I rarely pay attention to the WordPress prompt, even when I check my dashboard. But emergency preparedness is something I am interested in, even though I have not done a good job of it so far.

Hurricane season is here, so I make sure we have some minimum preparation. Gallon jugs of water, batteries for the nice lamps a friend gave us, and we have a hand-crank radio in case I don’t have enough batteries for the bright yellow radio I’ve had for years and never use.

Some emergencies require evacuation. Tanker trunks carrying chemicals or fuel can spill after crashes. And we’re reminded all too often of the dangers of wildfires, of course. I ought to have planned some routes out of town, preferably ones less likely to get jammed with traffic if everyone leaves at once. I ought to have a go-bag as well, but I’m afraid I don’t. I do try to keep my gas tank at least half-full these days–the last thing you want in an emergency evacuation is to have to stop for gas (especially when everyone else is doing the same.)

Some emergencies occur on the road. I realize that paper towels and a trash bag are not really aimed at emergencies, but they’re good to have on hand. I ought to have a flashlight and batteries (stored separately–otherwise they tend to leak after a while,) but I’m not sure I do. I do have a basic first aid kit and a kit of emergency car supplies that I probably need to check over to see if it contains anything that expires.

The pandemic was an emergency for which most people were not well prepared, including me. I don’t normally have hand sanitizer on hand, let alone masks. Once it was clear that we really were in an emergency, I did go through our supplies: tylenol, cleaners with bleach, thermometers that still work, rags in case we needed to wipe down surfaces frequently, bottles of ginger ale and other things one likes when sick, and so forth. We were lucky and didn’t end up needing them, so I added canned goods and am calling it “the hurricane box.”

Of course, you have to keep rotating out the supplies to keep them fresh. I hope the US government has learned that lesson.

Regarding those jugs of water–you can’t assume you’ll have warning that you might need them. Someone wrote in the paper once that there was no reason to keep water on hand except if there was a hurricane or such threatening. Wrong. You can’t predict when your water supplier will have a fluoridation issue that requires them to drain their entire tank, on the same day that a major pipe that connects them to their back-up supply springs a leak and has to be closed down. Sometimes you just get a perfect storm of water issues.

We received messages that started by warning us not to drink the water and be conservative with other uses, and ended by telling us NOT TO USE THE WATER FOR ANYTHING as it was very low and could no longer be assumed safe.

The local stores sold out of water jugs and people drove to nearby towns to get more (and to enjoy their free-flowing taps.) But we didn’t have to rush, because we did have some jugs of water already. The water supplier worked night and day to fix the leak; the tank of excessively fluoridated water finished draining and was replaced; and after just two days, we had drinkable running water again.

Summing up my existing emergency preparedness plan:

• Keep jugs of water on hand.
• Keep gas tank at least half full.
• Have fresh batteries available for your flashlight and radio (and know where they are.)
• Have some non-perishable, no-heating-required food on hand.
• Stock some of the drinks (and foods) that you like to have when you are sick.
• Make sure your ibuprofen or tylenol has not expired, and that you have a thermometer.

There’s a lot more that I should be doing (emergency pet supplies? actual go-bag?) but it’s a start.

Till next post.

P.S. I really enjoyed the Great Courses lecture series “When Everything Fails: Surviving Any Disaster”, which I was able to borrow from my library. It isn’t really about all disasters–no zombie apocalypse or end of the civilization–but it is about the disasters that actually happen to people every year. It gives examples, talks about preparation, and also discusses how society has (gradually) tried to build a structure for assisting with these emergencies–and what some of its limits are.