Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Scout Motto: Be Prepared
YOU have the primary responsibility for the lives and safety of you-and-your's ... not some bureaucrats in DC or the State Capital. It isn't compliated and it can mean a world of difference when the Shit-Hits-The-Fan™.
Saturday morning I inventoried my emergency kit and went and splurged on a few items - more cans of tuna fish and spam and I'm considering a few more items such as a hand-powered radio and some serious work gloves. But my kit was still in pretty good shape.
The short list of things that should be in an emergency kit box - seperate, clearly marked and if possible, water-proof container:
- A week of food in cans or dried - preferably things that can be eaten cold, if need be, such as stews, spam, fruit, vegis, vienna sausages, ect. Remember the can opener.
- Small camp stove with sternos.
- 3 full changes of clothes / one for each season (wet, hot, cold) / extra underwear and socks.
- Toiletries for a week. Don't forget the toilet paper.
- Battery-powered radio, flashlight, candles, spare batteries, leatherman-type multi-tool.
- A couple hundred in cash. ATMs don't work without electricty.
- A gallon of water/ per person/per day in proper storage. A small bottle of bleach if you have to purify tainted water but stored water is better - you can kill bacteria but it takes a water treatment plant to remove fuels and chemicals. If you have room to store more - do it.
Other items to consider are a:
- gun of some sort - I'm debating that since a pistol would be necessary, but possibly a hassle keeping it in a very gun-control urban area where I have to drive miles to a range to practice.
- Pets: they need water and food also. Remember, if you have to flee, the National Guard doesn't save your pets.
- Medicine - two weeks worth.
- Post-disaster equipment, such as chainsaws, pumps, etc.
But the most important preparation needs to be mental. Get a Plan. If you've got a Plan, when the Shit-Hits-The-Fan™, whatever the Shit is, it won't be what you planned for, but you will only have to make minor modifications to the Plan. More importantly, the thought process of developing your Plan will get you in the proper mental preparation for handling a disaster. Here is a walk-through of my "planning":
- Risk Assessment: (1) How likely [probability] is event A (earthquake, hurricane, flood) in my area? (2) How much impact can it have on me (power out, water out, zombies attack) in the short-term? (3) What can I do to mitigate (1) (watch weather channel obsessively, runaway, nothing)? (4) What can I do to mitigate (2) (emergency kit!, generator, flee in terror, gun)? Plan for the worst (but least likely), such as Noah's Flood, then you will be ready for the little disasters, such as the water main breaking down the street and flooding your basement.
- Do I stay, or do I go? YOU decide. Don't wait for the big muckity-mucks to decide for you. They really don't have any better information than you - and you have to make your own risk assessment. Everyone wants to stay in their home but in the 'before the disaster' case, you don't know how bad it will hit, and in the 'after the disaster' case, you might not have a choice if a earthquake has pulverized your home's foundation. That is why you should have the emergency kit together in a nice container and not expect you'll be able to find all that stuff in a leasurely fashion. Yes, you might have all that stuff somewhere around the house ... but you have five minutes to flee the Mongolian Hordes/Flying Monkeys/mudslide.
- Where do I flee? If event X (nuclear device in DC) where do I flee? If I have to go north/south/east/west, where do I flee to? What if I don't have a vehicle (trapped or damaged)? Have a destination planned out. It is easier to go to Pittsburgh, than it is to flee pell-mell into the night. It is a mental health thing - I'm not fleeing death and distruction but rather going to the Alleganies for a week or two.
The ex-military officers I work with, have all voiced one phrase repeatedly over the last week: "a failure of leadership." Katrina has obviously been a failure of leadership from top to bottom. But for us folks on the bottom, leadership can have the biggest impact. Just being the guy who digs a hole and says "Everyone crap here for a few days until the toilets work" or "Hey guys, give me a hand clearing this tree so the power company's truck can get through" is the kind of 'leadership' that really makes a difference (note I've added quality work gloves since my hands have got all soft and girly since I got this cushy office job).
The Koreans have a story: A man dies and goes to Heaven. The gatekeeper (St. Peter) starts to usher him into Heaven, but the man stops and says "Since I already know I'm going into Heaven, I'd like to see what Hell is like." The Gatekeeper agrees to take him to see Hell. They approach a doorway and they hear the worst howling and crys of anguish and pain from the other side and the Gatekeeper has to reassure him that he won't be harmed. The door opens and there is a great table with a sumptuous feast of all the finest foods. But around it sat the damned souls, screaming as they were unable to eat the wonderful foods in front of them, having only 6 foot chopsticks and they couldn't get the food to their mouths.
The man told the gatekeeper to take him back to heaven. When he got there they approached a doorway and he heard people laughing and chatting. The door was opened to him and he saw exactly the same scene as in Hell, a great table of wonderful foods, surrounded by souls with 6 foot chopsticks. But in their case they were not trying to feed themselves but were using them to feed their neighbors across the table.
Any situation can be a Heaven or a Hell. The difference is if you use your head and act cooperatively.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
