Are you prepared to survive when natural disasters, pandemics, or other emergency situations disrupt your daily life? What do you need to do in order to guarantee your survival if something happens?
I want to help you create your personal Survival Blueprint so that you will have an action plan that will help you be more self-sufficient when the world is crumbling around you. Let’s get started.
When Will Disaster or Emergency Strike?
In an ideal world, we would be able to know the exact scenario in which a disaster or emergency will affect us. We would know when, how, and where it will happen, and we would know exactly what to do.
In our ideal world, when a disaster or emergency strikes, we would have all of our loved ones gathered with us. We would have everything we need ready to be used if we required it.
- The generator is ready to be plugged into the house service and be our back-up power source.
- The alternate heat source is ready to begin warming our surroundings and shelter.
- We have enough food and water to last.
- We would know exactly when we would need to evacuate, shelter in place, or get to a safe location.
But in the real world, it doesn’t work that way, even if we wished it did!
We don’t get to choose when, how, where, or even why we’ll be facing an emergency situation or how much time we’ll have to react to it. It will probably come out of nowhere and be totally unexpected.
Think about it! You and your loved ones could be thrown into an emergency or survival situation due to a number of reasons, in an instant and without warning.
The real key is, first, realizing there’s no way to know how an emergency will unfold. Second, being ready at all times and taking your preparedness with you is the most effective way to maximize your odds of surviving in a disaster or emergency.
Let’s get started! You’ll be prepared to survive disaster or any emergency.
The Emergency Preparedness Assessment
Let’s start with the Emergency Preparedness Assessment. This will help you determine what you have and what you will need to get so that you are prepared to survive a disaster or emergency.
The first step in constructing an effective emergency preparedness plan is to assess the current conditions and capabilities, including documenting your current preparedness assets. A complete inventory of your current equipment, supplies, and people would be included. Don’t forget about your pets!
You will then develop a step-by-step outline to describe what must be done to respond to the emergency and prevent further damage. These step-by-step outlines should be developed for any conceivable problem such as flooding, fires, natural disasters, structural damage, or pandemic.
Ensure that the emergency preparedness plan includes back-ups for power, heat, and water. It is important that you have alternate sources available in case the primary sources are knocked out or offline.
Your plan should include steps to protect and retain important family records, and store them in a safe place that you have previously identified and prepared.
Once your plan is completed, it must be put into operation. Inform the family about the plan, identify a safe meeting place where everyone can gather, and establish a method for communications. Activate any health and safety measures so that they are part of the daily routine. And practice!
Once all of these steps are complete, you and your loved ones should be in a position to address any potential disaster or emergency no matter what. You’ll be ready to survive any disaster or emergency!
Be Prepared For Any Emergency!
The best way to deal with an emergency situation is to be prepared to deal with it.
No one can predict any emergency situation or when it will happen. However, we can work to get ourselves prepared FOR an emergency situation at any time, so we’ll be ready when it does happen.
Following are some tips on how to prepare to deal with a contingency at home. If you follow the tips and advice you will be better prepared to deal with any emergency situation in your home.
Water
The first thing I think about is having enough water. It’s the lifeline of every person.
Remember to store at least a gallon of water per person per day for 3 days. Count each person that resides in the house. Consider storing more water if someone is pregnant, sick, or you live in a hot climate.
Distilled water has a longer shelf life than other bottled water.
If you have the room, consider installing water tanks. Water tanks are easy to come by and install. Look for food-grade, potable water tanks since you’ll be drinking the water. The tanks should be cleaned at regular intervals such as once every month or two and someone should ensure that the tanks are filled every day.
Don’t drink the water that is stored in your rainwater tanks! That water comes off the roof and you might get some nasty surprises! But, if needed, you could use the water to flush the toilets or to shower with.
In addition, you should have water purifier tablets available to make the water worth drinking. I recommend the Katydyn Micropur M1 purification tablets.
Food
You could always buy the “prepper” food that will last for 10-20 years, but there’s no need to go overboard. You want to make it easy on yourself while having enough food in case of emergency.
For food, you want to stock up on non-perishable food like canned goods and pasta. Get a few extras of the things you are currently eating while you are shopping at the grocery store. Get products that are easy to store (can or box) and easy to prepare.
I have extra dry goods like flour, yeast, beans, lentils, rice, pasta, and quinoa, along with canned goods like tomatoes, beans, refried beans, and coconut milk. I also keep canned proteins like chicken, tuna, and dry-cured bacon. Don’t forget spices, dried fruit, drinks, and baking goods.
Keep the fridge well-stocked at all times, so you will have enough food to last a few weeks, or until the emergency is over.
If the power goes out, you can eat the refrigerator foods first and then move to the frozen food.
Food emergencies can strike when you are snowed in or are marooned due to floods. This type of emergency is easy to detect and storing food will not be a difficult task.
Alternate Cooking Source
Do not rely on your power or cooking gas for your cooking needs.
In times of emergencies, it is certain that cooking gas can be a scarce commodity. It is good to have an oil stove or a wood fire to tide you over during the emergency until the services can be restored.
I have extra propane tanks filled in case the gas is not available. Cooking can be done on either our propane BBQ if needed.
Alternate Power Source
I suggest that you have a gas-powered generator to run your house or shop in case the power goes out.
Consider how much gas you will need for your generator. One year, the power in the entire area was out for days due to a huge ice storm. Our gas ran out, and no gas station was able to pump any gas. We had to travel miles to find a gas station that had emergency power generation and could pump gas for us.
The generator is wired into the house’s service entry, so if the power goes out we just plug the generator in. It runs the entire house including the furnace. We’ve had to use this alternative power source many times in the past few years. And sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time until the power came back on.
Keep in mind, if you have a well for your water, it will need power to work. And septic systems and some new sewer systems require power to move the sewage. Better safe than sorry I say!
Emergency Lighting
Be sure that you have ample emergency lighting like candles, lamps, and flashlights.
Today, lighting is not such a problem to get. There are inverters and stuff that can kick in automatically and last you for days on end without having to be re-charged. So, guarantee that you can see your way around in the darkness in case of a blackout.
I have one of the hand-cranked NOAA radios that also has a very strong flashlight built into the end. It is also chargeable by solar power and will charge our cell phones too.
Medications and First Aid
You should have a first aid kit that includes pain relief items like acetaminophen, prescription medications, and antiseptic solutions in case of accidents. Insecticides and antidotes for stings and bites should be in the kit. Bandages, wrap, and tape is good to have too.
You should also have good knowledge of applying first aid. I recommend that some members of the family take CPR and first aid courses just to be prepared in case.
If anyone has medical prescriptions, have enough to last a couple of weeks. Keep a copy of the prescription and doctor’s notes in your possession in case it’s needed.
Cash and Gas Is Needed To Survive A Disaster
It is a good idea to have some cash on hand. If the power goes out, ATM machines will not work, and grocery stores might not be able to open their tills.
Have some automobile gas stored away in the home just in case you need to take a ride to the nearest health care center or even to get some help in the middle of the night. You definitely do not want to be low on gas especially in a place where the nearest gas station is miles away.
How To Survive A Disaster or An Emergency
You’ve learned some of my recommendations to get you and your loved ones prepared to survive a disaster or emergency.
You’ll want to do an emergency assessment of your house and surroundings. Get a gas-powered generator and have the house wired for it so you have an alternate source of power. Stock up on water and food. Have first aid available, and know how to administer CPR. Keep a supply of cash and gas on hand, just in case you have to go somewhere or buy something.
And don’t panic. You can be calm because you took the time to get prepared in case any emergency or disaster strikes.
The Survival Blueprint Course Is Coming!
Are you prepared to survive when natural disasters, pandemics, national disasters, or other emergency situations disrupt your daily life?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create your personal Survival Blueprint so that in just 4 weeks you will have an action plan that will help you be more self-sufficient when the world is crumbling around you.
If you are interested in learning more about being prepared for the unexpected, I am offering a course to help people create their own survival blueprint. With this blueprint, you will have an action plan that will help you be more self-sufficient just in case the unexpected does happen.
Let me know if you are interested in more information here and we’ll get you on the list!