We live on the 14th floor, if a quake hits at night we never gone make it out, either the building collapses or not, in either case we don’t need a quake disaster pack …
You are on average safer in a tall building than a short one. The foundations of tall building are far far deeper and therefore less likely to colapse than say a 5 story building.
You are on average safer in a tall building than a short one. The foundations of tall building are far far deeper and therefore less likely to colapse than say a 5 story building.[/quote]
No need for a bag … everything is in the house …
I’m with Belgian Pie. If the house doesn’t fall down, chances are one of the 7-11s will be left standing as well.
I used to think that but if the house has no power or electricity, your fridge is destroyed, and worse, you need to be evacuated out of the area, which is likely in the event of a bad earthquake, then having a quick survival pack is useful.
Fact is too, a quake could hit just when you were about to go out shopping for food, again leaving you very unprepared. And what about water? In a bad quake you simply are not going to have in flowing through the pipes.
I guess I’m no longer willing to play the odds anymore.
I think the joking in that thread was more about keeping it under the bed, rather than just making sure that you’ve got all the supplies around. No one doubts the need to have all the stuff.
I’m trying to collect the stuff in single bag because, while I know where the flashlights, batteries, Swiss army knife, documents, meal bars, gas stove, etc. are, I’m not sure my wife does.
I should also get a few of the big 4L bottles of water and just put them in the bottom of a cupboard. We get five big 20L bottles of water delivered at a time, and most of the time we’ve got full bottles, but of course the problems would hit when we’re on the last one…
If I need to get out of the building in a hurry, I’m probably dead anyway because (a) I doubt I could get out in time (7th floor), and (b) I’m foolish/ sentimental enough to try to grab the cats, and there’s absolutely no way they’d be sensible enough to let me do that.
Or of course I could just leave them in their carry cages every night, but I doubt that’d go over very well.
Just what are “good” foods to keep in near-permanent storage, if you may or may not have a way to cook? I suppose those canned beans would provide sustenance, but I’m not sure if I’d call them palatable. Camping meals… how are they with tepid water added? We’ve always got granola bars and the like around. If power’s out, there’s usually a few days worth of food in the freezer that we’d have to eat as it defrosts.
Slate’s decent article about this:
slate.com/id/2288031/
Just curious? When doing the emergency bag thing - do you keep your passports/id along with it? Have you guys made laminated IDs for the kiddos with the parents’ name etc. and who to contact in an emergency and/or family (who live abroad) particulars ?? Is there a need for this??
Photocopies of ID and passports, definitely. The actual documents, maybe. (I probably will if I ever do collect everything in one bag.) Printouts of phone numbers are a good idea: I don’t know ANY phone numbers anymore, including my own; remember as well that you can’t assume your partner knows the information that you know.
I hadn’t thought about how to handle children - don’t have any yet.
Does anyone know if there are good hand-crank radios available in Taiwan? This model, the Eton Link, is recommended by Slate and costs $30 from amazon.com - which doesn’t help us here:
amazon.com/FR160B-Microlink- … 001QTXKB0/
Also note that it’s important to make plans for what everyone will do: get home? Go to the in-laws? Who will you contact? How will you contact them? Does everyone have contact information?
I have the impression that text messages are more likely to work than phone calls in the event of a disaster and clogged lines, but I may be way off on that: I believe in Japan the internet stayed up through the quake, while the phone lines were down.
Tangentially related to this: I spent some time this afternoon adding a lot of personal info to Evernote: photos of my passport, ARC, and so on. That way they’re available wherever I have an internet connection, as well as on my iPhone, which is somewhat reassuring both in event of disaster and when travelling. (I confess I’m not sure about the security/ ID theft implications of this.)
Have two such bags: one for home and one for work.
It could make a good project for the weekend.[/quote]
My cubicle is already a disaster area.
Anyways, I’ve got water, snacks, a change of clothes, towels, medicines, first aid kit, knives… So workplace is covered.
Question: regarding home -and that suggestion of dried meals you add water to, they were showing them on TV, sale at 100nts- or rather evacuating from home: what would be the safest way to warm water? Please do not say camping gas stives, I’m terrified of those things. Same with huoguo packs. Any alternatives?
Camping stoves are terrifying? I think you have the old type in mind. I have a stove that’s just a tiny connector and three metal pieces where the pot sits. The connector screws into a little cannister of natural gas. You turn on the nozzle and light it. That’s it.
For bread, try those packaged german loafs at Breeze. They stay fresh for years I think.
There are many factors determining whether a building will collapse. The primary factors are the frequency of the resonance of the building, the construction materials and methods/codes to which the building was built to, the type of land the building is built upon and the lateral sheer strength of the building. In taller buildings, the latter point is of greater concern as the taller the building is, the more it will sway, and the more load is put on the overall structure. Much of the time, it is pot-luck, which is why your building may collapse while your neighbours watch from the space under their piano.
As with survival kits and alike, it takes something like the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami to kick people into gear. But I can guarantee that for many people, in a few months when nothing has happened here in Taiwan, the following will apply:
One night, it will be raining and there will be no food in the house, but you’ll remember the beef flavour instant noodles in the emergency box. An egg from the fridge will be cracked and added to the steaming concoction of carcinogens and e-numbers.
Another night, you’ll have a DVD to watch, but the batteries in the remote control will be dead, even after rotating them and rolling them around in the casing. Because it is late and you are slightly drunk, you’ll pillage the batteries from the flashlight in the emergency box.
They’ll never be replaced.
If you smoke, the lighters will steadily disappear.
That emergency, dehydrated Malaysian braised chicken and rat astronaught food will look very appetizing on a lazy Monday night, when all the options left open to you outside are dumplings or a long walk to Mos Burger.
The wife will use the bottled water, as the Brita filter is overdue and she will forget to get a new one when she pops into Carrefour.
And how the hell do you use a first-aid box?
Anyway, you need the plasters to cover the cut in your finger that was made by the scissors, of which should also be found in the first aid box, but are being used for the benefit of your toenails. The bandages will be used for something stupid, like tying the dog up. The box will finally be used to store sewing needles, half-dead batteries and an assortment of random things that were found under the sofa.
The kids will take an interest in the radio - and then break it. The water purification tablets will be taken out for a camping trip, but then left in your jacket pocket, and then they will purify the inside of the washing machine when your wife washes the jacket and forgets to check the pockets. The cat will use the firelighters as fake mice.
You get the picture - complacency sets in when the effects of a disaster wear off and things get back to normal. Anyway, it will never happen to you.
Or me.
I don’t want to sound like a know-all, but here are a few things for consideration which I try to adhere to myself:
It’s all very well having emergency kits, but if an emergency of whatever scale happens, it is surprising how quickly items in a survival kit can deplete, especially if somebody is injured. A survival/emergency kit can help in the initial stages of a disaster, but when the emergency services are inundated with flooding, fires and are busy transporting politicians to airbases so they can flee to the States, the prospect of you being rescued or placed in an emergency shelter any time soon is slim.
Secondary problems with supply chains, lack of food and water and possibly shelter, plus the threat of disease and social unrest can make life very uncomfortable.
If you have an emergency kit, learn how to use it and plan on how to ration it, put it in an easy to reach place and leave it alone - or don’t get one at all.
Learn basic first aid. Even if you really are out of your depth, applying a bandage in the right place - even if it doesn’t help, will boost moral and help to pull people through.
If you do know first aid, then keep up to date. Practice on a live specimen. They can be found in a crumpled lump under a taxi most days here in Taiwan. Carry a small first aid kit around and stop to help occasionally - you are unlikely to incur any of the famous suing problems that most locals fear here, and if you do, just tell them to f@ck off.
Buy a couple of kerosene lanterns and two or three 4l cans of kerosene. It is really cheap, and so are the lamps. These are great because they use very little fuel, but can supply a good source of constant light - even in bad weather. They can be used as a heat source indoors as the fumes are not that much of a big deal, and with a little ingenuity, can be modified to heat water.
Learn to cook outside using basic methods. It can be fun, and a camping trip can be used as an excuse to practice.
Get some hexi-burners (if you don’t know what they are, google) - they are good for emergency cooking.
Learn how to filter water without using purification tablets. Learn how to trap rainwater.
A good knife will come in handy - it’s actually essential. A foil emergency blanket works wonders.
I could go on, but the main thing is to be prepared, and be prepared for a waiting game after the main event. If possible, keep fit, plan for the unthinkable and keep your skills up if you can. When forced into a situation, you will adapt. But planning now will make it much easier, both physically and mentally, if and when the time comes.
Learn how to use your kit effectively. Check it’s condition regularly.
And don’t let the threat of a disaster rule your life. If it comes, it comes, and there is sweet F A you can do about it.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]Camping stoves are terrifying? I think you have the old type in mind. I have a stove that’s just a tiny connector and three metal pieces where the pot sits. The connector screws into a little cannister of natural gas. You turn on the nozzle and light it. That’s it.
For bread, try those packaged german loafs at Breeze. They stay fresh for years I think.[/quote]
Bad memories from back home. Any tips on how to buy good, safe ones? Will the ones at the camping stores be betetr than those at the hypermarket?
We are leaving. Tomorrow the moving company is coming and packing us. That’s to serious to be around.
If you know anyone in biochemistry field, go and ask.
And 2000 km is nothing.
nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world … 5fuel.html
I just wanna know how to remove those unsightly nuclear stains. I read somewhere that vinegar works on things like that.
[quote=“horo36”]We are leaving. Tomorrow the moving company is coming and packing us. That’s to serious to be around.
If you know anyone in biochemistry field, go and ask.
And 2000 km is nothing.
nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world … 5fuel.html[/quote]
Yes. I’d say if you can, you probably should, especially if you have kids.
Even in the risk-denial context of the nuclear industry, its barely credible that the spent fuel pool is on top of the reactor. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know that.
Going where? Australia? Europe, Africa, or South America? Eastern North America?
Given the prevailing winds, it’s likely far worse to be on the west coast of NA. And your flight path?
Thats what I was thinking too.
You have chosen to leave your life in Taiwan and move to another country because of a nuclear power plant problem 2000km away, when the prevailing winds would blow any problem away from us? Have I got that right? Of course I can understand you wanting to take care of your family, but don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction?
Do you also suggest that everyone in Japan, Korea, eastern China, Taiwan, and the west coast of North America do the same? “Hello, American Midwest, this is China and Japan calling. We hear your towns have emptied out. Do you mind if we move in?”
You have chosen to leave your life in Taiwan and move to another country because of a nuclear power plant problem 2000km away, when the prevailing winds would blow any problem away from us? Have I got that right? Of course I can understand you wanting to take care of your family, but don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction?
Do you also suggest that everyone in Japan, Korea, eastern China, Taiwan, and the west coast of North America do the same? “Hello, American Midwest, this is China and Japan calling. We hear your towns have emptied out. Do you mind if we move in?”[/quote]
Yes, we are leaving. And I dont suggest anyone to do anything. I just do what I think is right for me and my family. We leave to Europe. I know you cant save everyone. I am not an idealist. I am sorry for those that got or will get effected. I already had my Chernobyl in my life. Once is enough.
2000 km is nothing in these circumstances. Winds are part of the problem, they won’t stay forever in this direction. Sea water is contaminated, it means no fish anymore. Who is going to tell Japanese not to eat sushi??? No one. That’s the scary part. No one will say anything. No one wants the panic to spread. I don’t blame them. As you said, you can’t move away so many people. They must stay, where they are.
Once is more than enough.
Luck.