26 Mar, 2009
Are you prepared for an emergency?
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Giveaways and product reviews|Yaktivism
I wasn’t. But I am now.
A few weeks ago a lovely lady from Public Safety Canada contacted me about a new advertising campaign regarding emergency preparedness.
Here in Canada, we’ve experienced a number of natural disasters like ice storms, major floods and severe hurricanes in recent years, and it appears that severe weather events are on the rise.
I can think of two events which caught our family underprepared. (1) the Great Ice Storm of ’98 and (2) the Northeast Blackout of 2003, which affected an estimated 10 million people in the Canadian province of Ontario and 45 million people in eight U.S. states. (via wikipedia)
Research shows that many Canadians may not have the ability to sustain themselves in an emergency. Only eight per cent of Canadians say they are prepared.
The idea behind the ad campaign is to ensure that people are prepared for a range of emergencies. By having an emergency kit with food, water, radio, and flashlight, an emergency can be reduced to an inconvenience rather than a hardship. And most importantly, resources can be freed up for those in urgent need.
Until today our emergency preparedness consisted of these things:
- Whatever groceries we had on hand (minimal, considering we don’t have a lot of storage. Heck, we don’t even have a proper pantry. After 18 hours we’d be eating icing sugar.)
- A (top notch) first aid kit we keep in the linen closet
- A small fire extinguisher in the kitchen and one in the basement.
- One camping lantern (used with little candles) and flashlights (one larger battery-operated, one hand-cranked, but who knows where they are right now.)
- A hand-crank radio (I think it’s in the closet)
Public Safety lady sent me two emergency preparedness kits. It gave me a whole new understanding of what it means to be prepared. I was missing matches, Swiss-army knife, biohazard bags, glow sticks, a whistle, work gloves … and more. It wasn’t comforting to picture myself frantically feeling around for candles and matches if the lights ever went out.
Now I have all of these things I will add a few more – like extra keys, photocopies of our important documents, garbage bags, some old clothes, some cash, a duh, a CAN OPENER. Thankfully, the kit I received came with a large backpack, so I can store all of our things in one bright can’t-miss-it kind of place.
The only thing I’m not prepared for now is (a) anything wintry (how would I heat my home for 72 hours?) and (b) alien attack.
I am acutely aware of the fact that we need to clear a shelf in the basement and stock up on some non-perishables. I think $150 worth of water and dry goods should buy us a decent food supply for a family of four:
- water (two litres of water per person per day)
- canned goods and other non-perishables i.e. peanut butter.
- dry milk etc.
It also occurs to me that packaged/dry camping food (i.e stews and bannock) might be useful in this situation too.
The Government of Canada has put together a helpful website with all kinds of emergency preparedness info. I urge you to check it out. Do note that the GoC doesn’t distribute emergency preparedness kits, but others do. The Canadian Red Cross kit is available at www.redcross.ca. A St. John Ambulance/Salvation Army emergency kit is available at www.sja.ca. You can buy an emergency kit in many stores across Canada or assemble your own. Start here to find out what you need.
That being said, I have a deluxe St. John Ambulance/Salvation Army emergency kit available to give away to one Ottawa-area reader. Postal rates being what they are I would rather not snail mail it out, sorry. If you’re interested, let me know in the comments below. But first tell me (because I’d like to know) do you know where your flashlight is right now? :) How prepared are you?
I’ll do a random draw and arrange drop off (or pick up) with the winner.
ETA: Holy smokes. You guys are less prepared than I thought. :)
I forgot to mention when I’d do the draw. Let’s say deadline for entry is Thursday April 2, 2009. I’ll do the draw on Friday April 3rd.
ETA March 29: If you’re interested in the giveaway please make sure you (a) let me know you’re interested in the giveaway and (b) provide a valid email address. Thank you! :)
