Back to equipment:

If your community does decide to invest in a few axes, saws etc, then spray paint them fluro pink (to make them distinctive) and when the disaster comes hand them out to a specific "work crew" with a leader and a specific task, and then ask for the leader to ensure they are returned, ready for the next assignment.

there are some pretty interesting videos on improvised solar ovens for cooking and water treatment online... some use tires, stuffed with newspaper for insulation, then lined with foil for a parabolic reflector, and a top transparent plate.... others use foil glued to cardboard to reflect to a cooking pot inside a transparent cooking bag...good use for your obsolete space blankets...

Jenks, I just read this and thought of you, and your ETS-grown project:

http://m.dailyastorian.com/mobile/article_b70b2184-74e6-11e0-bd77-001cc4c002e0.html

"A proposal to use shipping containers to store residents’ personal emergency supplies ... The containers could hold residents’ own supplies, such as backpacks containing enough food, water, medicine and clothing to last several days.... Residents would rent space – probably large enough for a five-gallon bucket -- in the containers for $5 a year ... a 20-foot container – half the size that the committee is considering -- would hold 684 buckets with an aisle for access, or 912 buckets with no aisle. Proceeds from the rent could pay for the containers, buckets and some city staff time within five years."

The container sounds like a good idea. There are shortcomings, but it would be a very approachable way for many to people to start to think about survival. Even those who are already prepared could benefit from an off-site storage location.

Of course you would need to secure the container, you don’t want it getting washed away or destroyed during a disaster, or robbed!

You would need a way to ensure everyone gets their own stuff back and the container doesn’t get ransacked when it is opened; that makes me think that a community owned and communally stocked container may be more manageable ?

However offering people a $5 bucket to store personal items could be a nice idea – backup the family photos etc and may raise some cash too for the rest of the project ?

I can see that container/storage idea possibly working in rural areas, not any place near a metropolitan area. (Note the article was talking about Cannon Beach, Oregon.)

The system would not work where I currently live and have lived in the past (suburban and urban areas). When the supplies are actually needed, it would get looted or at least people would try. You'd need a healthy amount of security (including firearms) to protect it. If the rented location is secret, that might be doable. A rented location that's known for storing survival gear, no, I would not store survival gear there. It would likely cause more problems than it would solve.

Also, if the disaster is so bad that you're one of the few people with survival gear, then I can easily imagine a community (including the government) suddenly getting the idea that you should be required (forced) to distribute the items to those in need.

By the way, I'm not sure how it is in other countries, but in America we have storage facilities where you can rent space for whatever you want to put in there. The regular storage facility would still get looted if there is known to be survival gear there. Again, I'm talking about a time of desperation where people are acting substantially less civilized. Your mileage may vary.

A small unit in a neighborhood could be workable. Park it on a centrally located fenced property.

I seriously doubt that any part of the government, federal or local, is going to confiscate the contents unless they're REALLY desperate for a bunch of buckets. Too little contents for the effort.

The main problem with those intermodals is that they are metal and they sweat badly with temperature changes. Using an adhesive to tack some sheets of foam insulation on the walls and ceiling might help. Doing this, people could include larger plastic totes with more supplies. A 20' unit has over 1,000 cubic feet, which would be over a cubic yard per family for a neighborhood group of 30. That's quite a bit of storage room, tightly packed, for survival gear.

Interesting concept.

Sue

In my opinion the best answer to your question is to contribute (goods, time) to a local organization which helps your community. A food panty would be one example though there are more.

Jeanette Isabelle

My neighbor 2 doors down has solved this for himself only, he purchased a 20 foot container and parked it on his property, he uses it to store construction materials and what not. Its not a community shelter though, I suspect some of our neighbors don't like the sight of the container, and I don't have the property layout to replicate his. The neighborhood pool might have the space, but then you have local security issues. I have my own supplies in various parts of my house, my detached garage, and in a detached metal out building - assuming one or more survives, so will some part of my stuff.

The rented storage location is interesting, question I have is access in the event of an emergency: will the attendant be there to let you in their locked gate, is the locked gate self-service, or will they be off, fending for themselves or their family?

At the Red Cross we disperse alot of shelter supplies (cots, blankets, etc) around King County, in dozens of locations - churches, community centers, and some dedicated Red Cross locations. All are reasonably secure, they aren't sitting out with just a padlock between them and whoever wants the contents. Then again, folks are less interested in stealing a bunch of cots and blankets, its not like rolls of copper wire or wiring left in walls - which I hear is already being stolen from Joplin MO this week.

I wonder about this. Would a person who does not have a preparedness mind set know what to do with cords?

Jeanette Isabelle

I would beg to differ. People can have any number of health issues and therefore would be better off going hungry than eating something that would make them worse off. For example, a person may be able to eat the beans but not the spaghetti.

From my observation, there is a higher percentage of preparedness among people with health issues than in the general population. However there is always the possibility that the disaster they are facing also took away or separated them from their preparedness.

Jeanette Isabelle