Forging of Cooperative Alliances

#1 Please forgive my senility in not being able to remember the names of who suggested what, that has lead to my current train of thought.

#2 Countries forge alliances to assist one another if attacked or in the event of major natural and/or man made disasters.

#3 I do not see the need for individuals to come to one another's assistance in time of war. That's what the government does with the armies that our taxes support,,so,,,

#4 Perhaps there is a need for us to establish mutual assistance agreements with those in our neighborhood and outward to a 100 - 200 miles of each other.

Someone had earlier mentioned shipping supplies to those who needed it. Forgive me for not remembering the names.

Hurricane Gustave gave me a close call but caused no damage and no loss of utilities. Those in Baton Rouge (45 minutes drive from me) did lose power. If I had already had Samhain's cell phone number, I could have found out if he needed a generator/gasoline, ice, camp stove, whatever, and I was in a position to have driven that equipment to him. The same is true now with Hurricane Ike, concerning Blast, Librarian, ClarkTx, and KMat.

I am suggesting alliances with those that you feel like you can trust and within a reasonable range to be able to transport supplies and equipment, as requested. Remember, any gear that you truck into a location will most likely require a 2nd trip later to pick it up, and bring it home.

Just some thoughts to toss around and debate !!!!

Seems like a good way to make friends.

Great idea. How would we implement it? PMs? I don't want to advertse my 30-day supply of food and water in NYC on the internet.

Several of us are implementing this loose agreement via pm's. everybody is on 1 pm thread so what one writes can be viewed by those in that circle.

I have no problem with people helping out people, its great. And in a big enough disaster, every bit helps. What goes around comes around, and imho people are happier if they are generous. Like Benjamin says, this is a good way to make friends.

From a past career in logistics though, I can say that it won't scale very far, you need a more concerted effort to get help to where its needed. All sorts of things like economies of scale make sense when you pack 40 foot trailers with aid, rather than a few boxes by UPS. You need your aid to scale, sometimes very large. Trailers and flatbeds can make a difference for a whole community, not just those who you know. And without taking anything away from this alliance effort, that's where my money will go, to those who pack the trailers and show up as soon after a disaster as possible, and stay until its over before they roll up their tents. You're both driven by the best motives, bless you, but my money and resources have to go to those who are helping the most people get by in hard times.

I don't mean this as a debate, what Wildman800 proposes is fine - if you don't like my opinion, I got others...

PM Inbound

Two ideas:

ETSers on the Road - I travel a lot. One of the things I do is contact fellow ETS members in the area I'll be to set up a emergency shelter location. I think some sort of map/safe house locator might be useful for other ETS travellers.

ETSers in Need - good idea but Lono makes a good point as far as helping out in large-scale disasters. It'd be nice to focus on our friends, but greater good could be accomplished by helping the teaming masses. That being said, I think members should feel comfortable to ask, "Can you help me?" in both big disasters and small-scale ones (house fire, family illness). I think an "In Need" sub-forum might be the way to go with that.

-Blast, thinking out loud.

I know for a fact that much to the stuff we shipped to a location, and that transferred to a friend who delivered it during Katrina made the lives of many in smaller shelters better. The bigger organizations did not, at first and sometimes at all, for a number of reasons, get supplies to folks that needed them. The supply deliveries people made did get them water filters, batteries, lights, gas for generators, medical supplies, clothing, and much more. Was it Semi loads - no, but it often was pickup loads.

When people are in need, sometimes just knowing people are trying to help is a big thing, and anything you get delivered is better than a warehouse full that isn't delivered.

I have a lot more to say but maybe later.

I'm still going to contribute to The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, The United Way, etc.

By and large, they will "get the mostest to people firstest". By helping out a fellow ETS'er, I have also reduced the demand for services by one family.

The bottom line is: we all must do what we each feel is best!

Agreed.

On a personal level, I am all for face to face aid. I like the idea of helping those I know and likely care for. I have a vested interest in that.

However, I no longer contribute to big anonymous charities anymore. Far too much of my income has been unilaterally dedicated to helping folks I will likely never know. I had no say in the matter, and so long as the practice continues, I cannot afford to contribute any more than what is presently demanded of me that way.

If someone comes to me one on one, in genuine need, I will do all I can for them, but no more of this bailing others out of their misfortune without first considering at least the cause, if not the solution. I've had more than my fill.

Kudos to those of you who still have surplus income to contribute. I am not at that point in my life as yet.

Ditto on that!

What I can do if we have a lot of interest is create a 'private' website for people to `register`. Basically you put in your location, and contact information. If someone else that is registered needs assistance they can input their location and find people that are nearby.

You of coarse don't have to put in your home address but an e-mail / phone / pager would be required so someone could contact you.

I can do this utilizing Google Maps too so that you can 'plot' help if needed. This would lead to my second suggestion of a 'help location' in your city not your home address so that we COULD plot it on a map and then if someone selected that location they could see everyone who 'opted' to help that location.

So if I get a flat tire in las vegas and there's a 'spot' there we`ll say in X casino parking lot if there are 5 people who 'opted' as their spot I could choose from 1 of the 5 or continue down the list until I got help.

I would also like to see a list of available 'offerings' per-person who is 'opted. IE: I could offer welding service, or a ride within X miles, water to someone, etc. (This is up to each person) but could come in handy in narrowing down the contacts. Some of coarse could be 'check boxes' to make doing a query for a needed item better.

I`ve thought about adding this as a 'free service' to my website but I really really would like it to be 'invite only' as it could get out of hand and I think most would prefer to help people who say "I got your # from so and so from the "HELP" area" etc... not I randomly registered on your site and want some FREE X.

Let me know what you guys think I could make this basic to start and we could add some very cool features in the future

-Todd

Let me in. I don't have a lot to give, but I'll happily give what I can. I've taken a lot away from this site, so I'd be happy to get a chance to give back to the people who give advice to me every day.

That's a great suggestion and offer ToddW BUT I think there are VERY significant security concerns that would have to be dealt with.

Give me a few days to sort out some things out and I may have a suitable answer.

If anybody else is interested in this concept, say so on the forum here.

I agree. That's why I think no home / personal addresses should be used nor any "home" phone numbers to allow reverse look-up.

Cell #s / E-Mails with meeting spots would be nice I think. With that idea like previously mentioned you could get a list of people for a spot, and include yourself on multi-spots, etc. depending how far you are willing drive.

Looking forward to your ideas

-Todd

As one who lives "on the road" (full time RV'ers), I think this is a great idea. We already have a good network of other travelers who work together and provide information and assistance. This has proved invaluable to many who have had difficulties while in unfamiliar areas.

Please make updating of whatever system you use easy and automatic if possible. Here is a url of one system we use.

http://map.datastormusers.com/user2.cfm?user=4746

It provides a map with the location of other participants. Neat site and easy to update our location.

Another is the standard ham radio locater done through the amateur position reporting system (APRS) which is an automatic system using ham radio and special beacon transmitters. It utilizes both terrestrial and space based systems. Check it out here.

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?n1ahh

Both are limited to a particular group of folks. The first are satellite internet users, the second is limited to ham radio operators.

Both provide very precise locations which may not be suitable for some folks. But it allows us to find each other as we migrate from place to place. Both can are linked to google maps.

Just thought it would be useful to see several examples of similar groups and how they display their information.

Count us in.

Nomad.

Thanks for sharing the ideas Nomad

You shouldn't even need email addresses. Use a PM feature with email notification that the recipient has a PM. That way the only thing revealed on the website is internet handle vice real name.

You might also consider putting out the PM to an area code/zip code/meet-up spot registry. That could result in more than one responder which would add to the security. Meeting places with video cameras would add to security (Las Vegas would be easy). That said, if a vehicle is disabled, getting it to a fixed meet-up point may not be possible.

All this pre-supposes access to the internet to access the registry; is that realistic?

Edit: On a related note, I got in touch with a member from another forum in the area here and we became pretty good friends. Since I work near his home, it's a place to hang if we ever have that big earthquake here in SOCAL while I'm at work. I really recommend making contact with members in your area early rather than waiting for a crisis to force contact.

Good ideas and thoughts.
I think e-mail, phone, should be optional and like you said e-mail for 'admin' required to send out a notification.

If I new I was going through Las Vegas I could print out a list of names/emails/phone#s ahead of time to keep with me so you wouldn't need Internet while you were there only a phone which could also be a problem.

Better than nothing that's for sure.

All great ideas, keep them coming

I'd be willing to help with just about anything, I do it already for the neighbors

I'm in.

Very good idea... I for one would also view this as a method of also finding like minded folks from my area where we could also work on projects if we wish. Co-op agreements don't have to be only for emergency needs.

Anyway, count me in - it would be good to give/get help in times of need.

Paul -

Thanks for word of encouragement, I hopefully will have some free time tomorrow to start this. Shouldn't be to long of a project but as we add options / features it will provide more over time

-Todd

I would be interested in knowing more about this project and joining in.

I am in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

thanks

Around here, we call "Forging of Cooperative Alliances" friendship and community.

It works pretty darn well. We tested out "Forging of Cooperative Alliances" during the Delaware river floods of 2004,2005 and 2006 and sure enough, the members of the "Cooperative Alliances" all got together to help out with the flooding, cooked meals at the firehouse and generally were there when needed.

In fact, I think "Forging of Cooperative Alliances" is a basic requirement of life.

I agree. It's unfortunate a lot of people work more to do less @ home w/their neighbors/friends. And money goes just to get buy

I'm all for this. Can whoever is putting it together PM me please?

Hi Ranter, I'm trying to get something together,,,you'll hear something soon.

Greetings,

IRT this subject,

I have been observing how information has been posted on the Forum concerning pre-Ike, during Ike, and post-Ike.
&
The "pm" system only accommodates 5 addressees.

1) The best place for long distance information flow is, as it already is: via the "Survival and Around The Campfire Boards".

2) A 1 or 2 state area can be tied together with interested individuals via the "PM" system as many people are currently utilizing.

3) The same "PM" system can tie several people in regional areas together as well.

4) A new communications network or bulletin board, or website is not needed.

5) ETS has already provided a more than adequate, flexible means to communicate by "like-minded" people.

6) Our normal impulses/feelings to assist each other is occurring naturally as it is.

7) There is no need for anything different than what we have right here.

Bo

I agree.

What I found during the hurricane was that most people I know were very capable and handled it fine on their own. These people rejected any offers of help.

The only situation I found where someone would have needed help would have been in a catastrophic situation. In which case the neighbors would have been there first anyway.

I'll give you an example. A friend of mine had a surplus of goats because the restaraunts weren't taking delivery (obviously). Goats = fresh meat. But, my food stores were never taxed to the point where it was actually worth pursuing. My cell was not working, so I let Blast know through this forum (thanks wildman800) but he didn't need it either. Would additional infrastructure helped me communicate this better? Well, maybe to some other people in the Houston area... but I don't know those people at the moment and see below about that.

I do think that calling trees would be a great idea, but would work best when created among like minded individuals.

One thing I've seen other forums try to do is to have regional subforums. These mostly serve as a way for local people to get to know each other, as well as to discuss local issues.

On other forums, its a place where newbies can feel more comfortable introducing themselves and making a first post, even though they don't have much to say. It establishes an immediate common ground that may be lacking otherwise.

If someone wanted to petition Doug Ritter to try something like this, it could be an interesting experiment.

Backyardchickens? Every time I think that I have seen it all!

well, sometimes I need to ask a question about my chickens.

I was happy to get the eggs when Ike came and the grocery stores were not convenient to get to.

Don't knock backyardchickens. It's pretty handy.