For starters, crisis management will never fully address the twists and turns that nature presents but from each disaster we can learn to assess our emergency plans and continue to improve our emergency management practices including making sure that survival gear together with emergency supplies and other emergency essentials are readily available and adequately complete. Preparedness requires being diligent about how to react to any number of situations. Thankfully most emergencies won’t be a 9.0 earthquake, Class 5 tornado or a Katrina size hurricane but something smaller in scale, which still carries the cost of personal injury or life threatening consequences. Take time to assess what can go wrong where you live and work and how best to prepare your family, the fact is disasters of different scopes happen all the time, whether nature or man made and accepting this truth is the foundation for appreciating that being prepared is the key to survival!

For those of you who went sub-zero we hope that if you lost power you had a No Battery NightStar or LightStorm flashlight handy and you remembered to open up the cabinets and have the facets drip to keep the pipes from freezing. No one likes a swimming pool in their basement; especially, at this time of year.

Spring may be around the corner but we are just at the half way mark for the passing of winter. With daylight extending its hold and the thought of spring warming the soul we cannot forget to make sure that our car and home safety kits remain in good order. The CDC offers great advice on being prepared at http://bit.ly/ew6Fao.

Also keep an eye out for individuals who find it difficult to get out and about. A little kindness goes a long ways for those who need a helping hand or maybe just a visit from a caring neighbor.

A car emergency kit is essential.  Kit supplies include such items as blankets or sleeping bag, bottled water (if filling your own water bottles fill 75%), extra clothing, sand or kitty litter to aid with tire traction, first aid supplies, jumper cables, rope, shovel, candle, knife, cell phone and a dependable flashlight.  The ideal flashlight is a high quality capacitor powered shake flashlight or crank flashlight.  These no maintenance flashlights never need batteries and will provide bright dependable illumination for years.  

Another advantage of a capacitor powered flashlight over a battery powered flashlight is capacitors withstand very cold temperatures with no negative effects.  Batteries lose their effectiveness as the temperatures drop below 32 degrees.  Ideally having a no battery flashlight that also serves as a charger for cell phones is a perfect addition to the car emergency kit.

Looking beyond the need for an emergency kit in your car, every household and business should prepare 72 hour emergency kits in order to significantly increase the chances of surviving and helping others to survive natural and man made disasters.

Emergency kits need to be put together right now. Too many people talk about preparedness, usually right after something has happened to someone else, but they rarely put the thought into action. That can be a real killer, literally. You must sit down and think out emergency contingency plans and then put together a 72 hour emergency kit. The first 72 hours in a disaster is crucial and once you have survived the first few hours of an emergency you are usually in pretty good shape.

Emergency kits differ depending on the location and people involved and types of emergencies they may face. However, every 72 hour emergency kit should have the basics and they should be reassessed regularly to maintain their viability. Food and water, medications, bedding and clothing, personal papers including identification as well as phone numbers and addresses of family members and friends, money, radio, a good first aid kit and waterproof matches or lighter are all essential to a well built 72 hour emergency kit. Also essential is a good light source. Emergency kits should all include a flashlight that doesn’t require batteries. In most emergencies of any size, electricity will be cut off for a period of time and light is essential. Not having reliable lighting can be very dangerous – without light it may be impossible to  signal emergency personnel.

Emergency kits should have no battery flashlights so light is available if and when needed.  A no battery flashlight makes sense for other reasons too. Batteries are corrosive and fail to work properly in cold environments.  Having to keep fresh batteries in an emergency kit can also be challenging and inconvenient. Even with fresh batteries, a standard flashlight is only useful for a few hours – after that it’s dead weight. A no battery flashlight will see you through any emergency, no matter how long it lasts.  You also want to keep your 72 hour emergency kit as compact and sustainable as possible. To achieve this goal, the need for batteries must be minimized if not eliminated all together.