Are You Prepared? For What?, by Mrs. Alaska

Throughout the country, kind people volunteer their time and talents to help others harmed by natural or personal disasters.

However, we can only help others if we are first prepared to take care of ourselves and our families.

The following are real situations that have happened to us, or people that we or our friends and relatives know. What would you do in this or an analogous situation where you live? Perhaps these questions could prompt useful and interesting discussions among family or other groups.

In ice-fog conditions, your car goes off the road and down into a ditch where people cannot see you. You are injured. What do you have within reach to call or attract attention for help, keep warm, and care for your injuries?

Considerations: Cell service is spotty in large swaths of rural America, and often depends on line of sight to cell towers. Take note of locations in your vicinity where cell service is unavailable. Do you have any other means of communication in your car, such as whistles, flares, or ham radio? Radio?

On a winter morning, you and your family members are away from home. Some are at work, school, supermarket, a doctor’s appointment, etc. The power goes out in a broad region, including the buildings that each of you occupies at that moment. What do you have on hand (in your purse, backpack, desk, or locker) that will help you get home or to your family’s predetermined rally site (if you have chosen one). How will you keep warm where you are or where you are going? How can you communicate with your loved ones to ensure that all are safe? How far will you need to travel? Do you have apparel appropriate for the season’s conditions?

Considerations: Without electricity, your cell phones, elevators, electric keyed doors, ATMs, cash registers, traffic lights, heat, and water will not work. If you work in a high-rise building, can you get to the stairs and leave the building safely? Do you know in advance if your car can get through the exit gate of the parking lot? Do you have ham radio to reach others in your family?

You awaken at home one winter morning to discover that the power went out during the night. Your home is getting cool. What can you do to preserve or produce food, water, and warmth? Do you know how long your refrigerated and frozen food last if you do — or do not — open the appliance? (Often, the website can tell you… in advance) What food do you have on hand that can be cooked or prepared without electricity? How much water do you have that does not require an electric pump?

Considerations: If your municipal or well water requires an electric pump, it will cease to run. Do you have a hand pump for your well and have you attached it, primed it, used it? (Mine takes about 100 pumps to prime and get a few gallons from a 62-foot well. It is tiring!) Do you have jugs of stored water? How old and tasty is the water? If you have a generator, how many watts can it power? Given the gas you have on hand, how many hours can it run? If you can power only a few appliances, what are your priorities and how much power do they need? Note: for many appliances, the run rate wattage is much lower than the necessary START UP wattage. So check this out. (A great source of information is www.generatorist.com.)

Will your gas grill or stove ignite without electricity? How many bags of briquettes do you have for a non-gas grill? If exterior temperatures are below 45, you can store refrigerated food outside. If it is below freezing, outdoor shelves can function as a freezer.

Your region is devastated by a natural disaster that physically isolates you from resources you need (perhaps roads are impassable because of a tornado, hurricane, flooding, landslides, earthquake or extreme snow storm). You cannot get to the pharmacy, supermarket, or hospital. However, your home is intact. With the supplies you have on hand, how long can you wait for access, how can you help or support nearby emergency service personnel, or how can you create your own access to resources you need?

Considerations: How many meals and how many gallons of water can your current supplies provide for how many people? Do you have mechanical can openers and sharpeners etc or only electric ones? What are your greatest vulnerabilities? How do you handle neighbors and others who seek you out because your home is intact, for shelter and food?

You are in a somewhat remote, off-road recreational situation with a friend in winter. Perhaps you are snowmachining, dog mushing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, biking, or camping. Your friend gets injured or his/her transportation device is damaged and cannot travel as before. What injuries or damage are feasible in your location? What do you have on hand to address likely injuries or damage? Can you call for help? If cell service is not available, what do you do? If you need to leave your friend, what can you do with supplies on hand to ensure safety and comfort during your absence?

Considerations: Each of these recreational activities involves a different carrying capacity for supplies and different transportation speed. In the situation most likely for you, what can you carry to address potential problems? Did you let someone know your departure time, route, and expected return time/date? Does your contact person know whom to contact after you do not return on time? (Such as Alaska state troopers?) Do you have a personal EPIRB (electronic personal information beacon)? Are you familiar with land to air emergency signals? At the very least, you can carve out SOS and darken it against the snow, but other signals are faster, designate specific needs (like food or medical care) with less effort. Do you have a MedLife Insurance, for a medical helicopter to pick you up and take you to a hospital? (We pay $40/yr).
You are commuting to San Francisco (or New York) and are in the Berkeley (or New Jersey) Tunnels when traffic stops. Air quality is terrible in the tunnel. Your car radio does not at first report the issue. (It turns out that two semi trucks jackknifed on the highway ahead, and it takes many hours to clear the accident so traffic can resume.) What do you do for fresh air, information, and emptying your bladder? What do you have in your car to help alleviate this situation?

You and your family are evacuating by car with millions of other people in advance of a hurricane. The traffic is so thick and slow that cars are running out of gas, which further slows everyone else if they do not move to the side. Pretty soon, your car’s gas is dangerously low and you are not yet out of the predicted danger zone for the incoming storm. What do you do?

You discover an out of control fire at your home. Pick a likely spot: the woodstove, fireplace, kitchen stove, bonfire, or burn barrel. What do you have on hand to deal with it? What can you do in advance to mitigate such danger?

Considerations: Grease fires, electric fires, wood fires, versus other sources of ignition respond differently to mitigation efforts. Research this. Examples: water vs. baking soda or sand. Have you ever tested your fire extinguishers? Have you checked the gauge to see how functional they are (they degrade over time).

You are on a late season float plane right before Freezeup at a remote lake. The water is still liquid, but the air is below freezing temperature. As the plane taxis through the water, it sprays water onto the tail where the water freezes on contact and weighs down the rear of the plane. When the plane labors to ascend into the air, it fails, falls, and the rear sinks into the frigid water. All passengers and pilot are able to escape the sinking plane and swim to shore, although some have to carry others who are hypothermic. Now what?

Considerations: The pilot wears a float coat with some precautionary items in its many pockets. Passengers have whatever they were wearing and in their pockets. Their bags and purses may be in hand, but are more likely, stowed in the rear. Their clothes are sodden and starting to freeze on them. The pilot is required to have a heavy bag of emergency supplies in the back of the plane, but it is now sunk in the lake. The first need for all people is warmth. How do you accomplish that? What might you want to keep on your person for future flights?

You are in a rogue (fake) taxi in a foreign country (or in the USA) that kidnaps people for their ATM cards or their cash and clothes. You give up your money and any other valuables. The driver and accomplice dump you in a slum with no money, no shoes, and no cell phone. Now what?

On your shopping trip to your usual supermarket, the power goes out. You realize that since the machines will not work, the cashiers may kick out everyone, and that you do not have enough cash on hand to buy everything because you expected to pay by credit card. Might they accept cash? How much cash do you tend to carry and which items in your cart would you prioritize when the power goes out? Or would you leave the check out line to look for other items? Or would you leave the store to get home before traffic builds?

Considerations: First mover advantage is well recognized in many situations, from sports to business. But another well known point is “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Somebody will take advantage of a power outage. Given your size or age or children in tow, is it better for you to turn on your flash light to search for other items in the store or is it wiser to get out of the store with what you can buy at that moment?

A storm has caused a tree to crash onto your home. In your vicinity, this could have been a hurricane, tornado, ice storm, heavy rain or heavy snow. You now have a big hole in your roof or wall or window. If the storm was wide spread, there may be LOTS of people ahead of you to get the attention of repairmen.

What do you have on hand to patch the hole? Can you repair it?

Considerations: How much does a tarp cost, or a roll of 6 mm plastic? How would you attach it or weigh it down? How much does a roll of window screen cost? How would you attach it? How do you preserve wood or walls that have been damaged by several days of rain water? Can you put R factor insulation under a tarp over a hole in the roof? How do you address heat loss?
If you are lucky enough for your home to escape a wildfire, you may still be close enough to suffer devastating smoke damage to every surface and fabric in your home. How do you protect from that or clean it up? How long does that take? What is irredeemable? Is there anything you could have done before you evacuated from that dangerous situation?

Everyone one of these scenarios is based on real people I know or by relatives who know them. Considering realistic emergencies like these can enable one to plan ahead, possibly downgrading an emergency to an inconvenience.

Suggestions

Hand held radios can facilitate communications for long distance in flat terrain or from high spots. My husband I used them on cruise ships. Midland radios: $80/pair.

Normalcy bias impacts everyone, even preppers who may foresee THIS issue but never think of THAT one. Many preparations can be beneficial in multiple situations. Others are very scenario specific. So consider how to allocate your budget for preparations.

Campers, hikers, and boaters know the value of light, multi-functional tools, inexpensive space blankets and tarps, energy dense foods, and the importance of excellent, well-fitting boots and gloves.

As groups and as individuals, we are only as strong as our weakest link. If you have flashlights, store extra batteries near them. If you store rice and beans, make sure rodents can’t get through the packaging. If you need to buy things, make sure you have cash in the local currency. If your knee or elbow or shoulder tends to gives you trouble, make sure you have a brace for that joint. When you rely on tools, have spare parts or duplicates on hand and know how to install, maintain, repair common maladies.

For the last concern, I have asked my husband to teach me small engine maintenance, and I am drafting a point by point document so I can do so. Similarly, I have created a document of his favorite recipes when I am not here to cook for him. The recipes include not just food, but homemade shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, lip balm, etc.

I hope these scenarios will provide fodder for interesting winter discussions and planning.

About The Author:
Mrs. Alaska has a long-running blog at: Alaskauu1.blogspot.com.
Substack: Alaskauu1.substack.com

Her book on Kindle: Log Cabin Reflections: Our Life in Off-road, Off-grid Remote Alaska.