Lessons From Japan

I keep thinking about those families in Japan right now. What if something similar happened here?
Read about Emily who is living in Japan with her husband and four young boys. The internet has been spotty, but she's been able to get a few posts out.
They are doing okay- they have food and water, but they are cold, scared and very stressed. Her post has some great advice on how we can better prepare ourselves should we ever find ourselves in a similar situation.

Some things I am going to do:
  1. I want down blankets for all of my kids (I have them on our bed and the boys). Emily said they are very cold and the down blanket on their bed is much better than the blankets on the kids beds.

   2. Fuel for your grill and/or camp stove  (like 20 bottles) of Propane and in our case, Charcoal.
  3. Paper Diapers, yes cloth are great for long term cost-cutting, BUT what if our running water was cut-off. I would hate to use our few bottle of drinking water to wash diapers.
  4. Candles, flashlights are nice but batteries can leak as Emily found out.
  5. Food Storage; along with baby formula. Japan has anti-hoarding laws so people are not allowed to store food.
  6. Cash in your emergency fund, in Emily's case the commissary was only accepting cash (no electricity, means no credit or debit)
  7. Hand Crank Wheat Grinder and Hand Crank Blender (all that smoothie stuff won't be much good without a blender) Anyone know where to buy a hand crank blender?
  8. Small Lightweight Energy efficient Lanterns
   
Go over and visit Emily's blog she has much more to say.