Prepared or Paranoid?

This morning at 8.10am we had a power cut. All of a sudden everything stopped, the quietness was strange... no background hum of the fridge, no TV, no radio, no beeps, no clocks. Silence.

All of a sudden we were cut off from the world, phones dead - the only sound were alarms going off all over the neighbourhood. Mr G was already out to work and Dash had gone off around the corner for a lift to school with his mate Oscar.

It was just me, a still-poorly Princess and Scrag at home.

And it got me thinking about Mr G's Emergency Plans a.k.a Tsunami Supplies a.k.a Earthquake Kit a.k.a Volcano Box. What if this were one of those events... and we were all on our own? Would I know what to do?

Mr G had been nagging me for months to start collecting tins and things after the Civil Defense people starting running ads on TV: Get Ready, Get Through

He kept saying, We are sitting ducks here in New Zealand, you know. Auckland is built on volcanoes, we're surrounded by water on all sides... the Pacific Ring of Fire (earthquake zone) runs right through the country! It's a matter of when not if.

And like a good procrastinator I did nothing. It'll probably never happen, I thought.

Have you started getting our emergency supplies yet? he'd ask.

Um.... well....

Then while we were in the UK we heard the dreadful news about the Tsunami in Samoa. That's pretty close to home, and some friends of ours even lost family members in it.

Mr G said, Right that's it. When we get home I'm going to get the emergency supplies. I'll do it myself (said the Little Red Hen, and he did).

To top it all off, we landed at Auckland Airport just in time to hear a Pilot asking the girl behind the Duty Free counter: "So what time is the Tsunami due to hit today???"

What the???!! Auckland had a Tsunami warning and we were back just in time!

OK, turned out to be a false alarm. But as Mr G said, Sitting Ducks.

The very next day, off he went to Pak'n'Save (still jetlagged) and came back with beginnings of our Emergency Box.

He says he's not Paranoid. He's being Prepared. Hope for the Best but Prepare for the Worst.

And I think I agree with him. I'll be adding to the box from now on... more cans, more water, gas ring & cannisters, lighters, candles, spare batteries... because you just never know do you?

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Click Here for GeoNet: The website which monitors Earthquake and Volcanic activity in NZ

Click Here for Get Ready Get Through: The Emergency Preparation brochure and checklist