Floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, not to mention man-made disasters from bridge collapses to nuclear accidents to terrorist attacks. We cannot know when the next “Big One” will happen; where it will be; whether we will be a part of it.
Thanks to Bush, the only thing we can be certain of is that it will be worse than it needs to be.
The safest thing to assume is that, if a crisis occurs, you will be on your own for an unspecified period of time.
This is the first of a series of diaries on contingency and crisis planning. They will describe the kinds of things you should consider doing NOW, before the worst happens. At the end of the diaries there will be a list of useful links to emergency planning information and resources.
We live in a world of almost invisible (or at least un-appreciated), yet tightly balanced interdependencies. Most of us simply expect water to come out of the tap, the lights to go on when we flip the switch and food to be available at the market or restaurants when we want it. These things are so everyday and ordinary that they just are: the commonplace parts of our daily lives to which we give little or no consideration. Few of us consider how or why these things happen or how little it would really take for them to fail.
Happily, most of us have never and, God willing, will never experience that sinking feeling of watching our lives, our world and our expectations collapse around us. And yet... it can happen. To us. We are not immune. No matter how much we try not to think about it, pretend we are different, blessed, lucky. Special.
What’s a river in Egypt got to do with it?
Denial is actually a state of hope. The hope that today will be like yesterday. Or, at least, not much worse. Hope that the bad things will pass us by. That life won’t change. Not today. Not soon.
Denial is magical thinking. The belief that if I don’t think about something bad, it can’t happen to me. If I don’t name the monster, it can’t eat me. That planning for the worst is, somehow, asking... hoping for the worst.
But just because I have a first aid kit doesn’t mean I hope to cut myself. It just means that, if and when I do, I’ll have what I need to take care of it: stop the bleeding, prevent infection, stop it from turning from a nasty cut into... something worse.
Hope for sun, plan for rain
That’s what contingency planning is about. Thinking ahead. Imagining what might happen. Hoping for the best, but understanding that bad things happen and taking measures to mitigate them.
So, hoping that God blesses you and your loved ones and keeps you all happy and safe, here are few ideas that may help you plan for the rainiest of days...
Act now, upgrade later
Just becasue you can't afford or can't find the best solution or your favored solution doesn't mean you shouldn't act now. If you can't get a 55-gallon water barrel, buy a bunch of 5-gallon jugs. Upgrade later. Prepare as soon as you can. Don't put it off. Something bad may be brewing while you read this.
Which is not to say you should run out this afternoon and spend your life savings on survival gear. Just take steps now; as many as you feel comfortable with taking. Any preparation is better than none. And better than wishing, later, that you had done something.
The first line of defense
The best place to be, in times of crises, is almost always at home. Therefore a significant portion of your planning for a crisis should involve home readiness. Preparing for a crisis at home just means taking the time to think about and plan for what you would need to stay put for two weeks or a month or (God forbid) more. There are a number of issues to consider: food and water, waste removal, light and heat, clothing, safety and defense and entertainment. The solutions to these issues will vary depending on the nature of the crisis, your resources and your location.
You NEED water
While you can last a few weeks without food, you won’t make it past three days without water. Remember the rule of threes: you can survive three weeks without food, three days without water and three minutes without air.
Water will almost always be the hardest part of your supplies to keep enough of. Try to have at least a month’s worth of water on hand. If you can, keep three month’s.
How much water?
You will need at least two quarts of water PER PERSON in your household for each day you plan for. That’s 14 quarts per person, per week – for a family of four, 56 quarts every week. And that’s just the bare minimum you’ll need for drinking. Plan on twice as much – a gallon a day per person – to cover cooking and basic personal hygiene. For a family of four figure on storing 120 gallons for a month.
When storing water for long periods you should observe a few safety protocols. Always store water in clean food-grade containers, preferably those bought, by you, solely for that purpose. Don’t use empty milk jugs, soda bottles, old paint thinner cans or the bath tub unless you can’t avoid it. Various companies sell 30- and 55-gallon plastic barrels for water storage. If you can afford it, buy several. Also buy a hand-cranked pump. Pumping the water out is easier and more sanitary than dipping the water out with a pan or by hand. A 55-gallon barrel is pretty big and you’ll need at least two to store a month’s worth of water for a family of four.
Camping suppliers sell collapsible five-gallon jugs which are quite good for short-term storage.
Improvised water containers
If you’re using improvised containers use only food-grade containers that have an air-tight seal: soda bottles, juice jars, etc. Don’t use milk jugs except for very short-term storage; the lids don’t seal well after they’ve been opened. Food-grade containers made of plastic will have “HDPE” (high-density polyethylene) stamped on the bottom and a recycling rating of 2. Glass containers are fine, but can shatter in an earthquake or if roughly handled.
Always wash your containers thoroughly with soap and water, then fill them with water treated with 1 tablespoon of chlorine bleach per gallon (do not use bleach that has scents or softeners in it; just plain chlorine bleach). Let the bleach solution sit in the bottle for two minutes (slosh it around a bit, too), then pour it out and rinse the bottle thoroughly with water. Finally, fill the container with your drinking water. Fill the bottle to the very top – so there is no left air in the bottle – and tighten the lid on as tight as it will go. Don’t forget to wash the lid along with the bottle. Remove the plastic seal inside the lid and wash it thoroughly before you put it back (if you don’t take it out and wash it, there can be food residue behind it where bacteria can breed and contaminate your water).
Once you have your large storage container(s) filled with tap water, drop in either a commercial water treatment tablet, available from the same place you got the barrels, or 1/8 teaspoon of household bleach per gallon (4 teaspoon’s for a 30-gallon barrel and 7 for a 55-gallon). (Don’t use bleaches with scents or softeners as these are not safe to drink. Use only plain chlorine bleach.) You can also use commercial water purification tablets of the sort used by campers to treated river water. Follow the instructions on the box.
Pre-packaged water
If large-scale storage is out of the question, you can buy one gallon or larger jugs of water at your local box store for about a dollar a gallon. You can also buy water in smaller containers, though the smaller the container the more you’re paying by volume.
Water boxes (the kind made for kid’s school lunches) and mylar water packets are also a viable choice. Water packets certified by the US Coast Guard will last up to five years as long as they don’t spring a leak (some brands are better than others about leaks. Do some research before you buy in quantity). Such packets usually contain four ounces of water, so stocking up can be expensive – 16 packets make two quarts, so you need 64 packets for a family of four, per day, just for drinking.
In any case, you should refresh your stored tap water every six months and replace your bottled water once a year (make sure you check the fill date on the bottles when you buy them. You don’t want to buy water that’s been sitting in a warehouse for a year before you buy it).
It’s probably best to use a variety of storage options: a 55-gallon barrel (or several 2.5- or 5-gallon jugs) for cooking and washing water, bottled water for casual drinking and mylar water packets for your bug-out bag and vehicle supplies.
Date all your supplies and note the replacement dates on your calendar.
“Shop” from your stock
The best way to keep your water supplies fresh (at least your bottled water) is to use them first and do your shopping to replenish them. This ensures that your water supplies are always fresh. But remember: Don’t get lazy and use your supplies as a backup larder and then forget to restock. Always replenish. Don’t plan to do it “Later.” Do it right away, the next time you shop, as you use up your emergency stock.
Finding emergency water
If you haven’t stocked up and a crisis hits, you can find water in several places around your house: the water tanks of your toilets (NEVER the bowl), your water heater, ice cubes and your plumbing system. There’s also the swimming pool (if you have one) and fish tanks.
Learn where the water shut-off valve to your home or apartment is located and how to shut it off. Shutting it off prevents contaminated water from getting into your home if there has been a sewer line break or other water contamination. Make sure you have the right tools on hand to turn all the valves you’ll need to deal with.
Water heater
Learn where the drain for your water heater is located. Also learn how to turn off the gas or electricity to your water heater and let it cool for six hours or so before you drain it to avoid scalding yourself. Turning it off also prevents it from running while empty and presenting a fire hazard. To get the water flowing, turn off the water intake valve into the tank, then turn a hot water faucet anywhere in the house (this lets air into the line – just like a soda straw with you finger over the top, water won’t flow out the bottom unless air can get in at the top). The first water you get out of the heater may be rusty. Don’t discard it, but don’t use it for drinking either. Keep it for washing. The rust will settle out if you let it sit for a day or so. Drain the rest of the water into clean containers, add 1/8 teaspoon of bleach per gallon and seal them up.
Toilet
Only take water from the tank, never the bowl. You’ll probably need to ladle it out. The brown grunge on the inside of the tank is not feces, it’s algae and not toxic. Try not to scrape against it to prevent it from floating free in your water. The bleach you add to the water before you store it will kill any algae that is in the water.
Household plumbing
The water enters your house on the ground floor or in the basement and flows into the upper floors by natural water pressure – remember that water seeks its own level and the source of your water is higher than your house (all those tall water towers) meaning there is no need to pump the water to the upper floors. If you cut off the outside water the water in your pipes will settle, finding an equilibrium. If you open any tap, all the water above that tap will try to drain out of it. You’ll need to open the highest tap in the house to allow air into the system, then go to the lowest water tap and open it (upper first, lower after. Otherwise water may start draining out the bottom before you get to it). All the water left in your pipes will drain out until the water level is below your lowest tap. Barring having a pump to pull water out, you won’t be able to get at water lower than your lowest tap. The water in your pipes is clean tap water and there is no need to treat it unless you plan to store it.
Ice cubes
Let them melt. Voila! Drinking water. By the way, it can be worthwhile to store a few large bottles of water in your freezer, if you have the room. The frozen water acts as backup cooling allowing you to keep your frozen foods longer than you otherwise might. When the frozen water eventually melts it becomes drinking water. Remember to leave about 3 inches of air space in the bottles so the water can expand when freezing.
Pool water
Pool water is great for washing but should be considered “backup” for drinking. Even if you keep your pool chemistry perfect, the concentration of chlorine is designed for swimming, not drinking. If you need to drink pool water, take it out of the pool and let it sit open for a day, if you can, then boil it thoroughly. If your pool has been sitting, untreated, for some time, consider it “open water” and deal with it accordingly (see below).
Fish tanks
You can drink fish tank water, but boil it first and you might want to run it through a coffee filter as well. By the way, don’t plan on eating your fish. Sure you can eat goldfish, but they’re not all that nutritious and some tropical fish can make you ill. You can ask the pet shop folks which fish they sell are safe to eat, but they may refuse to sell you fish after you ask them. Not to mention the odd looks you’ll get every time you go back.
Rain barrels
A quaint old fashioned water source and not such a bad idea in the 21st century. You don’t even need a barrel. When it rains, put water collection pans out in the rain. Avoid water run off from your roof: that water is contaminated with petroleum products from your roof shingles and the tar paper under them. Once you collect rain water, don’t let it sit. Collect it and store it after treating it with bleach just like any other water.
Open water
Open water presents problems. Most open water in America is not safe to drink. Even water from reservoirs is extensively treated before it is pumped into the system. That given, you can draw drinking water from active lakes and streams near your house (running water only). If you are planning ahead (and, if you’re not, why are you reading this?) buy a high quality water filtration pump. Make sure it’s rated for chemical and bacteriological filtering. Filter any open water before you drink it. You might also want to buy a portable filter bottle or filter straw for your Bug-Out Bag. Just in case you need to drink open water when bugging out. Buy replacement filters as well – most filters are rated for a hundred gallons or so, after which they must be replaced.
Never, never, ever drink standing water. Don’t drink from stagnant pools, water that collects in old barrels or tires or any other standing water source.
A note on sharing
If you are planning to survive the next crisis, plan to have some extra for friends, neighbors and strangers. It’s hard to know how much extra to stock and almost impossible to plan for this. It’s also impossible to know how to deal with having planned for five people for a month only to have 10 friends and neighbors show up at your house because they know you’re “the survival guy” and they just know you wouldn’t hesitate to help out “just one more.” If you let them all in, you just went from a month’s worth of food, to ten day’s worth. If 25 people show up, you can only feed them for a day. Whom do you turn away? How do you deal with the people who decide that, if you won’t give them the food they demand, they’ll just take it by force (because they have the “right” to feed their families)? Don’t look to me for answers, I have no idea. I hope I never have to know what I would do.
Resources
The following links provide online resources for emergency planning.
Good info
The Red CrossThe sine qua non of good quality preparedness info.
Zombie Squad Silly name, good concept: that if you are prepared for the attack of a horde of flesh-eating zombies, well, you're prepared for anything. Face it, crisis planning doesn't have to be grim and humorless.
Flu Wiki A valuable resource for planning for the avian flu and just about anything else that can go wrong, too.
Supplies
Nitro-Pak A good source for reasonably-priced gear from food & water to just about anything else you'll need to ride it out.
The Safety Company A bit more "Professional First Responder" oriented than other resources, but they have lots of good stuff.
Beyond Bulbs When you need more than a flashlight...
Brigade Quartermasters A bit too Rambo, but when you think you need the gear, they're a good resource.
If you find this diary or any of these resources to have useful information, PRINT IT OUT. If there is a crisis, the web may not be available, not to mention power for your computer. You want your information resources to be available to use without technology.
One final note
Remember that you don't have to do this alone. Talk to friends, join the local first aid squad or fire brigade. Volunteer at the hospital. Work together. Plan together.
Our best hope, in times of crisis, is our community. The more people you know who you can help and who are there to help you, the better. And, even if a crisis never hits, you'll be doing some good for your town. Everybody wins!
Next Diary: Food and Waste disposal.