Having lived in Washington, D.C. through 9/11, anthrax and countless evacuations due to intrusions into our prohibited airspace, friends, colleagues and I have given considerable thought to "sheltering-in" and evacuating. And many of us are steeped in COOP procedures (continuing operations).

The major disaster risks here are related to terrorism, of course. Hurricanes and tornadoes are also plausible.

My primary personal precautions since 9/11, in the event we need and have an opportunity to evacuate, have been: 1) top off my gas tank every Sunday night; 2) have cash-on-hand; 3) food on-hand for a few weeks (dog food, too).

The cash is in a go-box and topping off the tank has been an easy habit to get into.

I've kept extra water jugs on hand since alarms (false, fortunately) over cryptosporidium in the metro water system in the 90s.

Camping is good practice for bugging out. I appreciate how long it takes to pack a car (when not in a panic) and that's when most of the camping gear is pre-packed. And, of course, camping gear could come in handy in such a situation.

Camp gear is also handy for sheltering-in, as I found out one January in the early 90s when this region was suffering a week of temps in the teens, ice storms and rolling blackouts due to the Northeast's power grid being overloaded. My place at the time was all-electric. Loved my new sleeping bag and rechargeable lantern!!

Preparing for an entire family certainly requires a great deal of thought just to plan.