Build your own Emergency Kit - updated

  By now you have read the NY Times Article or read a story about the NY Times article.  Then of course this happened: Earthquake Kits Selling Like Hotcakes After Terrifying New Yorker Story
 If these are flying off shelves as part of a complete planning process by people great!  If they are going where I think they are (closets, basements) then its a failure; it will take more than a prepacked kit for you to make it through a catastrophic event.

I am not a fan of buying an emergency kit; it typically will be thrown in a corner and forgotten, besides who wants to eat wood chips and drink 10 year old water.

Kits need to be packed piece by piece by the person so it reflects their needs and desires - mine has chocolate and a wine bottle opener !

Instead of buying a kit, make one; here are there sites I recommend, there are others:

http://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Survival-Kit-Checklist nice printable list to start from

http://www.redcross.org/prepare/location/home-family/get-kit The Red Cross the experts

http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit  because I guess we have to include the feds.

and then start answering some hard questions:
Where will you go with your kit? 
What if you are at work and your kit is at home? 
Where will you meet your family or friends after the quake? 

Don't be scared , just get prepared

Disasterdave

You've lost that preparedness feeling (sung to the tune of "You've lost that loving feeling")

Why do we constantly talk about preparedness?  I know some people may tire of it, but its necessary.  Why? 

Well we do not have it as part of our memory and or we think it can't happen to us.  Lets look at two examples; one of a group who survived not because they had a back pack by the front door (a good idea though) but because they recognized the danger as it had been passed down and another group that didn't follow their traditions. 

In 2004 the Tsunami in the Indian ocean killed over 230,000 people in multiple places, but one island had zero deaths or casualties.  The Andaman Islands inhabited by the Mokens (Sea Gypsy's). When rescuers arrived they found them safely atop a hill!  Their culture had passed down stories that when the great water receded it would flood the land.  

And in 2009 the earthquake that hit L'Aquila that killed 309 people and pretty much destroyed every home.  This is a case where the scientist were convicted of sending a message that..."interfered with the local “earthquake culture”, a set of entrenched habits and reactions such as, for example, that of spending the night outdoors after the occurrence of medium shocks."

So what does your culture or habits in our modern wired always on society tell you to survive and thrive after a disaster? I'm not sure, but surveys seem to say we aren't prepared for the hazards we face.  A 2009 survey showed 57% reported making some plans, but only 44% had a household plan where to go and and what to do (think like a Moken).

So we keep repeating the message and asking you to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

And now you probably want to hear the song here

Disaster Dave

Make a Plan Redux

What did you do this weekend while watching the folks in NJ? My wife turned to me and said "Its been awhile since we looked at our plan and stuff, I would feel better if we took some time this weekend and refreshed."  And she was right. So what did we do:

1. Pulled out our food go bag and dusted it off (it was pretty dusty too) checked the dates on the food, went through the bag to refresh in our minds what was in it. Got her go-kit from the car and checked it.  
2. Then we went in the kitchen and took food out of the cabinet and looked at the food in the freezer and figured out how many days of food we have. My wife pointed out a few things she wishes we had in the cabinet.  I told her then we need to make that a permanent food stuff we buy.  I don't want to store food, it goes bad, better to work it through your meal planning.  We talked about keeping the freezer closed, but cooking the meat first and saving the cans for later.  Luckily we have a gas stove, while its not a for sure that there will be gas, depending on the disaster but its better than electricity.  (Note: just as an added note we talked about not heating the air with the burners- my wife is not an emergency manager)
3. Then we talked about our evacuation plan, our out of state contacts, how to get to the airport without the freeways in play. Our in Seattle locations to meet and/or leave messages.
4. Looked at our red packages where we keep cash and important documents we can pull and run with.
5. The last thing we did was check our document on the web.  We both have important documents (DD214, Insurance forms, Copies of passports, mortgage numbers, etc) scanned and placed in a couple of secure online locations.  One is Drop box, the other is a email account with a tough password (not my pet or place I was born) 

So now its your turn, lets learn from what we are watching in NJ and make sure we are ready.  Lead by Example.  Then forward to your non - emergency manegement friends and family.

Disasterdave

Do you have an evacuation plan? Written Down

About two years ago I wrote an emergency plan for the residents of the building we live in; I wanted to make sure they had something to start from since in a big disaster I will be busy.  After reading this article, I think I need to see if anyone has moved forward.
 Evacuation Plan

Have you written a simple evacuation plan for your family?  Of course you will be there to lead the evacuation you have in your mind, but what if you aren't home?Things to think about?

• When to evacuate? And When not to?
• Where should you go? What if its raining? Or snowing?
• What to take? Do you have a go bag by the door?
• Contact list? - Someone to take you in? Hotel? Insurance agent? Other Family?

Don't get bogged down, look out your front & backdoor. Pick a place to meet that is close, but out of danger from the hazard (Fire, flood)
Try not to cross busy roads.
Don't make it immediately in front, you'll be in the Fire Departments way.

Do this today. One page should do it.
PS: if you are in a condo or duplex or Apartment, share with neighbors

 Disaster_Dave

Disasters are never easy

By now you must have figured out that I am not a prepper who focuses on “TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt” (EOTWAWKI), there are plenty of people blogging about that out there.  I try to think practically about the everyday disaster.

 

A very important event happened recently that calls into question how our country can handle a disaster of infrastructure.  The East coast suffered a debilitating storm that brought high winds that uprooted trees, smashed houses and damaged our electrical infrastructure.  In our nations capitol region 90% of the folks who lost power won’t get it back for 7 days says Pepco (the local electric Company). But even worse, Verizon who handles 911 calls was down with no fall back, and no real explanation.  

So now you are thinking, but we pay lots of money in taxes, how could our nations capitol area be so impacted? What if this was really bad; like a terror attack or a bigger quake than they had last year, or a hurricane? 

So, what should you do to not be affected by this type event?

You can plan! Do you have a generator? Do you know how to use it safely?  Do you have a plan for refueling it? (no electricity generally means no gas stations) Do you have water? Do you have an evacuation plan to leave the area ?   

Yes leave!  If you don’t have power for a week, that means no fans, air-conditioning (or heat), you probably can’t cook , your refrigerator will not keep food cold, and a whole host of other problems. Now is a good time to take a vacation, visit the family.  
If you can't leave, look for cooling/warming (seasonal) on the Red Cross website, or local emergency management website. 

But no matter what, seriously, have a plan.  Disasters are hard, but they much less difficult if you have a plan.

disaster_dave

Situational Awareness --- theres an app for that

I have talked about planning, connecting with family and friends and one of the things I haven’t talked about at length is situational awareness.  As our friends at Wikipedia define it “Situation awareness involves being aware of what is happening in the vicinity to understand how information, events, and one's own actions will impact goals and objectives, both immediately and in the near future.”  So it’s being aware.  How?

 It IS more than the 5 o’clock news; below I am going to list some websites and apps that you can use to become more “aware”.  Most are websites and apps (I am addicted to my I pad for awareness, and most of these apps are free) but you can just use the supplied web link to save in a folder in your favorites on your computer, you could name it…Situational awareness!

Site/explanation	Link
Weather Underground- one of the first web based weather sites. Lots of good info here	http://www.wunderground.com/
PDC World Disaster Alerts – List and shows physical disasters worldwide (one of my favorites)	http://pdc.org/iweb/disasteralert.jsp?subg=1
Wind Alert – important if you are someplace cold, or forest fires, or wind surfing	http://m.windalert.com/
Shelter View – Red Cross open shelter list. In case you need one, or a loved one calls from out of town, you can direct them in a disaster	http://app.redcross.org/nss-app/
FEMA – disasters & maps- where are declared areas, links to hurricane maps, flooding, etc	http://www.fema.gov/hazard/index.shtm
Tsunami Evac –shows inundation areas- certainly for per-planning before that beach vacation	Apple Store
The weather Channel – need I say more	http://www.weather.com/
BBC (British Broadcasting Company) its often good for an outside view of our news reporting	http://www.bbc.com/
Twitter- it’s not for teens anymore- Most local Emergency Managers are on twitter for emergency information at the very least. You can learn a lot by searching and picking and listening	https://twitter.com/

So there you have it, a beginners list for building situational awareness. Often times things that affect us begin far away, so it’s best to pay attention beyond the five o’clock news show. And remember by time it makes the 5 o’clock news its already old news.

disaster_dave

Communication tips

When even small disasters happen communications is a problem, and there are things you can do to prepare.  This link fema-how-to-communicate-before gives some very practical tips on what to do in advance to prepare.  A couple of items on the list that deserve expansion are:

• ICE - I know we have all been putting In Case Of Emergency (ICE) contacts on our phones,but now that a lot of phones are computers they lock.  So how to get to the ICE on a SMART phone that is locked.  Theres an AP for that. http://ice-app.net/
• Call Forward - Your land line to your Cell if you have to evacuate.  If this is possible its a great idea,so that if you can't re-enter your home you have access to accounts (bank ,Pizza, etc) that read your home phone number to provide service.

So take a few minutes and read this linked FEMA document and plan out your communications.

Disaster_Dave

Call if you Care

The book I am currently reading is Thomas Drabek's The Human Side of Disaster.  While he covers lots of stuff you probably won't be interested in and that's okay; that's my job. The author goes into great detail about two things that interested me very much, which means it’s something I think you should know about.

So in this blog post I want you to do something for someone else. Yes that is right, today no talk about what you should plan or pack for a disaster.

Evacuation by invitation - You are watching TV and see that an area where your friends/family live and it looks like they should probably leave because of a developing disaster- call them!  Even if you only have floor space, it could save their lives.  People do not want to evacuate to a Shelter (only a small percentage actually go to a shelter), having someplace to go will make the decision easier for the man in the family.  Which leads us to the next point

Evacuation by Compromise- Women tend to be convinced sooner to evacuate than men are.  But men will evacuate to keep the peace.  The author points out that we make decisions everyday and do things in a relationship because it’s about compromise.

Tie the two together:
" Marge you know we have space for you, come over and lets watch it on TV, if nothing happens you  and the family can go home in the morning"

While you may not want people sleeping on your living room floor you could make the difference in your family/friends survival...

But my family lives on the other coast
So what if they live far away? Call anyway and if it looks bad encourage them to evacuate, sometimes a push from afar makes the difference. "Well if Jethro on the other coast thinks we are in danger..."

disaster dave

Go Bag (something to keep your bugs in)

A somewhat tongue in cheek look at what famous people in NY have in their go bags got me to thinking. How many of us have a go bag (bug out bag)?
Did you buy one and store it in the closet or the car? Amazon has over 400 hits if you type "go bag".

So what to put in it. Think what do I need to get away! Think what can I carry (very important; anyone who has served in the military knows these two things don't always go together)

• I wrote this blog in July- it  is one of the things that should be put into your go bag can-you-find-all-your-important documents
• clothing for your environment
• Food
• Water
• Medication you need for living
• First Aid Kit
• Sleeping bag or blanket
• map
• compass
• Charging cables for your electronics

If you are on Twitter try looking in  #SCEemergencykit  for some ideas from others; and of course please add your own ideas to this resource.

Sunny here today, think I'll go pick up a few things for my new improved Go Bag

Disaster Dave