Well, my friend Shane posed an interesting question today about whether or not I am prepared for a Hurricane or Tornado. He recently had a tornado touch down 600 feet from his home. More specifically, he asked, if I have a kit for such an emergency, and what I might do if I had five minutes to get out of my place. Where would I go and what would I do?
Well, first, fundamentally, I believe that most SHTF kits are primarily the same at the core. Correct me if I am wrong. Living in NJ Tornadoes and Hurricanes are very rare, even though there have been devastating storms like those. My core kit has the following:
- Altoids EDC Kit (contents posted in another thread)
- Wind-up/solar radio
- Several flashlights
- Emergency blankets
- Fire starting tools (Matches, Lighter, Magnesium rod, lighter fluid, fire sticks (home made))
- Iodine tablets/crystals
- Multi-tool
- 25′ of 550 Paracord
- Basic first aid kit (not just one I bought at the store, but with many additions of my own)
- Knife (Swedish Mora)
- 1 QT Water bottle
- 1 Gallon Plastic Bag
- Emergency Poncho
I think I hit everything, but this is the core of many of my emergency kits and I build on that from there.
Now if I had less than 5 minutes to get out, that is a tough one. Because I live in an apartment in NJ, that is a great question. I have no basement I can go to, no safe room that is in my back yard. Not good. Now the advantage I have is that very rarely is there a Hurricane or Tornado in the northeast where I live. But, we do experience the wrath of the tropical storm, etc. This could be the long aftermath of a large hurricane. More to think about, and more follow-up on that later…