A Guide to Disaster Preparedness For Families

Disaster prep for families is planning, contacts, and stored tap water — not treating a creek. Natural-disaster water notes: disasters and drinking water. Tornado homestead: tornado prep.

Why Plan

Storms, outages, and evacuations are chaotic. A written plan and a kit reduce scramble. Self-sufficiency means you use stored city water and food first so you are not in the first wave at the store.

Assess Needs and Risks

Kids, elders, meds, pets, rural vs city, hurricane vs winter ice. That list drives how many gallons of tap water you store and whether you need a no-power way to filter that stored tap.

Family Emergency Plan

National Preparedness Month reminder: always be ready.

Name a decision-maker. Out-of-state contact. Evacuation routes: Habitat evacuation plan. Roles for packing, pets, documents. Drill once a year.

Example Plan

Primary / secondary contacts, 911, aunt out of state. Two driving routes. Thirty-minute leave list: documents, pets, meds. Kids have assigned bags. Rewrite names for your house.

Family Kit

• Water: stored municipally treated tap water — about a gallon per person per day for several days. Gravity filter that stored tap if you want chlorine taste reduced. Not surface water. See how to store drinking water.
• Non-perishable food
• First aid and a car kit
• Flashlights, radio, blankets, cash, document copies
• Sanitation
• Pet food and meds

More kit ideas: 5 items for a family kit.

House Tips

Know water and gas shutoffs. Copy IDs. Red Cross disaster services: disaster relief.

Where Berkey Fits

No electricity. Filter stored city tap or a working municipal tap after the storm if the utility says the tap is on. Official replacements: Berkey Phoenix filters. Shop: Berkey systems.