We have stored food and water at home, a 4WD and 5th wheel, kits in the car and truck along with walking shoes, extra socks, jackets and 1st Aid kits. We feel pretty prepared for ourselves. Just today I bought a Gamma Vault container at Costco to fill with food items and other essentials for my granddaughter for Christmas. Not a fun, exciting gift for a young adult on her own, but an important item for someone living in the LA area and It is something she is not likely to do for herself.

Judithesl Before the 2010 quake we stored out emergency kit in the back of the garage with our camping gear. Everything in the garage was dislodged and most items on the shelves above fell and either blocked access or broke, spreading glass and contents everywhere. It took some strength to get the emergency kit out. By the time the 2nd big quake hit six months later we had found a spot near the garage door where it was easy to access and things could not fall on or around it. Also keep it away from unreinforced brick or stone walls which are more likely to collapse. If you have a dry garden shed that might be an option.

What I have noticed from this poll is that your emergency kit needs to reflect the type of emergency you are most likely to encounter. We don't have many tornados or hurricanes (where you are more likely to get a warning) so a grab bag is not a priority for us. We are more likely to get earthquakes (only a few seconds warning if any) have a different set of priorities.

What did I grab when I evacuated my home in a hurry? My wedding ring. What did I wish I had taken with me? My glasses. :-)

When we lived in CA it was for earthquake preparedness. Now we can use it for the zombie apocalypse!

I have a kit to feed, water and keep a family of five warm and dry for 7 days. I keep this in the shed in a large plastic bin. (Can be lifted to a car by 1 person, however 1 person couldnt walk with it, I like the idea of backpacks to disperse the weight if needed)
And I also keep an emergency copy of important files on a memory stick and in paper copy, one lot in the house and one in the emergency kit in the shed :)

Thanks for all the helpful experiential comments-I need to get one together today!

I am prepared for sheltering in place during extended power outages. The longest one recently was six days. I patted myself on the back before the last long outage for remembering to not only get cash from ATM, fill up the car, and charge all the electronics, but also to grind up enough coffee beans to last for a week because the electric coffee grinder will not work without power. Felt smug seeing everyone lined up around the block at the one local coffee shop in town that had power.

Questions with regard to preparing a bug-out bag:

1. How do you get extra supplies of necessary prescription medications? My insurance only allows us to have what we need, no extras.

2. For people who keep emergency backpacks or boxes in the car at all times, how do you deal with the extremes of temperature inside a parked car?

3. What is your system for replenishing dated supplies, whether stored in a car, basement or somewhere else? How long can you store water? What about food, medication and other items that have a limited shelf life?

I don't even know what would go in one. Maybe I should look into it. We get minor earthquakes and tornados where I live.

I survived hurricane Katrina in the North-Eastern part of Mississippi. My town was where everyone from further South was evacuating TO and also where they were staging the electrical company guys in order to enter what they thought the storm zone was, so the night before Katrina every hotel in town had a parking lot full of electrical trucks with cherry pickers and there were evacuees streaming into town trying to find places to stay. They ended up opening the warehouses where the furniture market was held by the airport for those who had been displaced. However, due to the curve the storm took once it got inland, our county and those on either side ended up being in the emergency zone. So many trees were down on the roads and the electrical lines were down. All those guys who had been staged there couldn't get out to fix the electrical until the roads were cleared by guys with chainsaws because they couldn't go more than a few yards without another tree down blocking traffic. Everyone was running their generators and gas ran out quickly at the gas stations. Most of the gas pumps were down due to lack of electricity, but some stations were siphoning the gas out of the tanks and measuring it into gas cans. You couldn't buy more than 5 gallons per day per person and that was gone quickly. Due to injuries and to evacuated people who had not brought their medication with them the pharmacies ran out of everything. Groceries and all other stores like gas stations that carry food and drink were sold out within days. No fresh supplies came in for nearly a month. Luckily the power in town came back on pretty quickly since we had an overabundance of electrical guys who couldn't get anywhere else till the roads were cleared. However, gas and other supplies were hard to get for months after the storm because most of our suppliers actually came north from New Orleans instead of supplies coming south from anywhere.

I have some basic supplies and generally try to keep a large supply of dried and canned goods on hand. I also keep enough water for a week and have some of those camping water bags that I fill if I am aware a storm is headed my way. I also keep important papers and computer files backed up and stored at the bank in a safe deposit box. You need to keep your backups in a different area than your computer because if your home is destroyed and you need the info you might get lucky and not lose the bank. It's also a good idea in case of burglary.

For those who don't have a basic emergency plan or kit here's a web site that will help you put one together. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/

Living in FL has made me aware of disaster preparedness especially after having gone through four hurricanes within two months about ten years ago. Water, water, water, Gatorade, dried fruits, canned foods, medical supplies, i.e., alcohol, bandages, Neosporin, stuff like that. Also, animal supplies, i.e., dog food, dishes, a little life jacket (also for me), etc. I've also gone to various websites and ordered food a food supply backpack that will last ten years. Also, CASH. Each time I go to the grocery store during summer months, I get an extra $20 in cash that I keep in case ATM's are down. Never underestimate a good supply of CASH on hand. Our everyday lives are cashless for the most part.

A full tank of gasoline in the car is a necessity at all times.

Now that we've got this terrorist threat (which I take seriously) we need these supplies. And I hate to say this, but something to protect your family with is a good idea, and I'm thinking a gun of some kind. Haven't gotten one yet, although I do have MACE which is legal down here.

We are no longer living in a society where nice is nice anymore. Perhaps we never were. But I'm taking this seriously. :) especially in light of recent news stories, etc. While we may be thought of as paranoid to others who don't think ahead, I feel I may need to take care of myself and perhaps neighbors if needed.

I have a 30 gallon blue recycle can on wheels that I stocked up with enough food and supplies to last a month.....flashlights, first aid supplies, candles, etc.....even a small weapon just in case I need to defend myself....and always get a couple of whistles.....you never know where you could be trapped at

The food items that I will put in an air-tight container for my granddaughter's Christmas gift are things that she will actually eat. Tuna (foil packets), crackers, peanut butter/jelly, protein bars, canned nuts, canned fruit and juices, soups (that don't take water), cereal packets, shelf stable milk and some comfort candy. All of the canned items will be pop-top.

There is absolutely no sense in buying freeze-dried foods for short term (a couple weeks) preparedness. If you are talking about being prepared for years, that is a whole different thing. I'm afraid I don't want to live in the kind of world where I need my gun to fend off my hungry neighbors. I much prefer the stone soup philosophy of "Lets pool our resources as we are all in this together."

We’re high enough that the lahar won’t reach us. We’re fairly safe here. Forest fires and earthquakes are very rare here. I don’t have a kit, but I should. I was without power for 7 days and was okay with a fireplace for heat and cooking and light (oil lamps and candles), but it could have been better. I have basic medical supplies. Since I’m in the country, I have about a month’s worth of food and non-grocery items. I also have a veg garden, including a winter garden. The only specifics I can think of are my crank radio flashlight and several gallons of drinking water. Thank you for reminding me that I should be better prepared.

Nice to see so many people prepared! :-)

@ Mak, be safe. : )

Hi again. Congratulations to interestedindesign for salting away $20 in cash every week or so, having pet food and supplies --a leash!-- and for keeping the gas filled. (I saw the Twin Towers fall on TV right at the end of my night shift in ICU, and after calling my daughter, my first stop was the gas station to fill my nearly-empty tank... Never again!)

One brilliant item is called "WaterBOB." For under $20 at Amazon, you have a plastic container that expands in a bathtub to fill with 100 gallons of water complete with a hand pump. I'm not a big fan of plastic, but clean drinking water in an emergency is gold.

Someone above mentioned making a kit for her granddaughter. Christmas is coming up and what a gift for a loved one! Last Christmas I made a backpack kit for my daughter and her husband and gift-wrapped each item (including a WaterBOB!) separately, and they enjoyed opening everything.

This is a good discussion, and it feels like there is energy for positive motion. Best to All!

Adding to what I said yesterday. I forgot to add that I keep a cash on hand - in 20s. Like Jessica, I am in central Mississippi and hurricane Katrina taught us a lot. Many gas stations ran out of gas but those that had gas only took cash (because of lost and looted credit cards on the coast) and they wouldn't take anything larger than a $20. In our hot climate, we try to keep at least 100 pounds of ice in a freezer (will keep for a while in a power outage if freezer isn't opened and closed a lot). During Katrina, the nearest ice that we could find was 50 miles away. Generators are great but in a long term power outage you won't be able to afford or get the gas to keep them going for long. We do keep a supply of gas (100 gallons) on hand but a generator can go through that relatively quickly. I also make a conscious effort to keep at least 1/4 tank of gas in my car and prefer to keep it at half - although that can be a pain sometimes. Those who think emergency prep is laughable have obviously never been in a "real" emergency. I hope they never have to find out what it is like to be thirsty, hungry, hot, cold, or separated from family for a day - much less a week or more.

Didix58 - I now live in Virginia. I moved back to Maryland from Mississippi just in time for Snowmageddon, snowpocalypse, the Durecho and Hurricane Sandy to hit the East Coast. I moved to Virginia in February. I also spent 4 years from 1997-2000 in California luckily the "big one" didn't hit while I was there. I've visited Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee and seen what can happen when an earthquake causes the Mississippi River to flow backwards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811%E2%80%9312_New_Madrid_earthquakes

YES! I have water, food, waterproof matches, flares , flashlight w batteries of all sizes, battery operated radio, all purpose hunting knife, protein powder, can opener and canned food, ibuprofen, benadryl, gun + ammo. Tourniquet, band aids gel ice packs, reusable glow sticks, ponchos, clothing, neosporin. baggies, boxed cereal, almond butter, beef jerky, tuna, beans, energy gel and bars...SO FAR. ALL in a giant waterproof tub. Still working on it though.

Me

My mom & dad kept a sled, blanket, candles, and matches in our car during the winter. Living 50 miles south of our Canadian neighbors made this a necessity, so if we became stuck (the days before cell phones or pagers), the decision to stay with the car or ride the sled while my parents could pull my little brother & me to a safe place.

When you are prepared, the best feeling is knowing you have a plan, even if you never need it. We never needed it but living In North Dakota, it was common sense.

I grew up with a plan, and to this day I carry my "common sense" supplies in my car, even though I live in Indiana now. The common sensibility as a grown up meant having a basement; now I have a kit for tornado emergencies, including a hand crank weather radio fully tricked out to charge a cell phone, with an LED bright as the sun, a siren, etc.

We kept our landline and have an outlet for a phone in case cell connectivity is disrupted. Five gallon water bottles, handheld can opener, and more.

I have my plan down to a science; I know how long it takes to get there with spouse & pet, and having witnessed the destruction a tornado can do in seconds, this is common sense here.

That said...I REALLY miss North Dakota. :/

I'm from Christchurch also and while we had a kit the most important thing was our plan on what we would do which included other family members as well. We all new where we would meet up, if traffic was congested and phone lines were down we new what to do. After our Feb 2011 EQ we new what to do and put that plan into action. It took three hours for everyone to convene at out pre determined location (which was my house) and as everyone slowly arrived it was very emotional. Best thing we ever did. Know, who is getting who and the most closet central point for everyone to meet and make plans from there. Family and friends were the most important thing and we always new we wanted to be together so it just made sense.

Didix58, I was discussing this with a friend recently, and she said to have cash in small denominations so you can lend to neighbors without giving $10 and $20 at a time. Sometimes they may only need a small amount, and if you have $1 and $5 bills you can lend more efficiently.

Good point Laskees. Unfortunately in a disaster cash is king. We had that very problem, no cash (usually only use plastic) on hand and ATMs were down. Convenience shops opened up but would only accept cash. We now have a stash in a tin as emergency money.

Hey Zaz, power was out for three days, so it has been 18th Century living here. A lot of damage around town, but my place came through Odile with bunches of downed tree limbs and a huge mess in the pool. I'm very grateful, as many people fared far worse. On my prep list for next time: ice, and some kind of better light so I can read.

@Mak, Thank God, I said a prayer for you. I know we don't know each other personally, but you seem like a really nice person and I was worried about you. I was on your profile earlier to see if you were around. So glad your alright!!!!!! Now pick my tiles. lol Just kidding. :)

Zaz, I have like 300 Houzz emails. Will be back to the tiles soon. Thanks for thinking of me!
Oh, and a radio is another must. No idea why I don't have one.

I'm 63. So far it has been 4 major quakes (7.6, 7.4 and 2 over 6.0 with the many aftershocks), 2 tornados, 1 flood, 3 blizzards, and a fire in my apt. building. Of course these were all in different areas of the U.S. but anyone who does not prepare has either been very lucky, or hasn't thought it through. My plans include both stay in place ( if home is safe) and to vacate the city for my daughter's mountain property. If required to relocate I have 4 forms of transport including my own two feet.

The earthquakes were in CA. Supplies need to be kept where it doesn't matter if the roof caves in, such as a light weight metal storage building or one of those Rubbermaid ones. Mine was kept in an old, non-working VW camping van used as a "playhouse" We slept in during the thousands of after shocks.

Along with alot of Christchurch New Zealand we do have a disaster kit but not until after the major quakes struck and the water / power / sewerage went out, the shops shut and there was no petrol or ATMs for about a week. The banks were mainly closed along with most businesses and supermarkets. So our kit includes food, water, a lighter, wind up torch radio, clothes, stell cap shoes, $200 cash, first aid kit, camping cutlery & plates, sipper bottles, hot drinks, thin rope, wet wipes, hand sanitier, trowel, toilet psper, emergency blankets. It is in two different school sized back packs in different places, so if you can't get to one hopefully you can get the other. What we did find was community support and generosity of total strangers and businesses that gave, the student and farmer 'armies' that spent weeks volunteering shoveling liquafaction and helping out. We had over 10,000 quakes in an 18 month period and still trying to put our lives together 4 years later. Do yourselves a favour, get a kit. It might not be earthquakes in your part of the world but whatever your natural disasters are you probably won't get a chance to get stuff together in the middle of it.

We live in Central Fl. so we are constantly on the lookout for severe storms. Hubby built a storm shelter that should protect us from the HUGE trees that surround our house should a 'cane or 'nado decide to visit. The shelter has survival supplies in it. We also put all of our important documents into an extremely heavy gun safe which with any luck won't be blown away. We also took pictures of every angle of every room in the house, and pictures of the outside too and keep them stored in the cloud. That way, no matter what happens to the house, our tablets or picture albums, the pictures in the cloud will still be there for us should we need them. We never know from day to day whether the storms that crop up are going to turn deadly anymore...but we have tried our best to be prepared.

I do not only have a kit it is the very one shown above. I purchased 1 for my home and then another for my daughters home . My grandkids know exactly where it is and as little as they are what to do with the contents. I recently was stung by a wasp and the 2 younger ones ran into the house and came to my aid. I also purchased one for our summer rental and then I found a blue one with an anchor on it that I bought for my sons home. I can not even count how many times I have replaced the eye drop bottle. If anyone uses it it is theirs to keep. No sharing that item. I am going to get one for my car after reading these responses.

I don't have an explicit "disastor kit," but I am prepared for emergencies and natural disasters. We keep a supply of non-perishable food items and an extra case of water on hand. I have a "first aid drawer" in my bathroom with everything from bandages to a sewing kit to allergy meds, and so on.

If anyone needs help putting together an emergency preparedness kit please check out my website www.jenniferduty.thrivelife.com. Because you never know. We have kits for the car and home.

I live in the hurricane zone on the Gulf of Mexico, am a crisis counselor, teacher disaster preparedness, and obviously have a disaster kit and plan.

I live in California and we get earthquakes, fires and mudslides and the occasional power or water outage; so yes, I have emergency supplies. I have lights that plug into the outlets that will light when the electric goes out so I can find my way through the house to get to my supplies. For lighting I have Coleman type lanterns that take batteries and (a supply of batteries of course), candles are back up. I have five gallon water jugs (filled) lined up against my garage wall. I have meal bars and canned meals in my cupboard and first aid kits. I have crank and battery operated radios and a solar powered charger that can charge cell phones. I also have a backpack with supplies in case we need to leave the house. After seeing what happened during hurricane Katrina I figure we could be on our own for days before help arrives in the event of a large disaster. I have used my supplies numerous times for situations less severe. Recently there was a broken water main that left us without water for 13 hours, I was glad I had my water jugs ready to go. Since I moved here I have been through several earthquakes and one huge one, one major fire and mudslides in my area - so I don't think this is overkill.

Disaster preparedness is important especially living in earthquake prone California! #BeSeenBeSafe

Phillis, you can also scan all your important documents for storage in the cloud. I did that prior to the 2004 hurricanes....ever since I've been working to scan the almost 70 year old + collections of old photos the same way. They are also backed into a very large portable hard drive. Probably redundent, but you never know.

Sandy, anything you put on the cloud can be easily hacked as evidenced in the recent nude celebrity photo scandal.

I can see scanning documents to disk, but I'm not putting it on the 'cloud' where an mega corporation now controls and has access to it.

We had a massive flood here in Colorado last fall and I had 10 minutes to get in and out of my house from the National Guard. You really put in perspective what you will need when they give you no more than 10 minutes in your house!

@momof5x: I like the idea of an emergency document bag. I have all my important files in a folder, and my passport and vaccination record in a bag. I should put them in the same bag and also tell my housemates where it ism so in case of an emergency, it can be rescued. I also uploaded all my important files on a USB stick, sent them to myself via email, and they are also stored on my parents' computer. I do not trust the clouds either.

I probably should, but don't..

I do, I have latex gloves, garbage bags (in case I have to wear one for rain protection) rainponchos, a pocket knife, battery radio, blankets, headlamps, water, tuna cans, socks, can opener, whistle, phone numbers, toilet paper, paper towels,. I used the Red Cross website to get my list plus I added a few of my own ideas. I still need to add more food to it. We lost power for l4 days during a hurricane and had no running water. I made sure we had enough protein in the house for a few days and filled the baths with water too. I froze baggies with water and used to keep our food cold too. We were ok.

Living on an island this is a must!
Finding items after a disaster can be very challenging, and expensive. Proactive is the key!! Have it before you need it could save your life!

This is certainly on my to-do list!

I have one in my car/Harley/GMC motorhome...but not in the house. It's on my list of "to-do"s...maybe I need to move it further up the list.

I prepared one a few years ago. I used to have a duffle bag filled with what I call the immediate essentials. Flashlight, batteries, portable radio, water, band-aids etc. Then i started thinking on abgrander wcale so in addition to the shuffle bag I have a blue trashcan on wheels (recycle can) in case i need to run on foot with it. Ok everyone calls me "overkill" so in that can i have enough to last at least 3 days, 3 weeks, or a month. Case of bottled water at the bottom, blanket, toilet paper, can foods that open without a can opener, matches, etc.... and most all i think it is important to have a whistle. You might have to blow to make some noise to help someone locate you.....ijs

Don't forget your pets. Place copies of your information, permission for emergency vet care and contact information for you and for someone (friend or relative not in your area). These should be placed in a waterproof container. I ran across some metal cigar tubes in a auction box lot, but you can use a pill bottle or even a freezer bag. Tape them to dog collars or harnesses, horse halters. If in the confusion you and your pets get separated people will have a leg up on getting them back to you. It wouldn't hurt to have these for your family members also especially children and the elderly. Pin to clothing or make a bracelet or necklace.

Yes I do ! Have the exact one pictured at home. I have a really large version of it at our summer rental and I found a great one in pink for my granddaughter to bring to college. I also got her a smaller flatter version in white for her car. I hav3 a smaller flat version in red for my car.