Are you prepared for an emergency?

We are not.  I hate to say that, but we just aren't.  We live in the central valley of California.  I try to reassure myself by noting that this is the one area of California that does not have active fault lines.  However, there are many other natural disasters besides earthquakes!  Storms alone can cause sustained power outages, which can easily be a disaster situation depending on the length and extent of the outage.  Other weather-related disasters are tornados, hurricanes, ice, snow, floods, lightning-related fires.....all of which have the potential to be devastating.

According to the National Weather Service (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml), for 2012 there were:

• 155 heat-related fatalities
• 29 flood-related fatalities, with a 10 year average of 76
• 70 tornado-related fatalities, with a 10 year average of 109
• 4 hurricane-related deaths, with a 10 year average of 109

Power outages, as mentioned above, can have disastrous effects.  You and your family should be prepared to survive for at least 72 hours on your own.  Take a moment to think about all the daily activities that rely on electricity.....as a society, we are highly dependent.  Of course, consider those you know that may rely on respiratory equipment, such as oxygen, ventilators, CPAP machines.  Are you prepared?

I have thought about this topic a lot in the last year.  It seems such situations are prevalent in the news.  We have 5 children.  It weighs heavily on me that we are not adequately prepared, though our pantry is always well stocked.

A blog I recently discovered, called "A Bowl Full of Lemons" has an awesome post on emergency preparedness.  Find it here.  This links to the "week 1" post.  She conquered emergency preparedness for her family over the course of 8 weeks.  I need to talk with Pigeon Man, but I would like to get started on this plan.  Even if we need more than 8 weeks, doing something is better than doing nothing!

This site has a good post as well - http://www.disaster-survival-resources.com/power-outage.html.

Thoughts, comments, ideas welcome!!  What have you done to prepare your family?  Especially if you have a special needs child - how do you maintain enough medication with insurance company limits on amounts?