SFist Rants: Emergency Kits
Was anyone else a little unnerved to see that "major earthquake in San Francisco" is listed as the number 2 scenario for FEMA practice, right below "terrorist attack on New York" and right above "major hurricane hits New Orleans?" And you know with all our gays and minorities and blue-state progressivism, ain't no one from the federal government coming to save our butts when the Big One hits here! And remember when we all thought there was a tsunami coming but no one in SF checked the emergency fax machine until an hour after the original warning? We're screwed!
So we set out this weekend to buy us an earthquake preparedness kit. We know, we could put it together ourselves, but it'd be so much nicer just to buy a ready-to-go set. Do you know how hard it is to find an earthquake preparedness kit in this city? Costco had none. Safeway had none. REI -- nope. We didn't go to Target because of the boycott for their Schwarzenegger donations, but they probably didn't have one either. Home Depot told us that they had five "a while ago" but haven't restocked since. Where else would we go for a pre-packaged kit? Rainbow Grocery? Cole Hardware? Nothing.
So here's our thought: why doesn't City Hall sell pre-packaged earthquake prep kits? Annemarie Conroy's Office of Emergency Service could get 'em at cost, have the kits emblazoned with a cute "San Francisco's Prepared!" logo of some sort, and sell 'em at community centers across the city. It would beat having to turn on the TV and seeing San Franciscans sitting on the roofs of their houses, waiting for someone at CNN to film the HELP US PLZ signs, as the SFPD struggles to find the right radio frequency for communications.
After the jump, where we ended up getting our prep kit, plus everything your prep kit should have in it.
We bought a prep kit on Amazon from the company Quake Kare. This kit has a combo radio/flashlight with solar-powered batteries, a lightstick, water-purifying tablets, and, ominously, "12 toilet bags," among other essentials. See, we totally could not be trusted to buy the right type of toilet bag for an emergency.
Our emergency prep office suggests: a gallon of water, food, a can opener (oh, the heartbreak of the person who has food but no can opener), a first aid kit, a radio, a flashlight, batteries, bleach, toiletries, gloves, a map, a utility knife, plastic sheeting, duct tape, bedding, copies of insurance documents, and lots and lots and lots of plastic bags. A documentary we saw about the '89 quake also suggested that you have a shovel. You probably have a lot of this stuff in your apartment already (or maybe you sleep on a cot with no sheets or something), but can't hurt to put some extra stuff somewhere secure. (Is that some place high up? Or is that someplace low down? We have no idea. We could probably use some more emergency prep.)