Sometime you just gotta shake your head in disbelief.

After all the years of educating . . .

I attended a great conference this weekend. It was held in Las Vegas. Temperatures outside were about 105 degrees while inside the AC was set to 68 degrees. Impossible to be comfortable anywhere.

After years of trying to educate folks on the value of energy efficiency, all I can say is, this just seems stupid.

Allow me to continue with that theme in the world of emergency preparedness,with some examples of

Disaster Warnings

What does this mean to you?

Hurricane season started this week.

I have never experienced one here in Southern California, but certainly we’ve all seen plenty of hurricanes on the news.

And have you also noticed the number of TV newscasters who seem to feel the need to STAND RIGHT OUT IN THE WIND AND WATER, threatened every moment by debris, while telling viewers to take shelter?

Tornados – some 339 of them already in 2014!

How about the local citizen/amateur filmmaker, “getting great footage” of the approaching funnel cloud, who is dragged down into the shelter at the last possible minute by his screaming children?

California wildfires pushed westward by “Santa Ana” winds.

Newscaster: “Why didn’t you follow the evacuation order from the Fire Department?”
Homeowner: “I can’t pack up all my pets, so I guess I’ll just have to die with them. . .”

(This is a true quote.)

High surf advisory issued through Wednesday.

Oh, goodie. Let’s grab the children and head down to the beach and stand on the rocks and watch the giant waves come in. Even better, let’s get out there on our surfboards . . .

Is my cynicism showing?!

Thank goodness for this blog. It gives me the chance to unload my frustrations on you, my loyal reader. The next post will be more uplifting, I promise!

In the meanwhile, if you see something as ahem, “unwise” as any of the above, please point it out the the people and particularly to the newscasters who model or perpetuate such behavior. What are they thinking?!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Please pass this along to friends, and urge them to subscribe to all our Advisories.  Most of ’em are pretty positive!

Do you have a blog of your own?

If so, you know that coming up with new and interesting information takes some effort. Of course, I keep a swipe file of articles, quotes, various tidbits of craziness that I use for inspiration. Lately, I’ve found some great online resources that I wanted to mention today.

Google Alerts as Blog Resources

In past Advisories, I’ve talked about my Google Alerts. I have one for “Emergency Preparedness” and “Emergency Planning” and get 10-12 articles daily on each. Most are standard announcements (who, what, where, when) announcing a preparedness fair or the test of an emergency plan in some facility. Today’s Alerts mention tests in airports, a test for security in a hotel, and for fire in a warehouse.

LinkedIn Groups as Blog Resources

Over the past month I’ve also become active in several LinkedIn groups, in particular, one for Emergency Preparedness Consultants/Trainers.  (The group”s page is shown in the image, above.) Themes discussed by members of the group have included:

• Planning for vulnerable members of the community (people in wheelchairs, hard of hearing, seniors, children)
• How to handle and train live “victims” when planning a field exercise (see the headline in the image, above)
• If and how to include humor in training exercises

Further, the group shares about various in-depth studies taking place. For example, these people asked for input:

• What areas in the U.S. DON’T use 9-1-1 to call emergency services? Posed by Paul Myers, PhD, CEM Director, Emergency Preparedness @ Save the Children, US
• Potential grant opportunities for emergency preparedness education. Brought up by Karen Elliott, Alternative Energy and Emergency Preparedness Traveling Exhibit and Activity Program
• Examples of Warming Center SOPs (“Standard Operating Procedures”), Requested by Steven Maynard, MA, AEM, CHS III, Emergency Planner at City of Fairfax

And your point is?

What I wanted to share is the fact that there’s a lot of great activity taking place across the country aimed at doing just what Emergency Plan Guide wants to do:

Raise awareness and the level of preparedness so more of us will survive in a disaster.

This one LinkedIn group alone has 4,455 members! If you have questions, or something to add, I recommend you join in the discussion. It’s  fun and rewarding.

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

I don’t have an answer yet.

But when you hear new zoning or new flood insurance requirements being debated, stop and find out what’s going on. Because YOU are likely paying the bill for repetitive disasters now, and you will be paying the bill when disaster strikes again!

Rebuilding in disaster-prone areas is a big issue.

Rick Moran, in American Thinker, said it well.

“Across the nation, tens of billions of tax dollars have been spent on subsidizing coastal reconstruction in the aftermath of storms, usually with little consideration of whether it actually makes sense to keep rebuilding in disaster-prone areas. If history is any guide, a large fraction of the federal money allotted to New York, New Jersey and other states recovering from Hurricane Sandy – an amount that could exceed $30 billion – will be used the same way.

Tax money will go toward putting things back as they were, essentially duplicating the vulnerability that existed before the hurricane.”

(To see the full article, click here.)

The problem is compounded by the current role of the Federal Government.

Many citizens want to, and do, look to government when disasters overcome a community. Even conservatives who fight for less government seem to support government aid when their communities are affected. But by helping local communities rebuild, federal programs have often created targets for the next natural disaster.

There are some efforts underway to break the build-devastate-rebuild cycle.

Some isolated and admittedly random examples from around the world:

• Alberta, Canada, is considering a plan to not cover damage costs in extreme floodways in future if people choose to rebuild there.

• In Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advised state governments to relocate citizens living in flood-prone areas.

• King County, Washington has bought a mobile home park that lies close to a flood-prone portion of the Cedar River and is planning to relocate current residents.

And as a follow up to Mr. Moran’s comments above, I read that:

• In New Jersey, $300 million in federal aid has been set aside for the Blue Acres program, which allows the state to buy up homes in repetitive flood-prone areas and convert the area to open space.

As far as I can tell, these examples of prevention are few and far between.

The American Citizen article has a quote from Robert S. Young, a North Carolina geologist, that seems to sum it up:

“We’re Americans, damn it.  Retreat is a dirty word.”

What are your thoughts about supporting rebuilding in disaster-prone areas using your tax dollars?

If someone said to evacuate RIGHT NOW, would you be ready?

• Do you know where you would likely be heading?
• Do you know if your pet will be allowed to go there with you?
• Do your family members/children, who aren’t at home right now, know where you will be and how to contact you?

Here’s more about evacuations that might help you answer these questions!

Who actually gives the evacuation order?

News reports always talk about “the authorities.” In our local community, evacuation orders are given by the fire department and executed by the police department. To get the most attention and the best response to evacuation orders, professionals recommend that the warnings be issued as coming from ALL sources available (First Responders, local government, Red Cross, National Weather Service, etc.), so as to make them more credible.

Once I leave, when can I come back?

Generally, once an area is evacuated, residents will be prevented from returning until officials declare an all-clear.

If the evacuation takes place “too early,” authorities are challenged to retain control of the once-evacuated area. There’s always the danger of looters trying to sneak in. And residents go to all lengths, finding their way by back roads, etc.,  to get back to their homes to pick up valuables and particularly to deal with pets that were left behind.

What if I don’t want to leave?

As a private citizen, you can always leave your home at any time if you feel threatened. By the same token, you can refuse to evacuate if you think your home is safe, you need to provide continuing care to a family member, etc.

If an area has been officially evacuated, though, emergency personnel may be pulled away from your neighborhood and you will be left on your own. (For a very interesting view of the kinds of people who don’t respond to evacuation orders, check out this blog post: Why don’t people evacuate?”

What if I can’t leave?

You may not be able to evacuate because you don’t have access to transportation, you are mobility impaired, or you can’t afford to leave. Obviously, officials will try to provide evacuation services where possible.

In Hurricane Sandy, some people with mobility issues were trapped in high-rise buildings when electric elevators no longer worked. Only if friends and neighbors know of disabled neighbors are they likely to be able to help. If you know that evacuation would be impractical or impossible for you, your preparations for sheltering in place need to be more rigorous.

Get more about how to cope with evacuation for people with disabilities here.

Where do I go?

Your city or county will have already identified potential public shelters. Look for a list online or request one from your property manager, local fire department, etc. If an evacuation is called, you will be told where shelters are open and space is available. Don’t head for any shelter until you know it is open!

Interestingly enough, only about 15% of people go to shelters; most evacuate to friends, family or to hotels.

Can I take my pet?

Traditionally pets have not been allowed in Red Cross shelters. People end up leaving their pets at home, or leave them in the car when they have reached the shelter. Obviously, you would want to find a shelter or hotel that is “pet friendly” well in advance of an approaching storm. You can do that research beforehand. As for large animals (horses, etc.), sometimes they can be cared for a facilities such as fair grounds, etc. Check with your vet for resources and further information.

What should I bring?

Your evacuation kit should always be prepared and ready near the exit of your home. You won’t have much room in the car or even in the shelter, but your kit should contain some food and water, medical supplies, prescriptions, sturdy shoes, clothing and blankets. Having an emergency radio and flashlight is smart. Have a list of important emergency contact phone numbers; copy important papers onto an electronic “flash drive” and include it in your kit.

The Emergency Plan Guide comprehensive Checklist has two lists, one for the “Survival Kit” and another for an “Evacuation Kit.” We also have a Pet Emergency Checklist.

Hope this has made you think about how YOU will handle an evacuation order!

Virginia Nicols Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Have you been through an evacuation?  Tell us what happened and what you learned . . .! (If you have a whole story, I’d love to publish you as a guest blogger.  Just let me know.)

We’ve all heard about how a text message might get through in an emergency when a regular phone call might not.
Certainly, everyone needs to add texting to their emergency skill set. (Add this to your to-do list if you haven’t already.)

But what about trying to reach emergency services by texting to 911?

As of three days ago (May 15), people who use AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon can send text messages to 911, and their calls will be routed to their local police dispatchers — BUT ONLY if the county they are in supports the technology!

According to the website govtech.com, if you live in Vermont, Iowa and Maine, you will reach a dispatch center if you text to 911.

But where I live in California, there’s no such service.

It all depends on the individual counties and whether they decide to adopt text-to-911.

Want to know whether text-to-911 works in your area? Check at this website, which was updated as of 5-16-2014 when I wrote this: http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/text-to-911-deployments.pdf

If there’s no service where you live . . .

In places where the service has not yet been instituted, if you place a text-to-911, you’ll get what the industry calls a “bounce-back” message. It tells you to contact emergency services another way, like by making a voice call or using TTY or a telecommunications relay service (for people with disabilities).

(I’ve never really tried this so I can’t vouch for what the message actually says.)

Text-to-911 Limitations

Before you get excited about this emergency communications option, consider this:

1. You might be able to make a 911 call while driving – but certainly not a text message!
2. If the dispatch center wants more info – like the cross street, or details of the situation (cars involved, number of people injured, for example) – it would take a lot longer to text than to simply answer the question.
3. A text certainly couldn’t convey the emotion of the situation – hysteria, shots being fired, angry voices, etc. This could be important information.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules that would require text providers to support text-to-911 by the end of this year (2014).

It remains to be seen if this goal can be met. Texting capability may require upgrades to local dispatch centers, phone companies, equipment vendors and manufacturers, and local police and fire departments. It is likely to require that additional dispatchers be hired.

So it all comes back to the individual counties. Stay tuned . . .

Question: Have you had any personal experience with texting to 911?  How did it go!?  Please let us know in the comments.  This is one of those situations where the rest of us are operating in the actual dark!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

If you’ve followed any of the news reports after disasters like the Tsunami in Southeast Asia, the Earthquake in Haiti and in any number of Refugee Camps around the world, you may have noticed the tents with the blue Rotary International logo on them.

ShelterBox.org

The ”Rotary Shelter Box” maintains a supply of tents, blankets and cooking utilities in kits ready for shipment to areas of the world where people are suddenly in need of shelter and survival necessities. Rotary has been known to get emergency supplies to areas before government agencies even arrive.

ShelterBox tent delivered in Box, along with blankets, cooking utensils, etc.

The kits are shipped from Great Brittan and the Southeast of the U.S. Funding for the effort is provided by donations (at approximately $1,000 per kit) through Rotary Clubs around the world.

Contents of the Box vary depending on where delivered

This has been a very successful emergency relief program and is a concept we recommend you consider for your Emergency Planning.

“For my emergency planning?”

Yes. Consider this. Leaving your damaged home in the midst of a catastrophe could be tantamount to turning it over to looters.

Who is at greatest risk for losing the shelter of their home?

This is hard to predict in a world of changing weather patterns, earthquakes, explosions and fires due to a deteriorating infrastructure and, yes, even potential terrorist threats.

Since we live in earthquake country, this is our greatest potential threat. If our house ever becomes unsafe to inhabit, we’re prepared to take up temporary residence in a tent on the property until we feel safe to move away.

Think “Dual-Purpose.”

As we approach the summer months everyone’s thoughts turn to outside activities, from barbecues to camping and all manner of utensils, battery-powered lanterns, patio furniture and more.

Are we suggesting that you buy a bunch of camping equipment on the chance that you’ll suffer major damage in an as-yet-unknown emergency? No . . . but, if you are in the market for any of these or other recreational items, we suggest that you might want to consider the utility of these items for non-recreational, emergency  use. As you compare products, you may find that on might be more flexible or suitable than another.

There’s no way we can seriously recommend the larger, specific items. Too much depends on your individual circumstances. What’s right for one family may be overkill for another household. What we will do, from time-to-time, is suggest emergency uses for some of the more popular recreational items.

Do you have dual-purpose investments you’ve made? Let us know about them!

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Update: We have just published a REVIEW of FAMILY CAMPING TENTS.

If your home were damaged, would you want to stay close to protect it? Having an appropriate tent could allow for long-term camping.  Check out this new review.

Show and Tell

At our recent neighborhood meeting, our CERT leader asked me to do a “show and tell” on the LifeStraw® that I have in my emergency supplies. The photo shows what I shared with the group.

My LifeStraw: mouthpiece open at left

The LifeStraw is a tube you suck through (the “straw”) to filter water when you’re out camping or in an emergency.  I discovered it about three years ago after my son became very ill from swallowing water on a hiking trip. (He spent 5 days in hospital; his organs started shutting down due to dehydration.)

LifeStraw features

There are other products that look the same, but the LifeStraw appears to be “the original.” It won awards when it came out in 2005, and was chosen by the U.N. to provide clean drinking water in developing countries. Later was it made available in the U.S. by manufacturer Vestergaard Frandsen. It costs about $20.

The LifeStraw is handy and simple:

• It is small and lightweight, so fits into anyone’s survival kit.
• It requires no batteries or replacement parts.
• It filters up to 1,000 liters – about 265 gallons.

You can stick the straw into a puddle or stream and drink directly, or scoop up water into a bottle and then stick the straw into the bottle. It filters out 99.99% of bacteria (for ex., e coli and salmonella) and protozoa cysts (Giardia), which is what made my son so sick. It does NOT filter out viruses, which are too small to be caught. And it does not make salt-water drinkable.

How to use it

Since there are no chemicals in the straw, the water coming through has no chemical taste. You remove the caps at both ends and sip through the mouthpiece. It takes a good 4-5 pulls to get the water started. To keep the filter clean, you blow back through the straw to unclog it.

You can use the Straw over and over again.  Just keep it clean and let it dry out before you recap the ends.

Here where we live in Southern California, we are not likely to have puddles to drink from in an emergency since we get so little rain! However, in an emergency, we might be forced to look for other sources of water: water heater, toilet tank, or big water barrel. Getting water out of these tanks would likely involve some dirt, grains of rust, sediment, etc. Filtering the water through the LifeStraw would be a reassurance of its quality.

If you or family members live stormy areas or hike or camp a lot, this is a no-brainer addition to your emergency kit. Get more information at Amazon:
LifeStraw Personal Water Filter

Next time: Water from Swimming Pools

I’m on a roll now about water. Next blog will be about how to use SWIMMING POOL WATER in an emergency.  Can you?  Should you? How to treat it first?

Stay tuned.  (If you don’t want to miss that next Advisory, sign up right now on the form below.)

And do check out that LifeStraw. It just feels right.  It makes a great gift!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

Need some ideas for planning neighborhood meetings?

Below is a list of 15 emergency training topics.

And they’re not just mine.

Get expert training for your team.

As you know, I’ve had a Google Alert set up for a while. Actually, two of them, one for “Emergency Preparedness” and one for “Disaster Recovery.” I get about 10 alerts a day about what’s happening around the country.

Most of the alerts are press releases mentioning a person who’s been hired for a new position.

But others announce trainings. Take a look at the following list that I collected in just the last two weeks!

• Dump catches fire
• Airport Emergency Plan
• Snow Emergency Plan
• Snow Emergency Route Plan
• Test of Emergency Sirens
• Training on Emergency Apps
• Hospital Ground Zero for Shooter Drill
• Committee moves toward oil disaster preparedness
• National Hurricane Conference Announces Amateur Radio Sessions for 2014:
• Indiana University says glitch found during test of emergency alert system has been fixed
• Catawba Nuclear Power Plant tests terrorism
• Local, state officials advise: Prepare for flooding
• State, feds to create tsunami strategy guides for Calif. harbors
• Attleboro, state emergency agencies plan to offer booklets in Braille
• Chemical safety becomes focus of neighborhood watch

Which of these might be helpful for your community?

Track down a “guest expert” for your neighborhood group.

Prepare with a few “talking points.”

1. Jot down a few bullet points about what you’re looking for: topic, length of presentation, where, dates available.
2. Be ready to describe your audience: how many of them, ages and circumstances.
3. Then get on the phone:

• Call the Police Department or Fire Department to find out whom they would recommend.
• Call the local Red Cross office, same question.
• Is there a college or university in town? A strategic all to their administrative offices might lead you to your speaker.

This isn’t a complete list, by any means. But if others are getting this specialized training, why shouldn’t you?! All it takes is persistence.

Last month our group had a guest speaker on earthquakes.

Timely, too. In just the past 24 hours we’ve had three of them here in Southern California!

Preparedness is awareness. Let a good guest speaker raise the level of awareness in YOUR neighborhood.

What would be first on YOUR list if you could get an expert?  Let us know your thoughts!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

And if you are having any difficulty finding that speaker, contact me and we can brainstorm together. I’ve been “programs chair” for lots of different organizations!

At a recent CERT update meeting here in our town, a police officer was asking questions about our neighborhood preparedness. Not our individual preparedness, but what we have done for the neighborhood.

The question about supplies from the police.

Enough for the whole neighborhood?

“I assume you guys have pulled together supplies, like food, for everyone?”

As it turns out, we’ve been working hard to get our neighborhood aware and organized, so we were proud to be able to describe what we’ve accomplished.

The answer about supplies from our group.

“We have NOT taken on gathering and storing supplies for the whole neighborhood!”

Our motto is “Shelter in Place with your OWN supplies.”

Here’s why.

1. Human nature. If people think someone else is doing the work for them, they stop doing it themselves.

2. Incentive. If not everyone participates, then the “good citizens” who store food and water will be penalized when their unprepared neighbors start knocking on their door for help. We remind people that if they are unprepared, they are not likely to be welcomed when the disaster actually hits.

3. Money. Buying and storing food supplies for hundreds of people takes a big financial investment, not to mention specialized knowledge.

4. Space. Storing food supplies for hundreds of people also takes a big and ongoing investment in storage space, maintenance, security, etc.

We are a volunteer organization. Our membership waxes and wanes as people move away or move in. Fortunately our members can get good local CERT training, but some of the best neighbors don’t have it yet.

Now, we’re also fortunate to have a small monthly budget thanks to our Homeowners’ Association – and that allows us to purchase carefully-selected pieces of equipment that we will have ready for an emergency. (You can read more about our equipment purchases here.) But our budget doesn’t extend to the thousands of dollars that would be necessary for purchasing and storing food.

So we’ve decided to continue to stress “Make sure you have your own supplies of food you like and the medicines you need. And don’t expect your neighbor to welcome you with open arms when you run out.”

What decisions are you making in your neighborhood?

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

I’d really like to hear! Please send comments!

Police and Fire Department Introduce New CERT Jargon

(Preface: I’m sure you’ve heard that when you want to address the public, you should avoid acronyms or jargon and stick to commonly-used words. Well, you’ll be interested to know that one of my most popular articles was on the Vocabulary of CERT. It was filled with jargon! So I didn’t really hesitate when I started writing this article.)

We recently attended a CERT refresher training. Guest speakers were there from the Police Department and the Fire Department. They gave us more info on exactly how they are deployed under normal circumstances, and how that changes in an emergency.

Having been through CERT training, we knew a lot of what they talked about. But some new vocabulary words were tossed out.

Here are a few of the words and expressions. Do you know them all?

1. EDITH. Stands for “Exit Drills in the Home.” (Do you conduct them in your home? Do you practice when you have neighborhood trainings?)

2. FULL ACTION, NO ACTION. Applies to the Fire Department in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Yes, we know that their first mode will be NO ACTION as they survey the extent of the damage. Again, we heard that in NO ACTION mode the fire engine would drive right past your burning home or business without slowing down. Only after these First Responders have assured themselves of their own safety, and confirmed the status of their co-workers and families, will they switch to FULL ACTION.

3. CAR HOPPING. This, from the police. It refers to the practice of teenagers going from car to car until they find one that is unlocked. Stealing something from an unlocked car is a misdemeanor; breaking into the car to steal something is a felony. Criminals know the difference!

4. RED FLAG WARNING. A fire warning called by the U.S. National Weather Service; based on the local geography. Here in Southern California, a warning is called when the wind exceeds 25 mpg, the relative humidity is less than 15%, and the temperature is higher than 75 degrees. The warning causes reserves to be called up, public parks to be closed, and utility maintenance crews to be denied access to remote areas.

5. CATALYTIC CONVERTER. Not exactly jargon. But not often used to describe a hazard! A catalytic converter normally operates at about 1,200 to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (640-870 degrees Centigrade); if overworked, its temperature can reach 2,000 degrees F. (1,010 C.). Either way, it’s hot enough to start a fire if you drive over dried grass. Stay on the road with your car, or at least on the gravel. No off-road excursions!

Add these words to your CERT lexicon; sprinkle them liberally in group trainings. I think CERT folks everywhere like knowing this stuff!

Oh, and if you want to review that earlier jargon-filled article, here’s the link!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

As I write this, headlines say that over 700,000 people in the southeast are without power. Hundreds of thousands of people were told to stay home, power or no power. So I’m thinking about a particular subset of people who are at home and are going to be more than inconvenienced. These are folks who may be in real danger if somebody hasn’t made arrangements for them ahead of time.

Two Groups in Real Danger

Who’s monitoring food and medicines?

1. People with special medical needs. What about people who need a ventilator? Sleep-apnea equipment? Oxygen? People who are on a feeding tube or a negative-pressure wound vacuum? What about people who simply need an elevator to get into or out of their building? Are all these people getting the care they need right now with the electricity out and driving restricted? 2. Home-bound seniors. What about seniors who can’t get out and who depend on a program like Meals on Wheels for their main food source or on a home-health care agency for help with daily activities such as bathing or eating or getting the proper dose of medicine? If drivers who provide these services can’t safely travel, what is happening to their clients?

Hidden Misery, Hidden Disaster

According to U.S. census figures, approximately 20% of the population is disabled. That figure rises to nearly 80% of people over 80.  That’s at least 140,000 in the storm-covered southeast today who have special emergency preparedness needs. Those who are prepared – with generators or batteries or hand-driven equipment, and with extra food and personal supplies – will probably make it through this storm OK. But some percentage of these people will NOT be prepared. I’m wondering just how well they are doing, and if they know who to call for help, or if they CAN call if their phone service is disrupted. We’ve seen on the news the traffic jams, the accidents, and cars stranded in the snow.

Stories Yet To Emerge

We haven’t heard yet about isolated individuals trapped in their homes. Those stories will be slow to emerge – but those people are in the middle of their emergencies right now!

Do you have friends or family that belong to one of these special groups, or who serve them?

1. Can you offer any assistance right now?
2. Do you have plans for them as you and your family or CERT group make preparations for future emergencies?

These special  groups will always need extra consideration.

The recent storm in Atlanta was all over the news. Stranded cars, accidents, people hiking along the highway. People sleeping in the aisles of convenience stores. Children sleeping on the floors at school.

It’s snowing!

Wait a minute!  What is wrong with this picture? This wasn’t a freak accident. This was the weather, for heaven’s sake, and we have forecasters for that!

So what went wrong?

Three mistakes we heard about immediately.

Would any of these apply for YOU and YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

1. Bad communications between agencies.

The news had been warning of the storm for at least three days. Even here in California, I caught interviews with people who were “excited that my kids will get to see snow for the first time!”

So how is it possible that people were still at work and kids were still at school, when the storm actually hit?

Apparently, the City was slow to declare an emergency, and warnings were not forwarded to the school district. Ouch!

2. People slow to respond.

Everybody who watched the news knew the storm was coming. City government. Employees and employers. Yet there they were, at 4 in the afternoon, just getting on the road to start home.

By then, it was too late. We all saw the result: mile after mile of traffic jams that kept some people trapped in their cars for 8-10 hours – including some kids stuck in school buses. (I wonder how many of those people had survival kits in their cars?)

Who was responsible for getting people out of harm’s way well before it was too late?

I think we can understand that the average citizen in the south might not really realize what happens to the roads when they are covered with snow (!), but what about those professionally trained emergency officials?

Maybe they blame it all on item #1 above?!

3. Inaccurate contact information

I haven’t been able to track down the exact statistics, but not only were some 50 kids trapped in school buses, but hundreds of students spent the night at school being cared for by their teachers because by then parents either couldn’t get to the school to pick up their kids, or earlier, the school was unable to REACH the parents.

Atlanta Public Schools has a robo-call system, and it was activated, but the Superintendent reported that “some parents didn’t get the message because of inaccurate contact information.” Ouch!

Who in your family has emergency numbers? Are they up to date? This is a simple fix to an essential piece of the emergency preparedness puzzle.

All this suggests to me . . .

1. Individuals need to be aware of the weather.
2. They need to understand weather watches and warnings.
3. They need to have planned in advance how they intend to respond.
4. And then they need to take action even in the face of INACTION by authorities!

I know that’s what we’re training our CERT members to do!

(Sorry for the ranting tone, here. I was pretty appalled at this Atlanta news.)

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

“Do you smell something funny?”

If you are being exposed to high levels of Carbon Monoxide, enough to kill you in just a few minutes, you won’t smell a thing!

Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless and tasteless!

I just read the story of a Chicago family that had moved into their new house on Saturday in October. The utilities weren’t going to be turned on until Monday, so they set up a generator in the garage to provide some heating and to run lights.

By Sunday morning they were all dead of carbon monoxide poisoning.

College educated folks. Suburban neighborhood.

How is this possible? They just didn’t know any better!

Given the weather reports lately, with power outages and threatened historic cold weather, be sure you know better. Here are the basics.

What is Carbon Monoxide poisoning?

When you breathe in carbon monoxide, it combines with the hemoglobin in your blood, taking the place of the oxygen that should be there. Breathe in too much, and you will become sick and ultimately die from lack of oxygen.

What are the symptoms?

Very similar to flu, and can come on gradually if you are exposed over a period of time. They include headache, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness.

What produces carbon monoxide?

It’s produced when carbon products – like wood, gas, kerosene, charcoal – are burned but only partially consumed. Most common situation – when someone operates a stove or engine (car, lawn mower, power washer, generator) in an enclosed space like the house or attached garage. (In the Chicago situation, the generator was running in the closed-up garage.) Second most common situation – when a gas heater or gas stove isn’t properly set up, allowing the fuel to escape into the living area without being completely burned.

What’s the real risk in the U.S.?

First Alert quotes the Journal of the American Medical Association as saying that “1,500 people die each year” because of carbon monoxide poisoning. FEMA says that “more than 150 people die” from “non-fire” related carbon monoxide poising each year. Another source mentions “at least 170 deaths as a result of poison from “non-automotive” consumer products. ” Take your pick. One death is too many when they are all preventable.

How can I prevent carbon monoxide poisoning?

1. First, of course, simply be sensible and don’t set up any kind of non-vented engine or temporary gas heater or cooker in the house!
2. Buy and install a carbon monoxide detector – and pay attention to it! Remember, it probably gives off two kinds of “beeps.” One is soft and repetitive, and means that you need to change the batteries. The other is loud and insistent.
3. If the detector goes off, trust it! (Don’t do like one lady did, wait several hours because “I didn’t smell anything!” Odorless, colorless . . . remember?) Take steps to protect your family. Get out into fresh air. Call 911 or the Fire Department.

My friend Russ Flanigan, a BPI Certified contractor in Vermont, adds these recommendations to the basic ones above:

1. Install your detectors intelligently. They can be fooled by humidity, so don’t put them in the kitchen over the sink or dishwasher, or in the bathroom. Put them outside every separate sleeping area.
2. Getting a new kitchen or cookstove? Insist on having it tested for carbon monoxide when it’s installed. (Per Russ, furnaces are routinely tested, stoves not so often.)
3. Own a self-cleaning oven? Be sensible; don’t turn it on and go to bed. Rather, operate the self-cleaning function when you can keep the kitchen well aired.

Action Item: Add carbon monoxide to your “preparedness list.” Buy and install the appropriate number of carbon monoxide alarms.

Click here for a review of the different types, features and costs. 

(We’re updating this post today because we’ve had some new experiences!)

I know this may be an unpleasant subject to deal with, but even a moderate disaster can turn out to be more than an inconvenience. The issue?

Coping with primitive sanitary conditions.

Even if you have to put up with them only temporarily, dealing with such conditions requires ingenuity as well as fortitude. But deal with them you must.

What could trigger a sanitation emergency?

• Broken pipes. Even a moderate earthquake can result in broken water pipes. Within minutes, you’ll be unable to flush your toilet. People near the break may be faced with seepage of raw sewage.
• Power outage. A local water tower functions using gravity, but most urban systems depend on electrical pumps to move water and manage sewage. In a severe storm, these systems may shut down or overwhelm their back-up generators.
• Flooding. If too much water pours down into the drainage system, drains and ultimately sewage treatment plants may be overwhelmed, even without any actual breakage.

Any one of these circumstances could pose a serious health threat to you and your family.

What options do you have?

In the home, what’s important is to act IMMEDIATELY to seal off your home from contamination if you suspect a breakdown in either the water or sewer systems.

Shut off the water.

Even if your home isn’t damaged, you don’t want contaminated water flowing into it. At the first suggestion of problems, it’s easy enough to protect yourself by turning the water off at the house.

Block off the sewer.

You’ve surely experienced clogged plumbing, with waste water rising up in the shower, or a toilet overflowing instead of flushing neatly down. This is what we want to avoid!

If you know the sewer system has been compromised, AND YOU HAVE MADE ARRANCEMENTS FOR THIS IN ADVANCE, you could consider plugging your main sewer line with an inflatable plug to keep sewage from backing up from the system into your home.  (Read on for more about this.)

Keep people from using the toilet!

Of course, you can’t keep people from having to go – so you need to arrange a safe place for collecting feces, bile material and sanitary napkins.

We’ve written before about temporary toilets.

• The easiest solution? Line your regular toilet with heavy-duty plastic bags – the kind that are made for trash compactors.
• Second best solution? Line a 5-gallon bucket with the same compactor bags.

Some duct tape may help keep the bags where you want them.

How to dispose of sewage?

When you use your temporary toilet, add some disinfectant. (See below for suggestions.)

After bags have been used a few times, close and seal the bags, remove from the home, and store in a designated place – perhaps in a hole in the ground, preferably at a distance from the house and from traffic, where bags won’t be accidentally damaged.

Next steps? Store supplies BEFORE the emergency.

These are “general suggestions” that may or may not be appropriate for your situation. Talk over the alternatives at one of your community emergency response team meetings or discuss with your local police and fire authorities.

In any case, think it through and make sure you have the supplies you need. Here are some of the items discussed in this Advisory. (As always, click on the images to go directly to Amazon for full details and current pricing. If you buy we may get a small commission — your price won’t be affected!)

Compactor bags. These are NOT ordinary garden or trash bags!  They are made specifically for trash compactors. Get the sturdiest you can find. Costs start at about a dollar apiece and go down dramatically, the more you buy. Click on the images for details. These examples show a price range, but if you are buying for emergency use, you need more than just a dozen!

Disinfectant

Use your favorite. I prefer Clorox – the original, unscented kind, of course.

We’ve also used toilet deodorant chemicals in our motor home travels. This brand is specifically for portable toilets. Cost at Amazon is less than $10.

Rubber gloves – not the lightweight nitrile ones you see in the doctor’s office, or the simple rubber ones you might have under your sink for washing dishes. Here’s a pair designed for heavy duty use. Again, click the image for details and exact pricing.

Inflatable sewer plug

Get professional help to know what size to get and how to install it. Note these come in 2,3 and 4″ sizes to fit your pipes. Prices range from $20-$40 depending on size.

.

Bucket

Different colors have different prices (starting at around $15). Here’s one from a popular manufacturer, without a lid:

And with lid (different manufacturer), add about $5 – $10.

You may already have some of these supplies around the house.  Just be sure you don’t inadvertently run low or run out and find yourself in a fix if an emergency hits.

I know some of our readers have purchased different types of travel toilets. If you have experience with them, let us know in the comments!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Dear Loyal Subscriber,

Each week, when I sit down to send out a new Advisory, I picture you, my loyal subscriber, waiting eagerly for the message to arrive.

Maybe I’m fooling myself about the “eagerly,” but it’s a great pleasure to know that there are people out there who care about emergency preparedness enough to follow at least one person’s learning curve!

This week I tried something different in an attempt to get the word out.

I put up two Emergency Plan Guide videos on YouTube!

Why go to the effort?

On the one hand, I thought this would be an opportunity for me to figure out just “How to Turn a Power Point Presentation into a Video.”

I’ve used Power Point for years to create business presentations, training materials, and one-page flyers. This seemed like the next logical step. As you can imagine, it wasn’t without some effort – but I figured it out!

The second reason I made the videos was because I want to have more ways of getting the word out to the 50% of the world that has done no planning! I’m thinking, since everybody else is using video, maybe it will work for us, too.

So here are my videos. Not perfect, but workable! (I still have to master the timing of the voice-over and the slide turning . . .) Please check them out. Feel free to comment either here or on YouTube. And send me ideas for more of them, or direct me to YOUR videos. I’ll be happy to share!

Thanks!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

Don’t miss any of our Advisories! Sign up here to get them automatically.

If you read our posts regularly, you know we’re all about stocking up on food, water and medicines to tide us over in the case of a major disaster or emergency event until over-taxed emergency services can arrive.

 A Small Generator and a Camping Stove Can Be a World of Luxury in an Emergency!

If you have a small generator (say, 3,000 watts ) that you can run for an hour or so a day, you can probably continue to utilize your refrigerator and freezer. (This is particularly good since I don’t like being without my sour cream herring!) And, since we enjoy our coffee and are big latté drinkers in our house, we began experimenting with packets of instant latté. Most were pretty dismal . . . but, one turned out to be exquisite . . . exceeding our hopes.

Vinacafe 3 in 1 Instant Coffee Mix, 20 Sachets (Pack of 3)T

The surprise was that the brand, Vinacafé®, is actually a Vietnamese brand.

And then I remembered that The Vietnam of today used to be “French Indo-China.” (Yes some of us are old enough to remember ancient history.) And, if anyone knows how to make a good cup of latté (or should I say Café au Lait) it’s the French (no slight to the Italians intended).

It’s now all we drink. We’ve packed up the latté machine and forsaken Starbucks except when we are on the road.

Not All of Us “Up-Scale Survivalists” are Ready to Grab the Knife Between Our Teeth and Stalk Wild Animals for Dinner!

If there are any cool-headed, luxury-inclined “survivalists” within earshot, (wordshot?), I warmly recommend you try Vinacafé®. It only costs about 20-30 cents a packet, depending on where you buy it. (Compare that to $3.00+ a cup) So far, the only places that carry it are some Vietnamese grocery stores and Amazon.com. (Go back and click on the image to get current price at Amazon.)

If you don’t have an outside barbecue, you’ll probably want to pick up a one or two-burner camping stove (we chose a Coleman out of loyalty ) that runs on butane. In addition to boiling water for your coffee, you can also cook some of that food you have stored up.

The point to this dissertation is simply that there are some things in life you don’t have to give up, even in difficult times! 🙂

What are your favorite “luxury” items that you’ve stashed in your survival kit or among your emergency supplies?

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

I think we all can bring up an image of flames shooting out of an apartment or hotel room in a high-rise, with smoke billowing. It’s so that when I travel, I request a room on a lower floor, and near the stairs – all because of those images!

Where are the exits?

The recent fire in West LA got me to look into the realities of emergency preparedness for people living in high-rises, however, and the results weren’t exactly what I was expecting.

Here’s some of what I learned.

The danger of fire in a high-rise is LESS than in other structures!

The National Fire Protection Agency, excellent resource for all things fire-related, reports that only 3% of structural fires are in high-rise buildings. (They define high-rise as 7 stories or taller. There are other definitions; I’m defining high-rise as anything above the height of the local fire department’s highest ladder.)

A fire in a high-rise results in statistically less damage.

Modern hotels and apartment buildings, where about half the high-rise fires occur, are far more likely than other structures to have:

* Construction that resists fire. Steel with spray-on coatings or encased with concrete resists fire far longer than wood construction. If you’re familiar with fire insurance, you know that buildings are rated for how resistive their construction methods are.

* Systems to protect against fire. Depending on size the building, it may have fire alarms and automatic sprinklers. Larger buildings may have camera surveillance, controlled access and even 24-hour monitoring.

OK, that’s great for statistics. But what about me?

If you actually plan to live in a high-rise apartment, what should you find out about the building?

Take a tour of the building with management, and get answers to these five questions:

1. What fire safety systems does the building have, and who maintains them? Don’t assume anything! The LA fire happened in a building with no sprinklers.
2. Are exits clearly marked? In an emergency, elevators won’t be available.
3. Are the fire exits unlocked? Are fire doors kept closed, not propped open?
4. Does the building have a fire evacuation plan? What about fire drills?
5. Does the fire alarm system have a public announcement capability?

And if a fire breaks out, what should you do?

The U.S. Fire Administration, part of FEMA, offers guidelines for how to protect yourself and how to save yourself. Here are highlights:

• Call the fire department yourself to report a fire. Nobody else may have called!
• When you hear a fire alarm, feel the exit door of the apartment with the back of your hand.

a. If it’s cool, open the door carefully. Do you see smoke or flames? If all clear, head for the nearest exit. If you encounter smoke, turn back! According to FEMA, smoke and toxic gases kill more people than flames do.

b. If the door is warm, or you see smoke, do not go out! Stay in your apartment. Stuff the cracks around the door with towels or bedding. Turn off the air conditioning. Keep smoke from coming into the apartment. To quote again from FEMA, “Asphyxiation is the leading cause of fire deaths, exceeding burns by a three-to-one ratio.”

• Call the fire department to let them know where you are. Signal from a window. Don’t leave it open if smoke is coming in.
• Listen for instructions from the fire department.
• Be patient. It may take hours for a high-rise to be fully evacuated.

Do you live now in a high-rise apartment? If not, who do you know that does?

Since nearly 40% of Americans are renters, and the majority of them live in apartments, you are bound to have friends or family in this category.

Action Item:  Please share this information. You can simply forward the blog post, or copy and paste it into an email or onto an attachment or link to it on your own Facebook page.

Thank you.  Your action may save lives.

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team