www.wired.com/story/the-science-behind-home-disaster-preparedness-kits-is-a-disaster/


Interesting discussion of survival kits and their real utility. I am sure many of us will have thoughts about the points made in this article. I won't name names, of course, but I would be interested in the thoughts of one of our regulars whose handle begins with an M... and who just had, or is having, pertinent experience

You have to think of it in terms of priorities, and yes I will throw out the "rule of 3s" again. Depending on your environment, the priorities may changes a bit, but you need to think through them. I do conceptualize it in terms of concentric rings. I make sure that I can take care of myself first (in preparedness), then my family, then our close friends and neighbors, then other friends, then the community. If each level is self sufficient for a few days, they will not be likely to need help from the government and they can reach out and help others to be less vulnerable and not need assistance. This worked well in this last hurricane, but we did not get hit really hard in my area.

Have a bag with 3 days worth that you can carry on your back. The non-expendable supplies will last longer than 3 days of course, so you are worried about water and food quantities. Include water purification.

Be able to sustain yourself in your house for a couple of weeks. Do not forget sanitation needs! Smaller water storage containers are better than large ones as they can be moved by one person. There are many options out there for containers of 5 to 8 gallons. Every trip to the grocery store purchase a little extra of canned and dry goods, and store them where you will not be tempted to use them on a daily basis.

Be ready to evacuate. Your vehicle should be fueled if you are expecting trouble. Have the basic necessities to ensure your vehicle stays mobile (tire changes, number cables, etc) and figure out how much your vehicle can carry in terms of quantities of water and food. Maybe some extra comfort for long term, such as sleeping pads, large tent, sanitation. Have an area, or multiple areas in different directions, that will be outside of the danger area for whatever kind of disaster you may be facing, and know how to get there without a GPS.

You may never need these things, but when you do, you really do need them. If you never have needed them, consider yourself lucky. We were ready to house 3 families in our house, but it wasn't needed. Nobody that I assisted in preparing needed to evacuate or found themselves in need due to loss of power. They had what they needed for a few days along with an ability to cook without electricity.

None of this is difficult, and you can do it for less money than you might think. You just need to think ahead, and prepare.

for any new members, I'll pass this video along... it changed the way I looked at, and execute my long term food storage...my stores of cheap (at the time around $1 per pound) beans/rice/pasta are vacuum sealed in glass pressure canning jars, and fit in original boxes under my bed... the dehydrator, and All American pressure canner have been test run, but at this time not put into production... my pantry will last a month or so,... and fortunately I do not need any refrigeration for medicines, though for tropical weather events I have a generator and 5 and 7 day coolers that work as advertised.... in addition to stored water have a large volume Sawyer filter system available in addition to a chlorine treatment for virus option...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOLuIApyNPc

I wrote a paper when I was in University exactly about the effectiveness of emergency preparedness. My literature research really found no correlation between individual preparedness and survival rate.

Did you research look at lack of preparedness and survival rate?

Bottom line, if you do not prepare and something happens, you are relying on someone else to provide for you. Those resources may take a while to get to you, and sometimes they are limited.

Look at instances of deadly lack of preparedness, such as Hurricane Katrina and the people in the stadium.

You can choose not to prepare, and in most cases you will still survive, but because someone else took care of you.

I tried to look at individual preparedness and survival rate. In the end, it's just really hard to say if somebody would or wouldn't have survived depending on their individual preparedness. Too many other factors are present to point to a specific thing.

Way too many variables that can not be controlled.

The science behind survival kits goes beyond a vague statistical analysis of who prepared and who survived. There is also a significant difference between survival kits and disaster preparedness. The article does not seem to draw that difference very well.

Physiology:

We know that the body must maintain a narrow temperature range in order to survive. Shelter helps to maintain that temperature range. Thermodynamics explains why. How do you lose heat? Conduction, convection, radiation, respiration. Most pocket survival kits will have some form of shelter, usually in the form of a "Heat Sheet" type emergency blanket. This can prevent convection and reduce the radiation of your body heat away from the body. A good BOB will have some form of insulating pad which can prevent or reduce conduction. In hot environments, the emergency blanket can also serve as a shade. Tents and tarps should be included in your disaster preparedness kits.

Most survival kits contain (or should) some form of collecting and purifying water. The body needs water to survive, and the effects of dehydration can present very quickly under certain conditions. The larger you are the more water you need. The higher the temperature the more you need. The more active you are the more you need. Staying hydrated prevents the mental effects of dehydration which can cause very bad judgement. Water is also very important in maintaining your body's ability to maintain a safe body temperature. Do not forget oral rehydration salts, or just salt.

While survival kits usually do not contain food, and the body can survive without food for a while, the brain works better with energy. Pound for pound, the brain uses more energy than any other part of the body, it needs energy to function properly. As with water, some food can aid in maintaining good judgement. Food can prevent hyponatremia. It can also reduce the level of stress the person may be under. Disaster preparedness should absolutely include food store. It can also help to manage the behaviors of the people you are with. A bunch of very hungry people are difficult to manage.

While not usually present in survival kits, a good BOB will contain methods of protecting yourself from insects. Mosquitos kill more people than any other creature on Earth. Ticks are becoming more dangerous also. Disaster preparedness should include this as well. Repellents and nets come in handy when you are without mechanical cooling and must expose yourself to the bugs. It greatly enhances comfort as well, making people get along better.

In many disaster situations that are prolonged, sanitation is critical. When you group large numbers of people in a small area, disease will spread. Proper hygiene and general cleanliness goes a long way to prevent epidemics, and makes people more pleasant to be around. Disaster preparedness should absolutely include everything you need to establish and maintain proper sanitation. That is toilets, trash, bathing, cleaning. Soap is good as long as you have enough water. Hand sanitizer is cheap and stores for a long time. Shovels and other tools may be necessary to construct field expedient sanitation facilities. If you have a local body of water, buckets and a small red wagon are great for retrieving water to flush toilets with. Gastrointestinal illness can kill, and at least dehydrate severely. Face masks and gloves can be a big help in avoiding outbreaks.

Even for those people who do not require specific medications should build a stock of basic medicines to aid in dealing with illnesses that can develop in a crowded situation. If you need prescription medications, you need to store enough to get through a couple of weeks. Diabetics are more vulnerable due to the need to refrigerate insulin, but I think I have heard of some other options being developed for insulin that are more durable.

I will not even get into the psychology, but the act of preparing does a lot to help someone avoid being in a life threatening/survival situation.

In our more developed countries we have emergency services and other organizations that will and do respond fairly quickly to such situations. Many other countries do not have such help on the way. It takes longer and there is less of it. Think of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 or the tsunami in South Asia in 2004, it took a long time to reach areas affected, and those people suffered greatly even if they did not die.

Mine take on it, is however that a survival kit is not a silver bullet. It may help, but certainly isnt magic that will keep you alive.

The title of this thread does not match the title of linked article. The article is titled "Home Disaster Preparedness Kits" and mainly talks about these types of kits, and which we all know (at least I speak for myself), that a home preparedness kit does not equate a survival kit - or vice versa.

To me each kit, whether it be a home kit, a wilderness survival kit or a BOB kit, that although may share a few common base items such as flashlight, batteries, some first supplies etc, are all different kits for different purposes and scenarios. For example, there is not much in my home kit that I would want to drag through the bush with me as part of my survival kit.

For me, I maintain 3 separate kits as above and believe that this is best option and thinking for my needs, my expected scenarios, my area, etc.