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zeborahSometimes you're unlucky. If you believe in an afterlife that requires preparation, factor that into your planning. If you particularly want to make it easy on recovery workers and your friends and family who have to wait for you to be identified, you could try wearing something with your name on it that's resistant to fire/water/crushing/etc.
If you're not unlucky:
The first minute
You want: A torch (if it's dark and you rely on sight) or at a pinch a cellphone or other light-shining technology.
Know your escape routes.
Note the plural. The ideal route will depend on the disaster. Some disasters require getting low; others require seeking high ground. Some require getting outside immediately; others require a modicum of delay; others yet require staying inside and sealing all cracks.
If you've escaped: congratulations, you've survived the disaster!
The first hour
You want: A radio (battery or dynamo powered) and a cellphone (charged and prepaid if relevant). An address book printed on paper is really handy if you lose power or the technology your e-addressbook is in and need to borrow someone else's device.
Once you're out of immediate danger you need to get news to make sure nothing else is coming to clobber you. The best sources are the radio, for official announcements, and Twitter, for people passing on announcements from official organisations that haven't yet figured out this whole hashtag business. (As time passes Twitter will become more and more useful for news and community, and other sources will multiply, but newspapers and TV are better at synthesis reporting than at helping you survive.)
You also need to contact friends and family to do the "I'm okay, are you okay?" routine. If at all possible, text, don't phone. Save the phone lines for emergency services. If you don't have a cellphone, make sure your landline is corded (draws power from the phone service itself) not cordless (useless in case of powercut).
When safe to do so, get a message either directly or indirectly to the internets that you're safe.
The first day
You want: an emergency kit.
There are two kinds of emergency kit: one for if you're staying in your house and one for if you have to leave your house.
The first kind is fairly straightforward. It basically consists of a well-stocked pantry. Mind you, the pantry must assume that you have no access to:
The second kind of emergency kit is just like the first kind of emergency kit, except you have to be able to grab it at a moment's notice and carry it on whatever form of transport you have access to. This will involve a certain amount of prioritisation.
Even if you normally have access to a car you can keep a kit in the trunk of, I recommend that the core of the kit consists of a backpack and/or a wheely luggage bag. Roads may be impassable, traffic may suck, or petrol may be a hopeless fantasy. OTOH, if you don't have a car, backpacks and wheely luggage bags attract people who might offer you a lift somewhere. In times of emergency, altruism skyrockets.
You want a dust mask. (Protects against dust, smoke, volcanic ash, the exhaust fumes of an entire city trying to go somewhere at once, and germs.) If walking, you want bandaids for blisters, and dry comfy socks.
From here on in you also want as much sleep, relaxation, and light entertainment as you can get.
The first week
You want: a more extensive emergency kit.
If you've had to evacuate, you'll have to rely on friends, family, strangers, or relief agencies. If you're (back) in your own home, you'll want to rely on your own well-stocked pantry and ideally have some spare to help support friends, family, strangers, and relief agencies.
Electricity, water, and sewerage may not return immediately. If this is the case and your pantry isn't sufficiently stocked, you may have to look at evacuation.
If/when you get access to electricity/water/shops/etc again, restock early and often. Your motto should be, "Disasters: they can always get worse."
The first month
You want: paperwork.
Your emergency kit should include a file of important papers (ID, ownership papers, insurance, whatever). Some form of proof of residence will facilitate applying for help from relief agencies. Photo ID proves that you're not dead so agencies can take you off their missing list. I have it on authority that life is much improved when one is officially not dead.
If there's damage to your home and/or contents, take photographs for your insurance. Submit an insurance claim when you've got sufficient energy.
The first year
You want: normality.
This may be in short supply. Salvage what you can and adjust to the rest.
Continue to beware of exploding toilets.
If you're not unlucky:
The first minute
You want: A torch (if it's dark and you rely on sight) or at a pinch a cellphone or other light-shining technology.
Know your escape routes.
Note the plural. The ideal route will depend on the disaster. Some disasters require getting low; others require seeking high ground. Some require getting outside immediately; others require a modicum of delay; others yet require staying inside and sealing all cracks.
If you've escaped: congratulations, you've survived the disaster!
The first hour
You want: A radio (battery or dynamo powered) and a cellphone (charged and prepaid if relevant). An address book printed on paper is really handy if you lose power or the technology your e-addressbook is in and need to borrow someone else's device.
Once you're out of immediate danger you need to get news to make sure nothing else is coming to clobber you. The best sources are the radio, for official announcements, and Twitter, for people passing on announcements from official organisations that haven't yet figured out this whole hashtag business. (As time passes Twitter will become more and more useful for news and community, and other sources will multiply, but newspapers and TV are better at synthesis reporting than at helping you survive.)
You also need to contact friends and family to do the "I'm okay, are you okay?" routine. If at all possible, text, don't phone. Save the phone lines for emergency services. If you don't have a cellphone, make sure your landline is corded (draws power from the phone service itself) not cordless (useless in case of powercut).
When safe to do so, get a message either directly or indirectly to the internets that you're safe.
The first day
You want: an emergency kit.
There are two kinds of emergency kit: one for if you're staying in your house and one for if you have to leave your house.
The first kind is fairly straightforward. It basically consists of a well-stocked pantry. Mind you, the pantry must assume that you have no access to:
- water - you want 3 litres of water per person per day; 3 days' worth is a good start. Juice containers make good storage; milk containers don't (seriously: the lids decompose and break). Fill your containers with potable water and add a teaspoon of bleach per every 10 litres. Check water yearly. NB If something's damaged the water pipes it might have damaged the sewerage pipes too, so when water comes back on it treat it as contaminated with deadly diseases unless otherwise informed: boil before drinking, or bleach as above and let settle 30 minutes; use hand sanitiser after toileting and before touching food.
- sewerage - you want spade + garden, or alternatively bucket + 2 plastic bags + dry material to soak up excess moisture + lid. If the only problem with your toilet is a lack of water then you can refill the cistern manually (eg with swimming pool water) -- but if something's damaged the water pipes then it might have damaged the sewerage pipes too so you don't know where it's flushing to.
- electricity - you want batteries for torches and radios and such. Matches and candles work for lighting if you don't have glowsticks and other things less likely to set your home on fire. Gas is good for cooking - bottles are safer than mains in case of the kind of disaster that might rupture mains (in such cases, turn gas off so the return of electricity doesn't spark off an explosion). Things will keep a day or so in fridge and freezer if not opened too much. Heating may be tricky and you may need to resort to lots of layers of warm clothes.
- shops - you want food which is tasty, nutritious, depending on circumstances requires no cooking and little water, and keeps well. This is a really tiny section of a complicated Venn diagram, and will probably involve a can opener.
- healthcare - you want a first aid kit. You especially want your favourite headache treatment.
The second kind of emergency kit is just like the first kind of emergency kit, except you have to be able to grab it at a moment's notice and carry it on whatever form of transport you have access to. This will involve a certain amount of prioritisation.
Even if you normally have access to a car you can keep a kit in the trunk of, I recommend that the core of the kit consists of a backpack and/or a wheely luggage bag. Roads may be impassable, traffic may suck, or petrol may be a hopeless fantasy. OTOH, if you don't have a car, backpacks and wheely luggage bags attract people who might offer you a lift somewhere. In times of emergency, altruism skyrockets.
You want a dust mask. (Protects against dust, smoke, volcanic ash, the exhaust fumes of an entire city trying to go somewhere at once, and germs.) If walking, you want bandaids for blisters, and dry comfy socks.
From here on in you also want as much sleep, relaxation, and light entertainment as you can get.
The first week
You want: a more extensive emergency kit.
If you've had to evacuate, you'll have to rely on friends, family, strangers, or relief agencies. If you're (back) in your own home, you'll want to rely on your own well-stocked pantry and ideally have some spare to help support friends, family, strangers, and relief agencies.
Electricity, water, and sewerage may not return immediately. If this is the case and your pantry isn't sufficiently stocked, you may have to look at evacuation.
If/when you get access to electricity/water/shops/etc again, restock early and often. Your motto should be, "Disasters: they can always get worse."
The first month
You want: paperwork.
Your emergency kit should include a file of important papers (ID, ownership papers, insurance, whatever). Some form of proof of residence will facilitate applying for help from relief agencies. Photo ID proves that you're not dead so agencies can take you off their missing list. I have it on authority that life is much improved when one is officially not dead.
If there's damage to your home and/or contents, take photographs for your insurance. Submit an insurance claim when you've got sufficient energy.
The first year
You want: normality.
This may be in short supply. Salvage what you can and adjust to the rest.
Continue to beware of exploding toilets.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 06:32 am (UTC)I am buying kerosene lamps, a big container of water, and lots of canned goods, and designating half a cupboard to them.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 08:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 09:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 09:29 am (UTC)On the cellphone front, at least, I now have a dynamo torch that includes a cord to recharge Nokias (which happens to be my cellphone brand).
no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 09:37 am (UTC)Your torch sounds very handy. Sadly that's not my phone's brand, but at least I can use my laptop as a very large, very expensive battery :D So long as there's a way to keep the phone charged I think it's all good.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-23 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-24 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-23 04:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-23 10:09 am (UTC)Packing a wheeled suitcase of stuff before being kicked out of my house by the army was rather surreal. I took my passport and a bunch of dog stuff (food, toys, bowl, lead) in addition to things mentioned above.
And for all your major and minor disasters - computer back-up. On-site, off-site, in the cloud - wherever.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-24 05:56 am (UTC)I do need to update my backups. I bought some hard drives specifically for the purpose of setting up Time Machine (Apple auto-backup system) - then discovered that they wouldn't work for that purpose.
The solar-powered doodacky sounds cool. Did you see about the boiling-water-powered doodacky the teenager invented? Of course there's times you've got sun and times you've got gas to boil water and times you've just got dynamo power. Basically I approve of all the doodackies.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-23 11:37 am (UTC)I thought this was a useful list and posted a link to it from my Facebook account, so you may get a few Australian visitors.
Valerie.
(fellow MLIS)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-24 06:00 am (UTC)