Editors Note: September is National Preparedness Month. In today’s article, author Dan Vale covers some excellent and easy tips to get prepared.
Written by Dan Vale
Get Prepared this September during National Preparedness Month
Since 2004 the Federal Emergency Management Agency has used National Preparedness Month to encourage Americans to get ready for emergencies. If your family has not been enthusiastic about disaster preparation, this September gives you a chance to demonstrate to them that our nation sees a need to prepare for disasters such as the COVID-19 Pandemic, the gulf coast hurricanes, and the west coast wildfires.
Review your preps
If you feel that you have already prepared well for a disaster, you might want to double check your prepper inventory. This article might give you some ideas about preparations you might not have considered yet.
For example, are you running low on any supplies? During or after a disaster would not be a good time to try to look for those supplies in crowded stores with empty shelves. You also would not want to be driving on obstructed roads that might be unlit, without functioning stoplights, and crowded with emotionally distraught drivers who are prone to road rage. This would be especially dangerous when police resources and road service companies are stretched thin.
Important considerations
You might not have considered critical aspects of your prepper inventory. Below are listed just some of the items to consider for your prepper inventory and links to help you:
1. Do most of your stocked foods depend upon refrigeration, or do you have enough canned food and a manually operated can opener? Here’s what to do with refrigerated foods after a power outage.
2. Do you have enough entertainment such as board games in case electronic entertainment is not available due to a power blackout? Check out Entertainment for an Emergency.
3. Are any of your food supplies or medications close to their expiration date? Here are a couple of helpful articles: Expiration dates explained and If you’ve always wondered about expiration dates
4. Are there any bulging cans in your pantry, leaking batteries in your flashlight, or band-aids in your first aid kit that no longer stick? Here’s what happened when someone I know kept bulging cans.
5. Do you have fire extinguishers in your home and in your car? Check out Fire extinguishers for apartments.
6. Do you have large trash bags in case trash collection is interrupted? See SHTF hygiene.
7. Do you have a portable, battery operated radio to allow you to stay in touch with what is happening in your geographic area? Here are essentials for communications.
8. Do you have at least $1,000.00 in cash to use if credit card machines are disabled by a power blackout? You need an emergency cash stash.
9. Is your car in good condition, and does it have a bug out bag in it?
10. Do you have paper roadmaps to use in case cell phone navigation systems are not available because your cell phone is not working? Here are tips for navigation during a disaster.
11. Do you have extra glasses or contacts in case you break or lose the ones you have now? Here are unusual items you should include in your first aid kit (and the normal ones).
12. Do you have battery operated fans and mist bottles to deal with no air conditioning during a summer power blackout? Find out about additional ways to stay cool in a summer power outage.
Different preppers will have different inventory needs. A prepper in North Dakota, for example, might want to have a small warming tent that could be pitched indoors during the winter when there is no heat because of a power blackout. A prepper in Arizona might want portable fans and misting bottles in case air conditioning is out due to a power blackout in the summer. A prepper on the fire ravished west coast or on the hurricane lashed gulf coast might want a dependable car and a very good bug out bag.
Skills
Prepper inventory items often will require skill to use them correctly. For example:
1. Do you know how to use all the items in your first aid kit?
2. Do you know the different types of fire extinguishers and how to maintain and use them?
3. Do you know how to read paper road maps?
4. Have you taught these types of skills to your family members?
The final word
Are you prepared for the next disaster? Now is the time to top off your supplies while shelves are getting restocked and supply lines are not disrupted.
As Neil deGrasse said,
“Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we’re still at the mercy of nature.
About the Author:
Dan Vale has a Bachelor Degree in Physical Education. He won the Mr. Delaware Bodybuilding Contest in 1968 and earned his karate Black Belt in 1973. He has had a lifelong interest in physical fitness. Furthermore, for over seven years, he wrote 785 of articles for the Examiner Online Newspaper. Most of these articles were written in his capacity as the Baltimore Prepper Examiner. To see his Amazon books, visit his Amazon author page.
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Photo by Frame Harirak on Unsplash
I followed several prepping sites (no radical, doomsday sites) and learned a lot, but I learned even more after I bought an old campervan to travel. I refuse to pay for hook-ups like water and electricity, so I had to learn how to do activities different, like bathing, washing dishes, surviving hot or cold temperatures and conserving electricity. I highly recommend RV newbie sites like Cheap RV Living to learn all the skills you would need in a power outage/weather disaster situation. You don’t have to have an RV, as he has hundreds of videos on how to survive in a tent or car.
Hi Michelle, Thanks for sharing your experience. Cheap RV Living sounds like a great resource, and not just for RV owners. I appreciate the comment!