Volcano Preparedness: Living in a Volcano Zone Requires Preparedness..or Should

When it comes to volcano preparedness, one of the first things you’re going to have to decide during a volcanic eruption is whether to stay in your home or leave. Most experts agree that it’s better to leave for higher ground, but if you don’t have time to go or the means to do so, here is how to prepare for a volcanic event.

Water

Prior to an eruption, you will need to stock up on food and water, about a week to ten days’ worth. It’s one of the most important things you can do in terms of preparedness for volcano. That should enable you to wait out the major part of the eruption. As soon as you see a lull in the action, you should switch to plan B and evacuate.

When it comes to saving water, you will need a gallon of water per person per day. When it comes to storing water, buying bottles off the shelf at the grocery store is the safest. You can however start collecting plastic soda bottles and save your water in there. Just make sure you wash them out with soap and hot water.

Storing water in milk jugs can be dangerous. It’s impossible to remove all traces of milk so bacteria are likely to grow in your water supply and can cause serious health problems. Not only that, but the type of plastic used to make milk-jug-type containers, can break down over time and spring leaks.

Other sources of water may be tempting but also dangerous; like water from your swimming pool or waterbed. The treated water you find in both those sources can be dangerous.

Food Guidelines

When it comes to saving food there are a few guidelines you should follow.

• In order to help with water consumption, it’s a good idea to leave behind foods that make you thirsty or drain water from your system like coffee and salty foods.
• Try to store low sodium or sodium free foods.
• It’s also a good idea to store foods high in liquid content like canned fruit.
• Some other good foods to store are high-energy foods like peanut butter, energy bars, and salt free crackers. Any kind of compressed food bars are good as long as they don’t have a real high salt content. They are easily stored in small places and are nutritious.
• Ready to eat foods like canned meat and vegetables are also good.

Volcano Preparedness Shelter

Taking care of your food and water supplies are one aspect of preparedness for a volcano that you can do prior to an eruption. When it comes to preparedness there are also things you can only do when the eruption happens. These are also things that can be practiced to make sure you don’t forget anything. If you decide to hole up in your house one of the first things you should do after everybody is accounted for and inside the home is to seal it up.

You may be about to become partially buried in highly toxic ash so you will need to make sure you home environment stays safe to breathe in. Volcano preparedness is all about sealing up your house or shelter.

If you have a large house you might want to assign parts to different family members to ensure it is sealed up in the most thorough and expedient manner. Make sure all the windows in your house are closed tightly.

You’ll also need to be sure any other openings are sealed shut as well, like your fireplace chimney or the dryer lint pipe that blows air and lint out of your dryer. Ash can just as easily blow right back in to your house.

Be sure to check all the doors that lead to the outside. Sometimes doors have as much as a quarter inch gap that can easily allow ash to blow in. Take a towel, get it wet then roll it up and place in front of the gap underneath the door. As it dries you might want to replace it with a new wet towel to ensure a tight seal. Shut off any heating or cooling systems in your home. That will also let in ash.

When it comes to volcano preparedness make sure you will be able to stay informed during the crisis. That means having a radio and plenty of batteries to go with it. You might even want a mini TV that can also operate on batteries. You will need to know when it’s safe to leave your home so keep tuned into the news.