From "Sturdy Shoes and a Waterproof Tent" by William G. Hartley, Ensign Oct. 2001
Church history teaches many lessons about personal preparedness.
Lessons from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, continued
Lesson 4: Have minimal cleaning items, such as moist towelettes, toothpaste, deodorant, face towels, and even small bags of detergent.
“It was a real trial,” said missionary Elder Leo Gardner, bound for the Pacific islands, “to endure our thirst and to go without washing our faces and hands which were getting blacker with the dust and smoke.” 12
Lesson 5: Have emergency food as we have been taught.
San Franciscans rushed to local markets to buy up bread, creating panic buying. By noon, as fires spread through the city, martial law was declared, and anyone trying to enter stores, even store owners, were shot on sight as looters. Within a day or two the city provided bread for people who stood in breadlines that were four people wide and blocks long.
Lesson 6: It is important to have two or three meeting places where family members can find each other in case disaster strikes and the family is scattered.
President Robinson’s toughest task for about a week was reuniting families separated during the disaster. Evacuations had become necessary. With homes damaged and the Church’s mission home dynamited to create a firebreak, members scattered. President Robinson tried to let members know where other members were camped out by posting in the mission home ashes a sign indicating where the main Latter-day Saint camp was located.
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