Creating An Evacuation Grab List

Sit down for a minute and imagine a horrible scenario. You have 10 minutes to leave your house, and you aren’t sure if it is going to be there when you come back. You can take your kids, your emergency kits and anything else you can fit in your car. What would you grab? What items do you consider absolutely irreplaceable? The Family Bible, Priceless Photographs, your great-grandmother’s lace tablecloth? It’s something that most of us never want to think about, but a few minutes of preparation will help you to avoid possibly losing irreplaceable items that are portable enough to take with you in the event of an evacuation.

As you think about what you would grab, sit down and list all of those items. While it may be difficult, try to list them according to priority, so that if time is limited, you can grab the most important first. Keep a copy of this list in your 72-Hour kit where you can easily look at it in the event of an evacuation. In a stressful situation, it may be difficult to think clearly about what you want, so the list will help you identify your priceless essentials.

 

Be sure to include the location of each item in your home, (ie., the bookshelf in the guest bedroom,) so that you won't have to trust your memory in an extremely stressful situation, and also so that others would be able to help you if they were around to do so.

 

Once you've created your list, print it out and put a copy in your preparedness binder, and include one in your 72 Hour Kit. You could also hang a copy in the closet or other area where you store your 72 Hour Kits and other emergency supplies so that's it's there at a glance in an emergency situation.

 

Happy Homemaking!