Hurricane season is around the corner for us folks here in Florida. There are plenty of other disasters to go around. Floods, earthquakes, tornadoes. Hopefully you’ll never need but like our Medical Reserve, its there if you need it.

You may need to survive on your own after an emergency. This means having your own food, water and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours. Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours or it might take days. Yes, it can take days. After one of the hurricanes it took two weeks for our electricity to go back on in our neighborhood.

Basic Supplies

A basic emergency supply kit could include the following recommended items:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Manual can opener for food
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

Also important if you take prescriptions to make sure you have a least two weeks worth of medications. I tell this to all my patients in the summer.

Here is another list that I liked.

http://www.city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/healthAuthors/ADMIN/PDFs/e_go_bag_checklist.pdf

Here is another list so you compare and contrast and get what you want.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/get_prepared/supplies.shtml

• Copies of your important documents in a waterproof and portable container (insurance cards, birth certificates, deeds, photo IDs, proof of address, etc.)
• Extra set of car and house keys
• Credit and ATM cards and cash, especially in small denominations. We recommend you keep at least $50-$100 on hand.
• Bottled water and nonperishable food, such as energy or granola bars
• Flashlight
  Note: Traditional flashlight bulbs have limited lifespans. Light Emitting Diode (LED) flashlights, however, are more durable and last up to 10 times longer than traditional bulbs.
• Battery-operated AM/FM radio and extra batteries
• Keep a list of the medications each member of your household takes, why they take them, and their dosages. Medication information and other essential personal items. If you store extra medication in your Go Bag, be sure to refill it before it expires. Get prescription preparedness tips from the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
• First aid kit
• Contact and meeting place information for your household, and a small regional map
• Child care supplies or other special care items
• Lightweight raingear and Mylar blanket

One more tip. Before the storm or even right now make a video of your house so just in case it gets blown away you have something to show the insurance guy. One year I did this for my friends. Now we all have phone and clouds and ways to store video and it’s very easy to do.

Now if your a true survivalist our list is the basic list but they get a little more detailed.

http://www.survival-gear-guide.com/go-bags.html

don’t forget the ammo. lol.

This one did have a good suggestion that I didn’t see anywhere else and that was do not forget the toilet paper.

Very Important.

Water is important.

http://www.survival-gear-guide.com/Emergency-Water-Supply.html

At Home:

You should always keep an emergency water supply in your home.  FEMA recommends keeping enough water for every person for three days.  If you have the room to store it, and you are going to go through the exercise of preparing an emergency water supply, why not make it 6 days ?   1 gallon of fresh water per person per day.   The easiest way to do it: Go to the store and buy 6 sealed gallons of drinking water for every person in your home.

The only problem with gallon containers is possible contamination of the entire gallon after it is opened.   For this reason a better option is to buy 2 cases of 24 16oz bottles of drinking water for each person. 1 gallon = 128 oz.     That equates to 8 16oz bottles.   So to have an adequate emergency water supply for 6 days will require 2 cases of bottled water for each person.    Keeping the water in individual 16oz bottles greatly reduces the risk of contamination. Hope you found this helpful. At the end of hurricane season is when we start collecting food for the food bank. So buy something good and hopefully you can donate it after Hurricane Season is over. What’s your suggestion. What would you put in your go bag. With so many lists lets make one for ourselves. What’s the most important item that you think should go in the bag?