Continuing with our plan from Planning #1 (1st post of 2016) we will take a little step down the rabbit hole. Not a big one but just a little one. As a reminder, we are using a plan centered around an earthquake since this is what the internet says is the greatest threat to the area my family lives in. You can quickly do a search and see what the greatest threat to your family is and personalize the plan to your needs. Hopefully we can take a little step down the hole with each of these post and not become overwhelmed as we work toward putting our loved ones and ourselves in a better position when something happens. Remember there are no cookie cutter answers to preparedness.
When we ended the 1st post on this train of thought, we had a bare bones of a plan. If something happens and this is all you had to work with you are ahead of the game. Staying firmly in the grasp of the K.I.S.S. system. here is what we had:
GET HOME
COLLECT FAMILY
STAY OR LEAVE HOME
LEAVE, WHERE DO YOU GO?
STAY, NEED SUPPLIES.
Let's work backwards on this KISS framework. "Why?" because the last part can help in almost every situation you might face. Plus I have always been accused of doing things ass backwards!
Your at home after a major earthquake. Your home is still standing and you will be able to stay there. For those of us in California we are going to say the 'Big One' has struck. If you are in Southern California this means the San Andreas fault has slipped and you had a heck of a ride! If you still have power and water your good to go. Most you will have to deal with is if you need to go to work the next day or not. Odds are most of us will just be at home if the 'Big One' is as bad as they predict because we won't be able to get to work.
For most of us the power is more than likely to be out due to power delivery being disrupted some how. Lack of power can also lead to lack of water if you live in an area which needs water pumps to move water to your house. The amount of fires predicted to happen afterwards could also cause water pressure to drop from all the water in the system being used to fight fires. The 'Big One' could also cause the sewer system to stop working and might even damage the system to the point you are swimming in sewerage. (for those of you in flood areas flood waters overflowing sewage treatment plants is common) We can also be sure the regular flow of deliveries to the grocery store are going to disrupted. Which means you have to go with what you have for maybe a day or two or more.
This is why we start with what we have at home. At some point you could be isolated from outside assistance and have to go it alone for a period of time. This period may be a few hours or a few days. Remember at the end of the day you are responsable for you and your family, no one else is.
What do you need to have on hand at your home or apartment to stay where you are? A quick search of the FEMA website suggest we all have three days worth of supplies to hold us over after a earthquake. This is a good place to start in order to give you an idea of the bare minimum to survive.
Of course the first item on their list and almost every other list is water. "Why?" Because you can not live or function for very long without water. Within three days of no water you will most likely be a ball of flesh lying on the ground waiting for whatever is next. Of course you have had to deal with cramps like you never had before, you might of even had the worst dry heaves and at some point you really lost touch with reality. For each person the exact length of time varies but this three day thing is a good rule of thumb. Having been a heat casualty, twice, I can personally attest not having enough water in you really sucks!!!!
Some of us might be thinking "Well I will just print this list I got from the internet go on down to the store and buy everything on the list. Problem solved!" Here is where we start to go down the rabbit hole..........
FEMA and others tell you One (1) gallon a day per person is all you need to cover the issue of water during an emergency and we go out and buy our gallon of water. Of course the fine print on the list says this water is for drinking, hygiene and more might be needed for cooking. Just for fun take a gallon of water along with you all day. Try to only use the one gallon for all your water needs during the day. You are going to have to make some decisions during the day.
Most of us get up in the morning and make a trip to the bathroom, remember you got one gallon for the whole day........ Guess how much water it is supposed to take to flush a toilet? Yep, one gallon. Damn! You sure are going to be thirsty the rest of the day. Ok, instead we go with the "If it ain't brown do not flush it down" train of thought and we do not flush with the water. After you brush your teeth, wash your face and jump into the shower for a bird bath how much water is left?
Now you need to make some breakfast, hopefully the only thing you use water for is coffee? Of course I personally can not think of anything more important to use the water for than making coffee!!! Got a big old protein drink you need to mix up first thing in the morning? How much water does that take? How many bottles are you going to be making for the little one during the day? Making oatmeal, orange juice from concentrate and coffee for breakfast also made some dishes we might have to take care of later.
Speaking of workout stuff. How much water are you going to be drinking during the day? Is it hot outside? Is it cold outside, we still need to be hydrated even in the cold? Are you going to be helping pull people out of rubble from the quake, tornado, mudslide, tsunami? Do you need to do more than just sit on the porch waiting for life to go back to normal? If so you are going to be drinking more water!
Does anyone in your home have special needs you need to take into account? Children need a lot of water, especially babies on bottles or babies who needs mom to drink a lot of water to make milk. We have to take the bare minimum the government says we should have of items and use this only as a starting point for our personal planning.
We do not want to just use the COOKIE CUTTER answer provided by the Government or other resources to prepare. These answers are the minimum in a general sense and in no way takes your personal situation into account. You can stay alive on a gallon of water a day but in most cases you are going to do little more than just live. Let's just use these answers as a starting point in our planning.
What we need to do is personalize the plan to our situation and are availability of resources along with space. Given the space you have available figure out how much water, food and other items you can store. Of course you probably do not have enough space to store everything you would like to have on hand during an emergency. What do we do?
Start with just having the bare minimum from one of these list. Have three days worth of supplies on hand to just keep you alive. If you can work the supplies into your normal food supply this is even better! Say you go through a box of cereal once a week. Next time you are at the store buy two, now you have breakfast for the three days. Once you are "UP" by one box of cereal keep it this way. Do not let yourself fall below having one opened box of cereal and one unopened box of cereal.
You go through a roll of toilet paper a week. Next time you are at the store by two rolls. Now you have enough toilet paper for three days. If you have a list which does not say to have extra toilet paper on hand......... find a new list!
Some items on any list are items you just buy one time. A hammer, duct tape or a tarp are items you only have to buy one time and have other uses besides waiting for the world to go crazy to use them.Try never to buy items you can only use for a very specific purpose. Why have a "special" tool you can only use for one purpose when there are plenty of other tools, with multiple uses which will complete the same task?
Taking the suggested amount of water just add one more person. This will give you extra water to work with. Say your family is three people big, add a fourth person. Now you have a built in supply to use for cooking, cleaning and other items while still ensuring each member of your family has a bit more than the minimum to make it through the day. If you have a little one in the house just pick a day and keep track of how much water you use to make bottles or other food for them. Now add that amount to your one day supply.
Do you have furry family members? Did you add their water into your plan? Ok, go back and add them to your plan. The entire time you are planning add the furry ones as another person! Of course their food will be different but you get the idea.
Once you have this amount for three days rotate the water into your regular use. If you get into the habit of never falling below the minimum, like we did with the cereal box, you can easily keep three days worth of water on hand.
Do you have a way to purify water if you have to use questionable sources? Boiling water is something people have to do from time to time when the city water supply is compromised. Having water on hand means you do not have to do this right away. Do you have a water filter to use if you needed to? Do you know alternate water supplies hidden in your home? Do you know where to find water near your home? Do you have the means to purify, carry and store water from a source outside of your home? Do you know how heavy water is, the stream two miles away is going to be to far for you to get water from if you have to carry it everyday.
As you can see we could spend a lot more time just talking about this one item, water. This is what is meant by "Going down the rabbit hole". For most of us we do not have the time to go to far down the hole. We just want to feel better about our situation if something happens. In order to do this we have to put in some effort, not a whole lot, but just enough.
Continuing with our plan we are working with;
Water - need 6 gallons a day at my house most days.
4 family members = 4 gallons
1 extra (phantom member) = 5 gallons
1 extra for the little one who needs bottles = 6 gallons
6 gallons X 3 days = 18 gallons a day
Might as well round this up to 20 gallons a day! Gives us more built in extra, above and beyond what will just keep us alive. Also gives us some to use if someone is at the house who is not normally there and maybe something to help a neighbor out with if they need something.
You can get a list and buy everything the list says you should have and be done with it. Of course when the need comes to use the items you might be left short. Left short at time you really do not want to be caught short! Never think a 'cookie cutter' approach is the answer. the people suggesting these things do not know the details of your life or the needs of your life like you do. Take a moment now to do a little planning. The "you" in the future will like the "you" in the past a lot more!
As Always,
Stay Safe.
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