Over the past few days, as I watched the aftermath of the Sendai earthquake and consequent tsunami, I kept reminding myself that I should point people to a series of how-to-get-ready-for-a-disaster diaries written at
Daily Kos in 2005 by a long-departed Kossack calling himself
AlphaGeek. But I kept procrastinating until
Seneca Doane republished a diary excerpting and linking
AlphaGeek's prodigious effort. A h/t to him.
The series makes for valuable reading. It's five parts. Condensed, it might be titled, like the Boy Scouts motto: "Be Prepared." It's not meant as a substitute for what government and private rescue organizations do in an emergency. Rather, it lays out things an individual or family can do until the authorities or non-governmental organizations arrive. But they can't wait until the emergency occurs.
For tens of thousands of people on Japan's northeast coast, being prepared with extra food and water and flashlight batteries, would not, of course, have done any good. The appalling scope of that catastrophe, as we've repeatedly seen on-line and television, overwhelmed any defenses or preparations that had been made. Those horrific scenes, as one commentator said, didn't even seen real. Indeed, unlike most disaster movies, there were few explosions, yet the deluge turned much of everything it touched into matchsticks.
So, no, you can't be ready for every eventuality. But you can prepare for some things. And if you do, you and your family are likely to ride out the immediate aftermath of a natural or other disaster a lot better than people who don't. Preparations depend in good part on where you live because that determines what kind of emergency situation you're likely to face. There's a lot more to that preparation than extra flashlight batteries and a few bottles of water.
But enough from me. Here's AlphaGeek:
Something bad is going to happen, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
Preparing to deal with a disaster is like going off of a ski jump. If you put off your planning until things start happening, it's far too late to make much of a difference. Once you're headed down that ski jump, the time for planning and preparation is over.
On the other hand, being prepared for disaster does not have to be time-consuming or expensive. In this multi-part series of DailyKos Diaries, I will share with you, dear reader, many of the lessons I've learned regarding the most effective ways to prepare for an emergency.
PART 1 -- ASSESS YOUR RISKS
When disaster strikes, will you be prepared?
Despite what you may have gathered from reading guides to readiness from the government, the Red Cross, or other organizations, you should not begin with a spending spree at the local hardware store. When you strip away all of the bureaucrat-speak, there are three basic steps you must follow to be ready for disaster:
Assess
Plan
Prepare
The psychology of disaster preparedness
In order to effectively prepare for disaster without becoming overwhelmed, you must be able to make realistic judgments about risks. On one hand, it is an effort for most people to "think the unthinkable", to contemplate scenarios which are far outside the routine of their daily lives. It is difficult for most people to imagine a world where fresh water does not flow from the taps, electricity is something you can't take for granted, and the grocery store shelves are empty ... assuming the stores are even open.
On the other hand, there's a phenomenon I think of as the "armageddon fallacy." This is the temptation, once that our Pandora's Box of fears and concerns has been opened, to imagine extremely unlikely events as real threats. We must be cautious to exercise good judgment when considering risks, as the "armageddon fallacy" is a surprisingly easy trap to fall into. Keep in mind that your plan, at some point, will be shared with friends and family. This incents most people to stay clear of the Crazy Talk Express to Armageddon Town when making a plan.
Here are links to all five parts:
Part 1: Assess your risks!
Part 2: Plan to survive! (part A)
Part 3: Plan to survive! (part B)
Part 4: Emergency gear and supplies
Part 5: Material preparations continued; Conclusion
Coda (Q&A): Ask Mister Preparedness Guy: all answers 5¢
• • • • •
At Daily Kos on this date in 2007:
With the passage of the Iraq supplemental in the House Appropriations Committee, a seriously flawed bill has passed a major hurdle toward passage in that body. ...
The House leadership could go a long way to making this legislation more palatable to those on the left who want a real check on the Bush administration on Iraq. By making a statement that they will back up the provision of bill to make the war illegal past September 1, 2008 by refusing to fund it past that date, they would ensure that the deadline was meaningful.
The statement would not have to be added to the legislation. Given that the deadline has already been agreed upon by the various Democratic caucuses, it wouldn't need to be. And defunding doesn't have to be legislated, it just has to happen. House Democrats have already settled on the end of August, 2008 as the ultimate deadline for getting troops out. If that were backed up by Pelosi, Hoyer, and Murtha making the statement that when they establish an end date, they mean it, the legislation would actually carry some weight.