Emergency preparedness

[DiverRay]

As far as the radiation, Most of it went up in the steam, and is short half life. The REALLY NASTY STUFF, like Chernobyl, came from the fuel rods. With the containment vessel cracked, you MAY have some problems. The good news for us is that most of the problems will be local to the site, and NOT airborne contamination like Russia.
The people in the US who are already freaking out just need to get back under their tin foil hats....
And yeah, I DO play with radioactive stuff now and then for work.
Lets not forget to pray for Japan, and help any way you can. We are ALL humans on this rock!

[natemoen]

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.

And now they are going to pay for that kind of crap. You have 3 options 1) Di nothing and die. 2) die trying. 3) make it work. I personally like the make it work option...

Yeah I am kinda a pessimist.

[mack]

Threat

As we used to say in the military, watch and shoot. This eventuality was required reading. Unless the half life has changed to twelve days, we have problems.Just because they (??)say the levels have dropped in Japan doesn't mean that it isn't still being emitted. Only that it isn't over Japan. Check the direction of the prevailing winds. If I fart the person on my right may not smell it.

[exquized1]

Whats in the 72 hour 5 gal bucket? I'm sure you have a lid on it. Are they water tight just curious.

[cywelchjr]

As we used to say in the military, watch and shoot. This eventuality was required reading. Unless the half life has changed to twelve days, we have problems.Just because they (??)say the levels have dropped in Japan doesn't mean that it isn't still being emitted. Only that it isn't over Japan. Check the direction of the prevailing winds. If I fart the person on my right may not smell it.

A lot of the stuff that is easily picked up by the wind has a pretty short half life. That and it has a LOT of area to disperse over before it reaches any populated areas, and water is one of the agents that absorbs radiation IIRC from my NBC school days. But even pretty close to an nuke detonation, if you can get under cover from the blast and shield from the direct radiation during the actual blast, most of the fallout away from the blast zone is pretty short lived.

[cywelchjr]

And now they are going to pay for that kind of crap. You have 3 options 1) Di nothing and die. 2) die trying. 3) make it work. I personally like the make it work option...

Yeah I am kinda a pessimist.

Your right, and I'm of that type of mind as well. But it's not their culture, and it's been giving them fits for a couple of decades now. It's also enabled them to make some fantastic machinery, as an example, these bikes. Nearly 30 years old for the youngest of them, and still run rings around most anything close to multipurpose still being built (not that there are many of those left). Then again, they are not stellar at anything, but are pretty good at a great many things, and I still think they are one of the better looking bikes ever made (of course I may be prejudiced).

Thank about it with these power plants though. They were built and planned to withstand a 7.0, and this quake has been upgraded to a 9.0, and it wasn't the quake that took them out, it was the resulting tsunami, taking out the aux generators to run the emergency cooling systems, and the fact that they couldn't manage to connect other generators to them because for some reason, they couldn't overcome incompatible connectors (for whatever reason, either cultural or they didn't have the parts and tools to make the modifications, we don't know why at this point).

[b.walker5]

In my experience, they're not that great at thinking outside the square. Its that whole left side, right side brain thing. They rely heavily on manuals and if its not in the manual it can't be done. Someone would have to write a new page for the manual before they could modify a connector.

[cywelchjr]

In my experience, they're not that great at thinking outside the square. Its that whole left side, right side brain thing. They rely heavily on manuals and if its not in the manual it can't be done. Someone would have to write a new page for the manual before they could modify a connector.

That's my point. If someone had put a procedure in the manual for dealing with the situation that allowed for incompatible connectors, then it wouldn't have been a problem. If they had sent some US Navy techs over to fix it, they would likely have had it working in no time, of course they would then have unhooked it because it wasn't done in the approved manner as documented in the manual.

[Special Ed]

"If they had sent some US Navy techs over to fix it, they would likely have had it working in no time,"
Or any Okie.
Special Ed

[WMarshy]

I have not heard anything regarding incompatible connections on the generators. I doubt they would stand around and scratch their heads while the reactor slowly drains because they cant figure out how to connect a backup generator. Im sure they were doing everything in their power (no pun intended) to get the emergency cooling systems going. My guess is they either had damage to the cables and could not get power to the pumps or the generators they brought in didnt have the output to run their pumps. Try finding a backup generator that has 4160 V, or 13.8 kV

[3Phase]

Keep current copies of important papers sealed in a waterproof envelope in each grab box or carry bag so you know you will have them and you do not have to hunt for a specific box or bag in an emergency -- just grab and get out of Dodge!

It may seem like a lot of work but there's not actually much space required for: copies of birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates; passport or green card for aliens; contact information and a few recent photos; military service; house and vehicle titles; insurance; contracts, loans, pay stubs, banking and credit information; utility account numbers; professional licenses; education; medical records; a bottle of Scotch for medicinal purposes and so on and so forth, etc., etc., etc., etc.

Basically, all the stuff you'll need after you surf the 200' tsunami to Tucson; dig your way out after an earthquake that went all the way up to 11.0; hide from a hurricane or tag a twister; flee a fire tornado and/or wind-driven wall of fire; Wake of the Flood.

Apparently it would also be a good idea to keep a few different types of adapter plugs handy somewhere near the emergency backup electrical generators and their service connections.

[bikerphil]

Wake of the Flood.

Row Jimmy Row.

[tcoop]

Whats in the 72 hour 5 gal bucket? I'm sure you have a lid on it. Are they water tight just curious.

Yes it's water tight. We have the screw on lids so its easy access.
(They snap on like the regular lids but the middle screw out)

List of things we have in ours. Yours may be different depending on your needs.

• 3 days worth of MRE's
• Change of Cloths
• Pair of Shoes
• Tin Cup
• Water bottle
• Matches/lighter
• kindeling
• Wind-up Flash light
• Hand held radio with batteries
• Poncho
• moon blanket
• Mess kit
• Leatherman
• Personel First-aid kit
• Toothbrush
• toothpaste
• comb or brush
• Small battles of shampoo (like the hotels have)
• soap
• bug sprey

Many of the items we rotate out once a year.
We have also considered adding some foil pacages of water.
Attached to the lid we also ave a pad to use it as a stool.

I have seen the buckets at hunting goods stores.

(I use the bucket to sit on while working on the bikes)

[Jerry]

3-Phase has the jist of it. My daughter called from Portland, OR where they had warnings about effets of a tsunami passibly comming up the Columbia River. She shares an apartment, does not have a house. Her "kit" would have to fit into a back-pack. Our suggestions were:

Water purification kit.
Extra set of eye glasses.
Folding knife.
Roll of ripcord.
First aid kit heavy on bandage wraps and burn ointment.
Fire starter kit.
Small flashlight.
Extra charged cell phone battery - cell phones will be down for a while but will probably be up before land-lines.
Light jacket / windbreaker and hat.
Hard candy / nuts / couple MRE meals or dehydrated meals.
Canteen or some type of sealable water container.
Mesh bags, good for hauling, collecting, or storing stuff.
Compass / local map.
Passport.
Space blanket.
"Feminine hygine needs."
Basic toiletries kit: soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, comb.
Metal whistle.
Reflective mirror - use for signaling.

Since she would - most likely - be in a grab and go situation, it is not practical for her to store large amounts of water and food. Depending on how much time she had other things could be added. This list was meant to be a base kit.

[tcoop]

I forgot One of the most things...

toilet paper (or magazines...whichever you perfer )

A backpack would be easier to carry if your on foot