Disaster Preparedness For Everyday Folks

WATER:

2008-08-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

"Water is the only drink for a wise man.” – Henry David Thoreau

When I was a kid I remember being bored to death in school when they were teaching us all about water, in fact the only thing I figured water was good for was a great water balloon fight. The only thing that stuck in my head was that water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The thing I really should’ve paid attention to was the fact that water is highly needed to promote good health. The other thing was liquid measurements…

I've never needed this information and so didn't know it off the top of my head. Here's some basic conversions:

Liquid Measurements

16 ounces = 1 Pint
32 ounces = 1 Quart
128 ounces = 1 Gallon

2 Pints = 1 Quart
4 Quarts = 1 Gallon
8 Gallons = 1 Bushel

1 Cup = 8 Ounces
1 Pint = 16 Ounces
1 Quart = 32 Ounces
1 Gallon = 128 Ounces

1 Gallon = 3.785 Liters
1 Liter = 0.264 Gallon
1 Liter = 1.0567 Quarts

Why We Need Water

Our bodies are estimated to be about 60 to 70% water. Blood is mostly water, and our muscles, lungs, and brain all contain water. We need to drink water because water is needed to transport oxygen to our cells, provides the “river” for all the nutrients to travel to our organs, removes waste, regulates our body temperature and protects our joints and organs.

How much water do we need?

A lot of sources claim you should drink 8-10 glasses of water a day (64-80 ounces), and many people in the health industry I’ve asked about this has no idea where this formula came from. They gave me this suggestion though for healthy level of water:

Take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. For example, if you weigh 280 pounds, you should drink at least 140 ounces of water per day (more than a gallon). If you exercise you should drink another 8 ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are working out. If you live in a dry warm climate, you should add another 16 ounces per day.

As you can see, your daily need for water can add up pretty quickly.

But what do you need in an emergency situation to survive? No one wanted to give me a solid answer, so I looked it up on the net… And the consensus is 2 Quarts (64 ounces) for drinking (minimum!).

So ideally, you should use the formula above and think about what you may be doing in the event of an emergency and plan for that. Make sure to plan ahead, don’t just assume since you have small kids they won’t need as much. Sometimes they may need MORE than you do. For example my daughter Angel weighs 54 pounds so we’ll take that and divide in half (27 ounces). Now let’s look at her activity level. She runs constantly and plays hard for at least 3 hours a day 24 ounces per hour gives us another 72 ounces, and here in the summer it can get pretty warm and dry so let’s plan ahead and add another 16 ounces. So her daily water level at normal conditions would be 115 ounces or pretty close to a gallon a day.

I have a friend named Vince who weighs 160 lbs (80 ounces base) and he’s very lazy and I don’t expect him to Rambo up and get busy so the only addition to him would be 16 ounces for the heat. 96 ounces. So you can see Angel requires more then Vince…

My other daughter Maile weighs 42 lbs so her base is 21 ounces. Her activity level is much less than Angel’s. She plays hard on average 1 hour a day (24 ounces) and again we’ll add in the heat of summer just to be safe. So her amount is 61 ounces. Like Vince, much less than Angel’s.

Now we’ll examine my needs… At the time of this writing I am 280 lbs, so need 140 ounces. Currently I sit in front of a machine on a regular basis, but have a distinct feeling I may be more physically active in emergency situations so to play it safe will say an hour of activity (24 ounces) and will add in the summer heat (16 ounces) to bring me to a daily water requirement of 180 ounces a day (1.5 gallons a day) WOW!!! But I know for a fact I don’t nearly drink that amount of liquid on a given day, but I’ll tell you the main reason these calculations are valuable. It is better to have MORE then you need, then LESS!!!

So if you use the formula for your entire family it’ll give you the daily water amount needed, or you could go with the bare minimum of 64 ounces a day per person. I have a family of five which means 320 ounces (2.5 gallons) a day. So if I’m planning on having enough drinking water for three days I’ll need to store 7.5 gallons. A week would require 17.5 gallons. This makes me a bit uncomfortable, so let’s figure the actual “healthy” amount.

My son, my wife, my two daughters, and I require 533 ounces a day (4.16 gallons a day). And a full week would require 29.15 gallons.

When we compare we see a difference of 11.65 gallons. So if for some reason a week wasn’t enough and we actually rationed out the water to the minimum of 64 ounces a day we’d actually have enough drinking water to last us for an additional 4 days. Those extra days may mean the difference between life and death.

So far we’ve just covered what you need to DRINK. We haven’t covered the other aspects of water which we take for granted. We use it to wash ourselves, brush our teeth, and clean our cloths and dishes. So keep that in mind. Add another 2 liters for misc cleaning and hygiene needs.

So let’s say you store water and things don’t get better and you need more water but for whatever reason can’t leave your house. Don’t panic because there is usually hidden water in your house.

Hidden Water Sources in Your Home

If you own or rent a home and need more water you can use water in your hot-water tank, in your plumbing and in ice cubes. As a last resort, you can use water in the reservoir tank of your toilet (not the bowl), but purify it first (I’m getting to that).

WATER BEDS: Water beds can hold up to 400 gallons, but some water beds contain toxic chemicals that are not fully removed by many purifiers. If you designate a water bed in your home as an emergency resource, drain it yearly and refill it with fresh water containing two ounces of bleach per 120 gallons.

WATER IN PIPES: To use the water in your pipes, let air into the plumbing by turning on the highest faucet in your house and draining the water from the lowest one. To use the water in your hot-water tank, be sure the electricity or gas is off, and open the drain at the bottom of the tank. Start the water flowing by turning off the water intake valve and turning on a hot-water faucet. Do not turn on the gas or electricity when the tank is empty. Do you know the location of your incoming water valve? You'll need to shut if off to stop contaminated water from entering your home.

OUTDOOR WATER: Emergency Outdoor Water Sources If you need to seek water outside your home, you can use these sources. But purify the water before drinking it. Rainwater, Streams, rivers and other moving bodies of water, Ponds and lakes, Natural springs Avoid water with floating material, an odor or dark color. Use saltwater only if you distill it first (Seriously, I’m getting there…).

HOW TO PURIFY WATER

In addition to having a bad odor and taste, contaminated water can contain microorganisms that cause diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid and hepatitis. It is vital that you purify all suspect water before using it for drinking, cleaning or food preparation.

Before we begin, let me just state for the record that there is no perfect way to purify water. There are many ways to help prevent contaminates and the best solution is usually a combination of methods. Before you begin, let any suspended particles settle to the bottom, or strain them through layers of paper towel or clean cloth. The following procedures will kill microbes but will not remove other contaminants such as heavy metals, or salts.

Boiling is the safest method of purifying water. Bring water to a rolling boil for 10 minutes, keeping in mind that some water will evaporate. Let the water cool before drinking. Boiled water will taste better if you put oxygen back into it by pouring it back and forth between two containers. This will also improve the taste of stored water.
Chlorination uses liquid chlorine bleach to kill microorganisms. Add three drops of bleach per quart of water (five drops if the water is cloudy), stir and let stand for 30 minutes. If the water does not taste and smell of chlorine at that point, add another dose and let stand another 15 minutes. If you do not have a dropper, use a spoon and a square-ended strip of paper or thin cloth about 1/4 inch by 2 inches. Put the strip in the spoon with an end hanging down about 1/2 inch below the scoop of the spoon. Place bleach in the spoon and carefully tip it. Drops the size of those from a medicine dropper will drip off the end of the strip.

Treating Water with a 5-6 Percent Liquid Chlorine Bleach Solution
Volume of Water to be Treated	Treating Clear Water: Bleach Solution to Add	Treating Cloudy, Very Cold, or Surface Water: Bleach Solution to Add
1 quart/1 liter	3 drops	5 drops
1/2 gallon/2 quarts/2 liters	5 drops	10 drops or 1/8 teaspoon
1 gallon	10 drops or 1/8 teaspoon	20 drops or 1/4 teaspoon
5 gallons	50 drops or 2.5 milliliters or 1/2 teaspoon	5 milliliters or 1 teaspoon
10 gallons	5 milliliters or 1 teaspoon	10 milliliters or 2 teaspoon

Purification tablets release chlorine or iodine. In our EEK’s we have 50 tablets for just such a use. Follow the package directions. Usually one tablet is enough for one quart of water. Double the dose for cloudy water.

More Rigorous Purification Methods

While the three methods described above will remove only microbes from water, the following two purification methods will remove other contaminants. Distillation will remove microbes, heavy metals, salts, most other chemicals, and radioactive dust and dirt, called radioactive fallout. Filtering will also remove radioactive fallout. (Water itself cannot become radioactive, but it can be contaminated by radioactive fallout. It is unsafe to drink water that contains radioactive fallout.)

Distillation involves boiling water and then collecting the vapor that condenses back to water. The condensed vapor will not include salt and other impurities. To distill, fill a pot halfway with water. Tie a cup to the handle on the pot's lid so that the cup will hang right-side-up when the lid is upside-down (make sure the cup is not dangling into the water) and boil the water for 20 minutes. The water that drips from the lid into the cup is distilled.

To make fallout filters, punch holes in the bottom of a large bucket, and put a layer of gravel in the bucket about 1-1/2 inches high. Cover the gravel with a towel cut in a circle slightly larger than the bucket. Cover soil with a towel, place the filter over a large container, and pour contaminated water through. Then, disinfect the filtered water using one of the methods described above. Change the soil in your filter after every 50 quarts of water.

Kids and Disasters...

2008-07-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

When something really bad happens it's hard enough to deal with the situation. We're overwhelmed with thoughts of loved ones, infrastructure, the unknown, etc.

Parents of children will have it much harder for a number of reasons.

Kids process things differently then we do. They are afraid of the outcome of the event. "Am I going to die?, Am I going to get hurt?, Is Mommy and Daddy going to die?"

Add in the possibility of schedule disruptions on a prolonged period of time and you've got an additional situation on your hands.

After an event we are clueless, and depend on TV, Radio and word of mouth to get valuable information. We need to make a plan and think things through, but a terrified child can make that process almost impossible.

The first thing to do, is to calm the child down and reassure them that everything is OK. (even if you know things may not be that way, a little white lie can help out tremendously here. You can be realistic, but try to remain positive). If you have something that can help distract them while you gather your thoughts and make a game plan that would be helpful (Favorite toys, card games, puzzles, etc) Anything to distract them from the severity of the event and gives you time.

The MOST important thing though is to retain your composure. If your kids sees you flipping out and losing it, then they will respond accordingly.

Normalcy is important for prolonged exposure to the event aftermath. Include the kids in whatever you're doing so they feel like they are a helpful part.

The Red Cross states that after a disaster, children are most afraid that--

The event will happen again.
Someone will be injured or killed.
They will be separated from the family.
They will be left alone.

They have a nice section for parent (which i am including here)

Prepare for Disaster
You can create a Family Disaster Plan and practice it so that everyone will remember what to do when a disaster does occur.

Contact your local emergency management or civil defense office, or your local Red Cross chapter for materials that describe how your family can create a disaster plan. Everyone in the household, including children, should play a part in the family's response and recovery efforts.

Teach your child how to recognize danger signals. Make sure your child knows what smoke detectors, fire alarms and local community warning systems (horns, sirens) sound like.

Explain how to call for help. Teach your child how and when to call for help. Check the telephone directory for local emergency phone numbers and post these phone numbers by all telephones. If you live in a 9-1-1 service area, tell your child to call 9-1-1. Even very young children can be taught how and when to call for emergency assistance.

Help your child memorize important family information. Children should memorize their family name, address and phone number. They should also know where to meet in case of an emergency. Some children may not be old enough to memorize the information. They could carry a small index card that lists emergency information to give to an adult or babysitter.

After the Disaster: Time for Recovery
Immediately after the disaster, try to reduce your child's fear and anxiety.

Keep the family together. While you look for housing and assistance, you may want to leave your children with relatives or friends. Instead, keep the family together as much as possible and make children a part of what you are doing to get the family back on its feet. Children get anxious, and they'll worry that their parents won't return.

Calmly and firmly explain the situation. As best as you can, tell children what you know about the disaster. Explain what will happen next. For example, say, "Tonight, we will all stay together in the shelter." Get down to the child's eye level and talk to him or her.

Encourage children to talk. Let children talk about the disaster and ask questions as much as they want. Encourage children to describe what they're feeling. Listen to what they say. If possible, include the entire family in the discussion.

Include children in recovery activities. Give children chores that are their responsibility. This will help children feel they are part of the recovery. Having a task will help them understand that everything will be all right.

You can help children cope by understanding what causes their anxieties and fears. Reassure them with firmness and love. Your children will realize that life will eventually return to normal. If a child does not respond to the above suggestions, seek help from a mental health specialist or a member of the clergy.

There is some great resources on disaster preparedness at: http://www.redcross.org/pubs/dspubs/genprep.html

~ Rob

It starts...

2008-07-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally have some time to sit down and start this blog off. If some of you are here from RobertRicks.com this may be a bit of a surprise. This is my blog, but it deals more with disaster preparedness then it does design or websites.

There's a couple of reasons for this.

#1) There are a tons of good designer resources out there in the blogsphere and the net, and even though I'm good at it, that's not what's on my top list of most important things to be discussing.

#2) I want to have something that I believe in floating around for people to read. While discussing the pros and cons of Mac/PCs and their strengths and weaknesses might be entertaining, I'd rather discuss the problem with fresh drinking water becoming more and more of an issue.

First off I wanted to explain what RAIMAZ is. RAIMAZ is a word I made up from the letters of my family. Rob And Irene Maile Angel Zach. Since my family is the most important thing in the world to me, and is what inspires me to try to change the world, I figured I name the company after them. RAIMAZ.com is the website where you'll be able to buy disaster kits, and other goodies whose purpose it is to keep you alive...

I'll have news, reviews and views here as the days go by.

I welcome any feedback and love heated debates. So don't be shy, if you agree or disagree let's open it up for discussion.

Thanks for your time!

~ Rob