Why Preparedness Should Be Constant

With another hurricane looming and preparing to hit the East coast, note the reaction of people in quotes form this Washington Post Article.

"Across the Washington region, people crowded into supermarkets and hardware stores, loading up on food and supplies, if there were any to be found."

"Customers took up to a half hour to find parking at the Georgetown Safeway, where bottled water was gone by late afternoon and two shoppers argued over the last box of elbow pasta."

“Everyone has freaked out. Wow,” said Jennifer Gaskins, 59, as she gaped at the bare hooks where the flashlights would have hung. 

You can read the full article here Hurricane Sandy Continues its march.

The reaction of the mass number of unprepared people should serve as a warning to us all to always have our pantry's in a constant level of preparedness.

If you haven't done so lately you can review one of my first post's on this blog to see if you are adequately prepared. Starting on your preps.

I'll be posting again in a couple of weeks regarding a looming man made disaster that everyone should be ready for. Until then remember the Boyscout motto "Be Prepared!"

Man Made Disasters

The majority of disasters that we should be prepared for are natural disasters. Those are events that happen fairly regularly. We see them regularly on the evening news. So it is believable for many people that they should prepare for such emergencies. And yet few people do.
Here are just a few statistics regarding emergency preparedness in the United States:
-44 percent of all Americans do not have first-aid kits in their homes.
-48 percent of all Americans do not have any emergency supplies stored up.
-53 percent of all Americans do not have a 3 day supply of nonperishable food and water in their homes.
Essentially, what we have got is about half the country that is completely and totally unprepared.
About half the nation is sitting back and relying on the government to make all of the preparations.
For more information from the poll these statistics were taken from you can go HERE

So as you can see most Americans are unprepared for regular run of the mill natural disasters. So how prepared are they...are YOU for man made disasters? What are man made disasters? These are the disasters that are the result of industrial accidents (EG. Oil Spills, Nuclear Reactor accidents, etc.); terrorist or war time related disasters (EG. dirty bombs, nuclear attack, biological attack, chemical attack, etc.).
Another type of man made disasters is economic crises. Of all the man made disasters, the economic disasters is one that is currently occurring, albeit in slow motion. But like an unmanned train that didn't have it's brakes properly set will slowly starts rolling down an incline. The further the angle of dissent, the faster the train will roll, until you have a run-a-way train.
This is what is occurring right now. Our nations, indeed the worlds economic engine, are heading for a train wreck. But don't take my word for it. I encourage you to watch this video. It is about 45 minutes long and it set's the stage for how we got to be where we are.

EDIT: 10-15-12 - If you weren't aware another dose of monetary injection occurred several weeks ago under President Obama's watch, when Mr. Bernanke provided stimulus in the form of QE3 by promising $40billion monthly until things turned around. This is akin to an IV drip into the economic engine of this nation. The problem is, as with other financial injections, when the flow stops, the withdrawal kicks in and then watch out.
So take time to watch the video and next week I'll post about what that means for you and I.
EDIT II: Just came across another bloggers post on the history of other nations who have been through what we have and what the result was for them. You can the posting at Simon Blacks, Sovereignman Blog - "Let's Talk About Facts, Not Fear."

Aftermath of Emergency

Enough time has passed so that most people have forgotten that there was even a hurricane this summer. What I would like to do is update you with some of the aftermath, illustrated with pictures provided by the AP. These show you things that you will need to consider. It’s always best to look at past examples to better understand what one would need to prepare for. Especially in regards to natural reoccurring disasters.

Let’s apply the rule of 3’s in determining what we can learn. Remember what they are?

You can last 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter,

3 days without water, 3 weeks without food, 3 months without hope.

Air – No immediate problem with having enough air to breath. Had this been an industrial/chemical/biological accident then we would need to take into consideration how to obtain enough fresh air to breath for us to be able to evacuate. However long term we may need to consider the ramification of airborne diseases as a result of decaying animals and undiscovered corpses.

Shelter – For those impacted by the flooding, or high wind damage, they were unable to remain in their homes, so they needed to evacuate.

Do you have a plan on where you would go to if you needed to evacuate your home? Relatives, friends?  Are they aware of your plans? Have you pre-plotted the route you would take to get there? Do you have a plan B if that route is closed? Have you actually driven the route to see if you can get their as soon as you plan? Have you done it during rush hour? Will it take more than one tank of gas? How much gas is in your auto right now?

Do you have a ‘Go’ Bag that you can grab at a moment’s notice which contains at least a 3+ day’s worth of clothes, medication, items specific to your family? Quick where is it, can you get to it a load it in the car with your family in 20 minutes?

Water – One of the common dangers of flooding is the polluting of water supplies. Wells will get fouled and water treatment plants can be put out of commission as a result of severe storms and natural disasters. Not to mention dead animals fouling the water.

Do you have enough water store equal to1 gal per family member per day? Do you have a way to filter/clean water?

Food – With the storm there were power outages. This meant that if a person didn’t have a generator, the food in their refrigerator would be spoiled within a day and freezers within a couple of days. Do you have a pantry with food that doesn’t require refrigeration, as well as a means to cook it? If you don't have a well stocked pantry don't expect grocery stores to be readily available and do expect to have to wait for in long lines.

Hope – Often times in the aftermath of a natural disaster your emotions can be overwhelmed. Even those of us who are level headed can find ourselves depressed after the adrenaline wears off that got us through an initial crisis.

This is why it is important that you have some type of support system. A church, a family, a group of like minded friends. People who can support you and provide strength. As a Christian I draw strength through prayer and trust in God.  As well as know that I am part of a church that will utilize their resources to help those in need. In your immediate family your children will need you to help them provide a certain level of normalcy in the midst of chaos. You can do this by insuring you have some of their favorite books they can read, or games they can play. And it doesn’t hurt to have some hard candy as a treat.

Other matters to consider which I didn’t touch on were: Did you have cash available? With no power there are no ATM’s, and stores won’t accept credit/debit cards. Also expect prices to be temporarily increased do to shortages and price gouging.

If you are able to remain in your home following a natural disasters, because your home survived and you were prepared to live without utilities for several days/weeks, you will also need to consider protection. Thieves take advantage of disasters and will see such times as opportunities’ to loot and steal. Are you prepared to protect your family and your property?

As we enter Fall and head towards Winter take time to take stock of what natural disasters might befall your area and make plans now to be prepared.

My next post will deal with a different type of disaster. One that fits in the category of manmade disaster and that has been in the news and on many people’s minds.