I've spoken to a few people who were some of the first outside responders to New Orleans after Katrina. They indicated that most of the city residents did not have the ability to feed themselves for three days or live without power or water service for the same period of time. They then blamed government agencies for their plight.
It is hard for me to relate to this attitude as I'm fairly well prepared for "come what may." I've lived at high elevations in snow country in remote locations for nearly 35 years. Out of necessity you have a pantry that is fairly well stocked at all times. Rural homes quite often feature walk in pantries. It is just a way of life outside cities. In rural areas we expect to have roads closed and electricity off for many days even during average winters.
The town I live in has a high number of recent "urban refugees" that don't have a lot of rural living experience. They made a run on the only grocery store (a Von's store) in town before the January 4-5 storm that the National Weather Service issued warnings for. The item that ran out first was bread. That section of the store was barren 24-36 hours before the arrival of the storm. Now the joke around the county is "a big snowstorm is coming, quick, let's go to Von's and buy bread!"
A good way to be prepared is to buy a backpacking stove, preferably one that uses pressurized canisters, and stock up on freeze dried backpacking food. It is light and compact and doesn't require the use of plates or putting the ingredients in a pan. You pour boiling water into the food container and eat out of it too. This is important as cleaning plates and pans requires more water, which is very important to conserve during survival periods. Backpacking food is pretty tasty and has come a long way since I started backpacking in 1963. The menu choices are plentiful, with desserts and snacks available also. The pressurized stoves work better inside a house as white gas backpacking stoves can sometimes flare up and doing so inside a house can be uncomfortable. A large Coleman camping stove, the old reliable two burner, works quite well inside a home as long as some ventilation of outside air is available.
You can buy fairly inexpensive packs to keep your backpacking food and stove in. That helps you be prepared for being evacuated from your home during times when outside help for shelters is not available. It should have enough food and water to sustain you for 72 hours. This pack is often referred to as a "grab and go kit."
Military and wildland fire type meals called Meals, Ready to Eat, or MRE's are available to civilians through emergency preparedness stores and websites. A Google search using the words "Emergency Preparedness Supplies" will net many. MRE's have the advantage of not needing a stove as heat packs are supplied in them. They don't taste as good as backpacking food, but have the advantages of being small and self-contained.
Another item being sold by these suppliers is water contained in pouches. These are quite easy to pack as they can fill up small spaces in a pack that are usually wasted. I have a grab and go that has enough water to supply two people with food and water for three days following the guideline of a gallon of water per day for each person. I could not even come close to being able to do that without pouch water. It has a shelf life of 5 years, far better than the 6-12 months for tap water stored in various hypes of containers. .
People with camping gear and experience find it easier to be prepared, especially those with a fair amount of backpacking experience. Many of the folks in New Orleans must not have this type of experience.
A Google search using "emergency preparedness" will yield a great deal of good information. After all my years of backpacking, patrolling remote country, and being on wildland fires I found that some of the literature I located doing such a search suggested many preparedness items I would not have thought about having in my kits. I recommend spending some time reading the available material.
One last thought - make sure you have a good handheld scanner and lots of batteries. We all know how valuable they can be during disasters and large incidents that are affecting us.
__________________
Exsmokey
“We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.” Stewart L. Udall
Last edited by Exsmokey; 02-23-2008 at 02:30 AM..
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