I have been rather slow to realize that I don't really have any idea what takes place after a major disaster, natural or manmade.

For those of you who have been there, what can people expect? I understand that the nature of the problem will determine certain things, but I suspect that some conditions will remain somewhat the same: trees down across roads & lines, debris collected in awkward places, movement by vehicle is curtailed, lack of food & water, lack of shelter, a percentage of people injured.

We have been advised to keep emergency supplies on hand for 3 days. That has always seemed woefully inadequate. After 3 days, does the military move in & start setting up shelters, handing out food & water & TP? I somehow suspect <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> that they aren't coming out to those of us in semi-rural areas by helicopter and delivering crates of necessities door-to-door. But just how does it work? If you can't get to a common area, you're out of luck, or what?

I feel that in my particular case, I am far better off to keep supplies on hand & hunker down, but what happens if I'm not home and can't get home after a major earthquake hits (a good possibility), due to overpasses down (I live near I-5, a major artery), or many trees & power poles across roads (highlights of the surface roads to home).

Any further info would be wonderfully welcome.

Sue

Our freeway system is the result of President Eisenhower wanting a fast transportation system for military movement inspired by the Autobahn. California has seen the system suffering localised damage to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and sections here in the greater L.A. area. Ironically, we lost motorcycle officers in the Northridge and older Saugus-Newhall tremors on collapsed sections. My past experience with 'quakes, fires and mudslides is that localised areas can be hit hard, but the nature of our urban infrastructure ( fancy name for sprawl) usually leaves ajacent areas relatively unaffected. After Northridge people initially panicked over water. But the trucks with those pretty Arrowhead bottles kept rolling in. Merchants merely fell back on pre computer and in some instances telephone communications to keep merchandise flowing. There was the usual percentage of price gauging, looting and drivers that made our allready aggressive road environment look like a Mad Max outtake. But most people were actually quite decent. If you are in a semi rural situation a good radio is essential, perhaps even a police type scanner or a dedicated unit that receives weather and and other civil broadcasts. I would get to know the CHP etc. at the nearest stations. If somebody knows you live somewhere your part of their consciousness and you can glean future information; which roads are safer for evacuations, local dedicated evac centers etc. I've rolled into closed emergency zones to evacuate horses usually closed even to residents. A known reputation and a case of bottled water go a long way.

I happened to be back in Florida for the last of the three hurricanes, My wife evaced with the kids and her fav possesions.
I stayed put It and rode it out (we live 3 blocks from the beach).
The biggest issue for all my neighbors was lack of electricity and the resulting lack of fridge utilizations.
I slept in my hammock had plenty of food (mres, Dehys and canned goods) we went several weeks without power which is no big deal to me but Florida
is hot in Aug and to be fair FEMA did an outstanding job, and was on station with in 48 hours.
i would recomend having MRE (entrees can be bought by cases w 72 meals or mixed)
Dehys and canned, water storage in poly barrels and able to set up catchment.
I have been in Iraq for over 6 months and we have little if no power when in the field or redzones
you get used to it. but a diesel gen could easily supply needs if you wanted or had the money to spend.
I can provide a list we use here for FOB setup at remote sites which could easily be adjusted to fit needs.
good luck
frogman.

Well a lot depends upon the size of the disaster. The bigger it is the less help you can expect.

Well the first thing that government types will want you to do is move to a shelter where they can control you. As you enter your possessions will be searched and anything that might be dangorous will be confiscated. Read anything the searcher take a fancy to will be classed as contraban. Forget firearms anything that is even hints at being sharp will be long gone. Think boarding an airplane. Further more if deemed you have more than others in the way of supplies they will be destributed for the good of all. About all you will have are the cloths on your back and maybe your own sheets and pillows.

No thank you very much!

If I do have to evac I'll take care of my own needs.

You can find some official British thinking on this at Uk Resilience. It sounds like the police cannot usually require you to leave home, and they can't require you to go to a government refuge.

The London Major Incident manual also makes interesting reading. Some of it seems very buearocratic, but with hard experience of monumental cock-ups lurking between the lines.

Eg: "Within the capital, each of the emergency services and separate police forces have entirely independent radio communications systems. That is not to say that they are totally incompatible but certain procedures need to be adopted to achieve mutual communication." And "It cannot be over-emphasised that the best operational communications will always be conducted verbally between service representatives on site." Reassuring.

I have assumed that the National Guard would be there to begin food, shelter, and water distribution within 48 hours, so I always kept a 72 hour kit on hand. I still think that's the case but I've since expanded it to a 14 day kit. I live in a quake-prone area and frankly I do not want to be out there standing in line for necessities when there will be cleanup work to be done and relatives to look after.

We have not yet had a "big one" in my lifetime, but it's coming. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Regards, Vince

Great question.

In a 'disaster', there is a breakdown of the standard expectations -- an fancy way of saying something gets broken. Loss of power, water, transportaion, heat, etc. Just what and for how long, depends on the nature of the event.

Your planning should start with : What is likely to happen here? To me?

Each area has a few likely events; San Fran has earthquakes, power outages. Maimi has heat, hurricanes, gangs. Winnipeg has cold and blizzards.
Wichita has heat & cold issues, blizzards and tornadoes, but civil unrest is very rare.

Figure out what could or has happened in your climate, then plan for that.

More later

I've been off line over the weekend, good thread, here a few random thoughts.Part of being prepared includes planning. Both natural and "man made" disasters. Are there any main highways or railroad lines nearby ? Need to consider a Hazmat scenario and maybe evacuation. Meeting places both close and out of town. What kinds of busineses and factories are located nearby? What are the chances of looting and lawlessness?
Can you become "cut off" if a bridge or a couple of roads become impassable. 72 hour kits are a great start, but after that preperations should aim towards 1 week. Do you need to be concered about mudslides or trees around your house? Can your driveway be blocked not allowing your vehicles out? If you have to leave, what do you take?
Dave

Hey Frogman12,

Welcome to the forums.

While I cannot speak for the others, I want to thank you for your service and let you know, that your efforts are very much appreciated.

If you need “stuff”, let us know. On this forum, there are many, very generous individuals here, with a lot of knowledge and desire to help out.

We also look forward to hearing from you, what I am sure are many valuable insights and wisdom.

Stay safe.

Pete

Long Island, NY and we have a hurricane season. If we get hit with a hurricane you could loose power for a few days if you have a well you loose water too. So you need to plan water is the biggest issue, I have public water in my new house. Also if you loose power you loose heat. I also have a fireplace and plenty of dry wood stored. The cook top is LP gas so cooking isn't much of an issue. You may loose some items stored in the refrig but if you plan ahead and stock up on ice it's not really an issue. After the storm I will survey the situation it's usually not wise to leave your property during a natural disaster like this. And if you don’t have a need to leave don't go. Downed power lines trees that are ready to topple over are just a few of the potential hazards. It disrupts life for 2-3 days at most but it's predicted that in the near future we will have category 4 & 5 hurricanes on a regular basis, so things might be different.

I also lived through the east coast black out 2 summers ago. Unfortunately I was renting and the owners were too cheap to hook up to public water so I had to use my stock pile of water. It was in the summer so heat wasn't an issue and by the time we went to sleep the lights were on. The biggest problem that day was getting home. Traffic lights were out so caution while driving was important. I and 2 other co-workers were in our office when the lights went out we saved our cad drawings shut the computers off turned on the radio and heard it was quite a wide spread incident. So being the most senior of the present office staff I closed the office told everyone to go home and drive carefully. The lessons learned that day were simple again just prepare ahead of time. Keep you vehicles gas tank topped off. Have stored water. Have a secondary means of light. And have some food items on hand that could be cooked on the grill (again we were renting the stove was elect.)

The biggest problem with what I've faced has been easy to overcome by some simple preparation.