In the wake of recent earthquakes (in Haiti, Chile, Baja) and other potential disasters (tornado, hurricanes, etc.) you may want to take a moment to invest in an emergency kit for your home, office, and/or automobile. Buying one or more of these kids is great because it saves you the trouble of trying to assemble all of these items one by one or at random. Most of these kits contain all the recommended items articulated by the American Red Cross. As you will see, they come at every price point; as little as $29 up to $1300+
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Remember, during an emergency, you may not be able to get to your home or your office. Either could be demolished, roads or bridges may be destroyed, electricity may be out for an extended period, ATMs not functional, and stores would be immediately depleted of essentials like bread, milk, medicine, and other provisions. The people in Haiti were not in a position to stock up on supplies. You are. Do not be caught off guard! Keep an envelope of $200 in five dollar bills at home and put it in your kit. In the first few days following an emergency, you will likely (perhaps desperately!) need to buy something, but the vendor may not be able to make change. If all you have are large bills you may end up paying $20 or $50 for a bottle of aspirin or a gallon of milk or some other essential. If you have children it is vital that you have a large emergency kit at home for your family!
I’m a big advocate of kits because they contain things you either didn’t think of, won’t bother to get, or don’t realize that you need (until it’s too late). I have a big emergency kit at home, I keep a smaller one in the trunk of my car, and we have emergency kits at my office. Obviously, it is not a guarantee of anything, but we live in earthquake territory and it sure helps me sleep at night knowing it is there. At home a have a solar powered/hand crank radio/flashlight combo unit. It sits in the window of one of the bedrooms so it gets plenty of sunlight and is always fully charged. As it happens it was pretty cheap but, again, peace of mind = priceless.
btw, people in urban areas often assume that the government or emergency responders will immediately come to their rescue in an emergency. Not true! There could be a Michael Brown (“Brownie you’re doing a heck of a job”) in charge of your city’s office of emergency preparedness but you won't know it until it is too late
