That's the bad news; the good news is you don't have to. I recently visited an area that suffered a strike by a tornado to do a damage assessment for ShelterBox and thought to myself how do I equate what happened here to my home (Seattle)?
In the strictest sense I can't; we don't have tornadoes, so thats one thing I don't need to prepare for. I don't need a safe room in my home or a tornado shelter. But what do I need? Are there things from a tornado area that could apply to me and my family? And what doesn't?
Well first having a plan. Ask yourself the "what ifs"? Where to start? Start small, don't go for the end of the world scenario, you'll freeze.
So for me in Seattle an easy start is a wind storm that knocks out power; something we are susceptible too. So if the power goes out in the winter how long can we stay in our place?
Well for us a good bit, we have a gas fire place and gas stove. So will my gas fire place light without electricity? Yup, I turned off the power to my place and tried to turn it on and TADA, it worked. Same with the stove and oven. So that's two check marks Heat & Cooking. But what don't I have? Well my hot water is electric, so that's a problem.
Solutions = Shower at work? The YMCA?
What about the food in my refrigerator? Yes that will be a problem if the power is out more than a few hours. Well our wind storms are in the winter, so I can go outside with a cooler for a while, but eventually that will fail.
So today while its sunny, pick one disaster and talk it through with your family.
Make a Plan.
The picture is one I took in Oklahoma of the remains of someones home.
Disaster_Dave
