There is a lot of thought and effort going into our own survival. Whether to bug-in or bug-out. Where to go, what to take. How to travel and how to stay. But what if the disaster (tornado, hurricane, earthquake, what-have-you) misses your home but flattens a relatives or close friend's home? Are you ready for that?

A practical consideration of times when you're not the refugee, but your relatives are. Ideas on how to prepare and what you might need.

Make Me a Pallet on the Floor: Preparing to Take In Short-Term Refugees in Tough Times -

http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2010/06/you_made_me_a_pallet_on_the_fl.php

Discuss.

I hadn't really thought of this - but I guess I'm somewhat prepared in that I have lots of inflatable beds, sheets, etc, for when friends come from out of town or a nearby friend has one more drink than he or she should.

We lived in this situation after Katrina and Rita.

We had one family's RV parked in the driveway and we provided shoreties (electricity and water hookups).

We had another family stay with us for a prolonged period of time as well. We turned our living room and 1 bedroom over to them.

We gave thanks to God that we were intact to help our friends from the New Orleans area out!!! We all worked together to get along and make things work together.

All plans for emergencies should take in the possibility it might happen when people are visiting.
The Sock

Folding military style camp beds are very usefull and take little space when folded.
Ample supplies of sheets and blankets are essiential, if money is tight these may be obtained from charity shops.
Budget priced new linens can be obtained in bulk from hotel suppliers.
New and issued blankets, and sometimes sheets can be obtained from government surplus dealers.
Hotels normally replace linens before they are worn out, laundered ex-hotel linesns can be purchased very cheaply if you know where to look. (I can recomend a supplier in London, though most members here are from the USA)
Pillows should be replaced regularly for best comfort, store the old ones for emergencies.
Stock up on cheap pajamas and bathrobes, from discount stores or fleabay, those who dont normally bother with such may want them in crowded conditions.

Plan for blackouts as these often occur with other ermergencies.
Oil lamps and candles are cheap and simple but a potential fire risk, and the risk is increased by a crowd who may be unused to the risks of flame based lighting.
A generator or a central battery standby lighting system would be best.
If reliance must be placed on lamps and candles, then plan ahead and install in each room a wall bracket at high level, from which an oil lamp may be hung, much safer than placing on a table where it might be knocked.
If the ceiling height permits, also consider hooks in the ceiling from which oil lanterns may be hung., well out reach of children and pets.

Buy a good stock of basic flashlights, at least one per head and plenty of batteries.
Buy several cheap battery radios, preferably with headphones.

Ensure plentiful supplies of T.P. and cleaning products.

Keep a large supply of non perishable readily prepared food.

In a larger home, consider a secure store room for anything valuable or dangerous (firearms, bulk liquor, medicines, dangerous tools, household chemicals, poisions etc)
In a smaller home, lockable steel office filling cabinets are handy and very cheap.

Carefully inspect your home for hazards that you have grown used to and avoid, but that could endanger others.
Damaged electrical outlets or lighting fixtures, worn carpets, slippery floors esp in/near a bath or shower, etc.

That's a very thought-provoking link.

A friend of mine bought several tents cheap at garage sales. She set three of them up near the house for three days when she had (unexpectedly) six kids come to visit. The kids loved them, it kept them out of the house a good part of the time, and the last words she heard as they left were, "Hey, Dad, can we get our own tent?"

It's probably not suitable for extremes of weather, but could work in many circumstances.

If you have the space to store extra mattresses, keep in mind that you don't need all the paraphernalia that goes with them: no box springs, no frames, etc. Mattresses are perfectly fine just sitting on the floor. I ran across a company that makes extra-large 2-mil plastic bags that will hold even king size mattresses: Warp's Coverall Mattress and storage bags with sizes up to 5'x9'. Of course, a plastic tarp and duct tape would work, too. OTOH, some of those bags might be turned into make-do tents and shelters.

Some of these people will bring pets. Not all of the pets will get along together. Keep an eye out at yard sales for larger pet crates, either the wire kind that collapse flat, or the plastic ones that bolt together. These last can be separated, and one section nested inside the other. BE SURE to collect all the connectors and put them in a safe place. Toss in some disinfected litter pans, too. Make-do cat litter: soil, shredded leaves, shredded straw/hay, construction or play sand, dry sawdust.

And keep the mantra: "This, too, shall pass... eventually".

And that blizzard that Izzy mentioned... the couple had FORTY-TWO people jammed into their 1200 sqft home for three days, with the bathtub filled with drinking water in case the power went out. If they can do it, you can do it.

Sue

... for a while. Used this way for prolonged periods without airing and drying usually means that the mattress accumulates moisture that never goes anywhere. Which gets rather nasty after a few months, at least the cheap foam mattress type does. Been there, done that - but this was with a cheap foam mattress. A spring mattress is probably a lot less prone to this happening. Or you just could start airing them after a week or two of continuous use.

I'll second the recommendation for tents in your preparation - around here its not certain how many structures might be habitable after an earthquake, but hopefully you can dig out your tents, and live in them. And aftershocks can number in the hundreds, so people may be living out of doors in the best non-lethal structures they can manage. I'm the proud owner of my family tent from when I was a kid, a big old canvas rig - army surplus from the Korean War era, housed generations of Scouts and was set up in our backyard all summer for years on end. Throw a blue tarp over and its even rain proof. Sleeps between 9 and 12, depending on number of kids etc. Over time I've also purchased some reliable brand tents in smaller sizes - something that will keep dry and sleep between 3 and 4. Camping gear like foam pads, sleeping bags, pillows etc naturally accumulates.

"...prolonged periods without airing and drying usually means that the mattress accumulates moisture that never goes anywhere. Which gets rather nasty after a few months..."

That's a good point. Setting them out in bright warm sunlight would go a long ways to keeping them fresh. That might even be the reason behind the box springs that normally go underneath.

One thing I forgot to add: use plastic under the sheets (or whatever) with youngsters. And maybe even with elderly people.

Sue

Kids seem to love tents. If the temperatures aren't too hot/cold/windy they can make cheap and easy shelter for them.

Don't overlook that discount store dome tents are much better than the near useless pup tents sold twenty years ago. Ironically the inexpensive dome tents are not much more expensive than the pup tents used to be. If you can catch them when they are changing out stock and on sale you can get a lot of tent for short money. I wouldn't want to try to tackle K2 in a discount store tent but for a week in the backyard they are perfectly adequate.

Mattresses last longer and stay fresher if they are flipped and aired regularly. Back into the 50s it was standard practice to flip the mattress every time the linens were changed and to take them outside to air in the sun a couple of times a year. No reason why the same things could be done today. With a crowded house there are plenty of hands to make the job easier.