It's Time to Plan, Not Panic

by Barbara Salsbury

The bad news—as many people have discovered in recent years—is that disasters and crises don't make appointments before they come calling. The good news is that you don't have to be caught unprepared! In this timely book, popular author and preparedness guru Barbara Salsbury teaches you step-by-step how to prepare yourself, your family, and your neighborhood for an emergency evacuation. In It's Time to Plan, Not Panic, you'll learn— • How to use the exclusive Neighborhood Evaluation form. • What lag time is and why it's critical to all of your planning. • Why all 72-hour kits are not created equal. • How to plan emergency meals. • How to get it together and keep it together. • The exclusive Care-in-a-Crisis Program. With It's Time to Plan, Not Panic, you'll gain confidence and comfort in knowing how to survive—and thrive—in any emergency.

Genres: Nonfiction

132 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have had a few small earthquakes in the past couple weeks, which has heightened my awareness of the fact that we need to be prepared in the event of a larger earthquake (the main natural disaster threat in our state). I am doing research to become more educated on the topic of emergency preparedness in the hopes that I will be less afraid as I become more prepared.

This is the first of a few books that I’ll be reading, and it was a good starter. The main focus of this book is being prepared for having to evacuate your home, which we all hope will never happen, but for many will become a reality. It was good for me to read about “lag time” - the time between the event of a disaster and the time that help arrives and you are able to return home. The importance of a 72-hour kit makes perfect sense in that context.

There are some suggestions that I found excessive - like keeping your car’s gas tank more than 1/2 full at all times just in case you’ll have to flee your home in your car and drive for a long time before being able to refuel. I suppose it’s a habit one could adopt, but for me that borders on constantly living in fear.

Overall, I learned some great information and practical suggestions from this book and I’m glad I read it.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for people that want to be prepared for any evacuation type emergency. If we learned anything from Hurricane Katrina, it's that we need to prepare to take care of ourselves instead of expecting our neighbors, our church or our government to take care of us. And unlike emergency sites online, Ms. Salsbury has had experiences in which she has had to use her evacuation kits - and she shares what she has learned. She also includes little tidbits throughout the book of other peoples' experiences in evacuating and what they found worked or didn't work for them. I also liked how she helps you remember that preparing kits for infants, toddlers, children, the elderly and pets will be different than preparing kits for the typical able-bodied adult.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book on preparing for emergency evacuation. I like the author's style, many examples, also puts in some humor. Instead of giving a straight list, she suggests several options and gives the pros and cons. She brought up many things I hadn't thought of. One item was possible evacuation because of chemical spill from an accident of semi truck that happened just a few miles from my home. I am in the process of redoing my kit and bringing it up to date.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and even though I consider myself very savvy on this topic, she showed me new things to consider. I like that her PERSONAL experiences bear weight on what she presents (she has ACTUALLY experienced evacuations and is not just write a book to sell it). I would recommend this to ANYONE!!!

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 starts not because it was great reading...lol... but it really helped me get 72 hour kits going for my family. I had some already, but this included a lot of things I hadn't thought of. I feel pretty confident in updating them now knowing that I'll have more than just the bare essentials, but good, quality kits.

[Jams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good info! Very helpful it making a family evacuation plan.

[Andrea]

Great as a starter into 72 kits

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great quick read on how to prepare your 72 hour evac kit