04-17-2016, 08:21 AM
Other things to consider are a good first aid kit, cash, and wireless communications. And by good first aid kit, I don't mean anything you can even buy locally. You'll want things like a suture kit, staple kit, coagulant, gauze, drugs, antibiotics, etc. A very large earthquake won't just fill the hospitals, it may make access to emergency services temporarily impossible. If you are stuck without these things think about where you can try to get them, vet offices or people experienced with livestock have those things on hand.
Imagine if there is no electricity or phone service for weeks. Nobody will be accepting credit cards or checks. We only saw that for a few days after Iselle and some people weren't even prepared for that. Good luck getting cash from an ATM or in some cases even the bank. If they are damaged they won't be open and the ones that are open may run out of cash. According to https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12773.htm the federal reserve, only 1.4 trillion dollars exist in printed form and most of that is located outside the United States, however there are hundreds of trillions of "dollars" being stored in banks, loans, and various funds. In other words, almost every dollar that exists only exists digitally. If everybody in the world wanted their digital dollars exchanged for paper ones, it would take the US Mint decades to print them.
After every disaster, even some of the more minor ones, telephones and cell phones are out. Sometimes for a long time. TV and radio may even be unavailable. You can get a pair of GMRS radios at Walmart for around $30 and at least be able to keep in touch with a loved one within several miles (some are rated for up to 60 miles but they seldom work that well). In our experience, they work about 15 miles max. If local radio is out a $30 shortwave radio will pull in radio stations from all over the world so you'll still have access to news. Find a local ham operator and they might be able to help you get a message to your mom in Chicago that you're safe.
The best advice is once you feel that you are prepped to survive a few days without access to anything, see what you can to to make that a week. And then a month. Most people think that disasters are a singular event until they see things like what happened in Japan in 2011 when a huge earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster all happened at the same time. Almost 20,000 of possibly the most prepared people on the planet died. There is nothing saying that we couldn't have a huge earthquake and tsunami happen here and then get hit by a hurricane right after.
ETA: a wound stapler or suture kit won't do you any good if you don't know how to use it. We learned by watching youtube. Make sure you learn how before a situation occurs where you can't access the internet.
Imagine if there is no electricity or phone service for weeks. Nobody will be accepting credit cards or checks. We only saw that for a few days after Iselle and some people weren't even prepared for that. Good luck getting cash from an ATM or in some cases even the bank. If they are damaged they won't be open and the ones that are open may run out of cash. According to https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12773.htm the federal reserve, only 1.4 trillion dollars exist in printed form and most of that is located outside the United States, however there are hundreds of trillions of "dollars" being stored in banks, loans, and various funds. In other words, almost every dollar that exists only exists digitally. If everybody in the world wanted their digital dollars exchanged for paper ones, it would take the US Mint decades to print them.
After every disaster, even some of the more minor ones, telephones and cell phones are out. Sometimes for a long time. TV and radio may even be unavailable. You can get a pair of GMRS radios at Walmart for around $30 and at least be able to keep in touch with a loved one within several miles (some are rated for up to 60 miles but they seldom work that well). In our experience, they work about 15 miles max. If local radio is out a $30 shortwave radio will pull in radio stations from all over the world so you'll still have access to news. Find a local ham operator and they might be able to help you get a message to your mom in Chicago that you're safe.
The best advice is once you feel that you are prepped to survive a few days without access to anything, see what you can to to make that a week. And then a month. Most people think that disasters are a singular event until they see things like what happened in Japan in 2011 when a huge earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster all happened at the same time. Almost 20,000 of possibly the most prepared people on the planet died. There is nothing saying that we couldn't have a huge earthquake and tsunami happen here and then get hit by a hurricane right after.
ETA: a wound stapler or suture kit won't do you any good if you don't know how to use it. We learned by watching youtube. Make sure you learn how before a situation occurs where you can't access the internet.