Disaster Preparedness Kit

Emergencies always come uninvited and its not really a pleasure to be in such a situation. For dealing with natural disasters, military emergencies, and other high risk professions, you need to have a disaster preparedness kit. A disaster preparedness kit can also be called a survival kit, as those who are exposed to a disaster have a greater chance to survive with such a kit. A disaster preparedness kit is nothing but a collection of tools and applications, which helps in coping with a dire situation. In high end and jobs it is prepared in advance. And the whole activity also needs a lot of training and drills that are conducted in this regard, especially in the armed forces. The contents of the disaster preparedness kit differ slightly depending on a particular situation and sometimes profession. Though, a few emergency preparedness are fundamental to such variations.

General Contents of A Disaster Preparedness Kit

First Aid
A first aid kid is extremely crucial in emergency situations. A first aid kit normally includes bandages, sterile pads and gauze, first aid tape, tweezers, surgical razors, disinfectant pads, oxytetracycline tablets for diarrhea and infection and aspirin. Make sure that this kit is properly protected from water as it can be rendered useless, if it comes in contact with water. Amongst the other things, an insect repellent, hand sanitizer, soap, salt, toilet papers (you never know when you would need them!), female hygiene products and the likes. Other things include prescribed medicines, hydrogen peroxide, antihistamines and epinephrine, especially, for protection against insect stings. There you can add a few more things according to your requirements and priorities. First aid is very significant in condition of natural disaster.

If it is an expedition or a trek or any exploration, you would obviously need to have food and water. So lets take a brief overview of what all do you need to stock.

Food and Liquids
First things first, you need to stock enough water. More specifically, the supply should last atleast for 2 days. If you run out of water, you need to boil it, if you get it from a spring or a stream. So you need to have a container to boil the water. And incase that is not available, you need to have iodine or chlorine tablets. Canned food, fishing gear and water purification tablets are a few other things you would probably need to carry. And another very important thing is money. Supply of money in small denominations can come to use any time.

Shelter Arrangement
There are few other things a disaster preparedness kit should include or does include. Shelter or warmth issue could be a life threatening one. If its too cold, it could prove to be fatal. So for that, you need a survival blanket, 'Tube tent' or bivvy bag, Tarp with grommets or tie-tapes (best if nylon or polyester), Large plastic trash bag as poncho or expedient shelter roof, mosquito net to keep off biting insects, wide-brimmed hat, knitted or fleece 'watch cap' to insulate area of greatest heat loss and magnifying glass for fire-starting. Ferrocerium rod (AKA 'Metal match', 'Hot Spark', 'Firesteel', 'Magnesium bar') and fire striker for fire-starting, waterproof matches, butane lighter (won't work under freezing temp. - carry inside clothing), hexamine fuel tablets (Esbit) or 'heat tablets' for fire-starting, cotton pads or balls smeared with white petroleum for fire starting (can be carried in 35 mm container or heat-sealed inside large diameter plastic straw) and dark-colored (black preferred) shoe polish, can also prove useful for fire-starting.

Navigation Systems
In the situation where you lose your way or you 'could' lose your way, it is a good idea to have a compass, red flare or a smoke signal flair to indicate your location to perhaps a passing ship or a chopper or a plane. A radio trans-receiver or a ham radio and GPS navigation can be really advantageous.

These are generally the things essential in disaster preparedness kit. As mentioned earlier, the armed forces and espionage agencies can have more than just these, and use more advanced technology and equipment as well. And apart form these there is always a lot of disaster preparedness information and disaster preparedness plans available on the internet and in a host of books.

Ultimately, it is again your brain and your presence of mind, in most cases, which can help you sail through difficult times and for that, you need to be in the pink of your health. That will help you think clearly. Take all the precautions that you would need to and the first thing to consider in any emergency is protection of lives. Other things are secondary. If the lives of people are saved, disaster recovery gets a bit easier and does not weigh heavily on your mind.

And as they say, 'tough times do not last, tough people do'.