Are you prepared?

Wow – hasn’t the series of earthquakes on the west coast of British Columbia and the super storm Sandy been a couple of dire warnings for everyone to be prepared.

          BC got off lucky with the earthquakes, not even much local damage, tsunami warnings and advisories were broadcast but the sea rise was less than one meter (a meter is 39 inches) and in most cases only half a meter.

          The affect of Sandy on the east coast of the US and Canada is still being felt as I write this but the worst is over for most places. Eight million people, or more, are out of electricity and it’s getting cold.

Nov. 20, 2011 - snow trying to take down the

green house.

          Have you been out of power for any length of time? One November about 6 or 7 years ago, our power was out for 5 days. As we are on a well, no power means no water but it was raining and sleeting and we were able to collect enough water for the animals. No water means no using the toilets, no showers, no running water.

          It takes days to stop trying to flick on the light switches and to try and get water from the sinks – it is amazing how automatic those actions are and how ingrained into our behavior. It’s hard not to use the toilet as well. Think about it – what would you use instead?

          At the end of 5 days we had a filthy house, tons of laundry piled up and nothing done. With having to boil water we collected from the rain, heating water for dishes, heating water for bathing, bringing in firewood, chopping firewood and taking care of the critters (pre-dairy days, only 5 goats to milk), plus working there was NO time for anything else. Basic tasks took up all the time before and after work.

          We are pretty prepared and the power outage was localized to our area, not in town, which meant gasoline, groceries, take-out, and showers were still available. The people in New Jersey aren’t going to have basic services for a while – it will be tough for them.

          Think about what you need for your animals as you prepare. How will you move them? What will you feed them? How will you keep them under control if you are in an evacuation center with 500 other people?

If you have livestock you need to have pre-arranged alternate locations to move the animals to AND ways to get them there. We have spoken to another local farmer about moving all the goats onto his property if we need to leave because of forest fires. That will be the only disaster that will get us off the farm; we are fairly well set up for anything else.

Babies always need someone to care for them!

 

          Do not expect anybody to come and help you, especially the government. The scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. I work for the government and that phrase sends chills of dread through me.

 Don’t rely on someone else, take matters into your own hands and don’t expect any help from the outside world. Just look at the natural disasters that have happen over the last few years – Haiti is still a mess, Japan has not mitigated the nuclear problems,  people are still in shelters over 18 months later – and you need to become responsible for you, your family, and your animals. Nothing less will leave you vulnerable to suffering, injury or worse.