibility to survive a natural disaster is yours and your alone. You will not be able to count on normal public services to save your butt? It is up to you whether you and your family make it. Are you willing to risk playing with the lives of those you love by not planning and preparing? Make a decision to plan and prepare. Choose to survive!
