Stay Safe When Camping
I love to spend time in the wilderness. During the summer, my family takes several camping trips. We have expeditions planned for Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. Despite my love of the outdoors, I like to play it safe. That means bringing survival kits along on ever trip.
We bring these kits just in case anyone gets hurt. When you’re camping anything can happen. You can get burned from the campfire, slip and fall in the underbrush or get poison ivy. No matter what happens, you will feel safer bringing along a survival kit.
Keeping Your Pets Safe in a Disaster
In emergency situations, people often forget to plan for their pets. But your pets are in just as much need of extra food rations and emergency gear should something unexpected befall your family or your region. That’s why many pet owners have extra cans of pet food always on the pantry shelf. Not only is it more convenient come pet suppertime, but it’s also good general policy for emergencies.
A lot of pet owners also look into pet first aid kits. These are outfitted with a variety of first aid products specifically designed to tend to your pet should they be seriously or mildly injured in a disaster. After all, even something like a small earthquake can result in injuries to your animal if they should dash under a bookcase that topples or get caught under some other disrupted household item. Be ready to play vet until they can see a certified doctor, and your pet has a greater chance of recovering from all bumps and bruises.
The Three Essentials
During the course of our everyday lives, we often take for granted the essentials for survival: food, water and shelter. Having these three basics doesn’t necessarily guarantee happiness, of course, which explains why many people are ambitious enough to hold jobs and save money. But in a disaster situation, these simple considerations come to the forefront.
With that in mind, it’s important for any conscientious person to plan ahead in case of an emergency. Water should be stored in abundance – whether in barrels or some other dependable container – and emergency food supplies should be close at hand. In the best case scenario, these items would never come into play. They would sit in the basement and gather dust. Still, it’s best to be vigilant and ready for the worst.
Considerations for an Emergency Preparedness Kit
It can be difficult deciding what to include in an emergency preparedness kit. If I gathered everything I could think of to put in my personal emergency kit, it would require a small pickup truck just to contain it. Further, if I assembled everything I could think of for that of my family’s emergency needs, it would require two or more large pickup trucks to contain the items. Neither of these approaches was practical. My goal was to have an emergency preparedness kit
small enough to grab and go so it could be with me in a vehicle or office. A backpack size kit now became reasonable.
To have a manageable sized emergency kit I had to scale way back and focus on items that cover the basics of life as these items suddenly became the most important. Food, water, shelter, warmth and a first aid kit were at the very top of the list, anything else was sort of “fluff”. I fit a few smaller, extra items in my kit like a shake flashlight and survival knife, but to maintain my goal of keeping the overall size manageable, I had to be very selective.
Disaster Preparedness in the Workplace
It is important for all offices to have a contingency plan in cases of natural or man-made disasters. We never know when disaster might strike. Because we spend most of our waking hours at work, we must also know what to do in the office during an emergency crisis.
There must be regular fire drills and earthquake drills conducted to keep employees on top of every emergency. Employees must also be briefed on how to handle various emergency situations. This way conflict and chaos during a crucial moment are avoided. Having an office survival kit in every room is also important. A kit may contain emergency equipment such as bandages, gauzes, water purification tablets, blankets, flashlights, and medicines.
Emergency supplies – got some?
The 7.0 earthquake in Haiti last week has heightened public awareness of the need to have emergency supplies on hand. Many people around the world are once again asking themselves what they would do in such an emergency. Even more are seriously considering what they need to do NOW to prepare for a similar disaster. My heart and prayers go out to the Haitians’ in their plight. The devastation is horrific to view on the news. As I watch, one thought keeps recurring to me about my own situation. If my town were ever hit by such an intense earthquake, or other disaster, and my home were completely leveled, in an instant, such that there was no time to remove my own emergency supplies, what would I do?
After ensuring the safety of my family, friends and neighbors, I’d hope that somehow I could get back into my home’s rubble to salvage some of my supplies. But this possibility may not be realistic. I keep a travel size survival kit in each of my cars (which I can’t park in the garage because of too much other stuff). So at least there’s a good chance the cars would survive and their survival kits accessible. Even though these travel kits are a “lighter” version of my 72 hour kit at home, at least they would provide me with access to some emergency supplies. But this “total loss of home and survival supplies” scenario merits much greater thought. I will do some research to find an acceptable plan.
With nearly everyone having slightly unique situations, this would be a good subject to receive feedback on. If anyone has thoughts or ideas on the matter, please make a comment.
My Next Knife Should be a Survival Knife
I’ve noticed on the television show, Man Vs Wild, that Bear Grylls regularly employs a survival knife. He skillfully whittles and cuts his way to survival in remote locations around the world. During each episode, Bear manages to use the survival knife he 
carries in a variety of ways.
I have all types of knives, pocket knives, Swiss Army knives, hunting knives, skinning knives, fillet knives, etc. However, the one knife I’ve not owned is a survival knife. Seeing all the uses a quality survival knife has (and the fact that Bear Grylls seems to always emerge from his wilderness experiences alive), it must be time for me to add a survival knife to my own arsenal.
Emergency First Aid Kits in the Woods
When you are in your own home, it is to be expected that in a pinch a neighbor and a phone can be there at some point to help in an emergency. This should not be relied upon as stated in the earlier post, and for good reason, but eventually, someone will come a-running if you called. When you are in the woods, even this luxury is not something that you can expect.
In the woods, you could be all alone with a paddle to row home and you cannot expect anyone to come at all. When this happens, preparedness goes into the red zone. If you are not prepared in this circumstance death and serious illness may be knocking at your door. So before you head of to the open wilderness, remember to bring basic emergency medical supplies with you. In a life or death situation, you will never regret bringing anything that may be of value with you.
Why have “serious” emergency medical supplies on hand?
I have felt f
or many years that my family and I have been fortunate in that we have never had a serious medical emergency. We’ve had plenty of “minor” medical emergencies; the kind you can treat with a routine first aid kit or at worst a quick trip to the doctor for some stitches. Recently I’ve been thinking about whether I should invest in a “serious” emergency medical supply kit. My wife is a Registered Nurse, so I feel pretty good about having someone around who would know how to use the supplies. After a little study I could probably figure things out in a pinch anyway. I also realize that getting one of these kits, also known as a “trauma kit”, would represent an investment, as they are not cheap.
I’m curious to know if anyone out there has experience using one of these kits containing emergency medical supplies and could provide some insight. Would someone please comment on this? Thanks.
Can your flashlight do this?
I have found the most incredible flashlight. This thing is one that I can simply shake and it works, and it works great! I can’t count the number of times I have needed a flashlight and as I pressed the button or slid the switch to turn the light on I found the batteries were dead. I finally got smart and now have a portable emergency light (a fancy name for a flashlight) that all I have to do is shake the thing and it turns on. Yep! No more dead battery hassles for me!
Keeping a portable emergency light around saves the agonizing dead flashlight battery headaches. These new shake lights will also work great in any emergency or survival pack. Heck, it fits nicely in my wife’s purse so I got her one too!