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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

   It sure was an interesting day a week ago.  I'd say most everything worked out okay with a few moments of wondering what was "really" going on.  We were just glad that we'd made it home just before the power went out.  We did have a little bit of daylight left to prepare for the dark night coming.  I kept telling myself to go work on the kitchen, clean something.  Instead we spent a fair amount of time socializing with a lot of our neighbors that we knew and some that we met for the first time.  We even saw what was possibly a roving band of opportunistic looters.  I'd heard from someone else that they noticed that in other areas of the city, not necessarily in areas you would assume it would be in. 

     Despite having those daylight hours to prepare, it seemed such a low priority compared to all the human/personal interest stories that kept coming our way.  Some of the stories were bombings in New York which didn't seem to add up for me, severed lines at a hydroelectric plant, only one guy to blame and on and on.   The thing that scared me the most was the not knowing exactly what was going on and how long really would this last?  It seemed that all the information coming in was different.  It felt like we were in some kind of claustrophobic void and I was a bit worried that there was more going on than we knew.
     
   Of course all of you were prepared for such an event right?  We were, and we weren't.  I had plenty of food, water, candles, and we did finally find some flashlights.  We had it all covered and even loaned candles to a neighbor. 
  
     So what was the big deal?  Having everything and having everything in one place is two different things.  Some of the essential items we needed were all in different places or they were  hard to reach.  Then of course I worried about my garage freezer.  I also didn't have a radio, except for the car radio (found out later I did have a sponge bob radio), I didn't have a car charger for my cell phone.  I kept meaning to get one, but just never did.  Did anyone find themselves hunting around for things you didn't realize you might need until you needed them? 

    Another thing to think about, what are you going to do with all that food in the frig, and how are you going to cook dinner, and should you even bother to cook?  Do you have a grill and does your grill have propane or charcoal?  A gas stove will work, but you have to light it yourself.  I actually brewed a large pitcher of iced tea since I knew we had a ton of ice and why waste it? 
  
     We basically stayed in the family room and kitchen most of the evening, when we weren't outside watching the moving zoo of people driving to who knows where to contribute to what sounded like a mess up on the freeway.  We heard more sirens that afternoon and night than we hear in an entire month. 
 
     So, if this were to happen again, or worse, a natural disaster, we really do need to have plenty of supplies.  We also need to have a lot of our information handy, insurance numbers, police, fire if those are even available, medical supplies and a whole lot more.  Basically in a disaster it could be more than 72 hours before you can get help or food or water.  This outage was just a nudge to make us a bit more aware of  what it could be like in the event of a natural disaster. 

I've posted a few links that can help nudge you along in your urge to get ready and where to start.  The Real Food Resource was one that I had been following a little bit over the summer.  Too bad I didn't actually invest a bit more time into it.  She did a series, but has now condensed all her resources onto one page.  There is a lot to go through so pick and choose.  I especially liked her article on preserving foods which is useful for everyday knowledge.
   I noticed there is no lack of information on the internet regarding how to prepare for emergencies and disasters so I'll post a couple. 

Real Food Preparedness Resource

Fema/Are You Ready Guide\

Hawaii/gov  for my friends on the island, to this day I can still hear that darn siren

Equipped   okay, this one just cracked me up.  Not to be mean, I'm sure it's all good stuff, but I don't know of anyone who would have all the things this guy has on this list.  It basically sounds like he's trying to pack the entire house.  If you scroll to the bottom, he does have a 72 hour list.

     So Start Preparing...at least take care of the basic needs category.