Being Prepared
Posted on January 17, 2010 - Filed Under Guatemala, Simple Life | 12 Comments
Guatemala is an earthquake prone country. We also tend to get a number of hurricanes each season, though Antigua is fairly sheltered from storms. That being said, in 2005, when I was pregnant with Dorian, Hurricane Stan caused serious damages in the Antigua area and one of the teachers that I worked with at the time disappeared. The school was closed for over a week but when they went looking for the teacher, it was discovered that his house had been completely washed away in the river that flows through Jocotenango. He eventually did reappear, alive and well, but it was a scary time.
The recent earthquakes in Haiti have reminded me that we are in constant danger from natural disasters around here. Knowing that, I think it is very important to be prepared for something to happen. We are working on two areas at the moment . . . creating an emergency survival kit and building up a food supply. Our town is accessible only by bridges, so if there is a big quake or storm, those will be gone and it will take a while to restore access. While the town itself has stood up well to previous large quakes, there’s no reason to take chances.
The Emergency Kit
Our emergency kit will contain a complete first aid kit, with extra dressings, bandages, antibiotics, enemas and laxatives for Dorian (imagine if he were to get an impacted bowel in the middle of a disaster!), and other relevant meds.
It’s suggested that you have 3 days worth of food and water on hand for each person in the family, so the kit will also contain these. Since you may be limited in water and the ability to cook during an emergency situation, it’s a good idea to have food on hand that doesn’t require either. For example, tinned fruits and vegetables, granola bars and the like. Our kit will have an assortment of dry, instant food, as well as cans. I will probably include some flour and baking powder, in case we can cook, since biscuits can easily be made in a frying pan.
Other stuff in the kit will include diapers, waterless hand cleaner, toilet paper, a tent, sandals (in case we run out in the middle of the night) and items for starting a fire, etc. Also, a phone card, in case phones work, to let family in Canada know our status, and copies of all important papers.
The Food Storage
Over time, I’ve become quite accustomed to the Guatemalan lifestyle that involves purchasing food for the day or for just a couple of days. It’s actually a bad habit to get into, though it does make sense for fruits and vegetables which are available fresh year round. Tinned goods are fairly expensive in comparison, so I rarely purchase anything but tinned beans.
If something were to happen and we were stuck here for a while or had no money to purchase food, at this particular moment in time, we could probably stretch what we have in the house for 5-6 days. Not good!
So, the plan here is to gradually stock up on stuff. First of all, I need mouse-proof bins and buckets. In these, I’ll store flour, sugar and rice, etc. Since Irving’s cousin owns a bakery, I can actually purchase flour in 50 lb. sacks, but have never done so because . . . well, quite frankly, I have nowhere to store that much flour! I really want to remedy that. Growing up, we always had at least one 100 lb bag of flour on hand, usually two!
We’ll also purchase in bulk for other things, such as tinned beans, veggies, etc. Those can be bought by the crate off the trucks, which is very easy around here. You simply ask at the store when a certain truck is coming, then you show up around that time on the designated day, talk to the truck driver and hand over your cash. They have no qualms about selling stuff to you and you’ll get it at store cost, which is usually considerably cheaper.
The goal is to have a minimum of 3-6 months of food on hand. We certainly have the space for it in the cupboards . . . most of my cupboard space is unused, in fact! It will take us a while to build up to that amount, but it will certainly be worth it. Then it is just a matter of rotation.
Apart from food, things like toilet paper, soap and such will need to be stored. I have a cubby in the bathroom that will fit a LOT of TP, designed specifically for that use.
Water
Of course, all the food in the world does you no good if you have no water! We do have the storage tank up on the bathroom roof, and we keep four garifunes (5 G jugs) of water on hand, but we will probably increase that to six within the next couple of months.
So, that’s our plan. What’s yours in the event of an emergency? If you need more info, there’s actually a very good download here.
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12 Responses to “Being Prepared”
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I always like to have cans of food on hand and a full cupboard. It can be a pain when moving time comes (charities/neighbors benefit) but I was raised with a full pantry and freezer. Not only is it good for emergencies… but buying in bulk is cheaper, freezing your own veggies (either garden grown or bought in season and stored) is cheaper than buying commercially frozen foods, buying meat in bulk is a better bargain… even paper goods! Buy more, pay less. My folks also did a lot of canning too, but I simply do not have the space and equipment. We’ve never had to deal with massive natural disasters, but we’d have hurricanes, or just big storms, that would knock the power and water out for a week (shopping would be chaos.. but we didn’t have to go). Living up north, we’d be snowed/iced in for periods of time too. I was living in the barracks during the big California earthquake in ‘98 – again, no power or water for days – but I even had 2-3 days food in my little fridge then too! It is a good idea. I need to re-stock my 1st aid supplies. I haven’t been as good as keeping up with the meds – even basic pain killers and fever reducers! – as I should.
Smart move, Genesis. At first, my husband did not understand the prepper mode I got into by buying extra when shopping to set aside for emergencies. He is used to purchasing what is needed for the day, as are most Guatemalans I have encountered. Here in Maine, with snowstorms and ice storms there are times that we just cannot get out. Also, make sure you have enough gas to cook with-here we have an electric stove so I try to have ready to eat stuff on hand (boxes of cereal in plastic airtight bins) I will rotate the storage out as time goes by so nothing expires. I also keep powdered drink mixes on hand, and of course Spam because we know how long that stuff lasts! I also keep a small charcoal grill with charcoal bags in airtight bins. Charcoal will store indefinitely if kept airtight, and its a great way to cook the carne asada rather than it going bad in a fridge with no electricity. Being in Guatemala, you have the advantages of a solar oven as well-if you look on youtube there are some pretty good videos of making one out of something as simple as a pizza box. Granola bars, snack mixes, energy bars, all other essentials just in case. I agree, this disaster in Haiti has had me thinking about prepping more for disaster, and it is heartbreaking to watch the people struggle and fight over food
Michele, I’ve actually built solar ovens before but because of our location on the volcano, they don’t work too well. The clouds tend to move in and hover around the volcano in the afternoon, and the angle is difficult to work with. I would really like to make that work, though!
The charcoal is an excellent idea and I could easily rotate that. It would be extremely useful if the house went down and we had no access to the stove, as well. I’m planning on getting a second cylinder of gas, too, because it drives me bonkers to run out in the middle of cooking something!
I was raised with lots of food, too, but just fell out of the habit. I think part of it was having to carry everything we bought on my back until we got the car. Now that we have it, I need to take advantage and load up on bulk stuff.
Good list! Add some candles too, because it can really lift your mood when there’s a little light and warmth. I have been stuck in Solola during Hurricane Stan and it was a horrible experience… don’t want to imagine how it must’ve felt being preggo. xoxo
Not only for quakes…did you realize that this can also be emergency kit for when zombie finally attack us? XD I still find that cute. This is an impressive list…makes me want to stock myself but haven’t had any disasters around here that I could think of to justify it. Great list to have around though, just in case!
Well, if we’re preparing for a zombie attack, I’d want an ax or two in the kit, as well.
and something to block the windows up with.
Also, just because nothing has destroyed Australia recently (apart from that horrible fire) doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared! You never know what could happen. And, it’s always good to have food and medical supplies on hand for daily use, too. If you guys both lost your jobs, you could survive a long time on your survival kit.
Yup, we always have candles on hand because the power goes out so frequently here . . . I buy them by the dozen!
I didn’t realize you were here during Hurricane Stan, it was pretty scary, huh?
Good you’re sorted with candles. We didn’t have any and it was fairly dark until day 3. Yeah, it was a pretty scary experience which occasionally still gives me bad dreams. We had no idea something so big was coming and were totally unprepared. The first 5 days in Solola weren’t even the hardest part… much worse was the way back to Antigua, seeing all that devastation.
Today, my spanish vocabulary includes words like “derrumbe” and I always carry my little torch-keyring with me. Kinda paranoid but who cares? The girlscout in me will aways be prepared better than before Stan.
Did you have this blog back then? I’ll look out for a Stan-post. I must have been driving right by your door, well sort of. I wish we’d have met back then. xoxo
I wish we’d met then, too! I didn’t have my blog at that point, I didn’t even get internet until Dorian was nearly a year old.
Thank you for the link to our website under the subject of “Water” above. However, you do have one fact wrong. It is NOT a Mormon website. And if you think we’re a little paranoid…are you aware that in Haiti, the people that were prepared (usually mission-run facilities)had food and water stored? Those people, especially the children that were being cared for, have fared better than the majority that had nothing. So if urging everyone, no matter where they live to be prepared is paranoid, then so be it. Here’s my question: What if a “Haiti” or “Katrina” occurs in more than one location at one time…how long can you survive while waiting for help? Do your kids a favor…get prepared!
I’m sorry, I found your site through a Mormon blog and incorrectly assumed. And being prepared is precisely my point in this post. As for the paranoid part, I’ve changed that because I realized that I’d been looking at another website that WAS paranoid, they had entire apocolyptic, chemical warfare scenarios. I’m sorry for getting mixed up.