I have to admit, I haven't done much to prepare for much of anything. I have about a gallon of water and not a whole lot by the way of provisions. Part of it is a storage problem, I'm not quite sure where I'd put all this stuff. I know that it is folly to have this attitude, but it just doesn't seem we are all prone to natural disasters, although after seeing Katrina hit, it did give me a bit of pause, given the recent weather patterns, I've begun to think we are about due for something. They'll probably find us buried under about 10 feet of snow sometimes next april or something ;)

Another thing I would recommend is to get mentally prepared. Most local police or fire departments now run a local training program called Community Emergency Response Training (CERT).

In a severe emergency, police, fire, or medical resources may not be able to reach you for days. CERT provides the knowledge for necessary for you and your neighbors to survive until professional help does reach you. It takes a short period of time (usually 4 4-hour sessions) and, once completed, you'll be much better prepared to survive if the worst does happen.

After 9/11, I kept a full tank of gas and a few hundred dollars available at home. I also bought extra flashlights, batteries, a portable radio, and some bottled water.
We had Isabel (hurricane) come through and we used most of the supplies. We had no power for a week. That was tough at the time. I see the Katrina victims and count myself lucky and a wimp.
I now have hardly any gas, no cash,no water, haha ha!!
I always try to keep a half a tank of gas.I never have any cash. I have small bottles of water all the time because of kids and their soccer season. I guess the pop tarts we have in the pantry would last a few years. They have some nutrients in them I suppose and would be more tasty than some old canned beans!!
It is important to have some preparations for any natural disaster. We seem to be having so many lately!

a quick thanks to the ideas. I plan to add to my cooler tomorrow. I even have the milk that can be stored on a shelf w/o refrigeration since my two kids will eat it morning and evening.
My teenager thinks I'm being overly paranoid, but I said better to be prepared and not put it off.
Has there been an update of the Galapagos volcano and how the animal life there is doing?

doh! I meant they eat cereal twice a day.

How funny you should put this up tonight. I was just watching the news and we are about to have a major Nor'ester tonight and tomorrow with 60mph winds maybe higher, with the departing hurricane, the tropical depression and a low pressure system all heading in our direction and I have a funny feeling we are going to loose power tomorrow, so I will head out early for flashlights and batteries, canned food, cat food, and provisions for a few days, just in case. Never hurts to be prepared.

You all gave me an idea--thanks! Am leaving for NY in the morning, and wondering if planes will be diverted from NY area. After reading this, will pack a mini-flashlight, lightweight blanket, and extra food for the flight. Who knows when or where we'll land, if the big NE area storm happens?

Hi CaliNurse, I too have a miniflashlight that I always pack in my carryon. It is good to have in the hotel room also, just in case the powers goes off. Wishing you an easy and safe trip.

Mille grazie for the safe journey wishes, LoveItaly. Ciao!

I am very unprepared. I really have no emergency provisions. Live in the midwest.
I have bad insomnia right now, I guess this is another thing I need to "worry" about!!
Thanks for the good suggestions.

Here in New England my major concern is freezing to death in the winter. We have a fireplace - but that is largely ineffective for heat.

Because of my buying patterns - I buy larger quantities of stuff on sale - I always have lots of non-perishable stuff. I recently remembered that although we would not starve, our cats might, so now also have cat food.

While I have chosen my worry to cetner on disasters, my husband has now chosen to be afraid of bird flu. That presents similar problems - since in an epidemic, one might choose not to go to crowded places such as stores, work - so these supplies would be useful for such an event.

Mormon households and several smaller religious groups maintain storage of a year's supply fo food, and have plenty of websites and books that discuss everything from choosing what to store, to acquiring, budgeting, storage (giant Tupperward type boxes under the bed is a poplar method), preparation, etc.

Me? I have an RV that I keep in my driveway -- duplicate systems of everything from furnace to potty. And an escape method for everything from snowstorms to bird flu.

Not much. I've got a lot of wine in the cellar. I should add that we ARE ready for a major terrorist attack: 3 rolls of duct tape!

Since I live on the gulf coast and hurricanes have been plentiful here this year, we've bought a 12k generater. It hooks up to your natural gas line and automatically comes on with power outage after 3 mins. It does a self check weekly. And, if the house doesn't get blown away,we have power until the utility company can restore. We also keep a bottle of bleach(plain) in case we have tainted water. Make sure you have chainsaws,crackers,canned meat,bottled water,candles,...just in case the gas line ruptures or is unavailable. Been through many a hurricane but never an earthquake, don't think I'd like that!! At least with a hurricane, you have several days to prepare.

To Anon - remember a week or so ago when (Massachusetts) Gov. Romney got ridiculed for saying everyone should stock up on supplies and canned good - and if money/cash flow was a problem to each week buy one extra day's worth of food. Newspapers never got the connection that Romney (as a Mormon) was following rules of his religion

That said, I believe it is part of every family's personal responsibility to make some effort to prepare themselves for a disaster - and not expect someone else to do it for them. I am thinking of my brother in South Florida today with no power and little hope of seeing power for days - and all he has is a box of crackers and some dry oatmeal. (And he could certainly have afforded to buy some food prior to latest hurricane)

Am I the only one who has a hard time keeping a supply of bottled water around? Occasionally I buy one of those 2.5 gallon jugs and within a year or so, it seems to spring a leak. I think the plastic eventually breaks down? How are you all stockpiling water?

One other thing that we have done is to make a "meet-up" plan. This is especially important for my family since my husband and I work in NYC. We have a place to meet (without needing to communicate with each other) and a backup place to meet. Our backup is somewhere that we know would offer us shelter and water if we needed it (our church).

I also have supplies in my office -- an old pair of running shoes (for making that walk uptown), water, a flashlight with batteries.

In regards to keeping bottled water around, I usually buy smaller bottles by the cases from one of the major wholesale stores - very cheap. I try to keep at least 5 cases at all times.
Since I drink bottled water daily, I use the older cases first, to keep a fresh supply. I usually replenish my supplies montly.

I have stored water in 1 gallon plastic milk containers that I have cleaned and dried thoroughly and use. But I dump and refill them every month or so and keep them in the back of the utility room cabinet storage. They have never cracked or separated.

We also realistically have about 3 to 4 months of food in the house at any one time. We're Italian/Sicilian- what can I say! Lots of it is in jars and would last pretty well. And we have two tanks of propane stored to cook.

Also we live close enough to each other to walk- if we have to. We have designated a meeting area. I'm not so worried about papers etc. The kinds of things like fire that would hit us only, I have fire-proof lock boxes. And the other- it would be so bad papers wouldn't count much. Insurance you can search and find the policies on record.

I have been in deep snow lock ins where I have had to feed the neighbors. Realistically, if you live in a densely populated area, the people who are not prepared take from the people who are.

There are a lot of things I do not do that some of you do well and more completely than I. But I feel that if something terrible does happen we will be off to Michigan to live with a well and wood heat etc. and also be off on our own packed 20 deep into my 1200 square feet there anyway. And we could get there by bicycle under the worse conditions most probably. It would just take time.

Also realistically, our two worst scenarios are probably tornados or human failure (bombs/epidemic)- and those are not ones you can realistically ever prepare for without going the whole hog fortress shelter. I couldn't do that regardless. Whenever this kind of talk comes up, I never think about gas lines, earthquakes, hurricanes etc. I always think about Stephen King's The Stand. That is probably a much closer possibility for us.

I drink so much water that I should buy a few cases worth.
I am hoping to get a flu shot soon. I'm not an alarmist, but it seems fairly serious this year, and depending on the population of where you live and the amount of travel that some do, probably wise.

Anybody been here:

http://www.redcross.org/services/pre...0_239_,00.html