Make A 72 Hour Survival Kit - An Excerpt From "When Disaster Strikes" by Matthew Stein

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General Preparations
72-Hour Grab-and-Go Survival Kits

These short-term emergency kits should be readily accessible and cover the basic daily needs of your family for a period of at least three days. Please note that three days is a minimal time period (in Kobe, Japan, it was nine days before many survivors received food and water) and that you should have at least a two-week supply of food stored in or around your home. You may purchase ready-made, 72-hour kits from various survival supply outlets, or you can put together your own. Large families should probably divide up the stores between several easily grabbed small backpacks or plastic containers. One advantage of building your own kits is that you get to choose foods that you like. Remember that all foods have some kind of shelf life. Rotate stores, and use them or lose them. Bug-infested, rancid, or rotten food doesnt do anyone any good. Consider placing all of the following items in your 72-hour survival kit.
72-Hour Grab-and-Go Survival Kit 1. Portable radio, preferably one that works with no batteries, such as by a hand crank or combination hand crank and solar cells (available through survival and surplus outlets). See figure 2-1. 2. First-aid kit with first-aid and survival handbooks (this book covers both). Make sure that your fist-aid kit includes a couple of stretchy Ace bandages for binding wounds and sprained joints, as well as a roll of 2-inch-wide cloth adhesive first-aid tape for taping hot spots to prevent blisters, as well as for taping sprains and wounds. 3. Water, water-purification chemicals, and/or purifying filter. Enough to provide 1 gallon per person per day. Retort (foil) pouches can handle Figure 2-1. Survival radio with AM/ freezing in a car trunk, but most FM and shortwave band widths plus other water containers cant handle combination battery power, solar charger, freezing without potentially burst- and hand-crank dynamo. Photo courtesy of Eton Corp. ing. Three gallons per person is heavy (25 lbs.), so I strongly suggest that you include a water filter and water-treatment chemicals. I suggest pump-type backcountry filters, such as those made by Katadyn or MSR (see fig. 2-2), that are rated to filter out all bacteria and have a carbon core to remove toxic chemicals. Also, supplement your filter(s) with purifying iodine crystals (or other chemicals), such as a Polar Pure water purification kit (see fig. 2-3), to kill all
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Figure 2-2. MSR Miniworks fully fieldmaintainable water filter with ceramic cartridge and carbon core. Photo courtesy of
Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS)
Figure 2-3. Polar Pure iodine-crystal water purification kit. Photo courtesy of Polar Equipment, Inc.
viruses. Pump filters that are rated for virus removal have tiny pore sizes and tend to clog quickly (a clogged filter is worthless). Sports bottletype purifying water filters are simple, reliable, compact, and inexpensive, but clog easier and wont purify nearly as many gallons of water as the pumptype filters. I also carry a small compact Steripen in my grab-and-go kit, which is a terrific new gadget that flashes high intensity UV light to kill bacteria and viruses in a bottle of water in a matter of seconds. The downside to a Steripen is it requires clear water to reliably eliminate all the nasty organisms in your water, so all bets are off using a Steripen on dirty water unless it is filtered first to remove sediment and debris. See chapter 8 for more details on water purification and purification products. 4. Waterproof and windproof matches in a waterproof container, and a utilitytype butane lighter (large size with extended tip). 5. Wool or pile blankets (avoid cotton) because they are warm when wet, and/or a sleeping bag. Also, a heat-reflective, waterproof space blanket. Fiber-pile, mountaineering-quality sleeping bags are great, if you have the space (avoid down sleeping bags, except for extremely cold climates, because they are worthless when wet). 6. A colloidal silver generator (see fig. 2-4) for making a broadband
Figure 2-4. Silver Pulser colloidal silver generator from Sota Instruments. Photo courtesy
of Sota Instruments
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General Preparations
antibiotic solution that can kill all known pathogenic bacteria (if you are without access to pharmaceuticals, this could save your life someday, see chapter 6 for details). Can also be used to preserve drinking water so it wont grow bacteria, and will slowly purify water by killing pathogenic bacteria, but it takes a long time (typically several hours). 7. Flashlight with spare batteries, or a solar-recharge flashlight. I highly recommend that you purchase a headlamp with LED bulbs. Headlamps (see fig. 2-5) leave your hands free to carry things, or work on things. LED bulbs use a fraction of the power, are far more shock resistant, and last far longer than traditional light bulbs, so your batteries last many times longer.
Figure 2-5. Waterproof lightweight headlamp with LED bulbs, by Petzl.

Photo courtesy of Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS)
8. Candles (useful for lighting fires with damp wood) and light sticks (emergency light when nothing else works or explosive gases are present). 9. Toiletries, including toilet paper, toothbrush, soap, razor, shampoo, sanitary napkins (also good for severe bleeding wounds), a pack of dental floss (for sewing and tying things), sunscreen, extra eyeglasses, diapers, and so on. 10. Food for three days per person, minimum. Use foods you will eat and that store well, such as nuts, sport bars, canned vegetables, fruits, meats, dry cereals, and military-type preserved meals (available at surplus and survival stores). 11. A Swiss Army knife, Leatherman, or other stainless steel multi-tool knife with scissors, can opener, blades, and screwdrivers (see fig. 2-6). 12. Map, compass, and whistle. When you are in a weakened state, or
Figure 2-6. Multi-tool knife by Leatherman.
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have a parched throat, a whistle may draw someones attention and save your life. In smoke or fog, a compass may be the only thing pointing you in the right direction. The dial on the compass should glow in the dark. Put a string on your compass so you can hang it around your neck for quick referral. 13. Sewing kit with extra-heavy-duty thread. Should be strong enough to stitch a torn strap onto your backpack (I never travel in the backcountry without a sewing kit and have had to use it several times). Note: May be used to suture (stitch) wounds in an emergency (soak needle and thread in boiling water first)! 14. Towel or dishcloth. Knives, forks, spoons, and so on. A camping mess kit is a compact set of utensils. 15. Tent and/or 50-foot roll of plastic sheeting for shelter. 16. Extra clothing, such as long underwear, hat, jacket, waterproof mittens, leather work gloves, rain coat or poncho, sturdy boots, and so on. Remember that cotton is very cold when wet, but wool and specialty outdoor clothing (usually polyester) wick moisture and are warm when wet. 17. Entertainment for kids and other special needs (prescription medicines, diapers, extra glasses, etc.). 18. Twenty-five kitchen-size garbage bags and lime or sewage-treatment chemicals (powdered type preferred) for garbage and toilet sewage. A few large heavy-duty garbage bags can double for raincoats, ground cloths, and shelter. 19. Fifty feet of heavy-duty nylon string or light rope. 20. Record of bank numbers and important telephone numbers. 21. Spare checks and cash. Many Katrina victims were caught without any cash. Tip: Use a bank that has widespread branch locations so their records wont disappear in a severe local disaster, leaving you with no bank-account access.
Figure 2-7. Multi-fuel backcountry stove from MSR is lightweight, compact, and fully field serviceable.

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72-Hour Grab-and-Go Survival Kits

Your Preparedness Plan

Figure 2-5. Waterproof lightweight headlamp with LED bulbs, by Petzl.

Your Preparedness Plan

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