Our Earthquake Drill

So, today is the Great Utah Shake-Out. All over the state there are earthquake drills happening. I decided to have one here at home with the kids.

At 10:00 am I turned on an air raid siren that I found on Youtube... REALLY LOUDLY. Then I grabbed Tessa and ran upstairs, yelling, "We're about to have an earthquake - get under the table in your room and hold on!" Sorry to say I freaked Tessa out a little bit and she started screaming and crying. I shushed her and said, "It's ok, you don't need to freak out. We'll be ok." The kids scrambled under the tables and Elise kept saying, "Mom, where is that sound coming from?" I just said, "Just stay under the table and hold on!" I stood in the doorjamb of my room with Tessa until the siren was done.

Then I said, "The earthquake is over. Our house is destroyed. Everyone grab your 72 hours kits and go downstairs."

We went through all of our 72 hour kits and replaced the clothing. We haven't done that for a year, so I'm glad that we did it. Most of the kids' clothes were too small by now. Tessa had diapers in her kit. We need to replace the food as well.

Here is a picture of what food I'm putting in the kit - as well as three water bottles per person.

72 hr kit list:

Food

1 napkin

2 tuna salad w/ crackers

1 15 oz can mandarin oranges

2 fruit snacks

1 pkg mini cookies

2 snack pack puddings

1 motts applesauce

1 beef jerky

2 juice boxes

1 pkg trail mix

1 pkg peanut butter crackers

1 pkg cheese crackers

2 granola bars

1 pkg cheese and crackers

4 hard candies

3 water bottles

All of this should fit in a one gallon size ziplock bag... Except the water bottles, of course. You might want to put those in separate ziplock bags so they don't leak all over your other things.

Clothing

1 long-sleeve shirt

1 pair of pants

1 pair of socks

1 pair of shoes

1 pair of gloves

1 winter hat (nighttime is cold, even in summer!)

2 pairs of underwear

1 lightweight jacket

Also put these in gallon ziplock bags to keep them clean and compact.

Miscellaneous

1 comfort object (for children)

1 bag hard candies

1 flashlight

1 small first aid kit

1 bottle shampoo and conditioner (I use the samples that I've collected from hotel rooms)

1 small bar of soap (from hotel rooms)

1 emergency blanket (the silver tinfoil ones)

1 rain poncho

1 roll of toilet paper

1 small package of wet wipes

1 Book of Mormon (in a ziplock so it doesn't get damaged)

How about you - did you participate in the drill today? Are you prepared for a disaster??