Boring Rainbow

OK, I can’t BELIEVE that between writing this and posting it, we now have an ACTUAL TSUNAMI WARNING! So, I’ll post now, albeit a speck late, to catch the wave. Everyone… pack a go bag. It might save your life or… make it way more comfortable.

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Let me start out by stating that my “Go Bag” was a complete failure and that, after and while writing this post, it was re-invented, and the process is evolving ever more. It isn’t perfect, but it’s better, more beautiful, mightier. It’s something I might actually want in an emergency, and that’s something I want for you, too.

“Go Bags” are essential for staying safe and happy during the first few seconds, minutes, and maybe days of a disaster. They’re what you grab when folks are banging on your door and a fire is coming, or a flood, or your ShakeAlert app says you have one minute until the earthquake hits, if you’re lucky.

. “A failure? But I thought it was stellar,” says old me.

Yeah… it was as in “almost better than nothing,” which, when you’re desperate, is a lot. But we can make it so much better.

Your Emergency Go Bag shouldn’t be something you just throw together… except for the very first time you compose one. Then go ahead, and great job! Something is often way better than nothing.

Don’t have an emergency go bag? Then let the adventure begin! Today!

“Go Bags” are essential for staying safe and happy during the first few seconds, minutes, and maybe days of a disaster. They’re what you grab when folks are banging on your door and a fire is coming, or a flood, or your ShakeAlert app says you have one minute until the earthquake hits, if you’re lucky.

They’re the “grab and go” supplies that you’ll need when the world is chaos and you’re running for your life.

When we went to the freezing Oregon Coast, and Alaska had the earthquake, and Japan was (and is) having earthquakes, and my husband and I toured the Tsunami route that we’d have maybe 2 to 15 minutes to run to, I realized that our go bags were woefully unprepared for any real disaster. They would not hush us, care for us, help us.

Go bags should be like mothers: tending to your needs, helping to soothe you, saying, “I’ve got this and it will be alright.”

Ours were like 15 year old brothers who threw us a half-eaten candy bar and returned to video gaming.

Yes! My tiny family and I came together wonderfully, and we all worked on our go bags one night after dinner and that was a beautiful and bonding thing. We made ponchos out of trash bags and tried them on, we wrapped duct tape around lighters and everyone got one. We threw in a protein bar. Put in some old clothes, some shoes we don’t like, and voila: Disaster Ready!

Except totally not.

I made us bring our go bags to the coast and we would have grabbed them and frozen to death, had nothing to eat, gotten rained on, and been stuck there for days on some high bluff, waiting for the water to go down, then walking a thousand miles home. (Tiny exaggeration, but it would have felt like it.)

In general, this is what you should have in your Go Bag:

• Cash – at least $60 if you can, more if you can, because you might be in a situation where electricity is down and cards won’t work
• Extra shoes – in case a disaster strikes in the middle of the night and you have to roll out of bed
• Clothes, including socks and underwear, appropriate for the season and location.
  • If you have kids, you’ll add clothes as they grow
  • some people check their bags and update for summer/ winter.
  • I really should have put warmer clothes in mine for Newport, which is freezing
• Flashlight and/or headlamp
• Face mask – so that you can breathe safely
• Water
• Food / snacks – we put pre-packaged energy bars in ours because you can store it and forget about it
• Leashes – in case you have to grab your dogs
• Extra pet food and water for those dogs
• Entertainment – a bag of LEGOs, a stuffie or comfort item, cards, a book, etc.
• Lighter – we each have lighters with duct tape wrapped around them
• Toiletries – lip balm, toothbrush, etc.
• Small amount of medication that you’ve squirreled away if you need it
• Personal hygiene items for women
• Emergency Blankets
  • I didn’t have these in our bags and I felt like it was such a mistake when we were at the coast.
• First Aid Kit – I had literally just thrown some bandaids in our bags and called it good. Oops.
• Poncho

If you want an EVEN BETTER Go Bag:

• Dehydrated food and water for it
• Collapsible camp oven and heat source
• Small bags
• Tiny Shovel
• LifeStraw
• More cash.

I can’t believe I had no food for anyone other than those cliff bars, my child had no water in his bag (I think we thought it would make his bag heavier so we didn’t? Anyways, that was crazy.) AND NO FIRST AID AT ALL!

So for these past two days, I’ve been re-inventing our bags. If you haven’t made yours yet, please, for the love of life, do. And if you have, then re-assess with me.

First, I got us a tiny camp stove and some fuel tablets, more bottles of water, packages of ramen noodles (because they’re light and last forever), and REAL FIRST AID KITS. With toiletries like toothbrushes and toothpaste, chapstick, tweezers, etc. A glow stick for my child. I even tossed in some hard candies. And tremendously improved first aid kits only cost me only $5 for an extra package of bandaids, which I probably didn’t even have to buy as we had a lot at home.

I even put in some old antibiotics that I had on hand because, well, what if someone gets a sliver and it gets infected and we have to walk fifty miles (a thousand) home? Might As Well.

And is it done? No, no. But it is way better. I still have to put in some comfort items. I still have to think, “If I were a mother to myself, what would I have in here? Some freeze dried coffee? Advil? A cup?”

A go bag is never quite done, I think. It’s an evolution and, hopefully, each time it gets a little better.

Trust me; I could never (unless a miracle happened) implement all of the important emergency-saving things I’d like to in one go. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and takes a lot of prep. But I can go slow, I can adjust, I can make something that’s

Way better than “better than nothing.” And you should, too.

So that when a disaster strikes–and it will–you, too, will have something to help you.

Big hugs!