With the season of gift-giving upon us, the Canadian Red Cross is reminding people that being prepared for any emergency situation can make for a great gift.
To that end, they encourage people to consider giving emergency preparedness gifts this holiday so that more people have what they need in case of an emergency.
Georgie Matharu, the senior manager of risk reduction for Saskatchewan, talks about some of the thoughts people should put into an emergency preparedness gift.
"First we have to think of who are you giving it to. If it's an individual, it needs to last for 72 hours because that's the amount of time you need to be able to look after yourself. So water, non-perishable food, if you got cans in there you better have an old fashioned can opener so you can get into that food."
"Things like a flashlight and batteries for the flashlight or maybe a recharger for your cell phone. If it's a family who's in the family, is there an elder? Do you need medications, or if there's a baby, do you need diapers and formula?"
The Red Cross does have its own emergency kits available which provide a good template for what a person might need.
"The Red Cross does supply emergency kits. You can get them online and in those they have the basics, so they've got the carrier for the water, they've got the silver blanket to keep you warm and they've got the flashlight that's also a wind-up radio. So communication is a massive piece of getting through a disaster, making sure you're listening to local radio stations or if you have a cell phone, maybe having the Sask Alert on there is a great tool to have."
"You can buy the Red Cross kit or you could go to a local store, a dollar store, a supermarket, and you could pick up most things that you would need in a kit. If you go to redcross.ca and look for emergency kits, it will tell you it will suggest to you what the basics are to go in there."
Matharu says that people should also consider getting emergency preparedness gifts for other locations, such as cars.
"We've all seen on the news is terrible long lineups when roads get closed. Do you have enough things in the car to get through having to be stationary in your car for multiple hours? You know, have you got water? Have you got food? Have you got extra coats and socks and gloves? So that's another one to look at. What do I have in my car? Do I have a scraper? Do I have a spade? You know, all of these are great things to consider as a gift over Christmas."