Being Prepared for Emergencies

Yes, I am still here! Though I have not added much to this website in recent months, it is not due to a lack of interest in writing. I have been at work writing a guide to help family and friends begin to seriously start preparing for emergencies. This is something I had sort of been avoiding for a while, but I feel I can delay no longer. The writing of it has taken a long time – and I started it way before Hurricane Sandy was even on the radar.

Most people I know do not have much of anything prepared in case of an emergency that extends beyond a few days without electricity. Naturally, many people do not want to think about such things because life is already a challenge, and it can be confusing knowing where to begin. This is why I wrote this quick-start guide to assist people in getting prepared. 

The guide has a simple overview of survival priorities and descriptions of various emergency kits you should assemble, and there is something in it for people of nearly all levels of experience in this sort of planning. It includes item lists for each type of kit to help you get started quicker. I've provided links to websites for suggested products and emergency gear. I am not endorsing or selling any of these products, but present them as a starting point for researching your own choices and purchases. This version of the guide is not a survival manual, per se, because that would take many more pages to cover survival strategies and skills. The primary goal for this version of the guide is not to try to cover everything from A to Z, but rather it is to motivate people to move into action as soon as possible on preparing for emergencies by assembling their emergency kits and plan. I wanted to get it out to family and friends and those on my mailing list ASAP, so everyone can download this version of the guide for free at this time. An expanded version will be forthcoming and made available for a small fee.

Keep in mind that there are other types of emergencies to prepare for that don't give us advance warning the way storms do. I hope that you will take the time to read this guide and implement some sort of preparation for yourself and your family if you have not already done so.

Click here to read "Being Prepared for Emergencies: Getting Started". You can download the file and print it.