PACK YOUR BAG! Day 26: More water, and/or an alternative

| Preparedness | West Seattle news

On a day that began with rain – fittingly, water is the subject of the next installment of what to put in your “Go Bag” kit as we roll into the final days of Washington State Disaster Preparedness Month. The instructions, from West Seattle Be Prepared:

So after the action yesterday to put in bleach to disinfect water – can’t imagine enjoying that taste! – so time to finish up your full stash of water. Today you should add 2 more gallons of water (or 8 liters) per person. This should bring you to 7 gallons or 27 liters per person total. And don’t forget water for your pets.

If the space to store all this water is going to be a problem for you, keep the minimum for 3 days (3 gallons / 11 liters per person) and think ahead about where else you have water that could be used in an emergency. For example, if you are staying in your house but the water supply has been disrupted, you have a large amount of water in your water heater that you can drain.

Need to review (or read for the first time) previous installments? Find them here, in reverse-chronological order. (At month’s end, we’ll also have one big recap.)

Twobottles October 27, 2013 (5:01 pm)

I love this series but really, 7 gallons of water (56 pounds) per person is great to have stashed at home but will never fit in a “go bag”

Confused October 28, 2013 (9:40 am)

This bag must weigh about 1000 lbs by now?!
Can anyone give me some practical advice on really how to store this stuff?

Where should food/water/emergency shelter materials be kept?

Let’s have some scenarios –
Have to leave the house immediately. What should you have and where should it have been kept?

Can stay in the house – but there is no, power, heat, gas pipe broke. What do you need and where should it be kept. I assume not in the house that was knocked off its foundation in the earthquake.

WSB October 28, 2013 (9:55 am)

Hi – Cindi from WSBP has answered this question a couple times earlier in the series – that’ll be among the final points of discussion; she’s definitely monitoring comments. Thanks! – TR

Cindi Barker October 28, 2013 (6:59 pm)

Hi Confused, only 1,000 pounds? Seems more like a full ton, doesn’t it? Yes, all that stuff is actually on the Red Cross list of items to have. But they don’t really break it down in the way you ask, and I totally agree with your thinking. I also have done the same thing and in our final days of building the kits, I will put in information about that kind of thinking.
There is just no way to predict what disaster will affect us, but in the NW, we generally plan for an earthquake or a extended power outage due to severe weather. If you were away from your home and a quake occured and you could not get back into your house, is your bag close enough to a door to get out and could you go to a shelter (or neighbors) and be comfortable? That’s one way to pack. If your home was OK but didn’t have any utilities, could you be comfortable for an extended (two weeks) time? That’s the other way to think about it, which is when all that water and power generating items would come in handy.
If it really comes down to it, you need to eat, drink and stay warm to survive, and maybe medication is a consideration. Everything else is a matter of comfort, either physical or mental. That’s the best way to describe how to prioritize what to put in a pack.

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