A Lesson in Emergency preparedness

[Debbieangel]

I got a huge lesson in "Emergency Preparedness" a week or two ago. It was right before payday. You know how that goes, you are out of just about everything. Anyhoo, my husband was on afternoon shift and he took the car which left me without a vehicle to drive to store. Well, I had not went to the store and was out of everything to drink. It's a few hours after hubby left for work and I get a phone call from a relative out the road. "Do you have water?" So, I go check, "Nope, I don't have water." I say to her. I look in fridge, no cold drinks like soda pop, juices, WATER, milk, I am basically sunk. You know how it is when there isn't something THEN you WANT it and you want it BADLY? I was in that state. I wanted me some water. So, I turned on faucet and hooray there was four ounces of water left in the line. I drank it and still wanted more but I had to wait until the water came back on. Oh, the reason for water outage, where our water reservoir is at the power went out, that is where we get water from our town. I learned a HUGE lesson those five hours that the power was out that evening. I am not as prepared as I thought I was in an emergency. I was ok for the night the water came back on and everything was fine but it made me think of what I need to do to be better prepared if something awful would happen.

[Yojimbo]

Don't feel bad about not being prepared. I would guess that it is the same for most people - you never think about preparedness until a situation presents itself that you are unprepared for. I grew up with my grandmother who has distinct memories of being bombed during WWII (She survived the allied bombing raids in Tokyo) and she has always been a proponent of having a bug out pack next to your bed so that you can grab it an run in the middle of the night if you have to. She probably would not have thought to be prepared in this way had she not experienced what she did during the war. But as prepared as she always had us be, I can remember one night in my childhood when the lights went out and we found out too late that all the batteries in our flashlights were dead. Now, of course, after having experienced that we are very aware of the need to always stock fresh batteries and will never get caught again without them. I figure that the situation you relayed is the last time you will ever be caught without a supply of water stashed in your house. Your post is well taken, though, and it serves as a good reminder to everyone who reads it that the time to make emergency preparations is now while you still have a chance. I think all of us should take your post to heart and take the time now to assess and take stock of what we have and what we need to put together just in case the dead rise. (OK, I'm being funny about the dead rising, but I say that if you are prepared to face the day when the dead come to life to attack the living, then you are probably prepared for most survival situation to some degree)

[Wooley]

Survival preps aren't paranoid, they're insurance, and a few generations ago, a way of life. If you have access to you're hot water heater, you've got a source of water right there, along with the toilet tanks if need be.. And if there is water coming out, but it's contaminated, or water collected from a nearby pond, stream or other source, you can purify it with regular household bleach. I don't recall how many drops per quart/gallon, but a gallon of non scented chlorine bleach will go a long way.

[Crappingbear]

Survival preps aren't paranoid, they're insurance, and a few generations ago, a way of life. If you have access to you're hot water heater, you've got a source of water right there, along with the toilet tanks if need be.. And if there is water coming out, but it's contaminated, or water collected from a nearby pond, stream or other source, you can purify it with regular household bleach. I don't recall how many drops per quart/gallon, but a gallon of non scented chlorine bleach will go a long way. Being in the hurricane/tornado zone, we always have water, canned goods, tp, and basically a 2 month supply of anything. Wooley pointed out water methods, there are many more. But, for most people we are 10 minutes away from a blackout and not corner store form most people rioting and Armageddon.

[AcesandEights]

Emergency preparedness is always a solid idea. I have a problem with it currently, because where I live if there is ever a major, sustained loss of power or civil services I will be completely screwed due to the over-population/ crowding and overlap from NYC. Wish I could move further upstate, closer to where I'm from, or even further north into the Catskills or Adirondacks, but that will have to wait till I have more money or I retire

[Yojimbo]

We should put together a thread involving survival preparation that would list good reference books on the subject and a comprehensive list of what everyone should have in their home and car for survival situations. I know the subject has been touched upon here and there throughout the forum, but it would be nice to have one deticated thread for this issue. I know some of our members - crappingbear for instance - is very knowlegable about survival. Perhaps one of them might be good enough to start this off?

[Crappingbear]

We should put together a thread involving survival preparation that would list good reference books on the subject and a comprehensive list of what everyone should have in their home and car for survival situations. I know the subject has been touched upon here and there throughout the forum, but it would be nice to have one deticated thread for this issue. I know some of our members - crappingbear for instance - is very knowlegable about survival. Perhaps one of them might be good enough to start this off? Nice idea. I'll be happy to start this off with my own bug out kit. The bottom line is nothing works for everyone so you have to pick and choose what works for you.

[Yojimbo]

Nice idea. I'll be happy to start this off with my own bug out kit. The bottom line is nothing works for everyone so you have to pick and choose what works for you. Excellent, Crappingbear! Look forward to seeing your thread!

[Debbieangel]

Excellent idea you guys I can't wait to read it! It would be a good thing to know what I need that I dont already have which isnt much.

[AcesandEights]

Yeah, it's always a bit of a shock when you need to up and find potable water and you weren't expecting it to be commercially unavailable or the tap water is no good/out and you're in an area where people don't have any sort of well or cisterns. You can get by off of what's in your pipes and gravity for a little while in some buildings (thinking larger multi-story, here), but the few times I was in the burbs when we had a long stretch or two of region-wide power outages, it really paralyzed everything and water became a bit of an issue, with the secondary concern being people getting their hands on trucked in dry ice.

[SgtSteve]

Try reading the book "One Second After." If katrina did not scare hyou that sure as hell will.