Survival is the first step on the journey to adaptation.
1.2 million Americans were displaced from their homes by natural disasters in 2018. These are folks who cannot return to their communities but must find a way to start over, somewhere else. The Camp Fire of 2018 is one story of survival in a community taken by surprise and overwhelmed by natural disaster. In about 5-hours, perfect conditions on the ground and in the air enabled a brush fire to ravage a town of 27,000. Some residents had minutes to evacuate. Others never received the evacuation order due to melting infrastructure.
In 2022, 3.3 million Americans were displaced from their homes by natural disaster. In Florida, the year 2022 witnessed the displacement of over 990,000 residents. In Louisiana, 410,000. In Texas, about 380,000. In California, 250,000. The writing appears to be on the wall, whether we choose to acknowledge the trend is a personal choice. Natural disasters and their impacts are becoming more common place. While government in its local, state, or federal form may be able to lend assistance, it's important to build self reliance to ensure your family can venture beyond the first step of survival. Adapting to a new way of life without the comforts of home, if only for a few days or a week, is challenging. Taking the time and investing the resources into a family disaster preparedness kit is essential. A family survival kit will give you confidence and provisions should such an event occur. This guide was built based on interviews with disaster survivors, conversations with first responders, and research of U.S. government resources.
If you were given 5 to 15 minutes to evacuate your home, your community, or your state, what would you do?
Using the 4 W's to plan your family's evacuation.
Why do we need to evacuate?
The order to evacuate may come from local, state, or federal authorities. It may be broadcast from a network of sirens, text messages, or automated phone calls. If you receive an evacuation order, stop what you are doing and get informed. Turn on the local news channel, radio station, or NOAA for important information.
Evacuations put time and distance between your family and the disaster.
Evacuations may be ordered in the event of a wildfire, hurricane, earthquake, tornado, winter storm, or other serious event. You may also be given the order to shelter-in-place, which may then lead to an orderly evacuation period. Whatever the case, take heed, get informed, and be prepared.
What does your family need to consider for an evacuation?
As a rule of thumb, your vehicle should always have enough fuel to drive 100-miles without stopping.
This is typically ½ tank of gas but depends on the make and type of vehicle.
If you do not have access to reliable transportation or rely on public transportation, go over your safety plan with family or friends.
Does your family have an evacuation kit, survival kit, go bag, or shelter-in-place kit?
Is it on standby in a garage, closet, or some other space that is out of the way, but easily accessed when needed?
These are the Top 10 Categories to include in your family survival kit:
Water – Clean containers that can be filled with water or a case of water bottles.
Food – Focus on high calorie, highly nutritious foods, such as; Canned food, long shelf life food (protein bars, MREs, Other long shelf life foods). You should also consider a way to heat or cook food, such as with a multi-fuel camp stove. If you are a pet owner, include a small bag of dry pet food and a small metal or plastic water dish.
Power – A portable power bank that can recharge using a car charger is a great way to keep your phone or other mobile devices up and running.
Weather Protection and Shelter – Ponchos, mylar blankets, tube tents, compacted sleeping bags, or blankets. Consider using a vacuum sealable plastic bag for compression of these items.
Miscellaneous:
Old Clothing – If you don’t have old clothing that still fits you can always head to Good Will or other secondhand shop. Keeping 2 to 3 durable outfits (jeans, flannel shirts, cotton shirts, thick socks, old pair of walking or running shoes) is a good way to keep yourself and family clean. Always pack extra clean socks.
Money - An envelope with enough cash for 1 to 2 weeks of expenses. Consider what your family spends on groceries and gas. Also, a credit card used only for emergencies, to pay for motel or hotel accommodations, car repairs, etc.
Light – LED flashlights are the most enduring and longest lasting flashlights on the market. LED flashlights are also inexpensive and easy to use.
PPE – N95 or KN95 masks filter out environment hazards such as smoke, soot, or other air pollutants that fly into the air during natural and after natural disasters. Well-fitting nitrile gloves are useful for handling potential toxic materials, providing first aid with clean hands, or even handling food for prepping or cooking.
Navigation – It’s important to always keep an updated road almanac, should you have to leave your community and head to locations that you are unfamiliar with. If the power goes out or cell towers fail, you can find your way to safety.
Communications – Keeping a NOAA capable hand crank radio allows you to monitor the ongoing emergency and make informed decisions.
Hygiene – A hygiene kit is essential for keeping you and your family clean. Good hygiene reduces the likelihood of getting sick from poor sanitation or from ingesting airborne toxins that occur from many disasters. A good hygiene kt should include bathing wipes, toothbrushes and toothpaste, comb and brush (to remove debris from hair), hand sanitizer, and feminine products.
Your kit should be placed in one or two bags and kept together in a temperature-controlled environment. Your kit should be easily accessible, to be loaded quickly and without obstruction.
If the evacuation order is given, you should also include:
1. All prescription medications.
2. Wallet, Cellphone, Tablets, any cellular to Wi-Fi devices.
3. Anything that will give your children and yourself some comfort (stuffed animals, small toys, etc.)
4. Pets
5. Immediately accessible high value items such as data back devices, laptops, jewelry, cameras, irreplaceable items.
Your family’s lives are more important than material items. If you have 15-minutes or less to evacuate, leave it behind.
The kids are in the car, the pets are in the back, and your spouse is looking ahead ready to go. What’s next?
Where you should go: The 25-, 50-, and 100-mile rule.
For local disasters get in touch with family and friends who live away from your community. Sheltering with family and friends who live even a few miles away may be the best solution for events such as flooding, earthquake, or other locally impacting events.
Public shelters may also be available in your area. Buildings designated as Public Shelters have the infrastructure to withstand historically relevant natural disasters or other catastrophes. Check with your local authorities before a disaster strikes for the nearest public evacuation shelter in your area. Follow the designated evacuation routes and get to the shelter as soon as possible.
For disasters that will impact an area larger than your community, consider the 25-, 50-, and 100-mile rule. You’ll want to think about different locations or types of places where your family can find temporary refuge at the 25-, 50-, and 100-mile. Consider the impact of hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, or the disasters more common for your region. What type of building or infrastructure is most likely to remain open at those distances from your home. Common types of businesses that are typically open 7-days a week are:
Gas stations or convenience stores
Big Box Stores such as Walmart or Grocery Chains
Always check with family and friends who may live in another state or at those distances
Choose a location that will most likely have access to fuel for your vehicle type, clean water, restrooms, and access to food.
This is where your planning comes into play and Google Maps is the best source to help plan out these steps.
Check out where you live using satellite display.
Consider, what are the historically relevant natural disasters that impact your area.
Some natural disasters to consider:
Flood – You’ll want to choose locations that are elevated well above the flood plain.
Earthquake – Think about earthquake resistant, newer construction.
Wildfire – Distance from the fire is your best option. You’ll want to consider the 50- to 100-mile range.
Tornado – Shelter in-place! Seek out working infrastructure after the storm.
Hurricane – Consider the 50- to 100-mile range, inland or far from the coast.
Nuclear Detonation – We’ll tackle this in a later article.
Volcanic Eruption – Consider going beyond the 100-mile range.
War – Consider leap frogging to various points of refuge and heading beyond the 100-mile range. This type of event requires constant mobility and resourcefulness. Sheltering in-place may not be an option for more than a day or so.
Zoom out of the map, while keeping your home the central focus.
Find strong infrastructure that can provide temporary refuge and ideally fuel, food, and water at the 25-, 50-, 100-mile rule.
Choose one location at each distance.
Mark those locations as places of interest on Google Maps (check out our how-to video).
In the event of a disaster, you can open Google Maps, choose one of these locations, and follow the map to refuge.
Purchase an up-to-date road almanac (hard copy) and mark areas of refuge for future reference. Include the almanac with your disaster kit. Hard copy maps are vital if cell tower coverage fails.
After all this planning is completed, you’ll want to communicate these plans with your spouse, family and friends, and ensure you know where your local public shelter is located.
When do we evacuate? Timing is vital.
Frequent and frank discussions are key to your family’s ability to react and adapt to a possible life changing disaster.
When the order to evacuate comes, it may come with instructions. Some local authorities may have protocols to evacuate communities or neighborhoods on a schedule. It is important to follow instructions and evacuate when it is your turn.
Local authorities schedule evacuations to allow for outbound traffic to flow down main roads or freeways without creating a major traffic jam. Roads are chaotic during major disasters. Not every driver will follow traffic laws and time-consuming traffic jams are likely to occur. Scheduling evacuations over a period of time allow police to direct traffic in an orderly fashion, away from disaster. It also allows for the closure of roads and funneling of evacuees to disaster shelters or generally away from the disaster impact.
If there are no instructions associated with the order to evacuate, the rule of thumb is: the sooner, the better.
Evacuation allows your family to create time and distance away from the disaster impact. The more time you create before a disaster impact, the more time you have to consider next steps. The more distance you put between the disaster impact and your family, the more likely your family will be able to observe the effects of the impact, provision, and adapt.
If no instructions were given with the order to evacuate, the main roads leading away from the disaster impact may be clogged with traffic, accidents, or otherwise not moving due to the number of drivers on the road. When planning, you’ll want to consider alternate side streets that allow you to get around potential bottlenecks.
We know this is a lot of information. Check out our 90-second Plan Your Family’s Evacuation videos on YouTube (coming out February 2023).
When considering your family’s evacuation, think about the why, what, where, and when. Consider the historically relevant natural disasters and the impact the largest of those disaster have had on your area or region. Consider recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ian, the Camp or Paradise Fires. The Northridge Earthquake. The LA Riots. The George Floyd related riots. The impact of Covid-19 on supply chains and society.
What lessons can be learned from these incidents that you can use to keep your family safe?
And remember, Survival is the first step on the journey to adaptation.
Sources and References:
Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority. (2021). Emergency and Evacuation. ACE&CQA.
Budrick, Z. (2023). 3.3 Million People Displaced by Natural Disasters in US Last Year. The Hill.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, and Covid-19. CDC.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Public Shelters & Covid-19. CDC.
Fire Service, USDA. (2020). Fire Evacuation Check List. FSUSDA.
Habitat for Humanity. (2020). Family Evacuation Plan. Habitat for Humanity.
Johnson, L. (2022). Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire. Crown.
NBC San Diego. (2018). What Would You Grab if you had to Evacuate in 5 Minutes?. NBC7SanDiego.
Ready.Gov. (2022). Evacuation. Ready.gov.
Wilson, R. (2023). Millions of Americans displaced by natural disasters in 2022. Pluribus News.
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