Disaster Mobility Bags

A few bucks worth of Good Insurance

I’ve heard them called Bug-Out Bags, Flight Bags, 72 Hour Kits, Go Bags and Mobility Bags. Whatever you call them they can be life savers.

With Katrina we saw how a small backpack of basic essentials “at the ready” could have saved lives, or at least made life in the aftermath of a disaster barely tolerable. Life without these critical items became a hell on earth for some and a death sentence for others. Though many such kits tucked away in Haitian homes would be destroyed with the earthquake, some home-made disaster kits would have made it through the quake, especially if they were tucked in a cache in the back yard. How valuable would a few gallons of clean water and a few cans of soup be to Haitian earthquake survivors this week?

A kit with water, a little food, first aid kit, a change of underwear and other survival gear is very cheap insurance with the possibility of a very rich payback. This one type of insurance can be taken out by anyone, no matter what their social status!

For years the American Red Cross has advocated that every person be equipped with a 72 hour kit of basic supplies that can be grabbed in an instant in case evacuation is needed. Why 72 hours? Because it was popularly thought for decades that it would take up to 3 days for the government or other aid organization to mobilize and get help to you and your family after a disaster.

After witnessing Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti Earthquake on television what do you think? Is 3 days worth of food and water enough? What about 4 days (96 hours)? When you think about what you’ve seen on CNN, doesn’t 7 days worth sound a bit more realistic?

Well, that’s an awful lot of stuff, especially water.

I am reminded of the Principle of 3’s.

Life is threatened after;
3 minutes without oxygen
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food

Air is all around us, so after most disasters we shouldn’t have to worry about that one. If it is cold then our first concern is clothing or shelter and then our next most important need is water. There is no way to condense water so we will have to figure out a way to have enough “ready to roll” just in case.

Back when I went through Hurricane Agnes in Upstate New York there was no such thing as bottled water at the grocery store. Local beer breweries had to stop beer production in order to put water in dark glass bottles for distribution in flood ravaged populated areas. Heck, the water even had a hint of hops flavor!

In our time we drink enough of the plastic wrapped liquid that our land fills and oceans are filling up with tons of plastic. But, whether you use the bottled water or not, it is an important part of your preparedness insurance.

It is said that it takes 2 quarts of water a day to keep an adult alive, and up to 4 quarts per person in hot desert regions. If we are going to store the bare minimum of two quarts per person for 7 days (168 hours) then that is 3 ½ gallons per person. A 24 pack of 12 oz water bottles is only 2 ¼ gallons, so we are going to need more than one case of water bottles per person for a 7 day period. If we plan to wash our face or cook some rice then we are going to need even more water, so plan accordingly.

There are hundreds of places on the web that will help you with lists of what to put in your emergency kit (American Red Cross is good), but I think I would forget all of those lists and use your own common sense!

Over the years I have tried many different storage methods for my Flight Bag, mostly it depended on my finances at the time. I have tried 5 gallon buckets, old suitcases, duffle bags and large Rubbermaid containers for my stuff. The last few years I have procured a few really inexpensive back packs so one Christmas I gave each member of my family one (filled of course). The kids have moved out and their Flight Bags along with them but I have our bags at the ready next to the cases of water and a few other bags of stuff in case there is time enough to load up the car.

Over the years I have had minimal supplies at the office and in the car. Lately I have been lax on these two things. After seeing the misery of the Haitians on television, I think I will make a couple more bags and go through my old ones to see if any food or water is expired. Just a couple of bucks worth of good insurance.

January 2010 Post