disaster kit

Something to consider…

Aid workers hoping to distribute food, water and other supplies to a shattered Port-au-Prince are warning their efforts may need more security Friday as Haitians grow increasingly desperate and impatient for help.

United Nations peacekeepers patrolling the capital said people’s anger is rising that aid hasn’t been distributed quickly, and the Brazilian military warned aid convoys to add security to guard against looting.

SLIDESHOW: Devastation in Haiti (Warning: Graphic)

“Unfortunately, they’re slowly getting more angry and impatient,” said David Wimhurst, spokesman for the Brazilian-commanded U.N. peacekeeping mission. “I fear, we’re all aware that the situation is getting more tense as the poorest people who need so much are waiting for deliveries. I think tempers might be frayed.”

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

AUSTRALIANS have been advised to stockpile food and water after the World Health Organisation raised its swine flu alert to phase five yesterday, indicating an imminent pandemic.

The Federal Government’s pandemic plan, a 132-page manual issued to medics, media and the public, insists that once the world reaches phase five, Australians should stock their pantries with food and bottled water to last 14 days, check on elderly neighbours and put emergency numbers by the phone.

Residents are advised to stock their pantries with drinks, including three litres of water for each person each day, dried and long-life food such as canned meals, toilet paper, batteries, candles, matches, manual can openers and water sterilising tablets. Analgesics, masks, gloves, a thermometer, disinfectant and prescription medications should also be stockpiled and people should have enough supplies to stay in their homes for 14 days.

Householders should also have plenty of tissues, alcohol-based hand-wash dispensers in kitchens and bathrooms, and soap and disposable towels near all sinks, the manual says.

Source/Full Story:: Swine flu

Think Non-Electric tools and appliances, and communications the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil and perhaps visiting friends and family…and be armed.

Source: FOXNews.com

A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm.

Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.

The prediction is based in part on a major solar storm in 1859 that caused telegraph wires to short out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires.

It was perhaps the worst in the past 200 years, according to the new study, and with the advent of modern power grids and satellites, much more is at risk.

“A contemporary repetition of the [1859] event would cause significantly more extensive (and possibly catastrophic) social and economic disruptions,” the researchers conclude.

Full Story

Technorati Tags: Appliances, Communications Systems, Economic Disruptions, Electric Tools, Fires, Governmental Control, Power Grids, Repetition, Satellites, Solar Storm, Storm Damage, Telegraph Wires

Via: The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — In a disaster such as an earthquake or terrorist attack, nearly two-thirds of U.S. parents would disregard orders to evacuate and would rush to pick up their kids from school, according to a new survey.

The survey found that 63 percent of parents would ignore orders to evacuate and instead attempt to reunite with their children, possibly hindering rescue efforts by adding to traffic congestion.

The authors of the study, released Thursday on the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, said that despite years of government efforts to enhance disaster preparedness, schools need to do more to plan for disasters and parents need to be made aware of the plans.

The report was commissioned by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Children’s Health Fund.

Among parents of school-age children, 45 percent said they do not know the location where their children would be evacuated as part of the school’s disaster plan.

“There should be an outcry from parents to push their schools and their school districts to develop a plan that makes sense,” said Irwin Redlener, associate dean for public health preparedness at Columbia and president of the Children’s Health Fund.

The federal Department of Homeland Security has allocated billions of dollars to help state and local governments set up disaster contingency plans.

But just 44 percent of the U.S. residents surveyed this year said they have all or some of the basic elements of a disaster preparedness plan, including food, water, a flashlight with extra batteries and a meeting place in case of evacuation.

The survey has been administered annually since 2002 by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

The telephone survey of 1,579 adults was conducted between July 25 and Aug. 9. The margin of error for the entire survey was 2.5 percentage points. The margin of error for the subset of households with children was 4 percentage points.

Parents said Thursday they were not surprised by the finding that most of them would disregard evacuation orders and pick up their children.

Diana Ennen, of Margate, Fla., is the author of “The Home Office Recovery Plan: Disaster Preparedness for Your Home-Based Business” and a mother of three.

“As a mom, you wouldn’t be able to keep me away from picking up my children,” she said in an e-mail. “My first instinct would be to get them at all costs. I would literally run the entire distance to get them. I believe most parents would feel the same.”

Via: Be Prepared – Channel 7

There are six basics you should stock for your home in the case of an emergency:

water, food, first aid supplies, clothing and bedding, tools and emergency supplies, and special items for medical conditions.

Keep the items that you would most likely need during an evacuation in an easy-to carry container. Below is a comprehensive list of what should be included in your kit – recommended items are marked with an asterisk(*).

Possible containers include a large, covered trash container, a camping backpack or a duffle bag.

Full List