Preparing your emergency bag!

There are many different approaches on how to prepare your emergency bag. An emergency bag, or bug-out bag, is something to have at home -hoping you’ll never need-, that you can take and run in case something happened (e.g. a natural disaster which requires you to leave your home).

Depending on what you feel more likely to happen, you will decide which items you’ll include in your bag. Our recommendation is, considering we have no clue what could happen, preparing a really complete bag is always the safest choice (and it’s actually a lot of fun to do!).

Exposing a bug out bag with its items Responsive image

After going through many authors, our suggested items are:

  • Complete first aid kit. You can find some online that are cheap and light (see this for reference). Read more on (link to first aid)
  • Water for 72 hours, but also tools to purify water just in case you had to look for it. We recommend something like the LifeStraw and also Purification Tablets.
  • Fire-starting tools (matches, lighters, but also carry some flint in case those ran out)
  • Family’s documentation
  • Battery powered radio – remember there might be no Internet
  • Maps and travel information
  • Sleeping bag
  • Duct tape and ropes
  • Knives
  • Non-perishable food
  • Cooking supplies
  • Solar charger
  • Walkie-talkies
  • Dynamo flashlight
  • Emergency blankets – look at this for reference
  • We also recommend throwing in one of the little survival kits already arranged, that are cheap and include very cool tools (like a saw, a compass, a little knife, a glass-breaking pen, etc.). Check this out for reference

Needless to say, this is a generic bug-out bag, but if you were to embark upon an adventure of any kind (remote mountains or locations), you definitely must search for the more specific material according to your destination.

Setting up an emergency plan with your family

A family emergency plan allows all the members in the family to know what to do, where to go, and how to communicate in case a disaster happened (floods, blackouts, gas explosions, fires, etc.).

Follow these simple steps:

Location
  1. Decide two meeting places: one immediately close to your home, and another one outside of the neighborhood
  2. Identify all the possible paths and exits of your neighborhood
  3. Choose a friend or relative who lives outside of your current city to use as a reference contact in case of family separation
Supplies
  1. Make sure all the members in your family would know how to turn off the fuse box, the gas, and the water
  2. Make sure all the members in your family know where their emergency bag is
  3. Have this information printed and available for all family members next to the emergency bag
People
  1. If you have elderly, sick or disabled members in your family, consider their special needs too
  2. Might be useful to rehearse your emergency plan beforehand, especially if it’s designed for a specific trip to a remote location

Remember the goal is not to alarm your family but to make the preparation lots of fun! Check out these emergency plan examples: NYC Get prepared, Canada Get prepared, and Madrid Prepárate (Spanish).


Emergency module at home

picture of stored food in shelves

A few months ago, a friend of mine who lives in Brazil explained to me how she experienced a week-long truck strike due to the increase in the price of gasoline. A strike is a common, natural thing in many societies, and one might not consider to be a “disaster” so to speak.

But think about it: no trucks, no fuel, no supplies, no food in the stores, no transportation… The simplest change can trigger a chain reaction. In that case, people couldn’t buy food or go to work, some things we take as a “given” most of the days. Thankfully, she had food stored, and her family could just wait for it to pass.

Hence, the importance of storing provisions at home! The government of Madrid city recommends to always have at home, just in case:

  1. Five liters of water for each member
  2. Food that could last for a lot of time (see more in Food & Water)
  3. A whistle to ask for help
  4. First aid kit (this is a must even if you are not a survival nut!)
  5. Flashlight with batteries and some extra batteries stuck with duct tape
  6. Bleach without perfume in case you needed to purify water (2 drops/liter and let it rest for 30 minutes)
  7. Personal hygiene items (soap, toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste)
  8. A battery-operated phone
  9. A non-digital contact list with telephone numbers