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72/96 Hour kits

What if there is an emergency that would cause you to leave your home? What are you going to grab? What if you only have ten minutes to figure that out?

This is the purpose for having an emergency kit in place. The initial 72 hours was based in the premise that it could be 72 hours before receiving any help in an emergency. Some have extended this to 96 hours instead of 72 hours.

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The purpose of this page is to help lessen the confusion that can sometimes occur when looking at all the lists available to help  you build your 72 hour kit. The supplies listed here are suggestions, with a little experimentation you may find some things that work better for you and your family.

Let's break it down and start with the essentials

Now, let's add a little more

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Tips and tricks

  • A good rule of thumb is to inventory your kits at least every six months. Switch out any close to expired, or expired food.  Switch out clothing for the months ahead and change out any necessary baby items.

  • Keep an emergency binder with your kits.  Include information such as banking information, insurance information, cash, birth certificates (or copies), vehicle titles, and any other information that would be hard to obtain after a disaster.

  • Store your kits in an easy to grab location.

  • Some people prefer to store all the 72 hour kits in a large tub to make them easier to move. This may or may not work for you.

  • There is no such thing as a "complete" kit that can be purchased for you and your family. No one knows your situation better than you do.

  • Do what works for your family. There is a lot of information and advice out there but not all of it will apply to you and your family.

Evacuation in minutes

The following system is one you can implement for use in a quick emergency evacuation. This is how it works:

Put red tags on items you will grab if you only have 5 to 10 minutes to leave your house. This won't be possible for everything, but will allow you to grab some items without having to look at a list.

Make lists that are color coded for what you will grab if you only have 10 minutes, 20 minutes and so on and so forth.

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