Solderpunk phlogged today about 72-hour kits, for shelter-
in-place, as well as for bug-out[1]. He recently added
arguably the most crucial survival tool to his kit: water.
Since I currently live in an area that is prone to
devistating wildfire, we tend to keep ourselves prepared for
short-notice evacuation. To lend a little bit of reality to
that thought, just last year we were on pre-evacuation
notice for a wildfire (which means imminent threat, be ready
to leave with 20min notice), and a few years before we moved
here the entire city was actually evacuated on very, very
short notice (for the curious, google "Cedar Creek Fire AZ"
for last year's fire, and "Wallow Fire" and "Rodeo-Chediski
Fire".)
Now, you might be tempted to think that evacuating simply
means driving off to "someplace else" where they're going
to have everything you need. This is not the case. In our
area, the evacuation took many people to another city about
an hour away, where they were sheltered in a school building
with very limited resources. You had what you brought with
you, as well as the limited supplies that the shelter
provided. Local stores and other resources were taxed, and
actual availability of supplies was scarce. This is often
the case in a disaster.
For our household, we have 72hr kits that are design to be
used either in-home, or on the road, or in a shelter. We
have a water barrels out back (I think 6 x 55gal) for a
shelter-in-place scenario, and 2-3 of the 6gal portable
containers in the house if we need to hit the road. I'm
convinced that if we did have to evacuate, there would be
no harm in bringing some water with us.
Another thing that we learned during last year's pre-evac
notice time period, was that there were many important
documents that we wanted to secure in the case of a fire.
We have a small fire safe, but it wasn't really filled with
important things. We rectified that. We also made copies of
critical documents and put them in a grab-and-go case. They
are part of our evacuation / 72hr plan at this point.
Ultimately, what Solderpunk said about bug-out scenarios is
true; they are "mostly pandering to macho fantasy." But
there is definitley no harm in determining what the actual
risks of your area and situation are, and preparing for
them. Heck, even if it is mostly macho fantasy, in the event
of an actual emergency, that macho fantasy will transform
into comfort and safety, and maybe the ability to help
others as well!
[1]
gopher://sdf.org:70/0/users/solderpunk/phlog/precious-bodily-fluids.txt
