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Don't Get Caught Unprepared
Plan for Emergencies Now By Amy Carey
Once you've planned for an emergency and secured your disaster supplies, your work isn't done. Talking to your family periodically about potential disasters is key to being prepared. "Your children are aware, on some level, that we live in a dangerous world," says Holtzman. "You can use the assembling of a disaster kit as a way of talking about the ... possibility of disaster and giving assurances that the family is taking steps to ensure safety no matter what happens."
She also suggests you conduct "disaster drills" during which your family gathers in a designated safe room and stays for an hour or so, eating some of the stored food and drinking some of the water, but replacing everything consumed.
Rotating your supplies is also as important as assembling them. Canned goods, for example, should be discarded after one year, along with bottled water. Designate a time of year when you check your disaster kit and replace any expired goods. Hallford's family, who keeps a disaster kit for each family member in its own backpack, rotates their supplies every October.
Keeping your head in the sand, thinking disasters won't hit close to home, can only put your family at risk. Preparing for the worst "requires us to admit it could happen and to recognize that there are ways of minimizing [a disaster's] impact on us," says Harrald. Start with just one step today, take another step tomorrow, and before you know it, you'll be ready to weather any unexpected storm as safely as possible.
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