My family lives within the Cascadia Subductions Zone, having moved to our Oregon farm from our house only a few miles from the San Andreas Fault. Earthquakes have been on my mind for most of my life.
I have felt a lot of earthquakes. In my experience they can be terrifying but they are over quickly. I have always lived a safe distance from any really large quakes, but I have seen the aftermath up-close.
This summer we saw an earlier start to the Atlantic hurricane season. I have never been in a hurricane. We have seen bigger storms and bigger wildfires throughout the country and certainly the world in the last few years. Flooding in places that don’t get that much rain and wildfires in once lush, but now drought stricken forests. We know that some desert areas are expanding and some artic areas are shrinking.
We are still in a global pandemic more than four years after we were promised it would be over before Easter. We have vaccines and encouraging research into slowing the effects of Long Covid 19 – a mass disabling event.As of 3/10/2023, when Johns Hopkins stopped collecting and organizing data, there were nearly one million reported cases (959,794) in the previous four weeks with 9,451 deaths in the US alone and 4,035,254 cases and 28,018 deaths worldwide. Since Covid 19 began the planets case count was 676,609,955 and the death count was 6,881955 deaths. We are expected to act as though it is over, but it is ongoing.
Oregon data from 6/29/2024 shows only the amount of test taken and % of those positive. Showing only 132 positive cases out of 1490 tested in the state, with a rate of 8.9%, the data does not account, in anyway, for people who did not test in a clinical setting. /// World data from 3/10/2023 when JHU stopped collecting and organizing it.
World data from 3/10/2023 when JHU stopped collecting and organizing it.
Through the magic of social media we have seen things most of us never imagined happen around the world. While much has occurs at a great distance from our home, we are keenly aware that events that take place in one part of the world can dramatically affect the other places.
And the political climate is not what it should be. Especially not here in the US, where we think we still have some control. Our governments could be focused on doing what is right for the biggest number of people in our own country as well as in the world, but we instead standby somewhat silently as many of our politicians cater to the richest among us.
How can we insure our own safety and that of others around us? We must start at home. Or as a stewardess on an airplane about to take off might say, “put your oxygen mask on first…”
What is next?
So to recap: [TL;DR]
Earthquakes, wildfires, floods, hurricanes tornados, and other stronger than normal storms.
Local and global Natural disasters.
Pandemics. Current and future unknown.
Wars we could avoid with diplomacy.
People we could help if we taxed billionaires and regulated corporations.
Governments who are unresponsive or too slow or underfunded to respond to the needs of their own people.
and more…
We Have To Be Prepared!
Start with a few questions.
Take care of yourself (and your family) first. Then you can spread out to your extended family and neighbors
What type of disaster are you most likely to encounter based on your region? Earthquake? Wildfire? etc. Some disasters happen without warning, some you can see coming. How much time do you need to get everyone ready and out? How long can you wait to choose to stay or leave? What access do you have to local authorities and emergency management services? How far are you from a hospital?
Should you shelter in place or leave as quickly as possible? It will depend on the type of disaster. Some may live in tornado zones and deal with them annually, while others have never found themselves in any frightening situations. For some disaster types, it will vary based on your proximity to the epicenter.
What do you need for a go bag? Who is likely going (or sheltering) with you: Spouse, Kids, Elderly parents, Pets? Where will you store the go bag? A closet near the driveway? A smaller bag in your car? Maybe you will create a few bags depending on your situation and your regions likely disasters?
How long might you need to be away from your home? What do you expect when you return home? In the case of wildfire or flooding, for example, will there a home to return to? Will you be gone overnight, a few days or weeks, or might you never return? Do you have family or friends locally, but far enough away that they might not be affected? Can you partner with a few families to go to their place or take them in, if needed? Do you have pets that do not normally travel around with you that need special transport? Horse, goats, chickens, etc.
All of these question are simple enough to answer but tough to grapple with. The thought of losing ones home or any loved one is difficult, but that is why preparing for the worst can make such a difference in your own survival. If you have thought about these things, you will know what to do when you need to know. If you ignore the possibility that bad things can happen where you live, you will panic if anything does happen. To be prepared, get prepared!
Side note: I understand that some of us have more resources than others, but having grown up desperately poor I know how to save, I bet you do too. Maybe you can’t buy or obtain everything you might need tomorrow, but you can get it all with a good list and some planning. Buy an extra one pound bag of beans each time you shop for groceries, pick up an old suitcase with wheels at a local thrift shop, start learning to cook or become a better cook now (and start teaching the kids to cook).
Time to get prepared.
Grab a notepad or a spreadsheet and begin with the list above. You have to do this! Planning now is the most important thing to prevent craziness and panic later. It may be the most important thing you can do. Go back through the last section and write it down. One group of questions per page. Leave yourself room to add more details as they occur to you.
Share the list with your spouse or significant other. Share it with older children. Brainstorm what is missing. No need to be anxious about these conversation. Planning now and being aware is what will keep you all safe. if it seems too hard, answer one question a night for the next week, returning to the first question and adding details. Let your brain do the work. Reduce your own stress about it, but get it done.
You have your assignment.
Make the list.
Get ready to be ready.
In future posts, we will discuss go bags and sheltering in place vs. leaving. We will talk about regional disaster types and more information on keeping ourselves and loved ones safe. We will link those here as they are written.
Thank you for reading One Acre at a time. This post is public so feel free to share it.
Quake Feed is a FREE app showing details on earthquakes worldwide. You can focus it on your region or on earthquake size. The paid version also shows wildfires. Their Earthquake Safety & Preparedness page has links to a lot of really good information for all kinds of disasters.
