With the recent fire outbreak in the Santa Cruz mountains near Loma Prieta, this topic strikes really close to home, literally and figuratively. Do you wonder…

Are you prepared for an emergency?

Whether that emergency be a fire, a flood, an earthquake, or other type of disaster, you should think about building a go bag that includes minimally the following:

• Food and water supplies to last you 3 days/person (minimum)
• Clothing
• First aid kit (and any necessary medications afflicting members of your party)
• battery powered radio
• cellphone
• flashlight (and/or matches)
• batteries
• copies of important family documents (medical records, insurance policies, etc.) stored in a waterproof container
• If you have pets, build a go bag for them, too (water, food bowl, food, meds, etc.) – cannot stress the importance of maintaining shot records for your pets in the event they must be boarded during a crisis. *Chip them if you haven’t already so they can be reunited with their owner after the disaster*
• Contacts outside the immediate affected area to notify of your situation

It always takes a disaster to remind us, we cannot and should not procrastinate when it comes to disaster preparedness! We need to prepare for these eventualities!