Yesterday was another wake up call. A call to know our limitations.
We can move somewhere else, or prepare for the next calamitous event.
We have two identical backpacks in our car, with supplies for a couple of days, plus blankets, extra jackets and shoes, medications.
I've had these supplies for a while. I refresh them every season or so, eat up the food and drink up the water and update the meds. We take many meds, and this process of updating them is probably the toughest thing to accomplish since pharmacists do not give you extra meds for emergencies.
Do you feel safe where you are? Good.
Do you want to be prepared for emergencies?
I will repost my backpack contents on my next post. If you are in a hurry, search my old posts, copy and paste, if you wish. You have my blessings and permission.
Sometimes, that's all we can do.
36 comments:
I know you were evacuated for awhile yesterday, but I am impressed that you are so organised, with backpacks in your car. On the other hand maybe that is just a fact of life of living where you do. It is just so very sad that Mother Nature is in such turmoil.
From our 40+ years living in Northern CA, I too have packs prepared, but not with meds, as you know we get an allowance and need to take those. Here in south east MN the risk is significantly less. I suppose a tornado could whip through but this bluff country has been safe forever. It was not a consideration we thought of when moving. We were quite aware of eatrthquakes in CA, but just lived with it. Seems we cannot prepare for every eventuality in life, still you are making a good attempt. I often think, if told to leave, I would grab the documents and medicines and that would be it. We did have floods/ and a 100 year downpour storm in 2007 but our home was solid, some very minor seepage into the well cellar, nothing like others down the road. We were blessed.
I'm glad that you're safe. You're wise to think ahead with those backpacks.
I hope you never are forced to use those backpacks!
Put all the photos you cherish - and any documentation you'd be lost without - onto a CD and pack it, or send it to family for safekeeping.
You could, as you say, move location but if you did you know that Sod's Law would come into play and lightening would strike you or a boy racer knock you down on the road :o/
Every now and then Mother Nature gives us a wake-up call to remind us that we are not in charge. I cannot imagine how unsettling your evacuation must have been. We live in So. California, along the San Andreas Fault. We are reminded that the next "big one" is not if but when. We also have two backpacks and many other emergency supplies but in truth, the night of the Japan earthquake, I was lying awake trying to remember where all the items were! So today is an "organization" day!
i cant imagine living somewhere where there are frequent quakes or tsunamis - it must be a kind of lingering terror
Don't forget the asteroid that is coming!
Just saying! Can't prepare for everything.....
I am glad you are safe.
I'm glad to read you and to know you are safe.
a kiss from Italy
Oh Yes! Documents and backup disks. Thanks!
Hi Rosaria .. sounds like you're reasonably organised .. especially if you've got the docs and the laptop or disks ..
I hope all will be well .. it seems Mother Nature is still rumbling ..
Look after yourselves .. Hilary
I was wondering about U all. I also have backpacks, extra water, extra clothes, extra medicine...fortunately, I work for a doc so I can get extra.....Stay well & stay safe. Hugs.
I am so glad that you are safe. And impressed by your organization (backpacks=brilliance)!
As a native Californian now living in New England, I don't know if there is any place you can go and truly be safe. Mother Nature has her ways of levelling the playing field.
Love the title and spelling of your blog. It's perfect. Visiting from Marguerite's always fun "Cajun Delights".
good that you are so prepared, in light of todays climate for disasters we need to really think about this...
Our Church (LDS) has preached the 72hr. kit for as long as I can remember, and also having atleast 3mo.-1yr. food and water supply. A task for sure, but surprisingly easy to do one step at a time. You are so smart to be prepared. We may not be in a tsunami area, but a hazardous spill, a tornado, a flood, a fire can be an evac notice...food supply is also good if a job layoff happens and you can feed your family and use money for bills instead. The Boy Scouts have it said simply "Be Prepared" and lets not forget, "Do a good turn daily"...all words to live by! I'm so glad you are home safe now and I pray for all that are not.
You got hit pretty good down there. Amazing how a tragedy so many miles away can find its way to your back yard.
this is such a smart thing to do. when I was wilderness camping I always carried a survival kit. fortunately I never needed it.
You are amazingly organized, Rosaria!! I think it I always good to be prepared no matter what the circumstances. It's sad to think that we have to be prepared for these natural disasters, but really in our hearts we should all do it each day, huh?
I was late reading the papers and blogs today and I just realized that you were affected by the tsunami.
Thank God you are all safe and sound.
Take care in these dangerous and unpredictable times.
Glad to know that you are well, Rosaria. Tried to reach you by e-mail yesterday, and found I had a wrong address. :((
Glad you are also well prepared.
I never have any cause for concern from anything the earth might do here. Humans on the other hand...
My "cosmetic "luggage" is ready to travel pharmacy with more meds than makeup.
When we left TX we never thought about faults and earthquakes, like the New Madrid fault, and now one that either has been recently discovered, or was thought not big enough to be felt
I am fixing to pack a small suitcase with a working laptop and a small token of essential clothing.
Will be interested in your backpack
You were definitely in my thoughts while waiting for the news of the US coast line. So glad you are safe.
Having lived in Florida so many years, I always was prepared for long stays with out power. Arkansas has different challenges but I am also prepared here.
My theory is that if your are prepared, you aren't as scared.
I have been to Erin's and read something there that caught my breath and made my heart ache a little. Rosaria, that is all I will say. That and Ohhhhhh...
Yes, I am safe... I think. But then, many of us have thought we were safe on the earth and it hasn't been so.
I was talking to my neighbors yesterday, debriefing about our preparations for emergencies, and people do all sorts of things to get ready. Some packed a week's worth of clothes and moved in with their friends on higher ground.
My experience with the California earthquakes has been that you may be in your car when something happens, and you need to move yourself out of there to safer grounds. That's the reason for a backpack; a backpack is small enough to carry your essentials:
1.water and purifying drops
2. meds/first aid kit/water purifier
3, food like granola bars, dried fruit, nuts
4. blanket/space blanket in the backpack; regular blankets in the car
5. one change/underclothes/face cloth
6. jacket/rain protection
7. radio and batteries
8. identity papers
9. cell phone/ extra batteries
10. knife or utility tools
11. toilet paper
12. whistle
13. flashlight/batteries
14. Toiletries
15.
Water will be heavy to carry. You should have a couple of gallons per person in the car. So, if you have one bottle in the backpack, and you need to leave the scene, if you must leave the scene that is,better yet, never leave the scene unless your life is in danger, once you have emptied that bottle you can use it to fill it with water you find and add a drop of purifying liquid. This is available at all sports supply stores, which, btw, will carry everything else you need, including a flashlight, radio, etc.
There are a great many things to do when an emergency strikes. Your pre-preparation kit will be in the car or at the door to pick up and go.
A word about phones. Our cell phone did not work last Friday, went dead. So, be sure you have a list of people and phone # with you on a piece of paper. If nothing else, if you are incapacitated, someone else can access your contact numbers.
I also can't imagine living in such conditions. A very sensible list provided by the last comment. Come and live in CApe Town, South Africa. Very safe here - just the wind that blows from November to April.
You are well prepared.
That Pacific Ocean has a lot to answer for.
I suppose we are lucky to be living here. However 400 yrs ago, there was a tsunami in the Bristol Channel and everything got washed away on our side & in Wales on the other.
I only got that through Googling! Perhaps there is no such thing as complete safety.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
I'm so glad you're OK. It must be an emotional roller coaster to have to leave your home quickly.
We're not in an earthquake zone, but we do have tornadoes -- quite a number in recent years. No place is truly safe.
I'm impressed, too and I'll be interested to know the contents of your backèpacks. As you know, we'ree in a high risk zone here and everyone knows we are not well prepared.
Being prepared for hurricanes is part of life on the coast of Louisiana. But at least we have several days warning to prepare. I keep everything that I would need to evacuate, packed in large plastic containers, stacked in my hall closet by the front door. These will all fit in the trunk of my car. You are wise to be ready, just in case. Better safe than sorry.
Yes, #12. I learned that from you!
Glad you are okay.
And I agree with you writing down phone #'s on a paper. I do that, too (as a back up!)
I always try to keep lots of water on hand, but I haven't thought about a backpack filled with the necessities. Perhaps I do need to think further than my nose.
Medications... that's what really struck me in this post.
I've never really thought about them in relation to emergency situations.
I'm fortunate and live without them, but many must live with them.
I hope all is okay in your neck of the woods.
Mother nature sure is giving a big shout out.
be well xx Robyn
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