Items You Should Keep in Your Home Emergency Kit

Even if you don't live in an area that has common natural emergencies, it's sensible to keep a home emergency kit that will help keep you safe if you end up without gas or power for several days. If there is a local emergency, it can often take several days for the emergency services to reach everyone in your area so it makes sense to be as well prepared as possible.

Here are some items you should consider having in your kit.

• A fold out camp stove in case you are without power for several days. A camp stove can be used to heat up food and boil water for warm drinks.
• Several litres of distilled water, water filter papers and water distillation tablets. If your water is cut off for several days you can use this water to drink from while waiting for water to be reconnected. Using dirty water can lead to water-borne illnesses, which can make you extremely ill. Including hand sanitiser can help minimise the amount of water that your need to use for cleaning.
• A torch that can be powered by winding a crank, or solar powered. If you are without power, your house can become surprisingly dark leading to the potential for slips, trips and falls. It can also be useful to include batteries for any items you commonly use, such as hearing aids.
• A small axe, in case you are in a storm and need to remove small branches and trees or other debris from your house or car, an axe can be extremely useful in clearing the pieces down to small moveable pieces. Work gloves can also be useful to ensure that you don't injure yourself in the clean up.
• A small hammer and nails, in case you need to secure your windows and doors. Securing your windows can hep prevent glass breakage, which can be expensive as well as creating injury potential for people and animals in the house.
• A one-page sheet with your emergency contacts, in case you struggle to remember contact details of friends and loved ones. Even if you have a great memory usually, the stress of the disruption or injuries can cause even the most diligent person to struggle to remember details, which are usually close at hand.

If you are just starting out, just about all of these items will be available from your local hardware store.