Your Most Critical Survival Gear
An emergency can occur at any time. They aren’t always considered when we make plans for things. And they can happen in good times and in bad. Survival gear packed in advance can safe our lives in the most desperate situations.
The types of emergencies that people should prepare for can include things like having no electricity for days because of a power outage. It can mean being prepared if there is a flood or a hurricane. Emergencies might also involve tornadoes, forest fires and sudden blizzards on a highway. But the fact remains that emergencies might also involve a house fire, a tire going flat while four-by-four driving in the mountains, or becoming lost on a camping trip. There are fifteen pieces of survival gear that will help a person in almost any emergency situation.
The first thing to keep available in case of an emergency is a map. It should be a topographical map with features. Not only should there be a map but there should also be someone who knows how to read it. Having a compass or GPS receiver would also help if possible. A flashlight is the second piece of emergency equipment. It’s dangerous to wander around in the dark. Along with both of these, an emergency pack should have extra dehydrated food, for energy purposes. It may not seem like survival gear per se but without energy, people often find they have no strength to help themselves.
Extra clothing should be among the things we put in our survival gear or emergency kit. Wearing layers is helpful in cold situations and clothing can be used for other things as necessary. Rain gear can help us build a shelter if we don’t need it to break the wind or keep us dry. Sunglasses, a sixth item for our pack, can protect our eyes from the reflecting sun and help us to keep going. Any item in a survival pack can be used to do something other than it was intended. Always keep that in mind when packing.
First aid kits are important to include, especially ones that are compact but serve many purposes. Bandages, antiseptic salves and creams, and ways of treating burns, cuts and allergic reactions could be crucial at certain moments. A multi purpose tool is a good thing to have in our survival gear, as it might help us pry open food containers, build a shelter or an all important fire. The material to start a fire is also essential in survival gear. This could include waterproof matches, a lighter or a rod that one can purchase cheaply that can be scraped to shoot sparks onto a pile of dry grass or bark.
You’re lost. And you’re getting thirsty. You find some water and you want to drink it. Don’t. In your survival gear, you packed at least one method of disinfecting water and making it safe to drink. There are chemical disinfectants you can add to suspect water to make it drinkable. Another item you can pack is a whistle. The sharp shrill noise will be heard over long distances and if you fell and hurt yourself, the whistle may bring your rescuers to you, instead of you hoping to make it to them.
An emergency survival shelter doesn’t have to be a big tent that takes up a lot of room. A simple tarp or space blanket can be made into a shelter using branches and logs, rocks to hold the corners down, or even pressed against a snow shelter for extra dryness and insulation. Add to the list of necessary items twenty five feet or more of cording. This can be parachute cord or simple rope but it’s a must-have for survival gear. The fourteenth item to add to an emergency kit is insect repellant of some kind. No one wants to be lost forever and eventually there will be a return to civilization. If its possible, avoid mosquitoes and ticks that might be infected with parasites or other diseases, by packing bug spray.
Your survival gear is meant to help you survive and endure any emergency. Unexpected weather or disasters can take a toll on the strongest person’s sense of morale. The final tool in your survival kit must be your will to live. In the dark, in the night, in the middle of nowhere, it’s easy to want to give up. But with a strong will to survive, and all the right survival gear packed in your kit, it is also easy to choose to live. Never give up five minutes before the miracle.