More people die in the weeks following a disaster than during. Without good hygiene and sanitation, diseases like diarrhea and typhoid bloom. Cases of malaria are increased, as a result of mosquitoes breeding in the disaster-environment. Plus, you’ve probably heard about the outbreak of cholera in Haiti and the raw sewage, industrial chemicals and floating debris in waterways around New York City after Hurricane Sandy. Having supplies on hand for emergency sanitation will help your family remain healthy following any disaster.
Inspiration for my original kit came from “Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook” by Peggy Layton. I gathered items from the list in the book and Hubby and I committed to using the kit – and only the kit – for one weekend. We found that it covered the basics, but the experience pointed up additional items we’d like to have. Practice with your preps, right? What follows is my existing setup.
First, Plan to Store Everything in Buckets
You’ll need one 6-gallon with lid and one 2 ½-gallon bucket. During the disaster, the large bucket will be your emergency potty and the smaller one will be used for sponge baths and other general cleaning. Attach an emergency potty seat lid to the larger bucket. The 6-gallon bucket is the same height as the modern, chair-height toilets. It’s more comfortable for the elderly and disabled but you could just as easily use a 5-gallon bucket and sit a bit lower. The smaller bucket fits neatly inside the larger, along with everything listed below.
Into the buckets, put:
Emergency Sanitation
- A cheap plastic shower curtain, shower rings and line to make a simple privacy enclosure for your potty.
- 12-gallon trash bags: used to line the bucket when doing your business.
- A folding shovel to bury waste until you are able to dispose of it properly.
- A lighter to burn waste if you are unable to bury it.
- Toilet paper and Scott’s Shop Towels. Hubby convinced me that shop towels were thirstier than regular paper towels and they’re reusable. I used my vacuum food sealer to suck the air from the rolls, saving space in my bucket.
- Medaphene is an aerosol that kills staff, herpes, tuberculosis, salmonella, HIV and other germs. Think of it as Lysol on steroids.
- Super Sorb is an instant absorbent: sprinkle a bit into the potty after use to eliminate odors, kill germs and turn liquids into a gel. You could also use kitty litter, saw dust or other items, but it is heavy and you’d have to store more of it. Find them both on Amazon or where janitorial supplies are sold.
General Cleaning
- Pool Shock and an eyedropper. Bleach looses its strength in long term storage and is bulky. A small amount of Shock, mixed with water will make fresh bleach. Find it in the pool section.
- Tide detergent: for washing clothes.
- Dishwashing detergent for general cleaning.
- Add 33-gallon trash bags with twisties for other general trash. Again, the vacuum sealer sucked the air from the plastic bags, saving space in the bucket.
Personal Protection
- Gloves: the long-cuff latex type is best, if you’re not allergic.
- Safety glasses.
- Several N95 masks. Don’t under estimate the need for personal protection (gloves, mask and eye). If someone in your family becomes ill, you’ll need to protect yourself. In a disaster situation you may be cleaning up urine, diarrhea, blood or who-knows-what.
- If space permits, add N100 masks–In the paint department. N100 blocks all of the germs and odors plus, the small ventilator makes it more comfortable to wear.
Personal Hygiene and Body Care
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and floss
- Deodorant
- Bar soap
- Shampoo
- Face cloth and camp towel
- Baby wipes as an alternative when water is scarce
- Chap stick
- Lotion
- Powder
- Bug spray
- Sunblock
- Razor and shaving cream (To fit it all in the bucket, stick to small or travel sizes)
- Feminine hygiene supplies
- Scrunchies: if you have long-hair, (else you probably don’t even know what these are.)
- Nail file and clippers
- Multi-vitamins
- Camp shower: this is one of those black bags that you hang in the sun. It works pretty well specially if you use it with the shower curtain. A knee-high stocking: makes a convenient soap-on-a-rope that can be tied nearby.
- Poly Tarp: Make a floor for your shower. Don’t waste shower water, you might be able to reuse it elsewhere. Many items have multiple uses, as an example the shower curtain and tarp can be used to catch rain water.
- Don’t underestimate the need for pleasant smells after a disaster. But also, don’t buy products with overbearing scents that conflict with one another. Keep smells light and fresh.
Water
- Collapsible water carrier to transport water from a local source.
- Coffee filters
- Water purification tablets
- Several 1-gallon ziplock bags to use with purification tablets
- a Katadyn water filter–I want to have several methods to assure clean water in addition to boiling.
Cooking
- A mini, foldable cook stove
- Fuel tabs
- Small stainless steel cook pot: for food or to boil water
- A general purpose knife and sharpening stone
- Sporks: a combined fork and spoon
- Heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Matches, BIC lighters and a magnesium fire starter, and other fire starting supplies.
Other Stuff That Might Be Useful
- LED Flashlight and/or headlamp: who wants to potty in the dark?
- A canvas fanny-pack
- Sharpie, pencils and a small tablet of paper
- Small first aid kit with triple antibiotic ointment, alcohol, peroxide and various bandages and pain meds.
- Last but not least – Duck tape: just because there are a million uses.
Aggressively vacuum seal and carefully pack anything that can be compressed and it will all fit neatly into one 6-gallon bucket. Print an inventory list and maybe instructions your family may need and toss it in as well. Put the lid on it and label the bucket. You’re done. Of course you can buy emergency sanitation kits, but expect to pay a lot for a basic unit.
Note: I didn’t include water in my kit as I have water stored elsewhere. Depending on your situation, you may wish to include some water.
OK – this part is not included in your bucket but it may be useful if you live in an older home. If the sewer system in your town becomes overloaded, either because of flood or because people are flushing toilets when the system is not able to process it, water and/or raw sewage may backup into your home thru toilets, drains, washer hookup and sinks. Newer homes install a device called a Backflow Preventer on the mainline to prevent backflow. A plumber can easily retrofit an older home. My final invoice was $300 installed. Expensive but worth it.
MsKYprepper, Great list of needed items. Have wanted to get something you discussed “Emergency Sanitation” now I know what I need. Thank YOU
Excellent reminders, MsKYP, of things we need to address NOW to lessen the stress when IHTF (“It”, because we never know what “it” will be in advance, now, do we?!). These are not things we want do deal with “now”, but they are things we must deal with “now”, if we want to keep it together when we need it.
A few other ideas, if I may add them:
1. A bag of hydrated lime from your local farm supply is cheap; it will keep odors down as you bury human waste; get more than one and you have a bartering tool for your arsenal;
2. Convalescent-style potty-chairs on frames are inexpensive in second hand shops; these are always more comfy than plastic buckets and are easily lined with disposable plastic bags of any kind. If you have an elder in the home (heck! that’s us!) it will be very helpful in comfort and care, and lessen the number of physical issues to do deal with;
3. Pool shock is usually available in any pool supply store; I use Leslie’s 73% calcium hypochlorite @ about $5.00 U.S. per one lb. bag; it’s very potent stuff; a few grains goes a long way for water shocking and not too much more for making a gallon of bleach. DO NOT HANDLE WITHOUT SKIN PROTECTION.
4. While you can, source a steel drum, cut the top away. Punch 3 or 4 small holes about 10″ from the bottom rim of the drum, all along the sides. Holes should not be big enough to allow burning debris through, just big enough for oxygen feed. Fire needs oxygen to burn. Dig a shallow hole in the ground and place 2 or 3 concrete blocks in the shallow hole; place your steel drum atop the concrete blocks. Find an old fireplace screen or window screen to cover the top of the drum when it use. Now you have a place to burn trash, at least until things get so bad it isn’t even safe to do this. Never mind that it’s “illegal” in your city hood now (as in ours); when IHTF, it won’t matter.
And you are saving all of your toilet paper and paper towel tubes, stuffing them with dryer lint, for fire starters, right? The cotton dryer lint works best; don’t pack them too tight; they need oxygen to ignite, as well.
And you are stocking up on “strike anywhere” matches, right? I buy a bundle every time I go to the grocery. These, too, will be a good bartering tool when IHTF.
5. Camp showers: well, these hold about 5 gallons of water, and you will have water that is all one temp (warm to hot). They are better than nothing, but hardly ideal. Now is the time to plan and secure a more effective and efficient method of “showering” when IHTF. There are lots of ideas; a solar-shower is best, but it can be a little more sophisticated than a camp bag, of course. Do some research and come up with an idea that works for you. But do it now, so you will be prepared when you need it.
MsKYP has done us all a favor in reminding us not to neglect the “daily comforts” that can be game changers when IHTF!
OK, so tell me about these toilet paper tubes filled with dryer lint. How do you use it? Light the whole thing on fire or pull a little lint out and light what you need? Seems like it would burn too rapidly.
Nope, it doesn’t really burn too rapidly. The more full you stuff them, the longer they take to ignite and burn, so, you do want some air in the tube (don’t overpack the tubes). The goal is not to see how many matches you can go through lighting it! And, obviously, tp tubes go up faster than paper towel tubes, as they are shorter and smaller. Just ignite the stuffing on any end and use it to start your fire. Maybe place the tube on a pile of dry leaves, if handy, then build your fire elements around that. Like any good fire, you’ll ignite the smallest combustible, packed around slightly larger combustibles, then larger combustibles, until you have a full-blown stack of firewood around the fire. Build your fire, light the fire starter, and let it do it’s job. Just remember to start with small stuff and keep adding bigger, or build it in advance to keep going toward bigger burnables (larger wood, etc.), and leave oxygen space at every step, because fire feeds on oxygen. A woodpile with too much big stuff packed too tightly, or not enough oxygen, does not burn well.
Blessings, MsKYP!
Great article MsKYprepper! Good information!
Great article, MsKYPrepper :)
For warmer weather use, anyway, I like to store the Dollar Store rectangular black plastic “oil change” pans, too. Fill 3 with water in the morning, cover with a sheet of clear plastic and leave out in the sun. By dinner time you have hot water for the recommended “wash/rinse/sanitize” cycle for doing dishes. Be careful, in sunny weather, they can get too hot for easily putting your hands into.
Another great idea, Wyz! thanks!
Wyz – funny you should mention the Dollar Store, I got a black “backyard party ice bucket.” It’s about 20″ in diameter and about 14″ in depth. All you need is a piece of glass (but I guess plastic wrap would work, too) and that sucker was nearly boiling in a short time.
Hammm…another great idea! I’m thinking though, I’m gonna get me a metal tub, spray paint it black, cover it with this piece of glass I have around, and watch that water boil! Betcha it’ll get good and hot, too! Whaddaya think?!
In one of the classes that I attend, the instructor took a piece of metal corregated metal and sprayed it black. Then she layed small (not 2 liter) bottles of water on top and layed it in the sun. It boiled. Her message was that the sun with about anything black was enough in my area to sanitize or boil water. So, when my hubby put a roof on a small woodpile, we opted for black corregated metal roofing just so we’d have a bunch around
A flush is better than a full house!
Thanks for telling me about Pool Shock, I knew Chlorox didn’t last but I had no idea there was an alternative.
In the early days in the cabin, we would fill a galvanized tub and the camp shower in the morning to heat up during the day. After work, each person got a turn washing in the tub and rinsing from the camp shower. Cleanest people went first. I used an after shower ‘tangle free’ product so I didn’t have to use more water for rinsing conditioner out of my hair. Come winter, we heated the water in the water jacket on the wood cookstove. When everybody was done, I washed either socks or diapers in the soapy bath water and rinsed them in fresh water from the creek.
Funny, Pam! (full house, I mean). You are truly a Self-Reliant Woman! truly an inspiration.
The device to prevent sewage from coming back into you house is called a backwater valve. A 4″ PVC backwater valve costs about $50. Installation time/costs depend a lot on access to the building sewer.
Thanks Carl, is this a DIY project or does it require a plumber? The reason I ask is that I have family who would like one but couldn’t afford the $300 invoice.
If you are familiar with working with PVC piping, it can easily be a DIY project. The backwater valve should be installed in the horizontal portion of the building drain as the last fitting before the drain goes to the sanitary sewer.
If the only portion of the building drain is underground or under a concrete slab, the labor for installation can be a major task.
Always provide access to the backwater valve for maintenance and/or repairs.