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 Disaster Exercise COMPLETE 
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 Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Remember Folks This is ONLY a Test

In this exercise, a 6.8 earthquake ruptures a major fault 20 miles from you.

The epicenter is 30 miles from your house.

The rupture occurs 5 miles below the Earth’s surface.

Strong shaking occurs all along the fault as it ruptures along its entire length.

As the rupture progresses the ground along the fault is offset by more than 20 feet in places.

Roads, railroads, pipelines, aqueducts and other lifelines that cross the fault are affected.

Overall the rupture produces more than 100 seconds of shaking throughout a 1,500 square mile area (165.4 square kilometer area).

Shaking is strong along the fault but also further away where soil type, thickness of sediments, and other factors amplify earthquake shaking.

In some areas, the ground shifts violently back and forth, moving nearly 2 meters (6 feet) each second.

Office buildings, houses and other structures are shoved off foundations, sending unsecured furniture and objects flying.

Depending on where you live, there could possibly be a tsunami.

Aftershocks continue for several weeks and some may be large enough to cause additional damage.

Recovery will take several weeks or longer.

Please tell us the main hazards in your immediate vicinity.


7:35 PM CDT - There have been two aftershocks - a 6.0 and a 5.3.

These aftershocks will affect hospitals, emergency services, nuclear power plants, oil refineries, and dams.



1:07 PM CDT - There have been four more aftershocks - a 5.3, a 4.3, a 4.8 and a 4.0.

There are isolated reports of cholera outbreaks.

There are reports of looting.

The dam located 10 miles from your home has cracked open and your source for drinking water is flooding the river that runs through your town.

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Fri Oct 15, 2010 5:25 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise
'Cripey Bluebonnet,

If I survive all that. (I do live on top of a hill).

Taking care of the water. Being wary of disease. (Hygiene)

I'd say frightened humans would be the biggest danger.
Especially where I live in Dandenong (the arsehole of Melbourne - s'cuse the French.)

Probably head north & get over the great dividing range if it was hopeless.
Otherwise, help co-ordinate recover to avoid people-panic as much as possible.
Attempt to reduce desperation.
Trex.

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Sat Oct 16, 2010 8:45 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise
Where I live some of my neighbors' fireplace chimneys have toppled from the roofs. We are attempting to gather enough tarps, plastic, etc. to patch the roofs - at least temporarily.

There is no electricty but the water is still on. However, we know that our water district is running the pumps on back up generators and we don't know how long this will last. Have filled the bathtub with water to flush toilets just in case.

The quake jostled my rain barrel but, thankfully, no cracks have appeared.

The fences are down in places so the neighbors are all working to get them back up.

We are planning a street barbecue tonight as the freezers will soon begin thawing. So this should be fun.

Thankfully, it is not too hot here - about 80 degrees F but tonight we are forecast for a low in the mid-50's.

We've taken the cots down from the attic - using flashlights. Just in case we have any aftershocks and have to sleep outside.

For lunch, we brought out the Coleman stove and had lunch meat from the fridge, cheese from the fridge, soup, crackers and some G2 (Gatorade).

We dumped the ice from the refrigerator freezer into the two large ice chests and placed perishable items like milk, cheese, lunchmeat, etc. in these. East Texas' insulin is snugged down in the ice, too.

We moved all the frozen items from the refrigerator freezer to the chest freezer in the garage. We have 5 gallons of frozen water in there.

We're hearing on the radio that there may be some refineries with "problems" but don't know what those are.

There was a report of a small tsunami on Bolivar Penninsula and in Galveston Bay - this has not affected me.

Our neighborhood streets are littered with rubble from chimneys and fences. Some of the neighbors are working to clear the rubble just in case anyone needs the fire department or ambulance service. At this time, I have no idea what roads further from me are like.

The radio is just now beginning to report some damage to downtown Houston. Some of the skyscrapers there have collapsed.

Most of the freeway overpasses have collapsed and the Houston Ship Channel is closed because of a collapsed bridge.

There is no cell phone service at all. No bars - nada.

So far, so good for us. There doesn't appear to be any damage to my home right now.

How is everyone else doing?

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The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR


Sat Oct 16, 2010 10:54 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
My neighbourhood faired pretty well all things concidered power is out although at this point we are unsure how wide of an area is effected or for how long we will be out. We monitor our crank radio every hour for updates.

The house is a mess as to be expected and we spent a good portion of today cleaning up broken glass and making the house a little bit more "Quake proof" in the anticipation of aftershocks.

The first thing we did was fill our 6 15L Water Bottles, thankfully our water is still on but who knows how long that will last. The next thing we did was fill both bath tubs for fluching toilets.

Our gas is still on so we can use that for cooking although I have broken out the camping gear, coleman stove, camp cook ware etc.

Thanks to some well rounded folks on the NET they convinced me to begin prepping and as far as food goes we will be good to go for at least three months even longer if we rashin. Hopefully we wont be effected that long though.

Some of us gathered in the street today and made a neibourhood watch and two of us will be watching our court 24 hours a day looking for looters and trouble makers.

I am NOT sure how well prepped our neighbours are so for the time being I am simply stating that I have enough to keep my family fed for a week or less, I figure the less attention I draw to my family the better however if I see someone in need I will step in and help, I will not let me neibhbours starve.

All things concidered spirits are pretty high and my DW says she will NEVER question my perpping habbits again so that's a big plus for me..

I am curious to hear how others are making out and sharing stories..

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Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:03 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
We've just experienced two aftershocks. What was left standing in the house is now all over the floor.

We heard two explosions to the East of us. Oil refineries are exploding!

We plan to spend the night outside due to the continued threat of aftershocks.

The water is now down to a trickle in the sink.

Dinner was a great barbecue with the neighbors. Each neighbor on the street contributed:

Meat
Side dish
Dessert
Coffee and cold drinks

Ice is becoming an issue for most folks.

We've heard there has been trouble in Houston but so far our neighborhood is calm. The Sheriff's department is patrolling every hour but we've heard that the Interstate highways are nearly non-existant due to downed overpasses.

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Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:40 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
We live in the NW corner of CT among the Litchfield Hills. Our neighborhood is built on the side of a hill; it was constructed by terracing the hill, so our yard was built up with fill, then there is an eight foot drop at the bottom of the yard.

When the quake struck, since it was evening of course there was instant darkness. Our family consists of myself, DH, who is hemiplaegic and confined to a wheelchair, and DS who is 32. Since we were only 20 miles from the epicenter of this 6.8 quake, 100 sec. of shaking felt like an hour. The ground rolled back and forth, then we heard a horrendous noise, and the house slid off the foundation and partway down the back yard.

We managed to get DH out, then DS got the wheelchair out and we got him back in it. I didn't want DS to go back in the house, but he wanted to get blankets for DH and us too. There were no lights anywhere, and we called but heard no answers. utility poles were down on the street above us, with sparks shooting everywhere. We spent the night outside in the dark, wrapped in blankets with a couple of flashlights. We were afraid to light a match until we could check the gas line, even though we were outside.

We had a 7500 gal. above ground pool that I had always considered my water supply, but with the rolling of the ground, the walls just gave way and the water washed down the hill.

We had a strong aftershock during the night, which almost tossed DH on the ground again, and we could hear the house m oving even more. Once the sun came up we were horrified at the amount of destruction there was on our street, with houses sliding down onto the street. We couldn't hear any sirens, so we didn't know if there were rescue groups out looking, or if we were totally on our own.

Most of my preps were in the basement so DS was able to climb down into it where the house had slid off the foundation and get out some canned food, cereal, can opener! and juice. It seems that the aftershock had ruptured water lines, so there was no running water even in the basement. OF course the lines in our house were torn off. As we were eating something, another strong aftershock struck and the weakened structures around us fell even more, crumbling and sliding down the hill. Luckily we are not near a nuclear power plant.

I tried my cell phone, but the towers were all down so there was no service. DS left DH and me settled away from any hazards and went among the houses trying to see if anyone was there. He found a family down the street huddled by their house, trying to comfort their two little boys. He couldn't get up the street at all because of arcing wires and debris. He brought the family down to our house so we could plan how to go from here. Then we heard a helicopter overhead. We waved blankets and flashed a piece of glass in the sun. The helicopter circled and we could see somebody waving then they were off.

We had no idea how long before rescuers could get to us. We found out later that our hill took the worst of the shaking, and seemed to be the most unstable. For the moment we had enough food, but no shelter (the temps went down to 47 last night), and very little to drink. I had some bottles of juice in the basement, but no water since I had counted on the pool. (Bad mistake) The other family had some juice and milk but not much. Mom said she had gone shopping every other day, and had no reserves stored up.

DH was getting very tired, having been sitting in his wheelchair for far too long, but there was no place we could lay him down. We knew we had to get out of there soon.

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Sat Oct 16, 2010 8:20 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
DS and Tom, the father of the family we found, decided they had to scout the area, see if they could find any trapped people, and look for a way out. We had plenty of food in my basement, and I had forgotten in the confusion that I had about 20 3gallon jugs of water that I hadn't used when I had a spring water cooler in the house. But we couldn't stay perched on the side of a hill with live wires above us and aftershocks threatening to dislodge everything around us that was precariously perched, like a house of cards ready to tumble.

About two hours later, DS and Tom returned. Up the street about 6 houses the damage wasn't quite as bad since they were on leveler ground at the top of the hill. There was another group of about 3 families trying to make the same decisions we were. We were lucky that we were not near any secondary major threats, like oil refineries, dams, nuclear plants, but we had no idea what shape the town was in, sitting in a little valley below us. They had also heard calls coming from several houses, so the first priority was to try to find survivors. We couldn't wait for outside help. It was obvious that we were at least temporarily cut off from help.

The men gathered all the tools they could, but most were buried or in areas that couldn't be reached. They managed to rescue 4 people, including a young boy. Their injuries were severe. The men had managed to clear a sort of path to my house, which was the only one with accessible resources. DS got down in the basement again and brought up my medical supplies, but they were woefully inadequate to deal with the injuries at hand. I had a medical book, "What to do when there is no doctor", but it had been in the house so of course was buried under rubble. One of the men was an EMT, so he showed us how to do what we could for the wounded, but one woman died within two hours of head injuries.

That brought on another discussion...what to do with her body. I had the huge heavy duty garbage bags, so we put her in two of those and duct-taped them together, then slid her down the hill to where the ground dropped off from the quake. The men planned to bury her, but first wanted to go down the street to find any survivors in that direction while there was daylight.

They rescued a few more people but most houses were silent. Either people had been out on a Friday night, or were buried in their houses. There was a car that had been crushed under a toppled tree, the driver was dead. Then we finally heard the welcome sound of a bullhorn, searching for survivors. We yelled and called until the rescue workers made their way to us. They cleared a landing area for a helicopter. Somebody had managed to shut off the power somewhere up the line, so wires could be moved. They took the wounded out first, then DH and I, Pam and her boys. The men stayed until last so they could bury the woman who had died. The rescue workers took note of the location so the body might be retrieved later for proper burial, but there was not much hope of that.

We learned that the main part of town had suffered a lot of damage, with some of the older buildings (some back to the early 1800's) crumbling. The emergency care clinic, housed in the old hospital, was damaged so much that it could not be used. Those seriously injured were flown out to hospitals further away from the epicenter. Survivors were being housed in the community college's gym and other rooms of that building. Having been built much more recently, it survived with little damage. The Catholic school also fared well, so others were sent there. But there was little food, some doctors, nurses and EMT's but almost NO medical supplies. We had no extra clothes, and the nights were in the 40's. We were lucky in one sense; the EMA for the county was located in our town, and they had emergency supplies stored at several locations throughout town. We knew we would survive, but for how many months would we have to stay in shelters before our house could be rebuilt, the community restored? At the moment, as I sit with DH, and DS, I have no idea. I am only glad we are alive. Now my concern was how to find out if DS#1 and his family, and DS#2 made out, if they survived, and where they are. How long before we are together again - if ever?

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Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:50 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
Well, my place of employment is gone and so are most of the hospitals in the Texas Medical Center. There are "hundreds maybe even thousands" of injuries in the Medical Center and in downtown Houston.

One of our neighbors passed away last night from what we think was a heart attack. The stress was too much. At this point, no one knows what to do so East Texas and a neighbor buried the poor soul in one of my empty vegetable gardens.

Two families from two streets over showed up after the barbecue last night. Neither family had any food (no one cooks in the families) and they had 6 kiddos between them.

We fed everyone including 2 babies. Thank goodness one of my neighbors has a baby, too. There is very little milk but my powdered milk and long term (Parma) milk are now nestled down in the ice chest. We are rapidly running out of crushed ice!!!! East Texas and another neighbor are insulin-dependent diabetics so we consolidated the ice chest ice into 3 chests. Keeping nothing but insulin and milk cold now. Several folks have stashed their frozen food in our small chest freezer and we've wrapped it with blankets to, hopefully, keep it cool. We will break this out for a big lunch and dinner today and then it will be gone. At this time we are feeding 60+ folks including kiddos.

We took turns last night in 4 hour increments on the roof. I saw homes burning about 1-2 miles from us. They burned all night - no fire trucks showed up.

Several neighbors are riding bikes to see if we can find some more ice. They reported back that they found some unmelted bags at two corner stores - both had their windows shattered and had been looted.

There is no way to get a car down the streets - too much glass, debris and downed power lines.

We still have water but it is down to a trickle. I'm afraid to use it for anything other than flushing and washing due to contamination worries. Broke out the bottled water this morning for coffee.

It was fairly cool last night - the doxies barked all night so not much sleep for us. Had communal breakfast of bacon and eggs this morning. Had juice, jam on Texas toast - that appears to be the last bread anyone has.

We are predicted to have a high today of 89 degrees so liquids (especially water) will be critical for everyone. We are predicted to have 45% humidity as well.

We are hearing via radio that there has been massive looting in Houston and Galveston. Most of the looters are going after furniture, televisions, jewelry, etc - not food, yet.

Heard a rumor that the local grocery stores may open this afternoon to get rid of perishables as they are running out of gas for their generators. We still don't know if we will send some volunteers to stand in line - it could be extremely dangerous to do so.

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Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:05 am
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A quick note on earthquakes in the Northeastern US

Quote:
Who Is Most at Risk?

People who live or work in unreinforced masonry buildings built on filled land or unstable soil.


As I noted in my posts, our house in built on filled land, and unstable due to being on a hill. Because of the bedrock in the Northeast, an EQ is felt over a much larger area than on the West Coast., Additionally, EQ's in this area do not occur along fault lines, but in the middle of plates, "intra-plate" activity, thus impossible to predict.

There are many old buildings in this area, due to its early settlement. These are at highest risk for collapse during even a mild EQ. This includes schools, churches, government buildings (police, town halls, fire houses, etc.)

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Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:00 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
It sounds like you blokes are fair dinkum.

I thought this Test was hypothetical.

Shit... Australian Casey Stoner won the Moto GP while you guys had an earthquake.

Guess what was on our news ? (pathetic)

May you all be OK.

Trex.

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Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:44 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise IN PROGRESS
:wavey Trex! Yes, it was all hypothetical.

Some of us here did exercises like this in a galaxy far, far away! :mrgreen:

I'm hoping that folks who did not participate learned a few tips.

The takeaway from this?

1. We will exercise again but with a different structure/scenario. I wonder if folks were put off by the "blogging" aspect?

2. No matter how prepared you think you are - it still isn't enough because the one thing you can't prepare is your mind. Folks who can think outside the box are the ones who stand a greater chance of survival. IMHO, those who participate in exercises like this will, eventually, learn to do the basics by rote.

You see if you can survive the first 72 hours - your chances for surviving longer go way up!

I have to tell you something. East Texas (my DH) told me last night that he wanted to look for onion sets to plant in the vegetable garden.

I told him he couldn't because there was a body buried there. :spit :crylaugh :roflmao

You should have seen the LOOK on his face! :crylaugh

Then I explained our disaster exercise and his first words were "Why did it have to be in OUR backyard? Couldn't someone else deal with this?"

:spit :crylaugh :roflmao :yamon

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Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:20 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
I am gonna be honest! When L2L Pm'd me that the exercise had taken off (thanks by the way L2L) it has taken me till now to get the potential of such an event happening in the neck of my woods actually occuring here.....!!! :noway

"It was an exercise" and I decided today to muster the mental strength to go through with creating the scenario to respond in like to the excellent reports produced by you guys! :whistle

Bluebonnet wrote:
2. No matter how prepared you think you are - it still isn't enough because the one thing you can't prepare is your mind. Folks who can think outside the box are the ones who stand a greater chance of survival. IMHO, those who participate in exercises like this will, eventually, learn to do the basics by rote.


Well said BB as it blew my socks off to even consider it!!! I mean - I live on the unshakable rock! That would be the Drakensberg in South Africa...

As the cover was blown by Trex in this case, :huh I am taking relief and opting for the next one coming up! But it sure put gears in my head and I have spent many hours thinking about "What if?"

Nice one guys!

What would be helpful for the next one maybe - would be a heads up as I did not get to my desk till Sunday late. Maybe a note in this thread on the Wednesday that an "Event" is due for Friday??


:clap

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Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:02 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Gidday Sky,

On the introduction thread, I recently posted about Desteni, another forum I am a member of:
Quote:
I live on the unshakable rock! That would be the Drakensberg in South Africa...


They're based at Drakensberg & say much the same thing as you do about it. Their information on it comes from the dimensions.

Interesting to note that in the recent movie "2012" (John Cusack), this is where the "arks" head for...

Trex.

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Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:11 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Sky I did give 4 days notice on the GT, just FYI.

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Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:46 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Missed that post on GT L2L. I am gonna have to look more carefully in the future. Thanks anyway...

Any thoughts on when you think of running the next one?

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Tue Oct 19, 2010 5:19 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
If there is sufficent interest we coud do another one in a couple weeks, if you have any ideas on what it should be and how to run it post here and we will make notes.
Thanks
L

Sky wrote:
Missed that post on GT L2L. I am gonna have to look more carefully in the future. Thanks anyway...

Any thoughts on when you think of running the next one?

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Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:14 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Be happy to run another one - maybe next month?

Any ideas for an exercise? Pole Shift? Armageddon? Rapture? Infectious Disease? Nuclear War?

Yep - the gal is just fuullllll of dastardly scenarios! :yamon

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Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:17 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
I think the scenarios we should test are the ones most likely in the short term as per popular belief via the Teotwawki blogs.

1. Disease pandemic / Virus outbreak
2. Social Anarchy
3. War

The other may be-

4. Solar event
5. Major vocanic eruptions
6. Pole shift (which could be complex, as per the main board discussions)

Any further ideas on this??

:hmm

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Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:33 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Oooh, Sky! I see you have a dastardly mind as well!

Good suggestions, all!

Anyone else?

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Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:09 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Sky, I was totally blown away as I started the exercise, even though I had helped prepare it. NE US just doesn't get big EQ's - or does it? It has in the past, and may well again, but that is one disaster scenario that I just hadn't considered. Of all the possible disasters, I think that an EQ might well be the most devastating, even more so than a tornado or hurricane. Everything changes when the earth moves under your feet (and yes, BB, I'm humming the tune as I write that line.) lol

It took me a long time to even frame in my mind what might happen to us and what the consequences might be, especially having to take DH into consideration. There are MANY things I have not prepared for or even considered if an EQ were to strike here.

In the interests of debriefing, here are a few things I have to reconsider:

Important documents: I confess; I am very remiss when it comes to that. I have yet to make copies of our important papers and place them in my BOB. I have a BOB kept in the car, since if we have to bug out, we can't do it on foot because of DH. If we can't get out by car we are stuck SIPing. However, in an EQ there is no safe place for important papers. I have to think on this one.....

Location of preps: Most of my preps are in our basement, with some scattered in strategic places throughout the house. I have long thought of filling a big old trunk I have with a week's worth (or however much I can) of food, water, some first aid stuff, etc. and hiding it in the small wooded area behind our house, where the yard abruptly drops off. That might give us a chance at some food if the house were inaccessible (that's assuming we survived). It would also be helpful if we ever got raided and all our food stolen.

Medical supplies: I am definitely short here. I have to get serious about first aid, meds we need, ingredients for oral rehydration together and easily accessible.

Exposure: I have a bunch of the emergency metal "blankets" but they are packed away. I have to get some more and stash a few in different areas including car (VIP), garage, shed and I think I'll keep 2 in my handbag. ( Definitely need those in your BOB.)

DH: I have to think seriously about how to physically handle DH in case of an EQ or any other situation where I have to move him bodily. (In case you didn't read through the exercise, DH is partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair.)

If I think of other things I learned, I'll add them here.

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Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:21 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Like you, Ruts, this was one disaster I wasn't prepared for because we really don't have earthquakes where I live. However, a New Madrid quake might/would affect me - more so in the lack of access to food, fuel, etc. than anything else.

We ended the exercise before I was able to post my last update. I was going to discuss the in fighting that erupted in our little community over folks eating and drinking "too much" and whether it was time (or not) to ration food.

One of the wives from the two couples who joined us brings this up and is a very negative person.

This leads to some not so pleasant thoughts:

1. Do all share food/water equally or do the strongest (I won't say "men") or hardest working get/deserve more?

2. Do we start "voting off" a la Survivor folks who are negative or who do not/can not contribute to the welfare of the whole?

3. Children. Do they get first access to food and water?

4. Pets. What happens to my doxies when their stored food runs out? Yes, I will share but what happens if one of my lovely neighbors starts eyeing them as a food source? :nono

5. At what point does a "leader" appear? Do we build a traditional patriarchal society or a strictly matriarchal or a combo with a man and woman equally in charge?

6. Who takes charge of which communal chores? Are these assigned to everyone? In my scenario, everyone remained in their homes. How do you "tell" people to accept and work on "communal" chores?

7. Sharing resources. There will come a time when resources (food, water, heat, light) become extremely scarce for the community as a whole. How do you deal with folks who refuse to share? See #2 above.

:hmm

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Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:39 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Great questions, and thoughts, BB. In my scenario, we didn't get that far, since our locale was uninhabitable with many dead, missing, etc. If I may, I'd like to give some of my thoughts on your questions:

Bluebonnet wrote:

snip



To answer these questions, it has to be distinguished whether the group has formed a formal survival community or is a group of neighbors getting together to cook out and share their assets. In the latter situation, you bring to the table what you want to share. It doesn't mean you have to share all you have. I am going to address your questions based on the assumption that the group of neighbors has decided to band together to survive, and will set up some formal structure.


1. Do all share food/water equally or do the strongest (I won't say "men") or hardest working get/deserve more?

A child of 2 does not eat as much as an adult, nor does an older person. Those who are doing manual labor will need more nutrition (sex should be irrelevant) in order to continue contributing to the community. I would not withhold food/water from anyone, no matter what their attitude, but I would ration food across the board from the beginning, since you never know how long you will be in the situation.

2. Do we start "voting off" a la Survivor folks who are negative or who do not/can not contribute to the welfare of the whole?

No, I would not do that. If I can't keep my principles, if the group all agree to something that I cannot go along with, and no matter what I do I cannot resolve the problem, I will leave the group and take the shunned member with me. The coming times are going to test us at our core. If we don't know now who we are and what we believe in, we better find out fast! There are going to be very hard decisions to make. We should think things through now, before we are faced with a situation that requires us to step up to the line.

3. Children. Do they get first access to food and water?

I don't think it has to be a matter of "first"; food and water should be rationed for everybody, leaving out nobody. eg. There will be one chicken, 5 potatoes mashed, 2 cans of carrots and biscuits from store of flour for dinner. Each person will receive a portion, smaller portions for small children, and elderly, because they do not require as much food.

NOW, there is another factor that may come in to play. Some members of the community may choose to take smaller portions, or at times, no portion, of their own volition. I foresee this mainly as the elderly. I know that I would certainly eat less, or skip a meal, if it meant that the children, or hard-working members of the community, got the nutrition they need.


4. Pets. What happens to my doxies when their stored food runs out? Yes, I will share but what happens if one of my lovely neighbors starts eyeing them as a food source? :nono

Pets will not be a first priority, but neither do I think they will be (nor should they be) a food source. If an individual has a pet, s/he should be responsible for the feeding of that pet, and not out of the community's store of food. If the pet is also a working member of the community (guard dog, sled dog, horse, ox, mule, etc.) then I would think the community would consider together how to feed that animal.

Now, if the pet is a rabbit, chicken, guinea pig, or other animal that is a food source (even if not in our culture), that is a different situation, and the community should be able to decide what to do with that animal(s) for the good of the whole. eg if there are two pet rabbits, m and f, I would say breed them and use the offspring for food. Same with guinea pigs. Chickens - that's an easy one. Don't kill the chicken that lays the golden (worth more than gold) eggs. If there is a rooster, all the better.


5. At what point does a "leader" appear? Do we build a traditional patriarchal society or a strictly matriarchal or a combo with a man and woman equally in charge?

I think the question of a leader depends on several things. If the community consists of three couples, as you mentioned (I think) at first decisions could be reached by discussion and consensus. A natural leader may emerge, one who knows more about survival and working as a group.

If the group is larger, maybe even a small town or part of one, there will need to be a leader, and others to organize different activities, like gardening, defense, supplies, health, etc I would envision "town hall" meetings where everything that affects the group would be discussed, including leadership. There would need to be a point at which dissenters must agree to the decision of the majority if the community is to work. Sex should be irrelevant (in deciding leaders).


6. Who takes charge of which communal chores? Are these assigned to everyone? In my scenario, everyone remained in their homes. How do you "tell" people to accept and work on "communal" chores?

In a large community, those with the expertise would take charge of a particular "chore". eg. Somebody who is an experienced gardener or farmer would take charge of growing food for the community. S/he would list what needs to be done, and assign the duties to members of the "garden club". Members of each group could be determined first by volunteers (probably those with knowledge of the tasks or the physical attributes necessary (say strong enough for manual labor). If there are not enough volunteers, individuals could be assigned, perhaps on a rotating basis.

A survival community doesn't have to physically live together. Many communities will form around their neighborhood groupings. What would be communal chores? Security would be one. Medical necessities another. Most likely the person to be in charge of each would be self-evident. Maybe there is a nurse in the group, and a cop. Easy. The group might decide to grow a community garden - who knows most about gardening? As to "telling" people to cooperate, I think that in general most people will see the need to cooperate if they are to survive. Sure, there will be differences of opinion, but discussion should be able to take care of that. If not, build some stocks and lock them up in the middle of the street. (Just kidding) But public opinion can exert pressure on a rogue member of the group.


7. Sharing resources. There will come a time when resources (food, water, heat, light) become extremely scarce for the community as a whole. How do you deal with folks who refuse to share? See #2 above.

First, has the group decided to share all resources? If so, folks who refuse to share what they still have in a private "stock" will not be allowed to share what the rest of the group has in common. I bet that it won't take long for Mrs. A to realize that hanging on to her large stores of flour won't do her a bit of good without the water that the group has in common. (She forgot to stock any). :nono Try eating dry flour... :huh

:hmm

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Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:17 pm
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Great thoughts all, Rutsie! :clap

When you start thinking about the ramifications of 60+ folks (in my case - two streets), these issues will come up. The time to think about it is now.

As some may know, my street and the one behind began thinking about a communal disaster mode when avian influenza looked like it was getting ready to go pandemic.

We held regular meetings and then there was Katrina, Rita, and finally Ike. Most of my neighbors evacuated for Rita and swore "never again."

Most, if not all, stayed for Ike and we pretty much initiated the scenario above. We banded together for the first 72 hours and shared food, water, diapers, etc. communally while living in our homes.

No one displayed the behavior above (thank goodness) and we all thrived. After FEMA got the feeding stations up (finally) we also banded together to share the food cases, water, etc. The food cases were, say, 12 beef stews. We would share with each other because, seriously?, 12 beef stews? GAH!

Water was never an issue for us because our MUD successfully pumped water from generators during the two weeks with no electricity. However, East Texas and I received the same amount of water as some of the families of 5 or 6 that live on the street. We were more than willing to share as the cases of water were more than we needed.

Ice, however, was a HUGE issue for us. My DH is an insulin-dependent diabetic and this created some difficulty for us in the first 72 hours. Even after that, FEMA only distributed 1 bag of crushed ice per car. In 90+ degree F weather - this doesn't last very long no matter what type of ice chest you have. Ice is life!!! Repeat that mantra over and over!!!

Milk for babies was another HUGE issue. My DS saved the day when he arrived on day 3 with milk, crackers, ICE, etc. from outside the disaster zone.

Without bread - crackers become invaluable to you. Can't store enough crackers, IMHO.

The first 72 hours, we pretty much survived on:

1. Food from the refrigerator went first.

2. Food from the freezers. Unfortunately, we didn't use it fast enough and we lost about $500 worth of frozen food. :headbang Lesson learned!

3. Canned foods like soup, canned meat, spaghetti sauce, etc. But I can tell you that canned soup will make you very thirsty. Here is where the cracker issue comes in. Bread was gone from the grocery stores about 72 hours PRIOR to Ike's arrival and there was NO bread to be had for about 5 days afterwards. So prepare for a week or more with no bread.

4. Water could have been an issue for us but we were very lucky. So look at your preps especially those of you who store rice, dried beans, dried pasta. Make sure you have an equivalent amount of liquid to cook these foods. I would suggest not only water but canned stock (chicken, vegetable, beef) or bouillion cubes (yeah I know - not the healthiest, right?).

Comfort food becomes almost a necessity for lots of folks. I cooked both lunch and dinner the first 72 hours. Breakfast, too, most days until the milk and eggs were gone. Remember that you are facing a "new reality," if you will. No matter that you know/think/hope help is on the way - it may not be there for a while. So prep some foods that comfort you and yours.

Think macaroni and cheese, skillet meat loaf, chicken and rice - whatever your favorite foods are - prep those for the first 72 hours. It makes life much more bearable when you can at least have some sense of "normalcy" as you adjust to the new normal.

I don't think I would have been happy with peanut butter and crackers during this time. :(

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The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR


Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:29 am
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Post Re: Disaster Exercise COMPLETE
Glad to see that this excerise was able to help even the hardened of preppers like you two.

It seems everytime we do one new information comes up :clap

Ruts I am having a hrad time reading the blue that you picked, I have to run out now but if its still blue when I get back I am going to change it to red or something a little more readable, hope you don't mind..

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Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:16 pm
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