Hurricane Disaster Supply Kit

Mark Tobert, Executive Director for the Hernando County Emergency Management Office, explains how to prepare for a hurricane.

Hi! I am Mark Tobert with Hernando County Emergency Management. This segment is about how to prepare your disaster supply kit. In assembling your disaster supply kit for hurricanes season, make sure you have the essentials that your family will need when you evacuate. Think of it as a campaigning trip, that you are going to take for three days. All the supplies that you would take on your campaigning trip should be included in your disaster supply kit, including water, food, medications that you may need for you and your family. Sturdy clothing and shoes also make sure that you have games for your kids and other items that you would need normally in a three period, should include your disaster supply kit along with an emergency supply of cash and your important documents. First thing we should have is water. Each person should have one gallon of water per day for a minimum of 3 days. In buying water you should buy something that’s readily available, sealed containers are preferable. If you can’t get sealed containers; you should boil water and store it in a cool place. When preparing your disaster supply kit and including food for you and your family, make sure that you include non-perishable foods, that you will store a long period of time, include food in your disaster supply kit that meet your family’s dietary need. For example if you have diabetic, you need to include to food with diabetics can or anybody else who has special dietary needs, make sure that you include those items in your disaster supply kit. Other item to include in disaster supply kit should be flash light, extra batteries, whether a radio so you can monitor the current situations and possibly even extra clothing items that you would not normally wear. Make sure you include the right kind of clothing. You are going to be outdoors, you maybe also indoors in a shelter or another location. Make sure you take plenty of cloths that will keep you warm and dry when you evacuate. Include cash and other items that you cant readily get after a hurricane including cash where ATM machines maybe down and prescription medicines which maybe unavailable due to the circumstances. Some of the documents that you should have included with your disaster supply kit, are your home owners policy, insurance certificates and other items that are important to you like birth certificates and social security information. This ends our segment on how to prepare you disaster supply kit. Next we are going to talk about items to secure your home before storm.