Thursday, March 18, 2010

What's in Your Go-Kit? Disaster Preparation Resources

Think about this: A disaster is about to hit your community or home. Are you ready?

Think next about who responds first and (arguably) more efficiently?
If you're having trouble with this one, refer to your memories of the Haiti earthquake.

Alex, I'll say, who are your neighbors?

Emergency personnel ratios are not 1:1 in this world, so we have a responsibility to ourselves, our family, and our neighbors during an emergency. Many large cities have civilian teams of responders, called Community/Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams (CERT/NERT). Training involves classes in fire management, utility management, triage, light search and rescue, and most important, what to put in the Go-Kit. For example, a trash bag can also be used as a toilet, but make sure it is double-bagged. Fortunately, you don't have to commit to a class to learn about safety.

Here is San Francisco's NERT resource website. The two documents I recommend are the Family Disaster Plan and Home/Work/Car Kit List.
These are very detailed documents, so adapt them to your needs and preferences.

Alex, I'll take "Other ways to use trash bags" for 800, please.









1 comment:

Newt said...

Tracy, thanks for the info. I've printed out the "Kit" and "Plan" and Susan and I will work on them. We were quite organized when we lived in Lilburn but have only talked about readiness since we moved.