Family

Family

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Emergency Preparedness

This time of year it is our family tradition to prepare for earthquakes and other emergencies! On January 17th 1994 our family was living in Northridge ,California when at 4:30 am we were literally jolted out of our beds.The noise and shaking is something I will never forget!! Outside we could hear and see the fire from gas lines in our neighboorhood exploding.Some how we all got out of the house without a scratch! About an hour before the quake hit I woke up and felt an very urgent prompting to get Brianna out of her crib(she was 1 at the time) I had no idea why but,the feeling was so intense that I did it and brought her into our bedroom.Little did I realize a huge heavy bookcase would land right in the middle of the crib where she was sleeping !I will never forget since then to ALWAYS listen to the spirit.Our home suffered such damage we were no longer able to live in it.The bookcases were thrown to the ground, glass was everywhere around us,windows broken, walls severely cracked and nerves shattered! We found out later that we were less then a mile away from the epicenter of the Northridge Quake.

From this experience we always try to be as best prepared as we possibly can.Each year we check our 72 hour kits, our water storage, food storage, flashlights, batteries, matches, first aid kits,radios, etc. We also check and make sure anything heavy is bolted to the walls or ground .We can NEVER be too prepared! We never know when our preparation will pay off.