Let me start by saying I’ll have some controversial parts later in the post, but the first scenario is very basic. I’ll be breaking it into two main scenarios, evacuation (bugging out) and staying safe at home (bugging in). There are many other cases for prepping, but we’re going to start with an overview.
First scenario - There’s been an earthquake, or there’s a fire and it’s on the way. Here’s what you need to have ready, whether you’re going to a local emergency shelter, a hotel, a relative’s house, wherever. Pretend you’re going to Disneyland for a few days and pack accordingly:
· Clothes for three days, including an extra pair of socks and underwear. Update this every time you change for Daylight Saving Time to account for the major seasons.
· Pajamas
· Some backpacker meals (Mountain House meals let you just add boiling water to the pouch and also generally taste good)
· A charger for every phone, and a battery bank for every two phones in the household. I like Anker’s slim products for the batteries.
· A basic hygiene kit:
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- Deodorant
- Female sanitary products if applicable (you know what, even if you are a dude living alone, stash some pads just in case)
- Hairbrush
- Tweezers (they’re super handy for splinters)
- Small bar of soap
- Small mouthwash
- Earplugs (get the 33 dB ones, you’ll sleep so much better)
- Good walking shoes
- A backpack to carry it all (Skip right past 5.11 Tactical or similar, get an Osprey/Gregory/REI)
- A few meal replacement bars (MetRX are 400-500 calories, three will get you through the day)
- Extra face masks and a hat
- A reliable flashlight (a Coast HX5 is what I’d consider reliable and easy to store with a Lithium battery)
There are other things you should take but you’ll need to grab them “last minute” because you’re using them daily, like your laptop and cell phone.
Now to the bigger, somewhat less likely scenario, where something big happened and you need to stay home for a while. Maybe it was an earthquake, maybe they shut off the power due to high winds, maybe you need to stay home because H5N6 finally made its way to our shores. No matter what the cause, you’re home and you’ll need to be there for a while. For this we’re going to follow the rule of threes:
· Air – if you can’t breathe, you die. Get some good KF94 masks for your first line, then start looking to P100 filters on half- and full-face masks. You almost certainly won’t need a true gas mask, but if you want recommendations on those, ask in the comments and I’ll provide some.
· Water – Three days without water is certain death. Think that through, then ask yourself, do you have a gallon per person/animal per day? If not, this is where you need to focus. If you’re a homeowner, congratulations, you almost certainly have a hot water tank with 40-80 gallons of fresh water. Here’s the thing, you must be able to access the drainage spout, and you should have a drinking water safe hose if you want that water anywhere else in the house. It also will need boiling if there’s a boil water notice. That means you need to have a big pot and a way to heat it. Camping stove running on propane? Good stuff. BBQ with a side burner that runs from propane? You’re sitting pretty as long as you have an extra 5-gallon tank or two. If you can’t boil the water, getting clean water is significantly harder. Water in a nutshell.
· Food – You can survive three weeks without food. Don’t plan for this to be you, plan to eat a little less than normal and take multivitamins to ensure you’re not deficient. The easiest way to build up a supply of food is just to buy a little extra of what you already eat. You don’t need those Readywise buckets at Costco (trust me, you don’t want them), you need a couple extra cans of potatoes and corn each trip that you eat as part of your regular meal planning. 10 extra pounds of flour can fit in your cupboard, along with some extra sugar, a bag of oatmeal, etc. Pasta, beans, rice, all good to have extra of. I’m not going to disclose exactly how much extra I have, but let’s just say I could stay home for more than a month with just my pantry. If you have pets, keep an extra bag of food and rotate the bags of food. When you finish the food bag you’re working on, go buy another. Food prepping broken down.
· Shelter – If you’re staying at your home, you’ve got this. But…what if the power/gas is off and it’s winter? Yes, it does get below freezing even here in the Golden State, and as Texas proved quite well, people can die from a sudden freeze. Have some extra blankets and a sleeping bag or two, and if it gets chilly inside, pick one room and everybody sleeps there. Shared body heat works well to keep warm. This is a great time to get cozy with your dogs and cats, they love to share beds and they’re adorable little space heaters. More details on preparing for shelter.
· Sanitation – if the water doesn’t run you’d better have a plan to handle things like hand washing and bodily functions. They make seats that fit right on a Home Depot bucket. At this point I sincerely hope I don’t need to tell you to have extra TP, but this is a great use case for a case of Costco baby wipes. You’ll want a bunch of extra trash bags on hand as well. Don’t cheap out here, spring for the contractor grade ones. You'll be much happier if you have kitty litter on hand to put in the bag before you make a deposit. Unless you’re a certain North Korean leader, you’re going to need to poop, might as well plan for it. Yes, it’s gross, but the alternatives are far worse. You can discreetly water a tree but please, for the love of all that is good in this world, have a plan for taking the Browns to the Super Bowl that isn’t dependent on municipal water. I’ll post more on sanitation in a later post and link it here.
· Safety – Here’s where we get controversial. I don’t care who you are, you should be able and ready to defend yourself from harm. If you’re a convicted felon, have suicidal ideation, or are otherwise prohibited from owning a firearm, you should go old school. Think clubs (baseball or cricket bats) and pole arms (spears). I’m very sorry to report that if you don't already bowfish or hunt with a bow, you’re not Katniss Everdeen; please abandon your fantasy of defending yourself with a bow. For those of you who can own a firearm, you’ll be finding out what many already have realized, California makes it painful to legally purchase a firearm and ammunition. r/CAguns is the spot for getting a taste of the steps required and what’s actually available because many modern handguns aren’t. More on this later.
· Medical – You can’t talk about emergency preparedness without talking about medical preparations. You should have a month’s worth of all medications in reserve, more of commonly available OTC items like NSAIDs (Aleve, Advil, Tylenol), antihistamines (Claritin, Benadryl), antifungals (Lotrimazole), anti-diarrheals (Immodium). Throw a few boxes of bandaids in there (I have first aid kits with bandages and antibacterial ointments in every backpack in the house). For nastier wounds, I keep a skin stapler and 3M Tegaderms to cover them. It’s helpful to take a first aid/CPR class to know the basics. While you're at it, get some extra sunscreen and stash it somewhere. The sun is not forgiving. Then there are trauma kits, which are separate from “first aid” specifically. I recommend taking a Stop the Bleed class at minimum, and picking up a kit on sale from North American Rescue. Sign up for the newsletter and next time they have a good sale get something like the Roo with Hemostatic. Look up how to stage your tourniquet on YouTube. I’ll write a much longer post on medical, and I’ll link that when it’s ready.
Whew, if you read this whole way, congratulations, you’re already better prepared than most people. For additional listening immediately, I highly recommend the excellent NPR Podcast The Big One: Your Survival Guide. While I disagree with a couple of parts, it’s generally apolitical and presents a “getting started” that added to my knowledge base.
TL;DR Start getting prepared because I promise there will be an emergency in your life. My favorite survival riddle: A plane crashes right on the border of Italy and Switzerland. Where do they bury the survivors?
Ask any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them and link you to a good site if it’s something to buy. This doesn’t have to be expensive, but there are ways that you can spend a little more and get much more out of it.
