Dubliner set to shake up US market with quake-survival kit

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 its pets for a whole week.

Former international boy scout leader Colm Pelow, 52, from Stillorgan, came up with the idea after moving to San Francisco in 2002.

He said: “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 are also supplied.

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 most of his adult years travelling the world before he settled in San Francisco and began to research the project earlier this year.

Marketing director 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 was responsible for the devastating 1906 earthquake which destroyed San Francisco and killed 30,000, as well as the 1989 quake.

University of California experts predicted in June that another major quake could hit the west coast any time between now and 2016.

“The durable kit is also very handy for other natural disasters which can displace families such as landslides and wild fires,” Ms Gunning said.

Staff from QuaKit meet each customer in advance to assess their needs and customise the kit for their requirements.

Ms Gunning said the idea also conforms with the characteristic tendencies of some Americans who value their pets and stockpile emergency tinned food.

The QuaKit also includes a radio, lighting, walkie-talkies, tools, mattresses and rainwear.

Mobile travel carriers are also supplied for pets.

A waterproof wallet is also provided for important documents like passports.