Provo residents are advised to have an emergency plan and kit in place before emergencies occur.
While it may be difficult for students to create and store an emergency kit on a tight budget, Tamie Harding, BYU's emergency manager, sees a silver lining in the average student's situation.
"I think the challenges that students face can also be some of the advantages they face, and I think that they don't have a ton of space, they don't have a ton of money and they move a lot," Harding said. "But I think on the same token, they don't need a lot. So, you don't need a lot of space."
While pre-made emergency kits can be bought, Harding recommended Provo residents try to make their own personally tailored kits from local stores.
“I think all emergency kits look different based on your circumstances. Do you have a family? Do you live alone?” Harding said. “All of those things should come into account when determining what to put in a kit.”
Emergency supplies don't need to come from outdoor sports stores but could just as easily come from local dollar stores or thrift stores, Harding said.
“Go to the grocery store,” Andrew Christensen, deputy emergency manager at BYU, said. “You can get basically everything you need at a grocery store.”
While the contents of each emergency kit may change based on what emergency or disaster is being prepared for, Harding and Christensen both agree on the following essentials:
- Water
- Non-perishable food
- Flashlight with extra batteries
- First aid supplies
- Necessary medication
- Important documents
- Cash
BeReadyUtah is the emergency preparedness outreach campaign for the state of Utah's Division of Emergency Management. According to the campaign's website, they aim to help Utah residents become better prepared to respond to and recover from disasters.
BeReadyUtah also recommends packing enough to meet the demands of the following needs:
- Shelter, clothing and fire
- Water
- Food
- Hygiene
- Light and power
- First aid
- Communication
- Safety and security
- Tools
- Cooking
- Documents
- Transportation and navigation
Christensen also recommended residents pack any items required to communicate with others, including battery packs or any other items needed to charge their devices.
“The other thing that I think that we often overlook is contact information,” Harding said. “If you don't have your phone or you can’t remember your mom's phone number.”
Harding also recommended residents include funds to get home and a physical map that includes local parks and hotels to be better prepared for emergencies.
An emergency kit isn’t the only thing that’s recommended to have prepped for an emergency. Residents should have a plan in place before emergencies occur, According to BeReadyUtah.
An emergency plan should include a communication and reunification plan to be shared with family members or close friends that residents wish to reunite with in case of an emergency, according to BeReadyUtah.
Residents should also have an emergency contact outside of the state to help connect families if local phone lines are down, according to BeReadyUtah.
“To make a plan, think about what you're going to do in an emergency," Christensen said. "Are you going home? Are you going to stay and tough it out? Where are you going to go? What's your plan? And think about what you would need in whatever scenario that would be.”
Knowing what kind of emergency to expect will help residents know what to put in their emergency kits. While residents of cities along the Wasatch fault should prepare for earthquakes, Harding believes they are not the only disaster Provo residents should prepare for.
“I think that there are other emergencies that are more common that we can be caught unaware and unprepared for,” Harding said. “I think those are something as simple as a power outage or even a snowstorm, like fires and the consequences of the fire, whether that's smoke in the air or landslides.”
Christensen also warned Provo residents to prepare for floods.
"It may not be as common here in the deserts of Utah," Christensen said. "But it's one to think about."
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the most common natural disaster in the U.S. is a flood.
For more information on how to prepare for a flood, residents should visit BeReadyUtah.