10 Areas of Preparedness

 

Ten Areas of Emergency Preparedness

There are 10 basic areas of being prepared. It is much more than "food storage", so here is a list of some of the other ways we can be prepared. Take these ideas and see how you can implement them in the life of your family.

1. Spiritual – The very first area of preparedness that we should all focus on is our Spiritual Self Preparedness. We simply cannot ignore this area, thinking that if we have our food, then we will be okay. There is no chance of us making it through the tough times, unless we have a spiritual foundation to draw from. It is our spiritual strength that will help us, and others, have an understanding and strength to get through anything, whether it be natural disaster, famine, war, financial colapse, or what have you.

2. Mental / Emotional – This area carries with it a few different dimensions. We can actively be gaining education to strengthen our knowledge of emergency preparedness, survival skills, and whatever else is needed to prepare ourselves. This will help to give us a peace of mind that we have knowledge and skills for survival. It will emotionally strengthen us and others that depend on us. Read books, watch movies, take classes, involve yourself in study / prep groups, do whatever you need to do, to get the valuable information you need.

3. Physical – How is your physical ability to survive if you had to? Could you push or pull wagons, hike long distances, carry a pack on your back, camp out in the wilderness, and do whatever is necessary to keep you and your family alive? Do you know something about nutrition and diet, so that you can keep healthy now and then? Exercise is important for your physical preparedness. You just never know what will be required of you. Take the steps now, to be prepared for when you need.

4. Medical – First aid supplies and sanitation supplies are so vital to survival. Study up on alternative medicine options and procedures as well as the modern day ones. There are lots of options available. If you are actively working on your physical health as well, you might want to work on getting rid of any prescription meds that you have and could possibly do with out. Many of these meds, can be eliminated with healthy eating, physical exercise, and alternate herbs, vitamins, minerals, and others such things. For sanitation, think this one through and how you would help your family through a crisis situation with no sanitation facilities. There are alot of "what if's" to consider in this, so go through the scenarios and decide what will work best, and put the plan into action. Get prepared!

5. Shelter – clothing also goes along with this area. Shelter and proper clothing are what will keep you alive. You can have all the food you want, but if you freeze or cook, you will still die. There are many possible reasons as to why you may have to evacuate your home. Could you do it quickly? Do you have shelter that will be quick and easy to transport and put up? Will your clothing and shelter keep you alive if the weather is really cold? Make sure you have clothing for all ages that are in your family. Have them ready in your go bags, so you don't have to hunt for the survival clothing. Hats, gloves, for both warm and cold weather, sturdy shoes, or boots, all necessary for survival in different temperatures. Think of what you will need to reinforce your shelter, even if it is in your own home, things like: duct tape, nails, plastic sheeting, and so on.

6. Water – I want to stress the fact that I feel very strongly that a two week supply of water, is bare minimum, survival amount, and it is not enough! You will have no cleaning, washing, bathing, or any other water than just to drink and survive, if you only store your minimum two weeks amount. Water is the ONLY thing that will keep your organs functioning properly. You will need it whether it is cold or hot out. You just NEED water. I can't stress this one enough. You need water, NOT juice or milk or other fluids, it really needs to be WATER. And in addition to storing water, store a few really good quality water filters. Store paper eating products, because then you don't have to waste your water with washing dishes. Store Chlorox Bleach, unscented for water purification. Even stale water is better than no water, but stale water can be aerated by a simple process of pouring it back and forth in containers.

7. Food – Know how to use the food you store. Know how to cook it without power. Make sure the food you store has high nutritional value, because under stress you will need all of the strength and energy you can maintain. 90 days of food storage, is short term and is for emergency disaster survival. This has a totally different purpose than the one year supply of long term survival foods. That one year supply is a minimum, and don't stop there. Keep on going, the more you have the longer you and your loved ones around you will live. But I stress, know how to live off the food you have and the tools you have to cook it or use it. Don't wait until the crisis hits and then try to figure it out. You won't have the patience or energy to even care to figure it out at that point.

8. Fuel – Collect as much fuel for as many as the tools you have as possible. Make sure that every family member knows how to use these tools and their proper maintenance. Know the proper methods of storing the various fuels you will need. Also charcoal and wood are always a good thing to have on hand because they are so versatile with cooking and heating. Think of cooking, lighting, and heating. Make a plan and act on that plan of how you will do these three things for an extended period of time.

9. Financial – Being out of debt is important, but not always feasible for all of us. We should all be working as hard as possible for this, but there is even more to it. Pay your bills and taxes on time. Be honest in your dealings. Also have some goods that you would be willing to trade / barter, such as wheat, sugar and other staples of food. Have small amounts of cash on hand, but large amounts aren't going to be a lot of good, because soon money will have no value in certain long term situations. You will not be able to buy things because there will be nothing to buy.

10. Communication – Comminicating to others serves a couple of purposes. You should have a communication plan for your family in case you are ever seperated in a disaster. There should be a specific gathering point that all of your family knows. And they should all have the emergency contact numbers in our emergency kits. How will you communicate to make sure that your friends and family out of area are safe? Do you have an out of area contact that you will all call or reach as a home base? Think through the different scenarios and decide what will work for your family, and then make it happen.