Susan, the hot water cylinder is way up in the roof space and very difficult to access, so no way I'm going up there while the house is still jumping around. I expect there is a way to drain it manually, but we weren't so desperate for water that we were going to mess with it. I'll will have a word with our plumber at some stage and find out what is the correct way to drain it - I've yet to receive his bill for installing it as the post has only just started up again
Very glad I insisted he fit seismic restraints so it didn't come through the ceiling.

Yes, I have heard of the Humanure Handbook though I've yet to read it.

I do like that idea of using a hula hoop to suspend a shower curtain from, that is clever. I would have rigged something up with tarpaulins if we'd needed a long term solution. As it was we used a bucket for urine and a plastic bag for everything else. I would have just used a lidded bucket inside and buried the waste in the garden, but we couldn't spare the water to wash the bucket out and I figure that would get pretty stinky if you don't have any odor neutralising material available.

As for folks being into preparedness, well I guess they're like people everywhere and despite regular public service messages exhorting you to be prepared to take care of yourself in an emergency there always seem to be people who ignore this. And of course there are plenty of people especially on the east side of town who are struggling to live from day to day anyway, so they have difficulty purchasing anything in addition to their day to day needs. That is what I saw when working in an evacuation centre last September - the people we got there were the ones who didn't have more than a few days of food in the house anytime, or who didn't have family support networks. Anyone who had friends or family who could take them in went there, and anyone with the financial resources to get themselves out of the city for a while packed up and went.