{"id":2595,"date":"2012-04-23T05:20:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T09:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2012-04-21T20:01:34","modified_gmt":"2012-04-22T00:01:34","slug":"twelve-survival-essentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Survival essentials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2599\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"158\" height=\"158\" \/><\/a>When facing emergencies or local disasters, it is good to have a plan in place before you must\u00a0confront the lions of fire, tornado, riot or tumult.\u00a0 Understand, I\u2019m not suggesting that you put your family in the middle of such danger but danger may happen suddenly and unaware.\u00a0 It is godly wisdom to prepare for the eventuality of such events. \u00a0While all of us know to have a store of food and water for at least two weeks, there are other essentials that make be overlooked. \u00a0Here are 12 must-do precautions you should do before and in the middle of a disaster.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/04\/the-plan1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-2600\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/the-plan1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"135\" \/><\/a>First, put your plans in writing<\/strong> so that\u00a0all family members are on the same page in the event of natural or man-made disaster.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second, have a meeting place<\/strong> other than your home where family members will come to meet each other. \u00a0This is especially true with children. \u00a0A school, church, police or fire station is a perfect place to designate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Third, teach your children the route<\/strong> to the nearest police station.\u00a0 This a safe haven where they will be protected and secure.\u00a0 When things are calmer, you can pick up the children from the police station.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fourth, in advance, tell your family or friends<\/strong> who do not live in your immediate area, your survival plans and where your children will be meeting you. \u00a0In this way, they can notify the authorities regarding where you may be located.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fifth, \u00a0call those out-of-town individuals<\/strong>, if possible, after or during the event to let them know your exact location and if your entire family has met you.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/phone.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-2601\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/phone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"164\" \/><\/a>Sixth, if you are using a cell phone, begin your calls<\/strong> as quickly as possible, before the lines become jammed with calls. \u00a0If you don\u2019t have a cell phone, get one. \u00a0Texting will work, if the phone lines will not. \u00a0Because of downed phone lines, cell phones may be the only phones that will be working in the case of a devastating emergency.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Seventh, have a calling backup plan.<\/strong> Try to maintain\u00a0the location of\u00a0a land line so that you can make calls should the cell connections be interrupted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eighth, if possible, keep your family together until all of them are safe.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you must be separated, take your children to a police station which is a secure location.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ninth, if for some reason, at the time of the tragedy,\u00a0you have a minor child with you who is not part of your family\u00a0and they cannot return home, take them to a local police station or another to a designated secure location.<\/strong> \u00a0If you do not want to leave the child at the police station, give the local officials the child\u2019s information. \u00a0Be sure to give exact information regarding your location or how you can be located.\u00a0 Get and give exact names and phone numbers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tenth, if you are not able to leave the location where you are when the disaster strikes, help the people around you to remain calm and quiet.\u00a0<\/strong> Pray out loud often, soothe and quiet people with your calmness.\u00a0 Let as many people as possible know where you are located.\u00a0 Using a cell phone, call 911.\u00a0 Call your family.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eleventh, when you are traveling, do not ever pay with cash.<\/strong>\u00a0 Use your credit card.\u00a0 This will give local officials the ability to track your activities and your estimated location.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/talking-to-press.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-2602\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2012\/04\/talking-to-press.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"127\" \/><\/a>Twelfth, determine early if you want your family\u2019s hurt and tragedy to be exposed to the press.<\/strong> \u00a0Determine if you will speak to the press.\u00a0 Appoint one person talk to the press. \u00a0This may sound silly but it is vital in this information-age to decide in advance how much you want to expose of yourselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is our prayer that we never have to face down calamity; but there is a good possibility that it will happen.\u00a0 While Florida was fighting wild fires, a fast-moving blizzard was moving through the northwest part of our nation. \u00a0Now, floods and tornados are leveling entire towns. \u00a0Each part of the world has a unique natural disaster visage.\u00a0 Preparation is wisdom; and wisdom is a virtue that God commends and blesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When facing emergencies or local disasters, it is good to have a plan in place before you must\u00a0confront the lions of fire, tornado, riot or tumult.\u00a0 Understand, I\u2019m not suggesting that you put your family in the middle of such danger but danger may happen suddenly and unaware.\u00a0 It is godly wisdom to prepare for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,40,186,49,16,147,8,4,268],"tags":[690,21,688,7,699,715,701,13,6,725],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-leadership","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-survival","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disabilities","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-survival"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Twelve Survival essentials  - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twelve Survival essentials  - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When facing emergencies or local disasters, it is good to have a plan in place before you must\u00a0confront the lions of fire, tornado, riot or tumult.\u00a0 Understand, I\u2019m not suggesting that you put your family in the middle of such danger but danger may happen suddenly and unaware.\u00a0 It is godly wisdom to prepare for&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-23T09:20:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-04-22T00:01:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twelve Survival essentials  - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twelve Survival essentials  - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"When facing emergencies or local disasters, it is good to have a plan in place before you must\u00a0confront the lions of fire, tornado, riot or tumult.\u00a0 Understand, I\u2019m not suggesting that you put your family in the middle of such danger but danger may happen suddenly and unaware.\u00a0 It is godly wisdom to prepare for&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2012-04-23T09:20:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-04-22T00:01:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. Howard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html","name":"Twelve Survival essentials - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg","datePublished":"2012-04-23T09:20:55+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-22T00:01:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/04\/tornado.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/04\/twelve-survival-essentials.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Twelve Survival essentials"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/","name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Linda Howard","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739","name":"Linda G. Howard","description":"Linda G. Howard is the best-selling and award-winning author of four books, including MOTHERS ARE PEOPLE, TOO and THE SECRET LIFE OF A HOUSEWIFE. Currently, she serves as area director of The Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community. Additionally, she is the co-publisher and editor of CONNECTING POINT, the ministry newsletter. Her husband is a retired aerospace technologist who worked for NASA. They have three children and four grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/author\/lhoward"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2595"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2597,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions\/2597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}