Backwoods Home Magazine - Emergency Preparedness and Survival Guide

By Gary F. Arnet, D.D.S.

A re you prepared for a disaster that could affect the daily function of your life or the lives of your family members? Or do you even believe a disaster will ever affect you?

Earthquakes, blizzards, hurricanes, electrical power outages, and who knows what else happen all the time. And now we have the added threat of terrorist attacks. Still, most Americans ignore the warnings. It cant happen here, some say. The government will take care of me if it does, others think.

But not only do sudden disasters happen, they can happen to you. And when they do, you will be on your own. The tragedy of September 11 illustrates this well. Look at the total disruption of transportation and emergency services in New York City immediately following the terrorist attack. This was followed by the immediate and complete paralysis of air transportation throughout the United States. Thousands were stranded for days on their own in strange cities.

Anthrax attacks followed, paralyzing the mail service and spreading terror across the nation. Hazardous materials teams and health departments throughout the nation were swamped with false calls from citizens fearing anthrax-laced letters.

As serious as these attacks were, they pale in comparison to the possibilities. Consider a major biological or nuclear attack or accident. Hundreds of thousands of casualties are predicted in some scenarios. Even the major earthquake predicted for the Midwest is expected to cause widespread destruction and casualties.

These disasters or attacks could overwhelm local, regional, and national emergency resources and cause widespread panic. Transportation could stop, markets could be stripped of food within hours, essential emergency services could be overwhelmed, and food, medical supplies, and emergency service workers would be sent to the disaster area, leaving critical shortages in local areas. After Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida, plywood was in short supply throughout the country as it was being sent to rebuild the state.

Many do not prepare for these emergencies. During one earthquake in southern California, people were lined up outside hospitals to get Band-aids. They were so unprepared that they did not even have basic first aid kits, overwhelming medical personnel who were trying to deal with the severely injured.

FEMA recommends you have a portable disaster supply kit that contains all of the food, water, and emergency supplies that your family would need for three days.

Are you prepared?

Now, more than ever, you need to prepare for the possibility of disasters or attacks on a scale and type never before imagined. It is your duty to yourself, your family, and your country to be prepared.

Some of us need to be prepared for being at ground zero. Certain areas are the most likely direct targets of terrorists or natural disasters. All of us need to be prepared to be indirect targets, those affected by the temporary collapse of our nations infrastructure.

In short, we all need to be able to live self-sufficiently for a period of time.

What to prepare for will depend on your geographical area. Natural disasters and the risk of major terrorist attacks vary by where you live. The first thing you need to do is make a list of the possible disasters for which you need to prepare. Some of the things you will want to consider include natural disasters, such as blizzards, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wild fires, as well as technological disasters, such as nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) attacks, and hazardous material accidents.

Dont forget cyber-attacks, the possibility that an enemy could attack our computer systems, shutting down electrical, gas, communications, transportation, and emergency and medical services. What about attacks on our farms and agricultural processing plants? While they would likely affect only a small number of people directly, they would completely shut down food production and distribution systems.

While there are many things to plan for, your response to all of them is one of two things: stay at home or evacuate . For blizzards, earthquakes, cyber-attacks, nuclear fallout, quarantine after biological attacks, and collapse of the infrastructure, you will want to stay at home. For floods, hurricanes, or with some advance notice of NBC attacks, evacuation may be your course of action.

Whenever possible, staying at home in your own environment and with your own emergency supplies is the best choice. When you evacuate, you are essentially a refugee at the mercy of government evacuation centers or the compassion of the local population. In a major disaster, dont expect to be welcomed by the locals who are struggling with their own survival.