In a disaster, getting in touch with loved ones to see if they're safe, and just as important, to coordinate reaction and reunion is crucial.
Though just a short snippet of an extensive "Communication" section from our preparedness encyclopedia "Disaster Prep 101," this section should give you a basic outline to pass along to your family so you can make sure that in an emergency, you're able to reach all C.A.L.L.E.R.S.
Cell phone - It's the communication device many of us carry daily so try it first. But, a word of caution here. Don't use your phone unless you HAVE to! Unnecessary calls will only tie up the system and that may prevent injured victims or emergency responders from being able to use their cell phone.
Accessory to cell phone - As we said, sometimes the cell phone system is tied up as far as voice communication is concerned. However, your phone has other options. First thing to try if you can't make a voice call is to try to send a text message. After that, try to send a picture. You can take a picture of yourself, your location, or a picture of a handwritten note to get a message across (see http://www.disasterprep101.com/cameraphone.htm). Text messaging and media transmissions use a different part of the cellular system.
Land lines - If the cell phone doesn't work, do you know where the nearest land line is? It should be part of your family plan to know the location of the few payphones that still exist around the areas you frequent on a daily basis. For example, if you have to evacuate your workplace, is there a convenience store nearby that still has a payphone? In short, if the cell phone won't work at all, try a land line.
Long distance - With either your cell phone or a land line, if a local call won't work, try making a long distance call. For payphones remember the collect call options available when you dial "1-800-CALL-ATT as well as 1-800-COLLECT. Long distance lines use a slightly different portion of the phone system than local calls. This is another of several reasons why your family emergency contact should be out of town.
Email - If direct or instant communication is unavailable (or even if it is you need a redundant communication piece) use email and other computer based communication such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Radio - Ham operators will be worth ten times their weight in gold during a crisis. (See www.arrl.org.) However, Ham Radio works more with emergency management than individual families. So, this means two things for you. One, get a different type of radio for your family. Ham requires licensing and experience, but FRS radios can be picked up at most department stores and will allow you to speak neighbor to neighbor when cell phones don't work. (Note: If you're a part of CERT, Neighborhood Watch, or other volunteer group, you should have a Ham Radio liaison that can help your group communicate with emergency management when all other communication is out.)
Signaling and standing orders - Signaling is a chapter in and of itself and deals with things like spotlights, flags, smoke, and other methods of non-electronic communication so that you can convey important messages to small areas. Of importance to this short article is the concept of "Standing Orders" which is a set of instructions your family members are to follow if no modern form of communication is available. For example, for your children at school, your standing orders might be "If _____ happens, you go immediately to _______'s house!"
Use the above as a basic planning template or outline to help your family create a communication plan so that in times of crisis you have one of the more valuable assets: options!
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Friday, February 17, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Keeping a Warm House in a Cold Economy
Seems like everything is in single digits these days. Mostly it's the economy and now it's the temperature!
With utility costs high, the economy low, and temperatures in the below-freezing range, how do you keep everyone warm without breaking the bank?
Some thoughts:
1. If you can afford it, get a programmable thermostat. As inexpensive as the average units are, you'll pay for it in your first month of savings.
2. Save money when no one is home. If the house is empty most of the day with everyone at school or work, keep the thermostat low. Set it at around 55 degrees and leave the under-sink cabinets open to keep some of the plumbing exposed to the warmth. Naturally, if you have indoor pets, make sure they're comfortable.
3. When people are at home and active, set the temperature to a more comfortable level.
4. At bedtime, drop the temperature to somewhere around 68 degrees and move that up or down a little depending on how many family members have electric blankets.
5. Close off little-used rooms. Close the heat / AC vents - maybe even covering them with plastic - and put a towel across the bottom of the door to cut down on drafts from that room. If that room is on the sunny side of the house, leave the drapes and blinds open to take advantage of natural heat from the sun. If the room is on the shady side of the house, keep the blinds and curtains closed to cut down on any drafts from the window. You might also consider sealing over the window with plastic sheeting.
6. In extreme cold or situations where you might not have heat or power, put as many people in a room as you can and do what you can to heat just that room. A couple of words of caution though: Don't let anyone sleep on the floor since that's where cold and carbon dioxide will settle, don't heat the room with flame (and certainly NEVER with charcoal), and if you're using a portable generator, make sure it's placed outside the house and the area around it properly vented.
7. Remember these tips even when the economy is good. A huge part of family emergency readiness is in the area of finances, so the more money you can keep in the bank the better off you are.
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With utility costs high, the economy low, and temperatures in the below-freezing range, how do you keep everyone warm without breaking the bank?
Some thoughts:
1. If you can afford it, get a programmable thermostat. As inexpensive as the average units are, you'll pay for it in your first month of savings.
2. Save money when no one is home. If the house is empty most of the day with everyone at school or work, keep the thermostat low. Set it at around 55 degrees and leave the under-sink cabinets open to keep some of the plumbing exposed to the warmth. Naturally, if you have indoor pets, make sure they're comfortable.
3. When people are at home and active, set the temperature to a more comfortable level.
4. At bedtime, drop the temperature to somewhere around 68 degrees and move that up or down a little depending on how many family members have electric blankets.
5. Close off little-used rooms. Close the heat / AC vents - maybe even covering them with plastic - and put a towel across the bottom of the door to cut down on drafts from that room. If that room is on the sunny side of the house, leave the drapes and blinds open to take advantage of natural heat from the sun. If the room is on the shady side of the house, keep the blinds and curtains closed to cut down on any drafts from the window. You might also consider sealing over the window with plastic sheeting.
6. In extreme cold or situations where you might not have heat or power, put as many people in a room as you can and do what you can to heat just that room. A couple of words of caution though: Don't let anyone sleep on the floor since that's where cold and carbon dioxide will settle, don't heat the room with flame (and certainly NEVER with charcoal), and if you're using a portable generator, make sure it's placed outside the house and the area around it properly vented.
7. Remember these tips even when the economy is good. A huge part of family emergency readiness is in the area of finances, so the more money you can keep in the bank the better off you are.
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Labels:
cold,
economical,
frugal,
heat,
home
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Burn Awareness Week Prep Tip
Make sure your stove and oven are anchored to the wall. This is good for a number of reasons:
1. If you (or your kids) lean, fall, or climb on a stove, it can easily tip and spill hot foods or liquids on you.
2. In an earthquake, you want all your appliances anchored so they're not scooting around the floor causing additional damage.
3. Same holds true for tornadoes. Any time you can anchor a sizable appliance or other object to a wall, you help one support the other. In destructive scenarios, any additional structure is a good thing.
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1. If you (or your kids) lean, fall, or climb on a stove, it can easily tip and spill hot foods or liquids on you.
2. In an earthquake, you want all your appliances anchored so they're not scooting around the floor causing additional damage.
3. Same holds true for tornadoes. Any time you can anchor a sizable appliance or other object to a wall, you help one support the other. In destructive scenarios, any additional structure is a good thing.
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Friday, February 10, 2012
Earthquake Location Animation
Someone went to a lot of time and effort to put this together! It's definitely worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWn_W6ZbT4&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWn_W6ZbT4&feature=share
Labels:
earthquake,
map
Fire Extinguisher Placement
Fire Tip: Fire extinguishers are inexpensive and worth their weight in gold in a developing fire. However, to be effective they must be accessible. So, don't store one where you'd go TOWARD a fire to get it. In other words, keep one in the kitchen but not right next to the stove, and certainly not OVER the stove.
A few tips to keep in mind:
1. Fire extinguishers should be mounted using the wall bracket that usually comes with a new unit. This keeps it somewhat visible and more accessible since it's doubtful you can stack things in front of or on top of it.
2. Place units near an entrance or exit to a likely fire location since that's the direction you'd either head out of or toward depending on where you were when a fire broke out. In the kitchen example above, you'd want one near the kitchen door since if a fire erupted on the stove, your most natural reaction would be to back away toward an exit door.
3. Each time you change your clocks for daylight savings time, checking the pressure gauge on your extinguishers is one of the things you should do as part of your "preparedness update."
4. Extinguishers fall into the category of "if one is good, two are better." Extinguishers are not expensive and you can easily have two or three around the house. One in the kitchen, one in the garage, one in your main vehicle, and one in a central location such as the area you choose as your "safe room."
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A few tips to keep in mind:
1. Fire extinguishers should be mounted using the wall bracket that usually comes with a new unit. This keeps it somewhat visible and more accessible since it's doubtful you can stack things in front of or on top of it.
2. Place units near an entrance or exit to a likely fire location since that's the direction you'd either head out of or toward depending on where you were when a fire broke out. In the kitchen example above, you'd want one near the kitchen door since if a fire erupted on the stove, your most natural reaction would be to back away toward an exit door.
3. Each time you change your clocks for daylight savings time, checking the pressure gauge on your extinguishers is one of the things you should do as part of your "preparedness update."
4. Extinguishers fall into the category of "if one is good, two are better." Extinguishers are not expensive and you can easily have two or three around the house. One in the kitchen, one in the garage, one in your main vehicle, and one in a central location such as the area you choose as your "safe room."
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Thursday, February 09, 2012
Today's Fire Tip
Fire Tip: Water extinguishers are great, but expensive.
However, 2-gallon pump-up "bug sprayers" are under $20 and have a 20-ft stream.
And, if you keep it filled with just plain water you can keep the water in it fresh by using the unit to water the plants, so in a water shortage you have water to shower with.
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However, 2-gallon pump-up "bug sprayers" are under $20 and have a 20-ft stream.
And, if you keep it filled with just plain water you can keep the water in it fresh by using the unit to water the plants, so in a water shortage you have water to shower with.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Open Letter to Home Depot
I just sent an open letter to Home Depot:
Dear Home Depot,
I've long been a fan of Home Depot's after having worked with some of your corporate personnel as well as security personnel at various homeland security and disaster preparedness gatherings we all attended.
I have a PR suggestion for Home Depot that fits well with your desire to help communities be better protected against disaster.
This idea applies since we're in national Severe Weather Awareness week. As most people know, severe weather can disrupt power and knock down street signs and cell towers making it difficult for first responders to find addresses.
Home Depot should offer a free "curbside street numbering kit" for loan to civic groups that want to take address numbering on as a project, or to individual customers that put their name on a list to do their own homes.
The kit would only be a set of number stencils, a small frame to hold the numbers, and a small can of the appropriate paint.
Minimal cost for Home Depot and a great benefit to the individual communities served.
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Dear Home Depot,
I've long been a fan of Home Depot's after having worked with some of your corporate personnel as well as security personnel at various homeland security and disaster preparedness gatherings we all attended.
I have a PR suggestion for Home Depot that fits well with your desire to help communities be better protected against disaster.
This idea applies since we're in national Severe Weather Awareness week. As most people know, severe weather can disrupt power and knock down street signs and cell towers making it difficult for first responders to find addresses.
Home Depot should offer a free "curbside street numbering kit" for loan to civic groups that want to take address numbering on as a project, or to individual customers that put their name on a list to do their own homes.
The kit would only be a set of number stencils, a small frame to hold the numbers, and a small can of the appropriate paint.
Minimal cost for Home Depot and a great benefit to the individual communities served.
.
Plan for Severe Weather Damage
Today's Weather Prep Tip: Severe weather can knock out utilities for days on end. How ready are you for this eventuality?
1. Do you have a generator? If you do, that would be best, but if you can't afford one, look into getting a "power inverter" that will let you use your car's engine as a generator. You'll find them at pretty much any auto parts store or department in your favorite "mega mart."
2. Keep two-liter plastic bottles of water in your freezer. Let them freeze solid (but leave a little air in the bottle to allow for ice expansion). In a power outage you can put a couple of bottles in your fridge to keep food colder for much longer. And, when the ice melts, you have drinking water.
3. In some scenarios, these same frozen bottles of water can be used to make an expedient air conditioner. See http://www.disasterprep101.com/documents/HomemadeAirConditioner.pdf. And, if you have a small freezer, you can use the power inverter to run power to it and re-freeze your bottles.
4. Back to the subject of water, we all know it's important to store one gallon of drinking water per person for each day of your preparedness plan. Most sources say to plan for 72 hours, but we lean more toward the 4 week mark, with 2 weeks being a good average. So for a family of four, 2 weeks of drinking water would mean a total of 56 gallons of drinking water. Hint: Your average water heater holds between 30 and 40 gallons, so if that water is good, there's a lot of your storage right there. Look into storing bottled water and, if you have a house with rain gutters, look into getting rain barrels for your utility water (washing, flushing toilets, etc.).
5. In "Disaster Prep 101" we have hundreds of tips and steps to help prepare you for the isolation you'd experience when severe weather knocks out local supply and service. However, experience is the best teacher, so try this: Spend a weekend at home and turn off (or at least don't use) your power, gas, and water. We don't want you to lose your food or actually suffer, but we do want you to see what it would be like and for you to think of ways to be ready for such an eventuality.
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1. Do you have a generator? If you do, that would be best, but if you can't afford one, look into getting a "power inverter" that will let you use your car's engine as a generator. You'll find them at pretty much any auto parts store or department in your favorite "mega mart."
2. Keep two-liter plastic bottles of water in your freezer. Let them freeze solid (but leave a little air in the bottle to allow for ice expansion). In a power outage you can put a couple of bottles in your fridge to keep food colder for much longer. And, when the ice melts, you have drinking water.
3. In some scenarios, these same frozen bottles of water can be used to make an expedient air conditioner. See http://www.disasterprep101.com/documents/HomemadeAirConditioner.pdf. And, if you have a small freezer, you can use the power inverter to run power to it and re-freeze your bottles.
4. Back to the subject of water, we all know it's important to store one gallon of drinking water per person for each day of your preparedness plan. Most sources say to plan for 72 hours, but we lean more toward the 4 week mark, with 2 weeks being a good average. So for a family of four, 2 weeks of drinking water would mean a total of 56 gallons of drinking water. Hint: Your average water heater holds between 30 and 40 gallons, so if that water is good, there's a lot of your storage right there. Look into storing bottled water and, if you have a house with rain gutters, look into getting rain barrels for your utility water (washing, flushing toilets, etc.).
5. In "Disaster Prep 101" we have hundreds of tips and steps to help prepare you for the isolation you'd experience when severe weather knocks out local supply and service. However, experience is the best teacher, so try this: Spend a weekend at home and turn off (or at least don't use) your power, gas, and water. We don't want you to lose your food or actually suffer, but we do want you to see what it would be like and for you to think of ways to be ready for such an eventuality.
.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Today's Weather Tip
Get an NOAA radio, but also have a warning phone tree with friends and neighbors. The radio and other forms of alert are great, but it'll be the people in our lives that actually push the message through.
Remember; in an emergency, redundancy is our friend.
NOAA info: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm
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Remember; in an emergency, redundancy is our friend.
NOAA info: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm
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