You may have heard the news about a giant fault line in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast that is well overdue for a massive earthquake. I happen to live in the pacific northwest (PNW), and this has now been on my mind for almost a year. At first I didn’t really think too much of it, but after the last news report came out and people really starting freaking out, I started thinking more practically about creating a family plan for what we will do in an emergency.

The first thing we decided to do was install a rain collection system on the side of our house. This was a pretty simple step and Mr. Cereal is handy, so it took an afternoon to get it all set up. He modified our gutter system to make sure it didn’t leak all over the place and he also fancied up the barrel a little by building a landing of sorts for it. This particular barrel holds 50 gallons, so we should be good for about two weeks if we ration the water properly. The recommended amount of water per person per day is 1 gallon, so we could presumably last about 12ish days.

The second item on our list was to stockpile some canned goods and a well stocked first aid kit. The canned goods are easy as we have a storage area in our garage where I stockpile anyway, but I upped it to ensure that I have enough food to last us at least one week out there. I also re-stock if anything gets used. The first aid kit is still a work in progress. I have a ton of actual injury supplies like gauze, band aids, tape, triple antibiotic cream, etc. Beyond the injury care items, we have emergency blankets, two lifestraws (personal water filters), a flashlight with extra batteries, a crank lantern, and a fire extinguisher. In the house we have plenty of blankets and clothes, but I also have an extra thick blanket in the car and an extra change of clothes for both of the kids. Not surprisingly, these items have already been used occasionally and then re-stocked.

The family supply list from the ready.gov site also recommends a number of other personal items that you may want to have handy as well like sanitary napkins, extra formula and diapers if you have an infant or young child, a compass, a tent, and some sort of money. We have all of these things as well with the exception of the flare gun, but not all in the same place.

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The next step for us was to decide what our actual plan would be if something happened while we weren’t all together. Mr. Cereal works about 25 minutes away (and in a seriously unsafe old building), so there was obviously some concern that he would be unable to get to us. The two routes to get to and from his workplace are over bridges that are not likely to survive a large earthquake. I am fortunate that my work is within 5 minutes of my house and definitely within walking distance. The kids are in the house three days a week with a babysitter and two days a week they are at my parents’ house, which is also technically within walking distance of my work (a long, uphill walk that would probably take me about an hour, but it’s do-able).

We decided that I would be the one to get to the kids and to make sure that they are safe. Mr. Cereal would do his best to get home as quickly as possible and if he could not get home, he would find a way to contact me to let me know he is ok. If there is no way for him to contact me, I will assume he is fine until I hear otherwise and make sure the kids are safe. Our house is structurally safe and so is my parents’ home, so I feel comfortable with those two locations being our safe spaces. My brother and his wife live in the town the Mr. Cereal works in, so if he cannot make it to us, he will get to them. The town we live in has a great emergency plan in place, with shelter locations, food areas, and a number of locals who have offered the use of their boats to get people over the rivers if needed. We live within a block of the river and a water treatment plant, so we will have access to water if needed.

I feel relatively confident in our plan, although I know you can never really be prepared for a catastrophic event. Before we had kids, I think Mr. Cereal and I just assumed that we would wing it, but with the littles now we needed to have a good plan in place.

Do you have an emergency plan in place for your family?