Are you, in any way, prepared for some kind of disaster to hit your area?  If you stop 100 random people on just about any street in any town or city in any part of the country the answer you will get is, not only NO, but they will also tell you that they really don't know how to get prepared for a disaster coming to their area.  This a very sad but true statement of fact.

It was made very clear, just how unprepared for a disaster people are when it was displayed all over the TV during the Katrina Hurricane disaster that hit and devastated the New Orleans area.  It is also shown when the news reports hurricanes, tornadoes and earth quakes hit an area.  It shows how much people need the bare necessities brought in to them just to be able to survive.  We see these things every year on the TV news.  After seeing these things happening so often you would think that people would want to prepare at least a little, but they haven't.

The very first suggestion I want you to think about is finding out just exactly what kind of natural disaster could hit the part of the country you live in.  Search the Internet to find the history of the area you live in to see what sort of disaster has come to your area in the past.  By knowing what has happened in the past where you live you can prepare to survive that kind of disaster should it return to hit your area again.
If you live near the ocean, a freak hurricane could visit you or even a huge tsunami that came across the ocean from another part of the world, could come crashing in the area where you call home.

Some areas are prone to having tornadoes hit their area fairly regularly, so the people that live there, or move into that area, should prepare to survive a force 5 tornado, and hope they never have to try to live through one, or the mess of the after-mat of something like that.

You will also want to make what preparations you can to survive a not so natural disaster the comes to your area.  Just ask the people in New York about how fast they learned about that with the 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attack and the after mat of that huge mess. 

Now that you know why you should have some kind of disaster preparedness handy, let's talk about what you need for your emergency supply survival kit.  First you need some kind of water filter or a safe supply of clean drinking water, food (preferably the kind that you can, but don't need to cook or warm up), some means of emergency shelter (like a tent or materials that you can make some sort of tent out of), a light source (candles and flashlights (with the right size batteries)), tools (knife, ax or hatchet, shovel and things like that) and clean changes of clothing.

There are many portable water filter devices available in the market that claim to be able to remove bacteria, giardia, cryptosporidium and viruses out of water.  You do need to read the fine print.  Most won’t guarantee to acceptable levels of 99.99% and above (when including manufacturing quality) nor most have safety switch off mechanisms.  Also make sure the products have been independently tested. 

One such device that exceeds all internationally recognised guidelines, has been independently tested by various governments around the world and has a safety switch-off mechanism is the SureAqua filter. This is a great small device that you use like a straw to drink water through and it filters the water as you are drinking.  You can check out this device on the Internet at http://www.sureaqua.com/water-filters.  You will be amazed at how small it is.  You could keep several of these around for emergencies or just to take camping with you.

The emergency food that I recommend that you get and keep on hand is called MRE's (this means Meals-Ready-To-Eat).  They come in a variety of menus and can be eaten cold (right out of their packaging) or they have a tool for warming them that just takes a little water added to it while it and the main food package is in a plastic sleeve that is included.  This kind of food can be kept for 5 years or longer, depending on how you store it, and it will not spoil, it will be ready to eat whenever you want, or need too.  One web site (http://www.thereadystore.com/mre ) that also sells the food in kits for as few as 3 days or as much as a full years supply.  They also sell packaged water which is good to have in addition to any water filter that you have in your kit.

That web site also sells complete kits for multiple people groups from a couple to a family of 4 or even an emergency kit for helping as many as 50 people for 3 days to a week.

You will need to have a tent or tents capable of keeping you and your family out of the weather when you sleep at night.  Sleeping bags or extra blankets with some kind of waterproof cover will also be needed.

Besides your water filter or packaged water, food, shelter, lighting, a communication device (radio), waterproof matches and tools you will also want to figure out other things that you may find useful if your survival situation is for an extended period of time.  I keep three full kits (complete with MRE food and a portable water filter) packed away just in case I may need them some time in the future. You will probably want to get a small emergency kit to start with and add to it over time.  Then you at least know you will be able to survive should any kind of disaster visit you.