Be Ready to Shiver and Shake!

by Bob Buddemeier

The week containing the third Thursday in October is designated Preparedness Week by RVM Emergency Management and the Residents’ Preparedness Group

What for, and why then?  The what for is to GET AND KEEP all of us ready to deal with emergencies or disasters.  It’s challenging enough to get people to learn what to do to protect themselves and their neighbors, but the effort can’t end there.  Over time, food goes out of date, batteries discharge – and it’s not just your supplies, it’s your knowledge and reflexes that fade as well. Needed:  refreshers, reminders, stimulation, examples, and a modicum of nagging.   So we try to do this every 6 months – October and April.

The Short Term Sure Thing  Part of the choice of times is based on the change of seasons.  Both hazards and necessary responses shift over the course of the year.  This is the time to think about being ready for the usually (but not always) moderate problems and inconveniences that are often related to seasonal characteristics

For the next several months, it will be dark a lot, pretty cold sometimes, possibly wet, and with some storms.  Plus, we can expect things like power outages and travel disruptions, both local and at a broader scale.  Are you ready?

Sorry, knowing how to find the light switch, the thermostat, and the dining room is not an adequate answer.  If you have just forgotten a lot of the details and techniques, telling you again probably won’t implant the necessary information into your head.  So, here is your take-home exam—and remember, some combination of Nature and Fate will give you your final grade.

Think of all of the ramifications of not having electricity  —

No light for 26-27 hours/day.

No heat (gas furnaces and water heaters don’t light themselves)

No information and limited communication (TV, internet, maybe landlines off).

Do you know what you need to have?  Do you have it?  Does it work?  Can you use it?  And in case you expect to be taken care of, let’s assume this is all due to a major storm that keeps RVM employees from getting in to work to pamper and protect you.  It’s not so much that Fortune favors the prepared as that she discriminates actively and sometimes viciously against the unprepared.

The Longer Term Long Shot  The other reason for preparedness review in mid-late October is The Great Shakeout.  You didn’t know?  Oh dear.  It is an international celebration of preparation for a serious earthquake – which we will definitely have here in Oregon at some time (exact date uncertain).  Usually the “Duck, Cover, and Hold” exercise is held on that third Thursday, but this year the earthquake gods have graciously ceded the date to the Opportunity Fair (see article elsewhere in this issue).

Now preparing for a major earthquake is a bigger deal than being ready for a few days of power outage, but we don’t have to overcomplicate the preparation exercise.  To the No-No-No sequence for electricity, just add the following:

No running water

No emergency services

No transportation (including highways and streets that are passable)

No stores, financial transactions, or transport of supplies.

Then, imagine those conditions continuing for 1-2 weeks.  NOW, do you know what you need to have?  Do you have it?  Does it work?  Can you use it?

For information on preparedness, consult https://thecomplement.info/2022/08/07/rpg-manual-resident-preparedness-2/ or the emergency Preparedness Tab on the MyRVM main menu.