Are You Ready to Survive a Disaster?

A disaster can strike in seconds sometimes with no warning what so ever and leave whole communities without power, running water or even shelter. You must be prepared to survive. The best way to prepare yourself is to have the necessary equipment and supplies to ensure you and your family are provided with the necessities of life.

Survival equipment is really a form of life insurance. You never know when a disaster will strike and you need to be prepared before not after such an event. You should also try to ensure your neighbors; family and friends are prepared with their own survival gear otherwise be prepared to share yours. If others won't take their survival needs seriously then buy them kits for Christmas, birthdays and even wedding presents.

Your survival kit should contain at the very least matches, fish hooks, fishing line, a string saw, a small knife, bouillon cube type
dehydrated soup stock, sugar, salt, antibiotics, antiseptics, aspirin, bandages, aluminum foil, a magnetic compass, a small mirror, a magnifying glass, and antihistamine. In a larger kit, you will need food and fresh water to survive at least for two weeks. Avoid foods that have to be cooked unless you have a portable cooker or barbecue.

In the case of floods or earthquakes your home may be destroyed or unsafe to live in so you will need shelter and warmth. Waterproof backpacking tarps can be tied to trees with rope and used as a shelter. For clothing, remember that wool insulates when wet and comfortable waterproof footwear is worth its weight in gold.

You need to know how to use your survival equipment, experience in the use of emergency survival gear will help you to choose what to include in your emergency survival gear kit. You should know some first aid basics and have a copy of a first aid manual.

As well as knowing how to use your survival gear everyone in your house must know where it is. You should keep an inventory along with use by dates and replace items as they become aged or pass their use by date. Store and record the date on items to indicate when it should be replaced or buy extra food when you can and rotate items.

You need to take a survival kit everywhere you go. In your car you should have a portable kit that contains some high energy foods, Sports bars, hard candy, MREs (meals, ready to eat), tropical chocolate bars, beef jerky, and nuts all work well. Basic first aid items, a flashlight and spare batteries as well as a map of the area. A couple bottles of fresh drinking water are must have items.

In some countries it is law to have a survival kit. Even in those countries where it isn’t you still need to be prepared. A good
survival kit will only set you back a few hundred dollars and this is a cost you’ll be happy you paid if one day that disaster strikes and you kit saves the life of a loved family member.

Learning to survive doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. In fact it can be an interesting family activity that all can participate in.
Even very young members of the family need to be survival aware because if anything happens to their caregivers they may be left to fend for themselves. Don’t leave it till its too late get prepared to survive now.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/are-you-ready-to-survive-a-disaster-381971.html

Christine Brockman is a keen advocate of people being able to survive a disaster, its a moral obligation to ensure your family is prepared to survive. Don't put it off any longer find out what you need to know about putting together your ownSurvival kit. Increase your chances of being able to survive any disaster with the correct survival gear. For warned is for prepared.

Survival Kits: 9 Things to Look for While Making a Choice

However, just because a company declares its survival kit to be "emergency gear," there's really no guarantee that these items will actually be of good quality, or will be effective in a dire situation. There's nothing worse than reaching for your survival kit during a power blackout in hurricane season, and realizing that the flashlights come with weak batteries.

Here are a few of the things to look for when you buy a survival kit.

The Kit Should Contain All Basic Supplies
You would be surprised at the number of kits out there that neglect to pack water. No matter what the emergency, water is one of the biggest necessities you will face. It's also common to have kits that don’t contain other bare essentials, like torch lights or matches. Always look at the accompanying picture of your survival kit to determine if it has all the things you'll need.

Items Must Be of High Quality
The items in your kit should be top of the line. Before ordering a kit, don’t hesitate to ask the company where they source their items from. Compasses must not be mere showpieces, but must function well. A knife must be a high quality one, with a fixed blade and sturdy handles. Buying a poor quality kit may be cheaper, but ultimately, it all comes down to the price you're willing to pay for your survival.

Adequate Quantity of Items
Make sure that you're not being hoodwinked about the number of items in your kit. Some unscrupulous companies actually add up the number of matches in the matchbox to pump up the number of items in the kit. Make sure you have adequate quantities of the supplies before you make a purchase. A first aid package that's part of a survival kit must contain more than a 50 ml bottle of antiseptic solution and four Band Aids.

Versatility
Your kit should contain a few things that can be used in a multitude of ways in a pinch. For instance, garbage bags and duct tape have so many uses, they are hard to count. These don't take up a lot of space, but can be incredibly handy.

Expensive vs. Low Cost Ones
Low cost survival kits that seem like a bargain may have you playing Russian roulette with your life. Remember, when you finally do open your survival kit, it may be when you realize you're out of fresh water supplies during an incoming storm, and the announcer on the TV intones that government help won't be arriving for at least 36 hours. Do you really want to be stuck with two packets of potable water for your family of four?

Expiration Dates
Ask your kit supplier about the expiration dates for the items in your list. Remember, that even if they are marked as being good for five years or more, they may lose some of their longevity or potability, in harsh conditions in warehouses, or during transportation.

Easy to open
Your survival kit should be easy to open in an emergency. This is where high quality and expensive emergency gear comes into the picture again. You don't want to be left grappling with a bag zipper, in an emergency.

Easy to Use
Emergency survival gear can range from basic kits that are designed for use by those who have little experience surviving the great outdoors, to full-scale, ultra sophisticated, military-style kits that can require some skill to use. If your idea of survival is doing without the air conditioner in autumn, you are probably better off with a simple and basic kit that doesn't requite high-end expertise to use.

Buy More Than One Kit Depending Your Needs
There can't be a single survival kit that can prepare you for everything from a power breakdown to a biological attack. It's always best to customize your requirements at different points, with a choice of two or more survival kits. For instance, if you are an avid trekker, you'll probably need more than one wilderness survival kit, in addition to a basic survival kit. Besides, it’s a wise idea to have a kit each in your home, car and office.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/survival-kits-9-things-to-look-for-while-making-a-choice-621826.html

For more information on how to select a survival kit and the various options you can choose from, visit Survival Kits.