The Disaster Preparedness Handbook: A Guide for Families

My family and I were living in New York City during 9/11. What happened is history, but we were totally unprepared for it. Fortunately, we were more than a mile from Ground Zero. We immediately began taking precautions in case another disaster targeted where we lived. If we had a copy of The Disaster Preparedness Handbook we would have had a terrific guide in terms of what to do. For example, we had no plan or place to meet up if we and our small child were separated. We didn't have food, water, protective equipment for emergencies, or a plan for how to leave the City (except to drive as we always did). We certainly hadn't considered any kind of disaster possibilities so we hadn't reviewed the fourteen basic human needs and how to provide for them. The book has great coverage, including the concerns of the elderly, the disabled, children, woman who are pregnant, and people with special needs. We all hope nothing will ever go wrong, but it's good to be prepared in case something does. This is definitely the book to have. Its price is reasonable and it has lots of color photos for illustration.

Although this is a better entry to the genre than Dr. Bradley's first work "Prepper's Instruction Manual, 50 Steps to Prepare for any Disaster," it still lacks some very essential information that people need to truly be ready to deal with major disasters. Additionally, even though he has added more biological hazards info, a bibliography, converted to color pages and, added some checklists at the back of the book which, his first book did not have, some of the same flaws exist in this book that, existed in his first book. The section about radiation hazards does not go far enough. His discussion of hazards from changes in the social environment does not go far enough and, just as many authors exert their opinions in their books, some of his opinionated conclusions are not accurate. For example, on one page, he claims that the possibility of suffocating in a sealed room is a myth. One might think that such a conclusion should take into consideration the question of, just how sealed the room really is? Science does support that, a living, oxygen breathing animal, sealed in any container in which oxygen is limited and, not replenished, will eventually die from oxygen deprivation.

So, while this book is an improvement over his previous book, it still is just OK. I would mate it with "The Citizen's Guide to Disaster Preparedness and Aftermath Survival," for my preparedness library. The book by Sammie L. Johnson goes into detail where this one does not. Mr. Johnson's book provides many more checklists, provides details about decontamination from N.B.C. threats and, offers details about how to set-up decontamination stations in a home.

One of my favorite books on the subject. It is well organized and more importantly covers the why of certain topics rather than just the how. The methods taught in the book are realistic and easily attainable for most people. If you have studied disaster prep to some extent already, this is a decent review with perhaps some ideas you haven't thought of. If you're new to the prepping community, this is a nice primer, especially for individuals in a more suburban or perhaps Urban setting.

Bought this book for my husband, and he was a bit disappointed. He was looking for a book more along the lines of "preparedness you may not have thought about already". But he said it would be a good, basic book for those just starting to think about surviving / preparing for disasters.

I bought this for my dad for Father's Day and he loved it. He says he highly recommends it!

I ordered this book as guide for my research on preparing my family for the worst case scenario. I found it very informative and have followed many of the techniques listed inside.

This book is a good book but not what I expected... There is more common sense things in it than I thought there would be. I did learn things I didn't know but I thought it could have had more in it.

This book is a good book but not what I expected... There is more common sense things in it than I thought there would be. I did learn things I didn't know but I thought it could have had more in it.

Most survival handbooks are aimed for wilderness survival - this book is not. It is aimed at survival of disasters that you might encounter while at home as opposed to being in the woods. Rather than being oriented to specific disasters, such as tornadoes, floods or pandemics, it is oriented to common problems such as getting water, heating your living space, and restoring electrical power. The book is divided into 17 chapters, namely:

1. Staying alive (an overall introduction including the creation of emergency kits)
2. Food (what to store, how much to store, how to store it and food born illnesses)
3. Water (how much do you need, how to store it and how to purify sources)
4. Shelter (making home improvements against disasters, temporary shelters)
5. Light (How to make it)
6. Electrical Power (AC and DC sources, generators)
7. Heating/Cooling (sources
8. Air (air purification)
9. Sleep (creating the proper environment for rest and sleep, how much do you need)
10. Medical/First Aid (first aid kits, storage of medicine, basic first aid)
11. Communication (sources such as commercial broadcasts and emergency service broadcasts, emergency radios)
12. Financial Preparedness (financial planning, this is NOT oriented to how deal with money during a disaster)
13. Transportation (navigation, road preparedness including how to free a stuck vehicle, what papers should you carry)
14. Protection (types of threats, firearms, gun safety)
15. Special needs (care for people with special needs, including the elderly and handicapped
16. Creating a DP Network (a disaster preparedness network of people who can share skills)
17. Trial by Fire (testing your preparedness)

The author includes many very interesting tables covering topics such as the filter pore size to remove different microorganisms, food shelf lives and maximum allowable temperatures before spoilage will occur, radiation exposure limits, and power requirements for different household appliances. The book also includes some of the type of information found in a typical wilderness survival handbook, such as building a solar still to make clean water, but it also includes such home oriented topics such as getting drinking water from a hot water heater.

All in all, while I think that someone might quibble over individual recommendations, I think that this book gives a very good overview of family preparations for a disaster, and I highly recommend it.

This book is highly informative, very detailed and an excellent book for those who are either old pro's at prepping, or just getting started. Even if you are not a prepper, this helps you plan for every-day potential emergencies such as bad storms, flash-floods, fires, droughts and so forth. I highly recommend it.