What Could Happen?

"The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents" - H.P. Lovecraft

An important question to ask in emergency preparedness is, "exactly what event(s) am I preparing for?" Different events require different responses. During a tornado you'll seek shelter in an underground room that is protected from winds and flying debris. The same spot might work for a hurricane too but you have to consider the possibility flooding. Could a water surge drown you in your basement? On the other hand a basement is a very bad place to be during a chemical spill or terrorist attack with a heavier than air gas. A heavy gas creeps along the ground and would fill your basement and your lungs.

It is important to think about and make plans for the scenarios most likely to occur in your neighbor. To help you in this planning, here are two websites that list potential events:

• FEMA www.fema.gov/areyouready/getting_informed.shtm
• Survival FAQ www.geocities.com/tominelpaso/assess_faq.txt

I recall one podcast where an emergency instructor said he felt very safe in a suburb of Chicago. There was very little chance of earthquake, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc. So he was surprised one day when ordered to evacuate his house by the police. It turns out that an abandoned railroad car in the neighborhood had caught fire. No one knew what was inside so the fumes were assumed to be dangerous.

Bottom Line

Once you've made a list of possible local emergencies, make plans. Where would you go? What supplies would you need? What skills will you need? What don't you know that you should learn?

If it helps, plan one event at a time; don't get overwhelmed with information overload. I heard a story about a new leader of a church who wanted to be prepared for everything. Together with his counselors/advisers he made a list of things that could go wrong - someone has a heart attack, breaks a leg, the toilets overflow, etc. Then during weekly church committee meetings, he and his staff would discuss one item from the list for at most five minutes deciding how they would react and respond. Now if any of these events did occur, the church leader had a plan.