By Miguel C. Gil

Every prudent homeowner must stock up on certain items that could prove to be life-savers should social order and basic services be interrupted by a calamity—be it natural or man-made. We feel that the list below covers the basics, but naturally, YOU know best what ought to be in your pantry, closet, basement or secret storage.

Food

Always have at least a week’s worth of food ready for an emergency. Your emergency food stash must be stored separately from those intended for immediate consumption so you won’t be tempted to eat away at your Prepper hoard!

Your emergency food supply must consist of items that have long shelf lives, such as grains, canned meat/fish, preserved/dried fruits, among others. Military rations are ideal wherever available. Exert extra pains to ensure that your storage system will protect your food for an extended period.

Take note of the expiration dates of your emergency food supply. Eat them long before they go bad! Just do not forget to immediately replenish what you consume.

Water

You cannot have enough potable water should a society altering event take place! So, make sure you have a good supply of drinking water set aside somewhere in the house.

Some people may think that storing drinking water is unnecessary because one can always boil water from the tap. But what if an earthquake another destroys the already fragile water distribution system in Metro Manila?  This may be less of a concern for people based in the countryside.

The remedy can be as simple as buying a good quantity of bottled water from the supermarket. Bottled water from most manufacturers are free of harmful microbes and are sealed so, they will keep for an extended period.  Water, of course, has no expiration date and will remain potable unless it gets contaminated in storage.

Medicines

Individuals who are on maintenance medication should always tuck away a good quantity of their prescribed drugs should the regular trip to the pharmacy suddenly become problematic. Imagine yourself in a situation when you are in dire need of your life-sustaining medication but it suddenly became out of reach!

The prudent homeowner should also never be without a medicine kit composed of pharmaceuticals that can come in handy in an emergency. Your stash should include medicines like paracetamol (fever), anti-histhamines (allergic attacks), nitro glycerine patch (heart attacks), loperamide (diarrhea), toothache drops, rubbing alcohol, calamine-zinc ointment, Betadine, among others.

Illumination

You can never have enough flashlights, lamps, lanterns and even candles when calamity strikes because electric power service is often the first thing to go down!

Expensive tactical flashlights are all the rave nowadays and they can be as useful as they are cool! Aside from providing illumination many of them can take accessories that allow them double as impact weapons for close-quarters confrontations when law and order breaks down following an apocalyptic scenario! These flashlights look especially menacing when mounted on your M-4!

However, 99.9% of the time you will probably need your flashlight only to light your way in the dark! So, a cheap plastic flashlight will often serve you just as well. Make sure that you get rechargeable and those that run on disposable batteries.

AM/FM Radio

Nothing is worse than being cut-off from the rest of civilization. Often, survival is only a matter of knowing what is happening around us in real time.

Never be without a heavy-duty AM/FM radio in the house. Make sure you get one that is both rechargeable and can also run on disposable batteries. It is also a good idea to select a unit with short wave capability so you can listen-in on the bigger world. Make sure you buy one with a good antennae!