Welcome

This blog has grown out of my weekly newspaper column. Enjoy.
A prudent person forsees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Proverbs 22:3 (NLT)

Monday, April 22, 2013

Dave’s 10 Foundational Principles of Disaster Preparedness



This week’s column begins a series of my Ten Foundational Principles of Disaster Preparedness.  Call them core values, immutable truths or life rules, I feel one must develop their own personal “prepper philosophy” so there will be some direction and structure in your planning.  Although mine are a work in progress, here they are:
1.  Prepare BEFORE the disaster happens.  I am always mildly amused and somewhat bewildered by the ones who run to the store either at the last minute or after the fact.  That’s a bit like having a fender bender then calling your insurance man to buy some coverage.  In my observations of situations like Katrina and Sandy, I see people who had plenty of advance warning still getting caught empty-handed.  The chaos, frustration and desperation that characterizes the unprepared can all be avoided by simply planning ahead.  Your family is worth it.  A biblical proverb says, “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions.  The simpleton goes on blindly and suffers the consequences.”  (Proverbs 22:3, New Living Translation)  Plan ahead.
2.  Avoid ready-made kits. There are literally thousands of ready-made kits available for purchase.  Almost every disaster preparedness blog (except mine) has a kit for sale.  I think some of them are pretty well thought out and actually very cool.  However there is a certain satisfaction in building your own, choosing quality components and actually designing the kit for your specific needs in your specific neighborhood.  The person that lives miles out in the hills will have different needs than the person who lives right in town.  Some families have babies and their kit will require diapers and anti-rash ointment.  Others will have “seasoned citizens” in the household and their needs are unique to their circumstance.  Check out the ready-mades to get ideas on what you might need, but make your own list, then fill it to your satisfaction.
3.  Have a plan “B” and a plan “C.”  Every experienced battle commander knows his plan is perfect until the fighting begins. Most plans unravel somewhat once they’re tested.   This is a huge flaw I see in the National Geographic Channel’s “Doomsday Preppers.”  Every featured group I have seen prepares for a specific disaster scenario.  Just imagine how disappointed they’d be if they prepared for a nuclear attack and got hit with a coronal mass ejection (solar storm) instead.   Now I am convinced if you live in hurricane country, then plan for a hurricane, but have two or more different evacuation routes.  Prepare two or more retreat locations, just in case.  If you live along the Oregon Coast, plan for an earthquake-tsunami episode, but always have a plan B.  Your first escape route may be blocked with debris or a bridge may be impassable.  Make alternate plans.
Next week we’ll continue with my Ten Basic Principles.
    As always send your comments and questions to disasterprep.dave@gmal.com


Monday, April 15, 2013

Evacuation:  To Go Or Not To Go



There is a concept among preppers known as “Bugging Out.”  I remember the term from watching reruns of M.A.S.H.  Whenever Radar O’Reilly, Major Henry Blake  and Hawkeye were ordered to move their Mobile And Surgical Hospital unit to a new location, they would make plans to “bug out.”  Today’s preppers use the term to describe an evacuation process to be executed when the current abode becomes too dangerous to stay put or uninhabitable.  
The likelihood of evacuation in our area is usually minor.  Our weather events don’t equal the hurricanes of the East Coast and Gulf Coast states.  Nor do we get the blizzards of the northern regions of our country. We have had isolated instances of evacuation due to flooding and landslides in the past, and for those living in the tsunami inundation zone, bugging out could certainly become a reality.  
You can be assured if I lived in a major city or in the hurricane zone, my preparation plans would include how to get my family and supplies out of town on short notice.  (Or in prepper lingo, “Out of Dodge.”)  Living in rural Oregon we have several things to our advantage.  Our relatively sparse population is far more self-sufficient and more  good-neighbor minded than big city folks.  If you’ve ever watched the news during a big storm or hurricane in a dense-population area, you see looting and other outlaw behavior.  
There seems to be a segment of society always on the cusp of criminal behavior.  This group of potential criminals allow themselves to be drawn over the line of unacceptable behavior at the slightest provocation and pillage, loot and even worse when they know the police have their hands full with other matters.  You can bet your emergency generator this group has never laid in an extra flashlight battery or can of Spam.  Their “plan” such as it is, will be to take your supplies in the event of a disaster.  This is precisely why, if I lived in a metropolitan area, I would be planning to “get out of Dodge” if necessary.
If you have relatives or loved ones in the big cities, send them a copy of this column and suggest they make plans to ‘bug out’ if the need arises.  
Speaking of tsunami inundation zones, if you’d like a copy of the latest map showing where a tsunami is likely to reach, send me an email and I’ll forward it to you free of charge. Specify if you live in the Coos Bay area, or in the Coquille River area.  Also if you’d like to read more on the topic of bugging out, there is an excellent blog titled, “Listening To Katrina.”  The author was forced to evacuate his family in the face of Hurricane Katrina.  The blog is over 100 pages long so consider your ink supply before you hit the “print” button.  He has a very balanced and intelligent approach to preparedness and bugging out.  Another of my favorites is a book titled, “One Second After,” by William Forstchen.  This book has been cited on the floor of Congress as one all Americans should read.
As always send your questions, suggestions and inundation zone map requests to disasterprep.dave@gmail.com.  

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Amateur Radio

    Ever since Marconi tinkered with wireless transmissions in the early 1900’s,  people have been fascinated with communicating via the airwaves.  Today there are over 700,000 amateur radio licenses issued to private individuals in the U.S.  In Coos County alone there are approximately 300 license holders.  Granted not all of those are active, some haven’t touched their radio in years and some are simply no longer with us.  
Amateur radio operators (also known as “hams”) have played a vital role in disaster response for decades.  Groups such as A.R.E.S (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) and R.A.C.E.S. (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) are well established and have good working relationships with other local disaster planners.  In Bandon alone there are ham radio stations set up at Southern Coos Hospital, the City Hall and the Fire Department.  In the event of an emergency this equipment is designed to operate free from the electrical grid and would be manned by personnel from A.R.E.S/R.A.C.E.S. Emergency communications networks can keep the local responders informed of developing events, while having the capability of communicating on a global basis.   Other cities have similar setups with their amateur radio folks.  
One might think with internet technology  such as Skype or Facetime, making video calls to loved ones all over the planet, that amateur radio would be relegated to the dustbin of “last millenium technology”.  Quite the opposite is true. Over the past five years the Federal Communication Commission reports issuing nearly 25,000 new licenses.  Digital radio equipment is less expensive and more powerful than ever before.  When an earthquake or similar event could sever fiber optic cables and bring down electrical grids, a battery powered ham radio can still transmit and receive vital messages throughout the county and around the world.  Even to outer space.
    During my time in Viet Nam, every G.I. knew if he wanted to call home, he would simply go to the local M.A.R.S. (Military Amateur Radio Station).  The M.A.R.S folks would make ham radio contact with another ham operator in the States, who would in-turn initiate a collect call to your home then do a “phone-patch” and presto, you could talk to your loved one.  Of course half the planet could listen in on your call and after every phrase you had so say “over” so they would know when to key or release the microphone, but it was a touch from home.  Those calls were considered invaluable to preserve the sanity of our guys half a world away living in unspeakable conditions.  So on behalf of a multitude of Viet Nam Veterans, I’d like to extend thanks to all those amateur radio operators we never got to meet or thank in person.
    As always, send your questions, comments or ham radio stories to disasterprep.dave@gmail.com