Although the jist of the 72 hrs campaign is to assemble a home emergency kit, I thought it might be a good idea today to go over how to pack up an evacuation go pack, more commonly known as a bug out bag.
Think of it this way,
You are awakened in the wee hours of the
night by emergency crews pounding on your door. A wild fire, hurricane,
tsunami, or other natural or man made disaster is imminent. You have to
leave....NOW. Your allowable time to pack is ZERO. If you have been
paying attention, you grab your BOB and go, if not, well, you're
buggered. If you still don't have a BOB for every member of the family
near the front door...what are you waiting for? A disaster? Too late!
Trust me, get a bag together ASAP. Here are some ideas what to put into
it.
Complete change of clothing...
Consider the
climate and current season, running out the door in February with a
spare t-shirt and shorts is not exactly helpful. Keep extra socks
too...dry feet are happy feet.
Drinking water...
2l per day for drinking + 2l per day for sanitation. Plan for a 3 day supply.
Food...
ready to eat, without heating. Avoid dehydrated foods as they require precious (not to mention heavy to carry) water.
Flashlight & radio...
Forget
about the battery types and get a crank model. They are now
inexpensive enough for everyone to afford. I got mine at Canadian Tire
for around $15.00. Flashlight/AM/FM Radio combo.
Toiletry Kit...
toilet paper a must, feminin products for those who need them.
Meds...
prescriptions for a week + over the counter stuff like pain relievers, antihistamines, etc.
USB KEY...
very
important....keep copies of important documents, family photos, and
anything invaluable that can be digitized. This includes insurance
policies, house deeds, banking records.
Trust me people, this can make even government run shelter life more pleasant, or at least tolerable.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Emergency Preparedness Week 2013 - Ice Storms By Cam and Michelle Mather
Cam and Michelle Mather run an off grid farm in Ontario, producing 100% of their own electricity wit solar panels and a wind turbine. They have gracefully given me permission to repost from their blog, and I thought that this particular article would serve as a reminder that emergencies do happen. Anyone in eastern Canada can well remember the ice storm that hit in the winter of 1998, leaving countless thousands without electricity for days or even weeks on end. But it doesn't end there...although we have yet to see a storm of such destruction and breadth since, ice storms continue to be a real threat. Have a read from Cam & Michelle's blog below then go visit for yourself at http://www.cammather.com/blog.
Spring Ice Storm 2013
Did you ever see the movie “The Ice Storm?” It had less to
do with ice storms and more to do with those crazy 1970’s and what our
parents were all up to. But I digress.
We had an ice storm here last Friday, April 12. In March, 2012 the temperature was 20°C (70°F) for two weeks. All the trees broke bud, and then many got damaged when the cold weather returned. This year, the winter seems reluctant to go away. Now, I have to admit I don’t mind, because I’m still finishing next year’s firewood and have a whack of jobs around the property that don’t require warm weather, so frankly I find I can accomplish way more when it’s cool. The ground is still frozen in many places so I can’t turn over the gardens, even if I wanted to.
In January 1998, 6 months before we bought this place, there was a huge ice storm that left millions without power for days or weeks. Last week’s ice storm left lots of people around us without electricity again, many for 2 or more days. I’ve been through ice storms before, but this was the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime. Our area was hit extremely hard and there was a lot of damage. We had a lot of trees come down and tons of branches break off.
It was quite windy in the morning but the wind turbine had become iced up over night and so we didn’t get any “juice” from it. Nothing makes me more paranoid than seeing my wind turbine on a tilt-up galvanized steel tower held up with guy wires, rated at a certain weight and load, that is now covered with a quarter inch of ice. Yikes! It’s still standing though, as a testament to my engineering prowess (but more likely sheer luck, I think).
It’s a very bizarre experience to stand outside your house and hear the endless “cracks” as branches break off, then the “shattering glass” sound as the ice on the branch hits everything on the way down, taking more ice with it. It’s just brutal.
As I sat in the office late in the afternoon a huge poplar came crashing down outside the guesthouse. It just missed hitting my garlic drying racks, which would have really annoyed me if it had hit them. The weird thing is that the tree had basically fallen over, and its roots had been pulled out of the ground. That has never happened here. Poplars are a crappy tree and will break off at the hint of ice or big wind. But this time the tree had fallen over from the weight of the ice. I was talking to my neighbor who has been here much longer than I have and he had 3 poplars come down the same way. He said he’d never seen that before.
So in pursuit of my climate change confirmation bias, I found this article from National Geographic which suggests that scientists believe that the additional warmth in the arctic and lack of sea ice, exacerbated with more exposed dark water, is pushing that nice warm jet stream further south, causing us to experience a cool spring in the north and more erratic weather.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130326-arctic-sea-ice-global-warming-science-environment-spring/
I hope ice storms are not the new norm, certainly not in April. I heat with wood, and the trees that came down won’t go to waste, but to see so many with damaged leaders, and lost limbs, well, it’s pretty brutal. Apparently nature can have a real attitude.
We had an ice storm here last Friday, April 12. In March, 2012 the temperature was 20°C (70°F) for two weeks. All the trees broke bud, and then many got damaged when the cold weather returned. This year, the winter seems reluctant to go away. Now, I have to admit I don’t mind, because I’m still finishing next year’s firewood and have a whack of jobs around the property that don’t require warm weather, so frankly I find I can accomplish way more when it’s cool. The ground is still frozen in many places so I can’t turn over the gardens, even if I wanted to.
In January 1998, 6 months before we bought this place, there was a huge ice storm that left millions without power for days or weeks. Last week’s ice storm left lots of people around us without electricity again, many for 2 or more days. I’ve been through ice storms before, but this was the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime. Our area was hit extremely hard and there was a lot of damage. We had a lot of trees come down and tons of branches break off.
It was quite windy in the morning but the wind turbine had become iced up over night and so we didn’t get any “juice” from it. Nothing makes me more paranoid than seeing my wind turbine on a tilt-up galvanized steel tower held up with guy wires, rated at a certain weight and load, that is now covered with a quarter inch of ice. Yikes! It’s still standing though, as a testament to my engineering prowess (but more likely sheer luck, I think).
It’s a very bizarre experience to stand outside your house and hear the endless “cracks” as branches break off, then the “shattering glass” sound as the ice on the branch hits everything on the way down, taking more ice with it. It’s just brutal.
As I sat in the office late in the afternoon a huge poplar came crashing down outside the guesthouse. It just missed hitting my garlic drying racks, which would have really annoyed me if it had hit them. The weird thing is that the tree had basically fallen over, and its roots had been pulled out of the ground. That has never happened here. Poplars are a crappy tree and will break off at the hint of ice or big wind. But this time the tree had fallen over from the weight of the ice. I was talking to my neighbor who has been here much longer than I have and he had 3 poplars come down the same way. He said he’d never seen that before.
So in pursuit of my climate change confirmation bias, I found this article from National Geographic which suggests that scientists believe that the additional warmth in the arctic and lack of sea ice, exacerbated with more exposed dark water, is pushing that nice warm jet stream further south, causing us to experience a cool spring in the north and more erratic weather.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130326-arctic-sea-ice-global-warming-science-environment-spring/
I hope ice storms are not the new norm, certainly not in April. I heat with wood, and the trees that came down won’t go to waste, but to see so many with damaged leaders, and lost limbs, well, it’s pretty brutal. Apparently nature can have a real attitude.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Emergency Preparedness Week 2013 - Having A Plan
The second basic step to being prepared is also this year's theme for EP Week, making a plan. Having an emergency plan in place before hand can avoid confusion and save valuable time during an event. When disaster strikes, people naturally become confused or disoriented. By taking a few minutes to make a plan can alleviate much of the stress involved with emergency situations. Emergencies take on many scenarios which can be broken down into 3 types which are:
Sometimes, your local neighborhood could be affected and access cut off. Designate at least two meeting places such as a nearby school, library, or other safe place. Make sure that everyone in the family knows where they are and how to get there. You may be asked to shut off utilities before evacuating so make sure that everyone who is old enough to do so knows the location of utility entries and how to properly shut them off. In the case of gas or water, a tool such as a wrench may be needed, so have one specifically for that purpose located at the service entrance.
Wide area emergencies can and do happen more often that we would like. Make sure that every member of your home has and carries an information package at all times. This package should include:
- Home
- Local Neighborhood
- Wide Area
Sometimes, your local neighborhood could be affected and access cut off. Designate at least two meeting places such as a nearby school, library, or other safe place. Make sure that everyone in the family knows where they are and how to get there. You may be asked to shut off utilities before evacuating so make sure that everyone who is old enough to do so knows the location of utility entries and how to properly shut them off. In the case of gas or water, a tool such as a wrench may be needed, so have one specifically for that purpose located at the service entrance.
Wide area emergencies can and do happen more often that we would like. Make sure that every member of your home has and carries an information package at all times. This package should include:
- In town and out of town contact information
- medical information such as the names of prescription medications, dosage and frequency (an old label from a prescription bottle is a great idea)
- list of meeting places and maps of how to get there
- emergency contact information
- some change to make phone calls from a public phone
- a cell phone with text capability
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