I have no idea why, but many emergencies happen in the dark when you’re half asleep. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, thunderstorms, blizzards…we aren’t talking apocalyptic disaster here, we’re talking the sorts of emergencies that disrupt your life and cause problems for a week or so then smooth back up to normal. There’s no need to panic when such a disaster happens…if you’re prepared.
Now, I know I live where I will never experience a hurricane or tsunami. If one arrives here, it’s seriously bad news, is all I can say, and the states between me and the coast are toast. I don’t plan for hurricane and tsunami weather or emergencies.
But, I’m smack in the middle of the tornado belt and usually experience at least 2 – 3 tornadoes a season. Geographically, I live in a very earthquake active area, too, but our earthquakes are generally teeny little tremblors that barely jiggle the Richter scale. We get serious thunderstorms, lightning strikes, fires, and ice storms. There is a remote possibility of flooding here – very remote as we live near no rivers, lakes, dams, levies, or in a valley of any sort. I actually live in a reasonably high elevation. Flooding would come from a neighbor’s pool or possibly an excess of rain, but if the heavy rains of 2007 didn’t come close to flooding my property, I reckon it’s a safe bet that I won’t have to deal with natural flooding, just the manmade sort from pools and plumbing breaks. I prepare for all of those events because they happen.
And because disaster loves to strike in the dark, I like to have all my preparations where I can find them in the dark. By my bed is a flashlight that I use every night so I know it works. I keep a flashlight on my keychain and one in my briefcase and one in my lunchbag. I have several in my car. I keep a flashlight beside the breaker box. I can provide light for a short time almost anywhere I go.
We also keep everything in easy-to-find places because it makes no sense to stash the emergency candles in a drawer somewhere in the kitchen and not have matches for lighting those candles nearby. I tend to keep a box of matches with the box of candles.
All of this is well and good, but what about if you’re not home when disaster happens? What if you’re in some basement listening to or giving a lecture and the power goes out? Do you have a working light with you? Do you know where the exits are? Can you get to them without stubbing your toe or breaking your leg? If you have physical limitations, do you know how to escape without getting trampled?
Last year, we had some serious storms knock the power out while I was out shopping. For some reason, their back up generators didn’t come on (or maybe they didn’t have any, I didn’t ask). I had my flashlight out in a jiff and continued shopping as if nothing had happened. When it came time to check out, I encountered the “we don’t have power, I can’t check you out” stalling. Dudes, I was paying cash. I had the exact amount. I’m prepared that way because I used a calculator as I shopped to make sure I had the right amount with me and returned to the shelves those items that exceeded my budget. I finally convinced one of the managers that they could, too, check me out, using my calculator (which I left them so they could help other customers), and writing up the data entry numbers on a piece of paper (I was buying a notebook, I left that with them, too) so they could enter it all after when the power was back.
Not one of the employees, from management down, had even considered what they would do in an emergency like this. They weren’t very customer-friendly about it at first, but once they were shown how to cope, they got much nicer.
In the end, I was able to leave with most of my purchases (I don’t regret the loss of the calculator, it was worth it to save myself and others from hassles,and I bought a notebook later).
The point is, how are you prepared to survive in the dark? Blind people are encouraged to give tips to their sighted friends who are floundering in the dark – you’re at a real advantage here.
Consider the layout of your house. Can you move from room to room in the dark without bumping into things, breaking things, or getting lost? Can you find matches, candles, flashlights, and/or the breaker box? If you are a gun owner, can you find your gun in the dark? More importantly, can you load it if you had to, in the dark? If you were working on it when the lights went out, could you finish cleaning and putting it back together again in the dark?
Can you find the things you need in your various Go Bags by feel alone? Can you reach into a disaster preparedness bag of yours and pull out what you need without rummaging through it, dumping stuff out, or shining a light into it?
What kind of lighting would you have available to you?
I have a variety of flashlights, from Maglite LEDs to waterproof flashlights to finger flashlights to UV LED flashlights to a shake to recharge flashlight to little keychain flashlights and cyalume sticks and a light that works off the car's cigarette lighter. You don't have to have as many lights as I do, but a few could be very useful.
And do learn the layout of places you frequent so if you end up there without any light at all, you'll know where you are and how to move around.