Sustainable Living - Emergencies

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Table of Contents

• 1. Staying Alive and Healthy
  • 1.1. Emergency Kit
  • 1.2. Car kit
  • 1.3. Home kit

1. Staying Alive and Healthy

The big disruptive events (earthquakes, snowstorms, hurricanes, floods, terrorist bombings, etc.) either break/damage normal infrastructure (police, fire dept, AAA, medics, phone system) or make it difficult to reach them. You should be prepared to survive several days on the road while making your way home, and then survive for weeks at home while you and neighbors reinvent necessities.

This is going to require

• Physical fitness. You don't have to be a fanatic, but you can't go into an emergency with a heart condition and a bum knee either.

• Technical preparation. This includes a simple emergency kit always with you, and a somewhat more complete kit at your home base.

• Mental preparation. Know your area. Walk or bicycle for miles in all directions. Know your tools and how to use them. Practice.

• Social preparation. No matter how self-sufficient you are, chances are you will need help from neighbors, and they will need help from you. Emergencies are highly effective in getting strangers to talk, but even more effective is making those connections in advance. That is the essence of peaceful_community_groups

Here we will concentrate on the technical and mental aspects.

1.1. Emergency Kit

Plan for tools to prevent or solve those things that kill or maim you.

Trauma events (e.g., crushing by collapsing buildings, slips and falls, slicing and puncture wounds) kill or maim quickly. Best bet is to avoid them in the first place. Learn to be "situationally aware". Be prepared to move rapidly during an emergency event, and later to hike for miles to reach your home base. Thus you need to wear sturdy shoes and loose clothing.

Assuming there has been traumatic injury, you need a first aid kit, and the skill to use it.

After trauma, hypothermia is the quickest killer. Body heat will solve that, as long as it is retained via insulation. Insulation in turn usually means dry clothes or wool garments.

Therefore...

• Water bottle

• 2 "Space blankets", the thin foil type. If you ever open it, you can't get it refolded, but it can save your life that one time.

• 2 trash bags. If you are caught in a rainstorm, pull out a trash-bag, cut holes for head and arms, and you have a poncho. The other one is for your buddy.

• Windup LED flashlight. Not very bright, but it always works.

• First-aid Kit:

  The idea is to see the problem, clean it, dress it, and apply medications.

  • Nonbreakable camping-style hand mirror
  • Nonbreakable magnifying glass
  • Half-roll of toilet paper, in a waterproof sandwich bag.
  • Antiseptic alcohol prep pads in foil packages
  • Tweezers
  • Needle (packaged safely)
  • 4 full-sized bandaids
  • Package of Steri-strips or butterfly bandages
  • 4 4x4 gauze pads, and adhesive tape
  • 2 4" Ace elastic bandages with 2 safety pins. Used for sprains and also as strapping for splints.
  • Saline ampules, for rinsing eyes
  • Over-the-counter aspirin (pain), ibuprofen (joint inflammation), acetamephin (pain; non-anti-coagulant) antihistamine (insect stings)
  • Personal medications as needed (anything that can't wait while you hike for 48 hrs to get home)

• Leatherman tool (pliers, knife, screwdrivers etc) and Swiss Army knife with corkscrew. This combination allows you to sharpen the Swiss Army knife blades on the Leatherman's honing blade.

• Emergency whistle+matchcase (with matches), plus small candle (e.g., tea light). The whistle is for helping others find you. The matches are for starting fires to a) ward off hypothermia, and b) help others find you. The candle is to help get the fire started. Use a match to light the candle; use the candle to start fires or sterilize equipment.

• Compass. Understand how to use it, including your local magnetic declination.

1.2. Car kit

These are things you need in order to reach your home base, but are too bulky/heavy to keep on your person at all times. They can stay in your car, if it is always within a quick hike. Otherwise consider adding these to the backpack.

• Maps. Also, you should have walked or bicycled the roads in your area, and be able to make your way home from typical destination without needed a map.

• A coat, a wool knit hat and wool socks. If you don't have the car as a backup resource, carry the wool socks in the backpack. NOTE: Wool socks can also serve as emergency mittens.

• HAM 2m handheld transceiver. Which means you should have taking the test to get the license. Not everyone needs to do this, but having a few such people in your group improves your options.

1.3. Home kit

Aton Edwards. "Preparedness NOW!: An Emergency Survival Guide for Civilians and Their Families". Process self-Reliance Series, www.processmediainc.com, 2006. ISBN 0-976-822-5-X.

There are two cases:

1. Escape from the house (e.g when there is a fire)

   For this you need a brightly colored "go" bag near the escape route. Your backpack is as good start, but another home go bag can be kept with passports, cash, weapons of choice, etc.

2. Live in the house without the normal support infrastructure.

   This covers living for weeks and perhaps a few months without external sources of food, water, heating, or medical assistance.