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-Reader Submitted Article
Function of a Survival Kit
Let's consider for a moment the function of these so-called survival
kits, aka bug-out bags, aka grab-n-go bags, et al. Poof! A disaster
you could not foresee occurs! The survival bags' role in life is
to ensure that after a couple of days you do have a life! The survival
kits and supplies sold on this site are designed with that specific
purpose in mind; to keep you alive for a few days. These kits allow
you and your family to survive the disaster, immediately following
the disaster until you can make it someplace safe and then have
the items you will need to take to a emergency shelter to live on
for the couple of days (hopefully only a couple) until authorities
can get on-site and setup shop.
I don't need a survival kit! I grew up hunting and fishing all
my life, I know how to live in the woods!
I don't need a so called emergency bag to take off running with!
There's an emergency shelter right around the corner where I can
go!
I can't see why having a car kit is such a big deal! If I get
stranded on the highway the police or somebody will come along!
I don't need to make up some stupid bag! If something bad happens
around here, me and my family are going to drive out-of-state to
my in-laws house!
So how about the scenarios wherein a truck or train laden with
chemicals overturns in the middle of the night? Oops, the police
are shouting on the PA systems for everyone to evacuate the area;
immediately! Where are you going? That emergency shelter around
the corner is out of business, even if you were counting on it.
Do you know where there is another shelter "outside the danger
zone"? Too late to take what you might want.
How about when you are driving down the road and poof, there goes
another flash flood washing away the bridge or roadway, or tornado
or heavy storm that knocks down those trees and power poles across
the highway you read about and you can't get turned around and go
anyplace? Your stuck out there for the time being. But for how long?
Ever read or seen on TV about those folks driving down the interstate
and suddenly are trapped in a freak blizzard? Stuck out on the road
for days waiting for help. Sure there's the Highway Patrol but they,
along with everyone else, are not going anywhere until the weather
breaks; they can't plain and simple.
What if you do make it to a shelter along with all the other folks?
You hear the common saying "everything will be fine, the Red
Cross will be here in a day or two and be in business". Ok,
that's fine and dandy. However, what are you going to eat until
they get there and they get organized? You are likely to going to
be sleeping on the gym floor of the local school or if lucky the
floor of a church someplace. What? No blankets? Electricity is out,
so what light do you use? But what if you are one of the later comers
and find the place packed full of people and others trying to make
do on the grass or nearby parking lot? What are you going to do
for you and your family standing out there in the rain or snow while
shivering?
In a more serious disaster, things are going to be compounded ten
fold or even greater. Very like there will be no power, no telephone
lines working, cell phones useless due to overloaded demand. Main
roadways can be blocked. Gas stations and food markets will only
accept cash because their credit card machines are down and you
can not buy that gas to get out of town you counted on or even buy
groceries.
You are going to have to find water and hopefully know how to make
it potable (drinkable). Sure everyone has heard of boiling water,
but what are you going to boil it in? What are you going to use
to start a fire? What if there is nothing available to build a fire
with?
I could ramble on and on and on why people, all people, need to
have some sort of bag they can pickup; pickup and "takeoff
running for the hills" or nearest disaster shelter; a survival
kit which contains basic items to get you and your family through
a crisis for a time. I recently read on the news of a man whose
home was struck with "once in a hundred years flash flood"
with no warning. The water inside the house rose 10 feet in less
than five minutes! When asked, he said he grabbed a few things and
he and his family barely made it out of the house. I wondered to
myself if it was an emergency kit he grabbed.
So how does one of these survival kit things work anyway? The bags
described are well thought-out to include the basic items, and I
mean the very basic things, that you & your family can use during
and immediately after an emergency which will sustain you until
the cavalry (Red Cross or FEMA or whoever) shows up. It is intended
to provide you a minimum of shelter, food, water and fire during
a crisis. Other things are suggested to be included to increase
your odds at surviving the ordeal and immediately afterwards and
perhaps more livable during your stay in a shelter for a few days;
such items as a first-aid kit, flashlight, bedding, radio to hear
what's going on &/or what the authorities are saying to do now,
etc.
What about those car kits everyone mentions? Basically it is another
"bug-out bag" or whatever term you like to call it. It
contains all the same basic items and a few others such as blankets.
With the contents and some basic common sense, it is hoped you can
make it for a couple of days either living stranded in the boon-docks
or after making it to a shelter with the basics, to live until the
organizations are prepared to deal with the survivors. The car kit
concept is built on the assumption that you may not be able to get
home to get that bag of yours; but, with a second bag in the trunk
you are always prepared. Think for a second; the car is always close
to hand either at home, work, shopping, or traveling down the highway.
The home may not be so handy or even accessible, but your car probably
is.
There are hundreds of lists of "what to put in a survival
kit" on the internet; contained in governmental, commercial
and private lists. So I do not intend to make "a list of suggested
items to include in your kit". Instead I suggest you start
by looking over one of the various prepackaged survival kits sold
on this site. They have already done the research for you and assembled
the required items for your basic kit.
-Jerry B Blaine
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