What tah do when?

I was asked to teach Disaster Preparation for this last Tuesday's Enrichment meeting. It was themed "Back to School" and my portion of the meeting was the fire drill. I had Red Hots to pass out to the ladies so they could feel the heat of the disaster scenario hehe. I had thought a lot about what I wanted to say, but encountered various mini emergencies that helped me to know what to teach about! A few Saturdays ago, we had a babysitter and the power went out right as we left...No air conditioning, microwave or anything that would use electricity. The kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner because what I had planned for them needed to be microwaved. It was around 103 degrees out and luckily our home had been fairly cool from earlier the AC blasting. It lasted two or three hours without power and everyone was fine, although the house warming up was quite nerve wracking for our respite worker. Then, we heard news of a fire on Sunday afternoon in Auburn that was so fast most families had around ten minutes to evacuate. A volunteer at Joseph's school lost her home in that fire and is relocating near our neighborhood until her home can be rebuilt. Some other incidences were a friend at church had a migraine and I had no pain reliever for her, and finally Emmy's school had a precautionary lock down due to some unrest and potential violence going on in a home near her school.

There are so many types of emergencies and being prepared to face them takes a little work. Spencer's Alta Regional worker gave us an emergency plan for our family to keep him safe, due to his special needs. Great info is in that guide. Some things I really liked about it was the variety of info all in one place, emergency contacts including email address, encouragement to make a plan to reunite( family home evening is good for setting that in place) and info about having a prepared vehicle and having papers in an easily accessible place and having small change.

I've been through a few earthquakes growing up and being together with family again becomes the highest priority I've found when disaster strikes. So we really need to let our children know where we'd meet and who to contact to get information about other family members. I'm now making sure we have a radio to get updates on news in the area if there is a problem, flashlights for power outages, extra medicine for my kiddos in case there isn't a way for them to refill and get he important need medicines right away. Also, I am going to be making copies of important papers and have it in a portable folder for fast evacuation. And redoing my 72 hour food supply and storing up water for my family for 3 days. I'm not thinking its doom and gloom time, just that things happen and I don't want to be caught off guard with no flashlight, water, means to get the things my family needs..I think it will give me peace of mind as well knowing I've done all I can to help my family in this regard.~