Sample “Go Bag” (Getty Images)
According to a recent article on Wired.com, the new message in home emergency preparedness is: “Be ready for 14 days on your own. Two weeks.”
Science writer Adam Rogers reports in “The Science Behind Home Disaster Preparedness Kits Is a Disaster” —
“That’s a lot of supplies to buy and store—especially when the whole idea of home disaster preparedness kits is based much more in conventional wisdom than actual data. On the other hand, one might save your life.”
The article goes on to state: “It is not realistic, even in developed countries,to expect that the governmental infrastructure will be able to reach everyone within hours,” says Daniel Barnett, a disaster preparedness researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ‘Individuals need to have self-sustainability.’
“At minimum, you want to take as much pressure off of first responders as possible so they can triage effectively, attending to life-threatening situations while you chill in your backyard, if you’re able. That’s part of supporting what disaster pros call ‘resiliency,’ the ability of a community or region to withstand whatever it gets punched with. It’s supposed to be interpersonal, too -— neighbor to neighbor.”
Read the full article by clicking here.
The Timber Valley Emergency Preparedness Committee meets at 9 a.m., on the 4th Monday of the month. Next meetings are Monday, Sept. 24, and October 22, in the Clubhouse.
