A recent study conducted by the NY Daily News states 9 out of 10 New Yorkers stock emergency supplies. My question is, what does the NY Daily News define emergency supplies to be? I would also question the pool surveyed but that’s another issue all together. For the NYers I know, matches, bodega candles and maybe an am/fm radio are emergency supplies.
In NYC, the government has this campaign, Ready New York, which suggests packing a ‘Go Bag’ for emergencies. Yes, this sounds scout-ish but it is wise to be prepared.
The study states 55% of NYers have a ‘Go Bag’. I suggest that 55% of NYers have a ‘Go Bag’ in theory. They know where the stuff is they need to stuff into their bag. It’s just not actually situated in a duffel bag. Typical NYers live in closets. We barely have room for a full size bed. Where would be put a giant duffel bag?
When I mentioned to Lrudlrick that we should have a ‘Go Bag’, he laughed at me.
It’s not that he thought it was a ridiculous idea. After blackouts and terrorist attacks, we both keep sneakers and/or rollerblades at work. We also keep flashlights, candles, matches, a portable tv and a am/fm radio in a cabinet in our bookcase.
It’s that our ‘Go Bag’ would be gi-normous. It’s not like we can just pack for two. We’ve got these dogs you see and well, getting around in a disaster with two dogs and giant bag may not be feasible.
I must confess that I really considered buying one of those husky backpack thingies they have for dogs. It looks like a saddle you strap onto the dog so they can carry their own luggage. I hang my head in shame of the idea. My dogs are city dogs not Burmese mountain dogs.
I wouldn’t be able to have a ‘Go Bag’ without filling my old lady shopping cart with my stuff and I’ve never ever seen a disaster movie where people are fleeing with old lady shopping carts.
Imagine in The Day After Tomorrow you saw a petite girl dragging a giant black granny Go cart weaving in between cars trying to get to the library for shelter. It just doesn’t work.
Now, I hope that I’m slightly more prepared than Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds. At least my kids would have food. I have emergency numbers, paperwork and my obligatory bodega candles and matches. We have our emergency meeting place and outside the city contacts but in all honesty, when an emergency happens, things you didn’t think of will happen and you just have to find another solution. Most people I spoke to after the Eastern blackout couldn’t make it home. Even if they had a ‘Go Bag’, they couldn’t get to it.
If Lrudlrick and I had kids, I’m sure we’d change our tune. A ‘plan’ would have to be formulated but for now, I can do the best I can realistically to prepare and just hope that we do as well as we’ve done with past emergencies.
