Why do you need a safe for emergencies?
A safe is not just a box! It’s a strong, secure, heavy container for your treasures.
I don’t have any gold bars, stacks of money or expensive jewelry. I don’t need a safe.
Nobody will come to my humble home to steal anything.
How is a safe good for emergencies??
When you hear someone talk about a “safe,” do you think of stacks of cash, gold bars, and shiny jewelry, like a pirate’s treasure chest? If that’s the image that comes to mind, then of course, you might think it’s excessive to set up a safe at home. But even if you don’t have a horde of expensive stuff, a safe is probably still worthwhile.
Please forget your old notions of what a safe is for!
Nowadays, you can think more casually about having a safe in your home. You can put whatever you want in your safe, for example, passports, important documents, family pictures, kids’ art projects, letters from loved ones, etc. Anything you want to keep, well… safe.
The safe can be keepsake storage for you and your family. It’s OK!!
You might think nobody wants these treasures but you. That’s OK!
Put things in the safe that you don’t want to lose. Priceless things aren’t necessarily expensive things.
These are the things that are unique, that can never be replaced, the only ones in the whole world!!
Why is it good to have a safe for emergencies?
You don’t want to lose your irreplaceable keepsakes to a major disaster, like a fire, flood or storm. It does happen.
If you survive, but you lose everything, you might lose hope. If you can find even a few old photos, from your safe, a few memories, they will help support and motivate you in the aftermath.
Maybe the most important thing that a safe can do for you is give you the peace of mind that your valuables are secure, and that you don’t need to rush back to your home to pick them up. When you learn of an imminent or ongoing disaster, you need to get yourself out of harm’s way, quickly. Don’t be tempted to head back into a disaster area where secondary threats, like fires, tsunami, landslides and flooding, can pose a real danger.
If you know that you have a safe in your home, it is likely your safe and its contents will be returned to you, eventually. You don’t need to panic and rush back home, right after (or during) a disaster.
The safe protects your keepsakes from disasters, but also your life.
A story about safes in Japan
After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, more than 5,700 safes were washed away by the tsunami. Eventually, they were hauled to police centers by volunteers and search and rescue crews. 96% of the safes were returned to their owners. (This is the TV news story from Japan at that time, if you want to learn more.)
Safes really do protect our important treasures from disasters.
5,700 safes were found. That’s a lot!
So, how many houses does that mean were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami?
How do they work?
★ Fire protection
Most safes can withstand fire, but not indefinitely.
It is generally said that a wooden house will burn up completely, in 20 minutes. It depends on the environment, the specific situation, the weather, and the intensity of the flames, but that’s the approximate time a safe needs to protect against fires. That’s my educated guess. If the fire is widespread, across a large area, the fire might burn out of control for hours, but once the fuel has burned up from each specific location, that’s it; the fire moves on. It’s hard to imagine that your closet will keep burning more than one hour, unless you store flammable chemicals, large batteries, or the like.
One key factor is that how far you live from the nearest fire station. How many minutes do the firefighters need to get to your house and start spraying water?
You have to think about the total time your safe will need to protect your personal treasures from fire. Nowadays, there are many safes with fire resistance for 1 hour or more. Consider it.
★ Water protection
▪︎ Water-resistant : Will protect from fire sprinklers spraying water and from water leaks. Will not protect against total submersion.
▪︎ Waterproof : For flooding and tsunami. Even when completely underwater, it should be OK.
Safes will often specify a water depth or a length of time. One safe might be waterproof up to 24 hours under 3 feet of water, and another might protect against submersion for up to 72 hours. These are just examples.
If you live near a large body of water, you might need more water protection. If you have the option, it’s probably better not to set up your safe on a lower floor.
★ Protection from burglars
Many burglars and thieves need only 5-10 minutes to steal what they want from a home. They like to move quickly. They don’t like to linger inside a home any longer than absolutely necessary. You can help prevent your safe from being stolen by making it more difficult for burglars to remove and carry.
It’s good if the safe is heavy and even better if it’s securely bolted to a floor or wall. Many safes allow for bolts to be secured from the inside.
If super-skilled, professional thief targets you, your safe might not be enough…
When you get a safe, you will feel protected. The safe, if nothing else, can give you hope. Your important keepsake is the only one in the whole world! Try to save your special treasure from disasters.
I will continue talking about safes in my next post # 102.
See you next time.
Remember, “Protect your life by yourself” （自分の命は自分で守る). You need to survive first, and then you need your emergency supply. No matter how well you prepared your emergency supplies, if you die, then all of your preparations will have been for nothing. First and foremost, keep your health up all the time. Build your stamina so that if you need to, you can evacuate as quickly as possible. Stay healthy
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