Category: Home Prepping

How to Prepare an Emergency Plan for Your Family When You’re Away from Home

10/2/2018

By Conrad Novak

As parents, we can be hesitant to leave our loved one's home for an extended period. It's our nature to worry. We feel as though our families become more vulnerable without us. If we prepare for emergencies when we are away from our loved ones, we can feel more comfortable leaving them.
Most disasters tend to happen when you least expect it. When you're far away from your family, these 5 ways to prepare an emergency plan will allow you and your family to respond to emergency situations in the best way possible.

Put Someone in Charge
First, establish a chain of command when you are away. Who is next in line to lead the group? The person to be left in charge should be the most responsible for the bunch and be someone that has the rest of the family's respect. The person in charge should be groomed to do what you would do in an emergency.

This person may be your oldest child or your youngest child, depending on the level of maturity. Without having someone in charge there is no order. To prevent panic, someone should take the lead in case of emergency.

It's crucial that your family understands the importance of working together, as one wrong decision could lead to a life or death situation. Emergency plans only work if your family members execute it out correctly. It's important for them to know that in case of an emergency everyone needs to stick together and not panic.

Traits to look for when choosing a leader are effective communication, positive attitude, trustworthy, and innovative. Be sure that the person in charge knows that they are in charge and will step up and accept responsibility for the others in your absence. This person should have access to the emergency plan and everything needed to execute it. Knowing that you have a second in command will ease some worries until you can get back to your family.

Advertisement

Enlist Outside Helpers
Get to know your neighbors. Neighbors may become your closest allies in case of emergency as far as proximity goes. At the least, exchange contact information. If something seems array, have the convenience of calling a neighbor and asking them to check on your family. Ensure that your neighbor knows that you will do the same with them.

Get permission to include their information in your emergency plan and allow them to use your information in their emergency plan. Contact nearby Family and friends. Tell them about your emergency plan and gather updated information to include it in the plan. It is important to have options for people that you can depend on. These people may have different qualities that may be best depending on the emergency. A nearby cousin may be a pediatrician in case a child is sick or a nearby friend may be a police officer which can be an asset when an emergency strikes.

It may be something as simple as the electricity going out. You can call your neighbor on their mobile to see if they were affected.

Outside help can be essential in case of emergency. Someone may be home alone or may not have the ability to get out. You may need to use a neighbor's resources. There may be a storm coming that you have no idea about and a neighbor may want to warn you or you may want to warn your neighbors. It is possible to get through tough times alone, but much easier to get through it with others.

Be Realistic
Your emergency plan has to realistic to those involved. Be sure to consider emergencies that are likely to occur in your area. It can be impossible to plan for every possible hazard. Being sure to plan for things more likely to happen will give you more preparedness than trying to plan for all disasters. If you live in a flood zone, focus on an emergency flood situation rather than the apocalypse. Visit Happy Preppers for information on planning for natural disasters.

Set realistic expectations of emergency situations. Sometimes an emergency is not as bad as it may seem. Sometimes an emergency situation is worse than it seems. Be sure to access the situation and over prepare a bit. There is no need to cover your home in plastic full time, but it may be necessary to board windows if a storm is approaching.

It is also important to be realistic when planning for an emergency when planning an emergency evacuation. Don't plan to swim to safety without taking into account that someone in your family is unable to swim. It is also important to take into account your family's fitness level. Climbing into the roof or fitting into a tight space may not be an option for certain members of the family.

You will have to tailor your emergency plan around the characteristics of your family. The goal is to keep everyone safe. It may benefit you to plan with the weakest and most vulnerable in mind i.e. a baby or an elderly person. There is no one plan that works for every family.

Have a Drill
Practice makes perfect. Drills are of the utmost importance. Just as drills are done in public places such as schools, drills should be done at home. By doing drill we can familiarize our families and ourselves with the plan, and work out any existing issues. Have a drill based on each type of emergency planned for. These drills don't have to be done all at once. They can be completed of a course of time.

However, it is important to complete the drills as soon as possible. It is not enough to complete the drills once. Drills should be done once a year to remain fresh on everyone's brain.
Be sure that your family takes the drill seriously. We tend to forget what we are supposed to do when disaster strikes and adrenaline rushes through us. Repeat drills until they become second nature. When completing drills, verify that everyone knows their role and acts in their role.

Consider places where you will be able to meet if the house becomes off limits and you are unable to contact each other. Verify that this place is familiar to each family member, and be sure that everyone has access to it.

Create an emergency kit based on the needs of the family. Include necessary medical equipment and items to care for pets. There are many online resources that aid in creating an emergency kit. A good resource is Survivor’s Fortress Bug Out Bags Guide. This source has documents that will aid in building your emergency kit and forming an overall emergency plan.

Write it Down
This is the most important step in creating an emergency plan. We simply cannot rely on our brains to remember every step of the process. Take the time to produce a physical copy of your emergency plan. Include all information and step by step instructions. Your emergency plan and emergency kit should reside in the same place. Make sure the emergency plan is easily accessible and safe from possible threats.

If you have a safe in your home, this would be a great place for your emergency plan and kit.
Be very detailed in your plans. Write it as if your family knows nothing. Assumptions have no place in an emergency plan. Visit Preppers Survive for tips on building an emergency kit.
Be sure that your plan is easy to read and easy to follow. If you have small children, write your emergency plan with them in mind. Add photos wherever necessary. Include collected contact information in the front.

When completing drills, include and follow the written plan. Make adjustments as needed. An emergency plan should not be set in stone. Whenever adjustments need to be made, make them. You may know how to better handle an emergency in the future than you do now.
Be sure to update contact information as it changes over time. Keep in contact with those on your emergency contact list to know if their information has changed. You may have to remove or add contacts over a period of time. Writing your emergency plan down will give your family the best chance of success should an emergency occur.

Conclusion
Now you are prepared to start creating your emergency plan. With careful research and thoughtfulness, you can create a plan that may protect your family in your absence. It can be difficult to imagine disasters especially when we are away from our loved ones. Thoughts of disaster are necessary to properly plan for a favorable outcome. Get your family and friends involved for their input. Creating an emergency plan is a serious matter but can be a fun family activity. The more you include your family when creating the plan, the more likely they will understand its importance.

About the Author:
Conrad Novak is a proud father of two children. His journey as a prepper began when Hurricane Katrina hit and he lost his job due to the 2008 economic crisis. That made him realize that everything can change for the worst in a very short time. This experience was the detonator for him to pursue learning and becoming better prepared to face the kind of unexpected disasters that may occur at any point in our lives. You can read more of his content at SurvivorsFortress.com

0 Comments

The Importance of an Efficient Watering System for Your Garden

7/18/2015

0 Comments

By Lauren Thomas

When disaster hits you may be faced with a water crisis as well as a food crisis. Chances are if the disaster was big enough to cause your local grocery store to not carry the food supply you need, then you are probably going to have a measure of difficulty getting water to your plants as well. When you are relying on these plants to yield a harvest, they can’t die when you need them most because you’re limited on water. Something that you may want to consider as you grow your own food source is how you plan to water your plants.

There are many methods growers can use to water their garden, but some methods are more efficient in saving water than others. Homesteaders and preppers need to consider drip irrigation as a way to water their garden. Drip irrigation is perhaps the most efficient way to conserve water as you tend to your garden. The reason drip irrigation works so well is because it prevents water loss by evaporation and runoff.

Most watering methods apply water too quickly, and water is wasted because it doesn’t have enough time to soak into the soil before it is evaporated into the air or runs off to another location. With drip irrigation, water loss is dramatically reduced. As the name implies, the water drips slowly into the soil. This doesn’t seem very exciting, but because the water has time to actually soak deep into the soil your plants are going to be targeted with more water and less will be wasted.

Another benefit of drip irrigation is that it is developing your plants to better withstand a drought. Because the water has time to soak in deeply, it helps plants develop deep roots that reach further down away from the surface, where more moisture is located. With other watering systems that don’t deliver water down deep to the plant, the water stays near the surface and the plant’s roots tend to reach towards the surface to retrieve water. However, when it gets hot, the water near the surface of the soil is going to be the first to leave, and if your plant’s roots are near the surface they will not be left with much moisture besides what you continually provide them.

Drip irrigation works even better to save on water when combined with a rain barrel. As long as there is enough elevation difference between the rain barrel and your garden, there should be enough pressure to water with drip irrigation with a rain barrel. If you are really lacking on water, this might be your best option.

It doesn’t take much to disrupt a water source. Even in the United States people in California are experiencing one of the worst droughts in state history. New water restrictions have been put in place that residents must follow when it comes to water usage. But even with the new restrictions, many cities still allow residents to use drip irrigation to water their plants while other watering systems can’t be used. Drip irrigation has a reputation for water efficiency and is a very useful tool during a water crisis.

There are many options available to use for drip irrigation. One downside of many drip irrigation options is that they can be kind of complicated to set up. If you want a simpler drip irrigation option I would suggest checking out gardendripsystem.com for more information about drip irrigation. You don’t have to wait for a disaster before you reap the benefits of drip irrigation. You can save money on your water bill as well as develop healthier plants.

0 Comments

The Bugout Report: Self Reliance & Homesteading - Interview with Anthony Urso

6/12/2015

0 Comments

Anthony is a professional firefighter and the author of Surviving Disaster - A Family's Guide to Emergency Preparedness.

Anthony consults in the areas of emergency preparedness, homesteading and promotes self-reliance. He also writes for a number of publications including The American Preppers Network. You can follow Anthony on his blog HomesteadandPrepper.com

0 Comments

Practical Prepping: Putting Your Preparedness Plan To The Test

5/20/2015

0 Comments

By Dennis Diaz

Have you ever taken your home prepping plan for a test run?

Just the other day I was talking with a friend of mine who just started working on his preparedness plan. He said he had everything he and his family needed to survive for at least 3 months if they had to shelter in place. I thought that was great, but he seemed uneasy, I asked him what was wrong and he said: “You know Dennis, I feel really good about my prepping, but I get this knot in my stomach sometimes cause I don’t know if I have enough; how can you really be sure I have everything I need for me and my family?”

I get this question a lot and my answer is always the same. It’s a 3 part answer really.

#1 No way to know: There is not one sure way to know with absolute certainty that you have and know everything you need, for every possible scenario. So stop worrying about that. The only thing certain in life is death, EVERYTHING else is a game of chance and probability. Work from a basis of improving your chances and maximizing the probabilities of survival instead of achieving certainty.

#2 Continuous Improvement: Preparedness is not an end goal or a destination, but a process. There are always things you can improve on. Adding skills to your survival toolbox, working on your supplies storage, working on your bug out plan, etc. will always translate to increased probability of survival

#3 The easiest and most practical way to address this question is to take your plan for a test run. The best way to assess your level of preparedness and also figure out what supplies, tools or skills you are missing is to put your survival plan to the test.

The best way to do that is to force yourself to live without the common modern essentials like electricity and water out of the faucet, before you are forced to live without them.

Try this for a week, turn of your water & electricity, and don’t go to the grocery store for a week. Can you and your family survive for 7 days?, How about 3 days? Can you even make it through 24?

How much of your supplies did you consume?
Does your consumption match what you had anticipated?
What are you missing?
What could you do without?
Are you fit enough to procure food and water sources in your area?

After a few days you’ll learn really quickly if your current estimates and your level of preparation matches the reality of not having the essential supplies.

Taking your prepping plan for a test run will not only help you determine if you have what you need, it will also help you identify the following

Your strengths: This will not only give you peace of mind, but it will identify areas where you can possibly help other with and barter if necessary
Areas in need of improvements: Additional supplies & equipment needed, areas of weakness (most people do a good job when it comes to water a food but the missing pieces tend to be in the hygiene and specific health need areas)
Your family supply consumption: This will help you estimate better for longer term preparedness.

Testing your preparedness plan is the absolute best way to improve and reduce the uncertainty if you were to need it. You've probably heard the the saying "Practice Makes Perfect", well preparedness is not an exception. And while there is no actual "Perfect" scenario when it comes to your survival plan you can get really darn close.

Now go test your plan.

P.S. If you want to learn about how prepare for a disaster before it happens click here

0 Comments

Off Grid Solar Systems vs. Grid Tied Systems

5/19/2015

0 Comments

Solar energy is an infinitely renewable resource that uses the sun’s rays to generate electricity for use in your home. By going solar, you can reduce your energy costs and also lower your dependence on fossil fuels, thereby making your own contribution to a cleaner environment. However you can choose to go completely off the grid or have a grid tied system.

"While the solar panels themselves work identically in a grid-tied and off-grid system, the method of both storing the solar power and integrating that power into the home’s electrical system have some marked differences between the two, so much so that their paths diverge substantially. It’s not so much the panels themselves that we’ll be looking at; rather, it is what happens when the electricity leaves those panels and heads for your home that we’re examining."
Via offthegridnews.com

GRID-TIE SYSTEMS

If you take a drive down your average suburban street and spot a home with solar panels on the roof, you can almost be certain the system is a grid-tied system, which is by far the most common solar-powered system in use today. As the name implies, the system is tied to the grid – what grid, you ask? The electrical power generation and distribution grid – essentially, all it means is that the home is connected to the power grid that feeds it, which isn’t earth-shattering until you understand the implications thereof. Here’s how it works:

The home is already connected to the power grid regardless of solar panels. What most people don’t realize is that this connection is a two way street – power doesn’t just flow from the grid into the home; it can also flow from the home back into the grid.
Solar panels on a grid tie-in system generate electricity when the sun is shining, and this electricity is routed to the home’s primary electrical distribution panel. If the home produces more electricity than it uses, the excess electricity is funneled back into the grid.
If the home frequently produces more power via solar panels than it uses, the homeowner will realize a credit on his or her power bill representing a payment from the power company for the electricity that the home produced.

Grid ties have one fatal flaw however; one Achilles heel that most people don’t know about: Your grid-tied solar panel system will not be able to power your home during a power failure. This is because the power company will put a lockout box on the output of the solar panels such that if the power is off, the box will disconnect the solar panels from the home’s electrical panel to prevent a back-feed situation. As we discussed earlier, electricity flows both ways, and the power company is concerned that the output of your home’s solar panel system could inadvertently shock a power worker halfway down the block who is working on the power lines and assumes they are inactive.

OFF-GRID SYSTEMS

Off-grid systems take solar panel technology to a new level. Essentially, they use the same solar panels as grid-tied systems, except they actually store the power they make, usually in batteries. This is an important distinction; the off-grid solar power user isn’t interested in generating power for some faraway utility; he or she is interested in keeping the power that is produced. The way the power is retained is by storing the output of the solar panels in an appropriately sized battery bank, and this provides another benefit most people don’t realize: You can use the solar power you generated during the day – at night. As the solar-powered system soaks in the sun’s rays during the day, it funnels this electricity into a purpose built battery bank which then can be drawn from at night or on overcast days, meaning that the off-grid system will be able to bank or save its output, whereas the grid-tied system will be running at a reduced capacity, or perhaps not at all."

Via offthegridnews.com

0 Comments

How to Prepare an Emergency Plan for Your Family When You’re Away from Home

The Importance of an Efficient Watering System for Your Garden

The Bugout Report: Self Reliance & Homesteading - Interview with Anthony Urso

Practical Prepping: Putting Your Preparedness Plan To The Test

Off Grid Solar Systems vs. Grid Tied Systems

Categories