Click here to tell a Friend about Love@Home™

Make Love@Home™
your home page

One of the things that will afford a family the opportunity to grow is a feeling of security. One way for your family to have this feeling is to be prepared for emergencies by having a plan that everyone in the family has discussed and has had a part in creating. Our family lives along the Wasatch Front in Utah and we have been hearing quite a bit about the big earthquake that "is" coming our way. Because of this talk, what the kids have been learning in school and our desire to be safe, we have come up with a plan.

We have put together a 72 hour kit for our home and each of our vehicles. This kit has 72 hours worth of food, water, essential clothing as well as a radio, flashlight and spare batteries. We have organized all of our camping equipment, put it in one place that we are fairly certain we will be able to get to incase of something that will make our house un-livable. We have purchased a wrench for our gas line and taught the older children how to use is, so that we can shut the valve off if necessary.

We spent an evening with our kids talking about what they should do in case of an earthquake. We went over things like standing in a door way while the shaking is going on and then getting out of the house as soon as the shaking has stopped. We talked about what they should do if there was an earthquake while they were at school.

We have a password that all of our children know. This password will let them know that it is OK for them to leave the school with an Aunt, Grandparent or friend of the family. They will know it is OK and that we have sent someone because they will be able to give them the password.

There are many more things that we can do as a family to prepare for a natural disaster and the more we do, the more secure our children will feel, not only now, but when the disaster comes. Continue to check this column for ideas on how to prepare your family for the unexpected or the "inevitable" like the earthquake coming to the Wasatch front.