Prepare Kansas

Tag: #Ready2015

Grab-and-go bags

One of the Prepare Kansas week 3 challenge tasks is to begin assembling grab-and-go bags for family members, including household pets. You may be wondering how these are different from the emergency supply kits you assembled in weeks 1 and 2.

NPM Digital Toolkit 2015 Flood_3
Image source: NPM Digital Toolkit 2015

 

The short answer is that they may contain some similar items. In our minds, there are differences though. A basic household or vehicle emergency  kit will be used whenever there is an emergency. A grab-and-go bag will likely only be used when you and members of your household need to evacuate quickly. Sometimes it might be hard to decide what the outcome of the emergency will be and you will want to grab both.

Items to include in grab-and-go bags for individual family members include those that are listed as additional items to consider on FEMA’s emergency supply list as well as the supplies for unique needs listed at http://www.ready.gov/kit

Individual and family needs vary and so will needs over time. Be sure to include items that will meet your current needs and update your grab-and-go bags at least once a year.

Build or update your emergency supply kit

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that in case of an emergency, we all have some basic supplies on hand in order to survive for at least three days. A downloadable list of recommended supplies is available here. It is also available in the Helpful Links section of the blog.

Build a kit. Be prepared.
Build a kit. Be prepared.

Once you’ve assembled a basic kit, you’ll want to maintain and update the kit regularly. Learn more about what to include in a basic kit, additional emergency supplies to keep on hand, and supplies for unique needs at http://www.ready.gov/kit

Don’t wait — communicate

The Prepare Kansas online challenge* takes place each year during September.  September is also National Preparedness Month (NPM). The month finishes big on September 30 with a national day of action, National PrepareAthon! Day.

National Preparedness Month 2015
National Preparedness Month 2015

One of the challenge tasks for Week 1 is to complete a family or workplace communication plan to use in the event of a disaster and communicate the details with everyone who needs to know about it.

If you aren’t sure what to include in your plan, check out this information and the resources at ready.gov

We’ve also posted some helpful links here on the blog.

* There is still time! Take steps ahead of disaster and register by September 6 at http://bit.ly/1pwiiFE