Your Disaster Recovery Kit

As the last couple of weeks has shown, disasters can happen anywhere and at anytime.  While there is a small chance that you could become a victim of the disaster (either killed or injured), there is a far more likely chance that you will be on the periphery of the disaster and will end up less in survival mode and more in recovery mode.  Here are the items you need to respond immediately after a disaster:

• A BOB (you may end up displaced from your home and need to evacuate).
• A vehicle with a full tank of gas (ditto...and gas stations will probably be closed).
• Heavy, steel-toed work boots (necessary for rescue and clean up after a disaster when the ground is covered with nails/pieces of metal/other things that can pierce regular shoes).
• Heavy, leather work gloves (ditto).
• Multiple communication tools (a cell phone and a portable HAM radio, for example).
• Appropriate training (basic first aid is a must, search and rescue training is also a good skill to have).
• Bottled water (rescue and clean up is hard work...keep hydrated).
• Portable food (ditto).
• Wet wipes and alcohol hand cleaner (sanitation is important in a disaster area)
• Breaker bar and other basic tools (useful for wedging open stuck doors, etc).
• Bigger tools (such as a chainsaw, a wench on your truck, and other items for major rescue/clean up).
• Giant Sharpie marker (for leaving info on the wall about evacuation, help needed, etc).
• Cash (ATMs probably won't be working).
• Hard hat, goggles, ear plugs, etc (ie: things to protect you while you search through rubble).
• Clean up items: tarp, rope, duct tape, bleach, towels and rags, shovels, rubber gloves, PPEs, etc.
• Situational awareness: know the area you are working in and be aware of fire/electrical/chemical/biological/other hazards that could adversely affect you.

Two Days, Two Disasters: 10 Prep Tips

In the last few days there have been not one, but two major disasters (the Boston Marathon Bombing and the Explosion of the fertilizer plant in Texas).  Here's ten ways to prep for these kinds of unexpected disasters:

1. Take a first aid class (or two...or three).  Most disasters require the rendering of first aid so it is a good idea if you have some skills in this area.
2. Always carry an EDC kit with you (even the basics such as a bottle of water or a knife can come in handy in a disaster).
3. Participate in disaster preparedness training (everything from volunteering with your local Search and Rescue or Red Cross to taking an online FEMA class).
4. Consider communications (how would you communicate during a disaster? Text messaging? Two-way radio? and of course, consider the lack of communicating in order to save bandwidth).
5. Document, document, document.  In every disaster, the more documentation that is available (by way of written records, photos, and videos) the better after-action reports/plans can be developed.
6. Situation awareness is paramount.  Some places just scream "this is not a good place to be".  Obviously if your spidey-sense is telling you that the location you are in is not safe (a fertilizer plant of fire), then evacuate without needing to wait for permission from the powers that be.  Ditto for buying/renting a house anywhere in the vicinity of a specific, known danger area.
7. Always be ready to evacuate at a moments notice (you do have a BOB waiting and ready to go don't you?).
8. Use your best judgement.  There is no "right" thing to do during a disaster.  As was seen in the Boston blast, one blast may send people running in one direction but with choreographed explosions (generally completely unexpected unless you are in a war zone), the direction you run to may be equally unsafe.  Use your best judgement depending on the situation.
9. Use common sense.  My common sense tells me to stay away from places packed with tens of thousands of people.  Other common sense (which was lacking in Texas as the fire department should have had entry protocols for a fire in the fertilizer plant which pretty much should have specified NO entry during a fire but anyway...) should tell you to always take specific actions in order to avoid or at least mitigate disasters (ie: always look for escape routes, always be watching people in the crowd, know where to go for help, etc).
10. Learn from disasters.  Digest all of the news from these and other recent disasters and play the what-if game.  What are things that could have been done to mitigate the damage caused by these disasters?  What changes could be made in future situations similar to the scenarios of these disasters? 

10 Things: Boston Marathon Explosion

Obviously you have heard about the tragedy in Boston this morning.  Here's 10 things about the incident:

1. Yes, I went out of town to do a marathon, no it wasn't this one (after my email, Twitter feed, Facebook messaging, and cell text messaging blew up asking where I was I realized that when I said I was on my way to a marathon, I should have specified that the one I am doing is NEXT weekend).
2. There is very little you can do to prevent a situation such as this (by all accounts, probably an IED attack).  Even people who are in war zones who are specifically looking for IEDs have difficulty identifying them until it is too late.
3. I would hesitate to point fingers until a thorough investigation has been completed (terrorists? Maybe. Muslims? Not necessarily.  North Koreans? Not necessarily.  Mentally ill psychopath? Just as probable as anyone else).
4. Kudos to all of the emergency responders who responded almost instantaneously--both race staff and city responders.  These events usually have emergency response as one of the cornerstones of their pre-planning but since it has been a while since there has been a major terrorism incident, you have to wonder how much pre-plannning went into the possibility of a terrorist attack at an event such as this.
5. The possibility of what happened today is one of the reasons I tend to avoid large, highly public events which draw tens of thousands of people.  Soft target + major media coverage = a very tempting target.  
6. What if you are caught in an incident such as this: obviously each situation will vary but a few things you can do (if you aren't one of the wounded in which case your first and only priority should be seeking medical care): photograph and video everything from your vantage point then turn this information over to the authorities, help others if you can, don't touch anything unless you are picking up an appendage for reattachment (it is infinitely helpful for investigators if everything--body parts, bomb parts, everyday detritus, etc--is left where it fell), avoid the media (I know, anathema in today's society but this keeps conflicting info/misleading info/biased theories/etc from becoming unproven media fodder).
7. There are so many countries where things like hospital surge plans, thorough screening of everyone entering a public place, and armed guards are common place...it's sad that it is getting closer and closer to this in my country.
8. As usual, the first reports of this incident didn't come through the major media outlets but via Twitter and Reddit (I know, I said don't talk to the media/post to the media but people are going to do this anyway thus the instantaneous reporting from any and all disaster scenes).  Also this.
9. Kudos to the people who came to the aid of those in need--everyone from people who helped the injured seek help to those who opened their homes to strangers who had no place to stay since they had intended to do the run then hop on a plane home.  Disasters often bring out the best in people.
10. I know that runners tend to go as ultralight as possible (I mean who wants to schlep a bunch of stuff over 26 miles?) but you should ALWAYS carry some basic EDC stuff for use in the event of a disaster--knife, cell, cash, water, ID, etc.

More on this as further information is available...

Goal Setting 101

As I get ready to head across the country to do a marathon, I realized that my training for said marathon is much like reaching any sort of goal whether for a physical challenge, a big prepping goal, building up an emergency fund, becoming a doctor or jet pilot, etc.  Here's how:

1. Begin with the end in mind (probably one of the biggest advances in goal management in recent memory, thanks to Steven Covey).  You need to know specifically what you want to achieve so you will know when you have reached your goal.  Obviously this end product needs to be specific (I want to run a 26 mile marathon, not I want to be able to run far).
2. Give yourself a reasonable, yet specific, amount of time to reach the goal (I will participate in the XX marathon on XX date).  If you say you will reach your goal "sometime" that time may never come.  Likewise, if you set an unreasonable timetable (I will go from couch potato to marathoner in two months) you probably won't reach your goal either.
3. Make daily, reasonable progress towards your goal.  Get off the couch, walk around the block.  The next day do a half run, half walk around the block.  Lather, rinse, repeat; extending your efforts a bit each day.
4. Seek help if needed.  The type of help needed, of course, depends on the goal.  If you are training for a marathon you may consider retaining the services of a running coach to help you improve your distance running skills or pick up a running partner to help keep yourself motivated.
5. Exert gazelle intensity and effort towards reaching your goal.  Goals that make you say "meh" probably won't be achieved.  Ditto for goals that you only work hard on occasionally thinking you will make up for the missing effort later.
6. Keep only one or two goals on your radar at a time.  It is much easier to focus on one or two goals until they are achieved rather than dispersing your effort among a dozen or more goals at the same time.
7. Reach your goal.  Of course, with a major goal that requires major effort, there is the possibility that you could fail and not reach your goal at which point you would need to regroup and redouble your efforts (after figuring out why failure occurred) or throw in the towel and work on a different goal.  Either one are options; sometimes goals don't work out as you have planned, other times they loose their importance and your enthusiasm, but at least by making the effort you will benefit in some ways.  On the other hand, you may reach your goal and completely amaze yourself with what you have accomplished.

Saber Rattling in North Korea...A Prep List

If you've been watching the news, you have no doubt heard (repeatedly) that North Korea is being somewhat annoying (to South Korea and the US in particular).  Now while most people are giving this less attention than they give most other world headlines, there are a few things you should do to be prepared...just in case.
In the case we are talking about being prepared for, the top of the list isn't being prepared for nuclear--or other-holocaust.  Yes, a missile from North Korea could conceivably end up in your back yard, depending on where you live, but that possibility is really quite infinitesimal.  However, should the bombs start flying you will want to be prepared in the following ways (mostly because people are going to be in a panic which often causes more problems than the issue they are panicking over):

• Have at least a month's worth of food and supplies stockpiled (when people panic they tend to clean out the stores and it could take a month or so for stores to be restocked).
• Always keep your gas tank topped off and if possible, safely store as much gasoline at your home as possible (ditto; gasoline is another item that rapidly flies off the shelf, so to speak, when there is a crisis).
• Stockpile guns and ammo.  Well, good luck with the ammo part as most of the ammo shelves in our area are quite bare and similar reports are being made around the country.  But you may need to protect yourself, never mind that the problem is thousands of miles away, because for some reason people equate "crisis" with "let's go looting" and other unsavory ideas.
• Keep cash on hand.  Not ALL of your cash, of course, but enough to see you through a month or so of necessities because right after the run on food and gas during a crisis, there is often a run on banks.
• Infrastructure can be iffy.  Not that the North Koreans have plans to disrupt our infrastructure (who knows? They might) but others seeing the distraction may take the opportunity to mess with our infrastructure (not so hard to do) so it behooves you to be prepared to provide for your own water/heat/light/sewage treatment/garbage disposal/etc at least for a small amount of time.
• Stockpile any other items that are necessary for your continued survival.  I don't need much to survive beyond what I can fit in a backpack but many people, particularly those with young children or the elderly, often have a long list of needs that can make their lives difficult or even deadly if not dealt with immediately so consider stockpiling baby formula and diapers if you have young children, medications and hearing aid batteries if you find these items necessary for your everyday survival.
• Learn as much as you can and continue good health practices.  When it comes right down to it, I've never met anyone in a refugee camp or fleeing from war that has the luxury of copious amounts of food/fuel/prescription medications/etc.  Usually people flee desperate situations with the clothes on their backs and little else but what often makes the difference for their survival is their general health and fitness and their knowledge of a wide range of survival skills (two things that can't be taken away from you in a crisis).

Now go forth and prepare.