Transcript Home Emergency Preparation

Home Emergency Preparation
Getting ready for disasters before
they strike.
If you fail to plan then plan to fail.
Types of disaster to prepare for
Types of Disasters
Natural & Man Made
Storms
Wind
Flooding
Snow
Earthquakes
Chemical spills
Biological releases
Nuclear accidents
Terrorist attack
NBC
Conventional
Explosives
(IEDs)
Types of Preparation
• Prepare to Evacuate
• Prepare to Shelter in
Place
– What to take with you
– What necessities
should you have
– What to do before you
leave
– Where to store them
– Where to go
– How much should you
have
Preparing to Evacuate
What to take with you
• Clothes
– For the season
– Location relocating to
• Personal Documents and
important papers
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Insurance documents
Medical ID cards
Marriage license
Bank Account Info
Passports
Important valuables
• First Aid
– Medicines
– First Aid Supplies
• Food for the trip
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Canned foods
Snacks
Non perishable ready to eat
Water
• Tools
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Flash lights
Emergency road kit
Blankets
Some automotive tools
• Distractions
– Books, games, and toys for
kids
• If you have pets
– Food, water, and medicines
What to do before you leave
• Prepare your home for your absence
• Empty and shut off your refrigerator and/or
freezer
• Shut off your utilities – gas, water,
electricity
• Unplug all appliances
• Lock all your windows and doors and yard
sheds
Where to go
• If at all possible go to a place you know well
• Family or friends who have the room and
resources to let you stay for a few days to a
week
• Smaller cities or towns if you have to get lodging
(cost are usually less in smaller towns)
• Go to places that are free of putting you in
further disaster mode.
Prepare to Shelter in Place
• Necessities – cover everything you need
to live without access to stores, banks, or
having utilities-electricity, water, gas.
(know your area – where are local water sources, crops, livestock etc?)
• Three main categories require stocking up
• One sub category requires organization
• Tools and supplies
Three main categories of
necessities
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Food
– Recommended 3 day supply
– Better to have a 7 – 14 day supply
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Shelter
– If your home is habitable then use it other wise you may need to set up shelter
outside
– Tents in the backyard are a good way to go
– RVs and camping trailers
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Water – should at least last as long as the food
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If water is to be obtained after the fact purification may be necessary
Remember that your hot water tank is a source of potable water
Toilet tanks will provide water for hygiene purposes
If you know a storm is on its way, fill bathtubs and any other containers you may
have such as (clean) trashcans, buckets, bins, empty soda bottles, etc. You can
also line boxes and other containers with trash bags before filling, and then tie
them closed. Water is CHEAP, but can be FAR MORE VALUABLE THAN FOOD
in a disaster situation. You can live for weeks without food, but you’ll only last a
few days without drinking!
Food
• Canned foods – can be eaten from can or little preparation
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Vegetables, fruits
Soups, stews
Beans
Meats, chili, tuna, canned salmon
Honey (never goes bad, and is a good antiseptic)
• Dry foods
• Rice, noodles, beans, sugar, salt, cereal, oatmeal, flour
• Snack foods
• Peanut butter, crackers, cookies, hard candies, energy bars, breakfast
bars, jerky, dried fruits, nuts, trail mix
• Cooking essentials
• Seasonings – salt, pepper, baking powder, baking soda, powdered milk
(with a can or two of condensed milk)
• Oil, butter, shortening
Shelter
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If your home is safe to stay in that is the best choice.
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It provides familiarity
It reduces stress
It will allow for a more rapid recovery
If you must leave your house, you don’t have to necessarily leave your property.
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If you live in a single family home consider putting up tents in your back yard.
If you have a camping trailer, RV, or even a child’s tree house you have either all you need or
a good start
In the absence of an RV or trailer, tents are temporary, you will need to make something a
little stronger and sturdier for longer term
If you are an apartment dweller you may have to find another location – parks, school
grounds, and church properties are good choices
If you already keep some tools in a home kit, then a good supply of nails (10 lbs or more)
and a hammer go a LONG way. If there’s been a flood, tornado, hurricane or earthquake,
then shelter can be quickly built with the debris and the hammer and nails. This type of
debris shelter is much more permanent, protective and comfortable than a tent! Something
as simple as nails become worth their weight in gold in some situations! It’s funny how
priorities and values change in certain situations.
One sub categories
• Personal papers
– Insurance policies, bank account numbers, official documents like
marriage licenses, custody papers, passports and other valid IDs
– These do not need to be the originals. You can typically get away with
photocopies. As such, you do not have to worry about running around
collecting your important documents in an emergency, you can have all
pre-copied in your kit ready to go. I’ve even seen someone do a high
resolution scan of each of their docs, and store them all on a memory
stick. They kept the stick in a film container in their kit. It’s a nice way to
keep it small, especially if you have a LOT of docs, treasured pictures,
mementos etc that you value! You could also use CD, DVD, hard-drive,
etc, as long as it’s in a safe, hard-shell waterproof container. Everything
can be printed out later, after the emergency has passed. Many folks
that have lost everything say that the house is NOTHING when
compared to photo albums, etc! Modern technology means you can
carry a filing cabinet worth of mementos in a VERY small package.
– Cash, gold, valuable jewelry, and other SMALL, high-value items that
can be easily carried are worth taking. These can be hocked or traded
in a pinch
Additional items
• Tools
– Hammer, bow saw, axe or hand axe, wrenches, siphon pump or
siphon tubing, shovel, good length of strong nylon rope, good
length of light nylon line or strong small cotton line, camp stove,
lanterns, flash lights, battery, hand-cranked, or solar, etc
operated radio, manual can opener, a good sturdy camping utility
knife
• Supplies
• Large and small plastic bags, extra toilet paper, extra batteries,
fuel for camp stoves and lanterns, candles, pots, pans, a Dutch
oven, mess kits or large supply of paper plates and plastic
utensil, water purification, bucket, several rolls of duct tape,
small roll of utility wire, chlorine bleach (non fragrant), extra
blankets, gloves, filter breathing mask, writing pad, pens, and
pencils
Storage of foods and supplies
• Foods
– Box up canned foods, bag dried and other foods and store either
in an outside shed or close to a garage door for quick and easy
access Be careful to keep dry stocks (rice, flour, cereals, etc) well
up out of the reach of mice and other rodents!
• Water
– Store in water bottles, boxed and with the stored food
• Tools
– Should be kept in a large canvas duffel bag with the food and
water
• Supplies
– Likewise supplies should be boxed or in a large canvas duffel
bag and store with other items
How much is enough
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Emergency agencies suggest a 3 day supply to hold you till emergency
services have time to set up and get moving.
3 days will get you through a lesser disaster.
Katrina, Rita, and the Northridge quake experience shows us that at least a
week is a better idea.
Some disaster may be so substantial that a month’s supply may not even
be enough.
When the infrastructure is sufficiently disrupted, governments will have to
struggle with getting basic services taken care before being concerned with
assisting business recovery which means NO STORES.
Without electrical power stores are unlikely to open since all of their cash
registers are electric powered and computer connected to supply and
accounting networks. Networks will also be down without
telecommunications capabilities, gas stations will also be out of service
since pumps run on electricity and are computer connected as well. A few
cans of gas in your garage or shed could SAVE YOUR LIFE. If you need to
evacuate on short notice, and you’re low on gas, you need to be able to gas up
your car yourself. Don’t count on gas stations being open!
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If you don’t have the things you need before a disaster strikes you are just
out of luck.
First Aid
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First Aid kit
First Aid manual
First Aid courses
Alternatives to conventional first aid items
and common medical supplies
First Aid Kit
• Can be purchased or built
– Pre-made kits are commercially available and some are not so
expensive
– You can build your own kit and depending on how elaborate your
cost will be about 1/5 of a commercial one.
• Start with a container
– You need something to store the kit in
– A box, old back pack, canvas beach bag, old empty tool box,
fishing tackle box, a large plastic kitchen container, etc.
• Choose basics
– Band-Aids, disinfectants, dressings, bandages, tape, scissors,
OTC medicines, tweezers, thermometer,
• Expand from basics
– Large bandage dressings, baby powder, baby oil, Vaseline,
needles and thread, lip balm, vitamins, emergency reflective
blankets, Icy Hot, calamine lotion, hand cream Don’t forget to pack
any prescription medications that you or your family might need!
First Aid Manual
• A small first aid book
– Some kit in stores come with first aid
instructions
– Small books can be purchased on line for
under $5
– First Aid instructions can be down loaded from
the internet and printed out at home
– Medical clinics sometimes have first aid
instructions
First Aid Courses
• First Aid courses
– CPR classes are available in most towns and
cities
– Community Colleges have life study courses
that include First Aid
– Military teaches basic first aid
Alternatives to conventional first aid
items
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Large dressings
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Bandages
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Sutures are available for commercial consumption but it is easier to have a needle, thread, and alcohol
Dental floss is already sterile and ready for use as suture material, use only unwaxed
Sanitized monofilament fishing line also makes good suture material
As suturing is difficult at best with regular needles, use it as an absolute last resort. Instead have or make
butterfly bandages out of medical tape.
Antibiotics and disinfectants
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Ace bandages can be cut and used to secure dressings
Any sterilized cloth can be cut and used as bandages
Super glue will work like liquid skin to keep smaller cut closed
Sutures
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Feminine napkins make excellent large size and volume dressings
They are sterile and compactly packaged
Tampons also will act as sterile dressings once removed from the tube
In a pinch amoxicillin can be purchased at pet stores
Homeopaths use Turmeric made into a tea with salt as both anti-viral and antibiotic
Listerine is and excellent disinfectant for broken blister and toe nail fungus
Topical analgesic
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Whole cloves soaked in mineral oil makes a great topical analgesic, just rub the oil into the skin on the
afflicted area
One spoon of horse radish in one cup of olive oil will also work
8 weeks to a 72 hour kit
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Week #1- Develop an evacuation plan.
Make a plan: if you are not sheltering-in-place, have a location where
you all will meet if you have to leave home; have a telephone contact
outside the state for everybody to check in with as local telephone lines
may be too busy to get through. Check out "www.Ready.gov."
Week # 2- Store a gallon of water for each person
in the home.
If water is interrupted for three days, have on hand three gallons of water
per person, but even one gallon per person is better than none. In
time, add to your 72-hour survival kit.
Week #3 - Top off supply of water.
Make sure some of your family drinking water supply is in small enough
plastic bottles to carry; remember, three gallons per person should last
you the first 72 hours.
Week #4 - Get a jar of peanut butter and enough
crackers for everybody for 3 days.
Be prepared for a snack-attack. Peanut butter and crackers go a long
way to make happy campers.
8 weeks to 72 hour kit continued
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Week #5 - Get an extra flashlight for the car and
an extra one for the house, plus extra batteries for each.
Don't be in the dark about emergencies; lighten up with two extra flashlights
and extra batteries, and don't forget extra bulbs.
Long burning emergency candles or oil lamps for basic light in your shelter (they’re cheap and last
a LONG time). Also the keychain type LED lights for personal use (get the type with the on/off
switch, NOT the push to light kind). These little lights put out a lot of light, and last for a long time.
In addition to this, they weigh very little, and extra batteries also are small and weigh very little.
You can buy these in bulk for a few dollars each, and the batteries for under a dollar each, so
having quite a few in your kit is an easy proposition. Each person should have at least one!
Week #6 - Purchase three cans of ready-to-eat
food for each person in the home.
Don't go hungry when the lights go out. Three cans of your favorite
ready-to-eat food per person will be a major part of your survival diet.
Don’t forget a manual can opener.
Week #7 - Get a first aid kit.
Check your home first aid kit for all the things it came with, and replace
missing items; check the one in the car, too.
Week #8 - Buy canned or dried fruit for breakfasts
and desserts.
Begin and end each day with your favorite fruit, in a can for emergencies,
Water Purification
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Tablets
– Tablets for purifying water are available where camping supplies can be
purchased
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Bleach
– Plain chlorine bleach, non fragranced goes along way, use 16 drops per one
gallon of water, let stand one hour and drink your fill
– If the smell and taste of chlorine is too strong, try transferring the water back and
forth between containers, the action releases the chlorine in gas form from the
water
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Filtering
– Filtering also works well, you can purchase a filtering system or build your own
• From the inside of a three pound coffee can punch holes through the bottom
• Lay two to three layers of coffee filters in the bottom of he can.
• Fill the bottom of the can to about a 2 inches deep with crushed regular charcoal
brickets (don’t use the quick lite kind, it is saturated with some form of igniter fuel
• A narrower container or tube that is filled deeper (at least a couple inches) will do much
better. A soda or tennis ball can filled most of the way with crushed charcoal will work
just fine as a water filter. If you don’t have much charcoal, then simply crush up the
charcoal and add it to the water. Leave it for an hour or so, and then filter through the
coffee filters. Charcoal can also be obtained from burnt wood, just scrape the black off
like you would your burnt toast.
Disaster Psychology
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Mentally coping with a disaster
– Disasters are intense trauma to the senses, mental and emotional faculties
– Knowing before hand what you might face and planning to deal with it is 90% of the
problem
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Preparing and planning ahead
– Getting your kit ready and making a plan of action will be the first step in keeping a proper
mental state that will see you through
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Realizing you are your own
– Both Katrina and Rita are perfect examples of how long and how poorly officials will react
to disasters
– Since they can’t and sometimes won’t react in time you have to take the necessary actions
to take care of yourselves and your family
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Dealing with the problems that arise
– By their very nature disaster are a problem and create many more as time goes by
– You may not be able to think of every possibility but, you can think of enough of them to be
ready to deal with them
– When making your plans and kits keep thinking “What if.”
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Keeping a positive attitude
– When the going gets tough, keep your focus on taking care of yourself and your family
– As an old friend of mine used to say, “Attitude determines altitude.”
Before you begin
• The first thing you should do is an inventory of what
you have
– In any survival class the first thing they teach you about surviving
is to take stock of what you have
– Much of what you need you already have
– The question is then how much do you have
– How much will you need to get
– Take a written inventory of food, water, tools and supplies and
start from there
– Improvise, improvise, improvise !!! Almost
everything has alternative uses, cans become cups
and pots, a hand axe becomes a hammer. Don’t limit
yourself, get creative!
Security
• In the times of crisis after disaster strikes people
who are unprepared will be doing horrendous
things to survive.
• There will be lawlessness
• People will be desperate
• They will not be willing to share, they will be
wanting to take and they will hurt you to do it
• Law enforcement will be minimal if at all
• Security for you and your family will be as
important to protecting your preparations as the
preparations themselves
Security Measures
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First and most important is mindset
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Keep a low profile
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If you have close neighbors help them to prepare and then work together as group to survive
Strength in numbers
Pooling resources
Be careful who you trust, if word gets out that you have supplies you may be inviting trouble so keep a low profile
Get and keep contact with whatever local law enforcement that is available
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If you are sheltering in place, don’t make a big show of how much more comfortable you are because you prepared
Keep your movements to a minimum, the fewer people who see you the better
Work with neighbors
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Understand that everyone will be a little disoriented at first
Realize that survival is a strong instinct and people will do things to survive that they would not normally do
Remember that you to are determined to survive and make your determination stronger than those who might attack you or your
family
If local law enforcement is available, get in touch with them and let them know you sheltering at home
Ask them to make as regular passes as possible to check on you
It will be a good idea to have some food and/or coffee ready to offer them as an inducement
As a last resort be ready to defend your self and family
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Start this by setting up some kind of barrier perimeter to you and your family
If need be set up watches where some one is checking to see who is in the area
Set up alarms systems, dogs are good for this
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NO ELECTRICITY – tin cans in house and fishing line (tripwire) around perimeter. Anyone entering at
night will shake/knock over the cans, waking you.
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Lastly be willing to share if you can or fight if you have to
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If you own a gun, be sure to have ammunition available (for both protection and for hunting if
necessary). If you do not own a gun, pack pepper spray, a baseball bat or some other form of
protection for you and your family
FEMA Emergency Kit Guide
• http://www.ready.gov/america/get_a_kit.html
• http://www.ready.gov/america/make_a_plan.html
Washington State Emergency
Management Preparedness Guide
• http://emd.wa.gov/5-prog/prgms/pubed/homeprep/home-prep-idx.htm
Survival Resources and
Information
• http://members.aol.com/SaveMoDoe2/emergency.htm
• http://www.first-aidproduct.com/pgSurvival.htm?source=Overture&wcw=overtur
e.com&ovmkt=42KPBD9987LSGKC9SGK6PD6PRS&OVRA
W=survival%20kits&OVKEY=survival%20kit&OVMTC=stand
ard
• http://www.quakekare.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCAT
S&Category=1
• http://www.bereadyinc.com/
• http://mountainsurvival.com/survivalkit.html