Disaster Readiness and Backpacking
I remember watching the first prep stages of Hurricane Katrina, oh, about +30 hours before landfall and seeing, among the people carrying small suitcases, a college age girl with a full-on backpack. Right there at the stadium. I was thinking to myself, well, she’s certainly prepared for the stay.
Why Backpacking? | Hiking / Camping Relevance To Disaster Preparedness
After my good friends for nearly 18 years moved to Florida as part of an Aircrew Instructor tour duty station change several large hurricanes (Ivan and Katrina, to mention two) rolled through their area.
Seeing pictures of the devastating effects these storms had on just about everything in sight along with the catastrophic tsunami that hit Indonesia have made me realize that even when everything is simply peachy in the world, bad things can happen at any time.
My friends were always prepared for any emergency, therefore Ivan and Katrina just added to their repetoire of excellent Beer Stories.In fact, Katrina forced the move of a retired Aircrew Marine’s family as they were displaced from their home on the coastline of Mississippi, so my friend took them in for a short time. Yes, we take care of our own.
My philosophy is that most Americans are doing just fine as long as food comes in trucks to restock supermarkets, roads are relatively clear of traffic, and gas stations stay resupplied with no interruptions.
When there are problems, the worst in human nature tends to come to the surface. Luckily in some areas with Hurricane Katrina there were a few who chose to keep watch, in California I’m not so certain that would be an option.
Best bet, have your own food and water, plus the means to keep it.
Earthquake Kits - Not Just For California
Every California native has heard of Northridge and the Bay Area has made it a point that they are expecting a 7.0+ quake at any time. Public awareness in school age kids starts before kindergarten. See |
As part of the ‘Earthquake Kit’ that no Aircrewman has failed to assemble at some point in their lives, I would add some skills and training that would easily fit into the next family camping trip. The standard cupboard fare that we keep at home works quite well to meet the ‘Minimum 3 Day’ rule, but if there’s a mandatory evacuation you might well have to shoulder the load and trek out on foot. If you’re lucky then someone’s secured public transportation.
That means person-portable items to keep ready for an indeterminate period of time, and as the Katrina survivors found out, this meant food, clothing, bedding AND clean water or a means to filter dirty water.
Backup Plan For Carrying Water? Make Everything Else ULTRAlight
Planning on taking the kids and water enough for the entire family means that you’re going to be left with very little room before your own personal Delta-V for walking burns too much energy to carry everything.
From Lightweight Backpacking with Young Children at Backpacking Light:
Infants can’t walk, and letting them crawl to your destination is neither timely nor hygenic. So that means that Mom’s going to carry the baby in a backpack and Dad’s going to shoulder the rest of the gear. Dad may be shocked at the realization that he’s not going to get to carry the same sub-twenty pound pack that he gets to carry on a summer trip with his buddies, but rules are rules!
The bottom line: you’re both going to be shouldering some weight, so slow down, take it easy, and lower your mileage expectations. A great gear list for cold / snowy trips with kids can be downloaded here.
Clearly the same goes for prepping your lightweight version of your Earthquake Kit / Bugout Bag.
Building Camping and Backpacking Skills | Backpacking with Young Children
Backpacking and lightweight camping is a great way to build important skills, along with building your skills in distributing a family’s load properly with all members shouldering their fair share.
If your kids know how to use their gear, should they ever need to use the mandatory Earthquake Kit at school, it becomes more of a ‘Cool, this is just like camping with Mom and Dad’ experience rather than a traumatizing situation. PMA - positive mental attitude.
As we remember the key to everything is being aware of the tools at hand and survivability programs stressed the value of keeping a level head in a crisis situation. That comes with experience, so get outside and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible while building your family’s knowledge base and confidence.
Camping Safety - No Getting Lost Here!
Kids Hiking Safety - this site has a great philosophy to teach your kids about getting lost/separated. The signal devices every kid should carry while hiking are a whistle and a mirror, add that to a folded up Hefty bag and you’re on it. I recommend putting those three items within the ‘Earthquake Kit’ that most SoCal childcare and preschools have as a mandatory piece of gear.
My son’s preschool asked for specific items within a one gallon Ziploc bag. This had plenty of room for a small flat whistle, non-shatter mirror, and a Hefty bag along with some Neosporin and bandages.
From Hiking With Children:
This is the time to give them a safety whistle, and the beginnings of the essentials in their pack: a snack, some water and a spare layer. Some things that may have been taken for granted now need to be reconsidered: The campsite by the lake, a fire, or the camp spot on the ledge with the great view may now be a safety issue.
In areas where mountain lions and other stalking predators are a concern, simple rules are good. For example, “no running, have a whistle at the ready and always keep in sight of me” might be a good place to start.
Other areas to consider are altitude, sunburns, bee stings. just be aware and prepared. Especially for new parents: the built-in awareness that the baby in your backpack is getting sunburned/cold/ bit by bugs may take time to develop, so you need to be extra aware and diligent.
All in all, it’s best to have a good supply of camping gear that you’re familiar with, and to have your kids adapted to camping and hiking.
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