Emergency preparedness

[Special Ed]

We had, here in Santa Cruz, a very mild love tap from Mother Earth, as a result of the Apocalyptic disaster in Japan. Our small boat harbor suffered an estimated 15,000,000 dollars damage to infrastructure: this does not include damage to personal watercraft. SWMBO and I road our bicycles a couple of miles to the small boat harbor to see what we could see. Well, I'll report more on this later, but for now...
Japan, and previously New Z eland has diverted our attention from what is happening here at home, but we are having a plethora of home grown disasters here, in the USA: blizzards in the NE, tornadoes and wildfires in the Midwest. Here in Cantafordia, we realize that we are part of the same "Ring of Fire" as New Zealand, Japan, and Micronesia, and that we are definitely past due for "the Big One." So:
I would like to devote this thread to suggestions for emergency preparedness.
There must surely be many of us who have thought of what we "coulda shoulda woulda" done but didn't. Or maybe just have some really good Ideas to help us prepare for the inevitable.
Special Ed

[cowboybob998]

Move

We had, here in Santa Cruz, a very mild love tap from Mother Earth, as a result of the Apocalyptic disaster in Japan. Our small boat harbor suffered an estimated 15,000,000 dollars damage to infrastructure: this does not include damage to personal watercraft. SWMBO and I road our bicycles a couple of miles to the small boat harbor to see what we could see. Well, I'll report more on this later, but for now...
Japan, and previously New Z eland has diverted our attention from what is happening here at home, but we are having a plethora of home grown disasters here, in the USA: blizzards in the NE, tornadoes and wildfires in the Midwest. Here in Cantafordia, we realize that we are part of the same "Ring of Fire" as New Zealand, Japan, and Micronesia, and that we are definitely past due for "the Big One." So:
I would like to devote this thread to suggestions for emergency preparedness.
There must surely be many of us who have thought of what we "coulda shoulda woulda" done but didn't. Or maybe just have some really good Ideas to help us prepare for the inevitable.
Special Ed

Sorry just could not resist, move to the midwest, but dont take my word for it because we could get it to, the new mydrid falt in south east missiouri has been told of the miss. river runing backwards back in the late 1800's or early 1900's i think, whenever it was, right now i dont think there is any place 100% safe, we should all be prepaired because then we can take care of those that are not to keep the panic down that people wont be killing each outher for food and water.

[81xsproject]

Sorry just could not resist, move to the midwest, but dont take my word for it because we could get it to, the new mydrid falt in south east missiouri has been told of the miss. river runing backwards back in the late 1800's or early 1900's i think, whenever it was, right now i dont think there is any place 100% safe, we should all be prepaired because then we can take care of those that are not to keep the panic down that people wont be killing each outher for food and water.

No thanks, I don't care much for flat or "hill country" as it is over flatteringly referred to in TX.

We are currently discussing the same topic at home, Ed. I think we should probably make the topic beyond the obvious "food, water, and blanket." One of the things we are struggling to find a good solutions to is accessibility to these emergency items. When the mega-thrust subduction zone event occurs along the west coast, I don't figure on my house being one of the few left standing. So, where to keep this stuff and be able to access it, is an issue as we don't have any external structures like a shed.

[tcoop]

I have a 5 gal bucket for each family member that has a 72 hour emergency kit in it. We store them out in the garuage to be able to grab quikly if needed.

[Geezer]

The first place to start is to have 3 to 5 days of drinking water on hand. Storing water isn't as straight forward as some think it is. You have to use containers that have never been used for storing other things. If you store them in the garage, then you have to keep them up off the ground.

Storing dried and canned food is OK but you have to rotate your stock. Most emergencies will resolve themselves in a month but are worst in the first week. Keeping a week's worth of food for every family member and enough to spare for any family that has to move in should be a good place to start.

This much can be stored under a double bed if you raise it up a few inches. Many of us are getting old so having a bed another 6 or so inches higher makes it easier to stand up in the morning anyway...

A 72 hour emergency kit that can be used on the run is a good idea too. It all depends on if you live somewhere that is likely to need to be evacuated. I live high up enough where it's not going to flood so I'm not banking on having to evacuate. Also I can't turn my gun safe into a backpack and I won't leave without it.

We've been putting stuff away for an emergency and I'm sure it's not enough. I don't think we've spent more than a C note on this and I figure and other $200 should do it... What's a couple hundred when it could save your life? It's cheaper than bike insurance....

Geezer

[b.walker5]

Our Civil Defense organisation, as I'm sure do most others, publish's this info on a regular basis here, and many people have taken heed in recent years, and many more in the last few weeks.

http://www.getthru.govt.nz/web/GetTh...enDocument#kit

[latexeses]

I think one thing that hasn't been mentioned is to keep a low profile wherever you are. There will be those who are woefully unprepared who will be willing to help themselves to your "bounty".

[b.walker5]

I've got guns............ and i reload my own ammo...........

[mack]

Threats

A more insidious threat may be riding the jet stream right now headed for the pacific sea board then throughout the continent The catastrophic failures at Japan nuclear facilities will spread radiation at some level across the globe. I find it interesting that the talking heads make no mention of it at all. Trying to prevent panic I guess.

[natemoen]

A more insidious threat may be riding the jet stream right now headed for the pacific sea board then throughout the continent The catastrophic failures at Japan nuclear facilities will spread radiation at some level across the globe. I find it interesting that the talking heads make no mention of it at all. Trying to prevent panic I guess.

practically an hour and a half spent talking about the reactors here this morning!

[WMarshy]

Dont settle for the BS they are putting on the air waves, get the most accurate information about Japan's reactors at www.nei.org

[crazy steve]

The catastrophic failures at Japan nuclear facilities will spread radiation at some level across the globe.

Yeah, they've got a god-awful mess over there. The unfolding problems at the nuke plants, while pretty bad, shouldn't get to the level of a Chernobyl-type 'event' unless it escalates to full meltdown, and even then it shouldn't release as much stuff into the atmosphere. The crazy Russians had no containment on their reactor; it was just sitting in a wooden warehouse. But anybody within 500 miles or so of this does have a problem...

While 'they' are saying there's been a containment breach, a leaky can is better than no can at all...

[cywelchjr]

Yeah, they've got a god-awful mess over there. The unfolding problems at the nuke plants, while pretty bad, shouldn't get to the level of a Chernobyl-type 'event' unless it escalates to full meltdown, and even then it shouldn't release as much stuff into the atmosphere. The crazy Russians had no containment on their reactor; it was just sitting in a wooden warehouse. But anybody within 500 miles or so of this does have a problem...

While 'they' are saying there's been a containment breach, a leaky can is better than no can at all...

Yeah, it looks like they prepared for just about everything, except for a tsunami taking out the emergency generators that run the cooling systems. These reactors were designed to survive the earthquake, and the core systems even the tsunami, but the auxiliary systems needed to keep them safe afterwards did make it through, which made the whole thing start to fail. Especially when they brought in generators and they couldn't hook them up cause the connectors weren't compatible.

[crazy steve]

Especially when they brought in generators and they couldn't hook them up cause the connectors weren't compatible.

That one I just don't get; incompatible connectors? Don't they have any electricians onsite fer chrissakes? Sure, you might have boogered up the connections for future use, but for damn sure they should have been able to make some sort of electrical connection...

[cywelchjr]

That one I just don't get; incompatible connectors? Don't they have any electricians onsite fer chrissakes? Sure, you might have boogered up the connections for future use, but for damn sure they should have been able to make some sort of electrical connection...

That was what I didn't get, but that's what was reported. It may be a cultural thing, gotta do it the approved way. I know it's reported they've had some real problems dealing with their economic issues because they insist on consensus before anything can be done. This may be a case of not being allowed to just do what works, but must do what the book says. Can't rip out the connectors and hardwire it, cause that's not in the instructions.