Where Are You...Are You Okay?

Welcome back at the end of this Halloween week.  I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday.  As I watched others dress up for parties and trick-or-treating I saw some very creative costumes that allowed the wearers to pretend to be someone they are not.  It seems that a common theme recently is to dress up like zombies (I’m not sure any of us really know what that means); probably a throwback to the numerous zombie-pocalypse B-movies that have come and gone through recent years.  The question remains, are you ready for the next zombie-pocalypse that comes to your town?  All kidding aside, the real question is, are you ready for whatever type of emergency does come your way?
Last week in my post I mentioned that I wanted to take a few posts to address the staples we need in our storage and what we need to do to be ready.  Probably the supply item that you will need first and foremost is the water I wrote of last week.  With that covered, let me move on to another part of the preparations you will need to make to be ready.  I think that whenever we hear “emergency preparedness,” those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (that is likely to me most all of those who are looking at this BLOG) tend to think of food storage.  Let’s face it, we have been hearing that call to action for as long as we can remember.  As critical as that is, I think I’ll leave that discussion for another week.  I’d like to mention some of the preparations that are usually given minor attention, but could be life savers if you have established a plan ahead of time.  Let’s consider the following:

Communication: 

What is the first thing you will want to do following a natural or man-made emergency, once you determine you have survived the initial event?  I don’t know about you, but my first thoughts will be to my family.  I have one child who lives in Springville, UT, about 80 miles to the south, two who are in the local area a few miles away and another who lives in Providence, UT about 60 miles to the north.  Chances are that if calamity strikes here, some or all of them will in some way be impacted; so naturally I am going to call them to check on their status and report mine to them.  In this age of expected instant gratification, we feel it is our right to reach out via whatever means possible to obtain whatever information we desire.  For most of us today, that comes through the use of our wireless or cellular phones.  These are wonderful devices, but could be of limited utility during a natural disaster.  Depending on the nature of the emergency, wireless and cellular transmission services may or may not be available. 

Whatever type of phone you chose to use, try to limit any calls to passing only pertinent information to keep from contributing to the inevitable phone line clogging that will occur.  One thing to remember when planning your preparations, is that all phones today rely on power to operate.  In the days of my youth, the hard line phones we had hanging in our homes supplied their own power, so when the house power was lost for any reason, we almost always could still use the phone.  With the cordless home phones in wide use today, most use house power to operate, with some using a battery backup.  These phones may have limited utility if the batteries are not kept charged.  Many households today are opting to forgo the land line phones in favor of a cellular only option.  Again, their utility is limited by the life of their batteries and the capacity of the cellular transmission facilities in your area. 

Possibly a more effective means of communicating during or following a disaster is through the use of text messaging.  Text messaging uses internet protocols to transmit, and may have greater availability than voice calls.  A delay in delivery may occur depending on the amount of other users, but using text messaging will allow you to leave messages and not have to be on your phone continuously.  For non-emergency calls, text messaging is probably a better option than voice calls.
Another method of reaching you loved ones is also based on IP resources.  With the popularity of social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter etc), these can be effective means through which you can reach others.  Posting messages and photographs will allow others to be reassured of your status and let them know you are alright. 

Meeting Place

Despite good intentions, all electronic communication channels are frequently unavailable during major disasters.  Your cell phone channels are blocked with overloaded use, the internet is absent because of distribution hubs being impacted by the disaster, or for any number of other reasons you can’t communicate using technology.  An effective means of determining the status of your loved ones is to plan prioritized meeting sites where everyone can meet in the event you cannot reach them in any other way.  These meeting places should be central to the family and as convenient as possible.  Begin with a location that is inside your home and then work your way toward sites that are further and further away.  For example:

            Meeting Place #1:  Inside your House
            Meeting Place #2:  Directly Outside Your House
            Meeting Place #3:  In Your Neighborhood
            Meeting Place #4:  Out of Town

A good explanation of how to best identify these venues is found on the Ready Set Go Kits website at the following address: 

 http://readysetgokitsdisasterplan.com/how-to-create-a-family-emergency-meeting-place/?p=N .

Knowing the potential limitations of whatever communications medium you choose, is important to ensure you are prepared and can reach your loved ones.  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have published “Tips For Communicating During An Emergency,” that will help you know how to prepare your communication links that will be so critical in the first hours following an emergency.

So what is your plan?

Plan now for the eventual emergency that may critically impact your life.