A Framework of Disaster

It occurs to me, while thinking about survival and disaster prep, that we need a framework to work with within and organize our thoughts around.  There are three axis that encompass all disasters: duration, area of effect and intensity.  When possible disasters are viewed as they relate to these three metrics, it becomes possible to determine which disasters and what type of disruptions we can and should prepare for.  Not all disasters are equally likely, nor do they cause the same amount of disruption.  Through the use of this framework, it is possible to identify which disasters are likely enough and disruptive enough to make it worth preparing for.

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Welcome To Hurricane Season

In August 2004 a Category 4 hurricane named Charley scored a direct hit on Punta Gorda, Florida. It attained sustained winds of around 150 MPH, caused a little shy of $20 Billion in damage and killed 15 people. Almost a quarter million people were evacuated many of whom returned to find their homes and businesses destroyed. This was far from the worst hurricane in US, or even in Florida history. Four months after, in December 2004, I visited and took these photos of the clean up efforts and remaining damage. When the storm him the whole country was paying attention and images of the destruction were all over the news, but a week later another story was in the headlines and most people forgot about this one. As you can see from my photos, for the people who lived there, even months afterwards life was anything but back to normal. A year later, almost to the day, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, a much, much larger city. We all know what happened there.

I bring this up because for many parts of the US, hurricane seasons begins next week. If you live in one of those areas, are you prepared? The National Hurricane Center has a page on their site with some suggestions if you need them but they echo much of what we’ve talked about here already for earthquakes. Have a plan, and have a kit ready before you need it. I grew up in hurricane country, but I’d love to hear from anyone who still lives there. What are you doing right now, before there is a storm being tracked?

What is under your bed?

If you think about how many hours a day you are asleep and look at the odds there’s a pretty good chance that spur of the moment disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and planes crashing into your house might just happen while you are in bed. In this case it’s important to have a few things within arms reach because who knows what shape your room or house will be in and it might not be as easy to get to your family, your emergency bag, or just out of your house as it was pre-chaos. The above photo includes a few of the things I generally have next to or just under my bed at any given point. A breakout of the stuff I have and the stuff I should have but don’t can be found after the jump. Read more…

Quick and Dirty Earthquake Kit

Because of last night’s quake here in Los Angeles a lot of friends today have been talking about earthquake kits and what they should have in them. We have plans for a much more involved post about a home survival kit, or “bug in bag” for a situation where you are trapped in your home for an extended period of time without power or water, but a simple earthquake kit is a good start for that. Obviously if you don’t live in earthquake country this isn’t as urgent, but for those of us who are it’s a good thing to keep in mind. That said, after the jump are the basics you should have. Read more…

Bug-out Bag Basics

One of the most talked about pieces of must have gear in the “survivalist” communities are bags. Go bags, bug-out bags, get out of dodge bags, so forth and so on. And like other sites we’re going to be talking about them quite a bit because they really are a staple of any preparedness regime. I’ve started a thread in the forums to keep this discussion going and talk about what you have in your bag/s and what you as an individual are preparing for. When you get right down to it planning and making your bags should be directly related to specific threats that are possibilities in your particular city. Some places like mine have the threat of earthquakes while others have hurricanes and tornadoes etc. Tailor your particular bag to your particular needs.

So I want to say from the get go I’m not a hardcore gear head. I don’t have any military MRE’s or hyper expensive gear that I carry with me for a variety of reasons. One being that cars get broken into all the time and carrying a grand worth of crap in your bag is just asking for heartbreak. 95% of my gear can be picked up at the local Target in about 45 minutes of general shopping. This is a work in progress and designed for the sole purpose of having a few days worth of general gear to make my life easier if for any reason I can’t go home. Since I live in Los Angeles the most prevalent threat is earthquake. If I’m on the other side of town and a big one hits there’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to get back home for a while so this bag is geared towards being in my trunk at all times so I’m cool if I’m stuck out for a while.

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