Sarah
Wow, I can't believe I haven't done a post about Project Spectrum yet, and the "Earth" theme is almost over! I've been pretty good about sticking with the goals I set for myself way back in February (in this post) but these were goals I'd been working on in a more general way for a while anyway. So, I decided to work on another, very earth-themed project during this two-month period as well. As you may know, Laura and I live in California, near both San Francisco and Silicon Valley. This part of the country is pretty sweet, weather-wise -- we don't get the insane storms or frost that hit other areas, and we certainly don't have to worry about hurricanes or tornadoes -- but we do get earthquakes.
I've lived in California my whole life, and vividly remember the Northridge earthquake, as I grew up not too far from that fault. It was startling to wake up in the dark wee hours of the morning to the sound of the house violently shaking, to suddenly have to scramble out of bed over ground which shifted underfoot to grab my little sister and help her get under the doorway of the room. We were all fine, and luckily nothing was broken in our home, but I remember driving through one of the towns closer to the epicenter not long after, and staring at rows of houses with crumpled front porches, like a row of faces with their teeth kicked in. California's building codes ensure that we don't experience loss of life on the scale suffered in the great San Francisco quake on April 18, 1906, or in modern quakes in third-world countries, but they are still a dangerous and unpredictable force of nature.
With that in mind, I've decided to finally put together a proper earthquake and general first aid kit. Even if we're never troubled by another major quake in our lifetimes, I figure we're bound to get some use out of the first aid stuff, since Jason and I each manage to give ourselves a minor flesh wound or two per year (one of the hazards of being home chefs). I hope I never have to use so much as a band-aid on Measure, but since most kids end up needing stitches or breaking a bone at least once in their lives, I've tried to prepare for the hopefully-not-inevitable. Aside from the first aid kits (I'm going to put together a mini-version for each of our cars, as well) I always try to maintain a stash of bottled water and canned foods, because a large earthquake can cause power and water problems even in neighborhoods which escape major structural damage. We've got a few good flashlights in the house, but I'm going to stash extra flashlights and batteries in the house and car kits as well.
Though I think the likelihood that I'll have to use my disaster kit to its full extent is very low, I don't think it requires a lot of time, effort, or money to put together a basic first aid/disaster preparedness kit, and most of the the things included are useful for the more common setbacks life throws at us -- scrapes and stings, temporary power outages, and so on. There's no real reason not to have one, and hey, if the worst happens and a horde of zombies attack your town, you'll be pretty smug about not having to venture out for food and water.
