I first saw this “placebo” expression a week ago in an article on LinkedIn. I liked the article (about the failings of FEMA) and liked the expression, in particular. It inspired me to write again about survival kits!

Just as a reminder, a “placebo” is defined as “a harmless procedure prescribed more for a psychological benefit than for any physiological effect.” (Other words that appear in other definitions for placebo are “fake” and “inert.” I love words!)

Do you have a survival kit?

As you know, we recommend kits for everyone, and often more than one per person. One of our most widely read articles offers a handy chart  to help you figure out how many you need.

Could your current kit be considered a “placebo?”

• A harmless survival kit would probably be a kit that contains just a few miscellaneous items and hasn’t been updated or replenished in a long while. Actually, this kit might actually be harmful if you are counting on it to meet your needs in a real emergency.
• What psychological benefit do you get from your survival kit? Do you feel you’ve done your part? Taken all the steps that could logically be expected of you? Does your kit give you actual peace of mind?

How do you answer? Unfortunately, in answering this question, many people who own pre-built survival kits will have to agree that their kits ARE placebos.

What makes a “real” disaster kit?

It’s going to be one you built yourself!

Whether you call them disaster kits, preparedness kits, survival kits, 72-hour kits – doesn’t matter. Putting them together yourself offers important benefits.

• Figuring out where you need kits – at home, in the car, at work, at school, on vacation – starts you thinking about all the potential threats you and different family members face.
• Building a kit for yourself and another one for your 8-year-old makes you realize that one size does not fit all. Why, your identical twin would need different stuff than you need!
• Packing for self-sufficiency for 72 hours – and getting it all into a kit you can carry — makes you realize what is really essential and what is a convenience you can do without.
• Sorting through a first aid kit, a set of hand tools or a box of snacks forces you to evaluate benefits, uses, and quality of each item. You’ll discover you want the best, not the cheapest.

What goes into every “real” disaster survival kit?

I am assuming that since you’re reading this at Emergency Plan Guide, you already have an idea of the basic list.If you need a review, here’s a link to our lists. (The first list is the basic 72-hour list – pick what you can use.)

How should I customize my kits?

Here’s where your disaster kits stop being “placebos” and start being really meaningful to your successful survival!

We’ve pulled five interview questions from our Survival Kit Workbook, so they may be familiar to you. They’re worth answering again.

Question #1. What emergencies could actually arise?

Your answers will depend largely on where you live. For example:

• Sun. Say you live in the moderate climate of Southern California, and have everything organized for that. But, you decide to drive from LA to Las Vegas! Now that takes you into real desert! If your car broke down you would need MORE water, sunscreen, hats, dark glasses, maybe even reflectors (mylar space blankets) to stay alive! Add these items to your car kits as necessary. (Also, don’t start walking . . .)
• Damp. Whether you live in the jungle, or take a trip there, you don’t want to forget to pack a poncho and rain hat, mosquito repellent, snake bite kit, etc. Once again, your pre-built kit may have a poncho, but is VERY unlikely to have any of these other items. Don’t forget a plastic bag to pack INSIDE your kit to keep things dry, and another one to put OVER your kit to keep things dry!
• Cold. Most life-saving items for extreme cold won’t fit in a regular back-pack, so if you live or travel in these conditions, pack a second bag with gloves, boots, warm hat, a cold-weather sleeping bag, hand warmers, fire igniter.
• Coastal area. It’s probably going to be cold even in the best weather, so consider warm clothing. If there’s the possibility of flooding, have an escape tool that will get you out of a seatbelt and out of a car being threatened by deep water.
• Hurricane or tornado zone. You want to know when the storm is arriving! So have an emergency alert radio or mobile phone app for warnings. Have storm or rain gear. Consider tools to help you escape from a damaged building, and a signal device to warn rescuers if you can’t escape.
• Earthquake. Add to your escape tools and signaling devices some extra items to help with digging out – like gloves and a dust mask.

We’ve mentioned natural disasters. Don’t overlook man-made disasters that could require special equipment, too! The list is long: bomb blast, gas line leak, power failure, water supply problem, etc. We’ll take a look at the whole list another day. Back to the interview questions.

Question #2. Where am I likely to be when disaster strikes?

If you are a commuter or driver (soccer mom), you could be in your car. Your car survival kit should include the basics, plus specialty items like decent walking shoes, maps (GPS may be out.) and car safety gear in its own pack (flares, tools, etc.).

As a student away from home, your dorm room or apartment is where you’ll want to store your kit. Be sure it has the basics, plus a copy of the family emergency contact list!

If you are retired, spending most of your time at home in familiar surroundings, your kits can be handy in the closet or near the door. Don’t forget to include medicines enough for 3 days. (If you had to leave home, it might take that long to get hold of replacements.) How about glasses, hearing aids and batteries?

Do you have pets? They’ll need kits, too! Start with a container, and put into it leash, food, dish, pee pee mats and/or dog poop bags. Don’t forget medical needs and a photo ID of you and the pet together. (Don’t want a lost pet sent off with the wrong person.)

Question #3. How capable and strong am I?

There are some pre-built kits on the market that are very complete – and they weigh so much you probably can’t lift them! So, can the person the kit is meant for actually carry it? Unzip and unpack it? It makes no sense to have a full kit for someone who can only manage a half dozen items in an old purse.

Your general level of competence will also have something to do with whether you pack these items: cash, keys, copies of important documents (on flash drive, I hope).

Question #4. What skills do I have and what tools could I realistically use?

One of the most popular items for a kit is a multi-purpose tool, with knife blade, scissors, can opener, pliers, etc. However, not everyone can use one of these. Some people wouldn’t even be able to open it! Maybe a simple knife or pair of scissors would be better suited. Don’t include items – tools, medicines, rope, matches, weapons, etc. – that waste space or worse, become dangerous in the wrong hands.

Question #5. Where will I store my kit?

We already talked about this. The idea is to have the kit handy, so you can grab it and go.

It doesn’t make sense, by the way, to broadcast that this is a survival kit. Avoid bright red cases with the words “Emergency Supplies” on them! We prefer non-descript or even used backpacks or duffle bags.

Whew. We jumped right into this, didn’t we! But I am confident that if you answered all the interview questions, and made appropriate adjustments to your survival kits, not one of them could be considered a placebo.

Here at Emergency Plan Guide, our kits are “the real thing!”

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. What have you included in your survival kits that wasn’t mentioned here? Let us know so we can add it!

New hurricane season started June 1.

Recent headlines announce the start of a new hurricane season, with between 10 and 16 named hurricanes to look forward to. There’s apparently a new threat, too – “superstorms” that fall outside the regular categories!

So, have you moved recently? Or are you planning some travel?

Or maybe right now you are sitting in an area that could be threatened by the winds, storm surge or flooding from a hurricane? (Hurricanes don’t just hit coastal areas. They can create flooding for hundreds of miles inland.)

At Emergency Plan Guide we’ve written about hurricanes before, of course. (Remember the “Hurricane Headscratcher” that we put out last year?) But even if you think you’re an “expert,” it can’t hurt to refresh your understanding of some smart things to do to prepare.

Here are two excellent references, new to this Advisory:

1. For families: . https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes  Note particularly the comments about signing up for local alerts and getting familiar with local evacuation zones and routes.
2. For business: http://www.agilityrecovery.com/assets/hurprep.pdf This 4-page checklist was written in 2013 so the statistics may not be up to date, but the recommendations are worth considering, particularly those that have to do with shutting your business down before the storm hits.

And to get back to Harvey, where there are still lessons to be learned . . .

Hurricane season reminds me of Harvey, so I went back to see what has happened in Texas since the storm hit there last year. (August-September, 2017)

The following list is about Texas, but it could apply to most every community affected or threatened by a natural disaster. (In fact, there are some striking similarities between what people in Houston experienced and what is going on right now in Hawaii.)

As you read, think about the threats your community could face and how it might fare . .

1- Insurance. Most homes in Harvey’s path didn’t have flood insurance. Since the storm, applications for flood insurance have increased, as you might expect. What you might not have expected is that the vast majority of new policies (quoted as 70% by one agent) are for homes outside the mapped flood hazard area. People are recognizing that planning around the concept of the “100 year flood” isn’t adequate.

2- Name. Harvey was so destructive (51 inches of rain in certain parts of Texas) that its name has been retired from the list of potential names for future storms.

3- Help from the Government. Texas has requested and received millions in aid for rebuilding. At the same time, the state requested “flexibility” in deciding how the funds should be used. This has alarmed advocates for housing and for disadvantaged communities because the list of projects submitted along with the requests was heavily weighted toward large-scale infrastructure.

4- Homeless. The problems haven’t ended for people displaced by the storm. Of course, some homeowners have started rebuilding. But other people whose homes were damaged have been notified they need to elevate the homes before they can move back in. Naturally, many can’t afford what can be considered major renovation. And the FEMA vouchers that were allowing homeowners to stay in hotels have now run out.

5- More homeless. People who were renting when the flood hit have suffered even more. If they had no insurance, they may have lost most of their personal property. Those who hadn’t found new apartments and had been staying in hotels found their vouchers ended even sooner than homeowners.

6- Still more homeless. I don’t even want to mention the FEMA trailers sitting empty months after the storm . . .

More results you may never have even considered.

7- Jails. Flooded courthouses slowed the wheels of justice, causing jails to become overcrowded. According to one jail insider, “The situation is so dire that the county lock-up may soon have to begin turning away arrestees.” (I was unable to find out if that actually happened.)

8- Animals. The water that inundated the area also caused displacement of animals. Alligators from the wild and also from parks floated free and appeared in flooded neighborhoods. Fire ants, driven from their underground homes, clustered into “floating islands” to protect their queens until waters receded and they were able to build new nests in new locations.

9- Disease. Medical professionals continue to monitor the impacts of the air pollution, contaminated water and mold caused by the flooding, mostly from the superfund sites in the region. Researchers predict long-term health and emotional health problems.

Yes, 2017’s hurricane season was “the most costly and disruptive on record” in the U.S. So maybe this year won’t be so bad?!

You can hope.

In the meanwhile, this one storm alone reminds us how Americans have become so dependent on modern conveniences – power, hospitals and medical services, transportation, communications – that when these get interrupted or destroyed, the results can be disastrous.

Time to take another look at how well YOU are prepared for an emergency.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Many of our Advisories are meant to be shared. This is one. In particular, share the links to the two sets of checklists for families and for business. Just one good idea could save both money and anguish — not to mention lives.

If you are prepared for emergencies at home, and have a survival kit at work and at least one in the car – Congratulations!

(I don’t think you’d be reading this if you didn’t have at least some of those kits!)

Now, if you are a business owner, manager, or business board member, I don’t make the same preparedness assumptions. In fact, my assumption based on national statistics is that you are NOT prepared for a workplace emergency!

Today, having no plan might be considered negligence!

The word for the unprepared business owner is — Watch out!

Joe and I just finished putting finishing touches on the fourth book of our Disaster Survival Guide Series. This book is aimed at owners and employees in small businesses (or larger ones, for that matter).

One thing that pops out of is that the list of threats for family preparedness is nowhere near as long as the list of threats for business. Our list of threats for families has something like 59 items on it. Our current list of threats for businesses has reached 83!

And as I added a couple more items to the business list, I knew I wanted to get some information out to you today. It can’t wait until the book is published!

This Advisory isn’t the whole story, of course, but I hope it will at least start you thinking about the . . .

You run the risk of being sued for not having a plan.

One thing we have found out about small business owners — they know their businesses better than anyone. They also are often short on money and time and suspicious of “experts” telling them what to do.

These may be some of the reasons that many new businesses delay getting valuable accounting and legal advice. And they postpone planning for emergencies, too. For new businesses, perhaps that’s understandable. But what we know is that the majority of even mature small businesses postpone planning for emergencies!

If an emergency DOES hit, even a new or an established company that survives the disaster could be destroyed by a lawsuit brought after the fact.

Some examples of legal risks associated with preparedness.

You’ll recognize these examples of not-so-rare situations where owners could be sued. Picture yourself . . .

• You know that an ex-employee has threatened retaliation, but you don’t warn current employees or make any changes to the way people can get into your building. The ex-employee shows up and shoots 3 people before killing himself.
• It’s common knowledge that the back-up generators for your business are essential – but unreliable. When disaster hits, all equipment shuts down, and a number of employees and customers are injured.
• Your emergency plan recognizes the risk of flooding at your location, but doesn’t include plans for how to keep dangerous chemicals from contaminating the neighborhood. Hurricane Harvey hits with historic levels of rain and the neighborhood is inundated with contamination from your plant.

All three of these “examples” are taken from actual news reports. I found others describing similar circumstances. (See the P.S. for the outcomes.)

Here’s the negligence argument that applies in all these cases.

“Employers can be considered negligent if they do not take reasonable steps to eliminate or diminish known or reasonably foreseeable risks that could cause harm.”

From our standpoint, this definition has three key concepts:

1. The employer is liable. As the owner of the business, you are that employer. Senior managers and Board Members could be caught up in this, too.
2. To protect the company, you need to be aware of known or reasonably foreseeable risks. And,
3. You must have taken reasonable steps to eliminate or diminish those risks.

Ask yourself: Does your company have an emergency plan? Even with a plan, how well are you positioned right now to protect your business from lawsuits that involve preparedness?

Our book is designed to give you sources to help you determine your potential vulnerabilities and thereby help you avoid them. You can wait to get a copy as soon as it come out (maybe next month?) but I couldn’t wait until then to share some of this vital information with you.

And you shouldn’t wait, either, to make a commitment to emergency preparedness for your business. You can start right now by reviewing a couple of our earlier Advisories.

• The Prudent Man Rule
• OSHA’s Emergency Action Plan

As always, seek qualified legal advice for your particular questions. We are NOT licensed legal professionals.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. In the three legal “examples” above, each business lost the lawsuit brought against it.

UPDATE as of JULY, 2018 — the book is now available at Amazon. Here’s the direct link: Emergency Preparedness for Small Business.

“It’s just part of living here,” one of Hawaii’s residents is quoted as saying over the weekend. He wasn’t planning to evacuate from his home, even though fissures were opening in his neighborhood and lava flows from the Kilauea eruption on Friday were approaching. “I’ve been through this a dozen times.”

As of today, though, he may be joining the nearly 2,000 people facing mandatory evacuation, not only because of fire and lava but because of dangerous gases.

If you have friends in Hawaii, or anywhere where volcanoes threaten eruption, you naturally have some important questions about protecting yourself. I had the questions – but wanted good answers. So, I started my research online . . .

l. is there such a thing as volcano insurance?

No. According to a CNN news report, “There’s no such a thing as volcano insurance or lava flow insurance.”

Yes. But the very next news item, coming from The Insurance Information Institute, https://www.iii.org/article/volcanic-eruption-coverage says the following: “Most home, renters and business insurance policies provide coverage for property loss caused by volcanic eruption when it is the result of a volcanic blast, airborne shock waves, ash, dust or lava flow. Fire or explosion resulting from volcanic eruption also is covered.”

Maybe. And a third news feature says, “It’s going to come down to your policy and your underwriter.”

Hm. So, onward . . .

2. So what MIGHT be covered?

State Farm insurance has a 2-page document about eruption coverage that feels authoritative. https://www.statefarm.com/simple-insights/residence/how-volcano-damage-is-covered-on-your-insurance  The article starts with the exact same quote that we saw above, from the Insurance Information Institute, namely . . .
“Most homeowners policies provide coverage for property loss caused by volcanic eruption when it is the result of a volcanic blast, airborne shock waves, ash, dust, or lava flow. Fire or explosion resulting from volcanic eruption also is covered.”

3. That language sounds encouraging. So what’s the problem?

First, note these two important weasel words that appear in both sources: “Most policies” and “[damage] resulting from.”
When you read “Most ” you must assume that there are some policies that do NOT cover volcanic eruption. And when you see “resulting from” you must ask, “What else could cause this damage?” That’s what brings you to the exclusions.

4. What are the exclusions?

If you’ve been subscribing to Advisories from Emergency Plan Guide for a while, you probably can provide at least some answers to this question.

Here’s more quoting: “Most homeowners insurance policies do not cover damage from earthquake, land tremors, landslide, mudflow, or other earth movement regardless of whether or not the quake is caused by or causes a volcanic eruption.”

The key word here is “earth movement.” THAT seems to fall under coverage provided by earthquake insurance. Here in California it’s a totally separate policy offered by companies through the CEA – California Earthquake Authority: https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/ (There are limits on how much coverage you can purchase for the building and for personal property, and  also on what is actually covered. For example, demolition is typically NOT covered by the policy.)

And I take the sentence quoted in red above to mean further that if earth movement causes a lake to slosh over or a stream to divert onto your property, then the resulting “flood damage” would also not be covered. The typical homeowner’s policy does NOT cover flood damage. For that, you need a separate policy for flood insurance! (More on flood insurance here.)

OK, I now know more about separate earthquake insurance and flood insurance.

5. Can I get a special endorsement to my homeowners’ policy to cover volcanic eruptions?

If you live in a low-risk area, probably yes. But consider this list of states with ACTIVE volcanoes, meaning, you may NOT be in a low risk zone:

Alaska (98 known active volcanoes!)
California (21)
Hawaii (16)
Oregon (42)
Washington (16)
Wyoming

I could find no reliable info about possible costs for volcano endorsements.

6. What about damage to my landscaping, garden sheds, ditches and berms I put up to divert the lava flow, etc?

Not covered. And you won’t be reimbursed for efforts to remove lava or ash from the land afterwards.

7. What about my car?

If you have comprehensive coverage at the time of the eruption, and your car is overtaken by lava or burned up by flying cinders, it’s probably covered. And a vehicle crash that happens during or after a volcanic eruption would likely be covered just like any other crash. If you leave the car behind, and it is damaged over time by falling ash or dust, it probably WON’T be covered.

8. I rent. What about my personal possessions I had to leave behind?

Your landlord has no responsibility for damage to your personal possessions, so take as much as you can with you if you evacuate. If you have renter’s insurance, be sure take photos of your items (before and after if possible) so you can file a claim.

9. What about my lease if I have to leave my apartment or house?

Generally, your landlord must provide a “fit and habitable” place for you to live. If you can’t return to your rental because of damage, your lease will determine if you are eligible for any refund, if you have to pay any back rent, or if and how you can break the lease with no penalty. You should read your contract NOW so you are familiar with its terms. You should take those photos of your possessions now, eruption or no eruption. And if you try to cancel any long-term lease, be sure to get legal advice.

10. What else do I need to know?

Just as with flood and earthquake insurance, you must have the coverage before the disaster hits. In some cases, there’s actually a waiting period before coverage goes into effect.

A personal comment from Virginia – I’ve rented and owned and had both kinds of insuance. I’ve lived in flood country and earthquake country and climbed to the top of a smoking volcano. I even held an insurance license at one time. None of this makes me an expert on this particular subject. What I do know for sure, though, is that insurance policies by their very nature are difficult to understand. This may be a good time to review whatever policies you have so you know just what will be covered in a disaster — and what won’t be covered. Having that knowledge will make you sleep better and you’ll probably be able to negotiate better insurance coverage, too.

The more we know, the better prepared we can be!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

If you’ve been following our Advisories for a while, you know that we base a lot of our preparedness activities on CERT principles.

In good company!

We took the CERT training in 2001 — more than 15 years ago! We continue to support the local team. The image shows me at a CERT Appreciation  Breakfast last weekend. I’m there with the Police Explorer honor guard.  (Had to get up close to those outstanding young people!)

What is CERT?

CERT, of course, stands for Community Emergency Response Team. It’s a training program that fits under the umbrella of Citizen Corps. The Corps is a Federal Program started after 9/11 to help citizens get involved in protecting their neighborhoods.

(I looked it up: Citizen Corps manages six programs — CERT, Fire Corps, National Neighborhood Watch, Medical Reserve Corps, Volunteers in Police Service and the Corporation for National and Community Service. All these fall under the umbrella of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA.)

According to the CERT website, its purpose is to “educate people about disaster preparedness and train them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and disaster medical operations.” To see the whole detailed description, plus a few photos, head to the official site: https://www.ready.gov/community-emergency-response-team

The great thing about CERT

The training is standardized across the country.It is usually offered FREE OF CHARGE by coordinators from your city’s administration, local fire department and/or local police department.

Training session – note “Buddies”

If you want to understand what would happen to your community in an emergency, I urge you to get this training! 

• It’s fun, sometimes challenging, always well done. (Trainers are certified.)
• You’ll make new friends of people you never would come into contact with otherwise.
• You’ll review some first aid basics you learned way back when. Plus you will get a lot of new info like how to use radio technology and be ready for an active shooter. Follow-up programs let you practice using equipment like flares and fire extinguishers.
• Your understanding of the role of First Responders will change.
• And you’ll come out with some basic emergency preparedness gear: backpack or duffel bag, gloves, flashlight, face mask, etc.

Earthquake outreach to the community

And after the training, CERT members can be activated to serve.

We’ve promoted our city’s program, and participated every year in one or the other of the ongoing trainings they put on. Along the way we’ve been called up by the police department to help at events like these:

• Volunteers were requested at 11:30 pm to help with searches for lost citizens. (Both times, the lost person was older and suffered from some sort of dementia. Both times, the lost person was found, but only after he had spent the night outdoors, who knows where . . .)
• We provided support to various city-sponsored community events, like fairs and races – staffing booths, directing traffic, etc.
• CERT members did a door-to-door distribution of flyers to promote an anti-crime initiative. We also helped residents prepare for a possible weather event.

Every time we show up, we see some of our classmates!

Joe waiting for his assignment at a recent drill (before it started raining)

In this past year of significant disasters, other CERT members around the country have performed a variety of services. Some staffed HAM radio stations, others worked in emergency shelters. CERT members acted as wildfire spotters. Others supported community programs like installing smoke alarms, and helping manage pets during evacuations.

Where CERT is weak

All CERT trained individuals come out a lot more confident and a lot more knowledgeable.  They are ready to provide support to First Responders in emergencies.

Problem #1: After the training people go right back into a neighborhood where most of the others are still unaware and unprepared!

That training could be spread to more people in the neighborhood – but in most cases it is simply squandered.

Now that our city has nearly 2,000 graduates, they are trying to build a stronger community network of CERT grads. But they have run into a major problem that has plagued the effort for years.

Problem #2: The city, due to “privacy concerns,” is unable to share names and addresses of the people who have received the training!

This puts the burden of organizing a local neighborhood group on a single person or family.

What our neighborhood has done with CERT

We have been able to overcome this in our own local neighborhood, as you know. For years we promoted the class, month after month. Eventually we built up a core group of around 30 CERT graduates who were then able to attract even more neighbors – with or without formal CERT training — to join in our local neighborhood emergency response group.

How we built that neighborhood team is, of course, the story I’ve told in my Disaster Survival Series, just published. Our group’s success was based on CERT, our Homeowner Association’s support, and a lot of determined and committed people. I’ve documented all the steps we’ve taken in building the group.

Looking to promote more resilience in your OWN neighborhood?

There are probably a half-dozen or even more good training programs that would benefit your neighbors and could be molded into a neighborhood or group training program.

CERT has worked for us because it is free, nationally certified and recognized by property owners and the media. It is non-profit and is supported by our local First Responder community.

I recommend you find out more about CERT availability from your city’s Office of Emergency Management (maybe called the Department of Emergency Management, or Emergency Management Office). It’s possible only a couple of classes will be held each year, but in some communities there will be more. Find out! (If you can’t get training in your town, you can get some of the basics online. )

This is one tax-payer supported program that really pays off.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

We have taken the CERT ball and run with it because, unlike some of the alarmist survivalist factions, we don’t want to be totally on our own in a disaster! We want friendly and prepared neighbors all around!

Summer’s coming! Are you planning a vacation that includes travel by RV?

(If that would NEVER be in your plans, keep reading anyway. You may get some hints for other people you know and care about!)

In this article, I’m defining RV as including motor homes, 5th wheels, trailers or pop-ups. Our emphasis is on being prepared for emergencies, no matter what your rig!

Disclaimer: Joe and I aren’t RV vagabonds but we have driven across the country and back a couple of times in a 32 ft. Fleetwood, towing a car trailer. That doesn’t make us experts, but at least I’m writing with the benefit of some experience, plus a lot of story-telling friends and online research.

Getting started by being prepared as a driver

As you might expect, RVs get into accidents because they are big, have big blind spots, aren’t as maneuverable as a car, and are sometimes driven by inexperienced and elderly drivers.

Moreover, when an RV does get into trouble, it can cause a LOT of damage.

That being said, it turns out that fatality rates for RVs are less than half the rate of auto accidents. Still, with over 75,000 accidents a year, if you are planning an RV trip, be sure to get some real practice behind the wheel before you set out!

(Joe and I have taken hours and hours of driver training as members of a sports car club. Can’t express how valuable it has been over the years! A class may cost $100 but when you compare that to the cost of an accident . . .!)

Loading your RV

It just makes sense that you organize your RV so that the load is equally distributed or, if it’s a trailer, that heavier items are in front and not in back. Note: if you’ll have water at your destination, wait to get there before filling your tank completely. No use driving with that extra weight or with water sloshing around!

Check with other drivers with the same set-up (same type and size of towed vehicle, same kind of car or truck doing the towing) to see what they recommend. You can always hang out at an RV sales lot or visit a nearby campground to find friendly people to talk to!

Resource: As for what to pack, you’ll find some excellent and very comprehensive lists at http://www.rvforum.net.

The biggest risk for your RV — Fire!

Fire is usually caused by overheating in the engine compartment, wheel bearings and tires, battery compartment, propane system or refrigerator or by having something catch fire (curtain, paper towels, etc.) while you are cooking.

And as one RV blogger says, “Everything in an RV is an accelerant!” (We know from personal experience that older trailers and mobile homes burn to the ground in less than 10 minutes.)

Four recommendations for safety

1-Stop and check your entire rig on a regular basis.

Before you start, within 20 minutes of taking off, at every rest stop, when you get gas, etc. Walk all around, check the hitch, eyeball the tires and undercarriage, test to see that latches are secure, look for leaks, etc. You will likely be able to spot and smell leaks or friction before flames burst out! If you own a diesel pusher, you may want to investigate installing an engine fire suppression system.

2-Install smoke detectors.

If you’ve read our earlier Advisories about smoke alarms, you know there are a couple of types. One type (ionization) is activated when smoke gets into the detector and blocks the electrical current. The other type (photoelectric) activates when smoke blocks light receptors. Whichever type you have, it is likely to go off more frequently in the confined space of your RV, so be sure to have plenty of ventilation when you are cooking. (Use the exhaust fan!)

Two leading brands of smoke detector are Kidde and First Alert. We have used both. For your RV, you’ll want battery-operated models (not hardwired). Here are some examples. Click on the images to go to Amazon where you can look at a number of models.


3-Install a carbon monoxide detector.

Your RV will likely use propane for cooking and heating, and you’ll have a gas generator. Anytime there is an open flame, carbon monoxide is being released.

In November, 2017, 2 people were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in a mobile home in Hays, Kansas. They had left their generator running overnight . . .

Here’s an example of a well-regarded carbon monoxide alarm from First Alert.

You can also get combination alarms that warn of both smoke AND carbon monoxide, like this one, also from First Alert.

4-Install fire extinguishers.

Plural! If a fire starts, get people to safety immediately. Then, you can attempt to control the fire if possible. Have an extinguisher in the driver’s area, one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen area so you’ll be able to react immediately to a threat.

Because space is limited, and because we know that shelves are often crammed full, INSTALL your extinguishers so they are visible and will be where you reach for them in case of an accident!

We recommend two types.

First, consider aerosol extinguishers. They are easy to pack and work instantly and instinctively. I’d want several, and I’d prefer the comprehensive A,B and C models. Also, be sure the one you buy is allowed in your state.

Here’s an example. It comes in a 2-pack with brackets for mounting:

Second, get a larger extinguisher of the traditional type that you’re probably familiar with. Yes, it’s heavier, but also has more fire-extinguishing power. We own several similar to the one below, of different sizes – 2.5 lbs., 5 lbs., 7 lbs.

And the extinguisher below comes in a 4-pack – one or two for your RV, the other two for your home!

A few other safety tips for vacation travel by RV.

• Get in the habit of locking your RV or trailer every time you leave it – whether that’s on the street in front of your home, or in the national park. Close the curtains. Discourage the casual thief or mischief maker.
• Invest in a trailer hitch lock. Serious thieves have been known to hitch up and pull away homes that didn’t belong to them!
• While we’re on hitches, practice so you can unhitch your rig quickly to move your car away from it in case of a fire or other emergency.
• Be sure everyone in the family knows how to open the door (some door and screen latches are complicated!) and how to close the propane valves and unhook the electricity.
• As always, keep your gas tank half full so you have more options in case of something unexpected happening.

Final suggestion: Consider your vacation travel and camping as practice for sheltering in place.

In a disaster, you may want to use your personal RV as a bug-out vehicle, or as a temporary home if your house has been damaged. Assume you would have no hook-ups. You can pick a day or two on your trip to “camp dry” as a test for what might happen in a real emergency.

The dry run exercise will be challenging! You can test all your gear (lanterns, generator, whatever) and you will learn things you maybe never knew. (On our first dry run, we discovered that the gray water and the clean water spigots under the RV were reversed . . .!)

You can make it fun!

All this makes me want to plan another trip myself.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Embarrassed???

British Columbia recently completed a poll to gauge the extent of personal preparedness throughout the province.

Now you may not live in BC, or even in Canada. But Canada’s history of developing a culture of preparedness pretty much mirrors ours in the U.S., with some of the same ups and downs.

And Canada has experienced many of the same kinds of disasters: floods, fires and terrorist attacks.

So, their surveys are worth looking at.

Unfortunately, this survey led me to this “April Fools Day” theme.

Pretend these are answers YOU are giving to survey questions.

“Sure, I know the threats we face.”

The British Columbians identified their top hazards as earthquakes, wildfires, extended power outages and severe weather. And they distinguished between these based on where they lived: residents living in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island (on the coast) listed tsunamis and earthquakes as hazards; people living in the interior and the north cited wildfires and floods.

So far, so good. But let’s take a closer look in the mirror.

Take me as an example. Here in Southern California even I think first about the risk of earthquake. But as we have reported repeatedly, the most LIKELY emergency is power outage. (Already 3 this year.) Second could be a railroad car accident, since tracks run right behind our neighborhood. Third, a gas line break since there is major construction planned right across the street!

Drive just 2 miles east, and you’ll be in a wildfire area and you’ll face the possibility of flash flooding – even though we get less than 15 inches of rain a year!

Turn around and head 5 miles west, and the list of hazards changes again. First, you’ll be in a liquefaction zone, so if the earthquake hits, damage will be different, and greater. Second, you’d be within the reach of a tsunami.

The point of all this? A simple answer may be TOO simple. You may be fooling yourself if you think your first fast answers are sufficient.

“I know who will be there to help out.”

Most people make some poor assumptions, here, because they are used to one-off emergencies, where police and fire respond, often within minutes.

In a major emergency, First Responders will NOT be able to come by to give you a hand! They will be stretched out serving the entire community – often, with fewer than a half dozen First Responders per 1,000 residents!

In a real disaster, it will take hours, maybe days, for the first wave of organized assistance to arrive. Then, it will take days and maybe weeks for real support — food, water, utility repair crews, etc. – to show up. Yes, Puerto Rico breaks all records for non-response in the U.S. But some people in Texas and Florida are still in short-term housing. . .

The correct answer to the question of assistance is actually two-fold. First YOU are responsible for helping yourself. Second, you and your neighbors may be able to help each other.

And that takes planning in advance!

“Of course I’ve got a personal emergency plan.”

In the Canadian survey, 54% of respondents said they had an emergency plan. . . but only 13% said it was complete. Most households had emergency supplies for up to 3 days, but often with some important items still missing. As for emergency kits in the car, at work, or for evacuation, only about 30% had them.

When it came to insurance for the likely hazards (flood, earthquake) only about half the Canadian respondents had any.

How well do you compare?

“I admit I’m not fully prepared. You wanna know why not?”

The Canadians said they weren’t prepared because of “personal laziness” and “apathy.” And before we point derisively at the Canadians, let’s look at the reasons Americans give for not being prepared. (Thanks to Lucas Gregson for some of these.) Do any apply to you?

• There’s no real threat of the world ending. Maybe not, but what about “minor” disasters, like being laid off your job? Construction that tears up your street? A wreck that takes down the power grid? It doesn’t take total annihilation to mess up your plans for life.
• Too complicated — I can’t prepare for everything. I’ll just deal with it when it comes. Hm. Well, a 72-hour survival kit will address the majority of issues that you’ll encounter. Kits will give family members a chance, too.
• I have faith in the government. Talk about April Fool!
• My sister is prepared; we’ll just go there. What if the disaster hits her, too? How will you get there if roads are impassible? And how welcome will you really be?
• I was a boy scout (alternative: I was in the military). I know how to survive. Starting from scratch, with no tool or supplies? And what about your family if something happens to take you out of the picture?
• I don’t want to be one of those weirdo preppers. Well, you probably buy insurance. Does that make you a weirdo home or car owner? Same concept . . .!

“I’d find it easier to build a survival kit if . . .”

These answers come from the Canadians and from my neighbors, over the years.

• If I knew how to get started.. That’s why we publish so many lists! Survival kit items, step-by-step preparation for a hurricane, etc. If you haven’t yet found a list that works for you, I think that may lead back to the first excuse above, that is, “personal laziness.”
• If I had money to spare. No one has all the cash available for an instant, complete survival set-up. But everyone can add one or two survival items to the stash every month. Start slow – just start!

“What would really get me started on disaster preparedness would be . . .”

• If I had experienced a disaster myself.

Do you detect the problem here?!?  (We do regularly start our meetings by hoping for just a small earthquake!)

OK, back to April Fools’ Day.

Wikipedia defines it this way: “ . . . an annual celebration commemorated on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools.”

This Advisory shares some long-standing hoaxes — not to mention some delusions — about the topic of preparedness. Most aren’t really jokes, although I tried to give them a touch of humor. The problem? You could be a victim of any of them!

I hope you’ll treat this seriously so you don’t become one of those April fools.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. We regularly involve members of our HOA in discussions like this one. Here’s a true story about emergency supplies from about 6 months ago:

“Raise your hand if you have emergency water supplies at home.”  (Just about everyone raises their hand.)

“Raise your hand if you would be willing to share your water with a neighbor who runs out.” (Every hand goes down.)

Makes you think, eh?

Last updated 5-16-2019

Smart devices make your home more comfortable . . .

A look back to January 2018 in The Costco Connection shows “some of the smart tech you may want to invest in over the coming months.” The image above suggests 10 different smart technologies – lighting, windows, temperature, door locks, etc.

Note that I said “Costco.” This wasn’t Wired or Popular Science, which you might expect to have articles about the very latest in high-tech gadgetry. No, we’re talking mainstream — in 2018!

Moving forward to 2019, a search for the list of the top smart devices you’d want to have “right here at home” included these members of the IoT (the Internet of Things). How many of them do you have?

• Smart Speaker
• Security Camera
• Light Bulb
• Smart Thermostat
• Smart Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Detector
• Smart Home Hub

While their powerful features open the door to cyber threats.

Consider if all the personal information described in the next few sentences were available to casual hackers, the government, or criminals?

• Smart phones – Shoot 4k video so you can play it back on your TV; recognize your fingerprint as password; track your blood alcohol level; track where you’ve driven and find your car; diagnose why it’s not starting. (Is your phone synced to your home computer so all this info is transferring?)
• Smart watches – Receive text, email and tweets from friends; capture your fitness info; give you directions or track your run via GPS; lock, unlock, and start your car.
• Smart homes – Respond to voice or touch commands to adjust air and water temperature, lights, locks and cameras; “learn” family habits and schedules; report on current traffic conditions along your route to work; read and adjust solar panels; start the laundry. (Are all the devices interconnected?)
• Smart TVs – Connect to social media platforms; follow voice and gesture commands; display photos and videos from your phone.

Even if you don’t understand exactly where the threats lie, or will lie, you can recognize the threat.

How do these vulnerabilities come about?

A recent Advisory reviewed home and business security systems – all of which were internet connected — and in doing that research I read many, many advertisements and reviews. Not one had anything to say about security. But when I dug into broader background on the Internet of Things, I got a whole load of warnings.

• Like every other product, IoT products are hurried to market to beat the competition. (Think Apple.) They don’t have time to spend on developing sophisticated layers of security that interact with every other device’s layers of security.
• Device manufacturers may be as interested in selling information about you and how you use the product as in selling the product in the first place. So, the price their device ridiculously low. And they conveniently overlook certain aspects of security. (Remember the TVs that were capturing info about their viewers’ choices? And the “Talking Barbies” that stored and transmitted what the children said to their dolls? And very recently, the scandal of Amazon’s Alexa picking up on conversations in one home and sending them to another?)
• Many IoT products are complex, combining software, hardware and services often provided by more than one supplier. Not infrequently, one or more of the suppliers sells out or even goes out of business somewhere along the line. A broken link in the chain is a hacker’s opportunity.
• And IoT users – that is, us consumers – are not following smart security practices!

So what can we do to protect ourselves from these cyber threats?

Seven recommendations for your personal IoT devices as of May 2019.

1-Enable security features on all smart devices.
Not sure if there ARE security features? If the device connects to your home network, there had better be usernames and passwords that you can change from the default! In fact, the instructions should remind you to make those changes. Remember that default usernames and password combinations are published online and thus easily available to hackers. (The book mentioned at the end of this article has a suggestion for memorable passwords that won’t be hackable!)

2-Use strong passwords.
Are your children using the devices? Don’t give them an easy password so they can operate the thing. A simple password makes it easier for every hacker to break into the device!

3-Check for and reconnect or remove dead devices.
Some IoT devices are treated by the family or employees as toys, and after a while they lose interest in them. These neglected devices are precisely the ones that may provide an opening for a hacker. Take a regular inventory and clean up your IoT.

4-Schedule battery replacement.
Many of these devices operate using battery power. Batteries die – and when they do, you could cause a security risk. (Door lock won’t open? Fire alarm won’t go off?) Check all devices regularly until you know just how long their batteries will last, and then build a schedule for ongoing maintenance – with dates and numbers and types of batteries required.

5-Update firmware (operating systems) and apps.
If you find the updates on your phone or computer to be a nuisance, imagine having an entire collection of devices with apps that need updating! But it’s through updates that holes are stopped up and vulnerabilities are fixed. Watch for updates and apply them. (Not sure exactly how you’ll be notified of updates? Find out, so you don’t miss out.)

6-Be sure updates and/or network communications are encrypted.
You don’t want strangers listening in on your baby monitor, measuring your blood pressure or noting the hours when the house is empty! If your smart device sends unencrypted info across your home network and the internet, you are vulnerable.

7-Are any ports left open?
Some devices – particularly hubs or routers – need open ports to allow connections to the internet. The more ports that are open, the more vulnerable you may be to hackers. By and large, your firewall software will allow or block connections based on the profile you’ve set up. If you haven’t set up firewall software, do it. (If you aren’t sure how to find out about the status of your ports, you can get additional software to check on them.)

A next step for non-tekkies.

If you’re interested in getting a lot more familiar with IoT and IoT Security, plan on either spending a lot more time online or spending some money on one or more of the books available via Amazon or other book stores. Most of these books seem to be directed to IT professionals and have professional prices.

But here’s a fantastic book written by an expert, for ordinary internet users, in a clever and captivating way. In fact, I just finished reading it myself and HAD to put it up here!

As a writer myself, I appreciate a story — hard to manage, sometimes, when the topic is technology. Author Alan Pearce puts you right in Sherlock Holmes’ living room in telling this story of”cyber threats right here at home” to his friend Dr. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes goes into the IoT and then takes Watson on a journey into the dark web. If you read this book you won’t become an instant cyber-security expert, but you will be a lot more savvy – and a lot more wary!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. This is the kind of information that everyone should be aware of. Please forward this Advisory to friends and family and share with your neighborhood group. If just a few people take a few actions they will be safer than they were before.