Putting Your Disaster Preparedness Kit Together

In the event of a disaster, it's important to have enough supplies to get you through, at the very least, the first 72 hours of the event. Those first 72 hours are often the worst, especially when it comes to emergency crews navigating damage to restore crucial resources, such as power. You could honestly go without those crucial resources for longer than 72 hours. For this reason, it's very important to have enough resources in any Disaster Preparedness kit to last a week, if not a little longer.

Below, you'll find some of the most important items to put in any Disaster Preparedness kit.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS MUST-HAVES:

• Water, two gallons of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation

• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food

• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both

• Flashlight and extra batteries

• First aid kit

• Whistle to signal for help

• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation

• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities

• Manual can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)

• Local maps

• Cell phone with chargers

• Prescription medications and glasses

• Infant formula and diapers

• Pet food and extra water for your pet

• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container

• Family emergency contact information

• Cash or traveler's checks and change

Some additional items to consider include sleeping bags, warm blankets, fire extinguishers, matches in waterproof containers, and a multi-purpose tool.