I spent much of this past weekend putting together an emergency survival kit, which now sits in a couple of cardboard boxes near my apartment door ready to be transported to the trunk of a car should a quick evacuation be needed. I did this not because I think that NYC will be attacked again soon, either by terrorists or Mother Nature, but because I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer trust our Federal government to handle a catastrophe with any competence at all. It’s just common sense to be prepared for the worst. Here are the contents of my emergency survival kit:
- 2-Person Backpacking Tent
- 2 Backpacking Packs (in case we need to ditch the car and go on foot)
- Ground tarp (for under the tent)
- 10 gallons of fresh, filtered, tap water
- 20 cans of Chef Boyardee Mini Ravioli and various canned soups
- Manual can opener
- 2 sleeping bags + fleece blankets
- Roll of plastic sheeting ang 2 rolls of duct tape
- 10 Emergency candles
- 2 Flashlights
- Battery-powered camping lantern
- 10 spare D-Cell batteries, 8 spare AA batteries
- 5-gallon can of gasoline
- Coleman camping stove
- 3 spare canisters of propane gas for camping stove
- Well-stocked first-aid kit
- Small hatchet
- Hunting knife with 4-inch blade + sharpener
- 2 packets of water purification tablets
- Bottle of Potassium Iodide (commonly called “nuke pills”)
- Small bottle of bleach
- Baseball bat (not as effective as a gun but equally as intimidating)
- Can of Deep Woods OFF
- Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool
- Grundig FR200 Emergency Radio w/shortwave bands
- Compass
- Face-masks (for allergies and air filtering)
- Vitamin supplements
- Car AC-Adaptor + power strip
- Canister of disinfecting hand wipes
- Medium-weight jackets with extra pockets
- 2 small duffel bags of clothes (2 changes)
Feel free to add more items in the comments. Obviously, this list is designed to be flexible, as some items would not be needed depending on the kind of emergency. For instance, packing more lightweight food (beef jerky, ramen noodles, nuts, etc.) would be better if you expect to not be able to find food and are not tied to an automobile. I designed my list along with a plan of action that I have shared with my girlfriend, my brother and his girlfriend. We have all agreed upon on meeting locations in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, should a catastrophe strike — with the goal being to make it to Park Slope in Brooklyn where the car is. We then will go as a group to the end of Long Island where we can catch a ferry to Connecticut or wait out the catastrophe until it is safe to go back to NYC. We also have made sure each one of us has a cell phone that is capable of email and/or SMS text messaging, since these services are the most likely to work while the voice network is overloaded (as it happened during 9/11 and the blackout of 2003).
Posted by Cameron Barrett at September 5, 2005 09:57 PM