Emergency preparedness

Why all this?

I am writing this post because, in my home country, there are severe floods these days. The situation looks grim, there are thousands of people evacuated, electricity is failing, the same with mobile signal, whole parts of the cities are evacuated and underwater, hospitals are run in an emergency regime, and traveling is extremely difficult. And the worst is yet to come. The situation is critical now, nobody can predict with accuracy what will be next. Luckily the emergency preparedness is high.

Special needs patients

It is obvious that in a situation like this, you have to play with what you have at home. It is impossible to go anywhere and most stores are closed or almost empty. We, bari patients, have special needs for the rest of our lives, so we have to make sure that we always have at home things that are important to us.

Obviously, we need electricity, drinking water, and heating, but I am not talking about these obvious things. What is important for us are our supplements – you will not be able to run to the pharmacy just like that. I make sure I have a supply of at least a month at hand. When I see I am running low on something. I order a new supply right away.

It is the same with protein shakes. Yes, we can survive without them, but in times of crisis, they can help us immensely to keep our protein goals met and hunger at bay. They may not be our preferred option, but still, there is something about them. They are easy to transport, especially the ones in powder, they can be prepared with water or with (powder) milk. Also easily stored and transported.

And last but not least is our food. This part can be a little tricky. We usually eat meat and veggies. And it could be hard to get. But still, some available options are better than others. It doesn’t have to be fresh veggies, it can be frozen or canned. The options are there. We just have to be a little creative and have things prepared in advance. Like this, we can keep going as if nothing. In the worst-case scenario, the is always tuna 😀

What I learned from polar bears

When I was living in Canada, I was surprised when they told us we must have food and water for at least a week (or some time like this) at home for the winter period. In case we got snowed in. To my shock it meant that you might get stuck at home for a week because of the heavy snowfall outside and you will have to make it until somebody comes and digs you out 😀 that is why. Coming from Central Europe, that was a big WOW!

I am not saying that this is applicable anywhere, but thinking about it now, there is something about that. These people know that the weather can be unpredictable and very mean. And it can make your life miserable. And yes, it can even kill you. If there is something I learned from polar bears it is this preparedness.

Be prepared

I live in Spain now, and it is extremely unlikely that we would get snowed in by the Mediterranean Sea. But I still have this small amount of food and basic supplies at home. Always. No matter what. If you remember the Covid situation and all the things that were missing in stores, I was calm at home with all my supplies already stocked.

I had made my big order from the supermarket before the local authorities even started thinking things could go so badly wrong. It paid off. I have to admit it was crowded in the flat where I was living at that time, it was only 22 meters, it was tiny, and having there stuff to survive three months, it was an important Tetris situation, but we were really happy we didn’t have to go to the store when the situation was very uncertain.

We are rotten spoilt

Why am I saying all this? We are all too spoilt nowadays. We rely on Amazon, online orders, Glovo, Uber Eats, you name it. All these services are readily available and they will bring you anything and everything in question in minutes. But do you remember what it was like before them? You had to go out and it was you who had to go to the store, to bring it all home.

And what if there will be snow? Or the road will be flooded? I don’t even want to think about another pandemic. But who knows? Anything is possible. If it happened before, it can be repeated easily. Hopefully not. But still. I remember very well what it was like when it was almost impossible to order things online. When even Amazon was working just so so. And if you ended up without toilet paper at home, you know firsthand what I am talking about 😀

Do it reasonably

I am not promoting hoarding things. This is another extreme. But having a small supply of basic stuff at home in case something happens is comfortable. It feels good and safe. You know they won’t catch you with your pants at your ankles when things go wrong. Maybe I am a little scaredy cat, but I like playing things safe. If I can prepare, it feels certainly better. Better safe than sorry.

I am by no means the famous American prepper who has things stored for the possible end of the world. I am very far from that. I don’t have generators at home, but I have a flashlight with some batteries. And a power bank for my phone seems also a good idea. You can always use it while traveling, right? Having these small things that you can use anyway is comfortable. There is nothing more annoying than a dead phone when you need to make a phone call. This is what I am talking about.

Better safe than sorry

Hopefully, we will not need to use these supplies. But you will be grateful to have them when things go south. Yes, we can survive without our vitamin supplements. But we would be playing with our health. Nobody wants that. And talking about health… do you have some basic emergency kit at home? I mean pills. Imagine waking up with a nasty toothache in the middle of the night. It is so much better to open a drawer and take a pill than to go somewhere on the other side of the city to the only open emergency pharmacy.

I think that people don’t think about these kinds of situations until it is too late. And then they are all surprised. Had I known… I wish I had… but it is too late. It is better to be prepared than later try to save the situation at any cost. Things might escalate really quickly. Much faster than anyone would ever thought.

You will be calmer

You might get things you need but it would be much more expensive and it will cost you a lot of strength and time. Commodities you could use to help people around you or simply avoid those nerve-wrenching situations. With basic survival supplies, to me, it is the same as with financial preparedness. If you can have it, it feels so much better and gives you a much better starting point in case something happens.

You can start building it slowly. One small shop at a time. Adding one or two inexpensive items to your normal shopping won’t hurt. But it will come in handy. All you have to do is start. It builds up slowly but you will get there.