In case you managed to miss the news, the world was scheduled to be over as we know it on Saturday as the Rapture was mathematically predicted to sweep across the world in a fury of huge earthquakes and "true believers" being whisked away just in time. It's Sunday morning now and everything appears to be business as usual, even the grey skies are back, rather than that pesky sunshine.
While this particular brand of end-of-the-world didn't happen, nor do I believe there are any others set to happen anytime soon (Mayans, zombies, I'm looking at both of you here), this is a great time to make sure that should something a little more mundane, like a good old-fashioned regular earthquake, or a slightly more exciting volcanic eruption occur, that you're prepared for these things.
Everyone should have an emergency kit, along with a plan to find/meet up with family members who may be in other locations at the time, just in case. Ready.gov has a great checklist to look over and make sure you're prepared, going from the basics like water (one gallon per person per day, and don't forget your pets!) and food enough for three days to reminders about medications, important documents, things we often forget until we need them.
While the Rapture didn't materialize, the Mayans probably just found a new way of counting, and the zombies are a long way off (hopefully, my zombie-fighting skills are lacking), we do live in a seismically active area along the edge of the Ring of Fire, which has been pretty noisy lately. Being prepared never hurt anyone... in fact it might just come in very handy one day.
