2006RUS

Emergency kits may mean the difference between life and death of you and your family in an emergency. There are many types of disasters and emergencies: fires, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes. The government action plan for a major disaster is three to seven days to start providing workers to the area. 72 hours is three days – it would be a good idea to put together a survival kit that you could live on for seven to ten days.

Instead of dismissing this kind of planning out of hand; remember the types of disasters that happened in the past 15 years. Imagine what one of these would be like if you had nothing with you but what you were wearing. Even worse, consider the elderly or children that are in your care and how they would cope. To ease your mind, start creating your survival bags immediately.

Before you start packing or purchasing anything, consider what the most probable situational scenario is based upon where you are. This will lead to what you plan to do in the event of an emergency. For example, if your home is close by the ocean and the most probable problem is a hurricane, then your plan should include packing your vehicle with what you need and driving to a safe place. If you live in a city then you probably will be walking to safety either because you have no car or the streets will be so gridlocked that walking is the only option. If you live in a relatively protected area inland, then you will probably hunker down in your home.

Even though you should get ready for the most likely scenario, you should also have a fallback plan. There may come a time in your life when you have to get away as fast as possible, and you will be unsure as to what help and support you will get while on the way. That is when you should have one of these kits ready to go.

Prepare 72 hour kits for every person in your family. Start by getting a rucksack that is a size and capacity that the person can carry all day. You do not have to buy the bag to start putting together the items of the kit, however. Set aside two complete sets of rugged clothes that you no longer wear, but would serve well in an emergency. Then plan on what you are going to need for food, water, and shelter, and get it. Pack light so you can take it all.

Start preparing immediately, and be ready for when disaster strikes.

Create your emergency preparedness checklist for you and your family. See how to do it at 72 hour survival kits.

Think back across the last 10 years and about disasters that caused disruption of the fragile food supply chain that brings everything to the supermarkets. What if you were in the Gulf Coast area when Hurricane Katrina hit? How about within a few hundred miles of Mount Saint Helens and the ash fall area? Now ask yourself if you are a place that could be affected by a natural disaster like an earthquake, hurricane, flooding or anything else that can disrupt the food supply chain.

Do you have loved ones in your family that depend on you to provide for them? How would you feel if you can not take care of your family and children? Visualize what it would be like day after day looking at your hungry and thirsty children and not being able to do anything about it. The time to stop something like that from taking place is now.

Here are three tips to help you get started on putting together a plan.

Make sure you have a safe place that everybody knows to come to. For many people this will be their house, but it also could be a cabin up in the woods, or a relative’s house. It is best to have a place that is accessible and won’t have hordes of people that will take your supplies.

Have a source of water, a way to keep it, and a way to get fresh water. A good way to do this is to have a well dug on your property. Another is to find a river or pond close by and ensure you have water filtration equipment on hand.

Have a reserve of food available. You can start by getting some cases of canned soup and hotdogs locally, but to do this well you should calculate the quantity of calories that you may require based on the quantity of people that are dependent on you and how long you think food will be needed. Also, make sure that food does not spoil by rotating it regularly or getting food created for long-term storage.

The time to prepare for a disaster so you can ensure your survival of your family is before the disaster happens. Make a plan and take action now.

Find out more about disaster preparedness supplies so you can properly prepare your family for an emergency at http://disasterpreparednesssupplies.org

Do you need flood insurance? Or are those flood insurance ads on television just a ploy by the insurance companies to get you to buy yet another insurance policy? Floods are obviously quite common in low lying areas that are surrounded by water. In these areas, not having flood insurance is downright financially suicidal in the event of a serious storm.

But what about other areas that are not quite so low lying and are not quite so surrounded by water? Do homes in these areas have any real risk of being taken down by a flood? A simple flood that brings water into your home that only causes even an inch or two flooding in the house can cost literally thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. Two inches of water will impact everything from the floors and carpeting to the items that are touching the floor.

Electrical components are highly sensitive to flooding and can be crippled with only a small amount of water. Perhaps it seems like your home is out of the reach of flood waters, but the chances of being touched by a flood increase with every rain. In many areas, the ground water can pose just as much of a flood risk as the rivers and oceans that surround many of the lower lying areas.

There are regions throughout the world that are now experiencing a new weather phenomenon that is causing an increase in flooding. Chronic rain can cause flooding. One serious storm can cause flooding. And of course, rising waters from small bodies of waters like ponds can cause serious flooding problems. Anyone can experience too much water that laps at their front door and eventually pushes its way in.

Everything you own could be at risk. Flood insurance is a very inexpensive way to ensure that if the unexpected happens you will be in a position to fix the problem and to financially recover from the incident. Without the appropriate insurance policy, you could be facing an unreasonable amount of money to bring your home back into a reasonable living condition.

With the potential for electrical problems, the water damage and clean up, and the damage to all of your personal possessions, flood waters can turn into a devastating event very quickly. Being left without any financial recourse poses a serious risk to protecting not just the investment that is your home, but the sanctuary that is your home.

Every region runs the risk of flood waters these days. Flood insurance is not expensive and it is a simple way to protect your home in the event of a serious disaster. It takes very little water to do a tremendous amount of damage that can cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars right out of your pocket if you’re not insured. Flood waters can creep up on you quickly and be right at your front door before you know it. One simple insurance policy can mean the difference between being financially wiped out and being able to rebuild.

About the author: Ken Henry has some great suggestions on finding the solutions to your insurance questions. Get flood insurance advice and quotes from 5 top companies, plus save big money on auto and home insurance