Your 72 Hour Kit is Ready, Let's Evacuate!

Your doorbell rings and you answer it to find a policeman standing on your front porch. Fortunately he is not there to question you about that episode of road rage you experienced last week. Unfortunately, he is there to tell you there has been a train wreck. A rail car carrying toxic chemicals has split open and the wind is pushing a lethal cloud in the direction of your home. You must evacuate now and go to a shelter. You can choose to travel north or south but you have to get at least 20 miles out of town to be safe from the prevailing winds. He hands you a list of available shelters in both directions and tells you to be gone in 5 minutes. If you stay you will suffer breathing difficulties that could result in death, there will be no emergency services available as they are busy moving nursing homes and hospitals. No one will be allowed back in the area for 48 hours while the toxins dissipate.

Good thing you took our advice and made up that 72 hour kit. You open the closet grab the buckets and head for the car. Then it hits you. Wait a minute, what about the dog? Your daughter is at work this afternoon and she is 2 miles closer to the accident scene and your spouse is on the way home in rush hour traffic. You open your cell phone and realize that you have not heard from anyone because you cannot call out yourself. Circuits are all busy, a cell tower was taken down in the train wreck. It's then you realize that there is more to emergency preparedness than putting together a 72 hour kit.

Don't get discouraged, it's not as bad as it seems. Preparation is an ongoing process; you have to keep working at it little by little. Soon you will look back and see how far you have progressed in the journey and be amazed at how good it feels to know you have done something significant for your family. We are going to discuss in future articles the following subjects and more.

• What about your pets, emergency shelters are not a Hotel for Dogs or cats either.
• Does your family have a rendezvous point if access to your home is prohibited?
• How would you communicate with family members if telephone service was disrupted?
• Besides your 72 hour kit, are there other things you should take with you if you have to evacuate?
• You survived the disaster, can you survive the night in the shelter?
• Food Storage, add it to your preparedness plan.
• Long term survival planning, weeks, months or more.

Remember, anything you do to make yourself better prepared is a step towards building a better Living Insurance Policy. Commit to keeping your families preparedness a priority, we will help you work on the process. Stay safe and keep on prepping.