Not willing to sound too gloomy here, but have you guys got a Civil Defence contingency plan in place?.
Might not be an Earthquake or a Tsunami.
Volcano's can turn up in strange places.
But hopefully you guys are forward thinking and have made plans.
Hollywood can have all the special effects, but at the end of the day, in a disaster, it's up to you to help your family to survive.

Well, I don't know what H.M. Government is actually doing to protect us, but they spent a lot of taxpayers' money distributing the "Preparing for Emergencies" booklet to every household in the country last year.

You can read it online here (try not to fall asleep):


http://www.preparingforemergencies.gov.uk


Actually the following spoof website of the booklet is far more entertaining and probably much nearer the truth:

http://www.preparingforemergencies.co.uk



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 02-16-2005).]

I don't know if it is a CD plan but I do have a propane fridge, cooking facillities and a way to supply water without the utility power. Toss in a few inverters for electronics and fossil lighting, we will survive.
I don't expect the end of the world but we did have 3 hurricanes hit us last summer in SW Fla.

Ha! We are in the "shadow" of a nuke plant just north of New York City on the river. Lots of people think that it is the perfect terrorist target. Built in the 60's way before anybody even thought about terrorism. So no hardening, and complete with accessible spent fuel rod pools etc. The private owners of course have spent $$$ on public relations and propaganda so people won't be afraid but mainly to protect their shareholders. Somehow I don't find them credible since they only recently allowed their "security" to carry arms.

To answer your question, my CD plan would include a full tank of gas in the car.

-Hal

Personally (as in the household), we have candles and the booster pack (with a 12V flourescent lamp). We have a wood burning stove for heat, and the propane BBQ. Also have a battery radio on hand.

Municipally, we do have an emergency preparedness team, primarily geared towards a nuclear event at the somewhat nearby plant.

We have stores of food and water, and a propane stove to cook it on. Also, Luxeon flashlights and lithium batteries (15-year storage life) to run them.

Hal
I am in Westchester County just 15 or so miles south of the Plant. Where are you located?

Pierre

As a resident of the eastern part of the infamous "Tornado Alley", we're set for most natural disasters, Spring, Summer or Winter. Watched two twisters bounce by last year. We're accomplished primitive campers, and I'm somewhat of a self-sufficient type, so we're in fairly good shape without utilities.
But, I also live less than 50 miles (downwind) from one of the largest VX nerve gas depositories in the world. Luckily, the security there is beyond tight, so I'm not very concerned. I'm not sure what I could do about that anyways, besides run far away if I get word soon enough.

Hal,
All jokes aside, that's not such a silly idea, considering that anytime people are warned to evacuate a particular area, the Gas station, is usually the first place they end up, along with everyone else, in a queue.

Wow Paul,
There is a distinct difference between them two sites that you posted above!.
The second one is funnier than the first.

{Message edited for a spelling error or two}

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 02-19-2005).]

Since I work at the Pentagon, I figure I'll MAYBE be the first to know. I like the ductbank job I'm overseeing..... gives me a place to get REAL low.

Seriously, I think everyone should have a plan, and yes, I do. My family thinks I'm nuts but I put stuff in their cars... lights, radios, matches, candles, radios, food... etc, etc, so they could walk out if necessary.

I've always been a real stickler for fuel in tanks, and raise cain at them for less than 1/2 tank.

Gloomy, Trumpy???? Never been a Boy Scout (raised on a big farm, too much to do) but preparation IN ALL THINGS can be the difference between success/failure or Life/death and it's always been just plain normal to me.

I get funny looks on those RARE occasions when I have to wear tie coat etc and I'm the only one in the room with a mag lite and leatherman on my belt. I have noticed on several occasions when an emergency occurred who they look at all of a sudden.

Let's face it, it may come from years in construction, I always had a plan in case the job completely fell apart, guess it's just normal to me nowadays.

Pierre, I thought you knew where I am- Hawthorne.

Just thought about a friend of mine who lives on Ossining. They planted an "Emergency Evacuation Bus Stop" sign in his lawn in front of his $$$ house. He made them move it...

-Hal

[This message has been edited by hbiss (edited 02-19-2005).]

Being serious, as I'm right on the coast the biggest natural threat in my area is the possibility of flooding. We were actually on alert a couple of days ago due to a high tide coinciding with strong winds.

We seem to be fairly well-protected in this little spot though. Somebody who has been in the area for years said that even during the very bad floods all along the east coast in 1953 this little burgh was cut off due to flooded roads, but the settlement itself was high and dry. It was after that bad flooding that a lot of the coast had extra sea defenses built.

There's not much in this rural area of strategic importance from an attack point of view, except the North Sea gas terminal at Bacton, which is just a few miles north of here. Whether they've added extra precautions in recent years, I have no idea.

1953 Floods


Bacton gas terminal

Obviously being a member of the local Fire Brigade here, if something did happen, we would like people to be able to survive by themselves, until help actually turned up.
I hate to say it, but in a situation like that, people would have to think for themselves.

I'm not about to rub salt into the wounds guys.
But, it's going to take some time to clean up New Orleans.
Thing that REALLY gets my goat is the fact that people are TOLD to leave, but they know better don't they?!!.
Idiots.

Unfortunately Mike, in many cases the people had no means of tranportstion or funds for transportation and housing (living from paycheck to paycheck).

The people with credit cards and money got out. One family from Illinois had a limo drive their daughter all the way ($2700.00). Most of the people killed and trapped didn't have that option.

Dave

The criminal failure in New Oreleans was the lack of shelters and the shelters they had were not stocked with the basic needs. The New Orleans city government KNEW the people who would be showing up would not bring anything with them.
Anyone who has ever had any dealing with the federal government knows it may overwealm you with help eventually but it takes a week to get them moving.

No politics chaps. Easy to criticise, much harder to actually do the right thing. I think the lessons will have been learned, given the US President's unprecedented and refreshing honesty on this matter.

As to survival in the event of a major catastrophe, we all need to make better plans than a few flashlights and a full gas -tank. Stores of dry goods, canned meat and fish, sugar, medical supplies, bandages, disinfectant, insecticide, a good shotgun ( for the pot ) and fishing gear for instance. And it has to be in a safe place, and the family needs to know where it is.
When Ma finally departed, my sister and I had to get rid of hundreds and hundreds of pounds of foodstuffs stored against WWIII, the major item being bags of sugar, some of which were 40 years old! We went through WWII living on SFA, but we had sugar! You could brew up some beer or wine, sweeten fruit for pies, make jam, eke out weak tea and best of all- trade it for other stuff, like a nice chicken or some powdered egg, yummy!

Alan

Good call Alan,
The word that has to come into it is "survival".
Most of the people that I've met recently couldn't cook thier way out of a brown paper bag.
What happens when all the fast food outlets go down?.
People only light fires out of anger these days, not to survive.
In my opinion, we've just got too lazy for our own good.
Over here, we are told to expect to be on your own for at least 3 days to a week.
I'd doubt that a lot of people here could last 1 day at the most.
If we had a decent earthquake here at night, most people here couldn't find thier front door.
But of course, disasters only happen during the day don't they.

Here's the best bit of "preparedness": say 'hello' to your neighbors!

Many places have suffered major disasters, and have had minimal disruption, followed by a rapid return to 'normal.' Those places had folks who didn't have to be told to work together, and to look out for each other.

Other places have needed as little as a rumor of a court verdict- and the fires started, the riot began, and the looting was on. I know one such place that hasn't recovered yet from its' 1968 frenzy.

We saw a lot of preparation leading up to the Y2K scare in 1999. Canned food, gasoline and paper products were being horded around here in the fall of '99. My father-in-law was convinced that toilet paper and tamp-ons were going to be the currency of the new millenium. He finally used up all of those 2 gal. cans of gas he'd stored up last summer mowing his lawn. I have a preparedness plan for my family in place. I always have. My folks did too and taught us to as well. I think it was just part of their mindset having went through the Depression, WWII and the fear of "The Bomb" in the 50s-60s. I remember having to dump and refill the water jugs in the cellar twice a year when I was a kid.

I believe a large part of the northeast can become victims to the plant Hal referred to.
Here is an article that goes into some of the flaws going on there: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/n...00&en=061702 75c98918d4&ei=5070

Also I don't know what kind of car you drive but you might want to start making sure you can get it going pretty fast as a explosive nuclear blast can create winds of 500 mph.
I am by far no expert on the subject but I wonder how long anyone has after that event.

Here is another article after my google search on the plant in question. http://www.nationalterroralert.com/readyguide/nuclear.htm

The above link's home page is pretty interesting also if are at all interested.

How about the mice infected with the bubonic plague that turned up missing in Newark, NJ ???
It all just makes me ask myself
"What is wrong with people ??? "


[This message has been edited by mkoloj to correct links.]

[This message has been edited by mkoloj (edited 09-17-2005).]

how about not having back-up power for the emergency sirens at indian point!! going out to bid "soon"

Well, if SHTF, I'll probably be on duty at the FD...

Had a small supply for Y2k... some cash, about 2 weeks worth of food - but that's the type of thing I kepp on hand anyway. I never anticipated "The End of the world" type scenario for that anyway.

The folks that got caught with their pants down were the type that expected bad things only to happen to other people...and were unprepared as a result. History has shown where their type wind up.

An accident/meltdown at a nuke power plant CANNOT result in a "nuclear blast" similar to an atomic bomb. Simply not the right types of materials and completely wrong configruation.

About the worst case scenario would be a steam/hydrogen explosion in the reactor vessel that breached the containment and released radioactive material. The problem here wouldn't be outrunning 500 mph winds and a shockwave, but trying to evacuate along with everyone else in the area. A full tank of gas in the car does nothing when all the roads turn into parking lots. Unless you are lucky enough to be one of the first ones on the road, you are going to be there a while, so stock up on potassium iodide pills and hope for the best....

Siting that plant just north (und upriver) of NYC had to be one of the stupidest moves imaginable.

Y2K was the biggest hoax ever foisted on the world. Responsible computer <hardware> professionals tried to tell people this was not a real issue. It was started be a few software geeks who had non-compliant systems and it was the end of the world for them if it wasn't fixed but it was never going to have any real effect on the world at large.
We kept forgetting the milions of people who were going to show up at work and to what they always do, even if the computer was saying something strange.
The reality was, virtually every process was tested and tested and tested again.
The stupidest things were the "embedded proceesors" like the one in your car, that people said were going to crash. They don't know what day it is, nor do they really care.

Don't worry about any nuclear blast folks.
The weather is the new threat, I see that Rita is due to hit land soon, but who knows where.