Preparing for multiple disasters, Earthquake, Hurricanes, Wildfires, and Floods, what to do to prepare read this!

  I should probably rename my riverside porch "inspiration point", (not the one in Minnesota which is the center of the North American continent.) I sit there with a cup of coffee, just looking around. It's a rare day when I don't see something totally new happen, either wildlife, smoke, or like the other day an old sailing ship being towed past. I posted a short video of it, then the next day I wrote the blog on the June 7, 1592, earthquake disaster. I watched a documentary on it and it sure looked like the same ship was in the video, I will investigate further, there are a number of those ships actively sailing today. Several of them are strictly movie props, some like this one appear to be "liveaboards", it's now berthed at the marina that is one of my neighbors. Although the incident (tragedy) occurred 520 years or so ago there is at least one lesson to be learned from it. The residents of Port Royal had no idea of the dangers that lurked on their island which so closely resembled a tropical paradise on Earth.

  In this day and age we are much more fortunate, our understanding of our world is much better now than even 100 years ago, 500 years ago tsunami's were unknown, There were no means to determine what the ground consisted of under a proposed construction site, there were no barometers, thermostats, or wind gauges, the people of those times were greatly handicapped by their lack of knowledge. Of course, the knowledge did not exist either, 1500 Europe had not emerged from the "Dark Ages" but a mere 200 years earlier, Colombus had sailed to these islands just 100 years prior. Our "modern" society is much better equipped, both technically, and knowledge-wise to predict, plan and prepare for many natural disasters.
  We can begin by listing the natural disasters existing in our area, the area being the affected area of a disaster, there may very well be many of them. Make a list, the more you list the better prepared you will become, each area of the world will have unique and separate threats. Where I live I may list:
 * Earthquakes
 * Dam or Levee Breaches
 * Wildfire
 * High winds
 * Extreme Winds
 * Flooding
 * Civil unrest
  Our house is on an island composed of "Peat Moss", a literal floating island, it does have bedrock and solid ground about 30 feet below the surface of which pylons for construction are driven to. The Peat Moss presents a problem of its own, if it catches on fire the possibility of an underground fire is real, there is very little that can be done to put them out, flooding works.
  After compiling the list of potential hazards we need to document them somewhere, I use the FEMA templates for family disaster planning, this is a link to the FEMA site. The website has a choice of several languages, chose the best one for you, if it's English merely choose the "Print Version".  It's a two-page document, starting with the heading "Neighborhood Meeting Place", ours is on the levee at the nearby Marina. The next two headings are interesting, "Out of Neighborhood" and "Out of Town" meeting places, along with a place for a phone number. The phone numbers are what interest me, what number would you place in that spot, who would you talk to in an emergency? The disasters I have listed would involve the entire area, my out of neighborhood number is actually an out of town number of a relative, 250 miles away. My out of town number is actually an out of state number, one of my brothers in Minnesota, 2200 miles away. The reason I chose those two numbers is due to "reception" issues on the Cell Phone end, mine. During a Catastrophic event, everyone and their cousin will be on their cell phones, causing what I believe will be a massive jam-up of the lines. What's the one thing most people have in common when a busy signal is received? Why we hang up and immediately re-dial, adding to the congestion in the lines, in other words during those first 5-8 hours, communications will be tough. I recommend establishing an out of state message number, everyone has it and everyone calls it as soon as possible, just to report, where they are, if they are safe, and who is with them. Text messaging does not require as much bandwidth as a telephone call, try it first instead of a local call, it may just get through. One other item I am a strong advocate of is taking care of our pets, my little skunk-puppy would be a goner in an emergency, she is scared of everything. Although being a fairly large breed, Border Collie, and extremely smart, she is also extremely afraid of everything, she would run off and I would never find her. I advocate a good quality photo of your pet with all of your family members, I am sure people will recognize her in a photo with me.

A photo like this is perfect!

  On the form are spaces for Work information, places we frequent, and school numbers, FEMA also has a separate form for planning communications at this link for family, this link for children. The second page of this form is the same information as the first page with the exception of individual cards for the people residing in your home. They are wallet sized and should be carried by all people you may feel will be affected by these events. Planning will help eliminate these questions we all may have, What if an event occurs and I'm not home? How can I get a hold of my family? As well as many others that the plan will solve.
  The three most important steps in planning for an emergency are:
* Collect, all contact information from all family members.
* Share the information in the form of a wallet-sized information card to be carried at all times by all family members.
* Practice what you have planned, make certain to include the children, if they have "buy in" things will go a lot smoother. This link explains more on these 3 steps.
  I often wonder if we need a separate plan for each disaster that may be lurking in our future, the basic information cards and plan most likely not, unless if the plan is for a super volcano beneath your house that promises to destroy everything East of it, then Yes I believe I would plan Westward. One of the things most disasters have in common is "Elimination of Utilities", the lack of water and electrical service, including planning for that in each incident is prudent. Flooding, Wildfire, Hurricanes, and Earthquakes each have separate and unique challenges, but one kit can suffice to make survival easier. One way is to create a survival kit for each member of the family, set up each having unique supplies. In the wildfire, a bag would be a 72-hour survival kit, with extra goggles, smoke masks, gloves, and other fire-related articles. Another plan would be in the case of a 4 member family, a single 4 person 72-hour kit carried by one person, with each of the other three kits set up with personal survival gear and one each for every projected possible emergency.
  We will not be able to supply ourselves with all of the comforts of home, I shoot for 80%, if that much of our needs are met, we are in a pretty good spot to survive.

This appears to be about 150%, it's fine, I wouldn't want to carry
it very far though. 

The object is to plan for as much as possible, we cannot predict the future completely. yet, in the future, with scientific discoveries and technology, we may get a considerable degree better at it. Unlike the Pirates of Port Royal we do not have to be completely "blindsided" when they do occur, one minute calm, then 3 minutes later 2,000 people lost their lives and the entire city was destroyed, then washed into the sea by a tsunami. The common sentiment of the day was that it was "Gods Punishment", due to it's being such an unholy place. Actually, it was caused by a lack of knowledge of what was below the sandbar for construction support, (nothing). As well as not seeing the warning signs earlier in the morning, and being unaware of any potential disasters in the area. 2,000 more souls were lost during the first two weeks after the disaster from diseases due to the rotting corpses laying all around town, they did not know enough to bury or burn them immediately, another survival skill no one is eager to execute.  Most of our neighbors and friends will have made no preparations at all, it could prove to be a tragic mistake, that is why one of the tenets of our business is to advocate not only preparing enough for your own families needs, it will be prudent to add a little bit more to assist those without. My goal is to be a "responder" versus a "victim" as much as possible, it will give me self-confidence and the ability to react in a different way than a victim may.
  Thanks for reading and sharing, leave a comment or a story I enjoy reading them.

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