Thursday, March 17, 2011

My Thoughts on Disaster Preparedness




I am guest posting this over at HeyLauraWhat.com so please go and check out the series that Laura is doing over there!


One morning in 1987, I woke up and I made my way to the bathroom to get ready for school.  A quick bath, a dry, undies, leggings, an oversized shirt, and two layers of socks in different colors....put on with one black sock first then a hot pink sock over that with exactly the opposite layering on the other foot, you know, just to look a little private school Punky B.  I brushed my hair, but before I could give myself a side half ponytail, it struck.  

There is nothing quite like running down a narrow hallway of stairs and watching humungous cracks form, chase you to the bottom and win.  I met my mother there at the bottom of the stairs and we quickly hid under our massive dining room table.  It stopped, only for a minute and then another one came.  It was quite a scene for my eight-year-old self to experience. 





Here I am, two weeks before the fear of moving tectonic plates in combination with old houses was instilled in me.  I believe at that point I had already become scared of bad bang trims.  *blushes*

I grew up in a gorgeous craftsman-style house in Pasadena, CA that was situated in the end of a canyon.  Our house was built on land that was held up by a 20-foot rock retaining wall, and our backyard consisted of several different levels behind that level that were equally high and also held up by the exact same style of walls.  It was the place of my childhood joy.  Sure, the place most certainly had its flaws, but it was my home and my entire family loved it.  That house had survived the beehive in our living room walls, the flash floods that came roaring down that street, too many rattlesnakes to count, the whipping winds that actually lifted a table from our covered porch, out the window and down the street (My mom the next morning: "Where is the table?!  It was right here!  Wait, why is there a huge hole in the screen?"), and many smaller earthquakes before. But this one was a fatal blow.

After the shaking stopped, my mom walked into our kitchen to call my dad and freaked out.  "We have got to get out of here.  NOW."  I didn't realize it at the time, but our house had partially collapsed and the wall behind our house that held up our vegetable garden had fully smashed into our kitchen.  Our house had fallen down, at least partly, and who knew if other half was about to go?  We left as quickly as we could, though our nerves were shaken for life.  The house was condemned by the county and we were left homeless, forbidden to even enter our house again to even get our belongings.  I'll admit that my parents and a few church members braved the danger and helped us get what we could for a few minutes.  Thank goodness for the compassionate family and friends nearby who allowed us to sleep on their couches and floors and would let us launder the two outfits we had on us during those initial days.  Of course, we could have done without the neighbors who immediately looted our home and took anything thought of as valuable before the rickety house itself scared them off, but at least we were all okay.



Working in our side yard.  Those walls were the ones that fell down and wound up in our kitchen.  Retaining walls similar to these held up our entire property as well.

Although there's many other details I could give you about that day, I have got to say that now, as a mother, a companion to my children, a leader, a protector, this memory still haunts me, but for different reasons.  I look back on that day and realize how good we had it: we were able to get out of that structure physically uninjured, drive to safety on roads that had only minor damage, and head on over to trusted family and friends who welcomed us with open arms a few cities over.  Sure, we didn't have everything we would have liked to have had with us,  but you know what?  We had food.  We had running water that was safe enough to drink.  Wcould get out.  I always looked at this experience as a traumatizing event, but it was Not. That. Bad.  No, not even a fraction as bad as it could have been.  That's the scary part in my mind. 

But what if this happened now?  I have two young children who count on me.  ME!  Would I have enough food to feed my family for several weeks...just in case things were horrific?  What about water for the same duration of time?  That is a LOT of water.  Think about it.   It appalls me to think of how unprepared we are and how much we depend on those little things like running water and electricity to take care of us.  I look at those earthquake kits commonly sold and I just have to wrinkle my nose. While it is something that would be helpful, I know that four 2500 energy bars, a 12-pack of boxed waters, and a tin foil blanket is not exactly enough to get us through given the worst-case scenario.  Depending on the widespread destruction, who knows how long it could take to get things back to working order, especially if you live nearly an hour away from a real city with actual shopping options, as I do.  The type of earthquake I experienced was a relatively small one, it was only a 5.9.  It was puny, and yet it still managed to knock our house down!  

Denial runs deep when it comes preparing for situations like this.  For some strange reason we think that unexpected widespread disasters could never happen to us.  Unfortunately, this belief couldn't be further from the truth.   


There is an event called the Great California ShakeOut.  On October 20, at 10:20 in the morning a mass earthquake drill is supposed to take place.  When my son was 18 months old, he had a doctors appointment with his pediatrician on exact date and time.  "Oh goody!", I thought to myself.  "I get to actually see what [that particular hospital] has in place for this type of emergency!"  (Yes, I know.  I'm a huge nerd.)   When I arrived, everyone was doing their regular business and check-in procedures.  "It's 10:19...shouldn't they be giving directions or something? No?"  10:20 came and went. At first I just assumed that the clocks were slow, but as they called my son's name at 10:30, I couldn't not ask about it. 

"I thought today was the Great ShakeOut thing.  Did you guys hear about that? Aren't we going to practice ducking and covering and whatever else we're supposed to do in this type of facility?"

Both the nurse and receptionist looked at me and rolled their eyes.  "Please, honey.  This building is earthquake-proof.  We don't need to practice anything.  It won't be a problem when the real deal hits."

I was stunned to see this attitude.  Here were my medical professionals, not even to willing to participate in a drill...with newborns, lots of young children nearby, and dozens of elderly people right down the hall.  I found it appalling and I immediately started praying for the tectonic plates to remain in their current location in that particular moment in time.  These were not the exact people I wanted to have to trust in the event of an emergency, although I would gladly welcome their medical skills, of course.  I immediately compared this situation to the earthquake drills I'd read about that routinely took place in Japan and I was immediately ashamed of the behavior I had just witnessed...and extremely frightened for my family, as well as the entire area who had no idea what they were going to have to deal with in the near future.

Please.  I know we cannot prevent these types of natural disasters from happening, but we can prepare for them to happen.  Because they will.  It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.  I realize that there is no good time to invest in an extra supply of food, water, and extra supplies for this type of event, but when you look at it, wouldn't enough water to drink with even some extra to share with others be totally worth that $100, $200, or even $300?  We're talking about basic needs here.  For you and your family...and hopefully enough for you to share with a few others who might not be as prepared.

Let me emphasize, I'm not just talking about earthquakes here.  There are many different types of situations that can interfere with our basic survival needs.   What I'd like you to do is contemplate your potential risks.  Is your city on or close to tens of fault lines (and furthermore, is your house on bedrock or partial landfill/beach and should you be prepared to deal with liquefaction)?   Do you live near a volcano that could one day erupt?  Is your area prone to fires, flooding, tornadoes,  blizzards, tsunamis, landslides, or hurricanes?   The point here is not to become paranoid, but to consider what safety procedures you and your family need to become familiarized with for the types of dangers you might encounter, just so that you can be better prepared.  You just need to have a plan.  Please don't let panic be part of that plan.

No matter what your risks are, an emergency supply is something you are going to want to have around!  I encourage you to start making that shopping list!  Go and check out The American Red Cross disaster kit recommendations.  While you’re at it, head on over to the CDC as well.  Most disaster preparedness links basically cover the same areas as outlined on FEMA:  Water, Food, First Aid Supplies, Clothing/Bedding/Sanitation, Tools, and Special Items.

Another website that I love is 72hours.org.   I'm well-aware of components that should make up my Disaster Supply Kit, but after doing some reading on that website, I'll be sure to pack a "Go-Bag" for each person in our family.  The idea behind it is that you have the bare essentials for each person in everyone's own backpack, as well as several other great items to remember such as a recent photo of each family member in each bag.  My kids are biracial and so an idea like this is really important for us since people wouldn't necessarily "match" me to my kids, or even my husband. Teach your kids where your family's Go-Bags are stored, clearly label them, and don't forget to pack one for your pets!  Go-Bags are separate from your emergency preparedness supply, but obviously compliment it and will ensure that you have the option to grab your absolute essentials if you are forced to get out of your home in a hurry!

After reading through the recommended lists, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with traditional emergency preparedness kit lists and expand and tailor them to your own family's needs.

Perhaps you are looking at these lists and you becoming overwhelmed.   Those lists are quite extensive and this amount of extra supplies on your grocery list can really add up.  Believe me, I know!  I know this can be a lot to plan for,  but the important thing is to START your emergency stash.  I started mine only eight weeks ago!  I did invest several hundred dollars into the stash when initially making my big initial purchases such as a nonperishable food supply, but since that initial shopping day, all I do is spend maybe about $3-15 more per shopping trip on extra supplies to have on hand and my method has worked out great!  At this point I’m patting my emergency cupboard’s doors and saying, “My, oh my!  Look how you’ve grown!”    I still have a lot of things to buy, mostly items that fall in the campy survivor stuff category, but I’ll hopefully be done soon!

Do you have an idea of where to start?  I'm not sure what your necessities are, but after reading over the lists that I’ve recommended to you above, here are the things that I have purchased first:


Here is a picture of my emergency stash, at only 8 weeks old.  It is not how I would organize my other cupboards, but the important thing is that it all fits in there at the moment!   Top row: 4 packages of wipes, 60ish diapers, first aid kit, pads, hand sanitizer, aloe vera, large waters, single serving waters, 4 boxes of organic soymilk.  Middle row: 2 Go-Bags and two young child Go-Bags.  Bottom row: particulate respirators, plastic utensils, extra snack foods in tupperware bowl, paper plates and bowls, my Thrive collection, dried cherries, and more bottled water.  Still needed:  many, many items as well as a better way to quickly grab everything I need.

WATER!   This is your NUMBER ONE thing you need to have on hand.  As I've mentioned, you'll need one gallon per day, per person.  A good amount to initially cover yourself is to get at least 3 days worth for you and your family (although a two week supply is ideal), as well as a flat of smaller-sized water bottles that you can divide up into your various Go-Bags.  Here is the EWG scorecard for bottled water (from January 2011), so go out and get some of the better rated stuff.  Unfortunately the water reports came out after I had bought my stash of D-rated water, ick.  I know that overall, the ratings are pretty pitiful, but in my mind, drinking the bottled stuff is better than dehydration.  I plan on purchasing a water purification system to have on hand as soon as our trusty Laura gets around to answering my question on which system is the best.  I’m interested in something like these, but I’m letting Laura do all the dirty investigating to see how good the thing actually is.

Diapers  -    I always make sure that I have at least one entire extra unopened economy-sized package of diapers and wipes on hand.  Even when I was cloth diapering, I did this because it was just that important!  Watching the Hurricane Katrina disaster while holding my own 8-day-old baby and listening to the continual pleas for disposable diapers and formula for all of those mothers and children, my heart just broke and I've kept an extra stash on hand ever since that very moment.

Breast Milk / Formula    No matter what you are feeding your baby, it is essential to have a good backup supply of your baby's milk in order to take care of that little one's needs!  So start pumping and freezing even more of that liquid gold or go and get a few extra cans of whatever type of formula you use.  Even as exclusive breastfeeder, I actually kept one of those sample sample formula cans my OB doctor gave me and kept it in our emergency cupboard.  I had a nice frozen stash as well, but I worried about the type of situation that would leave us without electricity for several weeks.  Sure, I was called a hypocrite by some moms for doing this, but I thought this was a good idea, you know, just in case we were separated because of some disaster.  Heaven forbid, if mommy accidentally died or something, at least my beloved baby would be taken care of!

Feminine hygiene products.  Imagine that you are living through the most horrible type of destruction you've ever dealt with in your lifetime.  Basic needs are threatened.  Then, aw crud, on top of it all you start your period!  If you only have the clothes on your back and perhaps one extra change of clothes in your Go-Bag, believe me, you aren't going to want to bleed all over your pants or whatever you've packed for yourself.   Talk about disgusting.  This is just something you need to take care of and place in your disaster kit.  Get one of those huge buy-in-bulk packages while you're at it because you could always use them as underwear liners if you don't have a change of clothes for a week or two.  Besides, if you wind up not needing them, you can always give them to the poor menstruating girl you meet in whatever disaster you may encounter and become her personal Maxi-Pad Saint.  Wouldn't that be nice?

Baby wipes - Yes, buy these even if you don't have a baby's bottom to wipe.  Chances are that you have a bottom and you're going to need these.  I don't think I need to say more on this topic, but in addition to their intended purpose, I think they'd be a great freshening up item to have around that you could use on your face, armpits, feet, etc.

Hand Sanitizer - I currently have this in my Emergency Cupboard.  No running water in your bathroom?  Wait, no bathroom?   No need to explain any further.

Nonperishable, Easy-to-Eat Foods -
Start by stocking up on food items for your Go-Bag that you like to eat as a snack because chances are, the stuff that is ready-to-eat will be expiring within the next few months.    I try to keep granola bars, protein bars, dried fruit, seeds, and nuts in our Go-Bags.  These items won't really get crushed and don't require that much storage space, so they are perfect to have on hand.  Whenever I put any new snack foods into our Go-Bags, I simply write the name of the item and its expiration date on a 3x5 index card and tape that up on the cupboard's doors.   This helps me remember what exactly needs to be replaced every 6 months or so.  As the expiration time nears, I take these food items out of our emergency stash and put them in our snack/lunch drawer so that the people in our house consume them and nothing gets wasted.



Living in an area where we have frequent power outages right around dinner time, I have really become aware of how quickly little kids get hungry and agitated when you can't stick with your normal routine. While our power outages can certainly be viewed as a nuisance, I like to look at them as emergency preparedness practice sessions.  I usually try to have some nonperishable foods easily on hand for when we are left without power for hours at a time.  In our family, I do practically all of my cooking from scratch, so having stuff my kids can eat right away is sometimes a challenge for me, so having some ready to eat stuff has been great for us.

After contemplating Shelf-Reliance THRIVE freeze-dried foods for about a year, I've finally purchased one of their starter kits as well as the Tropical Fruit assortment (which is no longer available from Costco, sorry).  Yes, it might seem gross, but I have over 800 servings of food on hand that has a shelf life of 15-25 years.  While there are other companies out there such as Mountain House, I decided to try THRIVE because a) several of my friends use THRIVE items in their everyday kitchen pantry and give the quality of the food rave reviews; b) the THRIVE items I saw actually sounded good to me and I think my children would be thrilled to have to eat in case of emergency.   I had a feeling that the second these cans arrived, my children would be begging to open up these #10 cans and my gut was right on.     c) I liked the pretty packaging.  The thought of all of those cans neatly lined up in rows on my garage shelving was a really exciting thought to me. You have no idea.

Masks - I chose to get this 3M 8210Plus Particulate Respirator N95, 20-Pack because when we were evacuated from our house during the San Diego Fires a couple of years ago, I believe our fire department handed these out to everyone and boy were they helpful!  Thinking back on how much dust was created during my own little earthquake experience, this was an important small purchase to make in my mind, just because the ability to breathe is pretty high up there on my list of necessities.  I chose to get a larger pack just so that I could hand out the extras to nearby neighbors.

There are a few other items in my emergency cupboard, but for the most part that's it.  So that’s where I’m currently at.  I am about halfway through assembling my Go-Bags and hopefully within the next two months I will be completely done with my emergency supply.  Now you might think that I’m crazy, and that’s fine.  What I want you to know is that the great thing about having an emergency stash is that it can help you with even with minor  unexpected inconveniences.   It could be something as simple as having flashlights and ready-to-go foods for power outages, no matter how long they might be.  Or it might be something like having enough emergency water, just in case your main water line bursts and you no longer have any running water available.  Or it might be something far greater than that one day.

I realize that all of this can be quite uncomfortable and difficult to think about, but the bottom line is that one day we will all either  personally be affected by some type of unexpected event that catches us off guard OR we will be in the situation to help someone else who has been struck by disaster. With awareness, practice, and preparation, there is far less to panic about in situations such as these.

Fear not!



*I know I didn’t even touch on earthquake safety in this posting, but it’s IMPORTANT!   Read up.


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