Images of devastation emerged after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. We watched water sweep away vehicles and houses; we saw stunned men and weeping women in the ruins. But we also heard about survivors whose homes weren’t flattened or inundated, people who subsisted on stockpiled food and water while waiting for help. Living on the \u201cRing of Fire\u201d means temblors and tidal waves are a fact of life \u2014 and so is disaster preparedness.<\/p>\n
We<\/i> need to be prepared, too. The Department of Homeland Security’s Ready America program says we should be able to sustain ourselves for at least three days after an emergency, whether that’s a hundred-year storm or a civil insurrection.
\nHow ready are you?<\/p>\n
Right now, before<\/i> anything bad happens, is the time to build your emergency kit \u2014 and you can do it on a budget. In fact, you probably already have some (or a lot) of what you need.<\/p>\n During those three days you need to be fed, hydrated and sheltered. You also need a place to poop.<\/p>\n Yeah, that’s gross. You know what else is gross? The idea of everyone in your apartment building or subdivision yelling \u201cGardyloo!<\/a>\u201d and flinging slops out the window. Cholera epidemic, anyone?<\/p>\n When I was a kid, predictions of bad weather had us filling bathtub and buckets. That’s because if we lost power we lost our well pump, i.e., no way to flush the toilets. That’s still the first line of short-term defense; if you have any warning, stash yourself some water.<\/p>\n When that’s gone you’ll need at least one large container into which everyone can evacuate. Maybe a repurposed five-gallon detergent, paint or pet-litter bucket? If you don’t have one:<\/p>\n It’s possible to buy a toilet seat that snaps onto a bucket, which makes things easier. Or buy a prefab one (search online for \u201cbucket toilet\u201d) for $20 or less. Ready for an overshare? Here’s how I’d handle disposal if the you-know-what hits the fan here in Seattle:<\/p>\n Please do not do your business in the condo-complex yard, no matter how much fun it is to pee outdoors.<\/p>\n Ready America recommends one gallon of water per person per day. It’s easy to buy bottled water but much cheaper to fill up two-liter soda bottles, or inexpensive pitchers or jugs. (Don’t drink soda? Surely someone you know does.)<\/p>\n Refill the containers every few months; mark it on the calendar so you don’t forget. Don’t just dump the old water, though. Use it in some way, such as:<\/p>\n When it comes to emergency rations, you can go as stripped-down or as fancy as you like. But it must be something you’d eat anyway, because you’ll need to rotate and replace your stock. If an earthquake happens six years from now, do you want to be eating 2011 ramen?<\/p>\n Some obvious choices:<\/p>\n Note:<\/b><\/i> For more on pilot bread, see this funny video from The Anchorage Daily News<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/span>The (Sometimes Icky) Basics<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\nDecide now where you’ll put your temporary toilet. The garage? The back porch? Maybe even in the actual bathroom? Anywhere but the place where you plan to eat and sleep. Trust me on this.<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>Food and Drink<\/span><\/h2>\n
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