Saturday, August 10, 2013

Emergency Preparedness Task #12- Have a Frank and Open Discussion About Emergency Preparedness with Your Family

Today my task for you is to talk about what you would do in an emergency for three days (or more, if you want to go into that) with your immediate family, if you haven't done so already.  It would be nice if that's done before buying or making any emergency supplies to begin with, but sometimes family members are resistant to this type of prepping, for a variety of reasons.  That's why I put this task off until now for you- in some households, buying the supplies covertly for a little bit is the only way to get them in the house without panic or major resistance from others.  I can assure you that any and all residual doubt or resistance goes away when the supplies are needed by those family members, though!  I would also suggest that you discuss this topic with any extended family or friends that you would have to stay with if an emergency struck where you had to leave your home.  And, for that matter, if they had to leave their home and stay with you in an emergency.  For those who are single and live alone, not all of this task will be applicable, but I would still recommend talking to your extended family or friends no matter what your marital/kids status is.

Set up a "battle plan" now.  Make sure that the people who live with you know where the emergency supplies are, what to do if water/gas/electrical needs to get turned off, where you would travel to if an emergency struck in your area, why you are prepping for emergencies in the first place, etc.  There's no need to be alarmist or melodramatic with anyone, just bring it up like you would any other serious, practical topic.  And there's nothing to fear by having this conversation.  It's better to be prepared before a problem strikes and have everyone on the same page if an emergency strikes.  Can you imagine how badly a military would be run if there was no set of rules in place on how to handle the various circumstances that come up in both their training practices and then on the actual battlefield?  What if they had no supplies to handle these situations and no idea how to replenish these supplies when they're used up?  If they weren't organized and efficient, how would a military go about delegating tasks to the appropriate people?  What if there was no one in charge and then no one who knew what path to take in the event of a surprise attack?  It would be utter chaos and extremely inefficient, not to mention exceedingly dangerous.  Being ill-prepared even when you have the resources to get prepared now, engaging in procrastinating over the issue, refusing to believe that anything bad could ever happen to your or your family...that's just not what an adult should do. 

Prepping doesn't mean that you are going to bring a disaster on yourself, it just means that you've realistically prepared for circumstances that very commonly affect people- earthquakes, medical emergencies, blackouts, tornados, floods, etc.  What you prepare for specifically will depend upon the likelihood of certain events hitting your particular geographic area, the ages and medical conditions of people in your home, etc.  No matter what your circumstances, you owe it to yourself and your family, if applicable, to be knowledgable about emergency preparedness and put some of your time, effort and income into it consistently.

Here's to being a prepared organized minimalist,
Liz

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