Natural disasters can disrupt essential utilities like power lines, affect transportation systems, and limit access to basic supplies. In the event of a disaster like a hurricane or a rainstorm, you might not be able to leave your home for a couple of days. Keeping an emergency kit in your home is crucial as it contains all the essentials required, keeping you safe while you stay home. Let’s read on to know the emergency kit essentials and related supplies you need to make a fully loaded emergency kit.
Know Your Requirements
Start by evaluating how many people will be using the emergency supply kit and put items that address their specific needs. An emergency kit made for a 6-year-old will be different from a 60-year-old female. Therefore, keep these things in mind when preparing the emergency kit. The second thing to consider when preparing the emergency kit is to evaluate what type of natural disaster your area normally encounters. For example, people living near the coastline can expect flooding or hurricanes. If the expected natural disaster requires you to evacuate to a safe place, make sure that the emergency kit you prepare is portable enough to be carried around with ease. On the other hand, if the disaster forces you to stay within a shelter like in flooding situations, then preparing an emergency kit with all the essentials is necessary.
Drinking-Water
Most natural disasters or unexpected geopolitical conflicts can affect the supply of clean, drinking water. Depending on the number of individuals, keep at least a gallon of water per person. If you are expecting to rely on your emergency supply for more than one day, consider storing a few more gallons of water as one gallon can only fulfill the drinking and sanitation needs of one person. However, if you need to evacuate in case of a disaster, storing water would not be a good choice to make. Instead, benefit from today’s sophisticated technology, find devices, and portable filtering systems that can make unclean water drinkable within no time. A variety of filtering products are available in the market. Therefore, consider your requirements before you pick one.
Respirator Masks
In the world we live in today, events are unpredictable. Last year, we all witnessed a small outbreak of a virus that turned into a pandemic within no time. To protect yourself from bacteria, viruses, and other air-borne toxins, adding a gas mask or a respirator is a great choice to make. It is necessary to research and know the type of respirator that would suffice to your specific requirements. These respirators even can stop any airborne chemical warfare agents from entering your lungs. A gas filter or a breathing apparatus can be attached to the respirator for added protection against a variety of CBRN agents. Therefore, considering different options will help you narrow down your search and find the one that best suits your needs.
Food Supplies
Always go with ready-to-eat foods that require minimal to no preparation. Energy bars, dried fruits, trail mixes, and related foods are the best choices to make. When you are picking these items, remember to never choose low-quality items as they have a low nutritional value. Food ration bars, pre-packed meal pouches, and canned food products are some other options if you need to rely on supplies for a few days.
First-aid Supplies
Most of us have a first-aid kit at our homes that includes gauze, bandages, antibacterial ointments, pain killers, and related emergency use medicines. Include a small pouch of first-aid supplies in your emergency kit as injuries can occur amid a natural disaster.
Emergency Lights
Add portable lights to your emergency kit as they will illuminate the surroundings in case of a power outage. You can either buy a separate LED emergency light or go for combination devices like a weather radio that will not only keep you informed of the weather conditions but also provide you with light.
Clothing and Protection
Include an extra pair of clothes for each person using the emergency kit and don’t forget insulating blankets that can protect you from extreme weather conditions. Waterproof tarps can also be added to the kit if you are expecting to deal with water.
Besides the above-mentioned essentials, you can add many survival items like a whistle, extra batteries, toiletries, garbage bags, maps, and important documents to name a few. An emergency kit would only suffice when you have evaluated your specific requirements and gathered the items accordingly. Therefore, the best way to assemble an emergency kit is by doing your homework and completely evaluating the situation so that the choices you make help you keep safe until conditions bounce back to normal.
