Today we went to Sendai to meet with our Asian Access colleagues, the Adairs and Ray. We love being with them! We had a great Bible study together that I will need to share on another blog. Then lunch, and a quick shopping trip to the local huge home center…. to buy supplies for our disaster survival kits.
Our organization has been proactive over the years in encouraging all of our staff to have disaster kits in their homes. I don’t know how many actually have done this… we made one eight years ago, and I had to throw away the canned goods dated 2005 when we moved up here! Our friends hadn’t made theirs yet, and ours needed to be updated, so we went together, split up the list, and bought what we could. With at least weekly quakes that wake us up at night or make us wonder a bit, we are definitely living in an area where we need to be prepared. Last year there were several aftershocks that caused the electricity to shut down for awhile; there has also been research done that a different earthquake will cause another tsunami in the same region in the near future (article in Japanese here). We don’t want to live in fear, but we do want to be wise and be as prepared as we can be.
We made a list that was a combination of an Asian Access list and one I found that the Red Cross has posted. Here’s what we have so far:
- LED flashlight
- head flashlight
- batteries
- bottled water
- large box of prepared rice packets
- scissors
- kitchen knife
- long lighter
- chewing gum (Red cross said to buy treats – still need to get some chocolate!)
- alcohol wet tissue
- bug spray
- sun block
- instant ice packs
- calorie mate
- mess eating kit
- ground tarp
- toilet paper
- can opener
- one burner gas stove
- replacement gas
- large pan
- notebooks
- ziploc bags
- large bag to hold most of this
Addition: my friend here, Y., gave me several suggestions. She knows well, after living on her second-floor for two months without electricity or running water. She says to definitely include: rubber gloves (since there was no way to wash your hands, these are necessary for food prep and not passing on germs); towels for children, cuts, etc., face masks. These are now on our list!
Still need:
curry/food packets
SPAM, of course!
other canned goods
first aid kit
transistor radio
pens
The Takameter 
a Bible
Hey Sue! One item that “might” be useful for a larger family like yours could be a “vacuum bag”. Supposedly you fill the bag with what you want and attach the vacuum that comes with the kit and it does the rest..(and opens like a giant ziplock for re-use)… I’ve never actually used one myself but I have heard they’re quite efficient because they help save space by removing all the excess air… Come to think of it, it being vacuum sealed would actually keep them dry if water did happened to get to them.. and maybe anything else you might want to protect…
Praying for you guys!
p.s a personal note…seriously! no emergency kit would be complete without Texas Pete! It not only tastes good but it’ll keep you warm too! lol
じゃあ、また。
The Hall Family
Hand sanitizer and seeds to sprout for fresh vegetables.