check your bug out bags

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Check your bug out bags, folks, and then re-check them again! Keep a running list of what's in them. I just discovered that I forgot matches!!!

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), June 08, 1999

Answers

No bug-out bag. We have no place to go. Also my elderly & frail daddy isn't going anywhere farther than the grocery store, & we can't leave him behind. It's a great idea, though.

-- stuck (in@the.burbs), June 08, 1999.

Dear Stuck -- We really don't intend to leave where we are either. But, what if you had to go to a shelter? (for whatever reason, not just Y2K?) What if you were traveling (via car) and had an emergency? Not a bad idea to put some things together just in case! Just something for you to ponder...

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), June 08, 1999.

Bug out in the middle of winter during a snow storm? You've got to be kidding! Home is "THE" best place to be during Y2K! That's where all our provisions are! No way am I going to leave my Y2K preparations!

-- Y2K ready (Y2Kready@aol.com), June 08, 1999.

I think the phrase bug out bag tends to make people think that it's only for running from armed guerillas or some MacGyveresque version of something you might need to outwit the local looters.

The truth is you really should have one backpack/sack that you have the ten/fifteen most crtical items in case of emergancy on hand and easy to reach. It's of utmost importance to be organized and efficient in case of unforseen situations. I myself do have a "bug out" bag because in Vietnam I served with a long range R/S team and I know the advantages one has to being fully mobile in the uncertain circumstances of chaos. I'm prepared to be able to disappear in a moment's notice and still be 100% functional on my own, in the woods, the desert, the alpine slopes, where ever I find myself "bugging out" to.

I'd suggest doing a little research on the subject and coming up with your own "bug out" bag, even if bugging out to you means walking down the block to your elderly grandmother's house.

-- (workathome@atl.ga), June 08, 1999.


Good idea to have a bug-out bag in closet by front door. Why? Because there will be chemical accidents, hazmat spills, noxious fumes. In some cases Emergency Services may decide it is safer to evacuate ppl to shelters until the danger is over.

This happens nowadays, certainly will in 2000.
Also very good idea to have a shelter-in-place kit handy in master bedroom.

xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 08, 1999.



We had good reason to use ours Saturday night.

The house was smelling of some sort of plastic burning and we got the children and the bag outside while Papa and I called the fire department and tried to find the source. Thankfully, it wasn't serious. Some wires on the air conditioning unit had shorted and burned. We're without AC for a bit but if it had been serious we were prepared to go to Grandmas with important things in hand.

-- Kay` (jkbrooks@bellsouth.net), June 08, 1999.


What is a shelter-in-place kit ????

-- (southeastern@my-deja.com), June 08, 1999.

Ashton and Leska:

Please explain your shelter-in-place kit. I haven't heard any mention of this type of thing before. Thanks :-)

-- Scarlett (creolady@aol.com), June 08, 1999.


OK, we don't have a scanner, so will type it all in & start a Shelter-In-Place thread. Very valuable, common-sense info currently being urgently taught by FEMA, Fire Depts, and chemical companies.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 08, 1999.

There have been some really good threads giving lists of the goodies in various bug-out bags. Maybe someone will link?

Here's the link to the Shelter-In-Place info & kits y'all were interested in:

Shelter In Place: Make Your Kits

xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 08, 1999.



My husband & I had often talked about having bug out bags, and we certainly have all the necessities to put in them. However, our question always ended up being "Where are we going to bug out to?" We also live in the east, and the weather will be very cold no doubt. Our plan is to hunker down at home and rely on all the preparations we've done the last few years.

-- penny felt (felt@madbbs.com), June 08, 1999.

What is in a bug out bag? Is there a link or list?

-- cmar (cmar1@prodigy.com), June 08, 1999.

One lesson learned from various wars and periods of civil unrest: Never become a refugee.

-- klm (klm@nwhr.not), June 08, 1999.

OK. Here's the contents of our Bug Out Bag. We've got a very big duffle bag so there's lots of room in ours. If we needed something lighter, we'd have to slim down our list. (This is for two people.)

Small box of kleenex

Feminine hygiene supplies

Nalgene container (water bottle for putting purified water in)

toilet seat covers

emergency candle

instant body warmers (hand warmers, etc.)

hand sanitizer

camping towels (light weight, dry fast, absorb water fast)

toothbrushes and toothpaste

deodorant

mylar blankets

soap, shampoo, lotion

water purifier

4 light sticks

pocket knife

solar shower

iodine for purifying water

emergency food bars (3600 calories each)

money

3 pairs underwear each

2 sweatshirts

2 pairs of sweatpants

2 T shirts

2 pairs of sox

handiwipes

small candlelier and candles

2 rolls of toilet paper

can opener

2 sets of camping silverware, 2 bowls (camping size)

sewing kit

tube tent

folding shovel

earplugs

small paks of water

waterproof matches

garbage bags and clothesline (for making a privacy screen)

playing cards

flashlight and radio

*********************************************************** Anyone else have anything to add?

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), June 09, 1999.


Even though you plan to ride out any problems right at home, you may not have any choice about having to leave. You may be forced to leave at gunpoint by officials or thugs, or there may be something which would cause your home to become uninhabitable, such as neighborhood fire(s), flooding or fallout. I think the Y2K aware tend to call this a bugout bag, rather than the more common name "72-hour kit" because we recognize that people can get through 72 hours without even having any preparations. I think of my bugout bags as being something more like "forever bags." I'm not packing a lot of food because people can get by a long time without food. If you're leaving forever, it's more important to take means of scaring up food than trying to carry enough for an emergency of indeterminate length. Caution, be sure you can carry the bag for miles or have some means of transporting it, either in the trunk of your car, or using some other aid such as a cart or pack animal.

-- Dancr (minddancr@aol.com), June 13, 1999.


One of those grocery carts (the kind folks in the city use -- not the kind you push around the store) or a wagon would work for helping transport it if that was needed...

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), June 13, 1999.

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