Self-reliance

We attended a fireside last night on Emergency Preparedness—or rather, Self Reliance, and heard some pretty scary statistics. For instance, pandemic flu’s go in cycles, and we’re overdue by 15 years. Scientists say that for sure, within the next 10 years California will have an 8.3 to 8.5 magnitude earthquake. Southern Californians live in a desert-there’s no other word for it, and if the power were to go out (like with an E M P—causing ALL electronic devices to stop working), we wouldn’t have water or use of toilets –both moved along the system by electric pumps. We heard about these and other fearful stuff.

The main point was to be as self-reliant as possible. Our speaker was Kory Mikesell, who teaches Preparedness 101 classes, and has some of his lectures on Youtube. I pass along the top 4 things you need to be self-reliant.

1. Store water, as much as you can—at least 2 gallons per person for two weeks. As learned from hurricane Katrina, no one is going to be able to bring you water for ages. Terrorists can also target our water supplies. Store water—lots! Also, you don’t need to add chlorine, our water is already chlorinated and will store for 2 years.

2. (Two and Three are a tie actually). Store food, preferably food you eat, and that doesn’t need much preparation. Have at least a 3-month’s supply. Be prepared to share with your neighbors. (One man stores canned peaches. Another had MRE’s. My husband likes oatmeal, so we have oats as one of our staples.)

3. Have a port-a-potty. I didn’t know that it’s a law in California that you cannot bury waste in your yard—or anywhere within 300 feet of a dwelling. People in uniform will come and forcibly make you evacuate if you dig a waste hole. You must have plastic trash bags, something to deodorize (like baking soda, or enzyme packets), and a bucket with a seat attached, lined with said trash bags. Toilets most likely will not work in a big emergency. California has an emergency provision, and trucks will eventually come by to pick up your potty bags. Like I said, this one is tied in importance with storing food. Oh yeah, store baby wipes too.

4. Have a plan. If there’s a huge earthquake, 10% of all freeway bridges in CA will collapse. What’s your plan for getting home from work? Do you know all of the alternate routes? Will you stop at certain churches each day on your trek home…? Which out-of-state contact will your family members have? Do you have a neighbor to partner with if your house is unlivable? Etc., etc. Have a family plan.

Kory noted that we are all addicts. We are addicted to electricity. What provisions do you have for an outage that lasts….2 weeks…? Do you have those wind-up flashlights and radios? Kerosene lamps? (etc., etc.)

At our women’s organization at church, we’ve been reminded to do something each week to help us be self-reliant. That’s my challenge to you too.

.........................................................................................