Preparation
Being
prepared is the way that we can insure the safety and well-being of ourselves
and those we love. Below, I will share with you the limited knowledge I have
acquired, and my own opinions. I would
encourage your to always look for better, easier and more efficient methods,
and tools. President Monson has said, “We
do live in turbulent times. Often the future is unknown; therefore, it behooves
us to prepare for uncertainties.”[i]
Mom and I
have decided that we will live our lives day to day planning for the next week
and next years as if we expect everything to continue as it is. There could be severe economic depression, or
even a full meltdown in the US. My grandfather once told my dad that he felt
that the economic problems come in waves – that a serious depression comes
about once every 70 or so years. I hope that we will avoid nuclear war, but it
wouldn’t surprise me if it happened. Could something serious happen? I think so.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if terrorists caused major catastrophic events
in the U.S. that have a nationwide impact.
While the U.S. is quite powerful, it wouldn’t take much to disrupt our
way of life significantly. Keep in mind
that in our lifetime, and even in recent years there have been numerous
situations, natural and otherwise that have had a significant impact – 9/11,
Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, Aids, Bird Flu, Ebola.
During
Katrina, there was a considerable breakdown of law and order. There were New Orleans police officers who
abandoned their posts, were looting, and many other inappropriate behaviors.
Criminals were driving marked police cars, uniform and gun shops had been
ransacked and pilfered. Tens of thousands of people desperate for food, water
and shelter broke into a Convention Center complex, but they found nothing
there but chaos. It was nearly impossible to leave New Orleans. Poor people
without cars or anyplace else to go were stuck. When some people tried to walk
to a nearby suburb, police officers with shotguns forced them to turn back. Most
stores food and supplies stores were emptied within hours. This shows us that it doesn’t take much for a
situation to go very bad.
Remember
that during these severe crisis situations, you are very dependent on yourself
to make it through. We should endeavor
to prepare as best we can for many things to go wrong – starting with the
things that are most likely to happen.
A few years
ago, Glen Wright, our bishop and friend was traveling to California on
business. As he arrived at his hotel in
the afternoon, the power went out. It
was a wide spread outage.
On the afternoon of September 8, 2011,
an 11-minute system disturbance occurred in the Pacific Southwest, leading to
cascading outages and leaving approximately 2.7 million customers without
power. The outages affected parts of Arizona, Southern California, and Baja
California, Mexico. All of the San Diego area lost power, with nearly
one-and-a-half million customers losing power, some for up to 12 hours. The
disturbance occurred near rush hour, on a business day, snarling traffic for
hours. Schools and businesses closed, some flights and public transportation
were disrupted, water and sewage pumping stations lost power, and beaches were
closed due to sewage spills. Millions went without air conditioning on a hot day.[ii]
Glenn is
diabetic. He had planned on going to
dinner with his companions that night, using his credit cards to pay for food
and gas. They couldn't get gas. The pumps are electric and the stations were
clogged with cars who pulled in and ran out of gas. His cell phone ran out of power and there was
no way to recharge it. They didn't know how far it extended. They couldn't drive to the airport. They didn't know this, but most of the
facilities and flights were shut down. The
water in his hotel wasn't safe as the filtering was electronically run. Glen needed food quickly or within hours he
would start to feel the serious effects of his disease and would soon be unable
to function. Fortunately, he found a
small grocery store that was still open and was taking cash. He was able to buy a drink and a candy bar. He could see that quickly there would be
nothing left in the store, and there were hundreds of people outside in
line. Fortunately for him, the power
came on the next day. But what if it
hadn't? If the power had stayed out for
several days, he could have been in life threatening trouble. A couple of key lessons he learned for
traveling:
1.
Have a back-up phone battery. A $25 dollar device will get you at least four
full charges.
2.
Have extra cash – including change for vending
machines.
3.
Carry emergency medicine – for him, emergency
food, medicine – enough for three days.
4.
Have a couple of simple water purification
tablets, and a fold-able water bottle.
Overall
preparation - There are a couple of ways to look at being prepared. There is long term preparation for more
serious situation and there is short term preparation for things that are more
likely to occur. For example, We can
prepare for a long term catastrophic event, like an earthquake that ruins our
home, and we can prepare for something as simple as a momentary power
outage. While preparing for an
earthquake might entail figuring out food, heat and shelter for weeks, we
prepare for a power outage by having a flashlight handy with extra batteries. We should work on both, but start with what
is most likely.
In my
backpack that I carry every day, I have a first aid kit with band aids,
Tylenol, wipes, etc. The most likely thing I will encounter is getting a simple
headache. I don’t need to carry an
emergency suture kit, because it is so unlikely that I would need it.
Prepare
financially - We should be prepared financially to keep our families
secure. Provide adequate insurance,
savings and cash for emergencies. These financial reserves can save you if you
lose your job or have serious health issues.
Many times, your mother and I have used these funds under these
circumstances. It is hard to recover when you use those funds. It is my opinion
that both spouses should provide income for the family. Historically, the economy may have enabled
the mother to stay home, if the husband made enough money. Anymore, this is unrealistic except for the
very wealthy. When families have young children, it is important to consider
their well-being carefully when deciding whether to work outside of the home or
not. There are plenty of examples of
mothers working outside of the home who raise their children well. But there can be a price to pay. It should be considered carefully and
prayerfully. Sometimes, a work-at-home solution is feasible. The primary responsibility of parents and
particularly mothers is for the care and nurturing of their children. You should pursue your education and learn
marketable skills so that you are prepared. I would encourage all of my
children to start their own businesses, large or small. It is my feeling that
at this time and place that wives should contribute to the family monthly
income. If that income is not needed for
monthly expenses it should contribute to savings, education funds, retirement,
etc. Women should be prepared to carry the full financial burden of the family,
in case it is required.
Think about
what is most critical for you in your current situation. I might have more in my car, because I work
so far from home – extra food, blanket, shelter, etc. But, if you are within walking distance, you
may not want much in your car kit.
Also, you
need to think of others. For example,
just in the past week, Jo asked me if I had a flosser for her teeth. I didn't have one. Tori needed a hairband. I didn't have
one. Both are super easy for me to add
to my everyday kit, and are something that would be used frequently.
Multiple
kits - I am also a proponent of staggering your supplies so that kits can be
combined if needed. For example I have
what I carry with me, what is stored in the car, and what I have at home. I don’t duplicate everything in every kit,
but I use each kit to build upon the next.
For example, I keep my best pocket knife in my every day kit. In the car, I have a backup knife, and a multi
tool. In my backpack at home, I have a
fixed blade knife, and an axe. Between
the three, I would have everything I want.
Kits - I
suggest several kinds of kits that meet different needs. You can find the different contents on my
blog. Each of the kit's focus on these elements - Water, Food, Shelter, Heat,
Security, Communication
1.
Things I carry everyday – my work backpack
2.
RUOK kit for students – a small kit with minimal
items thrown into the daily backpack – Just to keep Dad happy.
3.
Car kit (sometimes called your GetToHome bag)
4.
72 hour kit – a kit for emergencies when you have
to evaluate your primary residence.
5.
Three week kit – Jo and I have decided that we
wanted to expand the 72 hour kit because we felt if there really were an
evacuation, it could easily last for a week or more. We have added items like toiletries, cooking,
additional food, first aid, etc.
I have
focused on minimizing waste, size, and weight - e.g. a single use packet
instead of a tube of antibiotic. Many of the items in my kits are inexpensive.
One needs to balance expense, quality and need. For example, a $2 folding knife
in the 72 hour kit is better than nothing, and it is difficult to spend $100 on
a knife that is going to sit in the garage. My recommendation would be to spend
more money on your main tools, knife, multitool, fire, protection, and shoes.
Duplication
- I think it is important to have backups for items where possible for example,
you wouldn't want a single match to try to light a fire. For light, a button LED light, then a mini
flashlight, then a larger flashlight, then extra batteries.
Firearms –
Where and when practical, I recommend having some kind of firearms. I believe everyone should know how to shoot
and maintain a gun. I anticipate that I
will never have to use it for anything other than fun shooting practice. But I
also believe in the adage: “better to have it and not need it, than to need it
and not have it.” I recommend a shotgun
for home defense/hunting and then handguns.
They should always be completely secured with either a trigger lock or a
safe. When you have children at home,
the ammo should also we secured. A
simple gun safe is simple and inexpensive.
Documents –
Everyone should have a location for stored critical documents. These can include: passports, birth and
wedding certificates, mortgage information, banking information, will,
etc. I also recommend a scanned version
of each document kept on an encrypted thumb drive.
The Church
puts out some great material on preparedness.
On their website, they introduce the basics of preparation with the
following:
Family Emergency Planning
Church members are encouraged to
prepare a simple emergency plan. Items to consider may include:
Three-month supply of food that is part
of your normal daily diet.
Drinking water.
Financial reserves.
Longer-term supply of basic food items.
Medication and first aid supplies.
Clothing and bedding.
Important documents.
Ways to communicate with family
following a disaster.[iii]
Food – For
kits, I recommend a combination of long term storage bars, and other things
that would need more frequent replacement – trail mix, candy bars, etc. Our friend Tyler Sperry, who works closely
with the Church Welfare Department, told us that the church has learned much
through their disaster relief efforts.
The biggest thing that they have learned is that we should have a three
to four month supply of instant open & heat food.
Water – the
rule of thumb is one gallon of water per day per person. This includes children. Some will also be used for sanitation. In many kits, I also have water and Gatorade
in small packets. These are great for emergencies
and first aid too.
Power – In October
2012, the East Coast was hit by hurricane Sandy. “The immediate aftermath included flooding,
massive power outages and a massive disruption of mass transit service. One
fourth of cable, Internet, and wireless providers were unable to properly
operate following the storm.”
Many of the
people I worked with, at the time, were impacted by this. One of them had a generator and fuel. While he couldn't get gas for his car,
because the fuel pumps weren't working, he could at least recharge his phone
and his computer. He was the only one
who was able to keep working through this crisis. He used the wifi from his cell and was able
to continue to function. Many people
couldn't even go to the stores for food because they were out of gas in their
cars and they couldn't drive outside of the power shortage area to get gas. Many of the stores closed immediately as
without power, their registers wouldn't work.
I recommend that
you have a generator and fuel. You will need a fuel extender so that it doesn't
go bad when stored. You will also need to have a large commercial grade battery
to charge from the generator. If you
plug an extension cord into the generator it cannot draw as much as it is
producing – wasting power. It is better
to charge the battery and then use that to charge everything else. If your finances permit, I am in favor of a
full generator backup that switches automatically when the city power goes
off. Then everything in your home
continues to function including fridge, stove, heaters, AC, etc.
In summary,
I don’t think one is ever fully prepared. We need to continue to push in this
direction so that we are always at some point on the preparation path.
“If ye are
prepared ye shall not fear”[iv]
Preparedness
should be a consistent effort in our homes. We should all be prepared, at all
times, for any emergencies – personal or natural – that could occur at a
moment’s notice. If we are adequately
prepared, then we will be ready to weather any storm, and we will have no need
to fear.
[i] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/10/if-ye-are-prepared-ye-shall-not-fear?lang=eng
[ii] http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/04-27-2012-ferc-nerc-report.pdf
[iii] https://www.lds.org/topics/emergency-preparedness?lang=eng
[iv]
Doctrine and Covenants 38:30