Duracell Emergency Preparedness Checklist

Are you prepared if a disaster struck your area right now? Experts recommend that people have at least 72 hours worth of provisions to sustain their family until help arrives. May 1st to 7th is Emergency Preparedness Week and I’m sharing an important message on behalf of Duracell and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) to remind you to prepare for an emergency. We all need to do it!

I’m reminded of the ice storm that hit Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec in early 1998. I was living in Pembroke at the time and my husband was called away with the military to help out in the affected areas. If memory serves me right, he was gone almost two weeks. We were lucky in Pembroke and did not lose power. I heard first hand from my husband about how awful it was for the people there.

The types of potential emergency situations will vary from location to location. In my area, we’ve had ice storms, severe storms and forest fires. I’m also highly aware that we live on the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, a fault line that has the potential for a major earthquake. We had a small one earlier this year and I thought a truck hit my house!

Duracell, in partnership with the CAFC, conducted a survey and found that 34% of Canadians feel they have experienced more storms and natural disasters in the past five years than ever before. It also showed that 53% of Canadians do not have an emergency kit to sustain them up to 72 hours after a disaster hits. If the latter is you, let’s change that today!

Duracell and the CAFC have developed an Emergency Preparedness Checklist with all the essential items you’ll need to get for your kit. Print this out and put it on your fridge as you round up everything you’ll need. They also have some helpful tips to follow as you make your home’s emergency kit. I like how they didn’t forget about our fur family members!

The Government of Canada’s Get Prepared website is also a wealth of information.

Do you have an emergency kit for your home?

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Disclosure: I received compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.