Preparedness: Short and Long Term Principles

To first tackle preparedness, we must keep in mind that our needs and strategies fall into two general categories: short term and long term preparedness.  Each has its own merits and one should not necessarily take solitary priority over the other.  Remember to practice a holistic attitude to your preparedness steps.

Short Term Preparedness

Most disaster preparedness materials available from FEMA, the Red Cross and your local emergency management office will focus on your immediate needs following an emergency or large scale disaster. The time frame is typically 3-4 days and will focus on three main needs:  (1) staying well-fed, (2) keeping clean and sanitary, (3) treating injury and illness.

In general, short term preparedness involves little out-of-pocket costs and relies heavily on the supplies you have on hand already, simple planning steps for actions like evacuation or taking shelter, and communicating with others (family, friends, employees, customers). 

A simple guide to your short term preparedness are the following steps:

1. Make a Plan and Practice It: 
   Work with your family, co-workers, or employees to decide what you will do for certain emergencies that are likely to happen in your area.  Each community or workplace has its most common hazards.  Learn of these likely emergencies and make plans to evacuate, take shelter, communicate with others, preserve vital property or information, and how you will return to normal work or family functions. And don't forget to test your plan.  No plan exists that was never practiced. 
   
   
2. Assemble 72 Hours of Supplies:
   For the family, this is commonly referred to as a "72 Hour Kit."  To demystify this term, simply think of the supplies you and your family will need for a 3 day camping trip, and have it pre-packed and ready to go at a moment's notice.  This will include all the water, food, first aid supplies, flashlights, batteries, matches, candles, lanterns, eating and cooking utensils and other supplies you use when camping.  We'll cover 72 kits more in a subsequent article.
   
   
3. Be Aware:
   You must be aware of the hazards common to your area and how you will receive emergency warnings and information.  Local authorities broadcast messages through local radio, television, or outdoor warning systems.  A wide array of online resources can provide information through programs on your computer or can send you messages by SMS (text) messages or email. 
   
   By far, the best tool for emergency awareness is the NOAA All-Hazards Radio.  Inexpensive and very reliable, the NOAA radio can sit silent until an alert message is sent regarding severe weather events, civil emergencies, or other disaster messages.  NOAA radios can also be programed with SAME codes that allow you to choose which of the surrounding counties your radio will monitor.
   
   
4. Be Trained and Able to Help
   FEMA estimates that in 95% of emergencies, average residents are the first to provide life saving care and assistance.  You can learn simple skills and methods of saving lives, rescuing victims, and stabilizing a patient's injuries until they can be transported to the hospital.  Depending on the disaster, neighborhoods may wait some time before emergency personnel can respond to provide professional care.  By learning simple skills like first aid, CPR, using an AED (automatic electronic defibrillator) you can make a significant impact on a person's survival.  

Long Term Preparedness

Fewer are the information resources that focus on your needs following the initial 3-4 days of any disaster.  Principles of long term preparedness take on a more self-reliance tone as we focus on issues like:

• Personal health and wellness
• Financial wellness and debt reduction
  
• Emergency savings fund
• Maintaining proper insurance
• Long term food and supplies storage
• Maintaining a small garden

These steps require committment to disciplined saving, storing, setting aside, and in many cases, denying oneself things today in order to have the resources necessary to overcome problems in the future.  Remember Aesop's fable of the grasshopper and the ant:

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.


"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."


"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity. 

Now is the Time to Prepare
Preparedness in its truest sense requires attention to both our short and long term needs.  Remember, like Aesop's ant, only you can best provide for your own needs following any disaster.  It may take time, but the rewards will certainly be evident in the "days of necessity."