July 12, 2010 - With this calm weather right now, take the opportunity to think about your own preparedness and your ability to be self sufficient . Many of you have had long power outages or were snowed in or flooded out and unable to get to the store for food, medication and other basic supplies.

These situations created many challenges...now imagine that we were hit by a significant earthquake that knocked out power and damaged roads and bridges for months. Everyone would be struggling, families, neighbors, merchants, emergency services and the rest of local government.

Below are suggested guidelines for what you should have in your kit. If you haven't had the chance to put one together yet, now would be a great time to start. If you do have a kit, this would be a good time to restock it or go through it and rotate your food and water.

Water: Keep at least a three-day supply of water for each person in your household. Two-liter soda pop bottles work great. That means six two-liter bottles per person.

Food:

Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Select foods that require no refrigeration or cooking, and little or no water.

• Canned meats, fruits, and vegetables

• Canned juices and soups

• High energy foods -- granola bars, trail mix, beef jerky

• "Comfort" foods -- cookies, hard candy, etc.