Family Emergency Binder

As part of our ward emergency plan we recommend that you create an "emergency binder."  Keep this binder near your 72 hour kit(s).

The idea behind this binder is to have the most vital information that you may need in an emergency, all in one place, that you can "grab and go" if needed.

There are also items listed that you may need even if you are staying home to "weather out" the emergency.

Included in the binder could be (choose as many as you feel prompted):

• Copy of your family emergency plan
• Copy of your ward emergency plan
• Drawing of your house with the bedrooms marked if children need to be rescued.
• Drawing of your house with a fire escape plan.  Have your Weblos scout help you with this.
• Photos of everyone in your family.  Use these photos to locate a family member in case someone gets separated from you in an emergency.
• Copies of birth certificates.  You may need these to retrieve your child from a school that has been in lock down.
• Passports
• Important phone numbers.  Relatives, Insurance agent, etc.
• Medical Insurance policy numbers, etc.
• Allergy information of family members
• Other important medical information (diabetes, hear condition, etc.)
• Copies of blessing and ordinance certificates 
• Vehicle titles
• Mortgage information
• Wills/Trusts/etc.
• If you have a child serving a mission, mission home contact information.
• Emergency pages/flags to display your status to your neighbours or the ward leadership via an emergency prep worker.  See below:
• etc

You will have to decide if you are going to keep the original copies of documents in the binder or keep them in a fireproof safe in your home.

This will be discussed further in the Ward Emergency Plan blog post, you can download a pdf of the emergency flags to include in your binder here.

You post these flags in a place that is visible from the outside where a "block leader" can walk/drive by and see the status of your home and family. That way, if all is well, the information can be sent on without disturbing you.

Also, in the case of a quarantine, they can know this without endangering themselves.

If you want to save ink, you can use construction paper or similar with the colors listed in the PDF.  To help you remember which colors mean what, write the wording on the papers, then put them in your binder.


Video:
For more information about an emergency binder, and a larger list of things to keep inside, here is a YouTube Video about emergency binders.

Preserving Food When a Storm Hits Home

Marti Johnson, California, and John Hal Johnson, Utah, USA

When power is out for a few hours or a few days, what can you do to keep cold storage items from spoiling? Here’s what I’ve discovered after extensive research and consulting with my father, a retired professor of food science.

• •
  Keep the refrigerator or freezer door shut to minimize the loss of cold air. The temperature needs to stay below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius). To check the temperature, keep a portable thermometer on the top shelf of each unit. Freezer temperature should maintain ice crystals—that means it should be at or below 5 degrees F (-15 C) to keep quality. Frozen meat that has partially thawed but still has ice crystals can be safely refrozen. Chest freezers keep foods frozen longer.
• •
  If the refrigerator is unopened, the food inside should be safe for at least four hours. Most full freezers keep food frozen for two days if the doors remain closed. If the freezer is half full, however, you’ll need to quickly group food together to preserve the cold; still, it may stay frozen for only a day. If thawing does start, meat products that still have ice crystals when the freezer starts working again can be safely refrozen and eaten later.
• •
  As a preventive measure, don’t leave the freezer low on food. If it tends to be near empty, fill plastic gallon bottles with water and keep them frozen in the freezer.
• •
  Put trays beneath frozen food in case it begins to thaw and leak. If you have to move items to other locations, trays will help you move food faster.
• •
  Add bagged or block ice to the refrigerator or freezer if the power isn’t restored quickly or if a technician can’t come immediately.
• •
  If the power outage continues and the freezer’s cooling ability is still affected, use camping coolers. Put the most-valued items in the coolers and pack the top with bagged or large block ice. You’ll need about two 10-pound bags per day to chill a loaded 60-quart cooler. Remember to drain the coolers regularly as the ice melts, particularly if your food is not in waterproof containers, or start cooking the food.
• •
  If you are worried about the quality of food once the refrigerator and freezer are working again, throw it away. Dealing with food-borne illness isn’t worth the risk.
• •
  Store a variety of shelf-stable foods. Many freezer foods, including meat, can also be canned and stored on your pantry shelf.
• •
  Keep this information and other handy references in an emergency preparedness binder or folder.
  
  
  Source: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/08/random-sampler?lang=eng

Getting Started

First of all, you need to decide what you are planning for.

In eastern Idaho, the 2 most likely emergencies the average person could face are:

1. Winter conditions and the power goes out.

2. Employment Interruption.

While generally all emergencies will have some similar steps, preparing for these two events will be VERY different than preparing for a hurricane, tornado, or a forced evacuation.

In both of those events, your house (hopefully) will remain intact and you will be staying home.

So you need to decide what you can do to generally prepare, as discussed in this article:

Self Reliance: How to Begin a 3-12 Month Food Supply

Then you also need to prepare for what events are most likely to happen in your situation and make a plan to be ready for those.

Consider:

• Evacuation plans (if necessary)
• Food
• Water
• Shelter
• Heat (seasonal)
• Communication between your various family members.
• How to gather as a family if an event occurs while everyone is split up (school, work, piano, ballet, sports, etc.)

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Then make a long term plan, if the employment interruption extends longer than originally thought, or electrical service is not available for weeks or longer.

Consider:

• Alternative heat
• Alternative Lighting/Electricity
• Long term savings
• Long term food storage:  See providentliving.org and food storage calculator listed in the right column of this page.
• etc.

Now, we are NOT commanded to run faster than we are able.  The link above gives information about a 3-12 month food supply.  The Prepared LDS Family link in the side bar has ideas of how to slowly build a year's supply of food without taxing your budget too badly.

Start slowly if you need to, but add something to your storage regularly.  You will be surprised how quickly it adds up.

"If ye are prepared ye shall not fear."