Northeast States are in a rerun disaster again

Here is an article about the problems people in the Northeast are having, trying to stock up on food and water and supplies just before this big blizzard is supposed to hit.

The title is "What did the northeast learn from Sandy?  Apparently not much."

http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/what-did-the-northeast-learn-from-sandy-apparently-not-much_02082013

I guess the message we can all learn from this is to realize that you should be prepared all the time, not just when a big disaster is predicted by the weather man.  The author says it is as if these people didn't learn anything the first time around.

Four Things You Need When Disaster Strikes

This is a great article by Creek Stewart, I really think the pictures are useful, so if it takes awhile to load, have patience.  I like the picture of the firestarters the best.

These four categories are what you need to include in your "bug-out bag", also known as a "B.O.B." or a 72-hour-kit.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/4-things-youll-need-when-disaster-strikes/

Morrisville's emergency notification system

I got this information off of the Town of Morrisville's newsletter.

"Morrisville recently changed its emergency notification system to ReadyWake!  Make sure you register your number at https://wakecounty.onthealert.com/ to be notified in the event of an emergency.  The system will only be used for emergency purposes such as:  drinking water contamination, utility outage, evacuation notice and route, missing person, fires or floods, bomb threat, hostage situation, chemical spill or gas leak or other emergency incidents where rapid and accurate notification is essential for life safety."

You may wonder if any of these scenarios could ever happen here, and if you would need to be notified.  I was interested to see that a train derailment caused 300 people to be evacuated because of possible hazardous chemicals in eastern North Carolina just a couple of days ago:

http://www2.wnct.com/news/2013/feb/04/clean-continues-after-eastern-nc-train-derailment-ar-2995710/

Write down phone numbers

I had a dream the other night, I was lost and I did not have my cell phone and couldn't call anyone because I didn't know anyone's phone number.

I woke up and realized this is really a problem in real life, not just in dreams. My brother lost his cell phone and he was in real trouble, he didn't know any of the phone numbers he needed.

I want to encourage you all to write down all your most important numbers and put a hard copy of them into your glove compartment in your car, in your purse, in your wallet, at your workplace, etc.

There may come a time when your cell phone is lost or stolen or out of power, and you will be very thankful you have phone numbers so you can make a phone call on someone else's phone.

Where to begin

January challenge:

One of the hardest things is "where to begin". I have found a great checklist of "Baby Steps" from FoodStorageMadeEasy.net http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/ which will help you as you start out your food storage/emergency preparedness journey.

Go to this web page http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babystep-checklists/ and register, and they will email one checklist to you every other week for one year.

The checklists cover 72 hour kits, water storage, 3 month supply of normal foods, and your entire one year supply of long-term foods as well as some critical non-food items. Each list includes to-do tasks, items to purchase, recipes and more!

I think this is a great way to learn how to do food storage, with very little effort on your part.