Storm Readiness (72 Hour Bag)

Living in the Caribbean most of my life I have gotten use to preparing for tropical storms and hurricanes. I usually have enough supplies and food to last me well into a few weeks during hurricane season.

Now that we moved to an apartment it is a bit more complicated to store all the items I would like to have on hand.

At the other home, in the garage , I had dozens of gallons of water stored at every moment. If a storm came, I would store a bit more and if anything happened at any moment I was ready.

I use to have on hand around 40 gallons of distilled water. If a Storm came by I would be add an extra 20 gallons. We would have non-perishable items that would last us weeks.

In the small apartment, for the last storm warning, I went ahead and took some storage bins and filled them with water in the tub. In the past , I would fill up my washing machine with water and even a large water fountain we had at the other house.

In our home we are vegetarian (myself vegan) and we don't keep many frozen items in the freezer. We do keep our produce in the fridge and it is usually fresh. We buy enough to sustain us for a week or two.

Some might think that when I store away many items, I might be getting carried away. The main reason I do it is because I hate standing in lines at the supermarket and rushing through traffic waiting till the last possible moment to prepare.

Storing those items even if I don't need them, gives me peace of mind. I prepare for hurricanes and other unexpected events all the time. I don't wait till the alerts go up to take action.

72-Hour bag

I have a 72-hour bag and a carry on which covers most of my needs for 72+ hours from clothes to a bar of soap.

I take into consideration that I live on an island that can be easily disconnected from the rest of the world if any major event happens.

We all saw what happened in Haiti during the earthquake a few years back. I remember in 2010 talking with Nathan Broshear, who at that time was in charge of the Air Force's Chief of Public Affairs, he explained his first hand experience at being in Haiti days after the earthquake.

We all need to be ready and alert all the time. No matter where you live you should have something that can get you through at least 72 hours.

Here is a link so you can prepare and build your 72-hour bag. There are many other things you might want to do depending on the needs of your immediate family (please don’t forget about your pets).

What do you do to prepare for a natural event like a hurricane, tornado, or blizzard?

A Few More Thoughts!

Before hitting publish I realized that today is the 11th Anniversary of September 11. I did not intentionally put this post up today because of the date. Being ready for any unexpected event is something we need to keep in our mind. Being alert and having at least the basis necessities can mean the difference in between you and your loved ones surviving or not making it.

There are others not as fortunate as us and my good friend Mark Hovarth from InvisiblePeople.tv works great human beings that ended up being homeless so they can with the war against being homeless.

If you think today is a day of remembering those who had to suffer what September 11 brought upon us what better way than remembering those by helping those in need that are full of life and need a bit of our help.

Let's help Mark help people like Alyona to get out of the streets and sleep under a roof.