Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Emergency Preparedness

As a Bay Area resident and a friend of Disaster Girl, I have emergency preparedness on my radar. Having it on my radar did not equal actually having any emergency supplies however; it wasn't until last year that I had a proper emergency kit.

Fast forward one year. The gigantic triple disaster on the other side of the Pacific feels like the right sign to check the kit. Water is fine, since it doesn't actually expire despite what it may say. Most of the canned food is expired. The peanut butter and juice boxes, too. Will that kill me or just taste bad? Better safe than sorry. I'm sure the dry cat food is stale. I throw a few pieces on the floor. They eat it. I better swap it out, though--if I wait another year it might become rancid and it would be just like them to go on an ill-timed hunger strike.

I pulled out everything that already did or was about to expire and put it out on my counter as a visual reminder to replace. Then I made a list in my phone of all the items needing replacing, plus a reminder to put some cash in the kit already. Very important and something I keep forgetting to do. Finally, I went online and bought one of these hand crank/solar radios/weather thingie cell phone chargers.

This all makes me feel a tiny bit better, and I try not to think of all the things this kit cannot help with: giant tsunami, the seismically unsound Bay Bridge, nuclear meltdown. Etc.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for the reminder....do you keep these emergency supplies in a duffel bag? suitcase? just curious how you have it organized.

Professional Critic said...

I have two clear plastic bins, like you would buy at Target if they didn't suck so bad with their donations to anti-gay candidates. One for food and one for first aid and supplies. Water is just in a cabinet. And a knapsack with a smaller amount of everything and a change of clothes in case I have to leave the house.

But let's be real! I have close to 40 pounds of cat here. How I will ever shlep them and this heavy backpack plus whatever sentimental stuff I want to grab is beyond me. I guess that's where adrenaline comes in. Ugh.