Ojedieu
Posts: 142
Joined: 1/17/2005
From: Michigan
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GoddessDustyGold
In the wake of Katrina, I found myself wondering if I even knew what to do in the event of a major natural or mad-made disaster.
The devastation of the gulf coast and the double tragedy of the New Orleans flood has been very sobering for me. I was discussing this with Ms Foxy this morning, (she disabled/partial wheelchair) and it made me realize I actually do not know what to do or where to go.
I am sure if I had the resources and had warning, I would, first and foremost, get out . But what if I couldn't? What if you can't?
I find myself smiling now when I hear the test of the emergency broadcast system, now. If we take the time to think about it, that is a very nice plan, but it might not work at all. What if there is no way to broadcast?
So how many of us are aware of our own city's emergency strategy?
Do you know where to go? If that place is qiped out, do you have a back-up plan?
Do you have batteries and a battery operated radio or television?
Do you have a generator? Or at least a way to provide some light and ability to cook? (i.e. oil lamps, charcoal?)
Do you have reasonable canned food on hand?
Do you have enough bottled fresh water?
Is your gas tank full?
What would you do about your pets in the case of a major disaster?
Do you have a list of your medications, and can you grab what you need in a heartbeat?
Do you even know what you would need, given the time to choose?
Just a bit of curiosity on my part, as I have been reading the other threads on this. In watching the terrible straits of many of these people, I was motivated into thinking about how I would attempt to survive, if I had even 3 minutes to prepare.
How about you?
Well, we're more ready than some, but definitely not ready enough. While hubby has tons of practical survival skills and we've discussed the "what if" scenarios before, we're still not in a state of readiness to provide ourselves with anything like long term survival. Neither of us have any clue about our city's emergency strategy. We don't have any ideas for offical places to go for help, but we do have one or two alternate ideas of where we could go.
For longterm survival, we both want to get a non-gas powered generator (and have wanted to for a long time). Now that we're buying our first home, maybe we'll actually get one. Same goes for solar and wind power -- I'm a huge fan of any renewable, free, source of energy. Another thing I'd like is a hand pump for our well for when the power goes out and the pump won't run. So while in a perfect world, we'd already have these things, in reality we don't yet.
We both can survive in a fairly hostile environment, though it wouldn't be any fun whatsoever. We know how to test and purify our water if need be and have a fair idea of what wild plants are edible, as well as how to hunt. (Though I despise hunting -- if it's a survival necessity, I'm sure I could throttle Bambi myself.) We have a hand cranked radio, and I'd love to eventually get a HAM radio as when everything else goes down, the HAM users are usually the first to be able to contact outside help. We'd manage with light and fire to cook, not a problem there, but we don't have any water or canned food on hand -- if the well got contaminated, we'd just have to boil everything and hope for the best. The gas tank is almost always low but assuming roads were clear, we might be able to make 100 miles.
Pets would (depending on the severity of the problem) either: a) come with us b) be set free to fend for themselves (ours were feral when we got them -- so they do know how to live on their own.) c) Or (and I hate to say this one, but it's practical) if in a really extreme situation (and it would have to be very extreme)-- become food.
I do take medicines daily and I've done some consideration of how I could manage without manufactured meds -- relying on the tried and true herbal remedies and herbs which make up the basis of my regular medications -- of course I've got all the books on these plants, know what they look like and where they're native, but do I have a garden of them like I'd been planning. Of course not! I keep saying "someday", but of course that doesn't get the work done.
Do I know what I need? Oddly enough, yes. But other than ID, most of it isn't readily at hand, so we'd kind of be up a creek when it came to necessities. Thanks for the mental jolt, maybe this will get our butts into gear.
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Ojedieu
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How many of us are ready for a Katrina? - 
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