We offer an interactive Emergency Preparedness Assessment Tool on our website that makes it super easy for you to quickly learn exactly which survival kits and emergency supplies you need to prepare for a disaster. Our Home Emergency Preparedness Assessment Tool analyzes the size of your family, geographic location of your home, number of bedrooms, pets, and other information you provide to determine which kits and supplies you need to prepare your home.

Just simply answer the questions and we’ll provide you with a customized list of recommended kits and supplies based on the information you provide. The list of recommendations we provide will have 2 categories: Essential Preparedness and Complete Preparedness. Essential Preparedness includes the standard level of supplies recommended by the US Department of Homeland Preparedness. Complete Preparedness includes a comprehensive list supplies to ensure that you are fully prepared for any disaster situation.

Need help figuring out which survival kits and emergency supplies you need to keep in your car, school, and office!?  No problem!  We offer tools for figuring that out too.

Last week, a decent sized earthquake hit Mexico near Acapulco which served as a reminder of the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis that hit Japan last year. In California, or “earthquake country” as it’s often referred to, people casually talk about the “The Big One.” But earthquake preparedness is no laughing matter that that scientists and lay people alike know that we can expect to have a catastrophic earthquake likely on the San Andreas fault which stretches down the Golden State.

As a kid I remember my mom purchased a small device that was supposed to detect earthquakes and sound an alarm. While I had my doubts, it unfortunately annoyed everyone with its constant false alarms like when someone slammed a door (which was all too often in my family). So, so we had to remove it before we ever got to see if it really did predict earthquakes.

Here we are today, some twenty odd years later and California is still without any effective earthquake preparedness technology. The best thing I’ve seen around is a $.99 iPhone App that is supposed to detect earthquakes by using the internal gyroscope that detects movement. This is the hardware responsible for detecting when the display mode should be either landscape or portrait. Supposedly you can lay it down next to you while you sleep to help you detect an earthquake. But again, I’m skeptical at best.

Other countries such as Japan and even Mexico supposedly have better earthquake detection and warning systems than we do in the U.S. Japan is reported to have spent $1 billion building their preparedness system. Compare that to the measly $400,000 a year that California researchers have spent developing our technology. Experts estimate that we need to spend at least another $50 on developing our system and another $5 million on operating it.

Making the financial case for investment in earthquake preparedness difficult for the state is the fact that, unlike countries such as Mexico and Japan, California fortunately hasn’t actually had a catastrophic earthquake in over a century.  Scientists are close to a solution and a team in San Diego claims to have one that will help predict an earthquake 1 minute before the seismic shock-wave reaches.  But the real question is whether it will work the first time without having a bunch of false alarms first (like the device my mom bought when I was a kid).  The hope is that the system will also do more than just detect quakes but also communicate warning messages via social media, television, radio broadcast, fire/police stations, public transit operators, and more.

The state definitely should invest more in earthquake preparedness and technology but whether it gets off the ground or not everyone needs to make their own investment too by having an earthquake kit.  Predicting a quake will not help you necessarily survive the aftermath.  It is everyone’s own individual responsibility to prepare for an earthquake by taking the necessary steps such as purchasing a reliable earthquake kit.

The role of social media in emergency preparedness is something we at Quake Kare have been following closely for the past few years. According to a recent poll by Mashable.com, 71% of people would use social media for emergency purposes. Survival victims hope to use these services for information such as the location of emergency food and water, evacuation routes, and emergency shelter locations. Click on the thumbnail of the brilliant infographic to learn more fun and interesting factoids about social media use for emergency preparedness.

As a culture, we started rely more and more on social media. In recent disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti and revolution in Egypt, it has paid an important role as a method to communicate to others where they can find sanctuary. By spreading viral messages about disaster threats, emergency agencies can gather intelligence and have ongoing communication with victims.

It is no surprise then that The Red Cross and Dell have joined forces to launch the first social media-monitoring platform dedicated to disaster relief. The Digital Operations Center provides the American Red Cross with the ability to more easily share safety and emergency preparedness tips before, during, and after disasters. The hope is that the new Red Cross technology will enable communities of disaster victims to more easily seek and find help.

I recently watched the movie “Take Shelter” which is about a man who decides to build an emergency storm shelter for his family. Of course, everyone thought he was paranoid. Sound familiar? I will admit that I run into my share of people who don’t believe in emergency preparedness.

Without spoiling the movie for you too much, it serves as an example to trust your instincts when it comes to emergency preparedness and never to listen to anyone who makes fun of you for taking steps to prepare your family for a disaster.

Of course, we all don’t have the resources to build an ideal storm shelter. In fact, the main character in the movie didn’t either. But we can all at least some steps to be better prepared; even if it’s only investing $100 on an emergency preparedness kit to keep in your car.

And if you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it. Check out the movie trailer below.

“Doomsday Preppers” is a new series on the National Geographic channel that focuses on people who taking emergency preparedness to a whole new level. The show cleverly explores the lives of seemingly ordinary Americans who spend the majority of their time preparing for a catastrophic disaster. It covers the diverse beliefs, strategies, and motivations that “preppers” take to ensure they are prepared for any emergency. The show also includes an “expert assessment” of who fares the best in terms of survival if their worst fears become a reality. You can even take the “prepper quiz” by clicking on the image on the right. Good luck!

The show fails to reveal any details behind the “expert” who assesses their strategies. But the biggest error I’ve seen people make is spending so much time storing dried food that require water to prepare when their water supply is insufficient. Also, a lot of the food stored, requires cooking; such as rice. Rice doesn’t even have enough nutrients to be a reliable emergency preparedness staple item. For all the time and energy these people spend on preparing for an emergency, they would be better off storing 55 gallon water storage barrels and survival food bars that are guaranteed to last for 5 years and provide the optimal balance of nutrients for survival victims.

It just goes to show that you don’t want to believe everything you see on TV.

Did you know that Quake Kare will send an emergency preparedness expert to your workplace to help make your employees safe? With our employee safety day program, we will make our emergency kits and supplies available at special prices and without the additional shipping costs. Our preparedness expert will also be available to demo products and answer questions. We can also provide a limited time online discount code for your employees to use to buy kits and supplies from our website.

We can tell you from experience that employees really appreciate the easy and cost-effective way of getting kits and supplies for them cars and homes. It will make your employees feel safe while at work and away from their families. And, it will remind them that your company cares about their safety and well-being. To take advantage of this opportunity, call us today at 1-800-2-PREPARE and ask about our Employee Safety Day Program.

As we reflect on 2011 and get ready to ring in a new year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is encouraging all Americans to Resolve to be Ready by making a new year’s resolution to be prepared for emergencies. “One of the most important lessons we can take away from this year is that disasters can impact all of us, no matter what part of the country we live in,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “While we can’t control where or when they might hit, we can take steps in advance to prepare for them – efforts that can go a long way toward protecting our families, homes and business. Resolving to be Ready in 2012 could be the most important pledge you make this year.”

This year, make the new year’s resolution to follow our 3 steps to emergency preparedness: buy emergency kits and supplies, make a preparedness plan, and stay informed. And, if you already have kits and a plan, don’t forget to review, update, and replenish. By following these simple steps, you will feel better knowing that you and loved ones are prepared for anything mother nature throws your way in 2012.

Making preparations, they say, will save lives and money.

These experts fear that without preparedness, crazy weather extremes may overwhelm some locations, making some places unlivable.

The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a new special report on global warming and extreme weather after meeting in Kampala, Uganda. This is the first time the group of scientists has focused on the dangers of extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, droughts and storms. Those are more dangerous than gradual increases in the world’s average temperature.

“We need to be worried,” said one of the study’s lead authors, Maarten van Aalst, director of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre in the Netherlands. “And our response needs to anticipate disasters and reduce risk before they happen rather than wait until after they happen and clean up afterward. … Risk has already increased dramatically.”

The report said “a changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weather and climate events, and can result in unprecedented extreme weather and climate events.” And it said that some — but not all — of these extreme events are caused by the increase of man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Use our car emergency preparedness guide below ensure that you have the proper survival kits and supplies in your car to prepare you and your loved ones for a disaster:

Car Emergency Preparedness Supplies Checklist

Each of our car survival kits comes with a 72 hour supply of US Coast Guard Approved emergency food and water. Each also comes in a durable and easy to carry nylon bag so that it can be easily transported by foot.

Storing Your Car Emergency Kit

In this section you can learn tips about storing your car emergency kit.

Customizing Your Car Emergency Kit

Our deluxe car emergency preparedness kits come with all the emergency supplies we recommend for everyone but it is important to also consider the personal items that you should include. We have put together a list of personal supplies you may want to consider including.

The FEMA emergency preparedness app offers several useful features such as the ability to:

• Check off the items you have in your family’s emergency kit
• Enter your family emergency meeting locations
• Review safety tips on what to do before, during and after a disaster
• View a map of shelters and disaster recovery centers across the U.S.

A new and separate service from the new app, provides text message updates to cell phone users to receive text message updates from FEMA.

• Text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA) to sign up to receive monthly disaster safety tips
• Text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 44362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area (example: shelter 12345)
•  Text DRC + your ZIP code to 44362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest disaster recovery center in your area (for example, if you lived in Annandale, Virginia with a Zip Code of 22003, you’d text DRC 22003).