3. Making Your Own Earthquake Survival Kit

• After a major earthquake, medical aid, transportation, water, electricity, and communication may be unavailable or severely restricted for several days to weeks throughout the Bay Area. Be prepared to take care of yourself, your family, and your neighbors for at least 3 days.
• At home, at work, and in your car, store flashlights, batteries, an A-B-C rated fire extinguisher, a battery-operated radio, a first-aid kit and handbook, one gallon of water per person per day, food, warm clothes, and sturdy shoes.
• Make sure emergency supplies are located in a safe and readily available place.
• Make sure everyone in your family knows where these supplies are and how to use them. Take a course in first aid.

For more information, check the books listed in additional materials, and look at the "First Aid and Survival Guide" in the introductory pages of most telephone directories. Your local Office of Emergency Services and American Red Cross Chapter can provide pamphlets, slide shows, video tapes, and/or speakers to help you prepare and to help you organize self-help groups.

Discuss the options and make plans now. Participate in earthquake drills. When the earthquake happens, your family and friends will know better how to deal with the emergency and with the fear and uncertainty until you are all reunited. Making plans is one key to living more safely in earthquake country.