Why Prepare?

Greetings!
Preparation for emergencies is preparing for ANYTHING that can affect the NORMAL ROUTINE in your DAILY LIFE. I have been promoting emergency home preparation for the past several years and have attended many national Emergency Management conferences. This is not a concern due to ‘Paranoia aka a “paranoid power trip”‘, ‘Christian Hype’, ‘Extremism’ and a sundry of other excuses that many have often referred to. Emergency Managers and Emergency agencies are aware of the many situations that families can find them selves from something as ‘simple’ as a loss of jobs to an extreme situation from weather, disaster or terrorism. The scale of emergencies is wide.

The people who refer to themselves as ‘Preppers’ have looked at current world and weather events, evaluated the risk at hand (given our ‘just in time’ supply for daily goods and taken the advice of the agencies to prepared.

Preparation can be as simple as 2-weeks of supplies in hand (IN ADDITION to what is currently in your household) or you can prepare for the extended lengths of time that others have mentioned in these posts. Preparation should be what you can afford and what you feel comfortable with, knowing that what preparations you HAVE made can only help your family, when you find yourself in need.

Homeland Security, FEMA and the American Red Cross have ALL been advocating home preparedness in more recent years, with programs like the ‘Be Ready’ campaign. They have openly suggested that households prepare from 3 days to 2 weeks AT THE MINIMUM. If they suggested anything further it would turn people off even considering emergency home preparation because they would be overwhelmed at the mere thought of preparation. Unfortunately, their message has been a relatively quiet one, so many folks may have missed it. See American Red Cross/FEMA: Food and Water in an Emergency http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf (page 4) See Homeland Security (Ready.gov): Get a Kit
http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit

And if you think that in a significant disaster/emergency there WILL be goods in stores, the American Trucking Industry has advised that there will NOT be sufficient supplies WITHIN 24 HOURS! See: ‘When Trucks Stop America Stops’ http://www.truckline.com/Newsroom/Trucks%20Are/When%20Trucks%20Stop%20America%20Stops.pdf .

If you are taking the time to visit EHP and are realizing that this may be a venture that you want to undertake in your own home, you can also visit sites like our sister site, http://www.EmergencyHomePreparation.org, http://www.thesurvivalmom.com and other sites to develop your own balanced decision on emergency home preparation for ALL hazards that can affect your lifestyle.

Additonal Consideration: Watch this video:

It Doesn’t Take Much For People To Start Behaving Like Crazed Lunatics
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/it-doesnt-take-much-for-people-to-start-behaving-like-crazed-lunatics_022014#sthash.AEB8Jb1q.dpuf

If an ice storm can cause this much panic in our major cities, what will a real crisis look like? The biggest news story in the United States right now is the “historic ice storm” that is hammering the South. Travel will be a nightmare, schools and businesses will be closed, and hundreds of thousands of people will lose power. In fact, it is being projected that some people could be without power for up to a week. But at the end of the day, the truth is that this ice storm is just an inconvenience. Yes, the lives of millions of Americans will be disrupted for a few days, but soon the ice will melt and life will be back to normal. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for people to start behaving like crazed lunatics. As you will see below, the winter weather is causing average Americans to ransack grocery stores, fight over food items and even pull guns on one another. If this is how people will behave during a temporary weather emergency, how will they behave when we are facing a real disaster. --- CONTINUED at LINK, above ---

Prepared by the American Trucking Associations

When Trucks Stop, America Stops
http://www.trucking.org/NR/rdonlyres/5E2BCA15-7C12-43CA-9F82-154A5A7A2F3C/0/WhenTrucksStopAmericaStops.pdf

A Timeline Showing the Deterioration of Major Industries Following a Truck Stoppage

The first 24 hours

• Delivery of medical supplies to the affected area will cease.
  
• Hospitals will run out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters within hours. Radio
     pharmaceuticals will deteriorate and become unusable.
  
• Service stations will begin to run out of fuel.
  
• Manufacturers using just-in-time manufacturing will develop component shortages.
  
• U.S. mail and other package delivery will cease.
  

Within one day

• Food shortages will begin to develop.
  
• Automobile fuel availability and delivery will dwindle, leading to skyrocketing prices and long
     lines at the gas pumps.
  
• Without manufacturing components and trucks for product delivery, assembly lines will shut
     down, putting thousands out of work
  

Within two to three days

• Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic.
  
• Supplies of essentials such as bottled water, powdered milk, and canned meat at major
     retailers will disappear.
  
• ATMs will run out of cash and banks will be unable to process transactions.
  
• Service stations will completely run out of fuel for autos and trucks.
  
• Garbage will start piling up in urban and suburban areas.
  
• Container ships will sit idle in ports and rail transport will be disrupted, eventually coming to   a standstill.
  

Within a week

• Automobile travel will cease due to the lack of fuel. Without autos and busses, many people
     will not be able to get to work, shop for groceries, or access medical care.
     
  
• Hospitals will begin to exhaust oxygen supplies.
  

Within two weeks

   The nation's clean water supply will begin to run dry.

Within four weeks

•    The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after
     boiling. As a result gastrointestinal illnesses will increase, further taxing an already
     weakened health care system.
  

This timeline presents only the primary effects of a freeze on truck travel. Secondary effects must be considered as well, such as inability to maintain telecommunications service, reduced law enforcement, increased crime, increased illness and injury, higher death rates, and likely, civil unrest. --- continued at link, above ---

Preparedness Questions to Ask Yourself:
http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2009/07/are-you-prepared.html

I got these questions on a handout from church a couple of weeks ago--See how you do or if there are areas you need work on. I had to ask sweet husband about a few of these . . . we still have work to do.

1. Has your family rehearsed fire escape routes from your home?
2. Does your family know what to do before, during and after an earthquake or other emergency? 3. Do you have heavy objects hanging over beds that can fall during an earthquake?  ---CONTINUED at LINK, above ---