Is Your Family Prepared for an Emergency?

Emergency preparedness is one of those things that everyone should think about, but few people do until disaster actually strikes. This is especially relevant here in California, which is of course earthquake country. Are you and your family prepared? We asked Cary Schneider and Max Kwan-Rosenbush of PrepareUs, the two local Marin entrepreneurs behind the Go-Bag family emergency preparedness kit, to tell us a little about their product and to give us some tips on preparing your family for an emergency.

What was the inspiration behind creating the Go-Bag?

Cary and Max were attempting to create emergency preparedness bags for themselves and their families. As they were doing this, they both realized the growing urgency for individuals and families to prepare themselves efficiently to survive a natural disaster, as well as the lack of sufficient high quality preparedness products on the market.

In addition, they realized that buying a bag or making their own meant they would have to worry about what expired  and find it at retail cost, or buy a whole new bag every couple years. The two soon came to the harsh realization that finding all of these items was a painstakingly difficult process, and furthermore, the costs began to add up. They realized that they could make a difference in their community by developing the All Inclusive Family Disaster Preparedness Package.

Building an emergency kit for yourself or your office can be extremely time consuming and expensive, and when you look online for a bag you feel comfortable purchasing, you notice they all contain cheap items, most of which will expire every couple years. We took the stress out of getting prepared and have developed a package that is unlike anything offered by other companies in the emergency preparedness industry! PrepareUs is dedicated to raising awareness of disaster preparedness by emphasizing the importance of planning with your family and having the necessary tools to survive an unexpected disaster.

What's included in the Go-Bag? Why is it unique?

The Go-Bag includes:

1. A deluxe 3-day emergency survival Go-Bag that exceeds FEMA standards and offers premium products no other bag on the market offers.
2. A unique comprehensive step-by-step guide, that we wrote ourselves, using material from FEMA, the Red Cross and other expert sources, which prepares a family to make a plan in 7 days. This guide provides the essential information for developing a family emergency plan which ensures every family is ready in the event of any unexpected emergency.
3. And, to guarantee that a PrepareUs Go-Bag is the last one a family will ever need to think about purchasing, we developed a unique refill system for used or expired food, water and sanitary supply. Every 3, 5 and 7 years, instead of having to go out and buy a new bag or worry about what expired, we will update customers on when to replace these items and offer the supply at-cost when you purchase an all-inclusive package.

We have the greatest solution out there for a family to actually cross "getting prepared" off of their to-do list. No company offers as quality of a bag and comprehensive as a package, a refill system, or a guide.

How does the Go-Bag refill system work?

We will send our clients an email at the beginning of the year when it is time to refill your Go Bag (every 3, 5 and 7 years). At that time, we offer the supply to them at our wholesale direct price and then, the client will have until March 1 of that year to request the refill. The refill is sent out in the month of March of the expiration year based off of when they purchased the package.

What's can families do to prepare themselves for an emergency?

7 Quick Tips for Getting Prepared

1. MAKE A LIST: Take 5 minutes to think about what you would do if there were an earthquake or disaster RIGHT NOW. What would you do, what would you grab?
2. BACKUP: Make sure you keep a back up of important data such as computer files, passports, birth certificates and other items backed up either on a cloud server or on an external hard drive stored away from your home.
3. SECURE: Go around your house and make sure heavy and fragile objects are secure, especially above your bed or where you sit at your desk.
4. PLAN: Know your workplace or childrens school evacuation plans and make a plan with your family to know exactly what you would expect them to do if you could not reach them. Write this plan down and keep it in your wallet, a kids backpack, the car. Have an out-of-state contact person everyone knows the phone number of.
5. PETS: Do not forget to account for your loveable pets! Make sure you have food and water stored away for them as well.
6. INFORM: Look up your local red cross shelters and learn the important radio stations you can tune into for information. Learn how to shut off your water and gas, and look into getting certified in a community program as well.
7. SUPPLIES: Make sure you have a Go-Bag with enough essential supplies such as food, water and sanitary items in it for each person in your family. Keep a bag near the door in your home as well as smaller ones in your car or office. Learn how to cycle certain items in your home such as water bottles and food to keep on hand in case you need to Shelter-in for more than 4 days.

Please check out our website www.PrepareUsToday.com for more information on how to get prepared and valuable preparedness resources!

What should be included in a family emergency plan?

It is important to plan with family, friends, babysitters, teachers, coaches and tutors ahead of time to know where shelters will be set up for aid and what to do in the event of a major earthquake. These plans should be written down in this guide and stored in a central place with your Go-Bag. Tell babysitters and family members where to find your bag! Create plans for every senario (from school, at work, with a babysitter).

Have important documents, pictures and files backed up on hard drives and left at work or in your Go-Bag or on a cloud server on the Internet.

Identify contacts outside the area and keep the numbers of these individuals written down and in wallets, backpacks, cars, and children’s bags. Talk with your family about all possible scenarios.

Learn how to control your gas, water and electricity in your home. Identify the control centers; get familiar with how they work. Inform others in the family and children as well.

Establish additional contingencies with your neighbors in case of structural damage to your own home.

Do a mock drill early in the morning or just before bedtime.