emergency preparedness

Emergency Preparedness for Beginners – Part 3 – Bugging In: Water

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Emergency Preparedness for Beginners
By Brett A. Fernau

Part 3: Bugging In – What you need to survive at home – Water

Read Part 1 and 2 of this series first. In those articles I discuss what you will need to survive the initial disaster event and what you will need to get home from wherever you are when that event occurs. This, Part 3, is the first article on what you will need to survive at home in the event of a short-term and temporary situation where power and water are not available. By “short-term” I mean a few days up to a couple of weeks without access to the usual sources of power and water, but with the strong possibility that both will be restored fairly quickly. When power, water, and communications are interrupted you are “off the grid.” The “grid” is that publicly-owned infrastructure that supplies you with electricity, water, cable and broadcast TV, and telephone communications, both hard-wired, land lines and cellular.

A long-term, off-grid, emergency situation is a much more complicated and difficult subject to address and consider, and is not for beginners. You will quickly overwhelm yourself, if you delve too deeply into it. For now, don’t do it. We’ll talk about it later, once you have learned the basics.

The Rule of Threes is one of the first things you need to know in preparing for an emergency situation. The Rule of Threes is: You can survive for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. So, the first thing you need to do to begin preparing your home base for a disaster is to create some water reserves. Under normal conditions, you should plan on using one gallon of water per person per day just for drinking. In very hot conditions, the level of usage may climb to two gallons per day. Start with one gallon per person per day. So, for a family of four, you would need four gallons of water per day, 28 gallons for a week, and 56 gallons for two weeks. Again, this is just for drinking. This does not include water for cooking, cleaning, or sanitation.

Probably, this already seems overwhelming to you. How and where will you store a fifty-five gallon drum of water that weighs 440 pounds? Where do I get a barrel? How long will the water last inside of it? How will I get the water out of it? How much will that cost me? Stop!! You don’t have to do it all today. Let’s hope that if there is a disaster where you live, that it won’t happen right away. With that hope in mind, you still should start stocking up on some water right away. You can buy a case of bottled water at the grocery store the next time you go shopping. Stash that case in a closet with a note attached to it that indicates the date you purchased it. The plastic in which that water is packaged does not last forever, so you will need to rotate your water supply periodically, about every six months if you are storing bottled water in those flimsy containers. You could put a reminder on a wall calendar to remind you to use and replace that case of water when the six months has passed. I started storing tap water in one liter bottles that previously contained sparkling mineral water. The plastic of these bottle is a little thicker than the standard bottled water containers since it has to hold the pressure of the carbonation (the fizz). I bought some inexpensive plastic crates from a local discount department store. The crates hold 12 bottles each, or about 3 gallons per crate. They are stackable so they don’t take up much floor space, but they are heavy when you get them stacked up.

There are other ways to store water. Plastic drums designed for water storage are available in a variety of sizes from 5 to 55 gallons; pumps are available to get the water out of the drums. The home water delivery companies use those 5 gallon bottles. You can store those and use and replace them as appropriate. There are water containers available at sporting goods stores that are square or rectangular, hold from 3 to 5 gallons and can fit into the back corner of a closet. It is recommended that any water that you store in plastic containers not be left sitting on a concrete floor as there can be some leaching of toxins from the concrete into the water. Use wooden pallets or platforms to keep your water containers off of the concrete. If you live in an apartment, keep a close watch on your water containers so they don’t start leaking down into your neighbor’s apartment below you.

If you have a water source available nearby, such as a pool, a lake or river, or a well with a manual pump, you are one of the fortunate ones. But even then, you will need a way to treat that water to make it safe for drinking. After a disaster that disrupts the public water system, any water that isn’t in a container that you filled or purchased and know is safe for drinking, should be treated. That includes tap water. There are a variety of water purification methods and systems available. You should plan on having and being able to use more than one method. All methods have their own plus points and minus points and you should understand those before you decide upon which method or methods you use. Distillation removes pretty much everything from your water, but its long-term use for drinking is not recommended since it takes minerals from your body on its way out. Boiling clear water for 10 minutes is a highly recommended way of purification. You can clean up muddy or dirty water by straining it through a cotton rag to remove the particles; then, you will need to boil it or filter it to remove the contaminants. The liability of boiling water is that it takes fuel to bring the water to a boil. If you have unlimited fuel, then boiling is a workable method of purification. There are some very good high-tech filters available that claim to remove 99.99 percent of contaminants. Do your own research and decide if that might be an option for you. Chemical purification tablets are another option, as is bleach added to clear water. Follow the instructions carefully to use the tablets. For bleach, be sure to use the unscented product. There are a couple of different ratios out there about how much bleach to use per gallon of water. Somewhere between 8 and sixteen drops seems to be the standard, but do your own research and testing to make sure you get it right. Both the chemical tablets and the bleach method require you to allow the water to sit for a time (30 minutes for bleach) before it is safe to drink, and you need to stir up the mixture after you’ve added the tablets or bleach.

For the short-term, have enough water on hand to keep you going until municipal service is restored and declared safe for drinking. For the long term, consider more than one of the above options

Emergency Preparedness for Beginners – Part 2

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Emergency Preparedness for Beginners
By Brett A. Fernau

Part 2: Bugging out – what it means and what you need

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at ways in which you could help yourself and those around you in a disaster scenario. Let’s image now that you’ve handled the immediate dangers and are ready for your next task. You have a decision to make at this point. Do you stay where you are and continue to help any victims in that area or do you try to get home or to some other safe location? “Bugging out” is what you do when you leave your current location and go somewhere else. You could also call it “bugging in” if you are going home.

Depending upon the nature of the disaster, you may or may not be able to drive or take public transportation to go home. What you will need to get there on foot will depend upon how far you have to travel, the weather conditions at the time, and the nature of the disaster. If the disaster involves some sort of civil unrest, looting, riots, and that sort of thing, there will be additional obstacles to overcome in getting home. You will need to be prepared for a variety of scenarios, and you will need knowledge, skills, tools and supplies that will help you get where you want to go.

One of the most important things you will need is a body that is up to the task. You will need to be physically fit enough to carry your tools and supplies the distance you need to travel. If you are not fit enough to walk home, you will have to stay where you are. Even if you do that, you will need to have achieved some level of fitness to be able to survive wherever you are. Start training for that now. Walk. Walk a little each day; and then a little more. Build up your strength and endurance so that you are an asset in an emergency and not just another victim. Do whatever it takes to get yourself healthy. If that means losing weight, exercising, and changing your diet, then get started on that right away.

Not long ago, I had Type II Diabetes. I was dependent upon prescription medications to keep my blood sugar levels in a normal range so as to prevent neuropathy, blindness and other damage from that disease. I decided that being dependent upon those drugs was not a good thing in a disaster situation where the pharmacies might be closed down for a while. So, I did what I had to do to get off those drugs. I changed my diet and lost a lot of weight. I got myself off of all prescription medications. Do what you can to make yourself independent of doctors and medications. Some conditions can’t be handled just by changing your diet and increasing your exercise level, but you’d be surprised how much better you’ll feel if you get yourself fit and ready to handle whatever comes your way. You’ll not only feel better physically, but mentally as well. Preparedness is a lifestyle. When you are prepared, a great many things which you are worried about now will cease to concern you.

The equipment, skill and knowledge that you will need to get home will be an expanded version of your EDC (every day carry), plus a few extra items that will aid you in the journey. If circumstances are in your favor, you’ll simply be able to get in your car and drive home. However, if things go wrong and you have to walk home, you’re going to need some things to help you get there. What you need will depend upon several factors: distance to be traveled, current and future weather conditions, the nature of the disaster, and the current state of mind of the other people you are likely to encounter on your journey. In other words, if you have a long way to go in bad weather after a major disaster where the civilian population has run amok, you will need gear, skills and knowledge to solve those specific problems you will encounter along the way. On the other hand, if you are just a few miles away from home when a disaster of lesser magnitude occurs in moderate weather where people are scared, but not panicked, then you will likely have an easier time getting home and be less dependent upon your equipment and such and will rely more on your level of physical fitness and your knowledge of alternate routes to your destination. Plan for the former and hope for the latter and you will be as prepared as you can be.

The kit you assemble to get you home from wherever you are when the disaster happens is called a “Bug-Out Bag.” What you put in that bag will depend upon the factors mentioned above. At the very least, you will need water, food, a first aid kit, a map, a compass, and some decent hiking boots or shoes. Beyond those basics, you can add fire starting tools, camping gear, cooking gear, communications equipment, binoculars, paracord, personal hygiene gear and whatever else you think you might need to get you home, plus a supply of whatever prescription medications you will need.

You’ll notice that I mentioned water first. After air, water is what your body will need most. Carry as much water as you can. You’ll be drinking it, perhaps cooking with it, and possibly cleaning wounds with it. Carry something with which to purify water so that you can create some potable water when you use up what you are carrying. Water purification can be done with tablets or filters or both. You can use coffee filters to do the initial clean-up of dirty water and then add tablets or run it through your filter system. Again, your need to clean up dirty water will depend upon the nature of the disaster and the distance you have to travel to get home where you have the majority of your supplies cached. Your supply cache at home is a subject which I will address in greater detail in the next article in this series. For the moment, think about what you might need to have at home if the power is out and the water is off for several days. Start putting a few things aside in case you need them, especially water.

To create a bug-out bag, place all the things you think you’ll need to get home in a back pack. Keep that back pack close at hand wherever you are. If you’re out shopping, it should be in the trunk of your car. If you work in an office, you might consider having one under your desk and another one in the trunk of your car. What if you can’t get to your car? Do you use public transportation to go back and forth to work? What if a disaster occurs on your ride? Think about what you would need if you’re a long way from home and the bus or train can’t get you there. Do you know the route and how you would get home if you are stranded at any point along the way? Make a map and carry a compass. If it would take you more than one day to walk home, you will need to create a bug-out bag to accommodate your needs for that sort of journey. You will also, possibly, need to adjust your gear for the season of the year, depending upon where you live. Each person in your family will need to have his/her own pack tailored to their skills and stature. Include carrying your pack in your exercise regimen, or another pack of the same weight. Make sure it is comfortable to carry. If it is too heavy, figure out ways to make it lighter without sacrificing too much in the way of equipment.

The most important things that you will need are knowledge and skills. Learn how to read a map and guide yourself with a compass. Map out your routes home and have alternate routes should your regular ones be blocked. Learn about situational awareness and practice it when you are walking and getting in shape. Find out what plants are edible in your region and learn how to identify and prepare them. Learn a number of ways to start a fire and practice them. Learn to cook over a fire, or a camp stove. Learn how to stay warm and dry outdoors. Learn first aid including CPR. Get C.E.R.T. trained. Learn how to tie useful and effective knots in ropes and cords. Learn how to build a temporary shelter. Learn how to free someone trapped by a heavy object. Learn how to travel through an urban environment safely and quickly. Learn to defend yourself and your family by whatever means you are comfortable with. There are a wide variety of books available on outdoor skills, and a nearly unlimited number of videos available online demonstrating everything you will need to know. Educate yourself, learn the necessary skills and practice them. In a disaster scenario, you won’t have time to look up anything in a book. Read the books now; understand and apply what you learn. If you do, when you are confronted with an emergency situation, you will have the ability to act rather than panic, help instead hinder, and survive instead of become a victim. If you can survive, and you have taught and encouraged your family, friends and neighbors to learn the same skills you have, you will have a relatively safe place to go to when you Bug Out. Once you get home, you can reassess your situation and figure out what to do next; and that will be the subject of Part 3 of this series.