I’ve put together an emergency kit with food, medical supplies, a first aid kit, juices, and water.   I have everything we might need (I hope) if there’s ever an emergency.  I’ve even got food and medications for our dog.

I put my emergency kit together last year and plan to change out the food each year.  Thankfully, there are basics in a kit that never need updating like first aid kits, windup radios, plastic utensils, toilet paper, etc.  I know it’s hard enough to create a kit, never mind updating the food every year.  It’s important, though, to keep food that’s edible in the kit.   Can you imagine if there was a disaster and you opened up your kit and everything had an expired shelf life?  That would not be a good time thing.

Food supplies for an emergency kit

If you update your food supply on a yearly basis, you can kill two birds with one stone.  I bought most of the food in bulk at Costco.  Food like peanut butter, tuna fish, canned vegetables, canned soup, canned juice, and pudding cups which all have a long shelf life.  Since I only want to update my emergency supply once a year, I bought new food to replenish the older food.  I then donated the food I had on hand from the first food supply.  The expiration date for most of the food was not until spring of next year.  Since there were a variety of expiration dates,  it would be too hard to keep the food fresh in the emergency kit unless it’s changed out all at once.  It makes more sense to replace it on an annual basis and donate the previous year’s supply, since it’s well before the expiration date.

So now you can do three good things:  Create an emergency kit, update foods and medications each year, and donate the previous year’s food before its out of date.

For tips on putting a disaster kit together, check the Red Cross and 3Days3Ways.  Need a great place to donate?  The Eastside Month of Concern for the Hungry starts this weekend.  You can donate and many supermarkets on the eastside on Saturday, the 24th and all through this month.

The Northwest is having its own set of problems with the very typical November storm/flood pattern I’ve seen so many of my 22 years on Seattle’s eastside.  Rivers are filled to the tops of their banks.  The Northwest storm season is upon us.

Things are happening, and they are not always good. We’re all very focused on the economy and the state of our 401k’s, stock portfolios, jobs, and mortgages.

But we push those natural disasters back in our minds.  Of course, it can never happen to us.  Yet, we know we have to protect ourselves and our homes.  We know we need to plan for emergencies and we rarely do.  Most people don’t have escape plans developed for families or a contact number in a different part of the country that everyone can call.  Most people don’t have food and other supplies, lights, candles, etc. in case of an emergency. Most people don’t know how to turn the gas or water off in times of an emergency.  Most people don’t know where emergency shelters are located.  Most people don’t have emergency supplies for a family pet.

Now is the time to plan, because when something happens it’s too late.  If you go to the American Red Cross site, there are all kinds of things you can order that will help you during times of an emergency.  This other link to the American Red Cross site has information for all kinds of needs, preparedness for your pets, your family, the elderly, and the disabled.  It’s a great resource.  The Department of Homeland Security also maintains a site with terrific information.

The City of Sammamish is sponsoring a class on March 10th and on March 17th to learn about disaster preparedness.  The Eastside Business Journal reported on the upcoming class.  Here’s the basics as reported in the Eastside Business Journal online:

Free seminar on disaster preparedness sponsored by the Sammamish Citizen Corp.

Enter to win a free disaster prep kit at disastersareweready@gmail.com

Dates:   March 10th and 17th

Time: 7 PM – 9:30 PM

Location:Pine Lake Covenant Church, 1715 228th Ave SE, Sammamish, WA 98075

Seminar topics include:

• The City of Sammamish Emergency Plans
• Earthquake and Geologic Hazards for King County
• Eastside Fire & Rescue: How we are prepared?
• The Starbucks story: Learn How They Deal with Disaster
• The Map Your Neighborhood for Disasters program
• Sammamish Schools in a Disaster: What Happens?
• Business Preparedness: A “How To” session
• Animals in a Disaster Situation: What you can do to help?
• General Preparedness and “How To” Build a Disaster Kit
• Basic First Aid with the American Red Cross

Do you have to be a Sammamish resident?  No.  I also heard about these classes in a press release from the City of Kirkland.  Most of the information being presented is invaluable, no matter where you live. 

 The City of Bellevue has a 10 minute DVD on disaster preparedness available which you can pick up at City Hall or see as a streaming video on the city website.  The DVD is available in 7 languages:  Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, in addition to English.  The Bellevue city website also has terrific information to help you get prepared for a disaster.

The City of Kirkland has two buttons on the front page of the city website dedicated to disaster preparedness and emergency bulletins.

As a Kirkland resident, you can sign up for the next Mapping Your Neighborhood class, which is on:

Saturday, March 15, 9:30 AM, Kirkland Stake Center, 7910 NE 132nd St (corner of Juanita Drive).  This is a state designed program to help neighborhoods prepare for and deal with disasters.

Check these websites and classes out.  You’ll need to be prepared in the event of a disaster.  The police will take care of major emergencies first.  It’s up to you to be prepared!