we are ready, though not prepared.
Ain't that the truth. I present that truth in every presentation.
What is individual preparation and when should a family make their preparations? Does anyone here know a family that is doing something different today because we are at orange vs yesterday's yellow? What would Homeland Security have us do?
The Homeland Security instructions for yellow are:
"The following may be applied:
Increasing surveillance of critical locations;
Coordinating emergency plans with nearby jurisdictions;
Assessing further refinement of Protective Measures within the context of the current threat information; and
Implementing, as appropriate, contingency and emergency response plans."
The guidance for orange offers this:
"The following may be applied:
Coordinating necessary security efforts with armed forces or law enforcement agencies;
Taking additional precaution at public events;
Preparing to work at an alternate site or with a dispersed workforce; and Restricting access to essential personnel only."
That guidance offers nothing for families and is why the color-code is joked about. For all Tom Ridge's TV time, the average American does not know what to do.
I propose one level of preparedness for families regardless of color-code.
Be Prepared...period.
Becoming prepared is not difficult, not expensive and does not take a lot of effort. Once prepared, a family is prepared for all emergencies. Excellent information on family preparedness can be found at the Red Cross website for free. I do not recommend the Homeland Security website because I have found 5 glaring errors there. (Yes, I have reported them.)
I believe most are making the mistake of doing nothing because they can only do a little.
They do not realize a little PREparedness at the onset of an emergency is a huge advantage.
There are 120 hide and survive sites around the country for federal officials and their families. These are fully stocked with survival gear, medicine, rations and water. Unfortunately, I have not yet been given a key. So I have provided my own supplies and a plan for my family.
Poet asked me to post the info for all. That is not possible since the book is 60 pages and the Fallout Zone Calculator is a plastic tool. You need both to comprehend my family plan. FWIW, I get no personal gain, from the now substantial sales, as I have and continue to donate everything to the SFA Refugee Resettlement Program.
Since Kumar lives a mere two miles from a nuclear plant, I am mailing him the info today. Perhaps he can comment on it after he gets it. In the meantime think about this:
America has 103 Operating Nuclear Power Plants
217 Research Reactors
6 Reactors Used For Weapon Fuel
70 Nuclear Reactors Shut Down
We have even more sites for:
Nuclear fuel storage
Nuclear weapon storage
Nuclear waste storage
The same field expedient methods used to determine a likely fallout zone and (more importantly) the best escape routes from a nuclear incident can also be used for chemical and biological incidents.
My book and presentations contain hundreds of tips. My favorite is this: Visit your child's school today and learn their emergency plan before an incident occurs. Most schools now have terrorist incident evacuation plans that take them away from the property. To successfully rendezvous with your kid, you need to find out where they plan to go before an incident. After 9/11, phones, including cell phones, did not work for days in Manhattan .
uw |
