Evacuation on Foot

On-Foot Evacuation is my primary concern for those of us who are aging; there is not much instruction for us on how to prepare to evacuate our home and walk to our nearest community gathering places WITH enough appropriate and essential supplies. 

Do you know the location of you gathering place?  As an example, the community of Canyon Rim in the city of Millcreek will gather at/on the grounds of Rosecrest Elementary or the Canyon Rim Academy grounds. 

In an emergency I wear a 72-hour kit.  (Goodwill, D.I.) This vest has 7 pockets in front and one large one in the back. My pants have 6 pockets.  I have water, sanitation supplies (pet poo bags and collection plastic bags), meds, energy bars, emergency whistle, a few hygiene items, plastic poncho, lip balm, hand sanitizer, lotion, pencil and small notebook that fits in a pocket. 

Under my clothing I am wearing a MONEY BELT with compartments. (Travel Store)  In it I have cash (small bills), ID, Insurance and other financial information, some medications, keys to house, auto, safety deposit box.  Additional pen and paper.

By placing a light weight, compartmented CROSSOVER bag (Amazon Prime.com) I am now wearing a 96-hour kit: More water, more bags to gather my own solid waste (big box stores, or Hardware store), TP, hand sanitizer, more energy bars supplies, a few more basic first-aid and hygiene items, important papers, cell phone and power bank, charger cord. I also carry a collapsible cup.  I have a smaller crossover bag I could use instead to add more essentials – just not as many.

By adding my GROMMET BELT, (Goodwill) I upgrade my kit to 120 hours by adding more water, more sanitation bags, more food bars. You see the theme.  I can also add a useful first aid kit, flash light, battery operated radio, small water purification filter, self-defense spray, masks, and anything else I can hang. While it might not “be pretty” it allows me sustain myself for 5 days. 

As an alternative to the belt, a large fanny pack with lots of compartments would work with compartments and be strong enough that you could hang items from the belt portion.  A lightweight backpack would work also but is less convenient to access.  Keep a few things near at hand, like emergency whistle, hand sanitizer, water, sanitation bags, lip balm and a good quality lotion.  

BUT I am missing some key items.  A series of posts will follow that present those items.