Thursday, 31st March 2011
This post is from new GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving.
Images of devastation emerged after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. We watched water sweep away vehicles and houses; we saw stunned men and weeping women in the ruins. But we also heard about survivors whose homes weren’t flattened or inundated, people who subsisted on stockpiled food and water while waiting for help. Living on the “Ring of Fire” means temblors and tidal waves are a fact of life — and so is disaster preparedness.
We need to be prepared, too. The Department of Homeland Security’s Ready America
How ready are you? program says we should be able to sustain ourselves for at least three days after an emergency, whether that’s a hundred-year storm or a civil insurrection.
How ready are you? program says we should be able to sustain ourselves for at least three days after an emergency, whether that’s a hundred-year storm or a civil insurrection.
Right now, before anything bad happens, is the time to build your emergency kit — and you can do it on a budget. In fact, you probably already have some (or a lot) of what you need.
The (sometimes icky) basics
During those three days you need to be fed, hydrated and sheltered. You also need a place to poop.
During those three days you need to be fed, hydrated and sheltered. You also need a place to poop.
Yeah, that’s gross. You know what else is gross? The idea of everyone in your apartment building or subdivision yelling “Gardyloo!” and flinging slops out the window. Cholera epidemic, anyone?
When I was a kid, predictions of bad weather had us filling bathtub and buckets. That’s because if we lost power we lost our well pump, i.e., no way to flush the toilets. That’s still the first line of short-term defense; if you have any warning, stash yourself some water.
When that’s gone you’ll need at least one large container into which everyone can evacuate. Maybe a repurposed five-gallon detergent, paint or pet-litter bucket? If you don’t have one:
- Put out the word among friends
- Ask any painters or contractors you know
- Look on The Freecycle Network or Craigslist
It’s possible to buy a toilet seat that snaps onto a bucket, which makes things easier. Or buy a prefab one (search online for “bucket toilet”) for $20 or less.
Decide now where you’ll put your temporary toilet. The garage? The back porch? Maybe even in the actual bathroom? Anywhere but the place where you plan to eat and sleep. Trust me on this.
Decide now where you’ll put your temporary toilet. The garage? The back porch? Maybe even in the actual bathroom? Anywhere but the place where you plan to eat and sleep. Trust me on this.
Ready for an overshare? Here’s how I’d handle disposal if the you-know-what hits the fan here in Seattle:
- Use the bucket (in a former life, it held detergent)
- Put soiled paper into a garbage bag (and tie it really tightly between uses)
- Flush the contents of each, little by little, once the emergency has abated
Please do not do your business in the condo-complex yard, no matter how much fun it is to pee outdoors.
Important: You’ll want a bottle of hand sanitizer close to the bucket. Really close. E. coli is nothing to fool with.
Miscellaneous tips
You can’t truly be ready for a disaster. It’s always stressful and often terrifying. However, you can at least be prepared. Here are a few more items to keep in mind:
You can’t truly be ready for a disaster. It’s always stressful and often terrifying. However, you can at least be prepared. Here are a few more items to keep in mind:
- Learn the location of your local/regional emergency shelter, just in case.
- Keep a cache of cash — smalls bills and coins — on hand. No power means no debit or credit if you do find a store that’s open.
- Put supplies where you can get at them easily, not down in the crawlspace or up in the rafters.