# 3635
It’s wildfire season out west, hurricane season along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and just about anywhere else floods, earthquakes, tornados, and all manner of other disasters could conspire to force you and your family from your home with very little notice.
Having an emergency `to go’ kit or `BOB’ is an important preparation, and could be lifesaving in an emergency.
In the vernacular, a `bug-out bag' or `BOB’ is a bag of emergency supplies, ideally kept at the ready, that one can grab on the way out the door during an emergency.
With Hurricane season ramping up again here in the Southeast, I recently went through my personal bug out bag, and replaced flashlight and radio batteries from last year, and swapped out older emergency rations for newer ones.
A BOB isn't supposed to be a survival kit, but rather, is supposed to provide the essentials one might need during the first 72 hours of a forced, and sometimes unexpected, evacuation.
It should contain food, water, any essential prescription medicines, copies of important papers (ID's, insurance, important Phone #s), a first aid kit, portable radio, flashlight, extra batteries, and ideally blankets and extra clothes.
Sometimes emergencies occur with some warning, such as with a Hurricane, granting one a few days or hours to prepare. Other times they happen with such suddenness that there is no time to think, no time to prepare. Such as in an earthquake, a tornado, a chemical leak, or even a terrorist attack.
Every year, thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of Americans are forced to leave their homes in emergency evacuations. Most won't be ready.
Which is why everyone should have a BOB outfitted and ready to go.
If you think having an emergency bug out bag sounds like something that only a camouflage wearing, gun toting survivalist would have on hand . . .think again.
Here is the advice from Ready.gov. They call is an Emergency Supply Kit, but the idea is the same.
Step 1: Get A Kit
- Get an Emergency Supply Kit,which includes items like non-perishable food, water, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries. You may want to prepare a portable kit and keep it in your car. This kit should include:
- Copies of prescription medications and medical supplies;
- Bedding and clothing, including sleeping bags and pillows;
- Bottled water, a battery-operated radio and extra batteries, a first aid kit, a flashlight;
- Copies of important documents: driver’s license, Social Security card, proof of residence, insurance policies, wills, deeds, birth and marriage certificates, tax records, etc.
Step 2: Make a Plan
Prepare your family
- Make a Family Emergency Plan. Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency
- Plan places where your family will meet, both within and outside of your immediate neighborhood.
- It may be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town, so an out-of-town contact may be in a better position to communicate among separated family members.
- You may also want to inquire about emergency plans at places where your family spends time: work, daycare and school. If no plans exist, consider volunteering to help create one.
- Plan to Evacuate
- Identify ahead of time where your family will meet, both within and outside of your immediate neighborhood.
- Identify several places you could go in an emergency, a friend's home in another town, a motel or public shelter.
- If you do not have a car, plan alternate means of evacuating.
- If you have a car, keep a half tank of gas in it at all times in case you need to evacuate.
- Take your Emergency Supply Kit.
- Take your pets with you, but understand that only service animals may be permitted in public shelters. Plan how you will care for your pets in an emergency.
- Take a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class from your local Citizen Corps chapter. Keep your training current.
A search of the Internet will find loads of information on BOBs, including some kits so chock full that it would require a pack mule to carry. Some restraint may be required when making a suitable BOB, particularly if you may be forced to carry it.
A bug-out-bag should be a smaller version of a much larger emergency supply that every household should maintain. While a BOB should provide for 72 hours of your family's needs, you should be prepared to stay at home, without outside assistance, for at least 2-weeks.
For more information on how to prepare your household, and your family, to withstand a 2-week or longer crisis visit www.flu.gov (family checklists) or www.getpandemicready.org.
For more information on preparedness, you can go to any of these reputable sites.
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
For Pandemic Preparedness Information: HHS Individual Planning Page
