Essential Survival Gear

_______________________________________________________________

When it comes to facing an emergency situation where the basic comforts of life like electricity, shelter, natural gas, or running water are either in short supply or non existent, most people find themselves woefully unprepared.

Even those who consider themselves "well prepared," however, are sometimes lacking necessary items when it comes to essential survival gear.

Before going any further, it is really impossible to plan for every emergency situation. It would be nice if that were possible, but to do that, all you would end up doing is focusing on acquiring survival gear and you would have trouble doing much else in life.

That is why, by assembling the "essentials," you can create essentially a catch all cache of survival gear that will get you through most emergency situations.

The starting point, of course, is food, water, and shelter. These can be assembled based on the extent of the potential emergency and the size of your family.

Food

In order to survive, people need to have two meals per day per person. In an emergency situation, having access to enough food can be a major problem. To plan for an emergency, therefore means that extra food will have to be stored. Whether a person is at home or in the wilderness, the following food sources should be stored:

• MREs (Meals ready to eat)
• Survival food bars
• Canned goods (make sure you have a manual can opener)

Water

You can prepare yourself for an emergency situation by storing water in thoroughly cleaned plastic containers. Also make sure to have a small metal container just in case you have to boil water. And finally, water purification tablets would be a good item to have---just in case.

Shelter

If you are in a house, condo, or in an apartment and you are experiencing a natural or man-made disaster, you want to make sure that your residence is safe. Depending on the situation, you may have to put plastic over the windows, purchase extra strong locks for your doors and windows, and make sure you have extra warm clothing, blankets, and sleeping bags in case your power goes off for an extended period of time.

If you are in the great outdoors, finding or building a shelter will be one of your top priorities. Indeed, in the outdoors, a person needs to consider keeping warm and dry, staying out of inclement weather, staying safe from wild animals, and avoiding pests and insects.

Take an inventory of your surroundings and see if there are any caves, boulders, rock formations, or trees with low hanging branches that can be used for shelter. If not, you will have to build a basic lean to shelter, a debris shelter, or another "quick and easy" shelter. Of course, if you have a sturdy tent, your shelter problems are essentially solved.

Emergency Electricity

In the event of a power failure, having a portable generator is a good idea. When you purchase a generator, make sure to think about what you need to be powered (for instance, a few lights, small appliances, or a radio).

Portable generators can be fueled by propane, diesel fuel, kerosene, gasoline, and solar energy. Remember that with the exception of solar energy, using a portable generator is essentially a short- term power solution due to the amount fuel you can safely store.

If you truly want to go the extra mile and be as prepared as possible for most disasters or emergencies, you can purchase various appliances that contain their own built-in solar panels. Examples include solar-powered ovens, radios, flashlights, lanterns, and water heaters. Another possibility is to purchase portable solar panels and solar generators that can be used to power your appliances.

Emergency Lighting

Always have at least one flashlight with extra batteries. As mentioned above, solar powered flashlights and lanterns are available.

Emergency First Aid Kit

A well stocked first aid kit is a vital piece of survival gear. A "basic" kit will work, but having a more substantial kit gives a person a lot of additional emergency protection.

The following represents a list of items that should be contained in a well-stocked first aid kit:

• First aid instruction manual
• Antiseptic wipes
• Laxative
• Elastic bandage
• Adhesive cloth tape
• Calamine lotion
• Burn relief cream
• Medicine dropper
• Anti-diarrhea medication
• 2 pair of nonlatex gloves (size: large)
• Tweezers
• Flashlight (with extra batteries)
• Splint
• Triangular bandages
• Safety pins
• Antiseptic solution (like hydrogen peroxide)
• Roller bandages
• Sterile gauze pads (with a variety of sizes)
• Absorbent compress dressings
• Oral thermometer
• Acetaminophen and ibuprofen
• Blanket (space blanket)
• Scissors
• Alcohol wipes or ethyl alcohol
• Insect repellent
• Sterile eye pad
• Adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
• Mouthpiece for administering CPR
• Antibiotic ointment
• Soap
• Prescription medications
• Antacid (for upset stomach)
• Activated charcoal (if advised by the Poison Control Center)
• Disposable instant cold packs
• Hydrocortisone cream (1%)

The above list may seem like a lot of items, but most fairly comprehensive first aid kits you can purchase will have the vast majority of these items.

30-Day Survival Kit

If you are concerned about having more survival gear and supplies that will last more than a few days, consider getting a 30-day survival kit.

A basic, 30-day "outdoor" survival kit for a family of four should contain the following:

• Survival guide
• First aid kit (see above)
• Multi-tool with a saw
• Cash or traveler’s checks and change
• Prescription medications and glasses
• Small shovel
• Aluminum foil (heavy-for boiling water)
• Fire extinguisher
• Rain ponchos (or large plastic garbage bags)
• Folding stove and two 8-ounce cans of Sterno fuel
• Blankets or high-quality sleeping bag
• Toiletry items
• Pliers
• Rope (at least 25 to 50 feet)
• Windup radio (or battery operated radio)
• Plastic tie wraps (for repairs)
• Compass
• Metal container for boiling water
• Propane heater/cooker
• MREs or other non-perishable foods (such as canned foods)
• MRE heater (little bag designed to heat military ready to eat meals)
• Two meals per person per day
• Additional clothing
• Pepper spray (or bear spray)
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper (When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant or in an emergency, you can use bleach to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water)
• Map
• Cell phone with cell phone charger
• Manual can opener
• Filtration system that will filter up to 300 gallons of water
• Water (one gallon per person per day)
• Flashlight (with extra batteries)
• Six 9 hour mini candles
• Collapsible five gallon water containers
• 100 gallon bladder with a siphon pump
• Paper and pencil
• 60 hour pillar candle
• Rope and string (at least 25 to 50 feet of each)
• Matches (waterproof would be best)
• Camper's shower
• Magnesium fire starters
• Blankets or a high-quality sleeping bag for each person
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
• Propane cylinders
• Whistle
• Sunglasses
• Wax paper
• 120 light sticks
• Water purification tablets
• Snow shovel (for winter weather)
• Multi-purpose knife
• Duct tape (for repairs and first aid)
• Needle and thread
• Solar powered short wave, multi band radio

Note: as mentioned above, the above mentioned 30-day survival list is for "outdoor" survival. Please modify this list if you are targeting indoor survival. For instance, you probably do not need pepper spray (or bear spray), a compass, a map, a snow shovel, a whistle, a small shovel, a folding stove and two 8-ounce cans of sterno fuel, or a camper's shower for indoor survival.

Essential Survival Gear: Conclusion

The bottom line is that when it comes to survival gear, take some time, effort, and planning to prepare yourself and your family for most emergencies. Another thing: it's one thing to have the appropriate survival gear, and it's quite another thing to be able to use it effectively.

In a residence, take some time and practice exactly what you would do during an emergency if you lost all of your utilities. If you are going to venture into the great outdoors, educate yourself how to properly and effectively use the survival gear you possess.

________________________________________________