Hi everyone!

This is my first post. I have been a member since the Kim Family disaster and wanted to make all of you aware of a recently posted report of the Kim Family Tragedy.

Here's the url: http://www.co.klamath.or.us/sheriff.html

I have just downloaded the report and have not read it yet.

This tragedy has jump started my disaster preparedness project for my family. I live in California very close to the San Andreas fault, so a substantial earthquake will happen in the future. I admit that I am a city girl who was once a Girl Scout and as I recall, our motto was "Be Prepared."

I have learned so much from the members of this forum. I want to try to contribute.

After reading the report, I will post my lessons learned.

My intent is not to necessarily re-hash what has already been posted about this tragedy, but to see if any of us (including me) have any new insights or additional lessons learned.

Please feel free to ask me any questions. I'm trying to learn the acronyms and informal norms of this forum.

Thanks for reading this.

Santacafe
Newbie
Oakland, CA

Thanks for the info and welcome nice to have you here.

Lee

From a fellow earthquake country boy (I survived the 6.5 at Coalinga, and made a lot of overtime at the Oakland quake), welcome...

Acronyms:

Equipped post an acronyms

Thanks for this list! Sure would have hated to construct this from scratch! This will keep me from interrupting threads and asking the "duh" question. What does XYZ stand for? This post would be helpful if tacked on page 1 of this forum.

Santacafe
Urban Newbie
Oakland, CA

"The truth is out there".......

Actually, that one's not on the list. It stands for "examine your zipper". <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Anyways, welcome to the board and glad to have you post!

After reading the entire report including attachments, here are 2 facts that jumped out at me:

1. Eric Fuqua and Noah Pugsley, Edge Wireless employees provided investigators with cell phone data pinpointing the Bear Camp Road area as the area where the Kim Family made a cell phone call. (Pages 31–33, Part III Fact Finding Details)
2. Pilot John Ranchor located Kati Kim and her 2 daughters and James Kim’s foot prints using his own personal helicopter. (Pages 35-36, Part III Fact Finding Details)

None of these individuals were part of the SAR teams, Law enforcement, National Guard teams which were involved in the search effort. Through their own initiative, they provided data which was critical in locating the family.

My Personal Lessons Learned:

1. always communicate your travel itinerary (I will provide written copies of my itineraries to my family members)
2. have a Universal Battery Extender and new 4 AA batteries with me at all times
3. have a PLB, chemical light sticks and para-cord in my car and in my backpack
4. don’t leave your vehicle
5. use multiple map resources
6. heed the advice of locals
7. don’t assume that following a river will lead you to civilization
8. dress appropriately for the climate and terrain
9. always carry a well equipped emergency bag in your vehicle
10. always check the latest weather reports online
11. always re-think your assumptions
12. don’t panic
13. rely on your own resourcefulness – don’t assume someone will be looking for you
14. never drive unknown, unmarked, unpaved roads at night in inclement weather
15. prepare for worse case scenarios

Santacafe

What is truth?

One last thought I forgot to mention......when in a survival situation, I would examine all decisions with this litmus test question: Are you willing to bet your life on this decision?

Santacafe

Don't forget the compass and/or GPS. And some alternative way to communicate with rescuers or potential rescuers (Amateur "Ham" radio, FRS radio, GMRS radio, satellite phone, etc.).

Even if you're not a licensed amateur radio operator (which is relatively easy to get), the radios are cheap enough to obtain and would be great in an emergency. The FCC gets pretty relaxed about using radios when someone's life is at stake. Check out www.arrl.org for more info.

The area where the Kim family was stuck has horrible cell phone reception. There just aren't any folks living out there to warrant putting up expensive cell towers. Having a secondary means to communicate is almost a necessity.

Aren't number 4 ("Never leave your vehicle") and number 13 ("rely on your own resourcefulness – don’t assume someone will be looking for you") opposite to each other? Number 4 assumes someone is looking for you.

Having pointed that out, I will add that number 13 could also mean "Don't just sit by the vehicle and wait to be rescued; build a signal fire, tramp out a big "SOS" in the snow, and with your copious free time, read and re-read your survival manual ."

Better to combine them - if you know or suspect that someone will be looking for you, then stay with the vehicle as long as possible. Be prepared to leave the vehicle and try to walk out (as a last resort) if you know that nobody is going to look for you, or that the searchers are going to be looking in the wrong place, or the search has been called off.

How do you know if the search has been called off? If I'm not mistaken, SAR efforts are usually scaled back if nothing has been found after 14 days (although this may only be for downed aircraft; anyone know for sure?), so figure out when the search is most likely going to start and add 2 weeks to that. ("I'm due back to work on Monday, my co-workers probably won't report me missing until Tuesday or Wednesday, so if the searchers haven't found me by 2 weeks from next Wednesday I'll assume they've stopped looking.")