72 hour kits

All of the turmoil in Japan has caused me to think about how our family would be prepared in an emergency. Our church and now FEMA encourages having a 72 hour kit with supplies to last your family for three days. I've been adding and tweaking ours for years and I pulled it all out again last week to reassess. Here is a list of things in ours:

backpacks

Food (menu here) and plates and utensils

propane stove

first aid kit

flashlights (just added two hand crank ones that don't require batteries) and glow sticks

can openers

utility knives

matches and lighters

duct tape

ponchos

emergency heat blanket

water and water purification tablets

whistles

battery operated radio

hygiene items

small games

batteries

photocopies of important documents (birth certificates, SS cards, etc)

There are still things I need to add like clothing for each of us, cash, and dust masks but it makes me feel better to know we are well on our way. On our local news they tested people to see how quickly they could gather items on a list in case they needed to leave their home quickly and all the people failed miserably. I know we would do just fine and that gives me peace of mind. If you'd like a list of items for a kit of your own FEMA and the Red Cross have great ones to use as resources.