Your Guide To Emergency Essentials

Because of recent natural disasters, as well as heightened fear of terrorist activities, many people are trying to get together emergency kits for their homes and families. The problem some people have is deciding what emergency essentials they really need, and which ones can be left off the list. What will be essential for each family will differ upon circumstances, but some of the emergency essentials will be the same for everyone.

In the case of emergency, you want to make sure that all of your basic needs are covered for at least a week. Some say three days, other say seven, and others give a different number. What you want to save is up to you. You do need to have water, food, and clothing no matter what. Water should be bottled, and food should be the kind that will not spoil. Remember that you also need a way to drink the water, and if you have canned foods, you have to be able to open the cans. Cleanliness is always essential, and you want to have ways to clean your hands before you eat, and ways to keep clean after disposing of bodily wastes.

Emergency essentials should also include money, clothes, personal identification, medical records, extra shoes, maps, flashlights, and also a way to carry these items. Backpacks are a great way to keep things together, and they can be grabbed and carried out rather easily in the case of an emergency. Most of your emergency essentials will fit in a backpack, and each family member can keep their own in an easy to reach place. You can keep large items in the trunk of your car, and don’t forget extra keys and pet supplies if you have pets. You should also have matches, a mobile phone, emergency numbers, and toothbrush and toothpaste.

Other emergency essentials are medications and personal needs. These will vary depending on your family. If you wear glasses, you will need to have an extra set. For contact wearers, their emergency essentials should include extra contacts and cleaning solutions. Probably most importantly, if anyone is on medications, there should be enough there to last at least a few weeks if not longer. Remember to keep rotating the medication you are keeping with your emergency essentials so that it won’t expire. Also remember to keep the numbers of friends and family among your emergency essentials, as they may be your biggest concern if something goes wrong.