Disaster preparedness for seniors

When we think of home safety for seniors, we’re usually talking about everyday safety. Preventing falls, preventing fires, preventing accidents.

But there’s a different level of home safety preparedness.

It’s important to be prepared for natural disasters, as well.

Seniors are particularly vulnerable in cataclysms because they may be less mobile and less able to operate normally in bad conditions.

The State of Florida has a great disaster preparedness PDF you can download. I particularly liked page 13, which has a detailed checklist of things you need to pull together to be prepared in an emergency.

The guide contains instructions for all different natural disasters (but only the ones that strike Florida, naturally). It has special information directed at seniors.

No matter where you live, whether you’re across town or across the country, you can take some simple steps to make sure a senior you love is safe in a natural disaster.

It starts with making sure they have a network of people who can look after them. If phones and roads are down, they’ll be depending on their neighbors. It’s important you know who these people are.

Also you can stock up on a few simple things to make sure the person can take care of themselves.

For example, make sure they have access to water, food, first aid supplies, sanitation gear, and whatever they need to take care of their pet.

Here are some ideas:

A 5-gallon or 7-gallon water jug is plenty of water for a senior to be able to survive for 5 days or more. Take a look at the Reliance Products Aqua-Tainer 7 Gallon Rigid Water Container

You can buy pre-stocked buckets full of food and supplies. For example, the Earthquake Kit 4 Person Deluxe Bucket Home Survival Emergency Preparedness kit contains supplies and food to last a about 5 days for 4 people, or much longer for just one person. You use the bucket as a toilet, and the kit contains energy bars and enough water to squeak through.

Also on Amazon you can find pre-packaged pet emergency kits, and pretty much anything you could need in a natural disaster.

What are you doing to keep your relatives safe in case of a major emergency? Share it in the comments.