There is a lot of overlap between making an emergency plan and making an emergency kit. That came up last with with medication, and it is coming up this week with photos. There is just more to it than photos.
I thought of it because I saw a tweet with people putting out pictures of some people missing in the Carr fire, a great-grandmother and two children. You may have seen the photos too, and know that they have been found dead. That doesn't invalidate what I am going to say.
When there was still hope, it occurred to me that those weren't very good pictures. Some weren't very clear, and they apparently only had a side photo of the great-grandmother.
Normally you hope that everyone not only has a plan but can speak for themselves and provide identifying information. That might not happen, even if everyone is alive.
If an adult watching children gets incapacitated, the adult might not be able to explain and the children may be too young or too traumatized to provide names and contact information. Seniors with dementia can be alive but disoriented. That can also happen with other cognitive disabilities or in some cases after missing medication.
(For many of these cases, ID bracelets can also be a good idea. And yes, we talked about planning to keep your medication current last week, but there are so many things that can go wrong.)
My point is that it can't hurt to add photos of household members to your emergency kit. Make them clear, current photos with a front view. Children usually get annual school pictures, making it easy. Still, if there is a growth spurt or a haircut, maybe take a new picture. A lot of adults don't like having their pictures taken, but it's for safety. Refresh those pictures frequently.
Yes, you may have pictures on your phone, but what if heat damages your phone, or it gets misplaced, or they were blurry pictures that weren't very recognizable?
Obviously, kits can be left behind or get lost or burned. Also obviously, it is better if your family doesn't get separated. Emergency planning is knowing that there are things beyond your control and then trying to mitigate that.
Next week I want to spend some time on fires specifically, because we are seeing things we may not have seen before, and they require some adjustment.
For now, in the part of your plan that involves reuniting after an emergency, think about the things that can make it harder: who will need extra help? If we get separated miles from home, and can't go back home, what do we do then?
And as part of that, there are many advantages to having current photos.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Making a plan - Medication
There are two things that I want to talk about here. They could really both go into making a kit or making an evacuation plan, but I think it is beneficial to talk about medication separately.
The first thing is making sure that you have your medication. There are different ways of doing this.
I knew one couple who used two sets of weekly pill minders. One set would be in the emergency kits, and they other they would use. At the end of the week they would fill up the empty one, put it in the kit, and use the one that had just been pulled from the kit. That is one way of doing it.
Honestly, my plan is just to scoop mine up on the way out. Based on their location it is easy to do, and it is simpler. It doesn't provide for an emergency happening while I am away from home, but neither does the other couple's plan, assuming they are keeping their kits at home.
Fortunately, in a case where you end up going to a shelter, there may be processes in place for providing prescription medication. Having your correct dosage information will be helpful.
In the Prepare Out Loud presentation, they recommended taking the labels off of some old bottles and putting them in your kit, because that has all of the information. I saw the point, but knew that getting the labels off could be a frustrating process. However, most of the pharmacies I know also have a paper printout with the prescription that has everything on the label. This includes the name of the medication, the dosage, the prescribing doctor, and instructions for taking the medication.
That can be easily added to your kit, and with a couple of refills you could have home and work copies, or home and car copies. That is something to think about.
I'll give you one more thing to think about from that night. They talked about having supplies for pets, and I felt guilty because we were getting low on dog food. We had plans to go to the store and buy more, and we did and everything was fine, but in the event of an emergency that prevented us from getting to the store, we would have run out. We could share our food with her, but that wouldn't be ideal for her digestion, especially in a time that would probably already be stressful. (She would love it in theory.) Also, that relies on us being prepared for ourselves, and we should be, but as long as we are preparing that should be for everyone who lives here, whether two-legged or four-legged.
I bring this us not to talk about pet preparedness (although that is important to me), but to encourage you to not leave filling your prescription to the last minute. There are legal limitations to how much you can have on hand, so there will be a date before which you cannot refill. However, after that date, refill instead of leaving it to the day before. Playing it close like that can result in missed doses even when there isn't an emergency, because many days there is just life and that gets complicated enough.
That's when we move beyond emergency preparedness to provident living. Life is smoother when we do.
The first thing is making sure that you have your medication. There are different ways of doing this.
I knew one couple who used two sets of weekly pill minders. One set would be in the emergency kits, and they other they would use. At the end of the week they would fill up the empty one, put it in the kit, and use the one that had just been pulled from the kit. That is one way of doing it.
Honestly, my plan is just to scoop mine up on the way out. Based on their location it is easy to do, and it is simpler. It doesn't provide for an emergency happening while I am away from home, but neither does the other couple's plan, assuming they are keeping their kits at home.
Fortunately, in a case where you end up going to a shelter, there may be processes in place for providing prescription medication. Having your correct dosage information will be helpful.
In the Prepare Out Loud presentation, they recommended taking the labels off of some old bottles and putting them in your kit, because that has all of the information. I saw the point, but knew that getting the labels off could be a frustrating process. However, most of the pharmacies I know also have a paper printout with the prescription that has everything on the label. This includes the name of the medication, the dosage, the prescribing doctor, and instructions for taking the medication.
That can be easily added to your kit, and with a couple of refills you could have home and work copies, or home and car copies. That is something to think about.
I'll give you one more thing to think about from that night. They talked about having supplies for pets, and I felt guilty because we were getting low on dog food. We had plans to go to the store and buy more, and we did and everything was fine, but in the event of an emergency that prevented us from getting to the store, we would have run out. We could share our food with her, but that wouldn't be ideal for her digestion, especially in a time that would probably already be stressful. (She would love it in theory.) Also, that relies on us being prepared for ourselves, and we should be, but as long as we are preparing that should be for everyone who lives here, whether two-legged or four-legged.
I bring this us not to talk about pet preparedness (although that is important to me), but to encourage you to not leave filling your prescription to the last minute. There are legal limitations to how much you can have on hand, so there will be a date before which you cannot refill. However, after that date, refill instead of leaving it to the day before. Playing it close like that can result in missed doses even when there isn't an emergency, because many days there is just life and that gets complicated enough.
That's when we move beyond emergency preparedness to provident living. Life is smoother when we do.
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Making a plan - liquefaction
One of my biggest frustrations from all of my preparedness prep is not committing the liquefaction map to memory. Maybe taking a photo of it. I just wish I could refer back to it.
There was one in the classroom where I took my CERT training, many years ago. Online searches generally reveal maps that display a number of factors, and often where it is hard to zero in on my area.
Granted, you don't know where you will be. It might not hurt to know some of the risks for the other side of the river, but home is where I worry about most.
Liquefaction refers to the process of a solid or a gas going to liquid, but getting caught in this in-between state that isn't quite liquid but follows some of the dynamics of a liquid.
In an earthquake, sand, saturated dirt, and unconsolidated soil can be a at risk for turning into a suspension. Dirt soup may be the best way to think of it.
Interestingly, even without an earthquake a woman recently sunk in sand on a beach because of the water creating a quicksand effect. There are some differences, but the important thing to remember is that solidity may not be permanent.
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/article214626755.html
That certainly doesn't sound fun for going across on foot, but where it can get really messy is when the soil liquefies under a structure, like a building or a road.
For example, if you have a seismically constructed bridge, but the roads on either side get broken up as the ground loses its solidity, that can be a transportation problem. It's still good for the people on the bridge that it didn't collapse.
(I've heard bad things about PDX airport.)
So I worry about the house collapsing, or that we will choose a nearby park as our meeting place, and then find that the spot will literally suck.
This is once again one of those areas where you may need to handle a little bit of ambiguity.
On the plus side, I know from my attempts at gardening that our soil is more of a clay type. It is very hard for it to get saturated because of the way it holds water.
Take the rays of hope where you find them.
There was one in the classroom where I took my CERT training, many years ago. Online searches generally reveal maps that display a number of factors, and often where it is hard to zero in on my area.
Granted, you don't know where you will be. It might not hurt to know some of the risks for the other side of the river, but home is where I worry about most.
Liquefaction refers to the process of a solid or a gas going to liquid, but getting caught in this in-between state that isn't quite liquid but follows some of the dynamics of a liquid.
In an earthquake, sand, saturated dirt, and unconsolidated soil can be a at risk for turning into a suspension. Dirt soup may be the best way to think of it.
Interestingly, even without an earthquake a woman recently sunk in sand on a beach because of the water creating a quicksand effect. There are some differences, but the important thing to remember is that solidity may not be permanent.
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/article214626755.html
That certainly doesn't sound fun for going across on foot, but where it can get really messy is when the soil liquefies under a structure, like a building or a road.
For example, if you have a seismically constructed bridge, but the roads on either side get broken up as the ground loses its solidity, that can be a transportation problem. It's still good for the people on the bridge that it didn't collapse.
(I've heard bad things about PDX airport.)
So I worry about the house collapsing, or that we will choose a nearby park as our meeting place, and then find that the spot will literally suck.
This is once again one of those areas where you may need to handle a little bit of ambiguity.
On the plus side, I know from my attempts at gardening that our soil is more of a clay type. It is very hard for it to get saturated because of the way it holds water.
Take the rays of hope where you find them.
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Making a Plan - Insurance
I am afraid it will take us more than one week to make a family emergency plan. I may have set some unrealistic expectations, but also it is worth noting that things that involve coordination are more difficult. A family dictatorship might be able to get around it, but it would have other problems.
(And if at this point you want to wax philosophic about things like the efficacy of martial law in the case of a disaster and so on, you are welcome to do so. There is some fertile ground for discussion there.)
The part that caught my attention for the section on making a plan (https://p.widencdn.net/5rdg1y/redcrossprepareguide p.5) is the recommendation for additional insurance, because flood, earthquake, and tsunami damage generally aren't covered.
It caught my attention for two reasons. First, we had separate earthquake insurance until recently, and then a missed payment due to financial hardship resulted in abrupt cancellation. There wasn't a warning or a phone call, we were just terminated. Those are the rules, but they seemed harsh.
I did understand the justification for separate insurance. For the most common things, like a house burning down or an appliance failing and leading to water damage, those are things that happen here and there, and that's how the insurance company pays. Even with a large windstorm, the overall percentage of houses with damage for an area will probably remain small.
Getting a large earthquake or a river flooding or something like that tends not to be limited to one house in a neighborhood. No insurance company wants to cover all of the damage in a neighborhood that was flooded or reduced to rubble.
Generally speaking, that's why you want to have the governor or president to declare a disaster, because it opens up additional resources to the area, so it is not the insurance that is needed. Of course, sometimes you hear bad things about their performance.
This leads to the second reason this section weighed on me. I recently watched When the Levees Broke, a documentary about Hurricane Katrina. Yes, there were some issues with government response, during and after, but some of the insurance companies were not too helpful after either.
Okay, you may be thinking that there was a flood, which generally wouldn't be covered but there were things that should have been covered, like wind damage, but then it was blamed on the flood. The insurance companies acted like a bunch of weasels, and that is insulting to weasels.
(One of the grim moments of humor came from one of the affected homeowners parodying their slogans. You are not in good hands. You do not have a good neighbor.)
I don't have a good answer for this. It may be worthwhile to purchase additional insurance, and I obviously thought it was once, but you may also find that you do things that should help and don't.
All I can really recommend for all of this is to operate with faith. As you plan, be sure to pray. If you feel like you want the additional insurance, get it. If you find yourself looking for ways to learn how to make repairs yourself, that may allow you to bless many others besides yourself.
I realize that is not as comforting as it could be, but one easy mistake to make with preparation is to use it as a means of control, and there will be a lot that is out of your control. You can try and take steps to make things better, and be greatly rewarded for those steps, but it won't allow you to fix everything.
I had to accept this a while back during a first aid class. I am a big believer in first aid training, but I realized that it had limitations. I will not be able to fix a decapitation. If I am the one injured, I will need to rely on someone else's knowledge (depending on the extent of the injury). That may not happen, and my training could end up being very useful, but I don't know. The more I depend on knowing, the more my preparedness level is an illusion, and I don't want that.
Adjust your expectations accordingly while you prepare.
(And if at this point you want to wax philosophic about things like the efficacy of martial law in the case of a disaster and so on, you are welcome to do so. There is some fertile ground for discussion there.)
The part that caught my attention for the section on making a plan (https://p.widencdn.net/5rdg1y/redcrossprepareguide p.5) is the recommendation for additional insurance, because flood, earthquake, and tsunami damage generally aren't covered.
It caught my attention for two reasons. First, we had separate earthquake insurance until recently, and then a missed payment due to financial hardship resulted in abrupt cancellation. There wasn't a warning or a phone call, we were just terminated. Those are the rules, but they seemed harsh.
I did understand the justification for separate insurance. For the most common things, like a house burning down or an appliance failing and leading to water damage, those are things that happen here and there, and that's how the insurance company pays. Even with a large windstorm, the overall percentage of houses with damage for an area will probably remain small.
Getting a large earthquake or a river flooding or something like that tends not to be limited to one house in a neighborhood. No insurance company wants to cover all of the damage in a neighborhood that was flooded or reduced to rubble.
Generally speaking, that's why you want to have the governor or president to declare a disaster, because it opens up additional resources to the area, so it is not the insurance that is needed. Of course, sometimes you hear bad things about their performance.
This leads to the second reason this section weighed on me. I recently watched When the Levees Broke, a documentary about Hurricane Katrina. Yes, there were some issues with government response, during and after, but some of the insurance companies were not too helpful after either.
Okay, you may be thinking that there was a flood, which generally wouldn't be covered but there were things that should have been covered, like wind damage, but then it was blamed on the flood. The insurance companies acted like a bunch of weasels, and that is insulting to weasels.
(One of the grim moments of humor came from one of the affected homeowners parodying their slogans. You are not in good hands. You do not have a good neighbor.)
I don't have a good answer for this. It may be worthwhile to purchase additional insurance, and I obviously thought it was once, but you may also find that you do things that should help and don't.
All I can really recommend for all of this is to operate with faith. As you plan, be sure to pray. If you feel like you want the additional insurance, get it. If you find yourself looking for ways to learn how to make repairs yourself, that may allow you to bless many others besides yourself.
I realize that is not as comforting as it could be, but one easy mistake to make with preparation is to use it as a means of control, and there will be a lot that is out of your control. You can try and take steps to make things better, and be greatly rewarded for those steps, but it won't allow you to fix everything.
I had to accept this a while back during a first aid class. I am a big believer in first aid training, but I realized that it had limitations. I will not be able to fix a decapitation. If I am the one injured, I will need to rely on someone else's knowledge (depending on the extent of the injury). That may not happen, and my training could end up being very useful, but I don't know. The more I depend on knowing, the more my preparedness level is an illusion, and I don't want that.
Adjust your expectations accordingly while you prepare.
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Prepare! A Resource Guide - Part 1: Be Informed
I sometimes brag about our area for emergency preparedness. None of these things were thought about when my mother located the house in 1978; she was just looking for four bedrooms and a fenced yard. We nonetheless have the following advantages:
Obviously, our main danger is earthquakes - a risk for the entire greater region - but I do appreciate the advantages we have. It would also be silly to get cocky about them.
After all, an earthquake can be a pretty big deal - perhaps not calling for quite the amount of doom The New Yorker called for, but still important.
A really bad wildfire can spread in surprising ways.
We are not in tornado alley by any stretch, but it has become more frequent to have tornado damage in nearby areas.
The windstorm that really demonstrated the superiority of our section of the electrical grid still knocked a large tree into our yard.
This area really is not great at dealing with snow.
Also, there are some things that can happen anywhere. A house fire can threaten anyone, and becomes more of a risk at this time of year with people getting careless with bottle rockets. Anyone can have a fall. A strike can affect the ability of stores to stock supplies. Not every water supply is subject to blue algae, but it matters if yours is.
Also, we don't always stay at home. Sometimes we might vacation in a tsunami zone or somewhere that gets hurricanes or tornadoes or wildfires. Sure, there are seasons, but the seasons for a lot of those are getting longer. There were hikers trapped in the Eagle Creek fire (speaking of illegal fireworks), and no one died, but their day did not go as planned. Hikers are always supposed to be prepared for something going wrong, but would you be?
Specific awareness should accompany general awareness and vice versa. These are my greatest known risks, but also these are things that can happen, and these are things you should do.
I am not going to focus too much on any one area, because we will get to most of it with the other sections. If it looks like something is missing once we are done, I will get back to it, but take a broad view.
If some of that ends up being a little weird, like seriously considering the best course of action in a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion, that can be okay. You may still come up with some realistic strategies for actual possibilities, and it can be fun. Your tornado plans should not involve hitching a ride to Oz, but if your alien invasion plans involve having an extra food supply, that could end up being very helpful for that long ice storm.
And the machete that you get because of zombies can be good for clearing underbrush, but don't focus too much on the killing plans. Most disasters are likely to go better with some cooperation.
- There's a mountain range between us and the coast, so there is no tsunami danger.
- We are not near a river, so there is also no seiche danger, but more importantly we are not in a floodplain.
- We are not under a hill, so there is no danger of landslides.
- We are not adjacent to any real wildfire danger.
- The power lines are mostly underground, so even in bad storms we rarely lose power.
Obviously, our main danger is earthquakes - a risk for the entire greater region - but I do appreciate the advantages we have. It would also be silly to get cocky about them.
After all, an earthquake can be a pretty big deal - perhaps not calling for quite the amount of doom The New Yorker called for, but still important.
A really bad wildfire can spread in surprising ways.
We are not in tornado alley by any stretch, but it has become more frequent to have tornado damage in nearby areas.
The windstorm that really demonstrated the superiority of our section of the electrical grid still knocked a large tree into our yard.
This area really is not great at dealing with snow.
Also, there are some things that can happen anywhere. A house fire can threaten anyone, and becomes more of a risk at this time of year with people getting careless with bottle rockets. Anyone can have a fall. A strike can affect the ability of stores to stock supplies. Not every water supply is subject to blue algae, but it matters if yours is.
Also, we don't always stay at home. Sometimes we might vacation in a tsunami zone or somewhere that gets hurricanes or tornadoes or wildfires. Sure, there are seasons, but the seasons for a lot of those are getting longer. There were hikers trapped in the Eagle Creek fire (speaking of illegal fireworks), and no one died, but their day did not go as planned. Hikers are always supposed to be prepared for something going wrong, but would you be?
Specific awareness should accompany general awareness and vice versa. These are my greatest known risks, but also these are things that can happen, and these are things you should do.
I am not going to focus too much on any one area, because we will get to most of it with the other sections. If it looks like something is missing once we are done, I will get back to it, but take a broad view.
If some of that ends up being a little weird, like seriously considering the best course of action in a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion, that can be okay. You may still come up with some realistic strategies for actual possibilities, and it can be fun. Your tornado plans should not involve hitching a ride to Oz, but if your alien invasion plans involve having an extra food supply, that could end up being very helpful for that long ice storm.
And the machete that you get because of zombies can be good for clearing underbrush, but don't focus too much on the killing plans. Most disasters are likely to go better with some cooperation.
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