Earthquake Weather? Are You Prepared, Los Angeles?
This is Part 1 of my Earthquake Preparedness series of posts: The Oh-My-God Bag.
It’s the bag you keep by your bed at night in case there’s an emergency and you have to run from your house screaming, Oh My God! You just grab this bag and go. So it needs to be stocked with all your can’t-live-without supplies.
After the Northridge quake in 1994, I kept an OMG bag by the bed, but after a while, when there wasn’t another earthquake, I became complacent and the habit fell by the wayside. But recent natural disasters around the world have made me want to revive this habit, and so I have.
My OMG bag is stocked with my car & house keys, a pair of glasses (since my old lady eyes will need all the help they can get), my phone (all charged up), my laptop (ditto on the charge), my new iGo wireless battery charger, plus all our prescription meds and a flashlight or two. Your bag should contain anything you think you really couldn’t live without in the first few hours/days of an emergency.
I also have a bag with jackets for the whole family and some extra clothes (in case it’s a frigid Los Angeles night), and of course a pair of shoes for each of us. (Remember the broken glass — you’ll need shoes.) And someone just gave me a great tip about the shoes: place them upside down by the bed so nothing falls in them. Great idea!
Stay tuned for Part Two in the coming weeks: a look at our big-time serious earthquake kit since it’s time to update it.
{FULL DISCLOSURE} {I was given an iGo battery charger at a recent Silicon Valley Moms Blog event. There were no strings attached to the gift of the charger and I have not been paid for this post. I have used it and it’s great, I really do keep it in my OMG bag, and so I am including it here.}