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

All Hazard

Often times you will hear Emergency Management in your communities talk about "All Hazard Planning", what you may not hear is the words "Risk Based".  While the planning process lays out who does what in a disaster, we do want begin planning for the most likely and build our planning effort towards less likely events.

So as you and your family, friends look at what to prepare for start with this nice info-graph from Homeownersinsurance.org. 

Also take some time to chat with your insurance agent about your coverage. 

Back to the info-graph, find your state, look at the hazards for that state and start from their. 
I live in Washington State and it list forest fire, but I live in the city of Seattle so that is not a high concern for my family (but what about smoke?, What if you are on vacation on the other side of the mountain during fire season?) All good questions, that should inform your preparedness.


As a bonus here is FEMA's State and Local Guide (SLG) 101 Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning

Happy Sunday
Disaster_Dave

L.A. Prepares for the Big Quake Amid the Questions of When and How Large - Is your city prepared

 My promise in the beginning was not to use scare tactics and to try to make things bite sized for you to prepare for disasters in Where to Start. 
This week I read with interest how  Los Angeles has begun to look at the pieces in the public forum so their citizens understand it. They have been planning for a long time, but articles like this one show you the citizen the types of things they are worried about and planning for.
LA Prepares for the Big Quake Amid Questions of When and How Large  Its long (more than 30 seconds) but worth the time to read it all.

Why do I think its important citizens read this? Really two reasons:  
1.  Honestly, most of what we do in emergency management is not recognized by the public as it seldom produces perceptible results to the public in the short term.  But it does produce things that may save lives in the long term.  Pay attention to the discussions of water and transport in the article.  Pay attention as your government makes budget cuts, if the Emergency Managers are on that cut list you WILL have a harder time surviving and recovering from a catastrophic event. 

 2.   If you read this piece and pay attention to the main points they are making you can look at your planning and say okay I need to do a little more in that category, and that one looks good for now. But you are conscience of the need, and that makes it more focused.

And if you read this and think, okay I have put this off long enough- awesome. Start here and dig in, a little at a time, planning takes time.

Good Planning
Disaster_Dave




 

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

The headline says it all

This morning Napa and SF were awakened by an Earthquake, and the headline read

"The Bay Area just got hit with its largest earthquake in 25 years".

So why is that important? I often hear people say things like "Earthquakes happen on a longer schedule, it may not happen in my lifetime".  Excuse me, I would like to point out that twice in 25 years is a pretty short life.  So for those of us in a seismic  area, can we all just change our posture a little and understand that it could happen in our lifetime (pretty sure I have at least 25 more years).

And for the rest of America and the world, Hurricanes, Cyclones, Tornadoes, house fires, forest fires, ice storms, power outages (I know I left some out) don't really have a "geological clock " so you need to prepare too.

So where to start, if you aren't a reader of mine here are some links to posts I have written on planning and preparation.

Northwest Quake - where will you be  

Can you find all your important documents...

MITIGATION

and my most recent post   Its about an investment......In your family's well being.

 Don't do everything today, but get started. tick,tick tick.

DisasterDave

 

You can't prepare for everything?

 

That's the bad news; the good news is you don't have to.  I recently visited an area that suffered a strike by a tornado to do a damage assessment for ShelterBox and thought to myself how do I equate what happened here to my home (Seattle)?

In the strictest sense I can't; we don't have tornadoes, so thats one thing I don't need to prepare for. I don't need a safe room in my home or a tornado shelter. But what do I need? Are there things from a tornado area that could apply to me and my family? And what doesn't?

Well first having a plan. Ask yourself the "what ifs"? Where to start? Start small, don't go for the end of the world scenario, you'll freeze.
So for me in Seattle an easy start is a wind storm that knocks out power; something we are susceptible too.  So if the power goes out in the winter how long can we stay in our place?

Well for us a good bit, we have a gas fire place and gas stove.  So will my gas fire place light without electricity?  Yup, I turned off the power to my place and tried to turn it on and TADA, it worked. Same with the stove and oven.  So that's two check marks Heat & Cooking.  But what don't I have?  Well my hot water is electric, so that's a problem. 
Solutions = Shower at work? The YMCA?
What about the food in my refrigerator?  Yes that will be a problem if the power is out more than a few hours.  Well our wind storms are in the winter, so I can go outside with a cooler for a while, but eventually that will fail.

So today while its sunny, pick one disaster and talk it through with your family.
Make a Plan.

The picture is one I took in Oklahoma of the remains of someones home.

 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

Spring will be here soon

noaa-chief-2011-was-harbinger of things to come  So just in case you forgot how this year went in the disaster field.  Take away the Earthquake, and we still had a pretty tough year.  Take a moment and read the article by the folks at NOAA.
We (as individuals) have to be prepared to take care of our self.

Disaster Dave

Do we have a culture of survival in America?

I watched an online story of survival of one region of Japan during the Tsunami, and it made me really stop and think. (If you have the time, please watch the film; it has many points that will help you) Do we have a culture of survival?
A recent story of people at a concert in Indiana who watched a storm approach and did not leave suggests maybe not.
As pointed out in the film, in Japan, their sense of family is so strong; families die together because they are so worried they put their lives and their family’s lives in danger.  However, in one region the schools taught a different way of surviving a Tsunami called “Tendenko”.  A code that says the highest order is to think for yourself and survive so you can help.
If we do not survive who will care of our family members? Who will help them recover and move forward?
Do you have a muster point for your family to meet at after a disaster? Do you have a secondary? Do you have a communications plan? If the phones do not work, what is the next communications method? If that doesn’t work, then what?

·         Plan for each member of your family to know the plan

·         Plan for each member of your family to think for themselves and make decisions

·         Plan a communications method that doesn’t depend on your current phone

·         Plan to meet somewhere (you do it when you go to the mall J)

·         Plan for a second meeting place

Plan to survive!

Disaster Dave

The Name of the Game

It is the holiday weekend, a time I usually take to reflect on the things I do.  I have been looking at my blog to see how I am doing in my mission to simplify and get people to take steps to survive the next disaster.  I seem to be fairly heavy in preparedness tags...

As I think through the steps we use in Emergency Management (Preparedness, Response, Recovery, Mitigation) it is apparent to me as an individual you have less to do during the last three steps; not that you have nothing to contribute but your power is in Preparedness.

Your biggest impact in helping your family and community make it through a disaster is by making sure you are prepared! While I want you think about the other steps your government takes during a disaster, I need to continue to guide you through becoming more prepared for the hazards you may encounter.

So I think I' am writing about the right things to guide you. Happy holiday- lets get prepared one step at a time.

Disaster dave

Your Disaster Debt

I know few of us think about recovery and everywhere you look  in the news the Federal Government is giving disaster aid.  But closer reading will tell you they are NOT giving you back everything you lost.
This article talks about the amazing recovery Japan has made, but what about the business people. Should Mr Abe (from the article) join the community garden to make a few dollars or wait and see if the government will bail him out.
What will you do? Do you have sufficient insurance on your home? Business? Who will rescue you...
http://tinyurl.com/4x9s5wd

You have to rescue you, by planning for the worst

Disaster Dave

We Should have Known

It is amazing to me that  after 10 years of preparedness folks telling us what to do, people still do the wrong things.  Today we can watch the weather approach on our computers or phones and yet here is an article by a presumably intelligent person who did the wrong things.  Well she actually didn't do anything.
She supposes that she has too much information to make a decision.   But is she, like a lot of Americans just depending on someone else to "help them"?  If so then we will always be waiting on someone to come, when it may be too late.
Not me and I hope not you.  Remember "Only the strong will survive".  And that strength is preparedness, for whatever is coming, not sitting in your living room waiting on help that may be too late.

PS: Her Dad and the family got lucky.

Disaster Dave

Planning or not for the next disaster

WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN IT HAPPENS- some of the answers

Some of the answers are:

1-      You are on vacation out of the area.

·         Call or text your out of area contact that you are okay and not at the epicenter

·         Extend your stay (you can cancel later, but you may not be able to go home right away)

·         If you are an EM worker, text your boss you are alright

·         Find others from your area and give support

2-      You are in your car on the way home from work

·         Get safely off the road- don’t become a casualty now

·                     Evaluate the situation (radio, etc)

·         text your out of area contact that you are okay 

3-      You are at work

·         Drop Cover and Hold on

·         Follow your office emergency plan

·         text your out of area contact that you are okay

4-      You are at home

·         Drop Cover and Hold on

·         Check on others in your home, condo, apartment building

·         Check on neighbors

·         Follow your home emergency plan

·         Text your out of area contact that you are okay

So this is some place to start. Go for it

Disaster Dave

WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN IT HAPPENS- No Really

I spend a lot of my time in my job planning for what we would do during a major disaster (for us an Earthquake seems most likely). I used to comment during the planning we have to think about this as if we were casualties of the quake; but this put a damper on the meeting.  So now I just say we are all on vacation when it strikes. :)

Which brings me to our first question- Where will we be when ______ (fill in the disaster) strikes?   

So let us play a game I was introduced to earlier this year.

1. Take an envelope (or cup, pan, sack) and a sheet of paper and pencil.  Tear or cut the paper into 1-2 inch squares (it doesn’t have to be exact) and for a family of four make sure there are at least four squares, each with one of the following numbers 1, 2, 3, 4. On each. (for a larger group just randomly add the numbers 1-4).
2. Place all in the container and shake.
3. Have each person pick a number from the bag, then put the envelope away.  Now if you pulled the number:

a.       1- You are on vacation out of the area.

b.      2- You are in your car on the way home from work

c.       3- You are at work

d.      4- You are at home

    4. Next, imagine a major earthquake hits. 

    5.   After taking that in for a moment, go around the table and whoever drew number one should talk about what they would do in their location.  Then go to the next number drawn, and so on until you are done with #4.  Now allow anyone else to add ideas to the numbers they didn’t pick. No wrong answers!

What you have done is begun your disaster planning and involved the whole family (or office). 

*So let’s be interactive; pick a number and comment in this blog on what you would do; we can learn from each other. Your comments will part of the next page in this string!

Disaster Dave