Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

Jumping in here - I'd switch everything off, tell kids to grab pyjamas toothbrush & change of clothes, bundle first cat then dog into appropriate crates/baskets (don't actually have a dog so I'm assuming that if I did, I'd have one, & cat first because they'd be off up a tree otherwise, where a dog would stay put) grab emergency travel bag (yes, I do keep one) & essential ID docs folder & go!

In the days when the kids were younger & not able to grab essentials for themselves, I kept things like spare nappies & a change of knickers, shorts & t-shirts in a bag near the door, usually for off-the-cuff trips to the beach or their Gran's, but it would have worked fine for emergencies too.

Going back to something PaH said earlier, to do with neighbours in the sheltered housing; I used to work PT in a sheltered housing complex. Last time it snowed seriously here, I got very annoyed to see some of the elderly ladies tottering around on the icy pavements up town in wildly-unsuitable 3" heels and thin stockings, but one of my tenants pulled me up sharp when she said, "So tell us where we'd store bad-weather clothing, please? Or extra food?" They had to go out food shopping because in those tiny kitchenettes there is quite literally nowhere to store more than a couple of days' worth of food. And the bed is in an alcove off the main room, with just about the only clothes storage underneath, apart from an 18" hanging rail; there is nowhere you could even put a pair of wellies that wouldn't be a trip hazard or stop you getting through the door. Many "retirement flats" are just glorified bedsits & were designed by architects who assumed we'd all be living on vitamin pills by now & thus have no need to store food or cook it. And it hardly ever snows down here. So yes, elderly neighbours in "sheltered" housing may well need a helping hand, through no fault of their own.

I like to think I'm reasonably well-prepared here, though I do worry about the two Offspring who live away from home (had to bite my lip mightily when DS3 went off to Chile recently, not to scare him about earthquake preps) but this thread has made me realise that I need to check things like my water-purification tabs (we're close to a river) are still where they should be, that the wind-up torches actually work, and get some cat-litter in!

Cheapskate

Ah, this is where we needed to have a bug-out bag ready to grab and go after we shut off all the power and follow the emergency plan we'd worked out after living on MSE all this time! :rotfl:

Seriously, I wouldn't have time to do anything but close the windows, shut off the power, quick call to DH to say where we were going, collect mum (asthma risk and lives down the road) and get in the car with the kids. The only things I could grab instantly would be passports, bottled water/juice and handful of fruit and packets of crisps.

This sort of emergency demands that you'd have a bag always packed with the bare essentials; I'm guessing essential meds, bottled water, non-perishable food snacks, ID(?), change of clothes, loo roll/wipes/hand gel, enough to make do for 24-48 hours, and assuming that you could return then. What would happen if your home was then too contaminated to return?

ETA - elderly/housebound neighbour next door would have to come with us, her family more than 15 mins away, all other neighbours able to get away. Got number for neighbour's daughter, so just enough time to ring or text.
A xo

fuddle

Right, this is where I sit with my notepad to write everything down so I can prepare a BOB. What would you put in a BOB?

Also, I don't have a car. I'd be at home with the children. Where would I go? I'd take my dog! What if the children were at school? It's 20 minute walk to get them.

See, clueless - but it's important to think about these things

meme30

Fuddle:- Children at school!! That's huge thing! You would just want everyone to be together!

[Deleted User]

If you are going to rely on the car you might like to consider that everyone else would be trying to evacuate too, all at the same time and you could end up with a gridlock situation. Perhaps it would be better to take what you could after you had made the home safe and walk out to a safer place, perhaps with a trolley for ease of carrying. I think if the roads were blocked with vehicles that would be a quicker in the long run.

mummyroysof3

finding this thread very interesting and has certainly mademe think about a few things

grandma247

Mad-Frog wrote: »

I cannot imagine any scenario why you would have to have a bag containing all that video entails anytime in the UK

The only way anyone here would have to leave their house would be due to flooding in my opinion. Gas leaks would only involve a few hours at the most and would only affect a few houses in any one area, personally I would go to a persons house not affected to go to a hotel ... or the pub

I had a couple of friends years ago who had to move out of their home with their little children for six weeks because there was something wrong with the gas outside their house. It was wintertime and they had no heat or means of cooking.

Electricity going off again would not last more than a few hours and some candles and a torch would suffice. I would play on my iPad personally if no TV etc

In very bad winter which do not happen very often thankfully electric has been off two to three weeks. Your central heating will not work so if that is all you have you will be cold if you have not prepared. You will also not be able to charge any device so if you don't have books you could be bored and so will any kids.

We don't have earthquakes that devastate houses, nor hurricanes or twisters etc we are lucky compared to some Countries.

In the south of England about twenty years ago a twister came through the coastal houses and took a lot of roofs off and we do get Earthquakes here. Who says there will never be a devastating one?

Seriously I don't see any need to panic or get bug out bags in the making. A blanket in the car, a torch and some spare batteries would see most of us through any minor crisis, being snowed in is exaggerated again in my opinion it might not be pleasant to go outside and trudge through thick snow but rarely are roads impassible unless in remote areas

Here we have a reservoir above us and if there is no money to maintain it how long before the walls collapse and it comes down on our houses? Also this area has seen a few riots before and with the increasing feelings of unrest they will probably happen again and may be worse.
No buses run here if the snow is bad and cars slide down the road if they dare go out because the council chooses not to grit. We are in the middle of a large Northern town.

I would recommend a head torch and a spare battery, when we were camping it was much easier to put up/down tents in the dark, cook food, find stuff in bags etc with a head torch than the wind up torch we took with us.

I have put comments in the above post because there are a lot of people with this attitude. They are the very ones who will climb over your head to get to safety should there be an emergency because they haven't a clue how to deal with it. Nor do they care.
I know it is old and I haven't read through yet but the post made me mad.

fuddle

The water company around here are selling off a few of their dammed small reservoirs to a private company as they are not valuable enough to them to keep up the upkeep of the dams. It's a leisure company that has bought them. If those dams are not maintained correctly then I dread to think what will happen 2 miles away from my village.

Anything can happen. We're not at all protected from every eventuality. For me, the 'it won't happen, here, to us, in this country' is just a bit blind sighted. Anything can happen anywhere.

smileyt_2

Just popping in quickly to say:

If you had nowhere to go, the police would probably be evacuating you to an emergency centre somewhere (local church hall/sports centre?). Do you know what your council's emergency plans are? Somewhere on their website there should be a link to find out.

What about your pets? They wouldn't be allowed to go to the evacuation centre. What are the council's plans for pets? Do your pets have collars with ID on? Yes, even one for emergencies to put on your cat who may not normally wear a collar. I believe that in an emergency the police have powers to force you to leave, so protesting that you wouldn't leave your pets behind (and no-one would want to!) might be useless. You need a plan. And this goes for me too, as I haven't fully addressed this issue - head in the sand ....

Will probably pop back later in the day with a more considered response.

luxor4t

prepareathome wrote: »

Some people have mentioned using the toilet after all the power goes, chances are the sewers will get blocked as no pumps to clear them so if you flush you will find all that happens is the water backs up all over your floor. What would you use and where would you put it - garden????-would this be a good idea even if its cold out there? QUOTE]


I suggested a mop bucket as a temp toilet. Trying hard not to gross anybody out, but it has a strainer to separate solids from liquid. So, add a spade to your kit so you can dig a nice deep hole as far from your house as possible.