One essential item in an emergency situation is a radio. A radio will allow you to stay up to date with the events going on around you during an emergency. Public officials try to get radio stations back on line quickly so that they can give directions to the people they are trying to help. Purchasing a radio for your family will allow you to stay on top of the situation you are in.
You will want to buy a radio that is battery operated. You will also need to make sure that you store batteries for the radio. You will want to rotate the batteries so that they will still have power at a time when you need them. You will also want to make sure that the radio you have gets fairly good reception, so that you will be able to pick up the stations that you are trying to get.
You may want to consider buying an emergency radio with a hand crank. Most hand crank radios will recharge the battery inside of the radio by cranking it. The time may not be very long, and some radios may be better than others. Even though it may seem tedious to have to crank the radio, it will be worth it to have that information available to you in an emergency.
You may want to consider buying a radio that receives signals from the National Weather Service. Many of these radios will turn on when they receive the signal from the broadcast area. The signal will also override the station that you are currently listening to in order to alert you. The more advance radios allow you to enter the codes for your specific area so that you do not receive false alarms. These are nice to have if you live in a tornado area, as they can wake you up at night to let you know that there is an emergency at hand. You can find out more about these radios at the National Weather Service’s website.