Are you ready?
About two years ago, not long after we moved to the Oregon Coast, I got a call from my wife telling me that we received a Local Tsunami Warning email from the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC). I rushed to home, which is a few miles upstream from the great Pacific--just barely above sea level, as my wife and kids were grabbing their 72-hour backpacks and getting ready to leave to the designated Tsunami-Safe area.
Fortunately, there was no Tsunami and we didn't need to leave the house.
The interesting thing about this warning was that neither the city or radio stations had any announcements about the the Tsunami. I had such trust in those sources of information that I risked staying home assuming that if there really was a threat, surely they would let us know. Next time I won't take that risk.
I learned a few things from that experience:
1. If we didn't sign-up for the TsunamiWatcher email list from WCATWC, we would have known nothing about the tsunami. Since then I also signed up for the Earthquake email notification list from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). We get a surprisingly large amount of email from both of those lists. Fortunately, most of the Tsunami Warnings report that there is no risk of Tsunami to our area.
2. If we didn't have at least the beginnings of a 72-hour kits, we wouldn't be prepared to race out the door without being in a flustered panic. We still have some missing odds and ends from our 72-hour kits, but we have enough resources to survive if we needed to leave quickly.
We haven't updated our 72-hour kit for some time, but this last weekend, while listening to General Conference, my wife updated our 72-hour kits. (In an emergency, its always nice when your kid's clothes fit them and the food isn't moldy.) We've decided to make a tradition of updating our 72-hour kits every six months while listening to Conference. It might be wise to change the smoke detector batteries at the same time. Or you can do both every six months when you change between standard and day-light savings.
Here on the coast we get frequent wind storms and power outages are all but guaranteed periodically throughout the year. Last year we had a pretty powerful wind storm that knocked out power for about three days. Some places were without power for longer.
The local stores sold quickly out of ice, flashlights, generators, and other items you might want in an emergency.
Fortunately for us, we had plenty of candles, flashlights (with batteries), radio (with batteries), a kerosene heater, ice in the freezer, a little single-burner butane stove, and our water heater is gas. Although the storm thrashed around us, we were able to cook warm meals, stay warm...and after the storm blew over, the stars were brilliant.
I learned some things from this experience also:
3. Having resources to fill-in when outside resources are cut off is very important to the comfort and peace in a challenging situation. It made us grateful to have the resources we happened to have, but also made us realize we need to be prepared for every situation...what if the water is cut off? What if the gas is cut-off? We needed to look for more ice by the third day, but what if that opportunity was not available?
I see the importance in the council of having a year supply of food, water and fuel if necessary. If you are prepared, there is no need to fear. And it doesn't have to be a major catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina to be a blessing.
We still have some things to add to our preparations and some more detailed plans to create, so we aren't perfect, but we are certainly grateful we've followed advice in this regard as much as we have.
This evening, we recieved an Earthquake email saying there was a small earthquake off the coast of Oregon (not too far from the one that triggered the Tsunami Warning two year ago.) Are you ready?
Fortunately, there was no Tsunami and we didn't need to leave the house.
The interesting thing about this warning was that neither the city or radio stations had any announcements about the the Tsunami. I had such trust in those sources of information that I risked staying home assuming that if there really was a threat, surely they would let us know. Next time I won't take that risk.
I learned a few things from that experience:
1. If we didn't sign-up for the TsunamiWatcher email list from WCATWC, we would have known nothing about the tsunami. Since then I also signed up for the Earthquake email notification list from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). We get a surprisingly large amount of email from both of those lists. Fortunately, most of the Tsunami Warnings report that there is no risk of Tsunami to our area.
2. If we didn't have at least the beginnings of a 72-hour kits, we wouldn't be prepared to race out the door without being in a flustered panic. We still have some missing odds and ends from our 72-hour kits, but we have enough resources to survive if we needed to leave quickly.
We haven't updated our 72-hour kit for some time, but this last weekend, while listening to General Conference, my wife updated our 72-hour kits. (In an emergency, its always nice when your kid's clothes fit them and the food isn't moldy.) We've decided to make a tradition of updating our 72-hour kits every six months while listening to Conference. It might be wise to change the smoke detector batteries at the same time. Or you can do both every six months when you change between standard and day-light savings.
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Here on the coast we get frequent wind storms and power outages are all but guaranteed periodically throughout the year. Last year we had a pretty powerful wind storm that knocked out power for about three days. Some places were without power for longer.
The local stores sold quickly out of ice, flashlights, generators, and other items you might want in an emergency.
Fortunately for us, we had plenty of candles, flashlights (with batteries), radio (with batteries), a kerosene heater, ice in the freezer, a little single-burner butane stove, and our water heater is gas. Although the storm thrashed around us, we were able to cook warm meals, stay warm...and after the storm blew over, the stars were brilliant.
I learned some things from this experience also:
3. Having resources to fill-in when outside resources are cut off is very important to the comfort and peace in a challenging situation. It made us grateful to have the resources we happened to have, but also made us realize we need to be prepared for every situation...what if the water is cut off? What if the gas is cut-off? We needed to look for more ice by the third day, but what if that opportunity was not available?
I see the importance in the council of having a year supply of food, water and fuel if necessary. If you are prepared, there is no need to fear. And it doesn't have to be a major catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina to be a blessing.
We still have some things to add to our preparations and some more detailed plans to create, so we aren't perfect, but we are certainly grateful we've followed advice in this regard as much as we have.
This evening, we recieved an Earthquake email saying there was a small earthquake off the coast of Oregon (not too far from the one that triggered the Tsunami Warning two year ago.) Are you ready?
2 comments:
Good points! I know we need to update our 72 hour kits! Time just flies!
Yeah, we need to work on that! Thanks for mentioning those email lists. I didn't know they existed. That'll probably help get me motivated.
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