EMERGENCY PREPARATIONS
Guest Blogger:
Please take a moment to view this important family-survival preparation piece, based on extensively researched and documented scenarios, as well as personal experience, and includes a video short on important food and water backup storage: "The Restoration - Be Prepared".
You can tailor your family's provisions according to his thorough list of supplies. Then find other important articles, videos, and links (such as recent disaster-donation sites for families who have lost everything) which can also be accessed directly on Chris Rhoades Shire blog site.
We strongly recommend that your family plan now for any emergency, because disasters do not take holidays! Please prepare, and help us promote these important life-saving preparations!
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| Get a Kit Put Together (Bug-Out Bag or 72-Hr. Bag) |
Make a kit including the most important items, food, water, and first aid. To help you prepare a family kit, list items you would not want to live without, and then put a kit together.
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| Make a Plan for the Entire Family (Pets Included) |
Make a plan easy enough for every member of your family, and then practice it regularly!
Try sustainable projects that your family can implement over the weekend. You might also want to make family emergency bracelets for disaster preparation.
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| Be Informed (Online & Radio Broadcasting |
Talk to neighbors, and make calls to out-of-state family, for news reports you might not be getting.
Evacuate IF you are instructed to!
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| Get Involved Helping Family & Neighbors |
With so much happening in the world today it's hard to know what to prepare for.
The best place to start is locally, and I'm sure you're already prepared for your region-specific events. 
Hawaiians prepare for hurricanes and volcanoes, while Californians prepare for earthquakes and fires. Kansas residents stay prepared for tornadoes, while those in the Gulf Bay area prepare for floods and extreme hurricanes. Northern Atlantic states prepare for ice storms and snow banks, while Japan and New Zealand prepare for nuclear power (radiation) leaks, tsunamis, and liquefaction with every aftershock.
See earthquakes world-wide and in real time at Global Incident Map.com
Evacuate WHEN you are instructed to!
Keep extra supplies auto-packed and ready for immediate evacuation, neatly stored in the trunk of your car, to prevent chaos when you are instructed to evacuate. Get your family, your pets, and then go quickly! Remember that nothing you own is more important than the lives of your family members.
Time-savers for quick escapes:
You should have coats and boots readily available, to grab as you go out the door.
Travel-ready fresh & growing food:
Smaller plants such as herbs with medicinal properties will fit in your auto. Potted dwarf trees (especially citrus) will fit in your van or motorhome.
Even the best plans cannot account for additionally frustrating emergencies, such as washed-out escape routes!
Your choices will be to head back, or leave your vehicle, and turn your adventure into a family camping trip, or a long hike!
Resourcefulness & creativity are your best assets!
Just be prepared to adapt to anything that happens along the way, and know you can make it as a family! You will always have options, so keep trying until something works - to ensure your family's safety!
Handy travel tools like these, could make all the difference in your survival.
Prepare your home with basic supplies!
Consider what you'd do if you were trapped in your home for any extended amount of time (without services) as were victims of Katrina & Sandy storms, or just being snowed in.
What kind of provisions would be necessary for your family, if you could not get to a grocery store, or if there was no food left on the shelves? Make a list of things that your family cannot live without, and stock up on those items.
All food storage needs to be in air-tight, waterproof containers similar to the garage/pantry area shown here. 
Power will probably be out so make sure you are prepared with alternative sources of water, propane, heat, and lighting.
A fireplace or outdoor fire pit, and lots of wood, can become a makeshift oven or stovetop, but never use a BBQ indoors for heat! River, stream, or ocean water can be used for bathing in emergencies, and should always be used to fish for your family dinner.
Think through every scenario and try to prepare as best you can. Count on something coming along you hadn't prepared for, but you will figure out how to deal with it as a family! God bless and keep you safe!
Copy and use this Red Cross Emergency Contact Card & fill one out for everyone in your household to keep with them. Be blessed and stay safe!
