Spring is the perfect time to clean out your closets, but also do a little spring update on your preparedness knowledge! Follow the steps below to put your best, most prepared foot forward this spring. Visit safeinthesound.org for preparedness tips and more!
Do a little spring cleaning on your Disaster Preparedness Kit:
- Is your water and emergency food still good? Are the expiration dates getting close?
- Do you need to update the spare clothes that are in your kit?
- Are the hygiene items still good? Are they contained in a plastic bag? (Think TSA regulation style.)
Think about where you store your kit or where you will store it after you make it:
Are you planning to put it in the entry closet by your front door? If so, is that closet organized enough so you can grab the kit without being toppled over by shoe boxes and tool kits? If you’re like me, you might go on an organizing spree once every few months – completely gutting your closets and cabinets, cleaning them out and reorganizing the random assortment of items you keep in them. While you have the motivation to organize, try to think about the best place to keep your kit so that it’stucked away safely, but easily accessible. It’s also a good idea to keep more than kit. Create one for your home, but a smaller version for your car or workplace.
Think about how you would get out of your house or apartment in the case of a fire:
If you’re an apartment dweller like me, you might only have one ideal exit from your living space. That is, unless you want to bust through a window and land safely on 6th Avenue. Because of this, I am always trying to make sure I go to bed with a clear path to my door, which thankfully, leads right to the stairs. For those of us that might not be the tidy type, use your cleaning sprees to remove boxes, piles of laundry, or those cute new shoes you just bought, from your path to your exit. Even though you might think you’re quite agile and coordinated, if you’re woken up in the middle of the night by your fire alarm, you might be a little more disoriented and clumsy than you’d anticipate.
Think about where you spend the most time at home and what might be hanging right above your head in case of an earthquake:
Yes, the ornate, antique mirror I bought at a rummage sale is amazing and an exciting future DIY project. Does that mean it should be hung up on the wall next to my bed so it catches the light and makes my tiny apartment appear more spacious? No, absolutely not. Hanging anything large and heavy, without properly securing them to a wall stud, is sure to be a hazard in case of an earthquake. Remember, most injuries during earthquakes are the result of stepping on broken glass and being hit by falling items. Secure that adorable vase or picture frame to your bookshelf (which should also bolted to the wall) with velcro strips or museum wax. After dusting said bookshelf, make sure the heaviest items are moved to the bottom shelves.
Spring cleaning is something we all feel the need to do, so let’s make sure that this spring, you not only tidy your space, but you also take some steps toward being more prepared. Spring is in the air and so is preparedness. What will you do to make yourself safer this season?
American Red Cross NW Region 