Just about 20 minutes ago, we just got an earthquake in SoCal. Yes, I'm fine; it was one of those tiny ones. I was seriously unprepared for something like this since I pretty much just sat on my chair and didn't get out. Also, I had no personal earthquake kits. Plus, the last earthquake I felt was the Chino Hills earthquake six years ago. This event seriously got me thinking how you guys prepare for natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and severe downpours and blizzards. It's probably a bit easier for you guys since weather-related disasters are more predictable, but how do you guys deal with them?
Well, I am a total preparedness expert :lol:. I have several weeks worth of bottled water and months worth of freeze-dried/dehydrated foods under my bed. I also have emergency flashlights and batteries in my desk near by bed (plus, the smart phone has the LED light :lol. Also, I have a waterproof/fireproof safe in my room that has originals to all our powers of attorney, health care proxies, important documents, etc. which I later plan to digitize and keep in a separate location). The pantry also has plenty of food that's non-perishable and our freezer is stocked with meats that we would eat after we eat whatever is in the fridge. I also like to keep some cash (not credit/debit) on hand just in case. There are probably other things I do that I consider second-nature now but I really like to prepare because it brings me comfort. There's also an entire drawer in my dresser drawer that I have as an stockpile of first-aid gear. I don't go overboard like others you see on TV, but I like to handle the basics.
In my hometown, severe storms in the summer are common. We have bottled water, and food that we can eat in case storms hit. We have gone 2 weeks without power at some point. The longest that I have been without power was actually in the winter, and that was 3 weeks. We keep the cars gassed up when we could have storms, and we charge the phones and the flashlights. Chances are, if I disappear a bit for the summer, it is because we have lost power in my town again.
Growing up in Oklahoma, I had to deal with a lot of severe weather, including tornadoes, hail, blizzards, ice storms, flooding, and even some earthquakes recently (the last I think are possible human-induced due to fracking). None of them were predictable except for a few days (or few minutes in the case of tornadoes) in advance, but I did learn how to drive in severe weather, and once during a winter power outage, my family used the fireplace to heat some food, lol. I think the main thing is just keeping enough stocks of non-perishable food.
The blizzards can be large scale here and cause a lot of damage, and sometimes hurricanes, which are usually small scale 'cept Sandy did a ton of damage that still hasn't been fixed in certain areas. CT sometimes gets small tornados. There was a big one here when my dad was a kid. Earthquakes are rare and small. There was a blizzard in CT on Halloween a couple years ago that did a ton of damage and left my family without power for 10 days, and they had to get all the appliances replaced. I was away at college in Canada at the time so I didn't experience it.
