Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sodding earthquake

Beautiful Christchurch is a mess. I can't begin to imagine how the people down there are holding it together. I'm seeing glimpses of my childhood in ruins, which is sad, but my god, the people stuck there every day dealing with mess and death and pooing in plastic bags and general misery. Oy. The thing about being human is you do endure, you don't have the option of just giving up, because you can't. I wish there was something I could do. I want some Christchurch people to come here so I can give them some alcohol and some food and a bit of a reprieve, but they can't just skip out on their lives.

The whole incident has prompted me to actually pull together an earthquake kit, because honestly, how stupid would you feel if the big one did actually hit, and you couldn't give your children a drink of water?

I'm going to list here what I did, because I know that some people will be interested. It is by no means comprehensive, and I haven't actually finished. You should feel free to chip in ideas about what to add, where to stash it, what to stash it in, that sort of thing.

From the supermarket:

Dettol (cream and liquid)
Bandaids
Soap (I got liquid bodywash, figured it would be versatile)
Bandage
Matches
Toilet paper
Panadol
Insect repellent
Hand sanitiser
Can opener
Rubbish bags

Water (we bought 40 litres. We need more, but I honestly don't know where we'd keep it, so I'm gonna keep all our water bottles and soda stream bottles filled in the fridge too)

Tinned toms
Baked beans
Tinned spag
Tinned bean salad
Rice
Muesli bars
Boiled sweets
Condensed milk
Tinned creamed rice
Tinned fruit salad

From Kathmandu
Aquatabs (water purifying tabs)
Freeze dried food (which Pauline assures me is tasty)

From home
Leatherman tool
Scissors
Pad
Pencil
Booze
Bucket

To come from Mitre 10
Dust masks
Rubber gloves

Things I should have but haven't worked out how to store
Clothing
Shoes
Blankets

I think we'll keep it all in the caravan, and hopefully it survives any major earthquake action better than the house. We have a camping stove and lantern there, plus several torches and we have a radio (but probably should get another too).


Thanks to everyone on Twitter for their great suggestions. Without them I think the list would've looked like this "water, lollies".

Please add in comments anything I've missed.

Suggestion from Cheryl Bernstein (who is a genuine earthquake survivor) - baby wipes, definitely adding them!

Suggestion from Sarah - Safety Shop on Hutt Road

Suggestion from Helen - spade for digging a loo, strong gloves for moving debris





12 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I lived in Wellies I bought a big plastic rubbish bin and stored all my survival stuff in there. I think you need to replace the water periodically... and the food too?

Anonymous said...

enough batteries for everythingx3
spare cellphone charger,

money!

Anne (Anne) said...

Transistor radio and batteries (no doubt they'll be selling out the world over). A toilet seat, and a bucket with a lid that fits?

I heard the manager of Bunnings CHCH talking on NatRad and he was saying that they had sold out of loo seats. It's ghastly to even think about it, huh? But we've just got to.

One of the things that struck me when watching the telly was the impractical nature of high heels in these situations. I always laugh at 'sensible shoes' but maybe it's essential.

I have been also thinking about setting up Google calendar to remind me when to chuck food out, or better take it to the foodbank.

Geez, us humans. We have to feel like we're responding huh?

clea said...

We invested in a wind up/solar radio, torch & cell phone charger (radio is bit of a lifeline to find out what's going on and knowing me I'd forget to replace old batteries and it wouldn't go when really needed) . Also we've got a small version of the kit in a backpack for the up & go in 2 mins option (we live in Lyall Bay which is at mega risk if there's tsunami) - so just first aid, ltd. water, meusli bars, spare waterproofs, torch, radio and coupla emergency blankets. This one lives on a hook near the front door.

Mr Reasonable said...

Yeah wind up radio and torch useful. We've also got a small hacksaw and everything is in a bright orange rucksack by the door where it can be grabbed in an emergency. Oh, and a solid fuel cooker to heat up those beans.

Anonymous said...

toilet paper!

Mel Archer said...

Remember with the tinned food you're likely to have a lot of it in the pantry anyway, allows for stock rotation...

Violet said...

But what if you're at work when it happens, which is at least 33% likely? The workplace's CD kit would have to be up to scratch too.

Anonymous said...

def fan of the wind up/solar flashlight/beacon/radio combo.

kathmandu has solar power usb/cell port chargers with a little booklikght add on too. on sale for 70$ after xmas down from 140.

also, a friend in chch suggested couscous as a good food. add boiling water and you're sorted. easier than rice.

ours is in one of those wheely plasic bins. which we've attached a strap to pull if needed. can be chucked in the car/carried away.

love throwing out ideas

Anonymous said...

We had 3 solar showers and they are being very handy also they hold 20ltrs of water from the well down the road. They are turning out to be the nicest thing to have. Also a full gas bottle and spare petrol for getting out of town with.

Catherine said...

My Aunt is up from Sumner in Chch and she said the most important thing to have is a change of clothes & shoes. Also paper plates & cutlery, because you don't want to use your previous saved water to wash plates. And she said a plug-in phone & wind-up radio were a godsend.

playground said...

Have several spare buckets, can be used to get water and some separate for using as a loo. One for solids and one for liquid, that way you can easily get rid of the liquid waste and have less to bury of solids. make each bucket a different colour that way you cannot mix them up.