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"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful think" D & C 88: 119

"....if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." D & C 38:30

Emergency Preparation

We should be prepared for the future. Only preparation, both spiritual and temporal, can dispel fear. Individual members and families should prepare to be as self-reliant as possible in times of personal or widespread emergency.

President Gordon B. Hinckley has suggested "that the time has come to get our houses in order. . . . There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed" (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 70; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 53).

The primary responsibility to prepare for and respond to emergencies rests with individual members and families. To help, Church leaders have counseled families to:

• Prepare spiritually through fasting, family and personal prayer, family home evening, and honoring their covenants.
• Prepare financially by staying out of debt, saving for the future, and obtaining insurance if possible.
• Maintain physical health by practicing wise eating habits, observing the Word of Wisdom, and exercising regularly.
• Acquire a year's supply of food. Families should start by storing basic foods that would keep them alive if they had nothing else to eat. They may then choose to store other foods that they are used to eating.

Preparedness Quiz

coming soon................

Having an evacuation plan is very important for your family. In an emergency, every second counts, so you want to be as prepared as possible. Evacuation plans can be useful for many different types of disasters. Hurricanes, tsunamis and the more important, house fires. House fires are one of the most common disasters people face in this country so it's important that everyone has an evacuation plan and practices it regularly. Everyone in your family should know the plan, even the little ones, so set aside an evening when the whole family can get together to make a plan. Follow these simple steps and you will be ready for evacuation.

1. Make a map of your home and include the following:

• A. Label every exit, including doors, windows and hallways
• B. In every room, label the primary exit (usually a door or hallway) and a secondary exit (usually a window) in case the primary exit is blocked by smoke or flame
• C. Label every room a family member sleeps in
• D. Label the main valves of the gas, electricity and water lines
• E. Establish a safe meeting place outside the home so everyone can be accounted for

2. Practice! Practice! Practice!

No evacuation plan will work unless it is practiced on a regular basis.

• Involve everyone. It is important for everyone in the family to learn how to escape. You may even want to teach your children how to escape out of their windows in case the door is unavailable to exit. You may want to arrange the furniture so a dresser or nightstand is under the window to make it easier to escape, especially in the basement windows.
• Place your 72 hour kits strategically near the exits so they are easy to grab in a hurry. When you practice, assign certain family members to be in charge of grabbing the 72 hour kit.
• Practice turning off utilities (gas valves, etc.)
• Practice other life-saving habits such as always leaving a pair of shoes and a flashlight at each person's bedside.
• Practice with time in mind. Try running through your plan at least 4 times each year and adjust your plan according to the ages of family members.

3. Other Things to Keep in Mind:

• Designate an out-of-town and an out-of-state contact person for your family to call in case you separate, and have everyone memorize the phone numbers.
• Practice using your 72 hour kit supplies.

Evacuation plans can be life-saving for you and the ones you love. Disasters don't just happen to other people. They are very real and can happen to anyone at anytime. Take the time to plan and prepare and you will be very grateful you did.

coming soon.........

Safe Water in Emergencies

Byron J. Wilson and H. Smith Broadbent, “Safe Water in Emergencies,” Ensign, Feb. 1986, 70
Obtaining good-tasting, contamination-free water is ordinarily not a problem. But in times of emergency, on outdoor trips, or when traveling in under-developed areas, having access to a source of drinkable water is a matter of first priority. The bacteria, viruses, and parasites in contaminated water can create many kinds of health problems.

When the purity of water is questionable, use the following steps to make it safe to drink:

1. Clarify cloudy water by adding a small amount of powdered kitchen alum—about 1/4 level teaspoon per gallon. Larger amounts are not more effective! Crystals take much longer to dissolve than does powder. The alum reacts with the water, producing a precipitate which slowly settles and absorbs impurities. After settling is complete (fifteen minutes to an hour or two, depending on the water) pour the water into another container, being careful not to stir up the sludge at the bottom. Discard the sludge, and the water is ready to be disinfected. If you don’t have any alum, filter the water through a tightly woven cloth. Clarification is important; clear water can be purified using less chlorine or iodine than you need for cloudy water. When the water is clear, you are ready to disinfect it.

2. Disinfect the water by one of the following methods:

Boiling. Boil the water at least three minutes after it has come to a rolling boil. This is the best method if fuel is available. (At elevations of ten thousand feet or more, water should be boiled for fifteen minutes because it boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations.)

Chlorine. Add five drops of chlorine bleach solution (4 to 6 percent hypochlorite solutions such as Clorox or Purex work well) per quart of water. Let the water stand thirty minutes. If there is no residual odor of chlorine, repeat the treatment until a definite chlorine odor remains. A small plastic bottle of bleach solution will purify a lot of water, but the chlorine solution deteriorates with time, so replace your bottle on a yearly basis. Halazone tablets release chlorine slowly, but they are expensive, have a relatively short shelf life, and are less effective.

Iodine. Add eight drops of a 2 percent tincture of iodine solution (obtainable at most pharmacies) to a quart of water, and let stand about thirty minutes.

Best of all, you can make your own iodine solution with about five grams of iodine crystals (also obtainable at most pharmacies) in a two-ounce glass prescription bottle. (Plastic bottles darken after a while.) Cover the crystals with a small amount of water to retard sublimation. Freezing this mixture should not crack the container.

When you are ready to use the iodine solution, fill the two-ounce prescription bottle with water, put the cap on, and shake the bottle for several minutes. Let the heavy crystals settle, then carefully pour out approximately three tablespoons (almost all the solution) into a gallon of clear water. Stir, and let the water stand for approximately thirty minutes. If the water is ice cold, let it stand for an hour. If you find the taste of iodine objectionable, use half the amount of iodine solution, and let the treated water stand twice as long. (Most people find the iodine taste less objectionable than that of chlorine in chlorinated water.) Use only the iodine solution; leave the crystals in the bottle. You can use the crystals up to about three hundred times before they completely dissolve.

Keep the solid iodine away from children. Do not touch the crystals! Solid iodine is very irritating to the skin and will stain most things it touches, although alcohol will dissolve it readily. The violet vapors are very corrosive!

The iodine crystal method of water purification is inexpensive, and actually more effective than chlorination. As solid iodine has an indefinite shelf life, one bottle should last a lifetime for emergency use.

As a reminder, put labels on the alum and iodine containers:

Kitchen Alum
1/4 tsp./gal. cloudy water
Let stand until clear

Iodine Solution
Approximately 3 Tbsp./gal.
clear water
Let stand approximately thirty minutes.

We have used the alum clarification and iodine disinfection methods successfully on many backpacking and canoeing trips. Only persons who are sensitive to iodine or who are being treated for hyperthyroidism might suffer any ill effects from this method; no other adverse physiological symptoms have been noted in tests using sample groups. Byron J. Wilson and H. Smith Broadbent, Provo, Utah

Family Scavenger Hunt Every family needs to plan for what might happen. ...
creating your family disaster kit

• What types of disasters might happen
• What you should do to prepare (like creating your family disaster kit)
• What to do if you are asked to evacuate (which means to leave your home)

You should talk to your family about:

• Where to meet away from your home in case of a fire (like a neighbor’s house or the corner of the street);
• Where to meet outside your neighborhood if you must evacuate. You should pick a friend or relative’s house;
• Where to call to "check in" if you become separated from your family during a disaster. You should memorize the phone number of a favorite aunt or family member who lives in another state. You would call there to report where you are so your family can find you.

You can also talk with your whole neighborhood about disaster plans. Find out if someone in your neighborhood has a special skill -- like being a doctor.

Also, be sure your house has a smoke detector and remember to change the batteries twice a year. It’s also a good idea to take a first aid class so you will be prepared to help others.

How many items in a Family Disaster Kit do you already have on hand? How about a scavenger hunt?