By Michael, on January 21st, 2013 
I never really understood the importance of being prepared for disasters until one happened to my family. I live in an area that is prone to hurricanes. A bad one comes every few years, but usually does no more damage than knocking down a few fences and making a lot of noise. What I feared most was flooding, but the area I live in is pretty good about drainage and my home is on a hill, so even that did not give me much pause.
However my attitude towards preparedness changed after a really big storm. A hurricane swept through my area that was so bad and did so much damage that my home was without power for almost two weeks. Even the big chain stores and places with backup generators only lasted a few days before their power went down too. All was quiet in my large city, and it was terrifying.
So much damage was done and so many trees were down that relief efforts were hampered and even repair crews had a hard time accomplishing anything. Thankfully our water came back only after a day or two, because we are not on the main grid, but others went for weeks without water also.
My family was not very well prepared. We had our regular canned goods and a cooler full of ice (thankfully) but that was about it. We had no way to cook our food, heat our water, wash our clothes or even charge our cell phones. The gas stations were running dry because tankers could not get though, so there was no way to get anywhere and the roads were so clogged with evacuating people or people returning from the evacuation that there was really nowhere to go anyway.
Thankfully we live close to a Red Cross building and within days of the disaster they were giving out hot meals to people in the area. We bathed in cold water and hand washed our clothes, hanging them to dry, but it was still a hard time. Thankfully the weather stayed on the calm side and we did not have our scorching heat or wet, windy and icy temperatures that we could have had.
We had friends and family that helped out too. Those that lived closer to the city center got their power back faster and passed on such valuables as battery powered fans for the night time, solar battery chargers, propane stoves and LED lanterns. By their kind donations and the efforts of the Red Cross, my family came through the disaster fine.
There are many things I learned from this experience. For one, I always want to have clean water on hand, just in case. Lots of canned goods and non perishables are very valuable as well. I also learned not to rely on getting things at the last minute. I needed flashlights and gas on hand, medications for everyone that did not need refilled right away, and a way to cook food even without power.
I can’t thank the Red Cross and other community organizations enough for coming through in times of disaster. Without their help we wouldn’t have had a hot meal for quite a long time.
Author Bio:
Paul Taylor started www.babysittingjobs.com which offers an aggregated look at those sites to help families find sitters and to help sitters find families easier than ever. He loves writing, with the help of her wife he has contributed quality articles for different blogs & websites.
Picture Credit Peace Of Prepardness
