Radiation Exposure

“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.”

- Albert Einstein

With nuclear meltdowns in Japan, there's a lot of talk about Radiation Exposure. And it's very confusing. While researching I came across measurements in millisieverts, mircosieverts, Grays, and millirems so just dealing with units was tricky. And then there's the question, what level of radiation is "normal" or "safe"?

Let's start with units. Radiation dosages are measured in sieverts. A Sievert represents an effective radiation dose so one Sievert "produces the same biological effect" regardless of the type or size of the radiation particle. Since Sieverts are so large you'll normally see mSv (millisieverts).
1000 mSv = 1 Sievert.
You'll also see microsieverts for hourly measurements (for example Tokyo was experiencing 1.0 to  0.6 microsieverts per hour last week).
1,000,000 micorsievert = 1000 mSv = 1 Sievert

And then there are Rems.  1 Sievert is 100 Rems.

Less confused yet? Let's look at radiation exposure. According to Forbes.com

Radiation is emitted from all sorts of sources. Cosmic rays, radon, x-rays, brazil nuts, granite. Just living in a high-elevation city like Denver gets you a higher dose because there’s less atmosphere to block radiation. The granite in Grand Central Station and the uranium-laced stone used to build the U.S. Capitol Building supposedly give off enough radiation that if they were nuclear power plants they wouldn’t pass licensing.

Here are some radiation comparisons using millisieverts, mSv:

.001 = extra hourly exposure in Tokyo last week (equal to radiation from one cigarette)
.01 = Dental x-ray
.036 = eating one banana
.04 = one chest x-ray
.4 = one Mammogram
2 = natural radiation exposure every year (.24 from comic rays)
9 = extra yearly exposure for airline crew (increased cosmic rays)
13 = yearly dose from smoking 1.5 packs a day
16 = one CT scan for heart, abdomen or pelvis
100 = yearly dose at which the increase in cancer risk is clearly evident
100 = recommended limit over 5 years for Nuclear Plant workers
400 = hourly level at Fukushima plant that forced workers to withdraw
1,000 = not fatal in a single dosage but will cause radiation sickness
6,000 = level for Chernobyl workers who died within a month
10,000 = fatal within weeks

Bottom Line

It's hard to grasp the range of values in the chart above (a factor of 10,000,000 from lowest to highest). One site compared exposure to cigarettes which are slightly radioactive (.001 mSv). Others use Banana Equivalent Dosage (BED) where one banana is (.036 mSv).  So the increased risk in Tokyo is equal to eating an extra banana every day and a half.

This helps put things into perspective.

Additional Resource

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/risk.htm (Idaho State University - amazing amount of information about relative risks)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/15/radiation-exposure-levels-guide

Why Food Storage is Important

‘You never want a serious crisis to go to waste’ -  Rahm Emanuel

The tragic events in Japan show why Food Storage is so important. Everyone needs to be able to care for their own family's needs for at least one week. And longer is better. See my post from last year for recommendations on a 3-month supply.

Despite being one of the best prepared nations on Earth, the AP reports That there are millions of persons in their fourth day without electricity or power. The government is overwhelmed and can not take care of everyone days after the event.

No nation can support millions of survivors overnight. In Westchester county with a population of nearly 1 million we would be lucky to find 3000 cots for the Red Cross to shelter families. It takes a lot of time to fly or ship supplies on this scale. And the conditions are less than favorable with local roads, bridges, airports & ports damaged or destroyed.

Japan is demonstrating every possible disaster scenario.

1. Those on the coast have suffered total devastation and loss. Their entire house may be gone, washed away. They must rely on the government, International Red Cross, or friends/family/church for food and shelter. Families who live on higher ground with more than a week supply will have something to share with those who have nothing.

2.  185,000 persons living near the Fukushima nuclear reactors have been ordered to evacuate. Did they have go-kits to grab? How much time did they have to pack? If a plant melts down, will they ever be allowed to return?

3. Persons within 12 miles of the nuclear plants (but outside the evac zone) have been ordered to stay inside their homes. This is where you absolutely need a week supply of food for the family. Do you really want to risk exposure to radiation because your cupboards are bare?

4. Families further away must repair earthquake damage and get by without water & power. Again a small food store will be a major blessing because local stores are quickly emptied and may be slow to restock after a disaster. See my post, Out of Stock.

Bottom Line

There are claims of 10,000 dead in Japan. This could have been tens times worse but for the earthquake drills and preparedness of the residents.

Our prayers go out to all the families affected.

Google Crisis Support

"I used to sleep nude - until the earthquake."
Alyssa Milano (American Actress)

Back in 2008 (Hide and Seek) I blogged about ways to find missing persons and/or let others know that you are alive after a disaster. For example there is a people finding service run by the Red Cross at https://disastersafe.redcross.org/

Today I learned that Google also supports a people finding service just for major disasters like
Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake  http://christchurch-2011.person-finder.appspot.com/, and
Japan's earthquake and tsunami http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=en

Google has also a great resource site for the Japanese quake at Google Crisis Response

(The resource page for Christchurch is http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/christchurch_earthquake.html)

The creator of the website wrote this,

As someone who experienced the Kobe earthquake 16 years ago when I was at university, I cannot forget the immediate desire for information. There was no way to find out where people's family and friends were, if transportation would be available to get us home, and most importantly, whether we would be able to find shelter.

This experience helped me remember that during a crisis, information about shelters can become increasingly muddled. Together with our Google Crisis Response team, we decided to organize existing public information from local governments about the concerned areas. Because of the very high volume of web traffic yesterday, this proved difficult to access. Collaborating with the Google Maps engineering team in Tokyo, we rapidly put together a page of information on Google Maps for our Crisis Response page.

And thanks to our colleagues in California and around the globe, within one hour of the earthquake we launched Google Person Finder, a tool to help locate missing people, in Japanese, Chinese and English. We published sites in Japanese and English with maps, news updates, videos, and resources. We also posted tsunami alerts on the Google homepage for appropriate domains to make sure as many people as possible saw the warning.

You can find a list of Crisises that Google has covered at http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/response.html 

and a list of web tools for presenting information at
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/resources.html

Bottom Line

Hats off to Google for using its technical resources to make information available to the public during disasters.

I recall after the East Coast Blackout in the 90's listening two days from my NYC office for word that the metro trains were running again. On day 2 my wife called and said a friend could see the commuter train letting off passengers so ignore the official radio announcements and just go to Grand Central Terminal (GCT) and get on any train leaving the city. GCT was a spooky place with no lights, just the sun shining through the giant windows in the main hall. Men with megaphones announced trains departing and I got home.

Experiencing a Hurricane

I loved this story, Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike, by John in Texas, from SurvivalBlog.com. I do not usually copy an entire blog post but this one is so excellent I hate to cut any of it out...

I really appreciate the people who share their lessons learned on SurvivalBlog.com, so I thought I would share my experiences and lessons learned from Hurricane Ike.


Hurricane Ike hit Houston on Friday night September 13, 2008. The hurricane was classified as a strong category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 110 MPH. What was unusual about this hurricane was the large size of the storm. Hurricane force winds extended 120 miles from the center.


Gas stations in our area ran out of gas the day before the storm (Thursday). I waited in a very long line of cars only to find out that the station had run out of Regular gas. I was happy to pay extra to fill up with Premium. The gas station was a zoo with everyone in panic mode. It was all the owner could do to maintain order with people complaining about credit card issues, the station running out of Regular, and how people were taking too long to buy gas. I will never again wait until the last minute to buy gas. Grocery stores were also crazy. The grocery stores we visited had all run out of bottled water and batteries. People were buying canned goods and ice in large quantities.


On Friday morning I finished installing our plywood storm shutters on our most vulnerable windows and bringing everything inside that could be damaged by the high winds. In the afternoon we continued with our preparations inside. We charged all of our batteries, filled up our camping water storage bags, and got all of our battery lamps ready. I also setup inverters and car batteries in the house for backup power.

Our home is about 70 miles north of the coast. The high winds and rain started to hit around 9 PM on Friday night. We went to bed early to try to get some sleep before the strongest winds of the storm hit. Around 1 AM the wind was making so much noise that I was no longer able to sleep. The house was making a lot of strange noises due to the high winds. It was at that point that my panic started to build. What made me feel uneasy was the fact that my family and I were completely on our own. If we had any kind of emergency, I would not be able to call anyone for help. What helped me to calm down was keeping busy reviewing all of my preparations and walking around the house checking for problems.


Our power was intermittent most of the night and finally went out around 2 AM. The television weatherman said that when your electricity goes out, that is when you know the strong winds are approaching. That is exactly what happened in our case. I continued watching the news with a battery powered television. A television is very helpful to track the movement of the storm. Since television stations in our area no longer broadcast analog television signals, I will have to find another solution to receive digital television with backup power for future storms.


As I watched the eye of the storm pass near our home to the East on television, I thought the worst was over. To my surprise, the strongest winds hit our house on the back side of the storm. During the peak winds, I heard a loud crash and our entire house shook. I ran upstairs and found a tree had hit our house. I was amazed at the damage. The roof framing, roof decking, shingles, sheet-rock, insulation, and tree branches had fallen into my son’s bedroom. The larger tree branches had come through the roof like spears. Fortunately, I had insisted that everyone sleep down stairs during the storm. As the hurricane force winds raged outside, we rushed around in the dark trying to find something to catch the water. We needed a lot of bins and buckets to catch the water falling from such a large area of the roof. This kept us very busy for the rest of the night as we were constantly bailing the water out of all of the bins. We were able to catch enough of the water that the sheetrock downstairs was not damaged.


As the sun came up, we were able to see the damage outside. Most of the large pine trees near our home had been blown down. The tree that hit our house was a large pine in our neighbor’s yard. The tree had broken at mid-height and the top part of the tree was still connected to the bottom half. A second tree in my neighbor’s yard has snapped (clean break) and the top half landed in my back yard. A third tree had landed on the roof of the house behind ours and the top part was in our yard. We also had a mature queen palm that had blown over. The trees all fell in different directions. I do not think it was a tornado from the hurricane that blew down the trees since the damage was so widespread in our neighborhood. The funny thing was that I had cut down all of the tall pine trees in my yard after I realized how dangerous they could be if they fell on the house. All the pine trees that hit my house and landed in my yard were all from my neighbors and all of the cleanup efforts and repairs were my responsibility. My neighbors paid none of the cost to remove the trees or repair the damage to my home and yard.


The day after the hurricane hit, I called insurance company and told I was on my own and I could not make any major repairs before the Insurance Adjuster arrived. We started the cleanup process by removing all shingles, roof decking, tree branches, sheet rock, and insulation that was in the room. The contractor (thick plastic) garbage bags we had worked great for this cleanup. I highly recommend everyone keep a few boxes of these contractor bags for emergencies. We then pulled up the carpet and removed the wet pad. We used fans to circulate the air and help dry the room out. We learned from a previous flooding that if the house is not dried out quickly, a strong musty odor will develop. Since we could not put a tarp on the roof due to the tree, we hung a tarp inside the room to catch all the water and funnel it into a large bucket. The tree company we hired to remove the trees in our yard used a 100-ton crane to remove the tree on our house.


We started running our generator the first day using gas. The only gas I had was two years old with Sta-Bil gas stabilizer added. I was amazed the generator ran well on two year old gas. I now rotate my gas yearly and put it on my calendar so I won’t forget. Our generator has a natural gas conversion kit installed. After the rain stopped, we moved the generator to our back yard and connected it to natural gas. The generator ran flawlessly for 13 hours per day on natural gas. I remember praying that our generator would keep running since we were totally dependent on it for all of our power. I strongly recommend a good quality generator and maintain it well for best reliability. My natural gas bill went up $100 and my electricity bill went down $200, so I actually saved money running the generator.


Our generator is 7,500 Watts, so supporting the electrical load of the entire house had to be done carefully. We powered everything in the house except the central air-conditioning. The generator load monitor we had was very helpful. As long as we kept the load under 50%, we had no problems. When the load was at 70%, we sometimes had problems. At 90%, the generator circuit breakers would trip within a few seconds.


While working in our yard near the generator, I started to feel the effects on Carbon Monoxide poisoning (headache, nausea, and fatigue). I realized what was happening and went indoors to recover. I am now extra careful when working around a running generator. We also use Carbon Monoxide detectors in our house when running the generator.


All gas stations and stores in our area were closed after the storm since there was no electricity. Stores reopened slowly as emergency generators were brought in. When the grocery stores opened, they had none of the basic items (eggs, milk, orange juice, bread, hamburger, etc.). After the storm we lost electricity, cable/internet, and phone service. We had no problems with water, sewer, and natural gas service. Many of the nearby neighborhoods had no water and one had limited sewer service. I was surprised that phone service went down after 24 hours. After about a week, the phone company restored service with portable generators they connected to the phone system equipment in the neighborhood. We had no power for 10 days. Neighbors asked us to charge their cell phones, laptops, and DVD players. We setup a table in front room with power strips for them to use. The item most requested by my neighbors was ice. I made extra ice before the storm and filled many 1 gallon freezer bags. After two days, neighbors started to clear out their refrigerators and freezers. We had many offers to take their frozen food. Several of our neighbors had electric stoves and could not cook. They came over to our house and used our gas stove to cook dinner.


We decided to shut down our generator at night to keep a low profile and so we did not disturb the neighbors (too much). At night I used our inverters to power our refrigerators and freezers. I was disappointed that we were only getting 3-4 hours of run time from a standard car battery. On the third night, the inverter I was using for our large freezer stopped working. I took the inverter apart and found many of the internal components had been damaged. The operating power of the freezer was within the rated load of the inverter, but the surge current was not. I am now more careful about overloading inverters. I also purchased larger deep-cycle marine batteries to extend my run time. With our generator not running for 11 hours at night, I found the freezers were able to maintain a safe temperature, but the refrigerators were not. I solved this problem by adding blue-ice to the refrigerators at night.


Many of our neighbors and friends told us they were going to buy a generator and prepare for the next hurricane. None did. As soon as the power came back on, they forgot all about it.


My wife does not support my preparation efforts. She has always told me that our generator was a waste of money and a hurricane is never going to hit Houston. As our neighbors and friends told us how smart we were to buy a generator, I thought to myself I have finally won this argument. Unfortunately (for me), I was mistaken. She still says the generator was a waste of money and a hurricane is never going to hit us again.


We spent more time preparing than anyone else on our street and ended up with the most damage to our house and yard. Just because you are prepared, don’t assume everything will go well for you. This is my biggest lesson learned from the storm.


The entire process of filing an insurance claim, hiring contractors, completing all necessary repairs, and negotiating the final settlement with the insurance company took well over a year. Overall we were blessed that the damage was not worse, we did not have to move out of our home, we had a good test of our emergency preparations, and we learned a lot from the storm.

Bottom Line

I love the lines, "Many of our neighbors and friends told us they were going to buy a generator and prepare for the next hurricane. None did."  and "[my wife,] She still says the generator was a waste of money and a hurricane is never going to hit us again."  Note also that the damage to the house and yard was from the neighbor's trees.

Some people will never be convinced that preparation is useful. There are none so blind as those that refuse to see.

Family Communication Plan

-I've exceeded my unlimited texting.

When preparing for emergencies, you might think of flashlights, radio, water, food and first aid but few people think about planning for how to communicate. Suppose your child is at school when an evacuation notice is issued. The local phone lines will be overwhelmed. How will you find out where your child is at and how can they communicate to you?

Fortunately new technologies provide many options for social networking like texting, Facebook, and email. For the old fashioned, try calling a relative that is long distance. These are separate phone circuits and often work then local calls can not connect. Make sure everyone knows which relative to call.

To help you create a plan and share it, here are two sites...

1. Create a family contact plan online at http://ready.adcouncil.org/beprepared/fep/fep.do
This site prompts you for descriptions and contact information for all family members, plus work, and school, and police, etc and then location and phone for emergency family gathering sites. The information is NOT saved online. Instead you will print out wallet sized cards with this information for family members to carry.

2. The web site http://ready.adcouncil.org/beprepared/quickshare.html  prompts you for emergency contact information and then displays this back so you can copy and paste the information to friends (and your Bishop and EPS) via email. The following information is collected...

Emergency Plan information for <person X>
My Emergency Contact <a local person>
My Out-of-Town Contact <a distant person>
My Neighborhood Meeting Place <place>

Bottom Line

I hope you find this helpful. There are few things worse than not knowing the status of a loved one during/after an emergency.

Steps to Take After a Hurricane

What to Do After a Hurricane

MAKE SURE THE STORM IS REALLY OVER

- Remain indoors until an official "all clear" is given.

SAFETY (see also Food Safety below)

- INITIALLY, USE PHONES ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES. Local lines will be jammed. Let those with life-threatening emergencies use the phones first.

- Give First Aid and assist in rescue efforts.

- Do not touch fallen or low-hanging wires of any kind under any circumstances. Stay away from puddles with wires in/near them. Do not touch trees or other objects in contact with power lines.

- Warn your children about broken glass, sharp metal, stray animals, and other outdoor dangers. Do NOT go barefoot or wade in puddles!

- Aggressively clean all cuts or scrapes – the risk of infection is high. Don’t clean anything with tap water – it may be polluted.

- Don’t attempt to drive for a few days. Roads will be a flooded, blocked, washed-out, undermined, or needed by emergency vehicles. If away from home, you might not be allowed to return. Police may erect road blocks and deny all access or require identification to enter a neighborhood.

- Don’t light candles or use anything with a flame. There may be gas leaks.

- Don’t turn on the electricity – you may short out appliances that are still wet and cause a fire.

- Expect an invasion of vermin (rats & snakes) and insects within a few days.

PLAN TO REUNITE AND SHARE STATUS

Implement your family plan on how to unite separated members. Suggestions:

- Leave messages with a designated person outside the emergency area.

- Have a secret place near your house to leave a written message (in a water proof bag). “Had to flee, will be at Uncle Joe’s, 914-555-5555”.

- Use email, Facebook, texting, and cell phones when power is available

- Notify the local police and Red Cross if you are separated so the family knows you are alive.

- Don’t forget to include grandparents and other concerned relatives in the plan. They will be worried about you and want to know where you are.

- Let your Bishopric know where you are located and your status. If you cannot reach them by phone, try email or create a news item on the Ward web site at www.lds.org. The news item will not go public; it is reviewed by the Ward Website Administrator first.

PLAN RESPONSIBILITIES & STAY INFORMED

- Make a plan with your family, friends, and neighbors assigning specific responsibilities to each person. Keep every person busy with something useful. Don’t forget to assign childcare to someone.

- Another important task is damage assessment. Take photos before you begin cleaning up to use in your insurance claim. Create an inventory of damages.

- Listen to local radio stations for public announcements.

MENTAL HEALTH

- Stress, anxiety, panic, anger, sadness, and depression are all normal following an emergency. Get plenty of sleep and watch for signs of emotional breakdown in family members. Children and older adults are of special concern in the aftermath of disasters.

- Acknowledging feelings helps with recovery. Pray together and emphasize the positive. Count your blessings and utilize your strengths.

- Contact your church leader, voluntary agencies, or professional counselors for counseling. Additionally, FEMA and state and local governments of the affected area may provide crisis counseling assistance.

FOOD SAFETY
from http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm076993.htm

Hurricanes, especially if accompanied by a tidal surge or flooding, can contaminate the public water supply and anything the flood waters touched.

- Do not eat any food that may have come into contact with flood water. If in doubt, throw it out.

- Do not eat food packed in plastic, paper, cardboard, cloth, and similar containers that have been water damaged.

- Discard food and beverage containers with screw-caps, snap lids, crimped caps (soda bottles), twist caps, flip tops, and home canned foods, if they have come in contact with flood water. These containers cannot be disinfected.

- Undamaged foods in all-metal cans or retort pouches can be saved if you remove the labels, thoroughly wash the cans, rinse them, and then disinfect them with a sanitizing solution consisting of 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of potable water. Re-label containers with contents and expiration date with a marker.

WATER SAFETY

- If you don't have bottled water, then boil water to make it safe. If the water is cloudy, filter it through clean cloths or allow it to settle, and draw off the clear water for boiling. Boil the water for one minute, let it cool, and store it in clean containers with covers.

- If you can't boil water, disinfect it using household bleach. Filter if cloudy and then add 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water. Stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before using.

- Do not use well water that has been flooded. Have the water tested before using.

CLEAN-UP

- Wear protective clothing, such as gloves and boots, to avoid skin contact with raw sewage and other contaminants.

- Open windows and doors to ventilate and dry your home.

- Shovel as much mud and debris as possible out of the building, then hose it down, inside and out. The walls, floors and any other parts of the building that have been flooded should be washed and disinfected.

- Drain the basement no more than one foot per day to minimize further damage. Groundwater outside creates enormous inward pressure on basement walls and floors.

- Throw away flooded items that cannot be washed and disinfected (such as mattresses, carpeting, carpet padding, rugs, upholstered furniture, cosmetics, stuffed animals, baby toys, pillows, foam-rubber items, books, wall coverings, drywall, insulation, and most paper products).

- Discard wooden cutting boards, wooden dishes and utensils, plastic utensils, baby bottle nipples, and pacifiers that have come into contact with flood water. These items cannot be safely cleaned.

- Thoroughly wash metal pans, ceramic dishes, and utensils (including can openers) with soap and water, using hot water if available. Rinse, and then sanitize them by boiling in clean water or immersing them for 15 min. in a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water (or the cleanest, clearest water available).

- Thoroughly wash countertops and all surfaces with soap and water, using hot water if available. Rinse, and then sanitize by applying a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water (or the cleanest, clearest water available). Allow to air dry.

- Carefully clean corners, cracks and crevices, door handles, and door seals, in rooms that have been affected by flood water.

- Discard refrigerators that have been submerged in flood water, or if enough moisture was present from liquefied food items to reach the insulation inside the equipment.

- Run your dishwasher, empty through three complete cycles to flush the water lines and assure that they are cleaned internally before washing equipment and utensils in it.

- Discard all ice in ice machines; clean and sanitize (1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of potable water) the interior surfaces; run the ice through 3 cycles; and discard ice with each cycle.

- Replace all ice machine filters and beverage dispenser filters and flush all water lines for 10 to 15 minutes.

REFRIGERATOR
- Without power, a refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.

- Fifty pounds of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic foot fully-stocked freezer cold for two days.

- Once the power is restored, use a thermometer to check the freezer. If the freezer thermometer reads 40° F or below, the food is safe and may be refrozen. Otherwise check each frozen package of food - it’s safe if it still contains ice crystals. You can't rely on appearance or odor.

- Refrigerated food should be safe as long as the power was out for no more than 4 hours. Discard any perishable food (such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs or leftovers) that has been above 40° F for two hours or more. Perishable foods that are not kept adequately refrigerated or frozen may cause illness if consumed, even when they are thoroughly cooked.

Bottom Line

For more information see www.fema.gov/rebuild/

Hurricane Katrina - 5 years later

Last week was the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and there have been many retrospectives of the good and bad that occurred. I particularly liked this one from Instapundit of lessons learned two weeks after the event.

1. Don’t build your city below sea level: Sooner or later it will flood.

2. Order evacuations early: even 48 hours advance notice is too late if you want to get everyone out.

3. Have — and use — a plan for evacuating people who can’t get out on their own: New Orleans apparently had a plan, but didn’t use it.

4. Have an emergency relocation plan: designated places far enough away to be safe, but close enough to evacuate people to.

5. Make critical infrastructure survivable: one of the key failures of Katrina was the collapse of the New Orleans Police Department’s radio system - they could not communicate after the hurricane.

6. Stock supplies and prepare facilities: The Superdome didn’t have adequate food, water, and toilet facilities, even though everybody knew it was going to be a shelter of last resort.

7. Be realistic: In the event of a major disaster, streets may be impassable and public services could be interrupted or taxed beyond their limits. Therefore, everyone must know how to provide for their own needs for an extended period of time.

8. Put somebody in charge: Right now it’s mostly state governors, but this needs to be made inescapably plain to everyone.

The webpage has more details and wonderful comments from readers.

Bottom Line

The media (and Democrats) love to blame Bush for the failures after Katrina. But look at the list above. None of these topics are Federal in scope. They are failures at the city, regional, and state level. That is where preparedness begins and where it will succeed or fail.

Hurricane Season

"It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck."-Charles Caleb Colton

Today I'll let someone else do all the talking. Check out Hurricane Readiness at SurvivalBlog.com. It covers what to do before, during and after a hurricane and ends with a supply list.

Bottom Line

A hurricane is not something you can prepare for last minute. Check out the article and prepare now if you live in a hurricane zone.

Cells phones In Haiti

What we have to do is deliver to people the best and freshest most relevant information possible. We think of Twitter as it's not a social network, but it's an information network. It tells people what they care about as it is happening in the world.—Evan Williams, CEO and founder of Twitter

Wired.com notes that two weeks after the Haiti earthquake, food and water were in short supply in Port au Prince, BUT it was possible to recharge your cellphone. Enterprising individuals hooked up car batteries to power strips and were selling phone recharges for 40 cents. This is a vital service since most electrical lines and phone lines are still out of order. A cell phone lets you call for help, find out the status of others and find out what's open or available after a disaster.

Amazingly the cell phone network was partially restored within two days of the earthquake. Voice does not always get through but text messaging usually works. Hence the large volume of Tweets coming out of Haiti. Texting uses less bandwidth than voice and often works even when voice lines are overloaded.

Bottom Line

It looks like I'll need to learn how to use Twitter.

Is Looting OK?

“The truth is, a terrible tragedy like this brings out the best in most people, brings out the worst in some people. We're trying to deal with looters as ruthlessly as we can get our hands on them.”- Haley Barbour, Mississippi Governor

There is an opinion piece by Author Rebecca Solnit that I have mixed feelings about. Her book, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster describes how charity prevails and people mostly cooperate during natural disasters. In a recent opinion article entitled, When the Media is the Disaster, she lambastes the media for focusing on the negative human events during disasters, looking for crime and abuses and making things sound much worse than they are for publicity’s sake. Think back on Hurricane Katrina the horror stories of murders, gangs, rapes, etc published by the media; now known to be false.

I’ll agree that the media will do anything for profit and making mountains out of molehills is their common stock and trade. But the gist of her article focuses upon “looting”, a word Solnit would like to see banned. She points to “looters” carrying dehydrated milk or bolts of cloth, who are trying to help their families under extreme circumstances. Fair enough. But she chooses not to see the looters who are grabbing TV sets and other high-priced items from stores.

Years ago when I was a teenager, I decided to go on a hike up a “mountain” on the spur of the moment, completely unprepared. When I reached a building at the top I was extremely thirsty and desperate for water. I did not see any people, or a water facet, but I did see a glass of bottled water. I knew I had to have that water but stealing is wrong. So I compromised and left some money behind in place of the water.

It would be nice if looters returned after a disaster to recompense shopkeepers. I hope this has happened but I’ve never heard of such a thing. Lack of preparedness (i.e. no food storage) can force one to take extreme steps. But where does one draw the line? If it’s ok to steal from a store to feed my family, how about stealing from another family? Would you kill another to save your family? What price will you pay for survival?

Bottom Line

I’m reminded of Les Misérables where Jean Valjean spends nineteen years in prison: five for stealing bread for his starving sister and his family, and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts. The author, Victor Hugo, wants us to see the injustice of this, to have pity on the looter (who is afterall a very good man). But can we condone any crime done by the poor just because they are poor?

What are the alternatives? Food kitchens & homeless shelters? These are often shunned by the poor themselves as too dirty and dangerous, filled with drug users, alcoholics, etc who really do not want to take care of themselves. They feed the starving but don’t cure the problem.

I favor free education and training programs – the “teach a man to fish” philosophy. Also workfare projects like Goodwill or Deseret where the unskilled are fed and taught basic workskills.

This meshes with my uneasiness over the relief efforts in Haiti. Yes they need food & water now but what happens next year and the year after? People can feel virtuous that they gave clothes (which are not wanted by the way – too expensive to transport) but ignore the long-term poverty that has existed for years and will be even worse now. An entire infrastructure needs to be built in a country that was too poor or too corrupt to build one for itself in the past. I’d like to hear and see more attention paid to long-term recovery efforts for the country. Or will the world walk away after the Haitians are fed and leave them in their poverty?

Earthquake in Haiti

"Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself" - Luke 4:23 KJV

Last week a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. The resulting aftermath was a complete breakdown of civilization as we know it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, understatedly said: "The authorities that existed before the earthquake are not able to fully function." [Actually they weren't functional much at all.] Days after the event, victims started stacking bodies along the roads as a sign of protest over no one coming to their rescue.

The earthquake in Haiti hit the government just as hard as the population. Bodies piled up and rotted at the morgue attached to Hospital General in Port-au-Prince because the Hospital Administrator had had no contact with any government officials to see what to do with them. He said, "I'm awaiting the decision of the government. What else can I do?" But as one Latin American expert noted, "The sad truth is that no one is in charge of Haiti today."

A shop owner figured out the problem, "There is no one in our country capable of sorting this out. Everyone is looking after their own families." Even President Rene Preval lost his home. He told CNN, "My palace collapsed. ... I can't live in the palace, I can't live in my own house." The 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti, instead of coming to the rescue, it looked after its own dead after its headquarters were destroyed in the quake.

Bottom Line

A 19-yr-old survivor said, "Look at us. Who is helping us? Right now, nobody." That's right! During an emergency you have to help yourself and your family. You can not count on government or outside rescue, especially not in the first 3-days, the famous 72 hours. Three days after the earthquake international organizations had yet to arrive in the country to help.

Update

Here's an article dated this morning, Jan 18, that describes how after 6 days, the first food and water is reaching a village of 10,000 people in Haiti.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.935566350b537e75897dfaac9f307642.5b1&show_article=1

Update 2

The U.N. World Food Program plans to start feeding 1 million people in two weeks and 2 million people in one month, the secretary-general said....With an estimated 3 million to 3.5 million people in need of aid, Ban was asked whether it would be enough to avoid riots.
"I sincerely hope and appeal to Haitian people to be more patient," he said. "We do not want to even imagine that kind of situation."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9DA0IHG0&show_article=1

What NOT to do after a disaster

"There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster"-Richard Bach

From MSN Money I spotted these after-the-disaster do's and don'ts. I'm going to focus on the DON'T in this posting.

• Don’t travel if you can avoid it. Roads and conditions may be dangerous.


• Don’t cross moving water by car or foot.


• Do not try to repair damaged gas or electrical lines yourself


• Do not use tap water until it is announced safe. Boiling may kill bacteria in the water but won’t remove any contaminants like sewage.


• Do not eat food in boxes or cans that have touched floodwaters
  Never use a power generator inside the house, the carbon monoxide may kill you. Do not plug it into the main house power lines.


• Don’t assume the insurer or government will take care of everything


• Don’t turn on water-damaged appliances without having them inspected


• Make emergency repairs as needed but don’t remove evidence of damage. The insurer needs to see the damage before they’ll pay for it.


• Don't accept the services of companies that drive through damaged neighborhoods immediately after a disaster – these may be scam artists


• Don't open the door to an insurance adjuster or inspector without an ID badge. Thieves use this ruse to gain entry to homes after disasters.


• Don’t sign away your rights. Some insurers may offer quick cash up front from emergency repairs but require that you sign away all future claims. Read carefully anything you’re asked to sign and don’t sign if you don’t understand it.


• Don’t assume the insurer is giving you their best offer. Read your policy and see what your rights are. If you think the insurer is acting unfairly, contact your state insurance department.


• Don’t miss deadlines for filing claims.

Four Stories of Survival

“One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” Arnold H. Glasgow

Over the past year Popular Mechanics has been a great source for disaster preparedness stories. For example, 4 People Who Faced Disaster—And How They Made it Out Alive. The article is worth reading in depth – I’ll summerize it here.

Prepare for the Worst:

a former Hewlett-Packard engineer saves his house from a California fire. “The last thing I want from my story is for people to risk their lives,” Vaplon says. “But I’d thought about protecting my home, and I felt comfortable with my decision to stay.” He was well prepared.

Keep Cool in a Crisis:

In a disaster, 10% of the people panic and 80% do nothing. But when a tornado in Iowa hit a shelter with 65 Boy Scouts, the Scout Leader went into autopilot rescue mode. “I don’t know how to describe it,” he says. “It was like my brain went away, and I went to a very businesslike place.” Though injured himself, he directed the able-bodied Scouts to take care of the injured, applying pressure to wounds, turning T-shirts into bandages and elevating the legs of those who were in shock. His leadership saved many lives.

Hang in There:

An overnight sky-watching trip in Washington state, becomes a nightmare when an unexpected autumn snowstorm leaves Daryl Jané stuck for 14 days until he was found by a local snowmobile club. John Leach, a survival psychologist says, “people in his situation die all the time, but they don’t have to ... He didn’t have food, but that’s not a problem for two weeks—you can live without it. (Jané lost 10 pounds.) Fluid is the issue, but he found water.” Don’t give up.

Outlast the Aftermath:

When Hurricane Ike hit Texas last year, 48 people died. But, according to the National Hurricane Center, as many as 64 post-storm deaths occurred in Texas because of factors like carbon monoxide poisoning and electrocution. The first weekend after Ike, some 37,000 Texans were holed up in shelters that ran short of food and water within 24 hours. The next few weeks brought countless scores of injuries from clearing debris. Lesson learned? Work with your neighbors and know how to safely live in a disaster area.

Bottom Line

Popular Mechanics correctly identifies four key principals to survival:

1. Be prepared in advance with supplies, equipment and skills
2. Keep calm. This comes from practice and a knowledge that you are prepared.
3. Make a plan to survive and don’t give up.
4. Be prepared for a long haul. The aftermath can be worse than the disaster event.

When to see a Doctor?

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away” – proverb

The media has had a field day with Swine Flu and the number of health related stories is up - way up! Swedish researcher, Hans Rosling (of Gapminder.org), published a video last month comparing Google news of Swine Flu versus Tuberculosis. For each Swine Flu death there were 8176 stories published between April 24 and May 6. For each Tuberculosis death there was one tenth (0.1) of a story. So while the flu is being overhyped there is a silver lining – this is a great time to find articles on health care.

When fighting a pandemic, the best weapon is quarantine; i.e. keep away from sick people. And where are you most likely to find sick people? The Hospital! You might visit the hospital for an injury and pick up the flu in the waiting room or emergency room. I read a story today by an EMT worker who was told if they carried a person with signs of the flu, the vehicle had to be completely scrubbed and disinfected and allowed to air dry for three hours before they could pick up another patient. During a pandemic the EMS fleet would be largely grounded (at most 8 passengers a day per vehicle) if this disinfection rule were maintained. In cases of large-scale emergencies like an earthquake or hurricane, 50% of the regional hospitals may be knocked out of service when needed most.

So what happens if you need medical care during a pandemic or disaster? Many sites promote being your own doctor and stocking up now for a first rate medical supply. But do not carry this to extremes. Certainly you can do more first aid and even advanced first aid at home. Many emergency rooms visits are for minor injuries or illnesses that don’t require a doctor or for which a doctor can do nothing (You paid good money to hear, “take two aspirin and get some rest”?).

My newest commuting CD is about the history of Medicine and disc one is about Hippocrates who started modern western medicine. The instructor points out that it was not easy convincing people that natural causes, not the gods, were responsible for illness. “Faith healers”, priests of Apollo, sacrifices, etc had an excellent reputation because 90% of the time a patient will recover regardless of what is done. The human body is very resilient.

Sadly our schools don’t teach the public how to distinguish the 9 times you’ll recover on your own from the 1 time profession help is required. “Doctors cannot give set guidelines for when to see a doctor and when it is unnecessary because symptoms with the same cause vary too much and symptoms with different causes overlap too much.” [Merck] Many people play it safe and see the doctor every time or for every sniffle. When SARs hit the world in 2002-2003, there were just 208 officially reported cases in the US but the number of calls to 911 and the number of EMS runs increased by 10%. In Maryland this meant an additional 60,000 EMS calls by those who thought they might have SARS. [Based on 2002 call volume of 600,000]

Here are some sites about when to see a doctor:

About.com: Cold & Flu
Merck.com
WebMD
MyDr.com.au

Bottom Line

We can all do more to be our own doctor at home. Yet don’t over do it. Don’t bleed to death from a serious injury or attempt surgery at home because you might catch the flu in an ambulance or at the hospital. During a pandemic or disaster you will most likely need to drive yourself the hospital (ambulances and EMS being overwhelmed). And once there, the hospital staff will be overwhelmed so bring your own facemasks, water, food, and be prepared for a long wait.

Here are some sites for stocking your medicine cabinet and learning advanced first aid:

How to Maintain a Good First Aid Kit
Stocking Up on Prescription Medicines (amazing details of what to buy)
Advanced Trauma Care First Aid Kit

Wilderness First Responder
Wilderness Medicine-Beyond First Aid
Where There Is No Doctor - (html)

Disaster Sanitation

“He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured” - Ethiopian Proverb

After a disaster, act as if everything is covered with some really nasty germs.

Following a flood, tornado, earthquake or hurricane, sources of water that are normally safe can instantly become contaminated. Septic tanks, sewer systems and
water reclamation ponds overflow and contaminate wells, lakes, ponds and creeks. Refuse and animal carcasses add to this contamination. People do not dispose of human waste correctly. Waste disposal sites, fuel and oil from submerged vehicles all contribute to the contamination. Survivors end up, sometimes literally, wading through this toxic soup. – David Hardin, Ezine

• Be super-careful with food and water by boiling water and discarding any food that got wet or damaged.
• Wash your hands frequently but only in clean (i.e. boiled then cooled) water! You wouldn’t wash your hands in mud would you? If you use a bar of soap, give it a dip in boiling water too. Anything and everything may be germy including the towel you’re about to dry your clean hands with.
• Likewise, it’s important to keep food equipment clean. Don’t drink from unwashed cups and bottles and always wash soda cans & water bottles before drinking from them. They could be contaminated on the outside. Make sure the water you wash dishes with is clean & safe. Otherwise you’re just moving germs around.
• Treat any injury immediately no matter how minor. Scrapes and cuts that you would usually ignore become openings into your body for post-disaster germs. If a scratch or cuts becomes red and puffy, seek medication attention ASAP. You could lose a limb or life from infection.

Bottom Line

Sanitation is very important but often overlooked. According to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), an average of about 1.5 million children in the world die every year due to inadequate sanitation and polluted water.

Keep a close eye on children after a disaster. They won’t understand that blanky is NOT safe or that they could get sick chewing on their toys or by splashing in dirty water.
You can disinfect toys using a solution of one cup of bleach in 5 gallons of water.

Also keep a look-out for cuts and scrapes on children and the elderly.

http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/sanitation.asp

Emergency alternatives to flush toilets:
http://www.co.polk.or.us/PDFs/Sheriff/EMS/Disaster_Sanitation.pdf

Lessons from the Minnesota Bridge Collapse

“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist)

The Minnesota Monthly has an excellently written article, 110 Minutes, on the rescue attempt following the bridge collapse on August 1, 2007. I highly recommend reading all four web pages.

Like all disasters there were heroes who saved lives, mistakes that occurred, and confusion on the scene. But this story has a mostly happy ending - only 13 lives were lost when a bridge full of commuting cars crashed into the river. All survivors were rescued within 110 minutes.

The citizens of Minneapolis are fortunate that the Fire Chief, Rocco Forte, "dragged" the mayor and 80 disaster leaders to a four-day FEMA exercise prior to the collapse. “We did quite poorly,” said Forte.

From the workshop disaster planners learned the value of developing relationships with adjacent counties, cities and agencies and discovered they needed to invest in emergency management response. Forte was put in charge of a new Department of Emergency Preparedness and obtained grant money from Homeland Security. The city spent more than $25 million updating its telecommunications system, nearly $20 million on new 800 MHz radios and about $8 million on special operations teams.

During the bridge collapse crisis 100 people filled the recently created Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Problems and tasks were listed on whiteboards on the walls of the room; there were so many that someone took a picture of the boards every two hours before it was wiped and reused. The public-works department was tapped for lights and generators, port-a-potties, and a crane on a barge. The Police Athletic League bus was commandeered to ship officers to the site. Someone from the finance department started tallying the costs almost immediately, tracking every cent the feds might reimburse.

Bottom Line

Disaster rescue is complicated. The article shows that one man, like Rick Kraft, can do a lot on the scene, but when people are trapped inside crushed cars, heavy equipment is needed. Dispatchers need to ensure the right equipment and officials (fire/police/EMT) are sent to the correct scene in the proper numbers. Police on the site need to keep the roadways free for emergency vehicles and keep a gawking public away. When rescue lasts hours or days then logistics is needed for meals, supplies, sleeping cots, porta-potties, and so on.

Follow the example of Fire Chief Forte and drag your local leaders to disaster training classes.

New Year Predictions?

“When a distinguished but elderly scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he says it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.” -Arthur C. Clarke

It seems that everywhere you turn, someone is predicting the End of the World as We Know It. (TEOTWAWKI ) Some fear economic collapse and another great depression (Four really, really bad scenarios). Or a world wide pandemic of bird flu with tens of millions dead (PandemicFlu.gov). A terrorist dirty nuclear bomb? (PBS Nova) And so on.

Given the topic of this blog, Preparedness, I’m not going to say these fears are groundless. Any of them “could” happen. But if you live your life in fear and seclusion then you haven’t really lived at all. "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." - Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.

While some may embrace Caesar’s quote as a validation for thrill seeking like bungee jumping, skydiving, and extreme sports, personally I’m risk adverse and prefer to find a balance between cowardice and extremism. Just like financial investment, the level of risk you personally should assume depends on your age and family situation. If you’re young & single and want to skydive – go for it. But keep in mind that many life insurance policies have exclusions for dangerous sports so if you’re married with kids and your parachute fails, your family gets nothing.

Preparedness can help you to live life more fully. Perhaps you can buy a special life insurance policy extension to cover your dangerous hobbies. Or you can “self insure” by building up a cash nest egg for the family to use if the worst happens. By taking actions to mitigate the worst cases, you can put them behind you and then move forward with life.

Bottom Line

I wandered a bit from my original goal for this post; a discussion about expert predictions. This article from dailymail.co.uk looks at 10 famous predictions by experts like Bill Gates, Lord Kelvin, etc that were totally wrong.

Britain doesn’t need telephones, X-Rays are a hoax, TV’s won’t last, Computers
aren’t for home use, and so on.

So don’t lose sleep when you hear some expert predicting disaster. Take what precautions you can (just in case) and then continue to enjoy life to its fullest. What is life without joy?

Red Cross Disaster Services - Part 2

"Ladybug! Ladybug! Fly away home. Your house is on fire."
- nursery rhyme

The role of a Red Cross Disaster worker at the scene of an emergency is to provide immediate relief to the family or families to get them through that night and next few days. For longer term assistance, families are encouraged to visit the local chapter headquarters during business hours to meet with a professional case worker who can assist with recovery plans

Going back to the events of last night, we passed out toiletry kits with razors, tooth brushes, etc, we had dolls for children, and referrals to Goodwill for clothes, bedding, etc. For a few displaced families we offered 1 to 3 nights free in a local hotel. (If the disaster affects many families the Red Cross may open a local shelter with cots to lower costs.) We also provide debit cards for food and replacement clothing.

The aid is needs based. Only one apartment was destroyed by last night's fire so only that family received funds for clothing replacement. The other families who were displaced (all power and water to the building were cut off) were eligible for food and lodging relief.

Bottom Line
Relief assistance is NOT like winning the lottery. The funds provided are quite modest and just enough to provide an inexpensive second set of clothes if a fire left you literally with just the shirt on your back. The food allowance won't go far at a restaurant. It's meant to cover groceries for feeding the family.

Red Cross Disaster Services - Part 1

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. - from the children's book,
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Last night my wife and I were called by the Red Cross to provide aid for a small apartment complex that had experienced an apartment fire. No one was home when the fire started and the cause remains unknown. In today's blog I'd like to share some of what happened.

Disaster recovery takes time. The fire is thought to have occurred at 3:30 pm. At 4:30 the fire department initially told the Red Cross that no help was needed (no one was home). This changed at 5:30 when residents started returning from work and the Red Cross was officially asked to assist. The shift coordinator was stuck in commuter traffic and was not able to build a response team until 7pm. My wife and I arrived on site at 7:30 and waited until about 8:00 for a translator to arrive and organize the several families that needed help. With the help of the translator my wife & I completed case files for five family units, filled out financial assistance forms, obtained authorization for and provided debit cards. This took 2 1/2 hours until 10:30pm. During all this we sat under a street light on a sidewalk trying to keep the paper work organized.

A part of the process that surprises many people is the request for an ID. Before handing out debit cards, the Red Cross representatives need to verify that you are actually a resident of the impacted building. This is to prevent fraud. A foreign passport is nice and proves that you are you but won't provide proof of residency in apartment X. Last night we were fortunate to have the landlady on hand to verify actual renters.

Tomorrow I'll give more details on the assistance provided.

Bottom Line
Disaster recovery requires time and patience and lots of paper work. Be prepared for lots of personal questions and lots of waiting.

How Can I Help?

"I get by with a little help from my friends" - the Beatles

After a major storm like Hurricane Ike, people will ask, What can I do to help? I recommend two articles that cover this topic well.

The first is by a resident of Austin, TX, who describes the impact Ike refugees is having on the local food banks and relief organizations which were already strained by three years of supporting refugees of Hurricane Katrina: http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2008/09/hurricane-ike-what-you-can-do.html

The second article is by CNN and lists charities that it has vetted for credibility and which are endorsed by the independent charity evaluation group, CharityNavigator.org. Many of the groups listed by CNN specialize in rebuilding and feeding after a disaster: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/hurricanes.html

Bottom Line
If you give money, give it wisely. Research the charity or organization to make sure it spends most of its dollars on the victims and not on advertising and salaries. Decide what efforts you wish to support - first responders, home building, meals & food banks, recovery counseling, etc. Each charity has an area of excellence and specialization.