The
Federal Emergency Management Agency is in full swing developing and
exercising live disaster drills across the country in an effort to
prepare people for possible catastrophic events. Whether or not you
believe we are living in a time of change, end of the world or simply ma
earth having a bad hair day something is up and it’s time to be more
responsible for the loved ones in your charge. You got to have a game
plan for survival or they will die as well as you.
Does not matter what part of the planet you live on the possibility
disaster may strike your neck of the woods is growing exponentially
daily. It could be a flood, tornado, cyclone, wild fire, winter storm,
earthquake etc; do you have a contingency plan? What have you done to
prepare for the known events that are common in your region? Do you have
a survival pack at the ready if you have to run out the door? Where
will you go? What about your infant child or elderly grandmother? Are
you prepared to save their lives as well as yourself? Sounds kind of
scary huh and it should because death is a very real consequence if you
don’t take this issue seriously. Disaster will turn into personal
tragedy and nothing worse than watching a loved one die
As a former associate director of the Office of Emergency Management
& Firefighter I can not stress hard enough how important it is to
have a game plan for survival. I’ve written plans, participated in table
top exercises and full blown exercises with many departments with
mutual aid participation. Ironically I participated in an air crash
scenario exercise after a real passenger jet crashed in Colorado
Springs, United Flight 585, killing all 25 people onboard. What a group
of coordinated professionals they were and it was truly an honor working
with them. Working with multiple agencies in these exercises taught me
the importance of preparedness, cooperation and training. I have FEMA
certifications in my repertoire and though you may not be responsible
for the wellbeing of a community you should have some knowledge of
preparedness this agency has to offer, for your family’s sake. It’s
free.
Though we live in a world filled with advanced technology there is no
technology that can streamline or expedite an emergency response from
first responders at any level of government. Ask a survivor and they
will tell you it can take a week or more before help arrives since
logistics is a major concern. Will the bridges and roads be passable?
Where will planes land if the airstrip is destroyed? 911 switchboards
will load beyond capacity if you were lucky enough to still have a phone
or electricity. If fires broke out there are no doubts emergency
services will be stretched beyond its limits to contain the blaze.
Rescue operations, security and a host of other concerns will also slow
response time to your location. Be prepared to treat injuries and
bivouac for at least 7 days. Water, Water, Water for without water in 3
days you will die.
In many cases emergency services within a stricken region can also be
destroyed extending the time before help arrived even more. A dear
friend walked around with a shard of glass impaled in her chest for
weeks before she found assistance after Hurricane Andrew. She lived in
the direct path of the hurricane causing total devastation as far as the
eye could see. Only by shear grit did she survive to tell her tale. The
stories she told me were horrific since human carnage was everywhere
and after a week the air carried the stench of rotting bodies, and help
was still ‘on the way’. Eventually the government dug mass graves and
buried scores of people before pestilence spread throughout Dade County.
Katrina should be a stark reminder that you can’t always depend on
others and it also stresses the point that survival is in your hands
when it comes down to it.
I worked on the recovery efforts in Los Angeles California after the
1994 Northridge Quake and found many roads impassable at best, even
weeks after the quake. The devastation was astronomical and that was a
little shaker at 6.7 m. but it looked like an atomic bomb struck.
Imagine being woken up at 4:31 in the morning as your house goes surfing
on a seismic wave. For some people they simply woke up to Dante’s
Inferno and were burned to a crisp when a gas main ruptured and caught
fire. Others were crushed to death as building came down like a stack of
pancakes. What I witnessed never made the news as whole sections of the
community were sealed off and away from the public eye. It was hard to
fathom the totality of this disaster but I can safely say some people
never had a chance, survival pack or no survival pack. They were
obliterated in a stew of meat, iron and concrete. My heart still goes
out to those poor souls who died on that fateful day.
Tornados are another experience I managed to survive in the Pan
Handle of Oklahoma and I really don’t know how I managed to get out of
that one. It was more like a dream as I dodged trees, debris and other
junk as a series of twisters ravaged Northwest Oklahoma and it was late
at night. In hindsight I should have stayed on my rez and gone to a 49
after our social. But what a feeling of helplessness as nature flexed
her might. I truly felt like a little bug waiting to be crushed as I
tried to find safety. Being on the road was not exactly the best place
to be. There were multiple tornados across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas
with major loss of life on that evening I later learned.
Gads, I drove through several twisters and had no clue where I was
going since I could not see other than dirt and trees whizzing around
through my headlights. Where was I going to hide? I felt buck naked at
Sunday school in a crowd of nuns. I only caught a glimpse of the
twisters as lightening flashed and transformers exploded. I was
traveling, totally unprepared and unfamiliar with my surroundings and
that was a formula for death if I ever saw one. Maybe I should have
heeded the emergency broadcast warning before I left my nation. At least
I would have known where the shelter was. The Lord protects children
and fools and I guess I qualified. Relatively unscathed, I only had a
broken windshield, some sand blasting on the ole paint job and a need
for another pair of boxers, holay!
There is no question people will die during any catastrophic event
just by the shear nature of disasters. But with some preplanning you
will increase your survivability quotient 100 fold. Knowing where the
shelter is and paying attention to emergency broadcasts will keep you
out of as much danger as humanly possible. Having a survival pack with
essentials to last at least a week will insure you will not suffer as
much if your community is completely devastated. You must pay attention
to your surroundings and know where to go in a time of crisis. And you
must instruct your family on what to do if you are at work or out of the
house. There are many concerns that should be addressed before a
disaster strikes. For diabetics and other people who require special
medical needs preplanning must include the medications you need to
sustain life including its storage.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided comprehensive
tips, guides and a host of resources so you can responsibly plan and
prepare for disasters. Whether you follow the FEMA *guidelines or you
decide to utilize other preparedness resources the bottom line is the
fact you are taking measures to protect you and your loved in the event
of catastrophe. You may survive disaster but you also need to survive
till help arrives to assist you further and that can take a week or more
depending on your location and the type of disaster you are confronted
with. First responders will have their hands full and logistical
concerns will weigh heavily on response time.
I worked in events with mass casualties and had to perform emergency
rescues, triage and prepare a dust off for Flight for Life and do body
recovery with limited personnel. We wore many hats that day so I know
how hard it is to be everywhere at once, let alone the exhaustion factor
when the adrenaline wears off. That’s when it can get dangerous to the
first responder. In most cases there is only a hand full of first
responders locally. Budget and manpower cuts in all branches of
emergency services across the country is a recipe for disaster
especially now. In a crisis police, ambulance and fire department
personnel will undoubtedly be overwhelmed by the shear magnitude of some
events. And it will simply take time for federal agencies to asses and
prepare a coordinated response. If there are multiple events nationally
resources will be stretched even further. Do the math; it is up to you
to survive until help arrives. The life of your family depends on it.
That back pack sitting in the corner will be the key to your survival.
If you don’t prepare it may truly be the end of the world for you and
your family.
*
http://www.fema.gov/
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
Posted in Space with tags disaster, emergency, NASA, preparedness news on February 11, 2012 by Buffalohair
Buffalohair Gazette International Archives 2009- 2012
NASA – Warns Employees to BE PREPARED
Voyager Finds Magnetic Foam at Solar System’s Edge
Alert NASA WARNS PUBLIC OF ONCE IN A LIFETIME SOLAR STORM
Solar/Volcano / Earthquake Watch Feb 9-13, 2012
SOLAR ACTIVITY UPDATE: Filament Eruptions Associated With Earth Bound CMEs (Feb 11th, 2012)