Comments

1
I recently took a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) course (Thanks, Renton Office of Emergency Management!) and was told in no uncertain terms that help would probably be days away after a natural disaster, and that the 3 Day/ 72 Hour Kit was insufficient. The suggestion is now 2 weeks, and my perception was that the Emergency Management teams around here are gearing up mainly for an earthquake. Did I mention that I was told (flatly) not to expect help for a while?
2
Yeeeee-ahhhh. Storing TWO WEEKS worth of food and water person?

Think about that. That's 24 gallons of water per person.

So almost FIFTY fucking gallons of water per couple. Or over 500lbs of water!

And let's see about 1500 - to 2500 calories per day per person. Soooo about 70,000 calories to store per couple (not including pets - which I guess would then be part of the calories we'd consume, sorry pets). That would be another ~100lbs of food or so.

So about ~600lbs of supplies to sick it out for two weeks for a couple. Not exactly a portable bug out kit situation is it?

A huge portion of people in Seattle are now are packed into tiny apartments I wonder how that's going to work.

It's not.

Just another way planner foist off responsibility for securing infrastructure on victims. Because half of those supplies will be buried under ruble or unstable buildings.
3
I was going to ask if there was a mandatory building retrofit timeline in place in Seattle, then I read the tsunami thing and was like, nevermind.
4
@2 - Well, we ARE keeping in mind that the govt only bails out big banks, amirite?
5
It's hard to commit to spending significant money to mitigate an event that is unpredictable. An earthquake like that could happen next week, or it might never happen in my lifetime. So do I spend a shit ton of money retrofitting my old house, and store 600 lbs of food and water? Or do I roll the dice and hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime? The government faces the same dilemma on a vastly larger scale. And of course Trump and the jolly republicans would rather give tax breaks to the top 1.01% and punt spending to the next president.
6
But if we are prepared for the earthquake, then the earthquake will not end capitalism. Don't you want to end capitalism?
7
But at least we're safe from those terrorists...
8
Here's how to Store Water. They're saying 1 gal / person / day ... so 14 gallons for one person for two weeks 30 gal for 2, 60 gal for a family of 4. But more is obviously better since your neighbors won't be prepared.
Also, stock up on T.P. and use the Twin-Bucket Emergency Toilet system.

In the yearly training I receive, the instructor makes a point to say that the PNW is particularly UNprepared for disaster... because we don't have them frequently enough like other places. Without regular reminders that Nature bats last, we become complacent.
So even if you're a little more prepared by this weekend, that's better than not doing anything. We'll be on our own, for at least 2 weeks. Every little bit counts.
9
People sure do love these apocalyptic scenarios more than concentrating on things that are actually happening that we can do something about.
10
@6 - We might be able to end capitalism if the earthquake comes AND we're prepared. Prepare for distributing an alternative or complementary currency (either negative-interest, or mutual-credit), and we could get people off the idea that money=profit. That'd help.
11
@9 you mean like the total destruction of Puerto Rico and how our president and federal government have left everyone there to twist in the wind and millions will die because the dotard's been tweeting about NFL players? Yeah, I'm sure people in Puerto Rico sure are happy they didn't was time on any sort of emergency planning and simply decided to wait for help to arrive.
12
*waste any time
13
Having a supply of life-sustaining medications, for those who need them, is also right up there with food and water. For non-perishable meds (i.e., nothing needing refrigeration), ask your provider for a one-off, 30-day supuply (or one-off 90-day supply via mail-order), and then make sure to rotate refills through your backup supply. Yes, this assumes that you'll either have to argue with your medical insurance company so they cover an extra prescription or be able to foot the cost yourself.

As to the problem with supplies being buried in a collapsed building: I keep a month of meds in the car as well, which gives me an extra backup month, a month to dig out the rest of them if the house collapses, and a month that's always with me when I travel by car.
14
@8 A gallon a day? They do? That's crazy. There is no survival manual worth a shit I know of that recommends only one gallon a day.

I urge you all to try that. Go ahead. Try limiting your water usage to gallon a day in summer. You will gain a whole new appreciation of how much you really consume normally. Try it for two weeks and see if you don't end up sick.

I was stationed in a temperate climate where we completed for a three week survival exercise limited to bare minimum of 1300-2000 calories and a three liters of water a day. Under extreme physical exertion. And we were supplied. People have no idea what that is really like.

So they say only one gallon a day, huh? That's only water for drinking. Not cooking, not hygiene, or cleaning, certainly no toilet or bathing. Sure. It's doable. But only if you don't have dehydrated food stuffs for your eating. Only if you're not boiling water for hygiene or cooking.

And even so 30 gallons weighs 250lbs. So again not bug-outable. So if you have to clear out of your house or apartment you won't be able to move all that water under stress quickly unless it's already in a wheel barrow. And most apartment dwellers can't store even that very effectively.

A much better estimate is about 24 gallons of water per person for two weeks. And that is simply impossible for people who live in apartments at all.

Basically what are planners are saying is "In an emergency you're on your own and we know most of you will die and we don't really care."
15
@11 Do you have any idea what your asking people to do?

It's a tiny 3,500 sq mi island with an extremely densely packed population of 3.4 million very, very poor people. They can hardly afford what they eat and drink normally let alone asking them to store three plus weeks of potable supplies for every person. That's insane.

During the Berlin airlifts we supplied Berliners with almost 10,000 tons of supplies a god damned day for ONE city. There is absolutely no reason (other the incompetent racism of our president and republican congress) our huge military mechanism can't be supplying PR right now with nearly everything they need.

Why even have government at all if we simply tell people buried by an catastrophe to go it alone and just "be prepared."
16
@11 you didn't really read that article where they are suggesting 1000s of square miles are written off. I think to prepare for a major disaster is fine, that article was absurd.
17
Anyone else in Seattle an experienced backpacker and feel completely comfortable finding and cleaning enough water for you and yours post big one? Oh all of you? That's what I thought.
18
@14 -- CDC: "The minimum drinking water supply is 1 gallon per person per day. You will also need water for food preparation, bathing, brushing teeth, and dish washing. Store a 3-5 day supply of water (at least 5 gallons for each person)."

But yeah, up that to 2 weeks' supply, if you have the space.

So, yes you are right. And 24gal / per person / two weeks is far better. But food prep/ bathing/ dishes all take a back seat to staying hydrated, obviously. And yes, apartment dwellers will not be able to store as much, but everyone should have at least 5-gallons in a container at home for each person. Because that's 5 gallons of clean drinking water you otherwise would not have, and you will be far less vulnerable in any emergency.

Some people will be more prepared, some people will be less prepared. But we'll all take care of each other as best we can. Will some people die in a CSZ 9.0 quake? Of course. And yes, we're largely on our own to minimize the loss of life as best we can, until help comes, two weeks later.

Everyone needs to be disaster prepped at some level. It's on everyone. DIY style.
19
@15 and @16 >I'm not asking anyone to do anything (and it's you're, not your). I read the article and I fully understand what it is saying. It clearly states that nothing is being done on state or federal levels to improve or put systems in place should a horrific natural disaster happen. All you're going to get is a pamphlet and it's going to be up to you to survive.

I believe states and the country as a whole need to be much better prepared for emergencies, not just with alert systems and storing supplies for entire communities in centralized locations, but also training citizens to know what to do, how to decide where to shelter, and where to go if they will not be sheltering in place. AND I CLEARLY HEAR the governor of WA (and the president of the United States, not just regarding Puerto Rico, but also Texas and Florida) saying that people need to be prepared for the fact that they are going to be left twisting in the wind and better be ready for the fact that not only is the government not prepared for disasters, it isn't planning on doing anything in the near or far future to be better prepared. If witnessing the incompetent national response to natural disasters from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Sandy to the most recent hurricanes that have devastated Texas and Florida and basically TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY DESTROYED PUERTO RICO haven't driven this home to you, I don't know what to tell you. The article is saying the same thing. DON'T COUNT ON THE GOVERNMENT TO DO A GODDAMN THING FOR YOU. It is the government clearly asking people to accept that they will be held responsible for saving themselves. Of course the poorest people will suffer and die and not be able to survive until (or even if) the government ever does anything to come to the aid of the people.

Hey, I live in a tsunami zone in Oregon where I will most likely simply die when the 9.0 hits. I am disabled, rely on medications that I am not able to get extra supplies for (anyone who believes that is easy to do is beyond ill-informed, they are delusional), rely on the need for electricity for the medical apparatus I use, require a vehicle to transport me as I will not be able to evacuate on foot (or even in my manual wheelchair). If my building survives the tsunami (unlikely) I will have a bathtub full of water (not for drinking), a water heater full of water (also not for drinking), and we have on hand at any given moment about 10 gallons of water and a pantry full of canned food items. I fill my medications (as does my mother her medications) in 3 month supplies > which does nothing if the disaster happens when you're at the end of your supply or destroys the supply you have.

We've (my mother is retired and my primary caregiver) made our peace with our choice to live here. Our community at least has a so-called tsunami warning system (that it seems to me would be destroyed by a 9.0 earthquake), evacuation routes, community areas to convene where supplies are kept in bulk for the entire population of the community, and buildings that are designated "safe zones" (from the tsunami, but the earthquake? who knows).

Do I believe that local, state, and federal governments should be pouring money into disaster preparation? ABSOLUTELY. Do I believe it will ever happen. NOT A CHANCE. This country is run by huge swaths of so-called "representatives" in the local, state, and federal government that don't believe climate change is real. This article isn't absurd, it's stating plainly and simply that you and everyone else are totally screwed and good luck because no one is going to help you and you WILL be blamed for not saving yourself. Dotard Dump Truck has already blamed Puerto Rico and everyone who lives there for the fact that Puerto Rico has been utterly destroyed (only after he spent days tweeting about NFL players).
20
This is the reality we all face. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2…

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