If the past couple of years has taught the world anything, it’s that everything could change at any point, sometimes for the better, other times for the worst. Those that take things day by day could find themselves in troubled waters in case of an emergency.
Disaster can strike at any point, so it’s crucial that everyone is prepared for any situation that might come their way. This can be any type of disaster, natural or man-made, which makes the practice of survival preparedness essential for everyone.
What Is Survival Preparedness
Survival preparedness is precisely what the name suggests. It’s the ability for each person to survive in any case without needing any emergency assistance. These are plans that people have in place for different types of situations, natural disasters, and man-made ones like terrorist attacks.
These plans have to be enforced by families to ensure that every member knows what they are meant to do in case of an emergency. There have to be steps that a person has to take to ensure that they’re safe if disaster strikes, before, during, and after the situation.
A survival plan is essential because most people aren’t good with emergencies. Panic ensues and causes people to get so frazzled that they can’t think of a way to safely get out of the situation themselves. This can be an even bigger problem for children because it ends up being their safety above their own, leading to an ill-prepared escape. To avoid all of that, it’s essential to have a survival plan that the entire family knows in place. If something happens, get out of danger and to safety.
Situations Where a Survival Plan Would Be Necessary
Several emergency situations could leave it necessary for people to survive independently. Here are some examples of some man-made situations and natural disasters that one may have to deal with:
- A pandemic lockdown: The pandemic is something the entire world just went through together, even though people used to think that pandemics were a thing of history. It’s possible for situations to rise to the emergency level again in the future.
- Electrical breakdown: There may be a situation where the electrical grid in certain areas could break down, taking most daily necessities like clean water and heat with it. Every survival plan needs to consider a potential complete electrical breakdown in the area.
- Natural Disaster: Disasters like floods, hurricanes, tornados, and snowstorms can all leave people stuck in their homes or out on the streets for days on end. It’s essential to always keep the possibility of them in mind when planning for emergency survival.
4: Political Unrest: While some man-made disasters are accidental, things like political unrest can cause the day or week to shift immediately from calm to potentially life-threatening significantly. These situations have come up all over the world in the past couple of years
5: Complete Collapse: Most of us live in safe countries where everything seems calm, but No one should ever ignore the possibility of total global collapse. Every family should have their own plan in place to survive on their own just in case there is no one to help them.
The Ultimate Survival Plan
Below is an overview of what the ultimate survival plan for all families should look like:
Emergency Cash:
One of the things that most people tend to forget about when it comes to having a survival plan is emergency cash. This is a critical step because if the family needs to leave the house and be outside, seeking shelter, emergency cash can come in handy. This could also prove helpful if something happens to the rest of the kit.
2 Weeks of Supplies:
In the past couple of decades, everyone was always told to gather 72 hours of supplies in their emergency kits. However, as time has gone on and the world has been through more and more disasters, it’s become apparent that 72 hours is almost never enough for the people stuck inside their homes seeking shelter from disaster. It is still recommended to at least have 72 hours’ worth of food supplies in case of an emergency evacuation. It’s always better to have more than less, so enough supplies for 14 days are what everyone should be aiming for.
The Right Supplies:
There are many premade survival kits in the market that people can purchase. These kits are usually filled with things that are important and useful in case of an emergency however, every family is different. That’s why everyone should add their own survival items to the premade kit a company put together.
The right supplies would include medication for all family members, baby supplies if there’s a baby in the house, pet supplies (food, carriers, and leashes), can openers, and extra keys for the house. This way, even if the family has to evacuate, no one would have to worry about having the personal essentials for anyone, not even the pets, and can evacuate immediately.
Have a Bug Out Bag Prepared:
A bug-out bag is a bag that’s something everyone can grab and run with if there’s a massive emergency that requires people to escape immediately. This is basically an overnight bag that can be used in case of emergencies that would require you to be locked out of your home for a couple of days. In it, you would need to have food, water, medication, emergency shelters such as a tent, torches, a camping knife, and your documents. That way, even if the conditions are so bad that everyone needs to leave, they’d have everything packed up, waiting to go, so all they would have to do is put their shoes on and hit the road.
Have the Home Ready:
Not all disaster leaves people out on the streets. Most actually require people to stay in their homes to stay safe. This is also why the standard safety guideline for most emergencies is “Stay in the house, lock the doors.” Unless the disaster affects the home itself, it will always be the safest place to be. However, this doesn’t mean that the family shouldn’t have emergency supplies present in the home at all times. Supplies and emergency supplies are different things.
Key At Home Emergency Supplies:
Every family needs to ensure that each member would be able to survive in the home for 2 weeks without having to be rescued by anyone. Remember, these supplies must be multiplied by the number of people in the home:
The essentials are:
Water: Every person should have at least 1 gallon of water per day stored at home. There should also be filtration and water storage devices that can filter and store water if the stored water runs out.
Non-perishable food: There should be 1500 calories worth of food for each family member in the house for 14 days.
Medical Supplies: Since there is a chance that the emergency leaves people in the family injured, there must be enough medical supplies to go around for them to be okay. This includes first aid and general medical supplies alike.
Fire and heating supplies: Every home should always have supplies that can be used to light a fire and heat the home if there’s no power.
Power supplies: This can help power the home temporarily.
Documents: Every household should make sure they have bundled up their important documents ready to go in case of an emergency. This would include IDs, passports, health insurance information, and any other information that might end up being necessary in case things get serious and the family has to leave the home.
Communication devices: Keep an emergency mobile phone and charging bricks and cables relevant to all of the phones in the house. It would make it easy to stay connected even if the family is stuck at home.
Cash: Even though the family would be stocked up with the supplies to keep them safe, it’s always best to have more cash on hand just in case something additional is needed.
Area information: Each family should know exactly where their nearest hospital is, the information of the rescue departments, and all of the contact information of their neighbors, friends, and extended family. That way, they can get in touch with them instantly if needed without finding the contact information.
Knowledge is Power in survival:
Even though having the supplies and the plan in place for emergencies is the main goal here, it’s also important that every member of the family, down to the young children, are aware of the plan. They should know exactly where the emergency supplies are what they’re supposed to do. Hence, no matter what’s going on, the entire family is prepared to stay safe, on their own, without any outside help.