The following numbers are important if you are pursuing emergency prepapredness, home food storage, self-reliance, survival skils, or whatever you might call it in your neck of the woods:

• You can last 3 days without water.
• You can last 14 to 21 days without food.
• Do the math.  You need to ensure your water supply, FIRST.

If you live in an area with city/municipal water, 98% of the time it will be clean and pure.  BUT, you shouldn't rely on it absolutely, completely, 100% with blind faith.

• City/municipal water can become contaminated; do a web search on salmonella and water supply, and you'll see what we mean.
• If the regional electrical grid goes down...your city's water filtering/purification capabilities probably will be non-functional
• Some of larger cities do have emergency generators for backup...but they'll still be limited by the amount of stored fuel--in most cases, less than a week. 
• So even if you have water pressure, the water may not be potable.

So, what to do??  We recommend a multi-layered, five-step approach to ensuring your water supply through filtration, purifation and storage.

FIRST, you should have bulk water storage.  How much and how stored is up to you--if in doubt, try the FEMA, Red Cross or LDS Church websites for excellent advice on the quantities you need to store. 

• WHY do you need bulk water storage in your home??  Especiallyy in those big water barrels that can't be moved once Personally, we have two to three weeks of water stored for our family.
• We keep this emergency water in large, 55-gallon food-grade barrels; treat it with unscented chlorine periodically, and rotate it at least once a year (we learned that last lesson the hard way). 
  • Pictures and detailed advice are available in our eBay Guides or at our eBay Store.

SECOND, you should keep several transportable water containers filled and ready to grab.  Despite intentions to stay at home during an emergency, the day might come when you simply have to evacuate. 

• What might cause you to evacuate quickly??  House fires, grass fires, forest fires, floods, chemical spills, pandemic illnesses, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, civil unrest, or whatever. 

Keep several 5-gallon water containers in your home, filled with water and ready to be grabbed during a quick exit.

• Don't go cheap here...get something durable.  It should have a removable spigot, seal tightly, and have one or two durable lift/carry handles.
• We DO NOT recommend anything larger...the weight of the water gets unmanageable for most folks (and especially the disabled, or women and children) above 5 gallons.  (Sorry if this offends anyone's sensitivities...it is just a factual matter.)
• We don't sell them ourselves, but recommend and use the RELIANCE brand of filters.  Reliance is an outstanding Canadian company that makes high-quality products.
• You'll want to treat and rotate this water at least annually, as well.

THIRD, you should have a durable, backpacking-style water filter. 

• This should be pre-packed in your 72-hour kit, bug-out bag (BOG or B.O.G.), get-out-of-Dodge (G.O.O.D) bag, survival kit, or whatever you want to call it.
  • If you need it at home or for camping, you can always pull it out for a few days.
  • Just be sure to clean/dry the filter, per manufacturer's instructions, before you store it again.  (or you'll have some very nasty surprises waiting when you use it again)
• You should also include some spare parts for your water filter.  Depending on the filter, this could include a plastic screen, fiber or microfiber filter, ceramic filter, O-rings, silicon lubricant (for the slide pump) and perhaps some activated charcoal.
• We STRONGLY RECOMMEND AND USE the KATADYN brand of water filters.  (and, please note, we do also sell them)
  • Up front:  these are not the cheapest water filters on the market, but we do believe they are among the best, and definitely offer the best value-to-cost ratio. Ensuring you will have a safe emergency water supply is important.  It is not something you should skimp on.
  • Find other corners to cut, if necessary, but make sure you get "the good stuff" in this gear category.

FOURTH, you should have some emergency-use WATER PURIFICATION TABLETS.   

• Store some in your 72-hour kit/bug-out bag, and a lot more in your general emergency (or camping) supplies. 
• Again, we recommend, use and sell the Katadyn brand of Micro-Pur MP-1 Water Purification Tablets.  They have a shelf life of about four years, so put a reminder on your calendar to rotate them.
• Whichever brand you buy, choose chlorine dioxide-based purification agent.  The taste is not bad--far superior to iodine-based water tablets you might have used as a kid.

FIFTH, once you've got all of the other steps above properly addressed, consider a stationary-type, larger-volume gravity-fed "drip" water filter.

• Again, we recommend the Katadyn line, in particular the Gravidyn and/or Ceradyn filters. 
• Many preparedness-folks recommend the British-made "Berkey" line of water filters, and they are very effective.  They also look pretty sharp, since they're made of polished/chromed stainless steel.
  • However, they're also a LOT more expensive than the Katadyns. 
  • Personally, I'd rather have one good plastic Katadyn and several back-up replacement ceramic elements (the working "innards"), than have a single Berkey filter without extra elements.
  • The Berkeys also are significantly heavier than the similar Katadyns--so take that into account if there's any chance you might have to move your gear to another location.

In closing, here are a couple more reasons to ensure you have a stable, safe water supply in any situation:

• If you have pure, clean water, you can probably use it to trade/barter for food. 
• During any emergency (or even just a day when the city water supply is contaminated due to flushing the pipes), your popularity in the neighborhood will go up astronomically if you have fresh/clean water to share with your neighbors. 
• And don't forget to share your water with those less fortunate--not everyone is lucky enough to have the resources to "bank away" such emergency gear and resources. 
  • Look at this way:  you might be saving some small child from drinking tainted water and becoming extraordinarily ill.
  • In many Third World areas such as parts of Africa, dysentery-related illnesses caused by bad water cause a significant number of deaths.  
• Plan for sharing with those in need--if nothing else, consider it a way of attracting good karma.

Best wishes to you and yours,

Rocky Mtn Home Solutions 

Have you rotated your emergency water storage within the last year?  You need to do this task about once a year, according to most experts.  Why??  Let me tell you about our recent experience when we violated that rule-of-thumb.

A few weeks ago, we sent out an eBay email newsletter (look for our newsletter sign-up at our eBay Store) about how, and why, to establish a "Cash Stash" in a secure location around your home. 

We discussed what you might include in a "cash stash."  Let's review and expand on those, and add a few more ideas: 

• Cash or coins, whether U.S. or foreign. 
• Gold or silver jewelry.  Family heirlooms. 
• Stock Certificates or whatever.  
• Documents you need to keep absolutely safe and away from prying eyes. 
• Passports and Visas; birth certificates; crucial Veteran's Documentation (DD214, or at least a copiy) to prove veteran/combat status to the VA
• Crucial self-defense items that may become necessary to save your own, or your family's, life, and related gear you might need in an emergency.
• Items without high monetary value, but valuable to YOU:  heirloom jewelry your great-great-grandmother wore crossing the ocean or the plains; special photos (protected in acid-free paper or plastic, of course); or perhaps your great-great-grandfather's Colt .45 pistol that he wore while helping settle the American West.

The list could go on endlessly, but that's enough for now.

Why not just put these into a safe deposit box at a bank?  Because when you REALLY need them during an emergency, you might not be able to get them.

• The rash of bank closures over the last 12 months makes that obvious.
• You don't have to be a "survival nut" living off the land in Alaska to recognize the instability in our national and international banking systems.

Can folks get to their safe deposit boxes during these closures?  Only when the federal regulators that take over the bank are good and ready.

• I had a personal friend who, back in about 1984, had his family's entire savings in an Ohio bank that failed.
• It took that family two months before they could access their safety deposit box, and about six months more to get all their money back. 
• Yes, that's an extreme example...but it happened. 
  • Are you willing to gamble that you'll luckier, given the current environment? 

The current banking/financial crisis is worse than the Savings & Loan Crisis in the mid-1980s!  Thus, it would probably be wise to secrete various high-value items or cash in or around your home, with the intent of protecting them from criminals...but also in case of a major emergency of some type, whether that be a natural disaster or a financial meltdown.

• Are we advocating you dig holes and bury all of your valuables, jewelry, money and important documents in the back yard??
• No, NO, and NO again!!
• Just that there will be certain extremely important items and/or funds that you will want to keep at home, within your own control and accessible within moments of your need for them.  
• It is worth your while to take reasonable steps to protect such items.

One "stashing" technique we mentioned in that earlier newsletter was the hide--in-plain sight approach, using everyday household items to hide your valuables stash. 

• For example, you can use an actual peanut butter jar, or a can of flour, or a can of cocoa powder, or whatever.    
• Not too many crooks are going to be probing the bottom of your peanut butter container for a roll of silver coins or piece of jewelry.  Takes too much time, and the crooks want to be in and out of your fast.

Still, that can get messy.  Not to mention the waste of food.

Fortunately, our free market system has come up with cash stash alternatives that are a lot less messy and, hopefully, more secure.    

"Diversion Safes" or "Dummy Safes" operate on the principle of hiding in plain sight. 

• Usually, diversion safes are designed to look like very typical, ordinary household items.  
• The inner contents are hollowed out so that you actually have a safe, secure space--usually pretty small--in which to place your valuables, cash, jewelry, or whatever.
• They look darn real.  Most people would be fooled by even a hard look.
• And the majority of burglars aren't going to be opening every jar of peanut butter or jam to see what's inside--again, they want to minimize their time at risk of discovery/apprehension.

• Shaving cream cans, Chap-Stick tubes;
• Bottled water and 1, 2 or 3- Liter soda bottles.
• Peanut butter jars, of varying sizes, Potato chip cans.
• Pillows (yes, PILLOWS), like you might see on your sofa.
• Wall Clocks, Electrical outlets
• Cans of soda, of many different brands, both popular and obscure.
• VHS tapes, or even older VCRs that have been cannibalized internally to make storage space!!
• Books (a historical favorite, very popular in the Victorian era).
• Household cleaners.
• Paint cans, large nuts & bolts combinations. 
• I've even seen fake power tools that actually are diversion safes (though not recently). 

Obviously, these diversion/dummy safes have some huge advantages!!  

Their fundamental premise is that a burglar is only willing to risk a short amount of time inside a targeted house. 

• The criminal wants to be in and out with minimum muss and fuss.
• Most experts agree this is somewhere between four and ten minutes.
• Robbers that attack when someone is home are a whole other discussion--because they're probably intending to hurt someone, and the robbery may well be just an adjunct. 
  • Then it becomes a matter of self-defense, a far more complicated topic which we'll cover another day.
• So burglars are going to sweep through your house, looking for valuable items that they can quickly make off with. 
  • Are they going to root through your entire pantry? All your kitchen cabinets??  Your basement food storage room?  Probably not.
  • No, they're going to look for the safe in your bedroom closet or behind a painting on the wall, the flat safe under your bed, maybe take all of your electronics, etc.

Now, we have to give the crooks credit for at least some smarts.  Some of them are pretty intelligent, just warped in how they want to benefit from the labors of others.  Do they know about diversion safes??  The smart and/or professional criminals will--but not the less intelligent ones, or (most commonly) the ones that are committing a crime on the spur of the moment. 

• The really smart ones that make a profession out of thievery probably have memorized every diversion safe made and sold commercially in the U.S.  
  • They'll know each and every brand, model and style.
• But the vast majority of thieves want to get a quick fair heist and be gone before they are caught by the police, or encounter an angry homeowner armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol or a Browning shotgun. 
• The homeowners may arrive home soon...a neighbor might have noticed them crawling through a window...or your home might have a hidden, unannounced security alarm they didn't notice.

Your strategy is to leverage off of the criminal looters' own propensity to minimize their risks by minimizing the time spent searching your home. 

• You won't defeat truly skilled looters that have cased your home well enough to exactly when you're not there, and thus know exactly how much time they have in your home.  
• Personally, I'm glad to make life harder for the 90% of crooks that I can...and my home probably doesn't have enough goodies in it to make it worth the professional thief's time. (Or, at least, it doesn't look that way from the outside.)

Now, as to the disadvantages of diversion or dummy safes:

• First, it is easier than you might think to  forgot about what items you have stored where, and in what type of diversion safe,
• Second, there is always a danger that a youth in the house could locate a diversion safe and liberate the items therein...hey, have to pay for that date on Friday night somehow, right?

There is also danger someone might inadvertantly throw away a diversion safe. 

• For example, if that old peanut butter jar (actually a diversion safe) sitting in the corner with dust all over it obviously has exceeded its expiration date...you, your spouse, a kid doing chores, or even household helpers (cleaning services, maids, etc.) might well throw it out.
• Or, if you happen to "kick the bucket," you heirs might throw away all of those old cans of paint without looking inside them.

So, if you do use diversion safes, you need to come up with a way to prevent their being thrown away, and preclude their being forgotten.

We're intentionally NOT including pictures herein of all the types of diversion safes you're able to buy...lest someone with the wrong type of personality be reading this email. 

And, we're not allowed to includes links to non-eBay sites in these emails, so I can't recommend you go to a particular buyer. 

We don't sell diversion safes ourselves, yet, but you can easily find dozens of them with just a simple eBay search.

We do ask one, and only one, favor:  If you're in the market for a diversion or dummy safe, PLEASE send us an email letting us know that.

• If we get several folks wanting to buy some diversion or dummy safes, we'll start carrying some of those product lines. 

Remember:  just a little bit of planning for home security and emergency preparedness can go a very long way!!

Note:  eBay won't let us include links (or even the barebones website address) for non-eBay websites.  Thus, we can't actually give you the website address for FEMA.  However, you should be able to do a Google search for "FEMA website" and go from there.

One of the great untapped resources in emergency preparedness, food storage, disaster readiness and all things related, are the various websites produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

• Far too few folks are aware of the goldmine of information available, FREE, from FEMA.
• And of those aware, far too few visit and make use of FEMA's resources.

FEMA are the guys blamed for most of the failures of Hurricane Katrina.

• In reality, FEMA has been warning for decades that federal government assistance after a disaster would take about 72 hours to two weeks.  
  • Until then, individuals & families would have to take care of themselves.
• Accordingly, FEMA has long recomended that individuals and families have a 72-hour kit to tide them over through at least the first three days after a disaster.
  • In various venues, these are also known as "bug-out bags" or "Go bags." 

There were LOTS of errors and problems with the post-Katrina disaster response...but FEMA pretty much did exactly what they had always promised they would do--started delivering large-scale aid about 72 after the end of the hurricane.

• The scale of damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina was epic.
• But the truth is, Louisianana's Governor & New Orleans' Mayor were both late in directing evacuations and in requesting assistance from FEMA.
• if more folks had heeded pre-Katrina evacuation orders and/or if support requests had been made to FEMA sooner, there would have been far fewer casualties and far less chaos.
• Less spectacular, but just as sure, is that if there had been more citiziens in the affected regions with current & complete 72-hour kits, the overall impacts have been less severe for large numbers of victims. 
• Don't mean to offend any Katrina survivors...simply making a factual assessment.

However, the main point today is that if you go to the FEMA websites and do some trolling, you will find a LOT of information about how to prepare yourself and/or your family to better survive and endure emergencies and disasters of all sorts--whether natural or man-made.

• Keep in mind: YOUR federal tax dollars have paid for all of the research, writing & advice available on the various FEMA webistes. 
• Some of it is crummy; however, much of it is pretty good, and some parts are outstanding.
• And, it is FREE to all of us wonderful taxpayers (or, even non-taxpayers).

We recommend you occasionally visit (www.) FEMA (.gov) and troll around to see what might apply to YOU and YOUR situation.

• One caution:  portions of the site are intended for "first responders," the medical, law enforcement and public safety troops that fight our fires and save our lives.
• The "first responder" information is very good, but ar more technical & specific than individuals & families need. No need to read those sections as you explore. 

Here is a top-level sampling of emergency preparedness, food storage, water filtering, & disaster response topics you'll find at FEMA's websites: 

• Planning ahead for emergencies/disasters.
• How to prepare your kids to respond effectively to disasters.
• How to build a safe room (yep, a "safe room" designed to help you survive natural disasters...and which might also be useful for surviving encounters with human aggressors within your home, if modified appropriately).
• Where to find/collect clean water during an emergency; how to purify water that is potentially contaminated, and how to store water, safely, in advance of an emergency.
• Suggested contents and checklists for assembling 72-hour kits.
• Tips for how to handle special needs, such as disabilites and handicaps.
• Tips for how to get your pet through a natural disaster or emergency.
• Advice on preparing for/avoiding/surviving just about every disaster scenario you can imagine:
  • Thunderstorms, Hurricanes, Tornados, Blizzards, etc.
  • Terrorism and Terrorist Acts, Nuclear Explosions,
  • Heat waves, Landslides, Wildfires, and even Volcanoes!!!!
  • Dam Failures....and More.
• Government-provided Flood Insurance & how to file claims.

So, what are you waiting for?  YOUR tax dollars paid for all of these great resources and advice from FEMA...so why not take advantage of them?? 

• Visit (www.) FEMA (.gov) and take a tour, today!

As with most sources of information for emergency preparedness (including this one), the FEMA website is not perfect.  There are some instances of flawed advice, and in many instances the advice or information is very watered-down, in order to provide a "national" vs. regional perspective.

• This doesn't make everything from FEMA suspect or wrong; there's a lot of good stuff in there. 
• It does mean that YOU, the person at risk, must:
• Take their advice with several grains of salt;
• Gather advice/information from multiple sources; and then,
• Tailor any advice to YOUR particular situation and region.

Today, we'd like to share recent trends in sales of emergency preparedness/food storage (EP/FS) items (both ours and industry-wide), and the calls/questions we're getting from customers, and what each of these seem to indicate. 

FIRST, our fourth quarter (4Q) leading up to the Christmas Holiday was solid, but not spectacular, with modest improvement over year prior 4th Qtr.  Pretty good, actually, given the state of the economy. 

• However, one of the strangest phenomena we've started seeing are calls from pretty well-to-do folks, who are suddenly seeking advice on food/ emergency/water storage matters.  That's good news, we believe, if it means more folks at all income levels are now focusing on emergency preparedness. 
  • If these wealthier folks--including at least one wall street stock broker--think emergency preparedness actions are a good thing to do right now...I have to believe it is becoming that much more important for folks of ALL income levels to be prepared.

SECOND, we're selling a heck of a lot of Katadyn Water Microfilters, a trend which started suddenly, beginning about a week before Christmas--and we even had folks ordering POCKET MicroFilters on Christmas Day itself!!!

• We focus largely on the Katadyn backpacking-class water filters and accessories, including the  POCKET, VARIO, HIKER, HIKER PRO, Universal Carbon Cartridges, etc.
• We'll be expanding our Katadyn product line in the near future...including the EXSTREAM XR (eXtended Range) water purifier bottle; the SIPHON, and the MINI CERAMIC.  
• So, why are the water filters selling so well, so suddenly?  Frankly, we're not sure, other than the inherent value in owning/using high-quality water filters, purifiers and related accessories.  Perhaps it is just a matter of New Year's Eve resolutions to do better in EP/FS.. 

THIRD, we're selling a surprising amount of our fabulous food storage rotational shelving units, manufactured by Shelf Reliance. 

• The smaller, pantry-insertable units like the Cansolidator PANTRY, PANTRY PLUS and CUPBOARD shelving units are extremely flexible, adjustable to fit your pantry, closet or cabinents, and easy to buy in reasonable chunks.
• However, we've also suddenly sold an unusually large number of the larger-framed rotational canned-goods food storage shelving units, such as the HARVEST and the PANTRY!!!!
• Again, New Year's resolutions may be the inspiration of this trend...and the continuing negative drum beats coming from the media may be helping spur those that are 'on the line' regarding EP/FS preparations.  
  • If you think you're at high risk of losing your job...you probably want to stock up on EP/FS long before the need for them arises. 
  • So, maybe this is a subtle but clear signal that many more folks than normal are worried about plant closures, layoffs, etc.

FOURTH, emergency radios.  We've been selling the FR150 and FR500 radios by Eton Corporation (the folks who also make the Grundig line of radios) like hotcakes.  Why? 

• Again, we think this is an early warning indicator from folks who are the front lines of job losses, plant closures, layoffs, etc.  
• These folks see bad times coming...and the purchase of emergency/ survival radios like the Eton/Grundig lines are probably "canary in the coal mine" indicators that things may get worse than just a few months layoff or such.

--------------------------------------------

So, what is behind all of these sudden sales??  We suggested some possibilities in the above section, but let's go into a little more depth.  Thus, based on anecdotal conversations with our customers and sales trends we are seeing both in our own business and in the EP/FS industry at large, we think there are four fundamental reasons driving these sales increases:

• First of all, yes, the economy definitely is weighing on folks' minds. 
  • Now, most families don't think the whole economy is going to go belly-up, sending us all back to stone-age living conditions.
  • But they do seem concerned about potential regional effects stemming from natural disasters, which might be made worse by economic impacts (e.g., the government may not be able to ride to the rescue quite as readily with emergency responses, recovery loans, etc.)
• Second, customers/consumers seem very concerned about the overall economic situation translating down into specific impacts to their employers...and thus THEM. 
  • Layoffs, plant closings, and the like raise the spectre not just of unemployment...but the possibility of long-term unemployments. 
  • Or, the main income provider of the family might be fired. 
  • Or, family situations (e.g., a parent getting sick) might dictate a move to another region...without the assurance of a job upon arrival. 
• Third, our buyers seem more concerned than in the past about the possibility that the family's primary bread-earner becomes disabled, and can no longer work (as happened in our case; I can no longer work, and my wife operates this internet business).
• Fourth...and on this one we're kind of guessing, but it seems consistent with our experience:  many more folks this year made, and are now keeping, New Year's resolutions involving starting or improving programs for food storage, emergency preparedness, self-reliance, water storage/filtering, disaster survival, etc.
  • If so...what a great New Year's Resolution!!!

Ultimately, it doesn't matter why folks are improving their emergency preparedness programs--we're glad they're doing so.  Every small step towards improved preparedness is a step towards self-reliance and family stability during turbulent times. 

• Such "self-insurance" against unknown events can be very calming and helpful to one's mental state, both before and after losing a job.
• That was the case after my various medical problems became absolutely debilitating. 
  • Just having a generous amount of EP/FS supplies and gear on-hand helped us take the situation much more calmly.  
  • We knew where our "next meal" was coming from for at least the next year...so the turbulence of job losses and wage-uncertainty was smoothed out quite a bit.    

In the end, there are zillion good reasons to establish at least a minimal EP/FS program in your home and for your family.  Each of us have their own reasons, and that is how it should be. 

• Do what you can in YOUR own situation...and the overal economic uncertainties at the national and global levels...but also your regional area...and act accordingly. 
• You will never regret being properly prepared, should an emergency or disaster arise...but you almost certainly will regret the absence of such preparations, should the need actuall arise.
• Be like the little squirrel in the old children's story...store what you need in times of plenty, that you might have plenty during times of need.   

Best wishes to everyone, and may you never need to actually use any of your EP/FS supplies.  

Jim & Lisa

RockyMtnHomeSolutions

www.rockymtnhome@comcast.net

Disaster Survival in URBAN CENTERS

Prioritize, Plan & Act for Survival

This blog article is Copyrighted 2008 by Rocky Mountain Home Solutions/Jim & Lisa Rodgers

Live in a big city or heavily-populated suburban area?  Worried about making it through a regional, or even national, disaster (natural or man-made)? 

• We're not talking a subway strike here, we're talking about something serious enough to curtail food/water supplies to dangerous levels, disrupt essential emergency services like fire departments, police forces and medical care, and probably prompt outbreaks of dangerous rioting. 
• Floods, riots, terrorist acts, fires, labor strikes, earthquakes, tornados, blizzards, snow storms, airplane crashes...there are many possible scenarios. 
• It really doesn't matter what causes such a situation, if you're caught in the middle of it.  So let's skip any further discussion about potential causes and head right to the key issue:  what can you do to survive it?? 

You should be doing what you can to prepare for a major disaster--even if it's just a little bit--because you CAN prepare for and SURVIVE a "worst-case scenario," even if you live in a very large city.  Depending on the particular disaster situation and consequences, your odds may be high or low--but they are always better if you've prepared a plan of action, some supplies, and some gear!! 

Let's break it into three separate phases:  

• PRIORITIZE
• PLAN
• ACT

FIRST, PRIORITIZE!  What is your fundamental goal, should an emergency arise? 

• Obviously, your very first priority must be to STAY ALIVE.  If away from home, you'll have to make an on-the-spot decision as to whether you can make it back to your quarters (and thus your supplies and gear).  If not, you'll have to survive/escape to safety with whatever you have or can find.  

Assuming you're at, or can make it back to, your living quarters, your primary options include:

• Do you want to ride out the emergency situation/disaster in your apartment, condo, co-op or home?  This scenario is likely if the crises appears resolvable within a few days to several weeks.  If you have a lot of supplies, you might even make it for a couple of months.
  • Consider carefully what gear, food and water you need to store for such emergencies. 
  • You'll also need to consider a means of defending yourself and your property in the worst-possible "worst-case scenario." NOTE:  make sure you comply with all local, state & federal laws regarding weapons of any type, including firearms, knives and pepper sprays.  AND, ensure you keep any such weapons stored safely (we sell GunVault mini-vaults at our eBay Store).

OR

• Do you want/need to link up with friends or relatives in the immediate metropolitian area, trying to achieve strength in numbers? 
  • Then you need to be ready to move yourself AND your supplies to that location, if it is not in your immediate building or neighborhood...which drives decisions on what to store, and how to move it quickly/safely.
  • Portability becomes more important for this strategy...but not yet overriding.  

OR

• Do you want/need to evacuate from your city/town, traveling to a safe location or heading towards family/friends that need help?  
• • To implement this strategy, you must prepare for serious traveling with little outside support, and perhaps through dangerous zones.   
  • Portabilty of gear and supplies now becomes crucial, even overriding.  You'll need to go for extremely lightweight, yet sturdy gear and supplies.  You'll have to think about exit routes from your city (adapted to the situation, of course). 

Summary:  to optimize your chances of both surviving and achieving important goals (e.g., assisting family members through the disaster, too), you must first choose your fundamental strategy in the face of a disaster:

• Staying put in your current residence quarters; 
• Moving a short distance to friends or family within the urban/suburban areas; or
• Moving a longer distance towards family/friends, or perhaps a safer place. 

Once you've established your overall priority, other decisions and planning will begin to flow more easily.

SECOND, PLAN TO FIT YOUR PRIORITY! 

• If your plan is to stay put and ride things out...you'll need at least some stores of food and water, a plan for sanitation, and self-defense capabilities.  If your storage space is limited, you'll have to be extra-creative. 
  • For example, you might have to buy/store some of those extra-dense, calorie-rich military surplus food bars that taste like shoe leather...but could save your life in an emergency.  
  • Apartment-dwellers usually are very limited in how much water they store, simply because of the amount of room required; if so, they might be wiser to store just a few gallons of water, and purchase a high-quality, high-capacity water filter. 
    • Buying a water filter designed for backpacking usually is the preferred option, as you'll be able to take it with you in the event of a mandatory evacuation.
  • You need to really think this through.  There were folks in Louisiana and Mississippi with substantial amounts of food and/or water storage; unfortunately, much of it floated away, or the residents were evacuated and couldn't get to their food/water supplies.
• If your plan is to "get out of Dodge," whether because you believe it will be safer, or you simply will need to get to a relative or friend who needs your assistance...the weight and means of carrying your supplies will dominate your planning. 
  • Ideally, you'll just load up your car and drive for a little while to your destination.  In that case, weight won't be too much of a factor...but space will. 
  • Unfortunately, many folks living in cities don't have cars...or it may be that personal transportation may be limited by emergency measures (e.g., curfews or road closures) or fuel shortages.  Even public transportation may not be available!!
  • So, plan for a manageable worst case--assumme you'll only be able to take what you can carry, and prepare accordingly. 
    • Purchase each person in your family a VERY high-quality, large-capacity backpack that can hold a lot of "emergency stuff."  You already know you need a good water filter...now the weight and size of that filter becomes extremely important, because you may be forced to evacuate with only what you can carry on your own back. 
    • Purchase high-quality emergency rations with a good shelf life, light weight and decent taste. 
    • Consider your region's climate...if you need cold-weather gear, it makes sense to invest in warmer/lighter high-tech fabrics and insulation.

THIRD, ACT ON YOUR PLAN IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR PRIORITIES. 

ACTING ON YOUR PLAN actually has two components...Acting NOW to purchase & arrange your pre-planned emergency items...and Acting IN THE FUTURE when an actual emergency situation presents itself.

• Most folks probably can't purchase all their emergency preparedness/ disaster survival in one fell swoop.
• So, you'll need to actively seek out reasonably-priced sources of your gear and supplies. 

ACTING NOW:  with a clear, prioritized strategy in hand...and a list of appropriate required supplies on a list...you need to ACT NOW by purchasing your selected items in accordance with your strategy. 

• We recommend clean, pure water be your first priority.  You can store at least some water, event if it's only a few gallons.  Alternatively, a high-quality backpacking-type water filter can provide hundreds of gallons of pure water, and is extremely portable. 
  • If you have pure water, you may even be able to trade it for food. 
  • Again, think about Katrina...wouldn't you have liked to have a top-notch water filter during that emergency? 
• ENSURE YOU HAVE A GOOD, HIGH-QUALITY, HIGH-CAPACITY WATER FILTER, if you do absolutely nothing else to prepare for an emergency.

ACTING IN THE FUTURE:  Hopefully, you'll never encounter a true emergency situation.  Emergency supplies and preparations are a kind of "insurance" that we actually hope never to collect on.  Understanding that, you still must be prepared to act decisively when that point actually arrive.  Unfortunately, it is all too easy for survival-oriented folks to advise something like the following:  "if there is any doubt about your safety, you must evacuate immediately." 

• In an ideal world, we all would "get out of Dodge" for a few days, until the danger blows past.  Unfortunately, the reality of doing so is much tougher than the theory.
• We have jobs, or important social obligations, or we've evacuated a dozen times before, and then nothing ever happened.  Or, perhaps, you stayed put during previous serious warnings...and it was never as bad as predicted.
  • When you think about it that way, the number of folks who didn't evacuate when warnings about Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast becomes much more understandable.
• So, we recommend a middle course:  gather plenty of data from news reports and government sources...but in the end, it has to be your own gut call.  Is this particular situation ominous enough for me to get out of town?  When the answer is yes:  GO!!
• If the situation suddenly erupts without warning (e.g., the 9/11 terror attacks), you should be constantly assessing the reality on the ground:  GO or STAY?? 
  • If nothing else, your departure from an urban/suburban area will reduce strains on governmental and other emergency resources.
  • And if you stay...your early planning will enable you likewise to place less of a burden on others.   

Surviving emergency situations in major cities is possible.  But, your odds of improve dramatically if you take the opportunity, in advance, to PRIORITIZE, PLAN, and then ACT.  Apply some good, common-sense THINKING at each step/phase of this process, and you'll be light years ahead of others. 

Good luck in all you do,

Jim/"Rocky"

Copyright 2008 by Rocky Mountain Home Solutions/Jim & Lisa Rodgers

Here's a quick & easy one--don't forget the Herbs & Spices!!

A lot of food storage staples, especially in bulk, are heavy on the starches and really heavy on bland taste.

• Let's think bulk items like rice & beans.  Even if you buy several different varieties they're still, at the end of the day, just rice & beans.

Still, THINK of the many variations possible for even a novice cook, if you had these herbs & spices:

• Salt & Pepper
  • So basic, many folks overlook them in food storage programs; DON'T! 
• Sugar and Flour
  • Purists will complain these are not true spices or herbs.  We're adding them to emphasize the crucial tie-ins between sugar & flour and herbs & spices--one is enhaced by the other.
• Chili Powder, cumin
• Bouillion or Soup bases (flavors including chicken, ham & beef)
• Oregano, Bay Leaves, Basil
• Onion powder and/or dried onions
• Garlic powder and/or dried garlic
• Thyme and Rosemary
• Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice (great for making rice pudding, along with a little sugar).
• Take a look in your kitchen spice cabinet....go through and make a list of every spice or herg....and then figure out how to store some. 
  • Let the cooks of the house (whether male or female) decide on the essential herbs & spices to store. 

Human beings NEED variety in their foods, for psychological reasons.  This is never truer than during a major emergency situation...when a meal of savory tastes Imagine the aftermath of a serious natural disaster in your region, where power & normal food distribution networks are down for even two or three weeks.  (That is NOT hard to imagine, given the natural disasters that have hit the U.S. over the last five years.)

• You're not going to starve; you've got your own stash, and the Red Cross has arrived with their emergency ration bars 
• On the other hand...if you've stashed the right spices & herbs to go with your stored foods...and you also stashed away some emergency cooking supplies....
  • Imagine having a savory beef goulash with a thick, rich, hearty gravy topping...
  • Perhaps topped off with a thick, rich delicious rice pudding??

Or, you could just eat plain old rice & beans--or maybe that emergency ration bar.  Your choice.

Myself, I'm opting for that savory beef goulash and that thick, rich rice pudding. 

So, don't forget to store your herbs & spices.

This is an update of a post we did the other day...the changes are substantial enough to warrant a repeat. 

Worried about world financial markets?  Do your banking online? 

Got a dozen credit/debit cards?  Rarely carry cash?