Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
72-Hour Grab-and-Go Survival Kit
1.
Portable radio,
preferably one that works with no batteries, such as by a hand crank or combina-
tion hand crank and solar cells (available through survival and surplus outlets). See
figure 2-1
.
Figure 2-1. Survival radio with AM/FM and shortwave band widths plus combination battery power, solar charger,
and hand-crank dynamo.
Photo courtesy of Eton Corp.
2.
First-aid kit
with first-aid and survival handbooks (this topic covers both). Make sure that your
fist-aid kit includes a couple of stretchy Ace bandages for binding wounds and sprained joints, as
well as a roll of 2-inch-wide cloth adhesive first-aid tape for taping “hot spots” to prevent blisters,
as well as for taping sprains and wounds.
3.
Water, water-purification chemicals, and/or purifying filter.
Enoughtoprovide1gallonperperson
per day. Retort (foil) pouches can handle freezing in a car trunk, but most other water containers
can't handle freezing without potentially bursting. Three gallons per person is heavy (25 lbs.), so
I strongly suggest that you include a water filter and water-treatment chemicals. I suggest pump-
type backcountry filters, such as those made by Katadyn or MSR (see
fig. 2-2)
, that are rated to
filter out all bacteria and have a carbon core to remove toxic chemicals. Also, supplement your
filter(s) with purifying iodine crystals (or other chemicals), such as a “Polar Pure” water purific-
ation kit (see
fig. 2-3
)
, to kill all viruses. Pump filters that are rated for virus removal have tiny
poresizesandtendtoclogquickly(acloggedfilterisworthless).Sportsbottle-typepurifyingwa-
ter filters are simple, reliable, compact, and inexpensive, but clog easier and won't purify nearly
as many gallons of water as the pump-type filters. I also carry a small compact Steripen in my
grab-and-go kit, which is a terrific new gadget that flashes high intensity UV light to kill bacteria
and viruses in a bottle of water in a matter of seconds. The downside to a Steripen is it requires
clear water to reliably eliminate all the nasty organisms in your water, so all bets are off using a
Steripen on dirty water unless it is filtered first to remove sediment and debris. See
chapter 8
for
more details on water purification and purification products.
