IN AN EMERGENCY, YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DEPLOY TO HELP OTHERS LIKE YOU ONCE DID,
BUT HAVE YOU PREPARED TO HELP YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY?
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN DO IT ....
Are disasters happening more and more frequently, or does it just seem that way? It is certain that such events are happening often enough and in enough places that certainly some minimum preparation seems prudent. I recently wrote a small Amazon Kindle book titled DISASTER PLANNING FOR THE REST OF US which addresses the need to prepare to survive emergency situations. The situations I am referring to are not 'end of the world' apocalyptic disasters, but events that can leave us and our families without power, food, water and perhaps shelter for a period of time of 10-14 days.
The intended audience are the older, more senior Amateur Radio operators (like myself) who may not be able to grab a "Go Box" and deploy as we once did, but who can still help their family unit not to become a helpless victim in most disasters. Actually, the information and planning process applies to anyone with a need to prepare regardless of their being a Radio Amateur or not. What you see here is based on that book. (Fig 1)
(Fig 1)
As stated in the book, there are 4 initial considerations that you need to address when beginning your preparation.
Threat Assessment
Emergency Supplies
Responses
Maintain Readiness
The THREAT ASSESSMENT is very specific. It means you figure out what large scale, area threats you could most likely face where you live, and you prepare to work through these issues. In my case these threats included:
Tornados - (Not uncommon at certain times of the year where I live )
Earthquake - (I am within the New Madrid Earthquake Zone and the probability of this seismic event over a 7 state area of the Midwest is a lot higher than one might think!)
Winter weather - (Severe blizzards are a low probability, but a severe Ice storm is a more likely scenario.)
Manmade disasters - (Train derailment or Interstate vehicle accident involving hazardous chemicals or fuel could happen within one mile of my home. Also, a terrorist attack on nearby major population area could happen.)
In most of these cases, the main problem I think my family would experience and one I could readily prepare for is a disruption of commercial services to include a loss of:
Electrical power
Water service
Natural gas
Fuel (gasoline)
Communications (cell and landline telephone/internet) and Road access into/out of area
Planning for our EMERGENCY SUPPLIES is based on experience of what has happened in this area in the past, what might happen in the future, and the period of time I want to be able be cover without outside help. Most of the described outages can be expected to occur for a period of a few days up to two weeks. In the most serious of events, the disruption could last for a much longer period of time. My planning is for a max period of 10-14 days (or up to ~20 days with rationing). During this time period, I can work to obtain additional supplies to hold out longer, or I can make plans to vacate the area for a safer location.
The RESPONSES consideration is simply the result of a mental exercise that I do to decide what will I do first, and then what I will do next, etc., if a disaster occurs. Such planning might include steps such as:
Immediately after the event, if communications are out, where does the family assemble (Called a Family Rally Point)?
How might family members communicate following a major disaster event? (All cell/landline phones may be out or will surely be overloaded.
Roads maybe blocked or damaged. What will you do?)
At what point do I get the emergency supplies out of storage to move them to a safer place? Do I leave supplies in place and just protect these items where they are stored?
How do I notify distant family of our status and well being?
The need to MAINTAIN READINESS is simply a plan to check, re-check, test and evaluate your preparation efforts. If you prepare a plan (probably your first), assemble your supplies and then just wait for the ‘Big One’, I can almost guarantee you that when you need it, you will find that you forgot something or you could have done something much better if you had just tested your plan before you actually needed it. The book discusses the need to conduct reviews and evaluations of supplies on a periodic basis as well as how to conduct some simple tests of your equipment to insure it works and you know how to use it. This should be part of the overall plan.
In my case, I did all of this and packed supplies for a family of 6 (I assumed the grandkids would be home from college) for a period of 14 days. Since these supplies are for emergency use, I shopped at stores for generic, low cost items. Favorite brands weren’t important. I used the check lists in the book to assemble the emergency supplies (food, water, general supplies, and communications). My food supply was made of mostly commercial canned and packaged items. While the MRE (Meals Ready To Eat) may last a little longer in storage, commercial canned goods are easier to rotate and replace with other similar fresh canned goods in a semi-annual to annual basis. I labeled each item with Date Stored and Date To Be Replaced self-stick label according to the "Use By" date on the can/item. I packed all these items in industrial strength commercial buckets and made content lists for each bucket as described in the book. I used Lowe's White buckets (Fig 2) for food and first aid item storage. (Gray buckets are not approved for food.) In the center photo below (Fig 2), you can see what 25 meal (servings) looks like before these are packed in a bucket. An additional gray bucket is used for miscellaneous and communications items. All 7 buckets have snap on lids making them virtually air tight, and once sealed these are stored in a basement pantry under a stairway which is a dry, cool, secure, and in an easily accessible location. (Fig 2)
(Fig 2)
My communications plan for an emergency is built around A Rig In A Briefcase project which is found on this website under PROJECTS. This fully portable unit was also a featured article in the June 2011 edition of Monitoring Times magazine. It consists of a low powered HF CW radio (TEN TEC 4020) that can be set up and powered long term with battery power to operate almost anywhere. (Fig 3) and (Fig 4) My plan uses HF rather than VHF or UHF to communicate to the outside world since experience has shown that repeaters will soon fail as back up batteries run down. (Most repeater back up batteries cannot recharge if electrical power is cut off.) VHF or UHF can make an excellent backup system on simplex if you have the proper antennas and location. I also have an FT-60R HT and two pair of FRS handheld FM radios maintained for family use around the home site.
(Fig 3) (Fig 4)
Once all supplies are packed, I went over the plan with family members so they would know what is packed, where it is located, and how it is all intended to be used. I then set up a schedule to review and check my stored supplies on a regular basis. In particular, individual food items must to be checked for expiration dates and replaced as necessary. As mentioned, all items were marked with a felt tip pen or a computer label as to ‘Storage Date’ and ‘Date To Replace’ to make it easy when looking to see what needs to be used and/or replaced. I also set up a simple schedule to review all packed items and well as a regularly set up and operate my emergency communications to insure these work as planned.
If all this sounds simple, it is. However, as they say, “The devil is in the detail” and you have to think through what emergency event you are seeking to prepare to counter. Bottom line, if you haven’t made a plan for you and your family, you should make a serious effort to do so now. The greater the threat for your area, the sooner you need to get going on your plan. If you need some help getting started, check out the little Amazon Kindle book called DISASTER PLANNING FOR THE REST OF US. It really can help you to prepare you and your family for "The Big One."