Back in the Saddle Again!

 

We left the States once again and are back in Nepal. We arrived here a little over 3 weeks ago. I was quite nervous coming back, not sure what it was going to be like or how the kids were going to react. But surprisingly everything seem relatively normal. You can still see cracks in some buildings here and there, and downed walls, and people living in tents, but overall things are back to normal.

 

This week we put together our earthquake kit. After going through an earthquake and actually using our kit last time I realized some weak areas we had with it.

 

 

This is our revised list.

 

 

 

We decided to make 2 kits. One is a big kit and the other is called a "go bag". This is a small, backpack sized, grab it and go kind of bag. After the house had finished shaking I grabbed Emily, a blanket, my shoes and ran outside. We were there for several hours before we felt it was safe to move. I didn't have any food, water, or diapers during this time. So this "go bag" is to grab right before we run out the door next time. This will be just enough to tide us over until it is safe to return home for our other things.

 

 

In this bag we have

5 diapers

pack of baby wipes

pack of antibacterial wipes

change of clothes for Emily

baby blanket

2 liters of water

3 packs of cookies

5 packs of WaiWai

(this is like Ramen noodle soup, but you can eat it raw or cooked)

Bandaids

Tylenol

Hand sanitizer

Copies of all of our passports

Headlamp / batteries

Immodium

(found out the hard way last time that earthquakes don't come when everyone is well)

 

We are almost finished with our Large Kit

 

 

In our Earthquake Kit
2 large tarps

2 smaller tarps
(Last earthquake I had saved myself $2 and only bought one small tarp. But that doesn't help if you need to build a water proof shelter to hold several people plus things.)

Rope

clothes pins

Change of clothes for everyone, including a jacket

(Last time I made this I put summer clothes in it for summer time and then put winter clothes in it at winter time, but we found out that it's rather cold at night all year round.)

2 large blankets
(Last time we only had 1 big blanket, but you need something under you and over you.)
2 sheets

2 small blankets

5 toothbrushes

toothpaste

(Last time I remembered toothpaste, but didn't put in toothbrushes!)

Immodium
(Again, stomach bugs don't always come at convenient times)

Ibuprofen (adult's and children's)

guaze strips and tape

bandaids

Neosporin

instant cold pack

rubber gloves

Sanitary napkins

baby wipes

diapers

flashlight / batteries

swiss army knife

pot

pressure cooker

matches

cutting board

knife

spices (salt, turmeric, mixed seasoning, cumin)

rice

dhal (lentils)

chickpeas (dried)

small jar of oil

sugar

tea leaves

cookies

crackers

WaiWai

water purification tablets

plates

silverware

cups

5 gallon jug of water

A pair of contacts/ solution/ glasses for me

dish soap

sponge

2 garbage bags

dish cloth

Copies of our passports

 

I think this is all that we will need. We had a lot of useless things in our kit last time that we didn't need at all, and several things we really needed. With that info we have made this new kit. If you think of something we would definitely need please feel free to share.