Microsoft word - level ii disaster recovery to-go kit.doc

FEMA Suggested Weather Gide lines and Category: II Disaster
Recovery: Go Bag

TOC:
FEMA Suggested Weather Gide lines and Category: II Disaster Recovery: Go Bag
Category: I Go Bags Category: II Go Bags Category: III Go Bags Gathering Point 1 Gathering Point 2 & 3 Tools Clothes & Protective Gear Food & Water FEMA Weather Preparedness Directives
• To begin preparing, you should build an emergency kit and make a family communications • Listen to NOAA Weather Radio or to commercial radio or television newscasts for the latest information. In any emergency, always listen to the instructions given by local emergency • Be alert to changing weather conditions. Look for approaching storms. • Look for the following danger signs: A large, dark, low-lying cloud (particularly if rotating) If you see approaching storms or any of the danger signs, be prepared to take shelter immediately. Tornado Facts
Quick facts you should know about tornadoes: • They may strike quickly, with little or no warning. • They may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the • The average tornado moves Southwest to Northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move • The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 mph, but may vary from stationary to 70 mph. • Tornadoes can accompany tropical storms and hurricanes as they move onto land. • Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water. • Tornadoes are most frequently reported east of the Rocky Mountains during spring and • Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through May; in the northern states, it is • Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 pm and 9 pm, but can occur at any time. Know the Terms
Familiarize yourself with these terms to help identify a tornado hazard: Tornado Watch - Tornadoes are possible. Remain alert for approaching storms. Watch the sky and
stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio or television for information.
Tornado Warning - A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. Take shelter
Definition of Category Disasters:
Category: I Go Bags
(Local Disaster, City Government still intact, loss of power and water services) Category: II Go Bags
(Local Disaster, City Government Not-intact, loss of communications and power) Category: III Go Bags
(National or Regional Disaster, Government Not intact, Loss of all services) The following GO Bag will supply resources for both Category I and II disasters for a few days. Police, Fire and Emergency services are limited or non-existent for 3 days. For Category III disasters, multiply Category II supplies and add weapons for protection of your family and resources. Must have a Plan
Not too long ago we realized that in the event of a disaster there was no way that we had to communicate and
we didn't have any plan in place. I want to be sure that were taken care of in the event of the disaster. So I came
up with the idea of putting together what I call it a "GO Bag" and I also developed a plan so that we could find
each other in the event that the cell service went down, and we were not able to communicate by phone. I took
several things into consideration when I was putting the "GO Bag" together and looking at putting a plan
together.
One of those things that I realized is that we've may not be in our homes, so if disaster strikes do you have a
plan to be able to connect after such an as disaster.
In recent times, like the earthquake in Japan, one of the big things that can happen in a disaster is loss of
communication. You lose contact with your family and friends and it's really pretty much a free for all as to
how you can find them, so I put together a plan as to where to meet, and of the different steps to take. A GO
Bag can go in a car and it goes with you.
To be smart you should have one for everybody in our family, each car and home, and it is simply a few things
to make you more comfortable and help take care of yourself.
How much easer would it be to face a disaster if your family was present and accounted for? So let me take a
few minutes just to go through some of the things that I happen to have in my go bag:
One item that may help in the long run is to have some silver coins, the old pure silver kind, hidden for
bartering. Paper money may not be useful if the damage is wide spread due to breakdown of government.
Obviously you can take care of more people when you are taken care of.

Family Accounting:
One of the things that I started off within the bag was that I realize that in a disaster you might be a little bit
confused and there is the plan written on plastic laminated card.
Please notice that I put everything in a plastic bag so that if there is water damage, as it could be raining
whatever that the case may be, to keep all of the important documents say something you may consider
important. Once you get it drawn up you can actually have it laminated to keep it clean, so that you know
exactly what you're doing. So I actually put together a list in a plan as to how to approach our disaster
preparedness, where we'd meet in that emergency plan. I clearly spell out where we're going to meet and I
picked out three different locations, one location is our home to start with and then from there I've chosen two
other locations that are within walking distance because we may not have an automobile available to us. Note:
After a tornado that wipes out a large number of houses, the first thing after the streets are cleared is to put up
street signs because the devastation all looks the same. Smart phones and handheld GPS receivers are great to
locate where you are, going to the wrong location will not help getting back together.
Gathering Point 1
So in that plan, I devised a way to leave me a message or a note. Also in the disaster plan again I talk about the
meeting places so the first place is the home. If we go to one of our meeting places in the plan, is that we will
both meet there.
If for some reason we can't stay there at the home because of damage or it's dangerous to be there and what
have we decided to do is put a ribbon on, now this is just an engineer's tape it's a plastic ribbon. Its a hundred
feet long so you can wrap a big chunk of it and tie it on some places clearly visible.
Gathering Point 2 & 3
If I arrive at the second rendezvous point and I find a pink ribbon there that means they are going to our third
rendezvous point now. It's just a means of communicating; because communicating is vital.
Now I have one color and each member has the another color you know. I have yellow so if I arrived at the our
home and I see that there's a pink ribbon hanging there, doesn't need to write anything or anything else, I know
that when there's a pink ribbon hanging there, they have been there for sure, and they have left and gone to our
third rendezvous point.
I've included in a plastic bag some pens pad for writing notes in the bag, and I've also included a sharpie magic
marker, a magic marker is good as you can write a note on just about any kind of surfaces and leave a note if
there are further instructions that have to be followed. Those are the primary things that I started with and are
the basis of this entire kit. It is basically just to help take care of you okay. Help make you more comfortable.
Show Pictures to Rescuers
I've looked at what would be important to have such as pictures. Okay now you can take a picture all of your
loved ones and your pets with you now. The reason for this is that if your home has been in a disaster, you can
show that picture to emergency people, and around to friends, neighbors whoever's in the neighborhood. Show
them what your loved one looks like or show them what your pet looks like and you can ask have you seen this
person has seen this pet, it's a way to be clear in your communication with people.
I wear glasses, so I have an extra pair of glasses in my bag, very important to have if you have glasses and or
medication to have extra in the bag. Please be sure that you have some of that, you may not have an opportunity
to go back to the home and pick them up. Perfect example of that was a wild fire and several people lost their
homes. They had no chance to go back to their home and in get anything out of their homes for days.
Now one of the things that I did was the fact that if the cell service goes down, how are we going to
communicate. We have family out of state as well, so we were concerned about being able to contact the family
out of that a state. We needed a complete list of names of all of my family; I knew that contact information
would be inaccessible. In the event that there is disaster we can contact families and let them know that we're
okay. We have chosen one person that live out of the state that would be a contact point because there's often
times when cells servicing the immediate areas were not working but you can talk to somebody out of state. So
it's a good thing to have somebody out of state that you can contact and let them know that you're ok. They can
pass the word onto the to other parts of your family. We would forwarded this to all of our families that they
know how to make contact as well.
Signaling:
And then I have several other things I have a glow stick and this glow stick is a simple little device that is the
plastic when you when you break it and mix the two chemicals together will glow like a candle it's real nice for
a little extra light or signaling. A couple of other important things that I've put in that kit, one as a whistle, now
a whistle is the best way to communicate yet if you want to make a noise or draw attention is a whistle. It can
travel much further than a voice if you're trying to holler for help, so whistle is a good thing to include in the
emergency kit. I have a flashlight this flashlight happens to be a LED "headlamp" and that claps of your head
included in the package is batteries and everything all ready to go a light but it just hooks over your head
leaving your hands free if you want to be doing any type of task needing two hands. If you're walking at night
or whatever headlamp is a real nice little thing to have so give yourself might. I have extra batteries for the
headlamps light.
Radios:
So what I have done is that I've come up with two types of communication radios.
First is a ham radio, the ham radio is good because that there is what's called ham repeaters and those are
stations throughout the area where you can talk from this radio it goes to that tower that could broadcast cast in
many different directions. Most radios are called for relying line of site that just exactly what that sounds like
it's the line of sight if there is anything that's obstructing the radio frequency then you're not going to be able to
communicate, another words if you're on one side of the mountain in your friend is on the other side of the
mountain you cannot communicate with a radio. This line of sight so we don't have radioed actually goes up to
its tower and they can be transmitted back down to the other towers.
Second option is a Citizens' Band or a CB radio. With the ham radio you have to have a license to in order to
operate that so that does make it a deterrent for a lot of people because you have to go through classes learn
about the radios and how to operate them. With CB citizens band radio you do not need a license, and they've
got some great CB radios for low cost. It doesn't take any special equipment to operate the radio and it's one
that you can have in your car and you can actually access a lot of people if your cell phone is out of strength on
the road. Many local people monitor CB radios and many local people monitor ham radios, so that you can
make on contact with someone, you can get communication through to the people that are important to you.
Where this is is a regular walkie-talkie style two way radio, it is communication that does give you that that
freedom.
It's available to go with you wherever you happen to go so those are some ideas as far as communicating, many
different radios are available.
We have also included chargers an extra batteries that are important to have their in your bag, you don't know
how long you're going to be in either that radio now what I also did was in that indeed I do I have put the radio
frequencies on the back of the radio so there's no question when you grabbed at radio what channel that you're
supposed to be on in order to communicate. Keep in mind that you're going meet most people that are going to
be somewhat confused, if you have it all together you can help others.
It is clearly possible when it comes to being able to use the equipment that you have there's nothing worse than
having equipment that you don't remember how to use. Include full instructions on how to use the equipment in
the bag.
I know you are going to have about ten to fifteen hours of communication, one of the things that I did was
realizing that batteries will go dead, I've set it up a schedule to turn the radio on; for the first two hours: you
keep your radio on, then each radio off to save power.
Every half hour from five minutes before to five minutes after the hour turn the radio on so that you can
communicate. That is where you're going to save batteries; you don't leave your radios on continuously. Need
chargers and extra batteries for the radios and light sticks to see times at night.
Tools
There's something else for survival have a pocket knife have a good night you never know when you might
want to cut something, it's good for cutting rope that's good for cutting plastic or paper whatever it might be.
Simple pocket knife is going to have as far as a survival tool.
I also need to put in a little "Leatherman tool" is it folds up and it nice neat little tool but you have pliers you
have screwdrivers you have all kinds of things to do minor but I don't know if you would call a repairs to gain
access to things we might have to take out screws or whatever it might be so Leatherman tool is something that
that I decided to add to our GO Bag.
A weather radio is needed, to get up to date weather and disaster reports; I recommend use a solar / crank
weather radio flashlight that can also charge phones and GPS.
I've got the pair of mini binoculars for obvious reasons. I also have a several packets of hand warmers. A pair of
bolt cutters just in case I have to gain entry to a place that I need to gain entry to.
I've got six chemlights; I have green, red and blue.
Some folks sent me some warming vests. It's basically like a giant hand warmer, but you put it on your entire
body and it'll warm your body for eight hours. So if you're close to hypothermia, this thing is great.
Clothes & Protective Gear
Include a baseball cap, it's a good idea to have something to protect yourself from the sun it's not necessarily
going to be raining cap but it will help keep your head warm when it's cold and help keep the protect you from
the sun as well. A large percent of body heat is radiated through the head.
You can get a "Flight Coveralls" at a surplus store that would give you an extra layer of warmth and protection
or have an old jacket rolled up as part of the GO Bag to help keep you warm in the event that is a needed.
The most important clothing is good tough shoes, dealing with this is especially important for women if they
spent most of the day of the car wearing high heels or something that are not conducive to walking through
rubble in the event of a disaster. There's a probability you won't be able to drive so you have to walk, be sure
you have something useful to put on.
Dust masks are very important, it's can be incredibly difficult to breath because of the smoke in the area of a fire
or blowing dust. This really helps in those situations protect your lungs and make a lot easier to breathe.
A always pack a roll of toilet paper, to make yourself comfortable. You have to realize that the more
comfortable you are the better you're going to cope with the situation at hand.
Also included is a first aid kit; this is one that I put together for myself and it's just a very simple kit with band-
aids, ointments and so on for small cuts and bruises & scrapes.
Very important inclusion: a pair of gloves, these are the very durable kind you can find easy just about any
hardware store building or building store. They're great if you have to dig through rubble. Learning about nature
they're very nice to have they also help keep your hands warm. I don't like loud noises so I've thrown in some
earplugs; they're small and light weight that can allow you to sleep in a high noise environment.
A space blanket, a space blank and will reflect up to ninety percent of your body heat. Great blankets to just
help keep warm you can build on those shelter out of it or you can just a wrap it around you to help stay warm,
good idea to have one of those.
Keep these things in plastic bags to help protect them from the from the elements I've also included some
plastic, now these are plastic sheets for these are twelve-hour nine by twelve plastic sheets. Why I would
recommend going at least 2 Mil, you can get very lightweight plastic sheet that people used for draping, but I'm
going to say at least 2.5 mil, but you want something with a little bit of strength to it. I would go at least 2 to 5
mil plastic and this is just for making me a small shelter covering yourself up protecting yourself from the
elements. I have included nylon line; it is great for making shelter or trying things together. You never know
what you can use the line for.
I have included rubber gloves, the rubber glove or surgical gloves. they're just latex gloves can be of great
benefit in the event that you have to handle something that you really don't want to get all of your hands. It's
nice to have some rubber gloves to protect your hands.
Food & Water
Have matches in it's a waterproof container, again remembering that's wet matches are not going to do any good
at all.
For when you have a headache, aspirin or something that to ease the headache and you don't have a aspirin you
certainly wished you did. You know how easy it is to get, but if you're not at your grocery store or the store is
no longer there, it's nice to have some with you.
In My car GO Bag, carry in my little first aid kit; Try to get a professional grade paramedic first aid kit to
handle things greater than a scratch.
Quite frankly, my weak point is my stomach, so anything for diarrhea. I've got some iodine. I've got some
Neosporin, some Chap Stick and stuff like that because the last thing you want to do is start getting dehydrated
from diarrhea or vomiting and get into a worse situation. Just Band-Aids are great, but they're not going to save
your life.
I've got a multi tool. I've got a little keychain that's got a whistle, signal mirror, a red light signal light, an
infrared light and a thermometer, of course a survival bracelet, a little hacksaw, a lighter -- I don't need to rub
sticks together.
A few 5-Hour Energy drinks.
I often take it when I travel, even put it my suitcase even if I know one thing in a hotel and I have things
available I have to take it with me.
Water of course, you're going to want to have water my carry a couple of couple bottles of water obviously you
will need water in an emergency. There are a lot of things you can get water though keep in mind the tank of
water heater contains a lot of water that is potable water and also toilet tank contains drinkable water and I'm
not the bowl but the tank itself, it is all clean water that's drinkable water so the case of emergency you can
always drink that water. It's also a good idea if you have the means is to boil the water or to purify the water in
some way.
You can start a fire you can boil the water, you get water out of your water heater and get water out of your
neighbors water heater there's a lot of places that you can look for water if you need water but it's a good idea to
have some good clean fresh water to take with you needed to go back.
If you get stuck in your car, if you happen be an area where it's no surprise when we get snowed into their cars,
or getting stuck in traffic jams, for quite some time it's nice to have a little bit of food eat when you're hungry.
Included things that are that are easy to eat such as a food bars are great for nutrition.
I've got a knife and fork that I think could make life a little more pleasant. This might include some Vienna
sausage and chicken sausages these will keep a long time keep in mind that when your purchasing thing that
you watch the expiration dates.
You want something that's going to last for a long time you can buy also by food is called MRE ease meals
ready to be as with the military east the great little packages side by understanding get some of those at Cosco
now. You can go online to find those online but in the MRE's are self-contained meals you open the packages
you he can be only have a nice meal ready to go to contain fork and knife, your the eating utensils and napkins
and so on and so forth again just to make yourself a little more comfortable. Everything is going to give you
nutrition and be helpful, it can help fill you up. Make you feel a little bit better make yourself as comfortable as
you can.
I've included, this can be very important, something to take care of yourself, one of the things that I really
enjoyed being able to do is brush my teeth. Okay so if you are in a situation where you don't have access to your
normal toiletries this is a toothbrush and a little alter the toothpaste big it's amazing how much better you can
feel anything just brush your teeth. And I've included some hand lotion and also included a small bottle of
shampoo you that can be used for washing your hands, washing your hair, washing your body, or whatever it
might be a little something to help make you feel more comfortable.
We're just about done here so let's take a look here what we have left, not much I've included two terry cloth
towels, and these are small terry cloth towels, that again it's one of those things for drying your face after a
cleaning up or whatever. It might be the difference that makes a difference.
Well one of the you might want to consider taking a spiritual book that is in line with your whatever your
religion. If your thoughts on spiritual love development can be soothing it can be comforting, you can be
something that you really need that helps to too quiet and calm you down, and also you may find periods where
you have nothing to do so having a nice something to really relax may be a very good thing. The more you take
care of yourself the more you can take care of others.
You can see that most of the bag is just to help bring you a little bit more comfort and to help you take care of
yourself especially protecting yourself from the elements. I think one of the most important things is to have a
place where you can meet.
So these are the suggestions that I have now and there are many places that you can get to go back to you don't
have to build them your self, there are many different places you can go online to find GO Bags, and you pick
the price.
I have listed a few recommended Go bags found on Amazon.

Categories I Go Bags
Categories II Go Bags
Categories II Go Bags

If we have a plan we can look after each other.

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