Which medications should I get for my emergency evacuation bag?
“I have some over-the-counter medicines, but the bottles are very big. I don’t think I can bring everything.”
“I don’t have any medical conditions now. If I have to evacuate in an emergency, I will just ask the people who work in the evacuation center.”
“Emergency medication? It sounds so serious. I am starting to worry….”
If you need to evacuate from your home, quickly, what you will grab? What will you bring? Most of people might grab water, food, and pets. It would be easy to forget to bring your medication, because your bags are already full of all kinds of stuff, you’re in a hurry to leave, and you just can’t think of anything else that you need. It’s not until later, when you really need the medicine, that you will realize you didn’t bring any. We all know how important medications can be, but when we are in a panic, it’s easy to forget many things. The time to calmly prepare emergency medication for your emergency evacuation bag is now.
The purpose of the emergency evacuation bag is to carry your emergency supplies from your home to the evacuation shelter or safe place. Space is limited (you can only carry so much stuff), and yet we don’t know how many days we’ll have to wait before help arrives or until things get back to normal. Unfortunately, after an evacuation, no one can predict exactly how long our supplies will need to last. Keeping yourself healthy during an emergency is, in reality, easier said than done!
Maybe the trickiest thing about preparing emergency medications is the inability to predict how long a crisis will last. But some is better than none. If you are taking any medications now, you should get as many refills as possible, make sure they’re in a waterproof container or bag, and keep them next to your emergency evacuation bag. Be sure to pay attention to expiration dates and storage requirements for your medications. (Some medications, for example, require refrigeration.)
The time to calmly prepare emergency medication for your emergency evacuation bag is now.
Remember, during a crisis, everybody will be thinking the same thing: evacuate from home and go to the nearest evacuation shelter. What is the maximum capacity of the nearest evacuation shelter? When you’re preparing your emergency medications, we should not expect to be rescued. If we can get help from other people during a major disaster, that will be very lucky indeed, and wonderful, but we shouldn’t count on it.
Important
- In emergency situations, the priority for treatment will be seriously injured persons, first. The chronically ill will not be the first in line to receive medical care.
- Hospitals and drug stores will run out of stocked supplies, soon after the crisis begins.
- You might not be able to take medications with water, because of possible water outages.
- After evacuation, in Japan, many people suffered from constipation. Their food didn’t contain enough fiber, they didn’t get enough water, and they had stress. Also, people didn’t want to go to the restroom (without plumbing, it’s not pretty), so they intentionally drank less water.
- Keep an updated list of all medications in your emergency evacuation bag. Include the drug name, strength, and dosage, along with the phone numbers for your prescribing doctor and pharmacies.
- Set up your health insurance or prescription card in your evacuation bag. It’s OK to use a copy.
- Many medications require refrigeration or supplemental electronic equipment. Have a plan for temporary storage, and coordinate with a doctor, as needed.
- If you take certain medications which can make you more susceptible to infections by weakening your immune system (cancer drugs, steroids, immunosuppressive drugs, etc.), or that might have other serious side effects, you should talk to and get advice from your doctor.
- For treatments that are administered by medical professionals or that require additional equipment – things like hemodialysis, stoma bags, feeding tubes, etc. – ask your doctor how to prepare yourself for an emergency evacuation.
I set up these medications for my emergency evacuation bag. I have 4 family members, and I packed enough of each medication for 7 days.
- Antihistamine (Benadryl) for 7 days.
- Ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) or Acetaminophen (Tylenol) for 7 days.
- Steroid ointment (Hydrocortisone 1%) 1 tube.
- Antibiotic ointment (Polysporin or Neosporin) 1 tube.
- Laxative (MAG・OX : Magnesium Oxide in Constipation, National Institutes of Health) 1 bottle.
- Bismuth subsalicylate for heartburn, upset stomach, nausea and diarrhea (Pepto Bismol) for 7 days.
- Bandages 20 sheets.
- Handkerchief.
Please click each medication, above, if you want to learn more.
We don’t want medicine to take up our entire emergency evacuation bag. We have to bring other emergency supplies too. I know it’s hard to decide which ones to bring, but try to pack only the bare minimum.
Please keep in mind that after evacuating, you may not be able to go back home to get your medicine until it is absolutely safe to do so. It could be a while before you can safely get back home. It was news in Japan, a woman who was taking insulin injections everyday forgot to bring her insulin to the evacuation site after a big earthquake. She raced back home to get her medication and was hit by the ensuing tsunami….
The highest priority is your life.
Whatever you have in that heavy bag is not so important. Just run! run! run!
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.
See you next time.