A Dublin businessman has designed a unique earthquake survival kit for the US market. The QuaKit includes a tent, sleeping bags and enough food and water for a family and pets for a week.
Former international boy scout leader Colm Pelow (52), from Stillorgan, came up with the idea after moving to San Francisco in 2002. "It's a very San Francisco thing. I do not see a market in Ireland yet."
The kit includes a first-aid box, anti-nuclear iodine tablets, prescription drugs and sanitary supplies. Cooking gear such as a stove, a propane gas cylinder, a water filter and pots and pans.
A fully-equipped QuaKit for a family of four costs about $2,500 (€2,000) and the water and food will be replenished on a regular basis to keep it fresh. The cost also covers installation in the customer's garden.
Mr Pelow, a former tour guide, spent many years travelling the world before he settled in San Francisco and he began to research the project earlier this year. The marketing director, Dubliner Kathryn Gunning, said she aims to source customers for the product in San Francisco as well as the wider west coast area, which rests on the precarious San Andreas Fault zone. The San Andreas Fault was responsible for the devastating 1906 earthquake which destroyed San Francisco and killed 30,000 people, as well as the 1989 quake.
University of California experts predicted in June that another major earthquake could hit the west coast any time between now and 2016. "This whole California area is prone to earthquakes and experiences tremors every day," Ms Gunning said.
She added that the idea also conforms with the characteristic tendencies of some Americans who value their pets and stockpile tinned food for emergencies.
The QuaKit also includes a radio, lighting, walkie-talkies, tools, mattresses and rainwear. Leads and mobile travel carriers are also supplied for pets. A waterproof wallet is also provided for passports and driving licences. - (PA)