I am glued to CNN watching the fallout of the worst earthquake to ever shake Japan and it's Tsunami. The pictures are haunting and unbelievable. Each clip is worse than the next.
I had to take time and reflect on what if it were happening to me? What can I do to prepare? You might be one of those who says nothing you can do will prepare for such devastation while others of you say I am going to do all I can to educate myself and prepare my home and family. I am one of the latter obviously.
1. Know the fault lines in your area. There are fault lines all over the world especially all over the U.S. I know there are fault lines in my area of Washington and the coast is a possible tsunami area.
2. If you live in a tsunami area know your prescribed evacuation route and have a plan.
3. Have a family emergency plan. Where will you meet? Who is your contact person?
4. Can you live without electricity, running water and sanitation?
5. How long could you go without needing a grocery store?
6. What if there weren't any gas stations?
7. What if the banks were closed and the ATM machines did not work?
8. Have I earthquake proofed my home to the best of my ability?
Check some of my older posts on how to prepare for an earthquake.
6 comments:
I live in Seattle and your post reminded me to have my husband put up wood strips along our food storage in our basement, a good jolt and all that food and some canning jars would crash on the concrete floor. Thanks for the reminder. Just to share: My husband and I are lucky enough to be staying in AZ for a few months this winter at a little mobile home with orange, lemon, grapefruit and tangerine trees outside our door. I have canned up several jars of orange lemon jelly, lemon jelly and plan to make more before we head north in early april. I also dehydrated lots of sliced lemon and orange to bring home with me. Do you ever have classes or trade canned items? I bought both a pressure canner (clearance at Fred Meyer last summer) and a steam juicer and I would really like a lesson in the pressure canning. I also just found out our neighbors here have a huge olive tree and I want to try brining some olives next year (too late this year) if we are lucky enough to come back down.
Yes Maybaby I do teach canning. Just email me at abigailhad7@comcast when you are ready! You have done so many things and should feel very proud of yourself for being a prepper.
Good to see you posting again, Abby. I've missed you!
: )
The whole disaster situ in Japan is very frightening. I have family there and they are very nervous about the nuclear fall-out. What a horrible situation to be in. In the area we live in, we have 2 Nuclear facilities that we would be included in the evacuation zone if things go as bad as it did in Japan. Pretty scary. Anyhow, we purchased a water purifier that will purify rain water. I do can and dry what extra we have, but those foods wouldn't last terribly long.
Those victims in Japan is really devastating. A lot of businesses and innocent lives were taken. Canning is a great way to help victims of earthquakes and tsunamis.
Since I truly feel among kindred spirits here, I don't want to step on toes, yet I feel compelled to share. We lived in San Fran during the '89 earthquake. I had just returned to work 5 minutes before it started. We felt the first tremble. When it stopped within a few seconds, we all looked at each other and sighed 'whew'--thinking it was just the typical small rumble like we felt a couple of each month. (We would have even slept through a previous one if the noise of the broom clattering on the tile hadn't woken us.) Seconds after that small fumble, the floor did such a tremendous jerk that we were nearly knocked off our feet. We all ran outside (even though it is supposed to be the wrong thing to do). The parking lot actually looked like a big tumbling ocean of asphalt waves. We must have looked like tightrope walkers with our arms extended and our knees bent as we tried to stay standing during the movement. When it was done, the supply room at work was totally destroyed. The industrial strength steel storage shelves not only fell over, the poles and shelves were so twisted that they were not repairable. It was several hours before we were able to chance going home. I believe in being prepared, so I had water plus supplies in my car trunk--but how would I even have gotten to those supplies since my keys were in my office and I was in the lobby when it started--it would have to be a dire enough for me to damage my car to get them.? Building doors and windows wouldn't open since the frames were changing shape so I am grateful to my friend who grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door (which was already open to let in the nice breeze). We all left our office doors ajar for several weeks to come. The very scariest part: you know for certain that aftershocks will start coming. A few months later a new job moved us to Phoenix--so as my husband said 'we could bake rather than shake'. I had plenty of food/drinks in our apartment, so I had supplies and all turned out fine for myself and my loved ones. In retrospect, it would have been better to have a cache of dehydrated produce, crackers, and sugared drinks that didn't require cooking. It made me realize that being prepared means planning for many different situations--and keeping a variety of foods/liquids around is better than just having one strategy. If it's possible to get home during a disaster, your supplies will help take care of you--as long as your home is still standing--and getting/being prepared is well worth it. If your home is gone, there are thousands of people trained and willing to work or volunteer during disaster relief--so paying taxes and donating to organizations are also ways of being prepared. It certainly is heartbreaking to watch the news about Japan and all the other major catastrophes in recent years. I recently watched the movie 'Aftershock' about the big earthquake in China--I cried through half of it. But today, it feels great to find a group of online friends to learn with and from! Laurie Lou
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