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I used to work with dislocated Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike victims at a local nonprofit, and my husband has worked as a shelter manager during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. We have both seen and heard how difficult it is to survive a natural disaster, and as a consequence, we are firm believers that everyone should have an evacuation kit. Talking about the zombie apocalypse or bugging out when the New World Order starts opening up concentration camps is fun, but you're more likely to wind up sleeping on a high school gymnasium floor when your neighborhood floods. This Instructable is about practical disaster preparation although people will still think you're nuts if you talk about it.
Red Cross does a pretty good job of doing what they do, and it's free. FEMA will NOT reimburse for hotel rooms prior to being accepted for assistance, and that's only IF you qualify for assistance. Hotel rooms get very, very expensive quickly, and following a disaster, money is tight. What you get from FEMA and/or insurance will doubtfully cover all your losses and costs, and it is a long, slow road to recovery. If you are staying in a shelter and qualify for FEMA assistance, you may become eligible to stay in selected hotels, and FEMA will cover the room rent. The shelter is your best bet for conserving money and getting assistance.
This Instructable is intended to outline the necessities for living in a shelter situation (specifically Red Cross shelters) as it is the most probable outcome in the event of a major disaster. These recommendations are based on government and NGO recommendations and personal experience/knowledge, and these recommendations are also based on the assumption of a necessary, speedy evacuation from home. This Instructable does not cover in-home survival or evacuation while away from home. Additionally, this Instructable does not detail all the complexities of FEMA, home/rental insurance, all the nonprofits that help in disaster recovery, city shelters, etc.
Fun Tip: If the cash register line is going a little slow while you get all this stuff, start explaining why you're getting it.
The vast majority of people are unaware of what exactly Red Cross provides and can guarantee in an evacuation shelter outside the disaster zone, and it is critical to understand what they will provide and what you must provide for yourself. Do NOT expect to receive anything except a roof over your head and toilet facilities. You will more than likely receive some necessary items, especially from nonprofits other than the Red Cross, but it might take a few days. They will work with FEMA and other nonprofits, but Red Cross does not directly provide cots, sleeping bags, food, clothes, diapers, etc. If they receive donated items, they will store them until there is enough to distribute to everyone, but remember that Red Cross will only distribute new items which takes a lot of time and money to procure.Red Cross does a pretty good job of doing what they do, and it's free. FEMA will NOT reimburse for hotel rooms prior to being accepted for assistance, and that's only IF you qualify for assistance. Hotel rooms get very, very expensive quickly, and following a disaster, money is tight. What you get from FEMA and/or insurance will doubtfully cover all your losses and costs, and it is a long, slow road to recovery. If you are staying in a shelter and qualify for FEMA assistance, you may become eligible to stay in selected hotels, and FEMA will cover the room rent. The shelter is your best bet for conserving money and getting assistance.
This Instructable is intended to outline the necessities for living in a shelter situation (specifically Red Cross shelters) as it is the most probable outcome in the event of a major disaster. These recommendations are based on government and NGO recommendations and personal experience/knowledge, and these recommendations are also based on the assumption of a necessary, speedy evacuation from home. This Instructable does not cover in-home survival or evacuation while away from home. Additionally, this Instructable does not detail all the complexities of FEMA, home/rental insurance, all the nonprofits that help in disaster recovery, city shelters, etc.
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Signing UpStep 1Transportation
Depending on your resources, you will either drive yourself to a shelter or be driven by bus to a shelter. In unusual circumstances, you will be airlifted or transported by boat to safety.
If you have a vehicle, make sure it is clean on the interior, tuned, and fueled. If your vehicle breaks down on the trip or you run out of gas, you might be SOL. During and shortly before a disaster (e.g., incoming hurricane), gas prices increase, lines form at the pumps, and gas stations run out of fuel. If you can ensure you always have 100 miles worth of gas in your tank, you will have a better chance of getting out and finding a station en route. It is also advisable to have a vehicle emergency kit in your vehicle at all times. Depending on your vehicle, location, and season, this kit might include a first aid kit, inflate-a-tire, a fire extinguisher, and a flashlight.
If you have a vehicle, make sure it is clean on the interior, tuned, and fueled. If your vehicle breaks down on the trip or you run out of gas, you might be SOL. During and shortly before a disaster (e.g., incoming hurricane), gas prices increase, lines form at the pumps, and gas stations run out of fuel. If you can ensure you always have 100 miles worth of gas in your tank, you will have a better chance of getting out and finding a station en route. It is also advisable to have a vehicle emergency kit in your vehicle at all times. Depending on your vehicle, location, and season, this kit might include a first aid kit, inflate-a-tire, a fire extinguisher, and a flashlight.
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An 8 gig flash drive should hold 90% of all you will need to backup. If you have 700 gigs of photos you need to back them up online or with a friend or grown child away from your area. That said, backup portable drives are indeed getting smaller and smaller, but not yet to the low price of an 8 gig flash drive.
- Food: Cliff bars? Is that enough for 3 person days? Where's your protein?
- Warmth: Where's your fire starting materials? How can you start a fire in mid winter?
- Where's your first aid kit? You have the essential cigarettes but no first aid kit?
"This Instructable is intended to outline the necessities for living in a shelter situation (specifically Red Cross shelters) as it is the most probable outcome in the event of a major disaster."
Did you even listen to the news about Katrina? The vast majority of people did not have indoor shelters. The stadium they were in was wide open to the sky.
You just don't need protein. Despite all the ado about eating healthy food all time, I stay with what survival specialists say: the only things that the body really needs in emergency periods are calories, water and minimum ammounts of salt. Exceptions to ill people, we can run without any protein, minerals and vitamins for more than a week. So forget proteins, they are too prone to destruction by heat and water and do a lot of damage if consumed rotten. Well, you can have some jerky beef very well packed in your emergency kit (I always do), but it is not really a need. Fatty bars or even fatty cookies have much more calories per unit weight.
This instructable is vey nice to teach common people about what to do in helping themselves in the first days, for sure it was written by people that know this kind of situation. But If you are interested in more compreensive kits, there is dozens of instructables arround more adeqated than this one - but I perfectly understand that the intention of the authors is not teaching about compreensive kits. For sure if common Joe and family have what is described here the life of thenselves will be much better than having nothing.
Cliff bars do not require heating and are certainly adequate for 3 days of nutrition. Do your calorie calculations.
Shelters are heated and air conditioned.
First aid kits should be stored in vehicles at all times which I mentioned already but did not detail. Red Cross shelters will provide basic first aid.
There were a lot of problems with Katrina and how the evacuation was handled. However, there were most certainly shelters outside of the hurricane impact zone, and we had evacuees in Austin. Austin is also the evacuation destination for Galveston. What's terrible is I knew of a family who had moved to Galveston from New Orleans following Katrina. On roughly the 5 year anniversary of Katrina, Ike hit Galveston. They evacuated to Austin on both occasions.
You should also consider that if you are the type of person to prepare this sort of kit, more than likely you are the type of person to evacuate in a timely fashion, and if you ever get stuck in a Superdome situation, fire and 3 days of food ain't gonna cut it.
Perhaps I'll have two someday, a trash can and a paint bucket!
thanks again!
HOWEVER! If you would like to pack MREs and you have the space to do so, then go for it. Just double check that you like what you pack and got the heating packs in the kit.