CALM BEFORE THE STORM?

Over the summer, I read a very interesting book that caused me to reflect on many things. Hiroshima by John Hersey chronicles the lives of 6 Japanese survivors during and after the first atomic bomb was dropped in 1945.  (As I have said before, being a homeschool mom, I get to learn all kinds of things!).  I was also preparing our 72 hour kits while reading this book, and it was hard not to wonder what really would have helped Hiroshima's people the most in the first hours after the bomb as well as long-term.

For about a month, things have been kind of quiet in our little nook of the world.  No fires, no earthquake tremors, nothing to really give us much alarm.  I have been wondering though, is this the calm before the storm?  To be clear, I am not thinking that an atomic bomb is getting ready to land on Southern California.  Rather, my mind tends to wander more toward the natural disasters that seems to be so prevalent in our area.

President Benson said, "The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah" (January 1974 Ensign).  I have thought about this quote often, I have also heard that "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."  The time to prepare for emergencies and hardship is now, when things are calm.    

Food Storage is a huge component of preparedness.  Having food in your home is always a good idea.  Water Storage is a huge deal, you can only live for 3 days without drinkable water.  Having emergency kits and preparedness items helps make things easier.

Only you can determine what you really need for you and your family.  There are several good resources that can give ideas to help you determine what you need.

The Red Cross has a preparedness site that gives great information to building a kit, planning, and being informed.

San Diego County also has a couple different websites to help inform.  SanDiego.gov has an emergency preparedness site that has all kinds of links to different resources.  Ready San Diego also has news, ideas, and links to help you be ready.  These links also give a good idea of what to maybe expect from the county in case of a disaster.  But even then, be prepared in case you need to be on your own for 3 days.  

And, there's me.  I hope I am a good resource!  I have learned a lot and would love nothing more than to help you make a plan to be ready for whatever may come.

I challenge you to prayerfully consider what specifically you need to do to be a little more prepared.  Do some research and find something you can do, and then DO IT.