Emergency Kit
Sep. 29th, 2005 01:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusSo what if our apartment had gone up in flames?
Today![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wildernessguru and I took an accounting of the dollar value of the furniture (a few grand to replace), his outdoor gear (holy cow, he has six grand in gear!), my collection of books (bloody four thousand dollars worth in books, not including the rare Buddhist texts)... we have twenty thousand dollars worth of stuff just in our living room.
And no, you may not have our address and a key. ;)
We're getting renter's insurance. This is our second wake-up call in the last few months. First the attempted theft ofwildernessguru's car, now the fire. Turns out it only costs about $200 a year -- and it lowers the car insurance by fifty bucks. Though we laughed when the girl there threw out an initial value for our stuff, "So that would be, um, about fifteen thousand dollars?" Kiddo, you have no idea who you're talking to.
Check this out: we learned if your place has any damage at all from fire the insurance company will put you up in a hotel. And it covers items stolen from your car.
We're now creating a list of our stuff (I've already done my regular Buddhist library, the replaceable books) and uploading a copy of it to WG's site. So if we do have to replace things, it will be a simple matter of going down the list and shopping. I'll never forget wracking our brains trying to figure out what was stolen from the car.
Though I confess my cataloguing fetish is taking over (this is wherewildernessguru and I are a lot alike). Whee!
On Preparations: Discuss what you'd do in an emergency
I believe most people don't do these kinds of preparations because it makes disaster seem... more possible. It's almost superstitious. But the reason whywildernessguru and I didn't panic the day before yesterday is because we had discussed what we'd do in an emergency -- or rather, he had brought it up. Granted, we were talking about an earthquake, but we already knew that I was going to get Monte into the cat carrier while he grabbed the emergency pack. The cat carrier is stored in an easy-to-reach place for just this reason. There was no confusion.
Some people have asked about emergency kits. Off-the-cuffwildernessguru recommends that you have in a medium-sized backpack:
- 72 hours worth of food for your pet, in single-serving pop-top containers (because while emergency food for you might be available, most people don't think of pets)
- a ziplock bag of kitty crunchies
- something to use as a bowl
- bottled water
- a couple changes of underwear/socks
- emergency food that lasts (he has energy bars in flavours we don't like so we won't raid the pack, enough for three days)
He had, just through luck, his backpack already geared up for a trip. When he grabbed the custom pack it was also out of his genius for last-minute practicality. It had most of the other things he recommends for a kit:
- a camp stove with extra fuel
- plastic bottle for water
- dried soups, trail mix, hot chocolate
- his rainjacket and warm clothes
- hat & gloves
- t-shirt
- synthetic longjohns and top
- mini first aid kit
- toiletry kit, toothbrush/toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, brush, kleenex, toilet paper in a ziplock bag, Q-tips
- individually sealed water purification tablets
- a tent and down sleeping bag we could share
- a Swiss army knife (with can opener)
- other stuff like rain pants and gaiters, map/compass/etc.
- LED flashlight (then you won't have to pack a million batteries)
Other things he recommends that we didn't have:
- a battery-powered AM/FM radio
- a cell phone or a couple of calling cards
- synthetic sleeping bag is better than down (in case you get wet)
- alcohol wipes to keep your hands clean
- a P-38 can opener, because you might be stuck with cans
- prescriptions you need
One thing I noticed as I looked around the crowd: most people hadn't thought to grab their wallets.
If it's just ten seconds extra (and the fire isn't blazing in your face with firemen breaking down your door) it could save you a lot of trouble to grab that. And little things like your glasses.
Another lesson learned: I always put my car keys in the same place, butwildernessguru has the habit of leaving them in his jean's pocket. That morning we could only find my keys.
Anyhow, I didn't mean to post about this but I seem be up late tonight anyway. Too much chocolate I suspect.
Today
wildernessguru and I took an accounting of the dollar value of the furniture (a few grand to replace), his outdoor gear (holy cow, he has six grand in gear!), my collection of books (bloody four thousand dollars worth in books, not including the rare Buddhist texts)... we have twenty thousand dollars worth of stuff just in our living room. And no, you may not have our address and a key. ;)
We're getting renter's insurance. This is our second wake-up call in the last few months. First the attempted theft of
wildernessguru's car, now the fire. Turns out it only costs about $200 a year -- and it lowers the car insurance by fifty bucks. Though we laughed when the girl there threw out an initial value for our stuff, "So that would be, um, about fifteen thousand dollars?" Kiddo, you have no idea who you're talking to. Check this out: we learned if your place has any damage at all from fire the insurance company will put you up in a hotel. And it covers items stolen from your car.
We're now creating a list of our stuff (I've already done my regular Buddhist library, the replaceable books) and uploading a copy of it to WG's site. So if we do have to replace things, it will be a simple matter of going down the list and shopping. I'll never forget wracking our brains trying to figure out what was stolen from the car.
Though I confess my cataloguing fetish is taking over (this is where
wildernessguru and I are a lot alike). Whee!On Preparations: Discuss what you'd do in an emergency
I believe most people don't do these kinds of preparations because it makes disaster seem... more possible. It's almost superstitious. But the reason why
wildernessguru and I didn't panic the day before yesterday is because we had discussed what we'd do in an emergency -- or rather, he had brought it up. Granted, we were talking about an earthquake, but we already knew that I was going to get Monte into the cat carrier while he grabbed the emergency pack. The cat carrier is stored in an easy-to-reach place for just this reason. There was no confusion.Some people have asked about emergency kits. Off-the-cuff
wildernessguru recommends that you have in a medium-sized backpack:- 72 hours worth of food for your pet, in single-serving pop-top containers (because while emergency food for you might be available, most people don't think of pets)
- a ziplock bag of kitty crunchies
- something to use as a bowl
- bottled water
- a couple changes of underwear/socks
- emergency food that lasts (he has energy bars in flavours we don't like so we won't raid the pack, enough for three days)
He had, just through luck, his backpack already geared up for a trip. When he grabbed the custom pack it was also out of his genius for last-minute practicality. It had most of the other things he recommends for a kit:
- a camp stove with extra fuel
- plastic bottle for water
- dried soups, trail mix, hot chocolate
- his rainjacket and warm clothes
- hat & gloves
- t-shirt
- synthetic longjohns and top
- mini first aid kit
- toiletry kit, toothbrush/toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, brush, kleenex, toilet paper in a ziplock bag, Q-tips
- individually sealed water purification tablets
- a tent and down sleeping bag we could share
- a Swiss army knife (with can opener)
- other stuff like rain pants and gaiters, map/compass/etc.
- LED flashlight (then you won't have to pack a million batteries)
Other things he recommends that we didn't have:
- a battery-powered AM/FM radio
- a cell phone or a couple of calling cards
- synthetic sleeping bag is better than down (in case you get wet)
- alcohol wipes to keep your hands clean
- a P-38 can opener, because you might be stuck with cans
- prescriptions you need
One thing I noticed as I looked around the crowd: most people hadn't thought to grab their wallets.
If it's just ten seconds extra (and the fire isn't blazing in your face with firemen breaking down your door) it could save you a lot of trouble to grab that. And little things like your glasses.
Another lesson learned: I always put my car keys in the same place, but
wildernessguru has the habit of leaving them in his jean's pocket. That morning we could only find my keys.Anyhow, I didn't mean to post about this but I seem be up late tonight anyway. Too much chocolate I suspect.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 05:57 pm (UTC)Heh about car keys: I KNOW mine would be the only ones we could find. The husband "loses" his keys or wallet on average 2-3 times a week, and they usually are not found for like several hours to a day.