With all the disasters, are you prepared if it happens to you?

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  • dbhost
    Slow and steady
    • Apr 2008
    • 9209
    • League City, Texas
    • Ryobi BT3100

    With all the disasters, are you prepared if it happens to you?

    Folks, after we just got slammed 2 weeks ago by Hurricane Harvey, the Northwest is basically the worlds biggest wood fired barbecue, and now Florida is reeling from Hurricane Irma, need I mention Hurricane Jose doing donuts out in the Atlantic?

    First things first. Whomever it is, hurry up and finish your game of Jumanji would ya?

    Second, and I have mentioned it before. If you don't have one, I encourage you to make, and maintain, preferrably in the cloud somewhere so you can't lose it when a big storm blows out wherever you live, a thorough inventory of your possessions, but in the situation we are talking about here, your shop. You'd be shocked by just how much you have wrapped up in the little things like bits, blades, and jigs.
    Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.
  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #2
    Prepared: I thought of "prepared for disaster" as we did overseas: We prepared for disaster by having water, flashlights, bandages, food for three days, passports/identification; In addition, our organization had us list every hospital within 3 to 5 kilometers of where we lived; likely community shelters, nearest airport; neighbors and neighborhood police phone numbers; phone numbers of family in the USA.

    In disasters such as we have seen (earthquakes and tsunamis) tools, clothes, household goods are the last things to be concerned about.

    But you make a great point - inventory of possessions. A very good way is to make a video of tools and open drawers filled with tools. Same with household goods and furniture. A video will go a long way in establishing proof.
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

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    • BadeMillsap
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2005
      • 868
      • Bulverde, Texas, USA.
      • Grizzly G1023SL

      #3
      Originally posted by dbhost

      Second, and I have mentioned it before. If you don't have one, I encourage you to make, and maintain, preferrably in the cloud somewhere so you can't lose it when a big storm blows out wherever you live, a thorough inventory of your possessions, but in the situation we are talking about here, your shop. You'd be shocked by just how much you have wrapped up in the little things like bits, blades, and jigs.
      I use an app (and the web version) called ENCIRCLE ... it allows me to (free) take pictures, make comments, assign value and even produce spreadsheet type PDFs for insurance purposes ... been using it for several years. I know there is an Android version and I believe there is as iOS version as well as the web access ... https://encircleapp.com/ ... The App for Android is https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...d=com.encircle

      "Like an old desperado, I paint the town beige ..." REK
      Bade Millsap
      Bulverde, Texas
      => Bade's Personal Web Log
      => Bade's Lutherie Web Log

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      • cwsmith
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2005
        • 2737
        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
        • BT3100-1

        #4
        I think being prepared is not something a whole lot of people think about as a general rule. It seems like preparedness only comes to mind when disaster seems eminent. That is when we see the store shelves being cleared, long lines at the gas pumps, and inventory dwindling at the local big box stores. I think that is largely due to the comfort of our everyday lives in these modern times when everything is normally plentiful and easy to obtain.

        I've always kept "backup"... whether it be information or just physical survival. Perhaps it was the heritage that I was so fortunate to be born with and the experience I gained in my teen and early twenties when I heavily participated in SAR operations, spending a lot of time in the field and attending a few survival schools.

        My parents and grandparents lived through the great depression and I was born in the midst of WWII. Back then my mom and all of the aunts stayed on the farm in north-central Pennsylvania with my grandparents. No electricity (that wasn't installed until the early 50's), but there they had livestock, eggs, milk, and the canning of almost everything that could be canned. So during the war when about everything was being rationed, the farm was a sanctuary into which I spent the first year of so of my life. My Dad and Uncles were all at war and "girls" and their babies needed a safe and nourishing place to live. In the 50's when I was just a growing boy and even into my teens I remember that farm and the work ethic of preparation that still continued. The pot-bellied stoves in every room of the first floor, the big wood-fired stove and oven in the kitchen, the water pump outside the wood room and that big old barn. The basement filled with jars of fruits and vegetables produced on the farm and the remaining two chicken coups and barn with it's cows and two draft horses used for plowing and mowing.

        When I bought my first new car back in 65', it was a VW with the optional gas heater. That came in handy more than a few times, especially the night I got stuck in a snow drift on a back dirt road several miles from my parent's home. No radio or cell phone back then, but I always kept my back pack and sleeping bag in the car (for those times when my SAR team would be called). So at 10-below and a hollowing wind, the little back seat was more than comfortable and that gas heat kept me quite happy until morning late morning when the snow plow finally arrived.

        Today, as in most of our married life, my wife and I keep a fairly good pantry, perhaps a few week's worth of food and water on hand and we carry a day or so's worth in the car when we travel. I keep my batteries charged for flashlights, radio, and communications, as well as a large Li-ion for the car which can used to jump start or recharge the cell or dual-band transceiver. First aid supplies in the house, the shop, and in the car. Equally important at our age are the required prescriptions, Though nothing too serious, we still need some things important enough to keep on hand. Probably a month's worth.

        Most important,is that I don't live in a flood zone or in any area prone to tornadoes or hurricanes. It took me almost six years to find a house above the flood plain when we lived in Painted Post. There were all kinds of incentives, including subsidies, to buy or build a new home down in the valley and I had a lot of co-workers who did just that. But our home was above the village, looking down the valley that had received over 22 feet of fast moving water in 1972.

        When we first moved there there a year after the flood (73), we lived in the village, but still in the flood plain. I remember in 75 or 76 we had another flood, not nearly as bad, but everyone had to evacuate their low-lying homes, including us. "Don't forget to bring a pail", was the comment from the neighbors as they fled to the local high school gym. I spent most of that morning moving files out of our office to the main building's second floor and I got home about 10:00 AM where my wife and little boy were waiting. I had packed the car the night before and already had a route mapped out to get out of the area. You couldn't go west, south or east, because the rivers and creeks had already covered most of those main routes, but north was further up into the hills and we got out by way of Ithaca and Cortland and then south to Binghamton. I checked with the State Police before we left and with the radio gear in the car (no cell phones back then), we made it back to Binghamton. Survival doesn't mean you have to hunker down, it's best to get out of harm's way entirely when possible... and in order to do that you always should have a planned route. A couple of years after that we bought the house on the hill overlooking the village.

        I realize that we always can't live out of a storm prone region, but I sure try and have been fortunate in that where I grew up, and call home, was in a region less prone to wind storms and flooding (hills and mountains are nice). It still happens though, but not anywhere close to the devastation of places like on the coast, or the plains with its tornadoes, or the west with it's fires.

        So, we've got drinking water for a month, food for a couple of weeks, back-up heat, and soon will be adding a new generator. Gasoline is a challenge though as you really can't store more than five or ten gallons. I do keep a couple of bottles of LP for the grill just so I don't run out in the middle of grilling a steak. For tools, I've got most everything to handle repairs and rebuilds.

        CWS
        Last edited by cwsmith; 09-13-2017, 07:01 PM.
        Think it Through Before You Do!

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        • leehljp
          Just me
          • Dec 2002
          • 8429
          • Tunica, MS
          • BT3000/3100

          #5
          On January 17, 1995, we lived in the Osaka area of Japan when the Hanshin earthquake 7.1 hit. It wasn't a deep one. 6000 killed. Kobe was hit the hardest and we lived about 30 miles from the epicenter. We had some house damage but not like those in the center. I rode half way over the day after the quake with a 50cc scooter in my van. I parked the van at an empty house our organization owned at the edge of the of the Osaka/Kobe limits. From there I went by scooter to co-workers homes. I had to zig zag back and forth on streets to get around trees, bridges out and buildings in the road. One of our organization's houses was destroyed - basically the house was well built and intact - but the quake lifted off the the foundation and it was sitting like a cardboard box on a pile of rocks. We had a 2 year volunteer killed in the quake (who was living in a Japanese style house with heavy tile roof.) The house/roof collapsed killing her instantly.

          THAT Started an "Out OF Bed - OOB" accountability process in the South East Asia area that many of our missionaries rebelled against. We were required to report via email to two people/places (area director office and immediate supervisor) in our organization any time ANYONE is going anywhere overnight, vacation, business, work, or leisure. Many missionaries said that our personal time was nobody's business. Our organization replied: "When your mom and dad call our USA office and demand to know how or where their grown children are, we want to tell them what we know." One of my closest missionary friends (whose house was the one lifted off the foundation) replied to everyone who fought against the OOB reporting: "Three other men and myself spent 4 hours digging through collapsed roofs the second floor to get to the volunteer who was under both layers. IF I have to go to your house and dig through your house in a disaster - you better be there . . . OR you report where you are so I don't go digging at the wrong house/place! Made good sense to me.

          We had two missionary couples who did NOT report their vacation time/travel back on December 26 2004 when that 9 earthquake struck (Ache, Indonesia). Our organization sent several teams in trying to find them; they were in the Ache area and they were safe but not where they were assumed to be - because they didn't report! They got into big trouble.

          As a result of that most of our missionaries have to plan, file and update yearly evacuation plans or destination plans in the event of a disaster or national security advisory.

          When we arrived back in the USA December 20, 2010 in preparation for retirement, I discussed quake preparations with some of our local towns folks (whom I grew up with.) They said we had one but it was filed with the state and they didn't know what it was. We are about 120 miles from the New Madrid (TN-MO) earthquake region that produced 7.5 - 8 earthquakes in 1811 and 1812. LOML keeps an earthquake survival chest ready to go at all times.
          Last edited by leehljp; 09-13-2017, 09:08 PM.
          Hank Lee

          Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

          Comment

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