Bugging Out or How to prepare for outdoor living in an emergency situation.

Last time I talked about how to prepare your home for bugging-in or living in an emergency situation, especially over a long term. Now I want to cover what you need to have on hand for if you have to leave your home. There are many circumstances that could cause you and your family to have to leave your home: fires, floods, and other natural disasters or; man-made disasters such as: war, civil unrest, etc.
Same as in a bugging-in situation: my most important number one step is to make sure we have the whole family together. At least, we need to have everyone to know what our bug-out plan is. We may lose communication and it would be vital to already know everyone knows exactly how and where we plan to meet together in case of an emergency situation. We would probably be willing to give everything up to have the family safely together. Does your family know what to do in case of, say a fire, tornado, earthquake, etc.? Do you know what each person would do at home, school or work? Do you have several safe places planned to meet if something happens?
Now that we have everyone together, what do we need to do? Water, food and shelter are essential to survival. If you have a backpack for each person that can carry one, you are ahead of the game. Store in each one the basic necessities: short term food and water, some type of fire starting and shelter making supplies, a small first aid kit, a flashlight and a change of clothes. Adapt these packs to suit the ages of family members, as well as their skill levels. A whistle to be used to keep in touch is a good idea, as well as how to use it to signal, it might be a good idea to have a code set up. If you have children, make a game of having them make up code whistles.     Knowledge is probably the most important factor for everyone to have. After all, what good is a fire-starter if you don’t know how to use it?
As I stated in bugging-in, be prepared for short term as well as long term survival. Also check out my list of important C’s of camping. It may give you some needed ideas on what you might need for surviving outdoors. High on the list of skills everyone in your group needs to have are: fire starting, water collection and purification, shelter making (both how to use a tent and how to make a natural shelter), first aid, and food storage and preparation.
Of course, we all need to know how to dispose of wastes safely, meaning how to have a potty or how to ‘go’ outdoors. This will come in handy if your situation turns out to be long-term, it could help cut down your chances of disease.
It is a good idea to store some camping equipment off site or at least out of the house. A large trash can could be used to store vital supplies. Who’s going to check out an old trash can that’s behind the ones used weekly? You could keep extra paper products, dried food, fire starting equipment, etc. in these too, just make sure if you have a trash service that they don’t take them. Some emergency supplies can be stored in your car trunk in case of emergencies while away from home.
As I’ve stated previously, knowledge is your most valuable and powerful tool. Make sure you secure the survival of your whole family by teaching them all how to survive any situation, being careful not to frighten young people unnecessarily. Make a game of being a prepper, learning survival skills can save lives. Now go out and prepare!!!