Land of Quakes

What does it mean to be prepared in a land of potential earthquakes? We've all seen the pictures from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. People are always urged to have 3 days of food and water supplies on hand - to be able to be self-sufficient for at least (at least) that long. But how many of us actually do that?




I used to live in earthquake land - about 25 years ago. Back then, I did my little bit - the minimum. I got a one-person emergency kit for my car. It had a black carrying case, some emergency food rations and some water in foil pouches. There were probably other things in there as well... but what exactly... I can't remember. I do seem to recall that the food and water rations had a shelf life - something on the order of 5 years.

What triggered all this? Well... the Life of Pi book has food rations and emergency water supplies. And I began to think of my little one-person emergency kit that is still... 20+ years later... sitting in my truck. With the same food rations and the same water rations. Over the years I have thought about replacing the rations but... never knew where to buy them, as the store where I originally bought the kit had long ago moved or shut down. But now... I am back in earthquake land and the whole emergency kit is back on my mind.

Today I was in 3 Vets and saw them... spare food ration bars and water foil packs. No excuse now!! The food bars were $10 each and the water packs were $0.29 or $0.59 each... depending on which one you went with. Did I buy them though? Nope... I couldn't remember how many ration bars or water packets my emergency kit has... so I hesitated.

And now... I just had a search on the internet and found my kit... Here it is...

Almost exactly the same as the one I have... and the company is from the Lower Mainland too. What does it have in the way of food and water rations? One ration bar and 9 packets of water (125 ml each). This is supposed to last for 3 days? That's not even enough water for one day! And all for the low price of $35. I think I could probably put the same kit together for less than that. But that's not the point. The point is... for 20+ years I have thought about doing something about this and never did it. Even now... when I know where the stuff is... and how much it costs... I can still dither! Which is what we do in so many different areas of our lives... or at least... I do... Maybe others don't.

Which makes me wonder... I have had the whole emergency kit thing impinge on my consciousness from several different directions now. I wasn't actively looking for food ration bars... I just stumbled across them. I didn't pick up and read the Life of Pi expecting to hear about emergency supplies. But there it was. Coincidence... serendipity? I wonder... Something to pay attention to? Something to ignore? Good question.