Neighbor News
Get Ready for the Unexpected With a Disaster Go Bag
— Don't think you need an emergency kit? Think again, say families who needed one.
Flashlights, bottled water, a first aid kit, and ready-to-eat meal packs line the Rosen family’s coffee table. The family is not going camping—they are preparing for disaster by putting together a “go bag.”
Preparing in advance with a disaster-ready kit has helped families nationwide through extreme and abnormal weather events, which experts warn are on the rise.
Mike and Sydney Rosen are no strangers to the threat of natural disasters. Living in Pasadena, California, they are not only under the constant threat of the “Big One” but wildfires as well. “We have seen friends of ours displaced for up to a week at a time due to the wildfires,” Mike Rosen said. “That was a good reminder that we need to be ready.”
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How do the Rosens stay prepared? “We have used articles published on jw.org as sort of a checklist for our go bag essentials. Then we add things unique to our family that we know we would need for a week or two,” Sydney Rossen said. “We all worry about natural disasters, but being prepared gives us a measure of peace of mind.”
“Having a personal preparedness plan increases your chances of staying safe,” according to a training program from the Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness.
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Jolted awake by a neighbor’s urgent knocking, Aaron and Jacqueline Pate were horrified to see the encroaching flames of the fast-moving Woolsey fire that had been miles away when they went to bed. It burned to within 100 feet of their Westlake Village home in 2018 as part of California’s deadliest wildfire season on record.
"Because we had ‘go bags,’ we weren’t running around trying to pack things at the last minute,” said Jacqueline. “We had the time we needed to comfort our kids and get everyone safely into the car.”
The Pates credited the disaster-preparedness help they received as Jehovah’s Witnesses, both through periodic reminders at their congregation meetings and from tips for putting together go bags on the organization’s website, www.jw.org.
"Life is precious, so we encourage all to heed the Bible’s advice to take practical steps to protect ourselves from danger,” said Robert Hendriks III, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States.
Go bags also have proven useful in the opposite circumstances as “stay bags.”
Disaster-preparedness suggestions and tips for putting together a go bag are available from FEMA at ready.gov and from Jehovah’s Witnesses at https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/awake-no5-2017-october/disaster-....