Friday, June 02, 2006

Are YOU Prepared?


I received a ‘guide’ in the mail yesterday. It was titled “Home Guide to Emergency Preparedness.” Photo above is of the first page. Nothing says preparedness like a cartoon of politically correct people with smiles on their faces. They had everyone represented including the ‘media-geek’, but they forgot the disabled (unless the elder-person represents both.) My first reaction to this mailing was remembering, (chagrin, chagrin,) how the teachers of my youth taught us to cover our heads under our desks if there was a nuclear attack. I am glad to see that preparedness has come so far.

Anyway, since everything in the recent news has been about the feds cutting local terrorist prevention funding and that most local agencies are pretty much saying it is going to be up to the individual to save themselves in an emergency…i.e. “Don’t call us because we will be very busy writing our press releases.” I was pretty interested in how I should proceed to save my butt if the need arose.


So I continued to peruse this missive. The second page consisted of ‘Bioterrorism frequently asked questions.’ After defining bioterrorism the answer to the burning question “What can we do?’ was “Stay alert and stay calm because this helps government agencies control the situation and protect you.” What? Then they went on to describe methods of dispersal and resulting symptoms of a number of biological agents. That was really fun reading, but not much help.

There was a list of useful phone numbers, most of which I am guessing would not be answered during an emergency, but nice to post on the side of the refrigerator for false reassurance purposes. There was a whole page on smallpox (which I was vaccinated against in my twenties when I headed overseas…wonder if that still is effective?).


Then the page on “Preparing Your Home for an Emergency” was finally getting to specifics. They suggested that we store a 3-5 day supply of food, water, vitamins, medicine, etc., planning on one gallon of water per person per day.

And, at last, the best part. Shelter in Place-SIP. If you are a federal employee you hear and test for this several times a year in your office building. This SIP was written for someone who owns and lives in a single-family house. The safest place in my apartment is the bathroom--see this shoebox room below. There is no way to turn off the huge vent fan in this room as that is the only return vent and run by the building itself. I can barely find room to brush my teeth each morning. Storing 3-5 days of supplies in this room would mean we would have to use some one else’s bathroom in this building for the duration. (Yes, I was standing on the toilet when I took this picture.)



And then the very best part was this diagram above of an evacuation plan for my building…I live in such a sophisticated high tech society. Anyway if you come for a visit, I will post this evacuation plan by the door so that you can get out safely.

5 comments:

  1. Hey, I remember bathrooms that small and I have to say the one I have now ain't all that much bigger, either.

    So the government can control the situation and protect us? Yeah, that's scary!

    I have been meaning to begin storing some stuff in my basement area. Now is a good a time as any.

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  2. You were my first visit of the day and I'm so glad you were. LOL You really have a great sarcastic, funny bone. You really made me laugh! I think we are on our own and unless you own a haz mat suit and mask...forget it! I always have had small bathrooms. I bet your new house has huge bathrooms. LOL

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  3. I think, Tabor, that you better move into your new house, the one that the terrorists don't know exists. Yet.

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  4. I remember during the Cuban Missle Crisis during JFK's presidency, several of our neighbors actually built bomb shelters. One even had a shelter built underground in the yard. I always thought I would stock up on peanut butter and toilet tissue but never did :)

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  5. Well, we shop at Costco for every little thing so there is absolutely no danger of running out of things like Splenda packets and all natural Cheetos. But yeah, if there is no place to store this, then you're likely to create more of a hazard in your own apartment by just having all the stuff piled up in your bathroom.

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