Our Earthquake Kit (aka Emergency Preparedness Kit)

In early March of this year (2011) my husband came home talking about something called a bug out bag.  I had never heard of this, so he went on to explain to me that it was a backpack that you take with you if things get really bad in an area and you need to get out of town quickly or "bug out".  I had been hounding him for years to help me get an earthquake kit together, so I was ecstatic that he was finally on board to get prepared for an emergency.

On the morning of March 11, 2011 my husband came into our room and told me that Japan had been hit with an earthquake and tsunami.  It really hit home, since we had been discussing earthquakes and disasters for the past couple of weeks. 

Japan had faced disaster with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami.  Aftershocks are still occurring a month later creating evacuations and more tsunami warnings.  I have a difficult time trying to imagine ourselves in a similar situation.  I find some piece of mind to know that we are prepared as best we can be.  The situation in Japan definitely helped to hurry the process along and we are well on are way to completing our earthquake kit and beginning a bug out bag.

The difference between the two, is portability.  In an earthquake kit, one would assume they are camping out in the backyard or holing up in an evacuation centre.  A bug out bag would assume that there is a political crisis or some reason to "get out of dodge" quickly.

I would like to share the items that we put together in our 72 hour plus kit.  I will probably edit this repeatedly as we add more to the bag.  Money is a bit tight so we did purchase some items that you normally wouldn't find in our cupboards or closets. 

This kit was intended for use by my family.  We consist of 2 adults and 2 kids (11 months and 3.5years).  We are trying to prepare for a worst case scenario.  This assumes that a large scale earthquake hits in the middle of December at 2am.  We also made the assumption that we are not able to get back into the house and may be out of it for more than 72 hours. We live in Western Canada, so the winters may be cold and we will need to keep warm and dry.  We wanted to be self-sustainable and not competing with the crowds for food and water.

Earthquake Kit

We decided the first issue is to get out of the house and set up in our backyard in the case of an emergency.  If something happens in the nighttime, lighting is very important to us. 

Lighting

LED Flashlight (2) - These flashlights should last a very long time and are very bright. 

Long Burn Candles (2)

Head Lamp this headlamp requires 1 AA battery (AA is the only size battery we will be stocking in our kit), will stay lit at 48 lumens(medium brightness) for 5.5 hours, is a reasonable price, reaches a long distance and fits on our heads, so that we are able to do things hands-free.

Next we want to make sure everyone is warm.  Shock will most likely be a factor, so we want to make sure that there is something to throw over the little ones and ourselves.

Shelter

4 Sleeping Bags - We've put our camping bags in the same spot as our earthquake supplies.

Tarp -  We plan to use this to keep supplies dry and as a makeshift tent.

Wool Blanket (2) - We purchased 2 really heavy wool blankets from the local thrift store
Paracord - This strong cord could be used to tie up the tarp for shelter from the rain, wind and snow.
Emergency Space Blanket

Injuries may occur, so a First Aid Kit is very important to have in your kit.  We purchased ours from Costco, but any first aid kit with a few added supplies, like extra bandaids should work well. 


A set of clothes will be put in our kit for each family member.  It is hard to know what we will be wearing when we are rushing out of the house.  An extra layer will also help to keep everyone warm from the shock and elements.  We will be circulating the clothing every year for our children and  I will upgrade the size each year.  Footwear is also really important to us, especially if we need to work around any rubble or broken glass.  We decided to put our hiking boots on the top of the kit and take them with us when we go out hiking, returning them when we are finished.  I believe that clean underwear will be one of those sanity keepers.  Clean undies will be very comforting after days of wearing the same dirty clothes.

Clothes (Each item will be an appropriate size or one size larger for the fast growing kiddies)

    
Hikers or runners (one pair for each adult)
4 pairs of Socks

8 Underwear (2 pairs each)

Thermal Underwear for adults

8 Shirts (1 Long sleeve / 1 short sleeve)

4 Pants ( These should be some type of jogging or hiking pant.  Jeans stay wet for too long)

4 Ponchos (These can be purchased at a dollar store)  We choose to purchase 2 military ponchos for the adults.
4 Mitts
4 Bandanas (The bandana link is an awesome site, this particular page has 30 uses for a bandana.)

Going through a disaster will most likely be very hard on everyone.  Some distractions will help with easing minds and generating a bit of calm.

Sanity

Small candies (We bought boxes of smarties, rockets and I threw in a few organic suckers)
Colouring Book / Crayons

Puzzle Book (sudoko/word search)

Mechanical and Standard Pencils/Lead
Eraser

MP3 Player with car charger

Deck of Cards

Dice
Teddies or special blankets (My kids both have cuddlies.  I've always had spares.  I have put these spares in the kit.  They aren't their favourites, but in the time of an emergency I don't think they will be overly fussy about it.)


We choose to purchase all stainless steel eating and cooking utensils because we like them better than plastic and because they can be put over a fire or onto a barbecue.  We found the stainless steel eating utensils at or local Dollarama.  There is a very good possibility that many stores and gas stations will be shut down, so we decided it would be good to keep a spare full propane tank on hand. 

Cooking (Stainless Steel)
    
*2 Pots* Cooking and Boiling Water
Cutlery (4 knives, 4 spoons, 4 Forks)
Plates (4 large,  2 small)
Bowls (2) Cups (2) Glasses (2)
Water Bottles (2 Stainless Steel)

Can opener

Full Spare Propane Tank

A nice little backyard fire will help with warmth, drying clothes and cooking.  Here are a few tools for getting that fire going quickly.

Fire

Steel Striker (I bought this for my husband as a gift from Lee Valley Tools.

Lighters  (1 long; 4 small)

Cotton Balls/Petroleum Jelly - This combination creates a quick fire starter.

Waterproof Matches/Regular Matches

Tools

     
Leatherman or other Multitool

Knife

Folding Handsaw (6-7" blade)

Hatchet (We will store our ax next to our kit)

We decided to only stock our kit with electronics that required AA batteries.  We will need to circulate some of the batteries, but tried to purchase batteries that had a long shelf life. 

Communications

Shortwave Radio - My husband bought a Grundig one off of Craigslist for an awesome deal.

Headphones - There may be information that we won't want the kids to hear.    

Bank Information

Emergency Phone List

Emergency Address List

Alkaline Batteries - We stocked 28 AA batteries.

Sanitary

Soap Bars (We really like The Soap Works bars and tossed in a tea tree oil, aloe vera and shampoo bar)

Tooth Brushes / Paste

Feminine Hygiene Products

Toilet Paper
Diapers (I bought a bag of 40 disposables that I will donate annually when I recycle the kit.)

Wet Wipes

Hand Sanitizer

Food and Water Supplies We purchased large 10L water jugs and have stainless steel water jugs from Kleen Kanteen.  Other water sources in a standing house might include the hot water tank, the toilet tank and the pipes.  You may want to fill up your tub, if you can still get water from the taps, as a backup source.  Water       Katadyn Siphon - This filter will allow us to purify other water sources. Purification tablets Water Jugs (4 litres per person per day)   We have 4 -10 litre containers. Our food and water should last us well over 72 hours, but I still feel like we need more.  If the big one hits the West Coast, we may need to sustain ourselves for much longer than 72 hours.  We tried to come up with items that were filling and nutritious.  We bought a few warehouse size packs at Costco.  I may add more, but so far this is our food list.       Food (Refresh annually during Spring Break)      Quinoa  (2 bags)                                    Bouillon Cubes (12 cubes) Oatmeal Packs (8 individual packs) Steel Cut Oats (2.5kg bag) Soups (8 cans) Brown Beans  (8 cans) Sundried Tomatoes in oil Sockeye Salmon (2 large tins) Diced Tomatoes (2 cans) Clif Bars (18 bars) Craisins (1.36kg) Box of Crackers Salt Sugar Dried Baby Food (I purchased this from babysteals.com for a great price) Couscous - this will cook very quickly Cookies Sprouting Seeds Spices      Cayenne pepper Garlic Powder Onion Flakes Oregano Basil Beverages      Green Tea (24 bags) Hot Chocolate Powdered Coconut Milk (4 servings)  I purchased these at our local health food store. Baby Formula (2 cans)   Vitamin Pills       90 adult high potency 60 chewable kids

One of my biggest struggles with making an emergency preparedness kit was that many items may never be used.  Our family hates waste and leaving food to sit past its expiry seems like a big waste to me.  Also, many items are things that we would not purchase in our day to day lives.  If it comes down to surviving and living more comfortably during an emergency, I guess I can set some of my values aside and be happy that we are prepared for the worst.  I believe that once have the kit fully completed, we will be breathing easier and cycling the items will be a piece of cake. As I look at this list I take comfort in knowing that we have attempted to prepare ourselves to the best of our ability.  While doing this preparing, I find myself imagining what I would do in certain circumstances if an earthquake happened.  It is scary to think about, but challenging as we try to be as prepared as possible.  I will keep you posted!  Here are some great websites for preparing for an emergency: Survival Cache - This website is dedicated to survival in a variety of situations.  It covers everything from gear to strategies.  11 steps to survival - I started to think about what I would do if there was a nuclear blast.  Afterward, I started to think it was very unlikely that we would be affected too much by radiation because of our location.  It did give me piece of mind to look at the information.  Radiation has found its way to the West Coast, in small amounts.  Ironically, I was looking at all of this information, before the earthquake in Japan. Tactical Intelligence  My husband really likes this site Government of BC Emergency Website -  The Earthquake Kit site is good  GetPreparedCanada FEMA