National Preparedness Month – Plan After Disaster & $25 Giveaway

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The month of September was National Preparedness Month and I was happy to work together with Clorox, American Red Cross, and Consumer Queen to bring some important information and fabulous giveaways to the readers of The Mommy-Files!  Over the past month, we learned about Emergency Preparedness Plans, Emergency Preparedness Kits, and Emergency Plans for Pets.  This week, we will talk about what happens AFTER disaster strikes and what you do when you get home!

In the wake of disaster, there is much to do as you assess the health and safety of your household as well as next steps to rebuild your life.  The first thing you’ll want to do is check communication channels to ensure that local officials have declared it safe to return home.

When home, cleaning up after a natural disaster can be a daunting task so it’s important to keep your health top of mind using these steps:

– Before entering the home, look outside for loose power lines, damaged gas lines, foundation cracks or other damage.

– During cleanup, wear protective clothing, including rubber gloves and rubber boots.

– Look for flooding or large pools of standing water surrounding your home.  These waters can be contaminated with high levels of bacteria that can make you sick, so disinfecting with a solution of bleach and water may help to remove mold and prevent the spread of infections and illness. To help prevent water damage in your home, you may consider hiring a waterproofing contractor.

– Look for a roofing contractor if your roof has been damaged by the hurricane. You may need to replace some of your shingle roofs to fully restore your roofing system.

For more information, please visit www.clorox.com/redcross and download the preparedness guide: Prepare Yourself Now for Peace of Mind Later.

General Health & Safety Tips

– Keep your hands clean, either by washing your hands or using a hand sanitizer.

– If you feel feverish or sick after a disaster or during clean-up, see a doctor immediately.

– Eat healthy foods and drink lots of clean water

(1) REMEMBER – your emergency preparedness kit should include a minimum three-day supply of water for evacuations (2 weeks for home) for your entire household.  This means approximately one gallon per person, per day for washing and drinking.

– If water supplies are compromised and you are unable to boil water for one minute (three minutes at high elevation), you can create drinkable water by using un-scented disinfecting bleach such as Clorox.  You can also use bleach to clean non-porous surfaces in your home.

(1) To Disinfect Surfaces:  Use 1/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water, or as directed on the label, to disinfect hard, non-porous surfaces in your home.

(2) To Disinfect Water:  If you need to purify water during an emergency, (and do not have the means to boil it for 3-5 minutes), you must disinfect your water using bleach.  If water is clear, add 8 drops (1/8 tsp) of bleach per gallon of water.  If water is cloudy, add 16 drops (1/4 tsp) of bleach per gallon of water.  Mix the solution thoroughly and let it stand for about 30 minutes before using it.  Properly treated water should have a slight chlorine odor.  If it doesn’t, repeat dosage and allow water to stand an additional 15 minutes.  The treated water can be made drinkable by pouring it between clean containers several times.

GIVEAWAY

1 lucky winner on The Mommy-Files will win a $25 gift card!

WIN IT!!! (MANDATORY ENTRY)

– Tell me in a comment what you have done to prepare for an emergency during National Preparedness Month.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

– Vote for The Mommy-Files on Top Mommy Blogs (simply click on the button on the sidebar) – 1 ENTRY
– Follow The Mommy-Files on Twitter – 1 ENTRY
– Tweet about the giveaway – 1 ENTRY DAILY
– Become a Fan of The Mommy-Files on Facebook – 1 ENTRY
– Follow me through Google Connect (new on the right side of the blog) – 1 ENTRY
– Subscribe to my blog – 1 ENTRY
– Add my Mommy-Files button to your blog and include the URL – 1 ENTRY
– Comment on any Non-Giveaway post on The Mommy-Files – 1 ENTRY per post comment (no limit)
– Blog about this giveaway and include the URL – 5 ENTRIES

RULES:

– Contest will close at 11:59 p.m. PST on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010! Any entries after this time will be deleted!
– Contest open to U.S. residents only.

As a blog tour participant, I received information and giveaways from The Clorox Company and Consumer Queen at no cost to me.  I was compensated for my time by The Clorox Company for participating in this project.  All views are 100% my own.

484 thoughts on “National Preparedness Month – Plan After Disaster & $25 Giveaway”

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  9. Phyllis Adams

    I have a supply of canned foods , bottled water , blankets and medicine for each member of the family set aside.

    Reply
  10. Kim

    I have purchased an extra propane tank for outdoor cooking in case the power goes out and stocked up on non-perishable items.

    Reply
  23. Amber G

    My family practiced a fire drill – we made sure the kids knew the best exits from different parts of the house

    Reply
  32. Linda Kish

    I have batteries on hand for the flashlights because they never seem to work when you need them.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    Reply
  72. Nancy

    To be prepared, for an emergency, we have flashlights and extra batteries, non-perishable food and a manual can opener as well as Clorox , among other things!

    Reply
  97. Emma Peel

    We prepare with canned foods, bottled water by the gallons, candles, flashlights, and radio.

    emmaspeel(at)gmail.com

    Reply
  106. Tracy Robertson

    I recently put a 1/2 gallon of bottled water and a blanket in the trunk of my car. I plan to add more things to make a good disaster kit. You never know, you can be in a situation where you can get to your car, but not into your home.

    Reply
  117. susan lee wiener

    I’ve gotten all the things needed in a kit such as bandaids, flashlight, food cans, water bottles, etc.

    swiener1[at]tampabay.rr.com

    Reply
  135. Kathy Rambousek

    Hubby has been through the CERT class and we have a few emergency kits packed. Hope we’ll never have to use them

    Reply
  142. Deborah Wellenstein

    We live in tornado country, so we have our emergency supplies in the basement-mostly extra water-and a whistle!

    Reply
  145. Ericka T

    I have a 72 hour backpack in my trunk. I also have several first aid kits. I’ve been Red Cross first aid and CPR certified.

    Reply
  149. stephanie

    we’ve gone through a hurricane where we lost our house and lived with 5 (became 6) sons in a travel trailer in the backyard for a year. so we try to keep up to date as far as prepared. we rotated food form our 72 hour kits. (and here’s some advice – keep a brand new family game in the kit. you never know when you’ll be playing for a couple days straight – perhaps in your underwear because your storm shutters are up and you have no air conditioning – not saying we did, just saying – haha)

    Reply
  156. Debbie C

    We have one cabinet that is stocked with a radio, batteries, first aid kit, water and some dried snacks. We have flashlights in several locations throughout the house.

    Reply
  191. Donna L

    We live in an area with a lot of storms, so we have an emergency kit.. In it we have a first aid kit, flashlights for everyone, canned food, bottle water and a portable stove.

    Reply
  216. Debbie Stanton

    What I have done to prepare is by typing up our Evacuation List… we always have a threat of forest firest in our area and a few years ago I developed a document that lists the items we would want/need to take and what room it is in and where it is… this way other people in the house could gather items too or if I wasn’t home, my husband and daughters could work the list. I listed the items beginning with most important. This list was put to use this year as we had a fire close and had to evacuate and it was extremely helpful and i stayed calm knowing i just had to follow the list and didn’t worry about forgetting something.

    Reply
  223. Susan S.

    My husband and i have a food and water storage for an emergency. We use to have 72 hour kits, but those have to be refilled or we would be eating stale food.

    Reply
  227. hj

    We actually have a high quality water filter but the filter needs changing so I’m going to order a new one just to be safe.
    hmcnaron at gmail

    Reply
  229. Debra F

    Honestly, I haven’t done a thing! Luckily, my husband is like a boy scout – always prepared. Whatever you need, that man has it in his backpack.

    Reply
  236. michele

    Thank you for the giveaway. I’ve actually created blog posts for emergency preparedness but, I had no idea that you could use bleach to steralize water! i’ve been trying to put a kit together. Especially since we live in a state where Tornados are common and hitting more and more. I have my first aid kit partially finished. Actually, I’m making 2 first aid kits. I’m putting one in the car and one in the house. I might make a third to put elsewhere.

    Reply
  289. nancy

    last year we purchased a generator before Hurricane ike and we run it every so often to keep it in good working order.

    nblexp at gmail dot com

    Reply
  304. Sandra K321

    I replaced all of our nightlights with LED nightlights/flashlights. When there is electricity these act like normal nightlights (with sensors to turn them off during the day) but when the power goes off they can be unplugged and used like LED flashlights.

    Reply
  307. Erin E

    I have made sure that we have extra water in case of an emergency. Thank you for the lovely giveaway.

    sewmuchstuff at ymail dot com

    Reply
  333. Mike P

    We have scanned all essential docs, have a tub containing an emergency radio, water, food (non perishable), blankets and shoes for the entire family.

    Reply
  334. Jill Myrick

    We are fortunate not to have to deal with hurricanes and tornadoes here in the mountains. But do have to deal with flooding and sometimes heavy snow.
    So we have purchased a generator, have dry food, water , blankets and flashlights on hand just in case of and emergency.

    jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com

    Reply
  340. Kat Emerick

    I have a weather radio, blankets, snacks , regular can opener, can goods such as fruit. ( if you have no electric or gas , fruit will feed you) bowl, cups, untensiles, pet snacks and food, water bowl for pets, bottles of water, first aid kit, batteries, make sure cars are gassed up for evacuations,candles…. I have lived thr HURRICANES and I learned to be prepared.

    Reply
  342. Joanne Schultz

    I have batteries in my flashlights and I’ve got a supply of water.
    We don’t usually have emergencies in our area.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply
  373. barbara wright

    Well…. first let me tell you what my neighbor does and then mine won’t seem QUITE so bad 🙂 As soon as she hears a storm is coming, she runs out to get a manicure and pedicure. The first thing I do is run out and get flour and eggs. I’m a stress baker – I bake whenever things get bad. So if I’m trapped in the house, I’d go crazy if I couldn’t bake something. My family loves it when it snows because then they have lots of good food to eat 🙁

    Reply
  381. Cori Westphal

    I actually had never thought about emergency prep until I saw these giveaways popping up. And I felt pretty bad that I was so unprepared! I’ve started setting aside a few canned goods and jugs of water. It’s a start!

    coriwestphal at msn dot com

    Reply
  405. Ken

    In our kit we have bottled water, rechargable radio, flashlights, canned and dry food. We also have extra food for our cat.

    Reply
  407. Ro

    Living with hurricanes, being prepared means having bleach for water, making plenty of ice in advance in large containers, canned foods, crackers, peanut butter, flash lights, portable radio, and plenty of batteries, and a cooler.. Having a grill comes in handy as well.

    Reply
  410. brian e.

    Thanks for the giveaway…we recently purchased a weather radio, and a portable generator to prepare for weather related events.

    Reply
  424. Michelle Tucker

    We have a box filled with items to use in case of emergencies, such as first aid kit, food, water, batteries, flash lights.

    Reply
  431. kimbly

    We have a bag with a “human powered” radio and hand crank flashlight – also with candles. It’s our hurricane kit!

    Reply
  432. R Hicks

    We have a generator that I recently double checked to make sure it was full of gasoline and would easily start up if we need it

    ardy22 at earthlink dot net

    Reply
  468. Charlene Kuser

    I have stocked my pantry with canned goods,have fresh batteries in my flashlights,bought
    gallons of bottled water,have my first aid kit and blankets handy.

    Reply

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