The zombies are coming!  The zombies are coming! You have to be prepared!

Your online casino games will still be there after you have prepared.  “No time for hello. No time for goodbye. You’re late. You’re late. You’re late.”  So get started. NOW! The zombies are coming.

Hurry and gather the following items:

1. Water (1 gallon per person per day)
2. Food (stock of non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
3. Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
4. Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery-powered radio, etc.)
5. Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
6. Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
7. Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate, etc)
8. First-aid supplies (although you are a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)

Once you have made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan.  This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your doorstep. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergencies.

1. Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area.  Besides a zombie attack, this may include floods, tornadoes or earthquakes.  If you are unsure, contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information.
2. Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case zombies invade your home … or your town evacuates because of a hurricane.  Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away.
3. Identify your emergency contacts.  Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department, and your local zombie response team.  Include both the emergency and non-emergency contact numbers. Also, identify an out of state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are okay (nobody was bitten by a zombie).
4. Plan your evacuation route.  When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e. brains), which means you need to out of town it quickly.  Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance.  This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.

So … did you read this article?

The CDC gambled that by making an emergency information package in the form of a zombie attack that more people would actually read the information than if the same information was published as “How to prepare for a hurricane or other natural disaster”.

But the truth is that it does not matter if the emergency is a zombie attack, a hurricane, tornado, or a crazy Iranian dictator threatening retaliation.  The steps needed to prepare for an emergency are the same.

Although I would add a few of my own items to the list:

1. Hand-cranked radio
2. Hand-cranked light
3. Lanyard light for each family member, especially the children.
4. Portable phone charger
5. Extra charging cables
6. Deck of cards
7. Plan for how to entertain the kids to keep them from getting scared (for example in power outage)
8. Extra batteries of various sizes

Don’t wait until there is an emergency to start to prepare your emergency kit.  By that time, the local stores will have sold out of critical supplies. Also, keep in mind, that it takes 3 days for “help” to arrive from other parts of the country.  So for the first three days, you are on your own. At a minimum, you need enough food, water, and medical supplies to last you through those first three days of the emergency.  A week is better, but 3 days at a minimum.

Check out the original CDC article for even more zombie preparedness tips.