Preparing for Disaster.

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:52 am

I was talking with a neighbor about disaster preparedness. It seems many people apply common-sense and have at least mentally inventoried a "disaster needs" list and prepared it in advance.

Has anyone been truly stranded in an emergency and unable to fend for themselves?

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:14 pm

No, never got stuck.

And I make sure to leave good lesson plans and not stick a sub with a bunch of 6th graders looking for mischief when an emergency calls me out.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:23 pm

halfway;1416454 wrote: I was talking with a neighbor about disaster preparedness. It seems many people apply common-sense and have at least mentally inventoried a "disaster needs" list and prepared it in advance.

Has anyone been truly stranded in an emergency and unable to fend for themselves?

Biggest disaster we're likely to see round here is a house fire and we have full detection, evacuation and contingency plans in place for that.

What sort of disaster did you have in mind?

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:50 am

Any type of disaster that forces you to leave your home for days or more or endure without a few days power.. Tornado, hurricane, floods, fires, blizzards etc.

Post by **LarsMac** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:11 am

Been through a number of Hurricanes. Headed to high ground for a few. Rode a few out.

I think the trick is knowing when you you can ride, and when to high-tail it.

Rode Andrew out. That was not one of my best decisions.

Now, I am on REALLY high ground, and even a Sandy or Katrina don't scare me.

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:16 am

LarsMac;1416588 wrote: Been through a number of Hurricanes. Headed to high ground for a few. Rode a few out.

I think the trick is knowing when you you can ride, and when to high-tail it.

Rode Andrew out. That was not one of my best decisions.

Now, I am on REALLY high ground, and even a Sandy or Katrina don't scare me.

You are a tough guy though.

How about those who need to prepare for such issues with kids, pets, etc.? How about the elderly?

Hugo was fun to surf....for a while. Andrew was a pain to clean up. Katrina? Watched from the monitors....ugly local response, very dependent and indecisive.

The more that are prepared, the easier it is on rescue and assistance to take care of those that cannot take care of themselves. Those are the folks we are committed to protect as a nation and sometimes they are moved to lower priority because of the pressure and loudness of many who could have helped themselves in advance.

Disclaimer: Due to recent attacks by friendly members of this forum, this disclaimer is needed. The above statement was made by me and cannot be verified as true with wiki link, video, scientific study, personal verification, multiple witnesses or actual verbal communication. It is in fact an observation or an experienced opinion gathered over time and presented as a point of discussion.

In light of that, treat the statement as completely false, full of hidden political overtones, stabs at sexism, racism, bigotry, religious fanaticism, conservatism, marxism, nazisim, liberalism, fascism, utopianism, pantysinabindism, gonnatakealeakism, and general don'tknowwhatthehellI'mtalkingabou

Post by **LarsMac** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:24 am

Planning for potential events is the key, of course.

We have blankets and food, canned heat and some of those emergency heat pacs in the vehicles, in case we are stupid enough to be wandering about when a blizzard closes the road on us. We have a generator and plenty of water, fuel and food at the house, and a good two-way radio.

We can hole up for a few weeks if the "Super Blizzard" were to come through.

The kids all know how to survive nasty weather and keep an eye on the clouds to know when it's time to head for home.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:28 pm

halfway;1416564 wrote: Any type of disaster that forces you to leave your home for days or more or endure without a few days power.. Tornado, hurricane, floods, fires, blizzards etc.

No tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes etc. round these parts. Living on top of a hill cuts out the risk of flood and I've covered fire so no, I'm not expecting any disasters anytime soon.

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:32 pm

Bryn Mawr;1416621 wrote: No tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes etc. round these parts. Living on top of a hill cuts out the risk of flood and I've covered fire so no, I'm not expecting any disasters anytime soon.

Thanks for adding to the discussion. Very insightful.

Disclaimer: Due to recent attacks by friendly members of this forum, this disclaimer is needed. The above statement was made by me and cannot be verified as true with wiki link, video, scientific study, personal verification, multiple witnesses or actual verbal communication. It is in fact an observation or an experienced opinion gathered over time and presented as a point of discussion.

In light of that, treat the statement as completely false, full of hidden political overtones, stabs at sexism, racism, bigotry, religious fanaticism, conservatism, marxism, nazisim, liberalism, fascism, utopianism, pantysinabindism, gonnatakealeakism, and general don'tknowwhatthehellI'mtalkingabou

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:45 pm

halfway;1416623 wrote: Thanks for adding to the discussion. Very insightful.

Given your propensity for post as though the world is just like home I had hoped it might get through.

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:20 pm

Bryn Mawr;1416627 wrote: Given your propensity for post as though the world is just like home I had hoped it might get through.

I don't understand what you are saying, but I meant what I said. Let me guess....it was offensive or misconstrued? What is with you?

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:54 pm

halfway;1416631 wrote: I don't understand what you are saying, but I meant what I said. Let me guess....it was offensive or misconstrued? What is with you?

Why am I not surprised - and no, I neither found it offensive nor misconstrued what was said. How about you?

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:28 pm

I dodged a hurricane once. It turned out to be unnecessary, but I got a good roam out of it. I was living in a city when the big earthquake hit in '89. We lost power, phone, etc. for a few days. I fired up the generator in my roaming vehicle and ran an extension cord to the house, using sparingly since i had no idea how long the outage would be. Neighbors wheeled their BBQ grills into the street and we ate whatever people had in their fridges.

Where I live now, the house has solar power with a shed basement full of old truck batteries. The kitchen appliances are RV appliances (meaning that the fridge runs on either electricity or propane). There is a huge buried propane tank that gets filled up twice per year. The house is connected to the electrical and phone grid, but designed to run solo. There is also a generator in the shed. In the garage is my roaming vehicle with its own generator, water, stove, fridge, etc. I'm still in earthquake country but the biggest danger is falling trees (redwoods can be large). It is very unlikely that the house and garage would be hit.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:52 pm

halfway;1416454 wrote: I was talking with a neighbor about disaster preparedness. It seems many people apply common-sense and have at least mentally inventoried a "disaster needs" list and prepared it in advance.

Has anyone been truly stranded in an emergency and unable to fend for themselves?I'm having one heck of a time making heads or tails of this post.