Disaster plan in place for your family?

It's difficult for me to believe that there has been zero traffic on
misc.kids.moderated regarding Hurricaine Katrina, when practically every
other on-line forum (web or usenet) has had so many messages.

In any case, considering Katrina's aftermath, I was wondering what people's
disaster preparation plans were, and if they've been changed. For us, the
most likely disaster to strike would be an earthquake or similar seismic
disturbance. I guess we'd likely have some sort of warning if Mt. Rainier or
one of the other volcanic cones were to erupt, but an earthquake could
happen at any time. As a result, our family plans have mostly focused on the
idea that there would not be any chance to evacuate before a disaster.

One of the big concerns for our family has been that typically one or both
parents have had work or school in the city, and there's a major body of
water, Lake Washington, between the city and where we live. In case of a
major earthquake, the bridges across the water would be down, further
delaying a parent's ability to get home. Contingency plans have included who
the girls could go to and stay with in our neighborhood, with conversations
with and instructions for the kids, the school, and the neighbors. I'm sure
that people who live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area have similar
concerns and plans in place.

The other set of plans in place have centered around setting up camp at
home. We have two large 2.5 gallon jugs of fresh water stored, and food for
about five days on hand. We have camping equipment, so we have things like
the coleman stove (the backpacking stove too, in a pinch), water
purification tablets, and so on. We have a bag stowed with items such as a
hand-crank radio, flashlight, batteries, deck of cards, and other items that
would be helpful.

To be honest with you all, I never thought that we'd really need items for
beyond a few days. Now, after Katrina, I'm beginning to think that five
days' worth of supplies is a bare minimum.

Something else we never considered -- if there really was a catastrophic
earthquake, would we want to evacuate from the Puget Sound area entirely?
How far would we have to go to get to where there were any sort of services?
How would we get there? My husband and I were jokingly fully loading the
tandems and pedalling over Snoqualmie Pass with the girls, in an effort to
flee the area. A bike can overcome obstacles that a car can't. It's a
somewhat fun image at the beginning of September -- it'd be less fun as a
reality at the beginning of, say, January.

--
Warm Regards,


Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky