BEHIND THE BOOK...
how I came to create an emergency checklist action plan
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When your back yard adjoins a fire-prone parkland and the Hayward fault is a half-mile away, your instincts for survival demand you make plans.
But so often nothing gets done because you're not sure what to do or where to start. We, like many others, had made a preparedness vow before, but never followed through.
Inspiration came from our Fire Department and their Emergency Training classes. We signed up. We attended.
We now had three binders of information and twelve hours of training, but I found I still had the same question: Where do I begin?
I did some simple things first, things on everyone's emergency preparedness list: stock up on food and water, buy flashlights and a fire extinguisher. (This could become an expensive proposition.)
I read a lot of books. I tried to avoid the "scare to prepare" tomes discussing firearms, stashes of ammo and recipes for barbequed rat. Rather than inspire me, these books scared me silly and made me want to hide my head in the sand.
I needed practical information. I did find a few books that are down to earth, full of practical and useful advice on getting prepared. My favorites are Barbara Salsbury's Preparedness Principles and Jon Roberson's Apocalypse Chow/ How To eat Well When The Power Goes Out.
But I still needed a START HERE list, everything in one place and laid out in a practical sequence that would steadily build into a completed emergency plan. And I wanted to understand why I should do each thing I was going to do, what it would accomplish.
My dentist wanted a emergency preparedness plan for her family of four. After a day of trying to prioritize the basics for her, I'd written a long e-mail and had identified a new need: to make a really comprehensive checklist that would make sense of the steps required; a kind of action plan. I still needed that and so did she. Maybe a lot of people did.
Years of writing step-by-step craft instructions found me sorting small strips of paper with a task on each one, putting like kind with like kind. Category headings suggested themselves. I prioritized the categories. My personal plan had come along a bit by then, too, so I was feeling rather more expert and I decided this was something I should take on.
A Checklist is the result of my wanting a comprehensive list of tasks, appropriate shopping lists and forms of identification, the right phone numbers in the right places, and photographs for insurance purposes. I wanted to have what I needed to stay home safe and warm during an emergency, as well as all the essentials packed and ready to go in case we had to evacuate, in case we would have to start over.
Though you may want to add or refine a few things yourself, I am confident this emergency preparedness checklist provides a complete basic, comprehensive family plan that will assist you and yours in getting through some tough times. You will feel accomplished and more secure with your preparations in place.
I sleep better. I hope you will too.
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