My heart and prayers go out to the people of Japan. I hope all improves there quickly, and that they're able to get access to help--all the help that they need.
If you've been following the news, you've heard the news about the nuclear situation there. I recently got the following e-mail from a preparedness expert on some of the things you might like/need to know about for dealing with radiation, among other things. With permission from the author, here is the almost the entire e-mail, with few modifications on my part:
"Here I am again, hoping that all of you are calm and prepared for every emergency, and that all are safe and sound in your own homes. I am, however, especially concerned for those on the west coast in case of an earthquake like that in Japan. We live right on a fault and I know that not all of my neighbors are prepared even though we are constantly being warned by the government and the churches to be ready to take of ourselves. I hope each of you is completely prepared and ready to take care of your family and yourself. Have you set up a plan to contact one another if a disaster occurs in your area and the phones are all out? Do the kids all have a printout of the phone numbers of extended family in their 72/120 hour kits? Do you have an out of town contact for everyone to report to? Do you have a meeting place for everyone to head to if possible?
The following is my weekly emergency prep letter for our area. I hope it will help you in some way with a bit of info you may not have thought of.
As our neighborhood emergency prep person, I have gotten a couple of calls from people who are concerned, not panicked, about the air currents and the radiation from Japan. The following is general information that probably should be reviewed by most of us to help us be in control of our own situation, no matter what that may be now, or later.
Potassium Iodide (KI) should be used only when needed, and then very carefully. According to those calling and asking me for info on what to do if the radiation from Japan is blown all the way here, the stores in our area are sold out of KI. The health food stores are apparently also out of kelp, which is high in iodine. I hope that it has all been purchased by persons preparing for a “just in case” situation and not by anyone taking it as a preventative. It does not work that way. When you go to this site http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp you will learn that it is to be used only when there is immediate expectation of radiation exposure. There is a listing of doses for different age groups and health conditions if you are interested.
If you are anxious, please study out precautions that should be taken should there actually be radiation in our area. Read about the half life of radiation and the surprising lack of long term harm to those in Japan after the bombs and those near Chernobyl. Things certainly were bad for many, but if they survived the immediate blast and fallout, the majority did not suffer nearly as many cancers, etc. as I had believed they had. You will find that things are probably not as dire as you have imagined either. All that being said, when the stores get some KI and/or kelp back in stock you and I will each probably get a bottle for everyone in the family…. to have on hand “just in case” a CA quake could cause damage to the reactors there, similar to what has happened in Japan.
We are much more likely to have need for food, water and shelter for after “our own earthquake / tornado/ hurricane/ blizzard / flood”, than KI at this point. In Japan many millions need those so much more than they need KI right now. If they don’t get those things soon they won’t need KI no matter what happens.
Do YOU have enough food, water and shelter for your family??? Do you have an alternate heat source and a way to cook your food? If we have to stay in our homes for a few days or a week or more, is your 12 week supply ready to be used? Do you have an extensive first aid kit? Are there extra blankets and cold weather sleeping bags for everyone in the family? Could you take in extra people in an emergency and provide both for them and your own family for an extended period of time? Do you have an inventory of your food supply so that you would know how to ration it out to cover an expected long term dire situation? While the economy is relatively decent, and there are still supplies to be had, please finish your family’s storage and then consider storing just a little more to share with those who cannot, for what ever reason, provide for themselves.
If you really feel compelled to do something more, right now, to prepare then go buy a roll of heavy duty plastic and some rolls of duct tape at the hardware store for sealing off a safe room…you need to have it on hand anyway for after our own disaster to cover broken windows.
“If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” "
End of e-mail.
One of my modifications was to make the link to the website mentioned link from here. It looks very useful and provides a lot of information if you want to know more about potassium iodide.
Thanks, emergency expert, for the e-mail, and for allowing me to post it here! I'm not an expert, but I like to share what I learn--and learning what you can is definitely a way to prepare...
Showing posts with label emergency preparedness.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emergency preparedness.. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Monday, August 31, 2009
In the short-term category...
The Albertson's deals that end tomorrow had a couple of deals that I thought would be good for my short-term storage. To be honest, when it comes to my three-month supply (that I keep working on) my main concern is the dinner meal, so I haven't concentrated as much as I could on the other two meals.
However, and I am sure as I can be without relocating the flyer from last Wednesday's paper, that one of the deals that is week-long is 18 oz. jars of peanut butter 2/$4.00. I was so excited about that that I went that day and bought some peanut butter, which I figure is really good for lunches, and pretty filling any time of the day. They also had some pretty good buys on cold cereal, which as a rule gives me sticker shock, so got some of that too. 2 Tramps, from over at Tramp's Camp left a comment on my other blog about The Grocery Girls blog, whose Aug. 27th post goes in to more detail on some of these deals, and gives ideas on how to save even more on your purchases. I mention these details on this blog because I don't know how widespread Albertson's stores/Albertson's deals are, but I would imagine they are similar across our state, and as mentioned on the Grocery Girls blog, are likely to be similar in Utah as well. In any case, if you have an Albertson's near you, it may be worthwhile to give them a call and find out...
So, yeah, still working/should be concentrating more on my short-term storage, but at least now I have more peanut butter in the storage room.... :)
However, and I am sure as I can be without relocating the flyer from last Wednesday's paper, that one of the deals that is week-long is 18 oz. jars of peanut butter 2/$4.00. I was so excited about that that I went that day and bought some peanut butter, which I figure is really good for lunches, and pretty filling any time of the day. They also had some pretty good buys on cold cereal, which as a rule gives me sticker shock, so got some of that too. 2 Tramps, from over at Tramp's Camp left a comment on my other blog about The Grocery Girls blog, whose Aug. 27th post goes in to more detail on some of these deals, and gives ideas on how to save even more on your purchases. I mention these details on this blog because I don't know how widespread Albertson's stores/Albertson's deals are, but I would imagine they are similar across our state, and as mentioned on the Grocery Girls blog, are likely to be similar in Utah as well. In any case, if you have an Albertson's near you, it may be worthwhile to give them a call and find out...
So, yeah, still working/should be concentrating more on my short-term storage, but at least now I have more peanut butter in the storage room.... :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
You might want to consider storing more...
Seeds, that is. I was thinking about just having enough to plant one year's garden/crops until I found out what a person who is basically an expert on emergency preparedness in our area thought about it:
"If purchasing seeds, consider only those plants that can mature in our local zone (high altitude and ~90 day growing season). Purchase enough organically grown, open-pollinated garden seeds for 2 years of planting in the event the 1st planting is ruined by frost/hail, or seeds become scarce or unavailable the following year."
Basically, I see this as preparing for an emergency that could happen during an emergency. And situations unfortunately do occur where emergencies don't happen one at a time and few and far between. For example, there is what is going on in Uganda, which you can read about in this article. If I have my facts straight, in 2007 the regions written about had damage by floods. The floods were followed by drought. There have been delays in planting. In 2008 disease hit an important crop. Available food has become more and more expensive. And there is more--low crop yield, stolen food--it's a dire situation. I recommend reading the article in its entirety, because it is sobering, thought-provoking, and may give you more ideas on how you should prepare. It's certainly given me some.
Some may think such conditions would never happen here, wherever here may be when you are talking about a worldwide web. I think that it wouldn't matter where you were sitting, standing, working, or living if you didn't have food to eat. It's something that we all have in common--the need to eat-- and while our climates, viewpoints, material wealth, etc., may differ, we also all have the personal responsibility to do the best we can to prepare for difficult situations that may come. You/I/we all need to do what we can within our means to prepare, and sometimes there may be multiple emergencies that hit at once or one after the other--hopefully you/I/we will think as far ahead as we may need to in order to make it through such situations in the best way possible.
Oh, and about the seeds---if you end up not needing them, it's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them... Just think, you may be providing yourself a second chance at a garden ahead of time if you get enough seeds in storage before there's a problem. And in addition to that, it gives you options. I love options.... :)
"If purchasing seeds, consider only those plants that can mature in our local zone (high altitude and ~90 day growing season). Purchase enough organically grown, open-pollinated garden seeds for 2 years of planting in the event the 1st planting is ruined by frost/hail, or seeds become scarce or unavailable the following year."
Basically, I see this as preparing for an emergency that could happen during an emergency. And situations unfortunately do occur where emergencies don't happen one at a time and few and far between. For example, there is what is going on in Uganda, which you can read about in this article. If I have my facts straight, in 2007 the regions written about had damage by floods. The floods were followed by drought. There have been delays in planting. In 2008 disease hit an important crop. Available food has become more and more expensive. And there is more--low crop yield, stolen food--it's a dire situation. I recommend reading the article in its entirety, because it is sobering, thought-provoking, and may give you more ideas on how you should prepare. It's certainly given me some.
Some may think such conditions would never happen here, wherever here may be when you are talking about a worldwide web. I think that it wouldn't matter where you were sitting, standing, working, or living if you didn't have food to eat. It's something that we all have in common--the need to eat-- and while our climates, viewpoints, material wealth, etc., may differ, we also all have the personal responsibility to do the best we can to prepare for difficult situations that may come. You/I/we all need to do what we can within our means to prepare, and sometimes there may be multiple emergencies that hit at once or one after the other--hopefully you/I/we will think as far ahead as we may need to in order to make it through such situations in the best way possible.
Oh, and about the seeds---if you end up not needing them, it's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them... Just think, you may be providing yourself a second chance at a garden ahead of time if you get enough seeds in storage before there's a problem. And in addition to that, it gives you options. I love options.... :)
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