What to Do In Case Of a Rare Annual Disaster

While making a decision about moving to the new location, one of the things that have to be taken into consideration is to see how often the area is hit by disasters. Houston had been considered an area with no history of disasters until recently when Hurricane Harvey hit the area. This hurricane changed the perceptions of people about Houston.

During that disaster situation, people had to make their way through completely flooded streets. People were using rafts and air mattresses to carry their kids, belongings and pets to escape the area.

Although the disaster was quite rare, it caused huge amount of damage. There was three feet of raining during three days. Majority of areas got flooded and there was a significant damage to 100,000 homes of the area.

It was quite surprising forFEMA officials and people Houston that most of the personal injuries happened to the people outside of the flood plains in Texas. The injuries and deaths happened when people got trapped in their homes and cars. As a result, many of the people died and many were injured in an attempt to get out of the cars and homes.

The reason we are talking about Hurricane Harvey is that it caught the people off guard. Many people were not expecting any kind of emergency situation until they found themselves in a situation which turned out to be fatal for many.If they would have prepared themselves for this situation beforehand, they would not have to do anything other than getting out of the area safely.

The first thing that people can do to prepare themselves for such situations is to sign up for the text alerts from government agencies which tell about the occurrence of disasters and emergencies. There are several mobile phones apps which display information about the disasters before they occur.

Another thing that you will have to pay attention to is the preparation of an emergency survival kit. The size of this kit mainly depends upon the number of people evacuating the home and the area.This survival kit needs to include everything which can help a family to survive the displacement. Foods, first aid, tools to make fire, flashlights, necessary utensils to make foods and a number of other related items are the necessary elements which need to be present in an emergency survival kit.

You also need to map out the emergency evacuation routes and add this information to the survival kit. Information about the alternative routes is important because main roads often get gridlocked when there is an immense amount of traffic trying to get out of the affected areas.

Remember, the only thing that can help you during a weather emergency or earthquake is preparedness. Make sure that you are fully prepared to get out of the area along with your family, pets and those belongings which you cannot afford to leave behind.

Tips To Build a Survival Kit

The idea of having a survival kit at home, office, school and any other building seems quite right to the people who know what an emergency situation could be like. But the people who rarely face any threat usually pay no attention to building an emergency survival kit. It can be turn out to be a wrong approach after the Hurricane Harvey had hit Houston, which was perceived to be the safest place in America to live in.

Here, you may wonder how to build an emergency survival kit. If you want to prepare a list of items, the list is going to be huge. Without categorizing, you will not be able to organize the kit in an ideal way. With the help of categorization, you will know what items belong to which category. Having a look at the categories will help you to understand the shortcomings of the kit pretty quickly.

Food and Water

Food and water are the most important necessities of an emergency survival kit.Emergency preparedness agencies like FEMA suggest people to add 3 days’ worth of food and water into their emergency survival kits. A gallon of water per day for one family member is the minimum requirement. This water is to be used for both drinking and sanitation purposes. It is also important to stock up the water for food cooking if you like to eat the foods after cooking. When it comes to the foods, you have to make sure that you are purchasing the non-perishable food items. Canned foods belong to that category. However, be sure about the expiration dates of the foods.

Emergency scenario items

There are some emergency items which you are going to have to include in your kit. These are not the foods. the items I am talking about mainly include flashlights, radio with extra batteries, help whistle, raincoats or ponchos, items to make fire, fire extinguisher, warm clothes, and blankets. To shut off your utilities, keep pliers or wrench in the survival kit. You will need it when you will have to leave your home in emergency. These tools can also be used to open the food cans.

Medical supplies

It is important to add first aid supplies in an emergency survival kit. In this scenario, you have to make sure that you have all of the first aid items which might be needed during an emergency situation. These supplies mainly include bacitracin, bandages, antacids and ibuprofen. If you have children or elderly people living in your home, you need to gather the items of their needs and include them in the survival kit.

Life-Saving Techniques That You Need To Learn

When it comes to survival during an emergency situation, people usually talk about preparing an emergency survival kit. The matter of fact is that a survival kit is just one of the things that you need to prepare. The major asset you can have is the set of skills which you can help you ensure your survival during difficult times.For instance, you can get certifications after learning the basic CPR and First Aid skills.

A few skills that you need to learn are worth mentioning here.


CPR, or Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation, is a crucial life-saving survival technique. The people who get CPR certification know what to do when a person has a heart attack or stroke and, as a result of that, can’t breathe. These life-threatening occurrences have become more common in recent times.If you are a CPR certified person, you may know how to maintain your calmness, something which is extremely necessary during an emergency situation. You can contact your local Red Cross or YMCA facilities if you are interested in getting this certification.

First Aid

First aid is another very important skill that you need to have. With this skill in hand, you will be able to know what exactly you can do in case of an emergency. The disaster situations can lead to cuts, injuries and broken bones. In some cases, the injuries can be life-threatening. The first aid skill can help you provide basic treatment for such injuries. And the good news is that you will have to pay a very small fee to get this certification from Red Cross or YMCA Facility.

Basic Auto Maintenance

When a disaster hits an area, all of the services have to go into the panic mode. Therefore, you might not be able to get quicker response in a number of situations. If you have managed to make it to your car but the car is not starting or your car has started and got out of the area but stopped working in the middle of somewhere, you cannot really expect the roadside assistance services to be that quick to reach at your position in case of a severe emergency in the area.In that scenario, you need to have basic auto maintenance skills to deal with the problems like a flat tire, needing an oil change or the battery or engine halt.

The outdoor skills

During an emergency situation, your first priority would be to get out of the affected area as soon as you can. You might not have a plan about where you are heading. Chances are you are going to be stranded at some place. In that scenario, you need have basic outdoor skills such as starting fire, purifying water and finding the edible plants.

What to do When There’s no Water

You can actually go over a month without food, but after 3-4 days with water, you’re in major trouble. You need water for many normal tasks and routines, and for living period.  You need water for drinking, but also for baths, cooking, toilets, and cleaning. Water availability, however, can be impacted by natural disasters, since many times people are not ready for the issues that come about because of this.

There are many water supplies that can be hit with these issues, oftentimes due to not enough electricity, or no water from the purification plants unless you have a non-electric well.  This can also happen due to water rupture, and many times, people may be out of water of two weeks. Water contamination due to flooding also can happen, and freezing weather is another reason for it.  Local streams aren’t safe since the water is polluted there, and oftentimes, there’s too much debris in those places too after a disaster. It can even make the water taste bad, which happens due to the items decomposing in it.

Some people can use containers, which are used for transporting water to store, and while five gallon buckets may not be good for drinking, it can be used for other options than consumption.

You should always store water for emergencies and have two gallons a day.  One should be for drinking, and the other for uses.  It’s preferable to have this there and ration it for survival.  You should be careful as well to not have bleach bottles look similar to water.  Bleach can be used to help disinfect and clean the water, but if you drink it, obviously that’s dangerous, and you should make sure you discern the difference.

You can also use fruit jars, cleaning them with water, leaving some head spaces, and then put the jars in boiling water baths for about thirty minutes, and once that’s there, you date it, and store it. Yes, you can use this similar to how you can food, and it should be done.

Sometimes, if you have a well and a pump that you can physically generate a power supply from, you might be able to do this, but for the most part, people don’t do that. However, you shouldn’t store plastic containers of this near pesticides, fuels, and other different materials, since the vapors from this can hit the plastic, and oftentimes, you should make sure that the water is protected from sunlight.

Always be diligent on where you put the water to, and make sure that you rotate this out every several years or so, and you should always use oldest inventory first and then move onto newer inventory.

With all of this in mind, you should make sure that you take the time to ensure that your water supply is constantly working, and you have the right water on hand for your goods and items. This will help you immensely during harsh times.

What to Do When Cell Phones Stop Working

The worst has happened: a natural disaster happens. You want to contact your friends, and your family, but you can’t. the cell phone isn’t working.  This leaves out a means to communicate, and oftentimes, modern communications might not work in an emergency.  Having radio equipment and learning how to use it is essential, and we’ll talk here about why these are needed for emergencies.

What’s the issue with cell phones? Well, the problem is they tend to break down.  Usually, it happens due to overload, where the communications spike, overwhelming the system. You might get a signal, but no connection, since millions are using it at once. Oftentimes, breakdown happens more, where your entire city won’t have communications breakout, and from there, you literally can’t make a call out.

Then there is the phone no being charged enough. Oftentimes, we will keep it charged to work, but if you didn’t charge it enough, you can say goodbye to the power, and oftentimes, you probably have maybe a half charge on the device. The problem as well, is that oftentimes, if they are older, they don’t’ hold as much power.

So, what’s the solution? Well, a ham radio, or satellite phones, they will do the job and then some.  They’re essentially the personal power source that you can use, and many times, with the use of batteries, you can get a signal out.  You’ll need to understand the communication networks locally, since these are oftentimes long-range, and also a bit storage because they can cause signals to bounce.  These are great cause you’ll be able to communicate with people past the disaster zone and get a signal out to help determine the condition.

You literally buy the equipment, and from there, you should make sure that you know how to use it.  It is less convenient, but you’ll get a signal out, and get the job done in an emergency so you can help others.

You do need a license though.  You might skip this if you need it only for emergencies, but you should get a license for this. That’s partially because it’ll teach you right away what you need to get done to get a signal out, and how to operate it. Let’s face it, the last thing you want to do is learn how to operate this from an emergency situation. This will help you learn how to use it not during an emergency, but also during normal times when you need it, and oftentimes, if you’re doing it without a license, you can get in trouble.

It is pretty easy to get it, and you essentially can study materials and get it, but you don’t need to know Morse code. But it will save your bacon in an emergency, and oftentimes, there is a chance that you’ll be able to, with this equipment, help others in the process, and it’s super helpful to know when the going gets tough in disastrous situations.

How to Prepare a Pet for a survival disaster

Pets are an integral part of this, and oftentimes when things get hectic, you may not know what you need for the pet or forget to pack something essential.  Here, you’ll learn a few tips that will help you with devising a plan.

First, you need to identify a shelter.  Many emergency shelters don’t allow pets, so you’ll want to make sure that you know of hotels, motels, and places where you can house your pets. The animal shelter may be able to help you with this as well.

Here are also items to pack.  Pet food, water bottles, medications, records from the bet, a cat litter or pan, a manual can opener, dishes for their food, first aid kit, and other supplies should be there.  You should always make sure that you have a pet survival kit for your little guy, so that if a disaster does it, they’re safe.

Make sure the ID tags are as securely fastened to the pet’s collar and have them up to date.  You should also attach the address and phone number of the site.  The tag is the ticket line. Always make sure you have photos of your pet for ID purposes, and always make sure that you have a secure carrier, leash, or harness for them, so that if they do panic, they can’t run away.

You should also contact the emergency management office animal shelter, or animal control office to get advice and information, and if you’re unable to return to your home immediately, you might need to board the pet, which means that you should know where they can.

Oftentimes, kennels that allow for boarding, vets and animal shelters will need the medical records of the pet to make sure that they’re all up to date on everything. Always have it.

You should make sure to keep precautions in place if you need to leave the pet at home.  You should never confine the pet to a place outside.  Let them stay loose in the home with plenty to drink. Remove the toilet tank lid and brace your bathroom door open.  Place a notice advising that pets are where they are and provide phone numbers so that they can contact you once they have the pet.

You should if you’re staying with them, have the pets inside, and have newspapers on hand.  Feed pets canned or moist food, so they need less water to drink.

You should bring them inside immediately and never have them outside during a storm.  Also, separate your cats and dogs. Even if they normally get along, they may act irrationally, and you should also get special dispensers to regulate food.

You should try to keep them with you and have close contact.  You should make sure that you never leave them attended.  You should watch them and keep them near as usable. That way they won’t freak out and are more liable to stay with you.

Emergency Preparedness Goals for this Year

Now that the year is in full swing, we all have goals. But, did you know that you could make certain emergency preparedness goals a thing? Here are some emergency preparedness goals for this year to consider.

First, is food storage. You should try to make sure that you have enough food, and rotate it out every so often to keep the freshness there.  You should store more if possible, especially if your budget allows it.  You should store water as well, especially since the water in the township could be contaminated, and you need that for cleaning and personal hygiene, along with keeping yourself and others hydrated.

You should make sure to get at least some basic supplies too. Medical supplies including bandages and ointment are important, because you may not be able to purchase this.  Make sure you store any medication yourself or family members take, and keep it up to date, and having extra gas for generators will definitely help.

So now that we’ve said a little bit about what you should have, what are a few goals for this year? Well, you should try to make sure you’ve got a survival kit for the home, office, and car, with different items in each one depending on the area.  You should also consider growing your own veggie or fruit garden. It may be a little late for this year, but preparing for next year is great.  You should learn how to preserve food since it does last much longer than if it wasn’t prepared.

You should look and assess the likelihood of when natural disasters hit the area. While you can never be too careful, you should prepare for the area you live in.

you can also test out the survival kit by going camping with it, and from there, make a pact to keep all digital devices away.  From there, you should test it, and see if your kit works for 72 hours at least. If the answer is no, get exactly what you need to make this possible.

Finally, learn to enjoy things that are helpful in an emergency. Fishing, cooking, building shelters, hiking, or even just keeping items safe are all valuable skills and items and you should make sure that if you can, you learn these in the event of an emergency.

Getting into the mindset of maintaining a survival kit is great for everyone to have, considering how unpredictable natural disasters are.  You should make sure to spend time and money on this and purchase ones that best fit your own personal needs. Kits that are able to be purchased are regulated, and you’ll be able to create a better, more rewarding experience for yourself, and you’ll be able to improve on this. Start working on your goals this year, by working on emergency preparation, and in turn, build a better, more rewarding survival experience that will not only keep you safe but others safe as well too.

Tips for Building the Perfect emergency Survival Kit

Natural disasters including tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildfires will happen t any time. It can affect a lot of different areas, but power outages, and also shutoffs do happen as well, and if you don’t have nonperishable food, it can be hard. Getting the right supplies for an emergency kit is essential, and here, we’ll discuss what you need in order to do that.

First and foremost, first aid supplies. Accidents happen in life.  Various bandages and sterile pads are needed, along with rubbing alcohol, antibiotic cream, and bacitracin, and other helpful first aid supplies.  You should know how to treat basic sprains and broken bones too. You will also want to make sure that you have antihistamines and some ibuprofen in there too. Sunscreen and bug spray may also be needed depending on climate. Don’t’ forget to include tools such as scissors and tweezers too. You should check this yearly to ensure that nothing has worn out or expired, and you’ll want to make sure you have this and know how to use this during an emergency.

Mnonperishable food is the next thing that you need. You need food that doesn’t require much preparation, including canned goods, oats, cereal, protein food such as peanut butter or canned fish are good. If you’re not able to cook food due to a power outage, knowing how to cook on an outdoor grill is useful. Utensils, pots, and pans, can openers, hot pads, and whatever are important too. You should also learn how to pickle or can your own food too. pickling is a food preservation method that uses the process of fermentation in different bines and mixtures. You can do this with lots of foods, and often, it can help change the texture and flavor, and it may be good for keeping it longer. It does take a little bit of getting used to, but knowing this is a valuable skill.

Don’t forget standard safety items either, especially flashlights, and battery radios, or even a crank radio, and you should make sure you replace everything and know how to get to where you need to go, and understand that you have to have all of this. Tarps, blanket,s ponchos, matches, lighters, garbage bags, and extra clothing can be helpful.  You should also have some external chargers, a disposable camera so you can document property damage.

Finally, practice for these emergency scenarios.  You should know how to get out of there and know the escape routes that will be usable, along with the quickest way out of there. By doing this, you’ll be able to form a better, more secure ability to get out of the house while you can, and in turn, you’ll be able to form a safer plan that will help everyone.

Natural disasters and escape routes are important to note, and here, we discussed some of the important tips and important aspects of your home that will help you in these times get the assistance that you need. 

Tips for Budgeting For Emergency

It is quite unfortunate that most of the people do not have much in terms of savings. And this economic condition can hurt you badly during emergency situations. We talk a lot about keeping the supplies ready for emergency, a very few people talk about the budgeting for emergency. Well, the good news is that you don’t have to break your bank if you want to prepare a budget for unforeseen and unfavorable circumstances.

In this article, we are going to discuss some ways to save the money. You can use those savings to prepare a budget for emergency situations. As a matter of fact, the tips which we are going to mention here are absolutely applicable when you want to save the money in general sense.

Cut utility costs

While you may be interested in purchasing the best systems to regulate the home environment, you need to keep in mind that these systems can increase your utility costs drastically. If live in hot climate, it is a good idea to open the windows and turn off the AC. And if you are living in cold areas, you can work on winterizing your home. You may still need to run the heating system but you are not going to need it the entire time.Moreover, you will have to make sure that you turn the appliances off while leaving the room.

Consider less expensive transportation

Gasoline can be expensive. It doesn’t mean that you s should abandon driving your car. But you need to restrict the car traveling to the times when you need it the most. If the mass transit open can help you reach your office on time, you can consider using this option to save the money.

Make a list of items you need every month

It’s quite strange that many of the people live without planning the monthly purchase of grocery items. They just enter the store and end buying more than what they need. Therefore, making a grocery list ahead of the grocery store tour can help you save a lot of money. You will know the exact amount of everything you need every month.

Cook more at home

This one is no brainer. If you want to cut down the costs on foods, you will have to reduce the number of times you bring ready foods from restaurants. Instead, you can cook meals at home. The best thing about home-cooked meals is that they are more nutritious and healthy. And of course they are going to save you a lot of money.

Tips To Organize Emergency Supplies At Home

Chances are you already know the importance of being ready for the emergency situations and disasters. One of the most important things you need to consider in order to be prepared for an emergency situation is to have an emergency survival kit. You will have to make sure that you have organized the kit’s supplies well.

When we talk about organizing supplies, we basically mean keeping supplies in an order. This way, you will be able to access any item without getting confused or frustrated.However, the supplies scattered in a room will put in confusion about the items. You will not be sure which item to access on priority in case there is an emergency. In other words, this lack of organizing can result in defeating the purpose of keeping emergency supplies.

There are a few elements that you need to consider while organizing a kit of emergency supplies.

The main elements to consider while organizing emergency supplies

First, you are going to have to make sure that you have everything you need in your emergency survival kit. Make a list of the items that you will need to purchase and then purchase everything in that list. The second element or step towards organizing the supplies is to make a checklist. An updated checklist informs you about what you have and what you haven’t on pretty timely basis. Next, you will have to make sure that you are replacing food items and medical supplies before they expire. And finally, you have to make sure that you have a separate place to store the emergency supplies.

Inspecting the supplies

Most of the items that are included in home survival kit can last up to 5 years. However, you will need to rotate the supplies like water, food and medicines after a period of every 3 months. And you will need to inspect your items every now and then. This inspection process may involve the following steps.

  • Take note of everything including food, water and medicines.
  • Check expiration dates of the supplies.
  • Make sure that you have up-to-date copies of medical information.
  • Do not overlook your pets. Make sure that you have enough supplies.

Stay organized

It’s not just about keeping your supplies organized. It is more about living in an organized manner. Although you have your emergency kit ready and you have included in it everything you thought was important, you may still have to approach other supplies in case of emergency. In that situation, you will not have to be frustrated or confused because you will have everything in easy access.