Emergency Preparation Made Simple
Updated 06/19/2023
Have you ever thought about emergency preparation and felt overwhelmed? Does the thought of an emergency stir up feelings of fear and anxiety? If you tend to freeze and do nothing, because of overwhelm, my tips are for you. Let’s break this down into manageable bites. In my experience of over 64 years of living, power outages are the most frequent situations here in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Most times, the power is restored fairly quickly, but there have been times when it has been out for days. Depending on your and your family’s needs, a power outage can be a major emergency.
Follow my emergency preparation tips one at a time, and before you know it, you will be prepared for any emergency.
Tip #1: Think about your and your family’s needs if the power went out. What will you need if it stays out for a couple days? Summer versus winter?
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/power-outage#During
Winter power outage tips. https://weather.com/safety/winter/news/2020-03-02-what-to-do-if-your-power-and-heat-go-out-in-the-winter
Summer power outage tips. A prepper writes this one, so it might have way more info than you need or want, but I liked his how-to-keep-cool tips.
https://www.healthnutnews.com/prep-summer-power-outage/
If you’re interested in learning more about using alternative sources for electricity or heat check out this post: Safely Use Alternative Energy Sources In An Outage
How to Prepare When Money is Tight
If you’re on a fixed income, pick up an extra can of food, batteries, etcetera as you are able each shopping trip. Make sure you have a manual can opener. Put aside some cash in a safe location. ATM’s won’t work in a power outage. If you need some cash, you’ll have it. Doing what you can little by little is better than doing nothing.
Medical Equipment That Needs Electric Power
If anyone depends on electric-powered medical equipment, talk to your medical equipment supplier about options during power outages. Some items have batteries that can fill in during an outage. Other equipment may need a generator. *Let your power company know if life-sustaining equipment is being used at your address.
For example, I realized while writing this that I needed a back-up battery for my BiPAP machine. Back-up batteries are expensive, but if you need the medical equipment for your health, get one. Update: I now have a battery for my BiPAP machine.
Tip #2: Prevent fires at all costs and have an evacuation plan.
The second emergency that is most likely to occur no matter where you live is a fire. Frankly, this one terrifies me! I figure that preventing a fire is way better than coping with one.
https://youtu.be/ST-Prt800ZA Fire Prevention info.
https://youtu.be/Wab2pt7RaKk Creating an evacuation plan.
I watched these videos, and they are not scary, so you can use them with your children. Also, if you are having trouble paying for smoke detectors or carbon monoxide alarms, many communities have programs that will install these alarms for you. Your local fire company should be able to help you with this.
*To avoid overwhelm, only move on to tip #3 when you have tackled and implemented the first two tips.
Tip #3: Think about the kinds of emergencies that occur in your area.
If your area is prone to more than one kind of weather emergency, pick the one most likely for the current time of year. During my research, I discovered that being struck by lightning is the most prevalent weather risk. Check out Thunderstorm Safety below for tips on preventing being struck by lightning. Only read about the most likely event for you at this time of year to prevent overwhelm. Having emergency supplies is common to all of these emergencies.
Check out Build A Kit to learn what supplies experts recommend you have available.
If you live in an area where you may need to evacuate in a hurry, think about what you’d need and prepare a Go Bag. For details read: The New Go Bag: What You Need in Your Emergency Escape Kit
Tornado Safety:
Tornado Safety by the National Weather Service
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/tornado#During Red Cross in-depth information
Hurricane Safety:
Red Cross in-depth information:
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/hurricane#About
Wildfire Safety:
Wildfire in-depth information from the Red Cross:
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/wildfire#About
Preventing wildfires is really important these days, so check out Preventing Wildfires, and home and yard tips from the Red Cross:
Flood Safety:
Red Cross Flood Safety Tips
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/flood#About
Thunderstorm Safety:
Thunderstorm Safety Tips video:
Winter Storm Safety:
Red Cross Winter Safety Tips:
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/winter-storm#About
Earthquake Safety:
Red Cross Earthquake Safety Tips:
http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/earthquake#Before
Tip #4: In an emergency try to remain calm. Panic only makes situations worse.
Lastly, practice and review with your family what needs to be done in the most likely emergencies for your area. Knowing what to do will make it easier to remember in a real emergency. Knowing what to do will reduce panic.
Finally, use whatever tools you have to help you and your loved ones stay calm. This includes prayer, meditation, deep slow breathing, distractions (music, games, books), and gratitude for what you do have.
A Personal Experience With A Winter Storm Emergency
As an example of how to manage a weather emergency, here’s how I coped with a winter storm. I think it happened in the winter of 2010. I was working the night shift at my hospital and I was called in to replace someone who called off for that Friday 11-7 shift. It was snowing when I left for work. During the night, so much snow fell that we had near 2 feet by morning. The governor declared a state of emergency, which meant no one could leave the hospital until replacement staff could get in. I called home on a landline to let my children know what was up. My oldest was 23 and my youngest was in 4th grade.
My kids were very aware of how to prevent our upstairs bathroom pipes from freezing, so they were dripping the water in the sink.
My Kids Are Alone
The power had gone out at home, so I instructed them to grab blankets, and all pile together in the living room to keep warm. I also told them to dress in layers and wear hats. I got extra groceries before the storm hit so my 6 kids had plenty of food to eat. We had a gas fueled hot water tank so there was hot water for them to use.
I could not get home until late morning on Sunday. So, I asked them to shovel out a space for my car since I had to go back to work that night. On my way home from work, I stopped at an open grocery store near the hospital for food. My kids had eaten everything that didn’t need cooked, so I picked up more things like peanut butter, bread, bananas, jerky, etcetera. We could see our breath in the house; it was that cold.
Thankfully, when I got home on Monday morning, our power was back on. It was very stressful, but we made it through this experience with nothing dangerous happening.
Wrap Up Of Emergency Preparation
Since that power outage, I purchased a Coleman camp stove to use for cooking if this ever happened again. This has to be used outside because of the carbon monoxide fumes it gives off. Whatever preparations you can do will make a stressful time something that you can get through safely. Do what you can bit by bit. Finally, you can prepare yourself and your family for emergencies one step at a time. You can do this. I have faith in you.
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Till next time, Kathy
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