I sat huddled in a small basement storage room with my five siblings waiting for the “big one.”

Always the worrier, my mother told us we would be safer in the confines of our cement basement should the tornado hit. Of course, living in upstate New York, the idea of our house lifting off and twirling in a tornado – let alone any natural disaster – was as far off as the Land of Oz.

Nevertheless, we waited out the warning until the TV anchorman told us it was safe.

Years later, I would encounter my second brush with nature’s fury when a 6.8 magnitude temblor jolted the Pacific Northwest. The 2001 earthquake was so powerful it cracked the Capitol dome – and shook my sense of security.

That day, I was studying in the campus library when the rattling startled me. Books fell just feet from me as the room swayed.

My first thought: I don’t want to die alone. I joined two women crouched underneath a table and prayed that my toddlers at home were okay. When I later got to a payphone and asked the sitter how my kids reacted, she said, “Weeeeee!”

Through both close encounters, I have considered myself lucky.

But after the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, I felt more vulnerable than ever when my son asked me, “Mom, what if that happened to us?”

There are several things we can do to prepare ourselves for a disaster. Here are a few tips from the City of Kirkland’s Emergency Preparedness Web site:

• Families and businesses should establish a plan, including a place for everyone to meet outside following an emergency. Practice that plan regularly.

• Stock several days of emergency wherever you regularly spend time – at home, work, in your car.

• Equip your home with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers and fire escape ladders.  Test them regularly.

• Get First Aid and CPR training.

• Prepare for power outages by knowing where your utility shut-offs are and learning how to use them, keeping wind-up or battery operated flashlights (with extra batteries) in your emergency supply kits, and if possible, have a generator professionally installed outside your home.

But it is also important to be prepared on a grander scale.

Last year, Kirkland resident Liv Grohn rallied her Peter Kirk neighborhood and held an emergency preparedness meeting at Peter Kirk Elementary. During the meeting, participants learned about the Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) program. Developed by the State of Washington’s Emergency Management Public Education Department, MYN is a program designed to bring neighborhoods together after a disaster to save lives and homes.

It’s a great resource that helps the community identify the skills and equipment each neighbor has that would be useful in an effective disaster response.

MYN teaches nine steps to take immediately following a disaster. Some of those include:

• Protect your heads, hand and feet with a helmet, sturdy shoes and leather gloves

• Take care of your home. Shut off the natural gas in your home if it smells like rotten eggs or you hear it hissing as it escapes broken pipes.

• Shut off the water at the house main. This will help keep water in the water heater  available for drinking and hygeine. Make sure you know where the valve is and how to turn it off.

• If you are not hurt following a disaster, post a visible “OK” sign in your front window. If you need help, post a “Help” sign instead.

• Establish a neighborhood gathering site and check in.

For more information about MYN, visit www.emd.wa.gov/myn/index.shtml.