Emergency Kitting

The other day I was reading the blog of artist Polla Posavec on her website The Simple Country Creative. She lives on a rural bush block outside Perth and like most such folk is very aware of the risks of bushfires. The horrendous bushfires that have engulfed most of the eastern part of Australia since September 2019 until very recently have spurred her into getting prepared so that in the event of a fire she and her family will be ready to leave at short notice.

This is something I had been thinking about, too, ever since some family members had to evacuate twice in recent months due to bushfires - and they live in suburbia albeit on the outskirts of the city. We also live in suburbia but with several large bushland reserves in close proximity. Fires flare there most summers and although they have been quickly dealt with so far there's always a risk that things could go awry. Ember attack - where strong winds send embers a considerable distance setting more fires - is always a possibility and since we, like most of our neighbours, have an evaporative air conditioner on the roof we are vulnerable. Bushfires aren't the only potential problems either. Since I started this post we've had five days of electrical storms along with severe winds, very heavy rain and hail leaving trees down and a trail of other damage and many people without power for significant periods of time.

But where to start? It's a big question. Like most other folk we have our important documents stashed safely somewhere I can grab them easily in an emergency. I organised this after a friend told me the harrowing story of how she had had leave her rapidly flooding home wading in knee deep water with her three young children holding hands in a line behind her as she tried to find a safe path and fought to keep vital documents out of the water.

This brought home to me just how vulnerable anyone can be so I gathered together a few things I'd want to be able to lay my hands on in a hurry in the house but not really in any organised way. They're scattered somewhat haphazardly at different points all over the house where we would normally use them. I guess I'd always assumed we'd be in a position to grab what we needed when we needed it and, of course, that's not necessarily the case. So after reading The Simple Country Creative's blog post (which for some reason I can't link to but you'll find it easily enough if you go to her website) I decided I should get things in order and I started by looking at what to put together in an emergency kit.

I was pleased to see that the box I already keep in the car boot has much of what is recommended. I started this when I had young children and it has proved its usefulness many times over. It contains sundry items such as a basic first aid kit, plastic rain ponchos, an emergency space blanket, a microfibre towel, folding drinking vessels, a multi-bladed pocket knife, a multi tool, a torch, matches, pen and paper, tarpaulin, a hat and a shower proof jacket among other things. Many of these have already proved very handy but there are other things on the list that I hadn't considered. I can see I've some work to do.

If you're interested you can find a suggested list of items here for both an emergency kit and a relocation or evacuation kit. This is what is recommended for Western Australia and your situation may well be different - for instance we don't need to consider something like being snowed in - but the basics like food, water and shelter are needed everywhere and there will be a similar list available for your area. With the way climate change is causing severe weather events it seems wise to be prepared and I'm already working on putting together both kits.