Prepare for Emergencies: An Irish Home Disaster Kit

Did you see what happened in Texas? People experienced sub-zero temperatures, coupled with power outages and houses that were not built to be insulated. People queued for hours to buy food, they put blankets over their windows to trap heat and I even saw TikTok tutorials on how to heat a room with toilet roll soaked in rubbing alcohol, placed in a tin can and lit on fire…

It broke my heart.

It also got me thinking about how prepared I was (in Dublin, Ireland) for potential disasters… it turns out, not that well! While in Ireland we don’t get earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis and we’re far from any major war zones - we have had category 5 storms (remember deadly Hurricane Ophelia?), flooding, fires and now a pandemic impacting our small island.

So, let’s get ready for what might come our way and calmly prepare for things we hope will never happen.

(If just the thought of this makes you anxious, first check out my post on practical ways to manage your nerves here)

1. Essential Documents Folder

This is a pouch that gathers documents that are hard to replace (e.g. your passport, your birth certificate), have information that you need to reference in a crisis (e.g. your home insurance information). or are precious to you (e.g. a letter from your dad).

If your house caught fire or flooded suddenly, it’s reassuring to know that your most important and precious documents are in one place and easy to take with you to safety (of course, you must prioritise leaving the house safely over any possessions).

Make a folder of important documents - this can be fully waterproof or a plastic clip folder.

Documents to include:

Passports
Birth Certificates
Marriage Certificate
Wills
Insurance Information
Emergency Contact Information

You may have precious letters, printed photos or cards you may also want to put in here too. I will be keeping a hard drive with monthly backups of my business documents also in this pack. Here’s my current pack:

2. Printed List of Emergency Contacts

I can only remember my childhood home phone number and my own at this point, if I’m honest… Take a moment to gather all of the emergency services numbers as well as friends and family so you can contact them if you don’t have any of your personal devices on you in an emergency.

It is also wise to work out where you might meet other family members in your household and further afield in case you get separated and cannot contact each other - like at a local monument or playground.

Emergency Services:

Local Garda/Police Station
Local Fire Brigade
Insurance Company
Bank(s)
Gas Network Provider
Electricity Provider
County Council
Your GP / Psychiatrist / Therapist
Local Health Centre or Hospital

Emergency Numbers:

Family
Partner’s Family
Friends
Your Workplace and Partner’s Workplace (inc. the Boss)
Neighbours
Your Church Leaders

3. Ready for a House Fire

Alongside installing and regularly testing smoke alarms and mapping out escape routes, make sure you have a fire blanket in your kitchen and a fire extinguisher that you know is in date (yes, they expire!).

More information on types of extinguishers and where to get them here https://firesafetyireland.com/. Be sure to never leave a candle unattended and have a protective grate over your fireplace too.

Know where to turn off the gas, and have burn cream, bandages and plasters/band aids in your first aid kit.

4. Ready for a Power or Mains Water Outage

Keep a box in the house of supplies and food you could use if you had no way to light or heat the house. Remember to check these things every few months to make sure they do not expire, and resist the urge to use them for anything else to avoid becoming unprepared.

Know where your gas, electricity switch board and water mains are in case you need to examine them of turn them off.

Things to keep ready:

Torches
Batteries
Thick, long-stem candles
Matches and lighters
Charged portable chargers
5+ Litres of Water
Long-life ready to eat prepared foods like microwavable rice and cans of beans and fruit
Blankets or emergency blankets
Playing Cards

5. Home Accident or Medical Emergency

It’s always good to be prepared for cuts, bruises and more serious accidents like broken bones from falls. Prepare a first aid kit and keep it well-stocked - the Irish Health Service Executive provides a list of what to include here: HSE First Aid for Children & Babies

Keep handy emergency contact numbers for your local GP and medical centre - on the fridge is a good central place to view this.

Set up your speed-dial to go to your next of kin, family or close friend so you can get them quickly.

6. Prepare a ‘Go-Bag’

If you need to evacuate your house in case of fire, gas leak, flooding or something more serious it’s nice to know you would be prepared with the essentials at grabbing distance if you had to stay away for a night or a few days. From my research, here is what you should have ready in a ‘go-bag’:

Things to put in your ‘Go-Bag’:

Your important documents and backup hard drive (see above)
A change of clothes or at least fresh socks and underwear
Emergency blankets
A bottle of water for each person
Ready to eat long-life foods: granola bars
Phone charging cable
Portable charger
Small first aid kit with pain killers, plasters and scissors
Duct tape
Torch and spare batteries
Battery operated radio for national broadcasts
Hand sanitiser
Face masks
Strong plastic bags (protect your things)
Period products
Essential medications

Here’s my ‘Go-Bag’ - a work in progress!

7. Regular Digital Backups

Prepare your essential items for the worst-case scenario - stolen phone or laptop, fire, or flooding.

Start to convert all essential paperwork to a paperless form including bills, subscriptions, photographs. Take photos of your sentimental items and scan precious documents like letters and photographs.

Any note-taking app (I use Google Keep) or business tool is safest if it lives or backs up to the Cloud - start using your Google Drive (15GB for free), iCloud or DropBox.

Keep a cloud-based list of your most important contacts (e.g. Google Sheets or Trello) as your phone may be storing new contacts directly to your phone.

Basically - one device or one copy should be considered as none. Try to build a back up into your monthly or annual home-safety routine.