Bugging: ShelterBox

Whether it's family preparedness, personal defense or other tasks, I'm a big fan of "modeling" -- looking for good ideas and then applying or adapting them to whatever I'm trying to accomplish. It's an approach that ends the search for a single answer, in favor of assimilating a range of wisdom into a custom solution.

On the subject of preparedness, there's no shortage of information and advice on the WWWeb. Despite that, I've noticed that some folks have trouble putting together a compact, portable store of disaster supplies.

For anyone intimidated by the prospect of assembling a family bug-out kit, I suggest modeling something called a ShelterBox.

The concept was developed by a Rotarian and former Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver as a way to deliver essential materials (sans food and water) to victims of disasters around the globe. Now an international charity funded through donations, the ShelterBox organization has become one of the most effective aid agencies in the world.

A ShelterBox, which serves up to ten people, comprises:

• One 49-gallon box, the delivery container; later, it can be used to store water, food, etc.
• One ten-person tent.
• Ten insulated vinyl sleeping mats & lightweight thermal blankets.
• Ten envelope-type sleeping bags.
• 180 water-purification tablets (enough for up to three months).
• One collapsible 5-gallon water container & two collapsible 2.1-gallon water carriers.
• Collapsible trenching shovel.
• 164 feet of rope.
• Repellent-treated mosquito netting.
• Ten PVC ponchos.
• Tools (hatchet, knife, screwdriver, hammer, pliers, saw, hoe head, etc.).
• Multi-fuel stove.
• Cookware, dinnerware & utensils.
• Children's activity kit (simple school supplies, stickers & coloring book).

Even though a ShelterBox doesn't include necessary consumables, look at it as a model -- and then try to tell me it's impossible to assemble an all-inclusive, 72-hour family bug-out kit because it won't fit in an SUV or sedan.

I contend that a typical American family of four could gather materials equivalent to a ShelterBox, plus provisions for food, first aid and defense, into the same space or less, packing sufficient water separately. It's easy, really.

(If at this point you're wondering if the ShelterBox people will sell you one of these kits already assembled, you've completely missed the point. You're probably prime refugee material, and you should find another blog to read.)