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30
More Days and 30 More Ways to be Prepared
By Carolyn Nicolaysen
September is National Preparedness
Month in the USA, and no better time to help our families understand
the goal of becoming the most self-reliant and prepared people —
ready for any challenge.
It has been a busy summer. There have been floods in the American
Midwest and Asia, dozens of deaths from heat waves in North America
and Europe, wildfires burning Washington, California, Nevada and
Utah. An 8.0 earthquake slammed Peru, a tsunami warning was issued
for the Pacific Coast of South America, volcanoes have erupted or
threatened to erupt in Alaska, Indonesia, and Africa, and Hurricane
Dean is sweeping through the Caribbean. Is there anyone still unconvinced
of the need to prepare?
The following calendar is similar to
one we did last year, and is intended to give you a plan for the
month of September that is easy, inexpensive, and effective at getting
your emergency plan back on the rails. Hopefully after practicing
and thinking about preparedness for the month, you and your family
will be prepared to move on to the next step — to design a
custom emergency plan for your household.
September 1st
Meet with your family and tell them of your intention to spend the
month of September preparing to be more self reliant in case of
an emergency. Tell your family this may involve purchasing some
items. It may mean some sacrifices will have to be made.
Get a coin bank and tell everyone that
you will be placing your spare change in the bank every night, and
they can do the same. Tell them that any family member contributing
will get to help decide what to purchase. This will help your children
feel included and empowered, and also help teach them a little about
money management.
September 2nd
As a family read “In Case of Disaster” (New Era, Oct
1990, 24–31). You can find this and all other articles suggested
as Sunday reading, by going to LDS.org and clicking on magazines.
September 3rd
1. For Family Home Evening Play What If
What if you were
not at home when a major emergency happened? (Fill in the blank
with the emergency most likely to occur in your area). Ask each
family member, including the adults what they would do.
- What if you
were at a friend’s home?
- What if you were
at work?
- What if you were
at school?
- What if you were
shopping?
This will give you the opportunity
to make sure your family all knows whom to call or — in the
case of adults and teens — where your meeting place will be.
2. Fill out emergency cards for each
family member to keep in wallets and/or school backpacks. These
should include home phone number, cell phones, home address, near
by friend or relative and an out-of-state contact. Remember everyone
should have the same out-of-state contact and phone that contact
immediately after a disaster strikes. That person can then relay
messages to the rest of the family as they check in.
September 4th
It’s shoe day! Place a sturdy pair of shoes under each bed
in your home. These should be shoes that are not normally worn so
they remain in place for an emergency. If you have young children,
place the shoes where they can be easily found by an older family
member in the dark.
Take a pair of good walking shoes to
work. If an emergency arises at work and you are unable to drive
home, you may be on foot and will need good shoes. You will also
want an extra pair in the car in case you are caught away from home
and away from the office. Extra shoes are also important in case
of a roadside emergency should your shoes get wet while changing
a tire or awaiting rescue. Be sure to rotate those shoes as children
grow out of them.
September 5th
Gather together all over-the-counter medications and check the expiration
dates. Discard any that have expired. Make a list of those you need
to purchase and post it in your kitchen. Read through the weekly
ads and replace the items on the list when they are on sale.
September 6th
Post emergency phone numbers next to each phone. Remember not only
the police and fire departments, hospital, doctors, and poison control,
but also the schools, the out-of-state contact, friends, family,
and your own phone numbers. A babysitter may need to call your cell
phone, or a child may forget phone numbers during an emergency.
Be sure to include your street address
on this list. If a friend or babysitter has to call for help from
your home, he will need to be able to tell rescuers the address.
In case of an emergency you may even forget your own phone number
and address. It is not at all unusual.
September 7th
Make a list of handicapped or elderly neighbors, friends, ward members,
and family members who may need help in an emergency, post their
phone numbers and enter them in to your cell phone contact list.
During an emergency, even a power outage it is important to check
on those who may not be able to take care of their own needs.
September 8th
Contact the people on the list you compiled yesterday. Discuss with
them their plans in an emergency and their preparations. If they
do not have 72-hour kits, ask them if they would like your help
to purchase or create one. If they are not prepared, consider adding
a few extra items to your 72-hour kit that you can share with them
if the need arises.
If the people on your list are not
family members, ask them about a contact person you can call for
them during an emergency. If it is appropriate, ask them for a key
to their home. In some cases you may have to go into the home to
physically help them out and you may need a key.
September 9th
As a family read “Members in Coalinga Respond to Earthquake”
(Ensign, July 1983, 77–78). Mom and Dad should read
the article “Ready to Go!” (Friend, Jul 2007,
8–11) and plan a similar exercise for Family Home Evening
tomorrow.
September 10th
Hold a family home evening based on the article “Ready to
Go.”
September 11th
Evaluate your preparations to care for your pets.
- Have you assembled 72-hour kits
for your pets? These should include water, food, medications,
up-to-date vaccination and other medical records, vaccination
records, collar, toys, food and water dishes, and sanitation disposal
bags.
- Also be sure you have someone who
will care for your pets, outside of your immediate neighborhood,
if you need to leave your home.
- Make a list of foods and medications
you need for a 1 month supply for each pet.
-
Make a list of items
you need to gather or purchase.
September 12th
Gather or purchase the items on your pet needs list and place them
in a pet 72-hour kit.
September 13th
Place an extra set of important keys in adult 72-hour kits, safe
deposit box, at work, next to your bed, and with a neighbor. Keys
should include all cars, homes, homes of those you have promised
to help evacuate, offices, recreational vehicles, mail boxes, and
storage sheds.
September 14th
Add $10.00 to your coin bank for spending on emergency needs.
September 15th
— Get the house ready:
- If you live in hurricane country,
take necessary measurements and purchase supplies needed to board
up windows. Don’t forget screws and bolts. Take supplies
home and pre-drill holes to make installation fast
- If you live in earthquake or tornado
areas, purchase items to strap your water heater and to secure
large furniture items such as dressers and sideboards to walls,
and then do it.
- If you live in a flood area, purchase
and place survival items in your attic. See Meridian articles:
“Preparing
for a Flood”
“Prepare
Your Home for the Unexpected” and “Prepare
to Evacuate!”.
September 16th
As a family read “The Flood after the Storm” (Ensign,
Feb 1997).
September 17th
Practice building a shelter. Get out the Scout Handbook or look
for directions online. Create a shelter using supplies you have
in your emergency and/or car kits, such as mylar blankets, duct
tape, bungee cords and tarps. If you don’t have these items,
now is the time to purchase them and practice how to use them for
shelter. No supplies? Time to purchase some!
September 18th
Make foil dinners. These are fun for the family and a great way
to cook after a natural disaster when power or facilities are unavailable.
You can prepare these in a fire pit or barbeque. It's another good
reason to have a Scout Handbook.
September 19th
Call your children’s school(s) or day care and ask about their
emergency procedures. Review these with your spouse and children.
If they do not have a plan, volunteer to help develop one.
September 20th
At dinner tonight, discuss the family’s favorite meals. Take
notes to determine breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack favorites.
Gather recipes for each food item.
September 21st
Using the recipes you gathered yesterday, determine how many times
a month you would like to serve that food. Calculate the ingredients
you will need for each recipe. If you would like to eat chicken
casserole three times a month, you will need to purchase nine times
the ingredients in that recipe to have a three-month supply.
September 22nd
Purchase the food you will need for five of the recipes you chose.
Store these separately from your other pantry foods. These are now
storage items and should be replaced immediately once they are used.
Build your food supply by systematically adding items each week.
September 23rd
Read, “The Responsibility for Welfare Rests with Me and My
Family” (Ensign, May 1986, by Elder James E. Faust).
September 24th
Meet with another family tonight and take family photos. Have each
family take a group photo of the other family. Take photos of individual
family members and a group photo that includes all family members.
Remember, pets are family members too. You want an individual photo
and group photo with them also. These will help if you are separated
and need to post a photo or claim a family member. Your group photo
will help to prove you are the parent, sibling, or child, of a “misplaced”
family member.
September 25th
Make enough copies of the photos you took yesterday to include in
the 72-hour kits of all family members, a copy for your out-of-state
contact, and two more complete sets (you'll see why in a moment).
September 26th
Mail copies of your photos to your emergency contact. Place copies
in all 72-hour kits, and take one set of copies to store at work
and another set to your safe deposit box.
September 27th
Replace batteries in smoke- and carbon monoxide-detectors.
September 28th
Place flashlights and/or glow sticks by every bed for use in a nighttime
emergency. Last week we experienced a power outage at our home.
I have plenty of candles, flashlights and glow sticks but we had
to fumble in the dark to find them. I decided then that we would
keep glow sticks in every room in our home. I was thrilled when
we used ours last week and it brightened the entire room.
For our business we determined we would
only sell white glow sticks and that was definitely the right choice!
They are really superior to other colors. Make sure your children
know these are for emergencies only. They will run for them when
the power goes out!
September 29th
At breakfast ask for any last contributions to the emergency fund.
Count your money and decide what items are most important to purchase
with this money. Remember you promised anyone contributing could
help decide. If they should decide on brownie mix, that’s
important too. Now go spend the money. Come home and place everything
on the table where you can all enjoy what you have accomplished.
Why not keep the fund going and do the same thing next month?
September 30th
Read, “If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear” Ensign
(November 1995, by Elder L. Tom Perry). As a family, discuss what
you need to do next to continue preparing as prophets have counseled.
Take time today to find a binder and plastic sheet protectors and
begin a family preparedness resource manual. Run off the articles
mentioned in the September calendar and file them in your binder
so on September 1st you’ll be ready to go!
Being prepared is as much an attitude
and a lifestyle as any good habit that becomes part of who we are.
Children will want to be part of something they see as exciting
and valuable as being ready for unforeseen emergencies like weather
events and civil emergencies. By being ready, we are less apprehensive,
and the unknown is less intimidating. Thus prepared, we “shall
not fear.”
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© 2007 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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