We Are... Safe And Sound Emergency and Disaster Community » Crisis

D.C. Quake, a lost opportunity

abrown — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:22:55 +0000

Anyone who has studied the history of disasters knows that the major leaps in the formation of policies that support enhanced disaster mitigation and response comes from experiencing disasters. It is unfortunate that we cannot have an emphasis on disaster readiness without having experienced a disaster–and a major one at that. See Disaster Timeline This is not the most current edition of the timeline, but the first one I could find. For more information see Disaster Timeline Series

With the above as context, the D.C. Quake was a missed opportunity. All the legislators who could have been “moved” to take action by the quake were not in town because of the the congressional recess. There is nothing like the ground shaking below your feet and a sense of “no control” to get you to revisit what your personal and professional priorities are. Even without major damages to buildings, deaths and injuries this quake has left a lasting impression on the people who were in the quake-zone. I’m sure there will be a couple of congressional hearings once congress returns to visit the topic of earthquakes, but it will not have the impetus behind it of being a “survivor” and having experienced the event yourself.

Why did people leave work to go home after the quake? Read More

Building to Withstand Hurricanes

abrown — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:46:29 +0000

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010) — Rima Taher, an expert in the design of low-rise buildings for extreme winds and hurricane, hopes her phone won’t ring much this hurricane season. It’s already been busy with requests for information about best building design and construction practices to reduce wind pressures on building surfaces. Read the remainder of Building to Withstand Hurricanes.

2010 Hurricane Season Summary

abrown — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:18:21 +0000

2010 Hurricane Season Summary

The Atlantic basin sits still and quiet for now, but come June 1st the warm waters will start to wake up and go into full cylcle.

The Storm Names for 2010 are as follows:

Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Igor, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter.

Prepare today and visit our WeAreSafeAndSound.com Facebook page, or get more information at 2010 Hurricane Season.

What if a hurricane were to slam into the oil slick?

abrown — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:14:26 +0000

While the oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is bad enough, many people have been wondering what could happen if a hurricane were to slam into the region. AccuWeather.com hurricane expert Joe Bastardi is concerned but multiple threats from storms throughout the season in the Gulf of Mexico. Bastardi attributes heat rising over the tropical Atlantic to a collapsing El Niño pattern in the Pacific. In turn, the rising warm, moist air over the tropical Atlantic is forecast to unleash a top-10 hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin. With 16 to 18 tropical storms and/or hurricanes expected, a significant number of these are bound to make their way into the Gulf of Mexico. Bastardi expects a little more than 1 out of 3 tropical storms and/or hurricanes to impact U.S. coastal waters this season. The hurricane seasons of 1998, 2005 and 2008 had similarities to the expected pattern this season. Some locations could be hit by…

Read the remainder of a Hurricane Slamming Into The Oil Slick.

Was Katrina A “Natural” Or “Man-Made” Disaster? New York Times Ombudsman Says Maybe Just Call It A “Disaster”

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:29:34 +0000

Also today in the New York Times ombudsman Clark Hoyt raised a wording question that has both journalistic and policy implications when it comes to disasters. As part of the column, “Semantic Minefields,” Hoyt wrote about a petition organized by Sandy Rosenthal of New Orleans asking the Times “to issue a style memo requiring that news articles use ‘man-made disaster,’ not ‘natural disaster,’ when referring to Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans.” The column continues: Read the remainder of Was Katrina A 'Natural' or 'Man-Made' Disaster?

“Preparing For The Next Haiti, With Maps, Texts And Tweets”

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:54:16 +0000

Nathan Hodge of Wired.com’s Danger Room blog has a good post, Preparing For The Next Haiti, With Maps, Texts, And Tweets, which discusses the impressive high-tech volunteer response to the earthquake. Hodge attended the Haiti Tech Meetup yesterday at the U.S. State Department yesterday and spoke to a number of those involved in the recovery effort: read the remainder of Preparing For The Next Haiti, With Maps, Texts and Tweets.

Surviving a Nuclear Bomb, by Robert B.

Guest Blogger — Sun, 09 May 2010 01:30:00 +0000

A serious letter to my dear beloved son, Eric, It is quite possible that the USA will soon experience a terrorist attack in the form of a nuclear detonation. The city just west of the University you are attending would be a high profile, terrorist "trophy" to attack. If a nuclear detonation by terrorist occurs in that city, you will notice a bright flash of light and, then feel the blast wave a few seconds after. Although the University is somewhat distant and shielded by terrain from that city, train yourself to not look toward the flash and immediately duck behind a solid barrier. Expect glass to be flying from any windows and plug your ears. Once the blast wave passes note the time. Your goal is to be inside a fallout shelter within 40 minutes and with enough supplies to last 2 weeks. This will only be possible if you prepare in advance... Read the remainder of Surviving a Nuclear Bomb.

“Tornado Alley, Twitter Style”

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:58:49 +0000

On the KnowTheNetwork.com blog, there is a fascinating post, “Tornado Alley, Twitter Style,” by Keith Crawford. He offers a terrific case study of how Twitter — and in particular the hashtag #ARwx created by one Tweeter — outpaced the mainstream media in informing his Arkansas community when a tornado struck this week: Read the remainder of Tornado Alley, Twitter Style.

Practical Steps to Preparing a Family for TEOTWAWKI, by Mitch D.

Guest Blogger — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:53:38 +0000

I didn’t know it at the time, but my introduction to preparedness came in 1999 when I sat at a large table with about 15 other men in a small town café for our weekly bible study. A small portion of these men were worried about Y2K and urged others to prepare. I thought they were “nuts.” I did respect them as Christian men, however, and prayed for guidance. Looking back, I was a squared away 24 year-old but was still spiritually immature. At that time in my life, I felt no urging by the Lord to prepare for Y2K. About ten years later in the middle of a bitterly cold 2009 winter night, the power went out in my newly-built home. My home, at the time, ran completely on electricity with no form of back-up heat. I was lucky to have in-floor heat on both levels of my home, but the wind was howling that night, as the temperatures outside kept dropping and eventually hit 30 below zero. With the wind chill effect, it was probably near 60 to 70 below. My kids didn’t like how dark the house was, even though we had flashlights on hand for each of them. I put my four children to sleep early and piled on some extra blankets. At 7:00 p.m. it was 60 in the house and I wasn’t worried as my new home was well-insulated and built tight. I went to call my parents, who own the 20 acres bordering the western boundary of our place. Our phones in the house, however, all depended on electricity so I decided that my call could wait until the morning. When I went to bed at 11:00 p.m. it was now 50 in the house and I just assumed the power company guys were having a hard time in the wind and cold. I woke up in the early morning and noticed that it was about 40 degrees in the house and still no electricity. I was now a little uneasy as I didn’t need pipes freezing up on me. At 7:00 a.m. I bundled up the kids and took them next door where I knew my dad had a gas fireplace. To my surprise, his electricity was up and running. To make a long story short, it was just my place without power as the wires from the transformer came loose when my box moved from winter heaving. I called the power company and they had my box fixed within the hour. Nothing bad had happened, but it did get me thinking about a few questions: Read the remainder of Practical Steps to Preparing a Family for TEOTWAWKI.

Better Barter Preparedness, by Dan H.

Guest Blogger — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:23:06 +0000

I've heard a lot of suggestions about bartering. Some of them are good ideas, while others might be dangerous. Bartering is just trading, either goods for goods, goods for services, or services for services. First of all, we need to ask why we are bartering at all. If we need to barter, it is probably because we need (or just want) something we don't have, and someone else needs or wants something that we have. If something isn't exchanged by both parties, then it's essentially a begging or charity situation. It is best to put yourself in a position where you don't need to barter at all. Have everything you need. If you don't have enough food, water, shelter, weapons, medical supplies, communications equipment, gardening supplies, energy, transportation, books, tools, or skills, then you need to get those first! Try to prepare yourself to the point that you have enough for charity. None of us can be totally prepared as an individual. Very few of us can be totally prepared as a family. Even few multi-family groups will have everything they will ever need. This is why you will need to prepare for bartering. Read the remainder of Better Barter Preparedness.