Skip to content

Prioritize Your Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness

Emergency preparedness for many stirs up images of post-disaster and apocalyptic scenarios where civil order is gone and food, water, healthy air are not available. Perhaps the most extreme picture of such a disaster situation would be the one depicted in Mad Max movies where it is clear the survivors have to contend with a life that no longer includes the rule of law as we know it and amenities such as running water and electricity are all a thing of the past.

emergency preparedness disaster reliefHowever, emergency preparedness is much more fundamental than these dramatized Hollywood visions of survival and we have numerous real-life examples of people struggling with disaster relief. Consider, for example, the desperation on the faces of people following Hurricane Katrina. Or perhaps the months long struggle the people of Puerto Rico endured following Hurricane Maria. Then there’s the people fleeing their homes as wild fires swept across California.

It’s important to understand that not all emergencies are equal and the likelihood of emergencies and the degree of your emergency preparedness vary with your personal situation.
There’s probably not any one single resource on the Internet or elsewhere that will adequately cover everything you need to know about emergency preparedness.  Each individuals preparations will be different and the efforts you put into your preparations will be dependent on the emergency scenario you find yourself in. Each person also has a particular talent or skill and they may want to begin their prepping by focusing on that skill and later develop the skills they lack.

prioritize your emergency preparednessWhile you really should be prepared for a wide range of catastrophic phenomena, when choosing your own survival essential supplies, it is important to buy ones that are a priority for you.

This preparation should include emergency essentials like the storing of food, water and medical supplies.  It might also include the construction of shelters, having an emergency fund, and even the collection of weapons as protection against possible anarchy. To a large extent, these emergency preparedness preparations help provide a comprehensive safety net for you and your family in case of disaster of any sort.

It’s not reasonable to expect you will ever be able to be prepared for EVERY disaster. The worst case scenario could happen but probably won’t. There are simply too many things that can possibly happen and too many variables within each disaster for you to be prepared for everything.

Therefore, to improve your level of emergency preparedness readiness and for the greatest success you should begin by prioritizing your preps beginning with where you are now and then doing whatever you can.

Will you get it perfect? No. But whatever preparations you can do now will be better than having none when faced with a disaster.

Prioritizing your emergency preparedness essentially means you should consider the different emergencies you might find yourself in and organize your preparations based on the likelihood of that occurring.

Another aspect of emergencies is the scope: personal, local, regional, national, or global. Since it is those personal emergencies you are most likely to encounter most often, you may want to begin your preparations to deal first with personal emergencies, expanding to local and beyond later.

Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It
Are you and your family prepared for the greatest economic collapse that America has ever seen? Economic expert Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse Blog and Barbara Fix, author of Survival: Prepare Before Disaster Strikes, address the whys and the hows of getting prepared for the coming crisis in their new book. Topics include looming economic collapse, Ebola, drought and increasing weather-related disasters, our extremely vulnerable power grid, civil unrest, and practical steps for storing food and supplies that you will need.

 

Types of Emergencies, Disasters and Catastrophes

There are different types of disasters or catastrophes that you might want to prepare for. Planning for an emergency really is situational.  Some of these emergencies are man-made, some are caused by nature, and others are technological. Some will have little impact on your life, while others can be life threatening.  There are also emergencies that might occur in your home, at your place of employment, or on the road. Again, begin closest to you… your home and perhaps on the road since you’re likely to be spending quite a bit of time in your car.

As individuals, we can all (and should) prepare our homes and families to cope during that critical period. What you do today in these matters can have a critical impact on life and death and the quality of your survival.

 

first aid emergency preparednessMedical Emergencies
Accidents around the home or workplace are somewhat common.  Thousands of people die every year from unintentional injury-related deaths when least expected.  It might happen while doing chores around the house or when taking a bath. A growing category of home deaths is poisoning caused by gases, chemicals and other substances, but prescription drug overdose is by far the leading cause.

Medical emergencies are one of those high priority possible emergencies that probably everyone will experience at one time or another.  Everyone should have a basic First Aid Kit available to them.  I haven’t experienced any major emergencies, but I have had the minor cut that I was able to treat with a basic first aid kit. A simple wound can cause infection and without first aid, it can lead to serious complications. This is why a first aid kit should always be a high priority on the list of survival gear needed for the home.

virusNot as common but what the world is facing now are pandemics.  Spanish flu, from 1918 to 1920 infected 500 million people around the world, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million people.  We’ve seen in recent years outbreaks of Influenza, Ebola, and Zika.  More recently we’ve seen outbreaks of Coronaviruses (CoV) such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), and now SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

Tracking Outbreaks to Protect Your Family from Danger

Most cases of COVID-19 are mild, but there is still an alarming number of people who die from complications brought about because of the virus.  The older you are and with pre-existing conditions, the more you should be concerned. If you’re reasonably healthy, then you have less to worry about.

Perhaps more likely than catching COVID-19 yourself is the possibility of economic disruptions caused by lockdowns and business closures that will impact you more.

snow stormTravel Emergencies
Many of us drive and might be injured in an accident while on vacation or while driving across town. Perhaps more common than injuries is finding ourselves in a stalled car on the side of the road. While most of us depend on our cars to run smoothly, there are times when things don’t go quite as expected. There are some pretty simple things we can do to deal with those unexpected and very inconvenient break downs.
Winter Storm Kits for your Car

electric gridPower Outages
This is one of those events you’ve most likely encountered; it’s pretty common for people to lose power to their homes at one time or another. When a crisis hits, especially if it’s widespread, what often gets disrupted first are the utilities. Power outages might be caused by nature (severe weather), technology failures, or man-made (overloading grid or acts of terrorism).

Most people don’t really take notice of this as a major emergency right when it happens – it’s not even a blip on their radar. They don’t react because when the power goes off, it’s usually back on within a matter of minutes or hours. They’re used to the utility company coming to their rescue and making sure everything’s running as it should. In times of bad weather, it’s usually back on within a few days at the most. When everything is restored to normal, people forget about the interruption and annoyance to their daily routine and life goes on.

It didn’t work out quite that way for the folks in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria where most of the island suffered without power for months on end, taking 11 months to fully restore power to everyone on the island. Following 2008 Hurricane Ike in the greater Houston area, they were without power for 16 days. In 1996 following an ice storm hitting Washington state and Idaho, large portions of the region were without power for 14 days. Kansas residents experienced power outages for days and weeks following winter ice storms affecting the entire state in 1984, 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2007. Through 2000 and 2001, California experienced a power crisis leaving its residents without power intermittently for more than a year.
What Happens When the Lights Go Out?

Some experts point to our deteriorating power grid infrastructure and the catastrophic effects of a grid down scenario. And, there are those warning of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) or solar geomagnetic storm causing a potential of disruptions to power grids, communication satellites and aircraft.

Natural Disasters

hurricane

Some recent natural disasters that come to mind include Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Michael, Florence, and Katrina, tornadoes in Woodward Ok, Joplin Mo, and Udall Ks, the Colorado and California wildfires, to name a few. And, those are only ones affecting the United States…. when you consider disasters on a global scale, the numbers increase dramatically.

Natural disasters generally don’t happen on a large-scale every day, but they do occur and you had better be prepared when it happens.

hurricane

Natural disasters that you might prepare for include:

Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, blizzards, droughts, heat waves, and even volcanic eruptions are possible. Most everyone lives in a geographic area prone to one or more of these natural disasters.

Hurricanes pose the greatest threat to life and property with the primary hazards including storm surge flooding, inland flooding from heavy rains, destructive winds, tornadoes, and high surf and rip currents.

Hurricane Season Safety Lessons
Surviving Severe Weather Threats

stormI live in the Midwest and don’t really need to worry about being prepared for a hurricane. However, severe weather, including tornadoes are more likely in my area.

We also don’t experience powerful earthquakes in our region so that’s probably not something I need to prepare for either. And, while I don’t personally live in a flood prone area, communities not far from my location experience flooding from time to time.  I also don’t live in a fire prone area either so that’s probably not something high on my priority list. Some parts of the country might also experience droughts.

We have witnessed in recent years massive wildfires devastating tens of thousands of lives in the U.S.  More than 1,000 homes were burned in winter Colorado wildfires.

You have to evaluate your own situation and adjust your preparedness.

Then there are the space disasters (impact events, gamma ray bursts, solar flares) that can affect larger areas of the globe. Preparing for one of those events are quite different than earthbound natural disasters.

Environmental Emergencies

Most environmental emergencies can be considered a sub-set of a natural disaster. Winter storms create a higher risk of car accidents, hypothermia, frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heart attacks from overexertion. Winter storms including blizzards can bring extreme cold, freezing rain, snow, ice and high winds that can knock out power.

winter weather

But, not all environmental emergencies are based in nature.

Other things can cause a threat to the atmosphere, besides Mother Nature. The clear and present threat of a nuclear war from rogue countries such as North Korea is yet another reason you should be prepared for survival.

Important Considerations for A Nuclear Event

If we did happen to be attacked with nuclear weapons, the aftermath will be as devastating as the actual attack. There could be nuclear or extended winters, radioactive fallout and more. The American Red Cross has preparation tips to get ready if a nuclear event should happen. 

Explosion

Man-made / Technological Events

Explosions, hazardous material disasters, and bio-terrorism would fall into this category. Other man-made catastrophes would be nuclear war; the malicious introduction of deadly virus into the air; radioactive contamination of land, water and air. Another likely man-made catastrophe would be the worldwide collapse of economies due to hyperinflation.

Surviving a Biochemical Attack
Why People Get Gold and Silver for SHTF Situations

 

house fireHome Fires

While most people are not equipped to fight a large-scale house fire, there are still some things you can do to prevent them and perhaps extinguish smaller fires before they grow too large. Practice your fire escape plan by having a home fire drill at least twice a year with everyone in the home. In the 30 -35 years following 1960 about 93% of American households had their homes protected by installing fire alarms.

Social Unrest

While this has not been a big issue in America historically, this category of emergencies has been increasing in recent years and you should consider what you can do to be prepared. I would include acts of terrorism, bioterrorism, and active shooter events in this category. You might also find yourself in a high crime area or engulfed in riots brought about by a financial crisis, food shortage, or political unrest.

civil disturbance

Throughout the summer of 2020, we saw massive protests by left-wing extremists wreaking havoc and destruction in major metropolitan cities. Some are predicting that sort of unrest will increase in the coming years and some even warn of all-out civil war to break out in America.

What to do in case of Civil Disturbances or Civil Unrest

You should begin prioritizing your preps now.

Many preppers lead ordinary jobs and maintain jobs. Some keep silent about their overwhelming concerns about survival and will only speak freely when in the company of fellow preppers. Others consider it an advocacy to spread the bad news about emergency preparedness and possible disasters so that others too may be prepared.

While many may not subscribe to all of the ideas survivalists espouse, the fact remains that in recent years a good number of unexpected disasters have destroyed many metropolitan centers. This being the case perhaps their cry for emergency preparedness should not be totally ignored.


Legacy Food Storage