THE RULE OF 3’s

Many people ask what survival supplies to stock for an emergency.  Preparations for disasters and threats can be minimal or immense.  You get to decide.  No one can tell you what to stock but yourself.  Make your own list or modify this one.  Make your own decisions.  Are you going elk hunting for two weeks?  Are you going rafting for four hours?  Is the El Nino hurricane season coming?  Are you going to watch the millennium New Years Eve party from Idaho or New York’s Central Park?

A good way to prepare for future emergencies is to list the threats and the corresponding solutions.  The RULE OF 3 categorizes threats by the time they can greatly effect you.  With this kind of thinking in place, you will respond to threats in the correct sequence.  THE RULE OF 3 is often summarized that you can die from:  blood loss in 3 seconds, air loss in 3 minutes, heat loss in 3 hours, water loss in 3 days, food loss in 3 weeks, shelter loss in 3 months and health loss in 3 years.

In the same order of need, list the items in your survival kit under the five headings:  SURVIVAL, HEAT, WATER, FOOD, SHELTER & HEALTH.  Refer to THE RULE OF 3 to determine what equipment is needed in each category.  We often are asked how much equipment or food to store.  We don’t know your resources.  We always recommend asking yourself “HOW LONG DO I WANT TO SURVIVE ?”

Survival situations can evolve at the home or away.  Many fear being driven from their home by weather, toxic spills, fire, riots or worse.  The context of this document is to prepare for emergencies at home but have a plan for evacuation.  In other words, prepare your home to be self sufficient but have several backup locations to go to.  Plan for a panic while you are at work.  Locate the rest of the family.Stick to the plan.