72 HOUR GUIDE | Grindstone

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Important Documents

It seems like every week brings reports of another tornado, flood, hurricane, or severe storm somewhere in the country.

While many of us focus on stocking up on food, water, and batteries, we forget about another area of preparedness that often gets overlooked.

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Water

Have you ever stopped to think about how many times you use water in a single day?
Water is one of the few necessities that your body simply cannot do without.

While many people
have heard that a person can survive for weeks without food, the same isn't true for water.

Shelf-Stable Foods

As many of us have seen, when an emergency happens, the grocery store shelves empty out
quickly. Power outages, severe storms, flooding, wildfires, or other disasters can interrupt
deliveries and create chaos in the local market. Having a supply of shelf-stable food means your family can stay safe at home without worrying about where the next meal will come from.

The goal isn't to build a year's worth of food overnight. Start by putting together enough meals to comfortably get your family through at least 72 hours.

Preparedness is not about expecting the worst. It is about being ready to care for the people around you until additional help arrives. When preparing for a storm or other emergency, it is easy to focus on dramatic injuries, serious cuts, broken bones, burns, or heavy bleeding. Those situations matter, but medical preparedness also means continuing the ordinary care your household depends on every day. A storm may not cause anyone in your home to suffer a major injury. It may simply close the pharmacy, block the roads, knock out electricity, or leave you unable to replace medication and supplies for several days.

A useful medical plan must prepare for both.

Lighting & Power

Power outages often accompany severe storms, flooding, high winds, ice, and other emergencies.Sometimes electricity is restored within a few hours. Other times, damaged power lines and blocked roads can leave homes without power for several days.

A little preparation can keep your household safer, calmer, and better connected while repairs are underway.

During an emergency, one of the first things people want to know is whether their family and
friends are safe. Unfortunately, storms, power outages, overloaded cell towers, and damaged
infrastructure can make normal communication difficult or impossible.

A communication plan helps your household know how to reach one another, where to meet, and what to do when phone calls are not going through.

Do Not Rely on One Phone

Shelter & Warmth

When we think about emergency shelter, most of us think about what happens after the storm:
Where will we sleep, how will we stay warm, and what will we do if our home is damaged?

But shelter preparedness really begins long before the clouds roll in. Your home is your family's first shelter.

After a disaster, hygiene becomes a health and sanitation issue very quickly.

You may haveplenty of drinking water and food, but if the toilet won't flush, nobody can wash their hands,garbage is piling up, and everyone is using the same limited space, you've created anotheremergency inside your home.

When it comes to emergencies, Americans face more than just earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. We also deal with flat tires, broken water heaters, and sudden medical expenses.

Both big disasters and unexpected bills take time, money, and resources away from other priorities.

So why aren’t we doing more to get prepared?

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