I had my wake up call....Now help me prepare

Kodiak PA

Kodiak PA

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 3, 1998
Messages
2,445
Hi guys,
We had a 7.2 here on Monday. Really woke my lame butt up. We have Tsunami alarm drills here every Wednesday at 2PM which up until now I completely disgarded as a "routine siren". Luckily this quake occurred on land and no tsunami (tidal wave) was generated. There was limited damage and no injuries.

Well now, I am getting ready. I will be putting together a survival bag and I am starting to run the kids through some drills. They say that we would have 15 minutes to get to high ground here if a tsunami generated earthquake occurs. The last major one to occur was in 1964 which destroyed a large portion of town and had 11 deaths.

I would appreciate any advice on survival gear, which food stuffs to pack, which book(s) to read, etc. I would also like to hear from anyone who has gone through some type of rurual disaster and if you would like to share your advice either on the forum or a private email, I would appreciate it.

I won't live in fear, but I want to be as ready as I can.

Thanks,
KnifeKnutt@aol.com


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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

 
Oh yeah...the first thing I noticed was that even though the phone lines weren't dead I couldn't call my wife to check up on her since all we own were cordless phones and since the power was out...no phone service.

First learned lesson.
 
deleted.

[This message has been edited by jrf (edited 12-26-2000).]
 
Greg,

I slept right through that earthquake
biggrin.gif
I would have been completely oblivious to it until the nightly news if my wife didn't call me.

We use to have a 72-hour kit in the trunk of our car. Complete with battery lanterns and flashlights. It has been raided so many times while camping it is useless now. Need a new one. The biggest thing this time of year is warmth. Keep fire starters and emergency blankets handy. Haven't been to Kodiak so I don't know what the emergency services are like there. It would be conceiveable that you would be on your own for a day or two. So enough food and water is needed.

I'm still trying to decide on communication also. The phone lines can easily be overwhelmed. Since cell phones use those phonelines they become useless also. Those little Motorola Talkabouts don't have much range. I'm thinking about a satellite phone for emergencies. Don't know about pricing though. I'm sure when the SHTF price won't matter.

When my wife was going to college she did a paper on earthquakes and talked to the geology professor. He said that Anchorage is overdue for a "big one". As in 8.0 or bigger.

Hang On!

------------------
"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb
 
Good advice all. I appreciate it. Feel free to keep it coming.

The flashlight near the bed idea is very sound and I do have 2 of them. One a mini-mag, the other a larger waterproof light. All emergency lighting got new batteries today.

Dave, I was surprised to see that the Anchorage news barely evern mentioned the earthquake. You'd figure a 7.2 would have gotten more attention than that. I too, have heard about "the big one" coming.

Today I upgraded our survival kit. So far it has:
-CS Voyager
-Kershaw Multitool
-Buck 105 Fixed blade
-Emergency pounchos (3)
-Emergency blankets (3)
-Handwarmers
-Waterproof matches
-Fire starter logs (the small kind)
-Hand sanitizer
-Water purifier tabs
-binoculars
-lanyards
-some food and plasticware
-diamnond stone sharpeners
-Mini-mag
-Water proof flashlight
-Small utility light-All have new batteries
-fish hooks
-garbage bags (I read that they can be very useful for emergency shelters)
There is more but I can't remember off the top of my head.

I plan on keeping the kit in my Durango since I figure that car is always with me or very close to where I am unless I am deep in the wilds. If I am in the woods, then I am usually up on a mountain so I/we would be safe.

My next project is getting each family member to pack a emergency kit full of extra cloths, toiletries, underware, etc. Including something to keep the kids occupied. I'm going to get some plastic containers they sell here that look like ammo bins and fill them with food and water. Also adding a medical kit. I bought a book today on Amazon also.

The advice about warm gear is very good and taking the warning seriously will not go unheeded by this boy.

Thanks for all the advice.

------------------
~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

 
A small camp stove is one of the most useful
tool you can probably have other that a knife and with the veh. and all not hard to
carry extra fuel. I haven't been checking
out this site much or the info available on
videos etc. but one of the best fire starters
in wet and or cold weather is a fussie or
road flare in most instances you don't need tinder. You do need ventilation. it works for signal also.

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http://www.imt.net/~goshawk
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!
Romans 10:9,10
Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 91



[This message has been edited by goshawk (edited 13 December 1999).]
 
Lots of good info at www.equipped.com Primarily geared toward aviation survival but also has a fairly comprehensive list geared toward earthquake preparedness.

Look under Disaster kits.

[This message has been edited by Steve6 (edited 16 December 1999).]
 
Gregg,
Off the top of my head the only thing that jumps out at me would be more cordage. On your list I see 'lanyards', but I would be thinking about 100 ft[or more] of 550['PARA'] cord would be a good start. On of the more advanced experts on this forum can probally go into the virtues of paracord better than I, but the stuff has a million uses. Its light, realtively strong, and rolls up into a small buddle.

Maybe a shelter, like a tent, or even just a tarp that could be strung between trees for a shelter. There goes another use for the paracord
wink.gif
.

------------------
Stay Sharp!
Will Fennell
Camillus Cutlery


 
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