Disaster Preparedness by Greg

Disaster preparedness has been an interest of mine for a long time. It is a more politically correct subject than survivalism but the concepts are much the same without the paranoia about the prime concern being societal breakdown. I got to thinking about it again after stumbling across a blog on the Daily Kos site that was written in 2005 after the Katrina disaster and subsequent debacle caused by the criminally incompetent handling of the relief effort as handled by FEMA. It is a five part blog that I highly recommend everyone read and consider what their state of readiness is for an major earthquake which is probably the most likely disaster to happen in Oregon. See it here.

I have been pretty confident that having a motor home with a generator and solar power and 55 gallons of water and etc. we would be in pretty good shape. I still think so but we have been adding a few things, particularly more lightweight food. While expensive we chose to go with freeze dried stuff which I have ordered only to find out the supplies of the food are out of stock due to high demand and will be a month or more before it will be shipped.

It seems a lot of people are worried about the future and what with the news about the shortages of grains and rice worldwide the likelihood of needing back up food stocks is a major concern to a lot of folks.

Aside from earthquake in Oregon I also have for several years been following the news regarding the avian flu. Many experts on flu pandemics say you should have THREE MONTHS of food on hand. Whew. That’s a lot of food and I don’t think we would be able to store that much unless we filled our little 5x8 trailer with nothing but food.

Water is also a major issue but I think we are covered there by having the large storage tank in the motor home and a hand pumped water purifier to be used in conjunction with bleach to kill viruses.

So, something to think about but not to worry about anyway. What are you doing to be prepared for a week or ten days without power? That is not so unlikely and happens to some folks in Oregon every year what with wind and snow storms.

With all that in mind I decided to brush up on my first aid skills. I took the Red Cross CPR and First Aid class yesterday. It’s a five hour class. The CPR section is very good and we had a lot of time to practice on the dummies. The First Aid section is very limited. Very very limited. I asked the instructor what the next level was and she told be that was it as far as the Red Cross offered. They no longer offer any further training and suggest basic EMS classes at Chemekata.

I already had signed up for a class in Corvallis in Wilderness First Aid next week end. I was lucky to get in as this course also will re-certify those with a Wilderness First Responder certification and they don’t offer it very often. So I get to spend next weekend at the county fairgrounds. Sixteen hours of advanced first aid. My feeble old mind and body will be taxed but I think it will be good to brush up. I had taken an even longer course in the 70’s or early eighties in Bend to get certified to be a River Guide but that was a long time ago and the training has changed in a lot of ways since then. (Not to mention fading memory!) I’m looking forward to that.

I hope this give you all food for thought. heh. Take little steps but, as the Boy Scouts say, “Be Prepared!”

Greg