Category: Action Items

Will your credit survive a disaster?

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ATM machine
OUT OF ORDER

Assume a major storm, hurricane or earthquake. Communications are disrupted. What happens to your bills – and your credit rating?

Today we went to the bank to set up a new account. We’ve been planning recently about how to promote building a savings account specifically for emergencies, so we figured we’d do some actual background research.

Setting up the account took a lot longer than I expected. It felt as though the “Know your customer” (KYC) regulations, set up after 9/11 to combat fraud, have been integrated into every step of the account opening process!

This exercise brought me back for another look at an earlier Advisory about what happens when a disaster interrupts your regularly-scheduled bill paying. It’s clearly time for an update!

Do you receive bills, and pay them, via the US Postal Service?

Yes, online transactions are more popular than ever, but still, did you know that 4 out of all 10 bills are still paid using a paper check? So let’s start with them.

If you like the control of paper bills and checks, do you have a record of when your various bills come due and where the payments go? Would you be able to write and send at least a minimum payment if the actual paper bills didn’t arrive? (As we have seen, this isn’t fantasy. Over the course of the summer 2020 delivery times for the U.S. mail were severely impacted.)

You can be sure that just because the mail truck couldn’t make it through the flooded creek, your creditors will be looking for their expected payment. When that payment doesn’t arrive, your account will be automatically charged with a late fee.

Do you receive bills and pay them online by going to your creditors’ websites or by using the bill pay functions offered by your bank?

In a disaster, your bank’s website will continue to be open for business – but if your computer or smartphone isn’t able to access the internet, you may not be able to get to that website to pay the bills that are coming due every day!

What can you do starting now to protect your credit rating?

Even if you’re used to paying bills online, and using ATM machines for convenient transactions, there are three things you should do starting now to protect your credit BEFORE an emergency strikes.

Step One: Pay your bills immediately.

Pay your bills as soon after you receive them as possible. If you wait until the last minute, you may end up weeks behind because of the emergency and you run the risk of late charges and damage to your credit rating if your payments didn’t get there on time.

Step Two: Have payment slips prepared.

If you pay by check, take time now to make two hard copies each of the payment slips that have the account numbers, barcodes and amount/s due imprinted on them. Following a major even you can use these to make minimum payments by hand until things get back to normal.

Step Three: Set up automatic bill-paying BY COMPUTER.

Paying online is faster, less expensive (no stamps) and the chances are good that you will be able to get back to operating on line more quickly than by mail following a major disaster event. Setting up accounts to be paid automatically each month simplifies things even more.

Of course, monthly automatic bill pay assumes that you will have an automatic deposit made each month! You’ll want to find out just if and how you will be paid if an emergency interrupts your work.

How will creditors react?  

We’re often asked, “Won’t the creditors give me leeway in a major emergency?”

 Yes . . . there’s a concept called “disaster forbearance” that may apply — but usually only if you are in a federally-declared disaster area. And that declaration may take some time — or never happen. (We have witnessed a “forebearance” policy from some banks as the result of COVID-19 — but that period came and went . . .)

In any case, creditors will be happier to work with you if you contact them before your next bill is due! If you are lucky, you may be able to avoid late fees and extra interest payments.

But be ready to jump through all sorts of hoops to correct the records. Once you get put sideways into their (and the credit reporting agencies’) computers, you go through hell trying to straighten them out. Multiply this times the number of creditors and you have a monster of a problem to look forward to at a time when you will have plenty of other problems to be solving!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Oh, and getting back to that “emergency savings account?” Like every other good idea for saving money, the simplest approach is to set up an automatic “payment” to yourself, designed to go directly into a separate account.  Since the average American who says they have put money aside for emergencies has actually saved less than $400 (!), it would be a good idea to set that up now!


When pills and prescriptions run out . . .

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Last day's worth of pills in pill box
“Oh dear,this is my last day’s worth of pills.”

How many prescription medicines do you take? When you add up all the pills, drops, injections, teas, lotions and medicinal oils for every member of the family – including pets – how many do you get?

Many families take dozens of pills and prescriptions every single week! Our ability to afford them aside, we have gotten accustomed to being reminded to refill our prescriptions. We count on picking up refills at the local pharmacy or getting them by mail, whenever we order them.

In an emergency, what will happen if you run out?

Will you be troubled  . . . or will your life, or the life of a family member, actually be threatened?

This Advisory has been inspired by a report I heard on the news last night. Actually, it was a phone call coming from a quarantined passenger on one of the cruise ships being held off the coast of Japan. “I ran out of insulin. And although the ship promised they were working on getting me more, it wasn’t happening. Finally I called on friends back home who got my prescription filled and mailed it to me here on the ship. I’m expecting it to arrive tomorrow.”

Going on a cruise isn’t normally considered an emergency! But as we have seen, anything can happen.

Let’s take a look at pills and prescriptions so an unexpected event in our lives doesn’t become a disaster.

Getting an extra supply of essential medicines.

Know what’s essential for you!

Over-the-counter drugs are easy enough. Just buy a few of the ones you take regularly and be sure they are in your Survival Kits or long-term Shelter-in-Place stores.

When it comes to the essential pills and prescriptions, talk with your doctor. Understand which pills you could discontinue without a severe reaction. (You may be pleasantly surprised . . .!)

Ask your doctor for an “emergency preparedness prescription” for 2 weeks or a month’s supply. At the same time, start now to apply for regularly-scheduled refills a few days early. Squirrel away a few extra pills at the end of each month until you have your stash.

Action Item: Try to get at least a 2 weeks extra supply of prescription medicines!

Storing pills and medicines safely.

Many pills have a statement on the label that says something like: Store in dark, dry place. Some eye drops say they need to be refrigerated. Directions on insulin may say “Store in refrigerator.” but the label may continue with something like, “If refrigeration is not available, store at room temperature.” Nearly all medicines have a “Use by . . .” date.

In an emergency you may not have refrigeration. You may not be able to control humidity. You may need to consider taking “out of date” medicines!

Action Item: Talk with your doctor or pharmacist to find out what options you have for safely storing and using your essential medicines.

Organizing your pills and medicines at home.

In our house everything was going along fine until Joe experienced an unexpected and severe reaction to a drug. We’re still coping with the aftermath – and one thing that has meant is managing over a dozen new pills, shots and medicinal creams! The list changed weekly for a while and still changes.

Keeping track of when to take what has been a major effort!

In a disaster, without electricity or communications, or maybe not even being at home, managing medicines will be even tougher. You may not be able to do it safely without a couple of tools.

Tool #1: Your medicines list

You can do this on paper, but using the computer will be a lot more efficient. Keep an updated list of ALL your over-the counter and prescription medicines as well as medicines you doctor doesn’t even know about, like laxatives or pain relievers. Keep your list with you at all times! (Put one on the refrigerator, too, for the use of Emergency Medical Personnel. Read about our Vial of Life program.)

List name of the medicine (generic and/or brand name), dosage, and what it’s for. If you have space, describe the pill (“oval, white”) so that someone else could take over if necessary.

Tool #2: Your medicines calendar

When you have to take six or seven pills a day, it’s easy to skip one, particularly if they all come at different times. When you don’t feel well, managing is harder. As you age, it may become impossible.

Set up a calendar NOW so you can be sure you haven’t missed anything. Be disciplined about marking the calendar each time you take your medicine.

You can create your own layout based on your own logic, but here are the top few rows of the one we’ve developed for our household. As you can see, there is room for 3 medicines per day. You may need more. We put a O in the square where a pill is needed, and then an X inside the O to show it was taken. (If several people need calendars, I’d print them on different color paper.)

Pill Calendar

Packing pills and medicines for a trip or emergency evacuation.

Again, here we’re thinking about having to manage medicines when you are away from home. Here are three recommendations – and I make them from experience!

Pill box or pill container – Actually, I use a pillbox at home, all the time. My own box has roomy compartments, with ergonomic compartments – smooth, no corners — one for each day of the week. (It’s the blue one in the image at the top of the Advisory.)

I can see in a moment if I’m up to date on my pills.

As I mentioned, Joe takes a whole collection of pills these days. He needs a pill box with compartments for different times of day.

Here are two larger boxes from Amazon that I’d consider particularly for travel use. The first is water proof, and the second is smaller, discrete and flexible!

AUVON iMedassist Weekly AM/PM Pill Box, 2nd Gen Portable Travel Pill Organizer (7-Day / 4-Times-A-Day) with Moisture-Proof Design and Large Compartments to Hold Vitamins, Supplements and Medication
Lewis N. Clark AM/PM Folding Pill Organizer + Supplement Case for OTC Medicine, Prescription + Vitamins – 16 Slot Pouch, Black

Individual pill packetsI have used these small baggies for a number of items when I travel – for pills, for herbs, even for (small) jewelry. (Each is about 2 in. on a side.) I tuck the small baggies into a larger see-through container, then just pull one out when I want it.

Ezy Dose Pill Packs | Pill and Vitamin Organizer Pouches | 100 Count | Disposable

Original prescriptions – I don’t know exactly how the woman on the cruise ship managed, but I have had my own experience with being unable to get a prescription filled without at least a copy of the original, showing when it was issued and the doctor’s signature. If you deal with one medical service or one pharmacy, they probably have a computerized record of all your prescriptions. (But if that pharmacy is impacted by the disaster, will the records be available?)

Action Item. Scan and store prescriptions in the cloud. Take pictures of the actual bottles, too. That way you’ll have them in your phone and you can blow up the pictures to read the labels more easily.

This Advisory has a lot of ideas, and your own list of things to do may be even longer. But when it’s a question of life and death of a loved one, the effort is worth it. Please share any of your own good ideas for managing pills and prescriptions on a regular basis or during emergencies!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team


Short Lists Make Preparing Easier

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short Lists make preparing easier

Getting prepared for emergencies isn’t exactly simple.

  • Have you ever been overwhelmed with everything there is to do when it comes to prepping for emergencies?
  • Is it a constant battle to get others in your family – or your neighborhood — to support your efforts?
  • Do you worry that there is so much to think about that you’ve missed some essentials?

Could a few short lists make prepping easier for you?

Would you welcome a few simple preparedness QUESTIONS & ANSWERS? How about some short lists with actions you can complete easily, check off and feel like you’ve accomplished something?

We have heard from a lot of people that YES, they are always looking for something simpler and easier to help them keep on track.  

So here at Emergency Plan Guide we are now in the planning stage for something new. Introducing the soon-to-appear . . .

Emergency Preparedness Q&A Mini-Series

Imagine a collection of slim booklets, or mini-books. Each mini-book sticks to one preparedness topic. Each has 15 or so questions on the topic, with short answers. (Naturally, there will be optional links to more resources.) There will be room to take notes if you can’t check everything off the first time through the booklet.

Which topics would be on YOUR short list?

Below are the topics we’ve come up with so far. Can you give us a hand and let me know which FIVE topics you would like to see first given where you are in your own state of preparedness?  You can just drop the 5 numbers into the comments below, or send me an email, whichever you prefer. Naturally, if there’s a topic you’d like to see but it’s not listed here, just add it to your answer.

  1. Pre-Disaster Planning
  2. Storing Food & Water
  3. Emergency Water Treatment
  4. Prescriptions, Medications & First Aid
  5. Securing Appliances & Furniture Against Earthquake
  6. Home Improvements for Increased Safety
  7. Shelter Alternatives
  8. Ready to Evacuate
  9. Avoiding Mistakes in Preparing
  10. Emergency Communications
  11. Preparing Your Car for Emergencies
  12. Emergency Cash Options
  13. Dealing with Power Outages
  14. Go-Bag Options & Alternatives
  15. Disposing of Waste Matter
  16. Protecting Important Documents
  17. Emergency Clothing
  18. Sanitation & Personal Hygiene
  19. Self-Defense Considerations
  20. Firearms & Alternatives
  21. Insuring Against Losses
  22. Makeshift Toilet
  23. Flashlights, Lighting & Batteries
  24. Getting Neighbors Involved

We know you’re serious about preparedness, so we value your response! Can you send your 5 recommendations right now? I’ll be watching for them!

Thank you for reading, and for your input.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. These are just possible topics for the booklets, not the titles. We’re working on titles as you read this!


Quarantined Because of Coronavirus

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quarantined as a result of coronavirus

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional so my comments are based on info from sources I believe to be reliable. Consequently, please check with your own sources and try to stay up to date with this rapidly developing emergency.

What’s the latest on the coronavirus?

As I write this on January 30, 2020, China has placed 50 million of its citizens under quarantine because of coronavirus. Facebook and Google are restricting employee travel to China (and Hong Kong). Foreign governments are airlifting their citizens out of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, and, in the case of the U.S., flying them to Alaska and to the mainland U.S..

Two days ago the World Health Organization changed its earlier assessment and now labels the virus a Global Health Emergency.

Meanwhile, here in my California neighborhood, two elementary school children crossed my street wearing white surgical masks.

Should your kids be wearing masks?

Should you?

As the coronavirus spreads, what should we do at home?

First, try to be realistic about this virus. Even though it is a new one and spreading rapidly, it does seem (so far) to be like other viruses. That is, a lot of people get sick, but it doesn’t mean they all will die.

(The most recent statistic I’ve seen is a mortality rate among people with severe cases of 2-3%. Compare that with Ebola, with a death rate of 90%. Another disclaimer – statistics like these can be misleading because it’s never quite clear which strain of the disease is being tracked. Similarly, it’s never clear exactly what the definition of “severe” is. Still, you can get an idea of the relative danger.)

Keep up with the news so you’ll know when to take action as a result of the coronavirus.

I have several sources that I turn to: broadcast news, online news, and my LinkedIn Emergency Management group. I recommend you also take a look at the regularly updated pages at the Center for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov

In the meanwhile, follow these basic sensible steps.

  • Don’t plan travel to Wuhan, China or anywhere in China, for that matter.
  • Wash your hands often, with soap and water.
  • Don’t touch your eyes, nose and mouth with dirty hands.
  • If you cough or sneeze, smother it with a tissue and throw the tissue away.
  • Clean often-used objects and surfaces with disinfectant.  (Phone? Computer keyboard? Kitchen counter? Bathroom faucets?)
  • If you do get sick, stay home. If persistent high fever or trouble breathing, contact your doctor. (Do NOT walk in without instructions.)

If you are working and traveling, do you need to be ready to be quarantined because of coronavirus?

Today I read that a planeload of Americans scheduled to land in Ontario, CA had been diverted to a nearby military base where they are being kept quarantined for 14 days. (They will get to watch the Super Bowl in their quarantine setting.)

Your plane or even your office could be caught up in quarantine, too.  So it’s good to understand what “quarantine” really means, and to distinguish it from “isolation.”

Important definitions: quarantine vs. isolation.

  • According to Health and Human Services, “Quarantine is used to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill.” That explains why the planeload of people watching the Super Bowl won’t be locked into some sort of hospital. Rather, they’ll be observed for several days.
  • Isolation is different.  Per the HHS, “Isolation is used to separate ill persons who have a communicable disease from those who are healthy.”  You may remember the dramatic cases of Ebola victims being isolated during and after transport to the U.S.

Isolation and quarantine are authorized by the Federal Government for a number of communicable diseases including Cholera, Diphtheria, Infectious tuberculosis, Smallpox, etc. Today’s news reports that the governments of both the U.K. and Australia have authorized quarantine for up to 14 days for people returning from Wuhan.

How to prepare to be quarantined.

You can consider the preparations for quarantine to be the same as for sheltering in place.

So, right now, before anything more happens, ask yourself these questions:

Do we have supplies to carry EVERYONE through a 14-day quarantine? 

At home you are likely to have to make no extreme emergency preparations. And since you will have running water and utilities as usual, life won’t be onerous. Make a list today and get extra dog food, toilet paper, aspirin, etc. immediately.

Think of a few projects you can engage in with other family members. Just remember, once the quarantine starts, there will be no running to the grocery store or to the hardware store.

At work it could be a whole different story. Do you have food and water for everyone in the workplace? Where will people sleep, and with what blankets and/or pillows? What about hygiene?  What to do about people who refuse to stay quarantined?

Preparing to be quarantined at work because of the coronavirus could take several days and cost a fair amount. 

Find out what your legal responsibilities are in this situation.

On the road you may find yourself quarantined without any notice. If you travel, be sure you have basic emergencies items in the car or in your carry-on bag. In particular, have a few snacks, a warm jacket, a supply of your prescription drugs and your list of emergency contact names. Carry batteries and a portable battery so your devices won’t run out of power.

What’s your plan for letting people know you’ve been quarantined because of coronavirus?

Family members may be concerned is they hear about you being quarantined. Be sure you keep them up to date. Don’t forget to cancel and/or reschedule appointments, etc.

Use your crisis communications procedures at work to let employees, suppliers and customers know that activity at your business has been temporarily interrupted (and to what extent). Prepare draft messages NOW so they are ready to be finalized and sent out at a moment’s notice.

Operate from knowledge and caution and not from fear.

The more you know about how the virus is developing and the steps the various governments and/or medical authorities are taking, the easier it will be for you to anticipate any changes you should be making in your personal or work life.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. And to answer that question about face masks? It seems to me that since the virus is transmitted when people sneeze or cough, the people who really should be wearing the masks are not well people (after all, the mask doesn’t protect your eyes) but rather people who themselves have flu symptoms! (The problem is that multi-day incubation period . . .)

Sure, wearing a surgical mask keeps large particles of smoke/soot from your mouth and nose, and keeps you from touching your nose or mouth with dirty fingers. But it doesn’t block airborne viruses.

Still, wearing a mask probably can’t hurt.  Read more about masks here.


Situational Awareness

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Girl absorbed in phone, oblivious to what's going on around her
A perfect target for a crime?

If you love words like I do, you probably cringe when you read something like “practice situational awareness!” I guess if I had to use a better expression it would be “Pay attention to what’s going on around you!”

This image above is one of my favorites. That young woman could walk right off a curb, or into the arms of a stranger, without even realizing it!

OK, now let’s add a second image to help our story. Imagine this driver cruising right up beside the woman in the first picture, grabbing her phone and speeding off!

Kid on motorbike, possible snatch and grab thief
Potential snatch and grab thief?

Have you heard about the Moped Muggers? Phones are being snatched from purses, from pockets and right out of people’s hands — often by thieves on skateboards or scooters.

As one newscaster put it, “You wouldn’t go out on the street waving five $100 dollar bills in your hand, would you?” (Time to update that figure to more like six or seven $100 bills, eh?)

Situational Awareness will save you.

Being aware will save you from losing valuable items. It will save you from embarrassing mistakes. It could also save your life in an emergency by giving you a head start on decision making.

You can train yourself and your kids to be more observant.

For example, when you go into a building, note the number of people you see, where they are and what they are wearing. (Try to do this unobtrusively, of course!) Notice the number of doors to the room or exits from the building.

When you get back outside, quiz yourself and the kids on those details!

Here’s another example. If you find yourself waiting for a train or a bus, take a closer look at people around you. Try predicting where they might be going or what they are planning to do. If your timing is right, you may actually be able to see if your prediction was accurate.

These exercises can be fun. The most important result? You’ll find yourself getting better at noticing when and why people “just don’t fit.”

When things don’t look or feel “right,” trust your instincts and take action.

At that point, your first action may be to simply move away from the uncomfortable situation. You can go further and report your concerns to authorities. (“See something, say something.”)

Either way, you have taken a move to protect yourself from possible danger.

Paying attention to what goes on around you isn’t hard. But it surely is essential to being prepared!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Response to our Advisories about Situational Awareness has been so great that we added a lot more on the topic in our Q&A Mini-Series booklet, Personal Safety. Situational Awareness starts off the second part of the book, and there are several more “exercises” for practicing with your kids. Perfect for getting a conversation started on being responsible for your own safety!


Garlock – A Major Earthquake Fault Awakened

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Original map from Math/Science Nucleus showing major faults in California

During the summer I wrote a couple of times about the earthquakes we experienced on the 4th and 5th of July. If you recall, those quakes, a 6.4 magnitude followed the next day by a 7.1, were centered in Ridgecrest, a town of about 30,000 located north of Los Angeles. (I added the approximate location to the map above.)

At the time, we saw news videos of homes on fire, store shelves emptying onto the floor, and images of cracks in local highways.

Ridgecrest faded from the front page of the news, but suddenly it’s right there again because there have been over 110,000 aftershocks in the web of interconnected faults in the Ridgecrest area. And as a result:

A once dormant fault has been awakened! And it’s a major one!

Look just below the red Ridgecrest label on the map to see the Garlock Fault. For well over 500 years the fault, running in an east-west direction for nearly 200 miles, has been silent.

But since the Ridgecrest quakes, that major earthquake fault has begun to move. Garlock has been reported as capable of producing a magnitude 8 earthquake!

Here are the questions I’ve had, and the answers I’ve found.

Is the Garlock Fault actually part of the Ridgecrest network?

No. The Ridgecrest network of smaller quakes stopped a few miles from the Garlock. But their activity destabilized the Garlock fault, which is a major fault. And as you can see on the map, the Garlock fault DOES connect to the San Andreas fault.

What kind of movement does the Garlock show?

The Garlock fault is just creeping at a slow pace, without any shaking going on. No one living in that area has really noticed it. But satellite imagery is so precise that it can measure the movement. Add the satellite info to measurements taken from seismometers and scientists now have an accurate picture of what’s happening. The fault has crept about .8 of an inch since July.

Doesn’t creeping lessen the strain on the faults?

Apparently not. Sometimes creeping can reduce the strain on the faults, but it could also trigger an earthquake.

Does all this mean that a major quake is more likely?

All the reports that I read said the same thing: “We just don’t know. The chances of ‘The Big One’ hitting are the same as they have been for years. It could arrive at any minute.”

What should we be doing as a result of this discovery?

Let’s review. When a major earthquake hits, buildings and roads collapse, cutting off communications and transportation and causing injury.  However, most injuries are not from falling buildings. Rather, they are from items flying across a room or falling from shelves. Preparing in advance can reduce these dangers.

The good news is if you haven’t started preparing yet, you can start today using the step-by-step list below! (Find more to-do lists at BusinessInsider and also at Earthquake Country Alliance.)

Do a few things every day. Any preparations we make give us a better chance of making it through.

Step 1: Secure your house and where you work.

Just stand in the middle of a room and slowly turn around, and you’ll see what needs to be done to protect yourself from falling or moving items!

  • Fasten down heavy pieces of furniture (refrigerator, bookcases, computer stands) using earthquake straps.
  • Anchor light fixtures to the ceiling.
  • Hang heavy items using brackets and screws and special earthquake hangers (monitors, mirrors, pictures).
  • Remove heavy books and decorative items from high shelves and move to bottom shelves.
  • Put small items into cupboards or use Museum putty to stick them to shelves (vases, collectibles).
  • Store glass food containers in closed cabinets with latches.

Step 2: Have supplies to carry you through.

After a major earthquake, you are likely to be on your own, with no immediate help, for hours or even days. (1) Build a 72-hour survival kit that you can grab if necessary. Have one for each person at home, at work and one in the car. (2) Store other supplies in convenient places so you’ll be able to shelter in place for at least 10 days.

Here are the 8 categories you’ll want to consider for both the kit and for the shelter-in-place supplies: water, food, shelter/warmth, health/safety, light, communications (assume no power), sanitation, and personal items. (You may also want to add tools to help you make repairs after the quake.) Here’s a link to our two complete lists with dozens of items to consider.

This is a lot of stuff to think about! Make your own customized list and start to pull things together day by day. Don’t forget pets.

Step 3. Make a disaster plan.

Decide on an out-of-town friend or relative as the contact person for your family. Be sure everyone knows the contact’s cell phone number! Teach everyone in your household how to text, because when communication lines are overloaded a text may get through when a voice message won’t.

Train family members on how to use emergency equipment that might be necessary after a major earthquake: emergency radio, fire extinguisher, gas turn-off wrench.

Step 4. Start now to protect yourself financially.

This can include reviewing insurance coverage, setting aside emergency funds, and organizing all important documents. (Many disaster victims can’t prove they own their home, don’t have car ownership documents, lose IDs showing eligibility for pensions, etc.) Scan important documents and store them on an easy-to-manage flash drive or “in the cloud.”

Step 5. Know what to do when the quake hits! 

There are many out-dated notions still floating around about standing in doorways, finding a “triangle of life,” etc. In a major earthquake you will NOT BE ABLE TO MOVE SAFELY. Try to keep away from glass windows and doors as you . . .

How to respond to an earthquake!
Earthquake? Act NOW to save your life.

If you are outside, stay away from buildings, power lines, etc. that could fall.

Step 6. Organize your neighborhood for more resilience.

Recent disasters of all kinds have shown that neighbors can and will help, particularly if they know each other and have trained on what to do. (1) Get CERT training as a start. (2) Get one of Emergency Plan Guide’s Neighborhood Disaster Survival guides and use its suggestions to help your neighborhood get organized.

And something new if you are in California: the MyShake cellphone app.

Last Thursday was Great California Shake-Out Day. Over 10 million people participated! And Governor Gavin Newsom announced the launch of the nation’s first statewide earthquake early warning system.

The ShakeAlert system, developed by the University of California Berkeley and the Wire Emergency Alert system, has been available for schools, hospitals and other public agencies for a while. Now it has been made available to all citizens through a simple cellphone app – the MyShake app.

The MyShake app can be downloaded from Google Play (Android) and through iTunes from the Apple app store (iOS).

Basically, hundreds seismic sensors track ground movement, transmit it for analysis, and then if a quake of 4.5 magnitude or stronger is expected, the system sends an alert to selected grid locations. The alert message will be simple: “There is an earthquake. Drop, cover and hold on.”

(It all works because shaking waves travel at around .5 to 3 miles per second — but electronic transmissions are instantaneous. Want more details about ShakeAlert? Get this fact sheet from the US Geological Survey. )

What good will a few seconds warning do?

In a few seconds . . .

  • You’ll be able to grab a child and huddle under a sturdy table or desk.
  • You will have time to turn off the stove or blow out a candle.
  • Doctors and dentists can lift the scalpel or drill.
  • Officials can slow or stop trains.
  • Elevators can be shut off.
  • Automatic doors can be opened.
  • Equipment can be shut off or set to safe mode.

What would YOU do right now to protect yourself if an earthquake were arriving in 5-10 seconds?

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. During the time I was working on this Advisory, two more quakes were felt in Northern California – 4.5 and a 4.7 magnitude. Earthquake activity is continuous. You can be prepared.

Biggest Planned Power Outage in History — Now Underway

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“What did I tell you????”

We have written regularly and determinedly about being prepared for a power outage – planned or unplanned — as the most common “emergency” in the country.

Our goal is to keep an inconvenience from becoming an emergency. Or perhaps, keep an emergency from becoming a disaster.

Inconveniences, emergencies and disasters are happening right now in Northern California because of a massive planned power outage.

PG&E, the country’s largest utility, is deliberately shutting down power during an anticipated high wind event to avoid possible forest fires from downed lines.

So far, about 500,000 people have been affected.  Further planned outages may impact as many as 1 million households — 2 million people!

It’s the most extensive planned power outage ever employed.

Some examples of how residents are coping – and struggling.

  • Gas stations have long, long lines or are closed completely as people rush to fill their cars and buy fuel for generators.
  • Stores have sold out of generators, water and batteries.
  • Food stores without generators have packed some items into ice-filled containers or refrigerated trucks, trying to keep them cold for a few more hours. Other stores have already started disposing of ruined food.
  • Some retail operations show emergency lighting, but are closed because they can’t operate cash registers.
  • Traffic lights are blinking or out completely, creating dangerous intersections and traffic jams.
  • Cell phones are running out of battery. “Community Resource Centers” have been opened, and can  provide residents with bathrooms, bottled water and power recharging – but apparently only during daylight hours. (Find list of open centers here.)
  • People who need electric medical devices may be in real trouble unless they have made advance preparations for back-up or alternatives.

How long will the planned outage last?

Again, according to news reports, “Once the fire weather subsides, PG&E will inspect and test the grid both electronically and with on-site crews before restoring service. That could take up to five days.”

(Surely California can expect help from other states and/or utility companies, just as Florida and Georgia did during Hurricane Dorian.)

It’s not often that we experience a self-inflicted disaster.

PG&E Senior Vice President: “The safety of our customers and the communities we serve is our most important responsibility, which is why PG&E has decided to turn power off to customers during this widespread, severe wind event.”

As you can imagine, many citizens and citizen groups are outraged that the power line infrastructure has not been maintained to withstand high winds. Watch for more on this. In the meanwhile . . .

Check out these Emergency Plan Guide Resources.

Even if you aren’t in Northern California, an extended power outage could hit at any time. Please take simple steps to keep an outage from being a disaster for you and your household!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

Managing Medicines in an Emergency

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Think for a moment. In your household,  how many people take prescription medicines?

In all, how many different pills or medicines do you keep track of on a regular basis?

Different colored medicines and pills

Last week, I told you about Joe’s episode with the allergic reaction. Since then, OUR list of medicines has grown exponentially! New pills with dosages that changes daily. Inhalers.  The doctors assure us it’s a temporary thing, but keeping track of them all is tough!

Managing medicines in an emergency will be so much more difficult!

Imagine how you’ll cope when your home is damaged by flood, fire or winds!

  • First, you have to find all those medicines.  If your home is severely damaged or you had to rush out, it may take a while, or you may not be able to rescue the medicines at all! Do you have an emergency supply packed up so you can grab it and take with you at a moment’s notice?
  • Next, to make sure no one is taking the wrong dose after an interruption, you will have to set up a new schedule. (Surely you have seen bottles that say, “Do not stop taking this medicine!” or, “If you miss a dose,  follow these important instructions . . .”) Consider people taking insulin. You need to know by heart what the appropriate response to missed insulin would be for YOU based on your condition and the type of insulin you take.
  • OK, you have no emergency supply, or you’ve used it up, and the emergency continues. You are searching desperately for a refill, but all the offices and stores where you usually shop have been shut down by the disaster, too. What can you do?

Here are some new resources for managing medicines in an emergency.

Find a pharmacy with RX Open

When Dorian hit a month ago, a website was activated that showed all the pharmacies that were open for business in every state in the southeast. Here’s the notice I got thanks to a post from Michael Smith that appeared in the LinkedIn CERT group. (Not a real clear image, sorry.)

Rx Open displays the precise location on Google Maps of open pharmacies, closed pharmacies, and those whose status is unknown. The site is maintained and is open to the public at no cost during a disaster through the support of Health Care Ready and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, (NCPDP) Foundation.

Of course, pharmacies have to sign up to be listed in the RX Open database.  Action item: Next time you head to your pharmacy, ask if they are members.

Get an emergency prescription refill.

Let’s assume you had an emergency supply of prescriptions, and were able to use it. But now you’ve run out. Your doctor is unavailable, and your usual pharmacy is still closed. What are your options for getting an emergency refill?

It turns out that some states have what are called emergency prescription laws. They vary, of course. But they all seem to require that first, an emergency be declared. Then, if a pharmacist can’t reach the usual doctor for authorization, a prescription may be refilled “if failure to refill might interrupt the patient’s ongoing care and have a significant adverse effect on the patient’s well-being.” (These quotes are from a statement issued in 2017 by the CA State Board of Pharmacy.)

This last paragraph applies to California, which seems to allow “a reasonable amount of the medicine.” Some states limit emergency refills to a 72-hour supply. Some states have NO emergency refill laws.

Action Item: Find out about YOUR state’s requirements regarding managing emergency prescription refills! Here are two places to start your research:

Store prescriptions safely at home.

A couple of reminders before we move on. I hope you’re familiar with these.

If you have specific medical conditions or allergies, consider wearing a medical ID bracelet. Essential in an emergency situation.

If you get regular medical treatments (for example, dialysis) find out what the emergency procedures are at your clinic and get a list of back-up service providers in case you need to get treatment in an emergency. Keep that list in your important papers.

Now, we’ve said it so many times. The most LIKELY emergency you’ll encounter will be a power outage. That means no refrigeration.

Your problem: medicines that need to be refrigerated! 

Here are some suggestions that we put into the new Disaster Survival Guide series Workbooks. Will any of these work for you? Build your own Action Item list.

  • Find out the safe temperature range for your medicines. (Some may not really need refrigeration.)
  • In an emergency, could a different formula of your medicine work, one that doesn’t need refrigeration? Check with your doctor on this!
  • If an outage is announced, be ready with an insulated cooler that you can promptly fill with ice to protect medicines for at least a few days.
  • Consider purchasing a solar-powered refrigerator/freezer and know how to use it in an emergency.

Below is an example of a solar-powered portable refrigerator so you can get an idea of size, capabilities, and cost. What to consider as you shop:

  • Capacity – Measured in quarts. How much space do your really need for your medicines?
  • Weight – While most portable refrigerators have wheels so they can be rolled, they are heavy to lift.
  • Temperature achieved – A number of the “camping” or “portable” refrigerators get down to -4 degrees, which is below freezing. The lower the temperature you require, the more expensive the refrigerator you’ll need.  “Cool” or “freezing” is the question.
  • Battery power – Some portable refrigerators have no battery. They simply  plug either into the wall or into the car battery for power. If you want solar, you’ll need a DC connection for solar AND a battery to store the power when the sun isn’t shining. (You’ll probably get an AC connection, too.)
  • Solar panels – The chest itself does not provide sufficient solar panel expanse (if it has any at all) to provide the cooling power. You will need to purchase companion panels (maybe  80 – 120 watt) at additional cost.

Click on the image or the link below to go to Amazon, where we are associates. This particular model of portable refrigerator/freezer has a lot more information below all the sales and comparison information, so scroll down to read it. There are pictures of a complete set-up (with panels and storage battery) and also a couple of homemade videos that I found very useful.

ACOPOWER P40A Portable Solar Fridge Freezer for Car and Outdoor, Lithium Battery Rechargeable with Solar/AC/DC/Car Port, -4°F True Freezing by LG Compressor, Portable Trolley Wheels (42 Quarts)

Thanks for reading, and taking action.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. If I had a need for emergency refrigeration, I would probably keep the portable refrigerator pre-cooled all the time, using its electric hookup. Then in the emergency, use the solar to keep the frig “topped off.”


Survive a hurricane thanks to NIMS

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Virginia promoting CERT
Virginia promoting CERT

I’m a very big fan of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. I took the course in 2001, and have been happily participating as a volunteer in various follow-up activities once or twice a year since. Accordingly, this summer Joe and I took a refresher course on NIMS, the National Incident Management System. We just finished it up last week.

With both hurricane and fire season ramping up, it felt like a good time for a review!

Here’s how we respond to emergencies in the U.S.

Citizens are usually the victims of an emergency — which also makes them the very first responders!

CERT members are citizen volunteers trained to respond – to help themselves and others.

Now when CERT members are activated by their sponsoring agency (police or fire department), they may find themselves working with other local volunteers, perhaps from a different city. They could easily be working with local or borrowed first responders – police and fire departments or emergency medical personnel – and maybe even other city, state or national agencies including the National Guard.

In a disaster you could find yourself surrounded by all sorts of professional responders — and all of them strangers. How would you be able to work with them?

Because of NIMS, everyone is able to work together!

Per FEMA, the purpose of NIMS is to “guide all levels of government including territories and tribes, nongovernmental organizations like the Red Cross, and the private sector (including families, faith-based organizations, etc.) to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from incidents of all sizes, in all locations, no matter how simple or complex.

That’s a tall order!

The way I understand it, what NIMS really does is give everyone involved in an incident three important assets:

  • shared vocabulary
  • an agreed-upon management system that expands to coordinate disaster responders on the local, state and federal levels
  • a standardized approach to a specific on-the-ground incident

The “on-the-ground,” tactical component of NIMS is the ICS or Incident Command System.

As a neighborhood response team member, or as a CERT volunteer, you are most likely to be exposed to the ICS. Here’s how its underlying principle has been described to me: “The first person to arrive becomes the Incident Commander, until someone more senior/experienced takes over.” The command chain builds out, step by step, using a common hierarchy to incorporate as many people or teams as necessary. As the problem is resolved, the chain contracts.

Here are a couple of diagrams that will help explain the ICS:

Chart showing Incident Command System

The chart above shows the basic structure. At the top, the Commander, who is supported by a public information officer, safety officer and liaison officer. Directly under the Incident Commander are four “Sections.” Even your simple neighborhood disaster will have an Incident Commander and an Information Officer. You might also have Sections (though probably not a Finance section).

Below is a chart of a “fully expanded” Incident Command System. It shows the sub-groups associated with the various Sections. Again, if you are a small neighborhood group, like we are, your Operations Section might have Division Leaders (and Block Captains), all reporting up the chain to the Incident Commander. If you are able to field Special Teams (medical, search & rescue, etc.) they might logically fall into the Logistics Section.

Chart showing expanded Incident Command System

How did this all come to be?

After the terror of September 11, 2001, followed by the chaos of Hurricane Katrina in 2004, the nationwide approach to emergency management underwent dramatic changes. NIMS was formalized. Today, all official emergency management groups in the U.S. follow the NIMS system, and all “incidents” are managed using ICS, the Incident Command System.

If your community experiences a disaster, whoever comes to help will be following these systems. You will be far more useful and confident if you are familiar with the set-up and the vocabulary!

And if you are building your OWN citizen community teams, consider how they might fit into this same national framework. Of course, you don’t have to have every position. But try to choose titles for your positions that reflect the “official” vocabulary. You’ll find it far easier to integrate with professionals when they finally do arrive on the scene.

This short article is not really sufficient to explain the full system. Here are a couple of official resources for citizen volunteers.

(1) FEMA offers a series of online courses for volunteers and professionals at https://training.fema.gov/nims/ Start with IS-100 (a. is the original, b. and c. are updates).

(2) You can also purchase a book from Amazon, authored by FEMA, so you can have it to refer to at a meeting or in the field. Click on the image or on the link below for further details and price. (less than $10 as I write this.)

IS-100.B: Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS-100

Once again, please remember I’m writing this article after long-time familiarity but I’m not a professional emergency manager. Still, I hope you’ll get a helpful overview. Please feel free to comment with corrections or suggestions!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

Preparedness Survey for Your Group or Town?

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Emergency Preparedness Survey
“Check all that apply . . .”

One of my favorite sources for preparedness information is the online newsletter, Government Technology.  (It has various sections, including Emergency Management, Cyber Security, Emergency Tech, Cloud, and more.) Two weeks ago the magazine included a report from a local Oklahoma newspaper on the results from a preparedness survey.

The article really struck home and has pushed me to further action here in my own neighborhood! I hope you’ll find it as interesting as I did!

Background to the preparedness survey

OK, swivel your thinking from wherever you are right now to the middle of north-central Oklahoma. Plains, rolling hills. Flooding earlier this year. Consider, specifically, the town of Stillwater.  

(For those who like to know stuff like this, the area was settled in the 1880s and 90s during a series of famous “land rushes.”  Today, it is the 10th largest city in Oklahoma with about 47,000 inhabitants and is home to Oklahoma State University.)

It turns out that Stillwater put out a “flash-survey” on the topic of emergency preparedness. They sent the survey to citizens who had signed up to participate.

(Note that whenever you have people willing to “self-select” you tend to get more accurate responses.)

And here are some of the survey questions – and answers.

Please think about what YOUR answers would be!

Question: What disasters do you worry about?
Stillwater:
Tornados (93% named this as #1!), floods and then earthquakes. Other choices were wildfires, public health emergencies, heat, cold, and terrorist activity. Plus “other” – which was mostly power outages.
Your turn: What disasters to YOU worry about? (Are you being realistic?)

Question: What have you done to prepare? (I assume they provided a list of options to check.)
Stillwater:  Flashlight and extra batteries (81.5%), first aid kit (68%), portable radio (less than half), NOAA weather radio (37%), 3-day supply of food (less than 50%), 3-gallons of water per person (22%). “Have done nothing” (10%).
Your turn: What preparations have YOU made?

Question: Have you signed up for Stillwater’s emergency alert system?
Stillwater:
Yes, 45%. Never heard of it, 55%.
Your turn: Have YOU signed up for your local alert system?

Question
: What does our community need to do a better job of when it comes to emergency management?
Stillwater:
More public trainings or drills; need more public or community tornado shelters.
Your turn: What more should YOUR community be doing? Have you let them know?

So here’s the last question, and it comes not from the Stillwater newspaper, but from Emergency Plan Guide.

Question: What answers would your neighbors give to these survey questions?

What’s the next step?

If you’re not sure what your neighbors’ answers would be, why not put out your own survey so you are working with facts, and not supposition? You can do an online survey, via SurveyMonkey (free if fewer than 10 questions and 100 responses), or on paper.

Some suggestions for designing your survey (based on my years in the marketing world!):

  • More than 10 questions will depress response.
  • If you make the survey anonymous you’ll get more responses.
  • To improve response and capture names and/or emails and build a list – add a deadline with offer of a drawing and prize to the winner. At the very minimum, promise to share results of the survey with participants.

Whether you make it formal or informal, the answers to your survey should serve to help as you plan for upcoming meetings or events for your community.

After all, September is preparedness month – so you could use the survey to get the ball rolling for your team! That’s what we’re planning to do! 

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. Need some suggestions for questions to include on your survey? SurveyMonkey has a sample survey on their site. I’m not necessarily recommending it but it may help you get started drafting your own. Here’s another sample series of questions from the State of Indiana:

If you need more details of what preparedness options to put on your survey (“Check all that apply.”), the government offers this basic list. We also have an even more complete list here at Emergency Plan Guide.

P.P.S. Thanks to reporter Michelle Charles, who wrote about the survey in the StillwaterNewsPress. Let me know what YOU decide to do with a survey and I’ll pass along to her the impact that her article had, across the country!

What do people want to read?

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List - what people want to read

For a writer, that’s an important question! And for every writer, like it or not, there’s one answer that seems to come up every time.

People want to read lists!

If your list is short, you can write details about each item. If it’s long, you can break it into sections. You can use icons instead of numbering your list. As a direct marketer, I tend to use empty check boxes in front of the items on my list, so people will subconsciously feel they need to “check them off!”

Whatever format you choose, people love ’em!

Over the years I have written many, many lists. Here are three of them that statistics tell me people want to read:

  1. Emergency Supplies for your Pet
  2. School preparedness questions
  3. 5-Point safety checklist for time change

Today, it’s time to bring up another of my lists that is a favorite of my own. This is a very long list, the longest I’ve ever put together. It has no detail. It doesn’t even have checkboxes to help you decide which item to follow up on.

My favorite list — A list of threats

This is a list that’s perfect for people who are paranoid. It’s also good for anyone thinking about emergency preparedness! The directions? Pick out the 5  threats most likely to impact you!  Then, get started in preparing for them!

  • Active shooter
  • Arson
  • Bomb threat
  • Bomb blast
  • Brown out
  • Cable cut
  • Chemical spill
  • Communications failure
  • Construction
  • Crime investigation
  • Drought
  • Earthquake
  • Electrical outage
  • Emergency alert
  • Employee strike
  • Epidemic
  • Evacuation
  • Explosion
  • Extreme heat
  • Fire
  • Flood
  • Frozen pipes
  • Gas line leak
  • Hail storm
  • Hazardous materials
  • Home fire
  • Household chemical emergency
  • Hurricane
  • Ice storm
  • Insect infestation
  • Lightning
  • Landlord conflict
  • Landslide
  • Land subsidence
  • Nuclear explosion
  • Nuclear power plant leak
  • Place crash
  • Pandemic
  • Power failure
  • Power surge
  • Public disturbance
  • Raw sewage
  • Rodent infestation
  • Sabotage
  • Smoke damage
  • Snow storm
  • Terrorism
  • Theft
  • Thunderstorm and lightning
  • Tornado
  • Train derailment
  • Tsunami
  • Vandalism
  • Vehicle crash
  • Virus
  • Volcano
  • Water supply problem
  • Wildfire
  • Wind storm

Hope you got this far, and selected 5 threats to get started preparing for.  Which were they?

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team


Day 25  of Summer Vacation: A time for some shorter and lighter Advisories as a welcome change-of-pace!


Earthquakes in California

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Map of Active earthquakes in Southern California
Best source for earthquake news – USGS

A “robust sequence” of earthquakes.

That quote above is from the eminent seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones. If you’ve watched the news about the earthquakes in California, you’ve seen her.

Here’s a quick report from our community in Southern California.

We’re in Orange County, along the coast in Southern California, about 160 miles from the earthquake epicenter at Ridgecrest, which is more in the center part of the state.

But even here, we felt both of the largest quakes – the 6.4 on July 4th, and the 7.1 yesterday on July 5th. No comparison – that second quake was MUCH bigger! 

When it started, I was seated right here at my computer. The chair seemed to be moving left and right. Then it was definitely moving left and right! That died down, and then things started shaking. The whole house started bumping, rattling, creaking, clunking, blinds banging and banging against the windows! Happily, our lights stayed on. I moved away from the computer and monitor and my bookshelves, but nothing fell.

In the end, things gradually returned to normal. Today, the only damage I could find in my house were three new hairline cracks, perfectly aligned about 4 feet apart, from one side to the other of the tile kitchen floor.

Our neighborhood emergency response team got into action.

We are always preparing for earthquakes in California. Here in our community, several people quickly made phone calls, and we were also able to connect via email, but our main communications took place via walkie-talkies. Within about 5 minutes, neighbors were checking on neighbors and reporting in. Two of our team members monitored the news (using ham radio, too) and shared what they were learning. That info was passed along via the walkie-talkies. Within about 20 minutes, everyone had reported in to our “Command” channel: “People in the streets, no damage.”

What happened in Ridgecrest was far worse, and is a reminder about being prepared.

We should be prepared for any emergency with basic supplies:

  1. Sturdy shoes
  2. Flashlights and lanterns!
  3. First Aid kit
  4. Water
  5. Non-perishable food (in non-breakable containers)
  6. Blankets

In earthquake country, you want to stash these items throughout your house.

An earthquake isn’t like a storm, where you probably have some warning to grab your survival kit and head to shelter. In a quake you will still be at home afterwards, and so you want to be able to get to your supplies even if parts of the home are damaged.

And talk over a plan for contacting family members after an emergency. Be sure to include an out-of-area contact number.

Now, in my case, our out-of-state contact person, my brother – was somewhere on a boat headed to Alaska! So we need to set up a secondary contact right away.

What comes next?

We’ll be operating for a while based on what we learned last night about earthquakes in California. For us, the good news is our neighborhood volunteers were prepared and DID WHAT THEY HAD TRAINED TO DO.  

If you are interested in building a neighborhood emergency response group, or strengthening the one you have, we have resources that can help! Check out our website: https://EmergencyPlanGuide.org! and if you have specific questions, please be in touch directly. We have some real experience — even more today than before — and we’d love to share.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team


Day 6 of Summer Vacation: A time for some shorter and lighter Advisories as a welcome change-of-pace! (Or at least, that was the plan!)


Water this summer — too much or too little?

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Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the importance of water this summer for keeping cool – particularly when you have no air conditioning. Then just last Saturday I was on the phone with my son in Germany, talking about keeping his young family safe during the heat wave that was going on in Europe!

At the same time my LinkedIn feed is full of pictures of flooding in the Midwest – often with the caption “No end in sight!”

What do you expect this summer? Too much or too little water? And does it really make a difference?

I think it does. According to the United Nations, “about 90% of all natural disasters are water-related!”

90%? Just think about it. Here are 5 miscellaneous facts that give us an idea of the role water is playing right here, right now in the U.S. I think we should all be familiar with details like these:

  • This year’s floods in Iowa are so bad that Governor Reynolds didn’t even have to do a damage assessment in order to apply for disaster relief.
  • The 2018 wildfires in California (“worst in history) were intensified by nearly 8 years of drought. This summer, utility company PG&E has already begun “Public Safety Power Shutoff’s (PSPS)” to protect from more electrical fires.
  • When Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina in last September, dozens of “hog lagoons” overflowed or were damaged – leaking pig poop onto surrounding acreage and into the groundwater. (Did you realize that over 40% of Americans rely on groundwater for drinking water?)
  • Florida has been in the news lately, not just because of political activity. Turns out that the sea level there is rising by 1 inch every 3 years. Water comes right up through the ground in coastal cities! And saltwater in getting into drinking water and compromising sewage plants.
  • Remember Hurricane Harvey, in Houston? So do the residents there! A study of over 13,000 people shows that mental health damage has had a bigger impact than physical damage. . . both for people whose homes were flooded and those whose homes were spared.

So what can we do about water this summer?

We can’t change the weather. But we can certainly be more aware of how precious clean water really is. We can do our best not to waste or pollute, and we can encourage those around us to do the same.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Here in California that drought had an impact on more than the forests. All sorts of restrictions were placed on washing cars, watering lawns, etc. Even today, waiters bring out silverware and menus but not necessarily water. You have to ask for it!

What’s going on in your neighborhood to save water?


Day 5 of Summer Vacation: A time for some shorter and lighter Advisories as a welcome change-of-pace!

Take Care of Your Tools

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“Take care of your tools and they will take care of you.” This comment seems to refer most often to garden tools.

In today’s Advisory from Emergency Plan Guide, though, taking care of tools refers to the computer tools we are using right now – our computers, tablets, phones – all those digital tools that make it possible to share stories, images and, in this case, blog posts!

Now, I want to be able to finish the 31 days of this summer blog challenge without a computer hitch. So when over the past week I received several warnings, one after another, I paid close attention.

And then I thought of you, and knew you would be interested, too!

Take care of your computer tools!

Here are the three warnings I’ve received in the past couple of weeks.

Warning #1 comes from Avast. It’s about a phishing scam that arrives in an official-looking WordPress email. It urgently requests that you update your username, password, etc. Because you’re a good reader (!), you might notice one little strange grammatical quirk in the email, but MOST people won’t notice it.

Anytime you get an email from what you consider a trusted source (most popular phishing emails come from Microsoft, PayPal, Netflix, banks, etc. ) that urgently demands an update or action on a bill or some such, consider it a scam first and then follow up VERY carefully. (Don’t hit that Update Now button!)

Warning #2 comes from Microsoft. It’s about BlueKeep, a 2019 “worm” affecting older versions of Windows, traveling from computer to computer. The windows versions that are vulnerable: Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 7. If you haven’t been taking care of your tools by updating, do it now! (It you are running Windows 8 and Windows 10 it looks as though you aren’t affected by BlueKeep.)

Warning #3 comes from ithemes Security. Actually, it’s two separate warning reports!  The first lists 9 WordPress plug-ins and themes that have vulnerabilities and the second half of the report lists 19 more. A couple of the plugins have been removed by WordPress; the others have a patch that fixes the problem as long as you update. (I found 3 familiar plugins on these lists, and 2 that I currently use, so this isn’t wildly esoteric stuff.) Here are links to the two reports:

How do I get these warnings?

The reason I get these warnings is because I have installed multiple security software packages on my computer network. Some of them are paid, others free.

The software itself doesn’t necessarily catch everything. I certainly have received my share of fake Wells Fargo phishing emails! But I do get a warning bell from time to time, and questionable emails end up in my JUNK file where I can carefully review them. Plus I get regular alerts like the ones described here.

You can also get warnings simply by setting up a Google Alert.

Are you taking good care of your tools? What security software do you use?

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team


Day 3 of Summer Vacation: A time for some shorter and lighter Advisories as a welcome change-of-pace!


Dear New Summer Friends

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Woman sitting quietly in outdoor setting
Time for a summer break

For my new summer friends — and my older friends, too!

Let me introduce myself . . .

I’ve been active as a “prepper” for over 15 years. It all started when I took a CERT  (Community Emergency Response Team) course sponsored by the city I live in.

Since then I’ve revisited my roots – My parents were pioneers in Alaska during the 30s – and caught up finally with my older brothers — Eagle Scouts in the 50s.

And, of course, I’ve added my own particular brand of activism based on a professional career as copywriter and marketer. Mostly that’s taken the form of helping build a local neighborhood Emergency Response Team right here in my senior retirement community.

And then there’s my writing.

About 8 years ago I started this website, meant to cover all aspects of sensible Emergency Preparedness. Since then I’ve populated it with hundreds of original articles (I call them “Advisories”) about preparing for potential threats, assembling supplies and gear, and getting neighbors involved. Happily, a number of people seemed to like the articles and they keep coming back for more!

Last year, I called on all this history — including words of wisdom from the friends — and wrote 4 books on the topic. Then just last month, I added a 5th title to the list! (See the sidebar.) 

Lots of writing! Maybe too much? 

Lots of thinking and researching disasters! Lots of drafting and redrafting (and learning how to manage a website, too.) When one of my subscribers wrote last week that she was just overwhelmed, I had to admit that it was time for me to take a summer break, too.

Then Digital Maestro Paul Taubman showed up with a summer blogging challenge. This was surely a sign that I should take this opportunity to segue to some shorter and lighter articles. Oh yes, they will still be about emergency preparedness – but in a lighter vein.

So welcome to Summer Vacation!

I hope you’ll read and enjoy and actually follow up on the summer Advisories that make sense for you and your family. You can sign up below to be sure you get all of them. And I invite you to let me know it there are topics you’d like to hear more about.

The way I see it, the more we all know, the safer we all will be!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team