Photo by howieluvzus

This is Part 5A of my self-reliance series.  I hope that you’ve enjoyed the first 4 parts.  If you haven’t read them, you can do so by clicking on the following links:

Self-Reliance Series #1: A Personal Survival Kit (PSK)

Self-Reliance Series #2: An Office Survival Kit

Self-Reliance Series #3: An Automobile Survival Kit

Self-Reliance Series #4: My Every Day Carry (EDC)

All of the kits that I’ve described in the previous posts are great for when you’re away from your house.  But what if you’re home when disaster strikes?  I’ll let you in on some of the preparations that I’ve made in the event of an emergency.

I’m no Burt Gummer, but I have taken some steps to insure that my family will make it through an emergency.  This covers a shelter-in-place scenario, and does not cover bugging out.  I’ve broken Part 5 down into three parts because of the length.  Part A covers Shelter, Water, and Fire.

Shelter - obviously, this includes your house or apartment.  Even though I’m not in a big hurricane area, I’m prepared for one.  Tree branches or other debris can smash your windows to pieces.  The flying shards of glass can become deadly projectiles.  I’ve got pre-cut pieces of plywood that fit my windows, so I’m not running out to Home Depot with the rest of the crazies when the alert is issued.  Make sure you label them!  You don’t want to be screwing around in a gale trying to fit them to the correct window.  These can be secured with screws into the siding.  I’ve seen examples on the web where more permanent anchors are installed into the walls.  I may explore this option.  Other options are polycarbonate panels or aluminum shutters.  The plywood was the more frugal choice.  I also have plastic tarps that can be used to temporarily patch a hole in the roof.  The largest tarp is an old 40′ x 20′ in-ground pool cover.  My rope collection offers many options for securing the tarps.  I have various sizes of nylon rope, manila rope, polypropylene rope, and lots of paracord.  If you can improvise an interior room as a safe room, so much the better.  If you can put it in your basement, better yet.

What if it gets cold?  Make sure that you have plenty of blankets. A sleeping bag would help, too.  You might even consider setting up a tent, so that you would only need to heat a small area.  This one would fit in a living room:

Water - what will you do if the municipal water supply gets contaminated?  I have several options.  First, know where the shutoff valve is.  You may be able to drain the last drops of clean water out of your pipes if it’s separated from the contaminated water.  I keep enough bottled water to serve four people for a week.  This is kept in old ice tea bottles that get rotated every six months.  I tie this to the changing of the clocks for Daylight Savings Time.  Water takes up lots of room, so this could be a challenge for an apartment dweller.  You could store water under your bed in 2-liter soda bottles.  Just no jumping on the bed!

I put several drops of bleach into the bottles to keep any nasties from growing in the water.  After a few months, the water may taste “flat”.  You can work around this by pouring the water back and forth in two cups.  Keeping it out of sunlight will also inhibit the growth of nasty things.

If all else fails, and my bottled water is used up, I can filter and boil the water in my swimming pool.  To really filter it well, you can use one of these:

Fire - how will you cook and boil water if the power is cut off?  I’ve got a propane grill, and two extra bottles of propane in my shed.  I can do a lot of cooking with the supplies I have.  But what if I can’t get outside?  A Coleman camp stove is a nice option:

Just be sure to keep it away from anything flammable.  I also have a fire pit that I can cook over if need be.  I keep a small quantity of firewood, just in case.  Don’t neglect matches and lighters.  If you’re limited to wood fires, make yourself some firestarters.  Vaseline-soaked cotton balls are my favorite.

Next: Part B, which covers Food, Hygiene, Health, and Protection.

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