Community

General Announcements

The RBCA Emergency Preparedness Committee is pleased to bring back “Task a Month.” This year, we’ve updated the list to include evacuation considerations learned from the recent fires. We will send out tasks every month. Note: this is not an “official” list; these are suggestions. To see the full list, scroll down on this page.

Prepare for an emergency that occurs in the middle of a winter night (rain) with no power,  heat, cell phones or internet for 14 days.

Places to shop:

  • Camping world, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Outdoor Emporium, Big 5, Army Surplus, REI, Cabela’s, Target, Amazon, Goodwill, Craigslist, etc. and/or look for packaged emergency prep kits online.

Resources: Information and Training

Sign up for Local Alerts:

Consider becoming a trained Red Cross volunteer who can be mobilized when needed:

Month Tasks Notes/Ideas
October

We start off easy…

 Make a Plan

 

 

 

Make evacuation lists

 

Get container(s) for storing supplies

 How will you physically evacuate/leave your home especially if your home or rooms are not on the ground floor? Where will you meet up with family and how will you communicate if you’re not all together when disaster occurs? It is often suggested to have a designated meeting place if your home is unavailable and to have an out of state/region contact to call if you get separated. Have a paper copy of important information including phone numbers; store copy in different locations (home, office, maybe car or friends’ house).

What will you take if you have to leave immediately, if you have 30 min notice, or if you have a day to prepare? Make a list of what you would take if given 5 minutes to evacuate, 30 minutes, 1 day.

You will need as many containers as will store emergency supplies for your family. Can be plastic bins, plastic trash barrels, suitcases, etc. Consider dividing your gear into different containers and consider finding smaller boxes or bags that you can organize supplies into inside the bigger box. Example: the large plastic bin has a smaller box/bag for toiletries and a different smaller box/bag for first aid.
November

Thanksgiving = in the kitchen!

 Cooking tools

 

Non-perishable food for 14 days

 Stove, fuel, lighter/matches, pot/pan, unbreakable/paper plates/cups/utensils, spatula and/or spoon, hand can opener, coffee filters/French press, etc. depending on what foods you store.…

For canned goods (often on sale in winter months), cycle your stock. Buy canned goods checking for furthest expiration date. Then unload newly purchased canned goods to your emergency container and move emergency cans into your cupboard. This works well with canned veggies, tuna, etc. Don’t forget COFFEE/TEA especially if you drink caffeine daily. Some folks store 14 days in emergency container and have daily use cans and some folks consider both supplies to be part of 14 day count. For dry goods, consider food that needs little/no water and little/no prep. Don’t forget pet food! And consider bringing in some food stock for the office and/or your car trunk.

This is an excellent article from PCC on types of food to consider (such as energy dense foods) in preparing a food kit: http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/1604/create-your-own-emergency-food-kit.html
December

Holidays = gear sales!

 Lighting

 

 

 

Communi-cation

 Waterproof flashlights, headlamps, hand-crank lights (if you don’t expect to check/change batteries), extra batteries stored outside of device, light sticks, etc. Consider lithium batteries (Energizer silver/blue) for duration. Consider a battery-operated USB device charger that can be used to charge your cell phone. Consider storing flashlights by beds, in emergency containers, at your office and/or your car.

Consider a hand or battery operated radio; there are radios now that can be hand, solar, battery operated and that provide am/fm/noaa reception as well as USB device charging and flashlight ability.

Check your batteries/recharge devices regularly (maybe when you check your smoke/CO2 alarm batteries).

Consider signing up for “Alert Seattle” and “Alert King County”
January

Rainy day activity

 Personal Docs Store copies of important docs such as driver’s license, credit cards, insurance policy, house inventory (paper, pics, and/or video), bank account numbers (for non-card access), etc.. Consider having this info on paper, on a USB flash drive and/or stored in the cloud (there are a few free cloud storage co’s such as Google, Dropbox, etc.). If using a flash drive, know that those fail over time or due to heat and consider encrypting the flash drive. Also, consider storing the flash drive and paper copies in a safe, in a firebox, or in a location outside of home (office locked drawer?) or outside of the city/region.
February

Love yourself and your loved ones = Be Prepared

 Insurance Review

 

 

Cash

Sanitation & personal hygiene

 

 Review your insurance (Is it enough? Can you save$?). Consider flood if applicable. Also, consider getting your house earthquake retrofitted/secured to foundation. And FYI, WA has earthquake insurance. Get more info here: https://www.insurance.wa.gov/earthquake-insurance?fbclid=IwAR0wPupicbJEcxXoQEdglaJVIkiZijOcBzMin5nizCmFpEYq2PTPb0YCBr4

Have cash in small denominations.

Toilet paper, diapers, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, toothbrush/paste, floss, soap, feminine hygiene products, etc., large garbage bags, towels. Can make up a “hygiene pack” with these items. Consider having a bucket(s), cat litter (optional), and bags for makeshift toilet (can be divided by #1/#2). Makeshift toilets = bag inside your toilet OR in buckets with toilet seats on them or slit a pool noodle to put on the bucket (yes, we said pool noodles).
March
Misc.		 General Items Whistle, dust/particulate masks, goggles, clothes pins, safety pins, binder clips, bungee cords, pencils/paper, entertainment (cards, crossword puzzles), sewing needles, zip ties, sharpie pen, q-tips, paper/dish towels.
April

Spring Cleaning

 Clothes

 

 

Room Review

 Clothes for cold and rain (non-cotton). Sturdy shoes  and/or shoes/socks near your bed (in case of debris/broken glass on floor). Consider tying your shoes to the bed so they won’t move during an earthquake and putting extra socks, keys, and RX glasses in a hard case inside the shoes. Hat, gloves, rain poncho. Consider bringing some clothes/shoes to the office and/or your car trunk.

Lie down in every bed and look up to see what could fall on you. Also, secure shelves, heavy furniture, even refrigerator to the wall. Move heavy, breakable items to lower shelves
May

Snowpack melting

 Water & Filtration 1 gallon/day/person and 1/3 gallon/day/pet.
Filter, purification tablets such as Aquatabs from REI, or bleach.
Consider these water containers: https://www.waterbrick.org
Or these storage bottles from the PNW: http://www.custompure.com/
Collapsible water bag (shower or drink).
Consider bringing in water for the office and/or your car trunk. Avoid thin plastic water bottles that can deteriorate in heat and over time.
Consider filling empty freezer space with bottles of water.
June

Summer fun

 First Aid & Medica-tions

 

 

Shelter

 Bandages (not just Band-Aids) including gauze and tape, pain & fever reducer (Advil type), scissors or knife, antacid, ace bandage, Neosporin or topical anti-septic, medical tape, chapstick/carmex, alcohol wipes, extra prescriptions (including for pets), glasses/contacts, eye drops, antihistamine, anti-diarrhea, rubbing alcohol, etc. Consider keeping a mini first aid in your office and/or car as well.

Tent and/or tarps and ropes/cords (maybe 25ft para cord), sleeping bag/blankets, space blanket (great stocking stuffer!)
July

The last task!

 Tools

 

Get Home Bag

 Wrench for turning off utilities (and learn how to do that; it is no longer advised to turn off gas unless you 1. smell a leak, 2. Hearing hissing, 3. See the dial spinning because pre-emptively turning of gas unnecessarily will mean the Gas Co has to come turn it back on and that could take time), ax, rope, duct tape, fire extinguisher (have/check), shovel, multi-tool, tweezers, leather gloves.

Assemble a “Get Home Bag” for car or work including: sturdy shoes, rain poncho/big plastic bags, water/food, flash/head light, mask, cash, emergency #s
August Test your system! Eat your stock and see how that goes! Then restock~