Earthquakes, Wildfires and a Gas Explosion

It’s been quite a week!

It began with the Christchurch New Zealand 7.0 earthquake last Saturday. Buildings crumbled, facades lined the main streets and shaken residents have had to endure more than 100 aftershocks, a few in the range of 6.0. Thanks to tight building standards after a devastating 7.8 quake in the 1930s, incredibly no one was killed. But the damage to businesses and homes will reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more.

And then there were the continuing wildfires in Boulder Colorado. Fires that sprung up and altered their path so quickly that residents — some of whom are experienced firefighters themselves — had little warning to evacuate their own homes. Breathless and shaken, residents grabbed what they needed, and in some cases only what they could grab, to get to a temporary location and wait for news on their neighborhood and their homes. As of yesterday, the fire, still only 30 percent contained, has charred nearly 6,400 acres and has destroyed 169 homes.

Then on Thursday night the small community of San Bruno, California, just a few miles from the San Francisco Airport, was rocked — a more accurate term would be obliterated — by the sudden explosion of a natural gas pipeline. At least four people have died, many more are hurt or burned, some seriously. The fire itself was so hot that car bumpers melted two blocks away. The fire was finally contained on Friday, but those surveying what is left of the once quiet, lushly green neighborhood, described it as Kosovo after the war, or a charred moonscape. Block after block of nothing left except concrete foundation after foundation. Nothing left.

Now that the original disaster is behind them, the time and energy that it will take for the people affected by each of these disasters to recover, is just beginning to sink in. Think about it for a moment. These people were running to get out of their homes. They had little if ahy time to grab what they needed, let alone stop and think about it.

For those who lost their homes, do they have the vital information they need, with them? If they’re injured, do they or the physicians treating them have access to their medical or allergy history.

Let’s say they are all right physically. Do they access to their insurance documents for their home, cars and other property? Do they even know their policy numbers or the contact names so they can get started on filing claims.

Do they have what they need financially? Do they have their credit cards, bank account numbers, know their credit limits or who to call if they need an emergency extension? Do they know where to send their mortgage or rent payment or have copies of the deed to their home, their birth certificates or citizenship or benefit papers. Can they even prove who they are and what they own?

Do they have any idea where they are going to go when they evacuate? Will the things that they need be at that location waiting for them? Do family members in different locations know where to gather? Do they all know what to do when they get there? Can they reach their family and friends quickly and easily?

Do they have access to or copies of the things that mean the most to them? Their keepsakes, family photos and papers, the things around them that inspire memories and make them laugh, smile or just feel good.

Yes they’ll have a home for a few days, along with water and food. The Red Cross will see to that. But what happens after that. What happens if they go back to their home and there’s nothing there but a foundation? Yes after months, maybe even years of hard work, they will survive. They’ll find a way and little by little their life will return.

The thing is, they don’t have to just survive. With a little planning, a little thought and a few hours work, they can do more. They can actually thrive after a disaster. They can have their vital information, papers and medical information in a few different locations, at their fingertips 24/7 from any location. They can have evacuation and Get Back To Life Plans guiding them through those first hours, days and weeks, helping them to restore — as much as possible — their lives back or nearly back to where it was before the disaster occurred.

Of course you can’t replace a home completely, you can’t replace entire neighborhoods and you can’t bring back those who have been lost. But with a little work now, you can build yourself a roadmap, ensuring that you have what you will need during the twists and turns of recovery. With that map survival turns into recovery and recovery turns into restoration.

It seem fitting on this ninth anniversary of 9/11 to talk about restoration. We all know how hard it can be. But we here at the Ready In 10 Network, want you to know that a little bit of planning can make it a lot easier.

The one thing we’ve all learned this week is how quickly a normal evening can turn into disaster filled nightmare. Last week the people of Christchurch and the people of San Bruno were just sitting around their houses surfing the internet just like you, without a clue that in just a few hours or days, their lives would be forever changed.

Do yourself a favor, do your family a favor. Take an afternoon and get ready. Our downloadable Ready In 10 Get Ready Kit is only $9.95 and has everything you need to get ready in one afternoon. Ready In 10 is a great start, and we also have a disaster page, filled with videos and guides on preparing for different types of disasters.

Whatever you do, whether it’s from us or from another great disaster plan provider, don’t let another day go by without being ready. It’s so simple and once you do it, you can toss your plans in your plastic emergency bin and forget about them. Unless you need them. And when you do, they’ll be there waiting for you to Grab Them & Go.

Take care and please, be safe.

The latest on Christchurch, Boulder and San Bruno

Think You’re Ready For A Disaster? Think Again!

Here is the third piece in a series we began a few posts ago, after the earthquake in Baja.   Not only does the series tell you how to prepare for an earthquake, but this part gives you tips on being prepared for ANY disaster — the right way! In case you didn’t see part one and two, you’ll find the links below… lg 

part 1 Earthquake Rocks Baja California
part 2 The Right Way To Get Ready For Earthquakes

Facing a disaster without giving yourself a plan to recover from it, is like trying to build a house with no blueprint and no tools!

Having two plans can make all the difference, in getting you through those first few days and weeks after a disaster strikes. 

What are the plans?  They are the Ready In 10 Evacuation Plan and the Get Back To Life Plan — the same plans that we’ve built into our Ready In 10 System.

The evacuation plan is pretty simple.  It all comes from one question…  If you were at home or at work and suddenly had to evacuate your home, or your general area, where would you go? 

As you think about the locations you’ll use for your evacuation, consider, the people  travelling with you,  how you’ll get there (car, bus, plane), any pets travelling with you and whether those locations will actually work for you – for instance are they close to stores or services your family might need, like pharmacies, clothing, banks and doctors. 

We suggest that people have three different locations in mind, to give you different types of locations and choices depending on the circumstances.   As you create your plan, write everything down in detail.  If you have to use this plan, you and the people you love are probably going to be in panic mode and following an easy to understand plan, will help calm and focus you.

Write down the people who will be travelling with you, and any special instructions you’ll need to gather everyone together, in case a disaster or emergency occurs while you’re all away from home.  Name the location that you and your family will use to meet up with each other and the location you will be evacuating to, if you cannot live in your home, but your immediate area is still safe.  Include the address of the location, contact phone, email address and directions.  

Next choose a location (writing down the details, address and contact information) that your family will use if you not only need to evacuate your home, but your immediate area or city.  This might happen during a moderate hurricane or a tornado.  Your third location is out of state, for a serious, widely destructive emergency like Hurricane Katrina, the Iceland Volcano, or other disaster that will make your entire region uninhabitable.

You will also include these locations on your emergency wallet card and your family’s wallet cards (and hopefully your Shoewallets to carry them securely!).  Now, no matter what the disaster, even a fire or local emergency, you and your family will now know where and how to gather, and who will be responsible for what, so you can quickly reunite and travel on to your emergency location together.  If you like, you can also give a card to the person you chose to be your out-of-area contact as well.   Will you have any pets travelling with you?  Be sure to fill out the pet section, so that you will have all the information you need for them, like the name and numbers for the veterinarian, their licenses, and names/numbers of kennels in the location you are evacuating to and any prescriptions or special instructions you’ll need until you return home.

So are YOU prepared to deal with a disaster? Check out our latest video and see.

Your Get Back To Life Plan

The worst part of any disaster, short of losing a loved one, is the possibility that the home you love and care for and everything in it would be damaged beyond repair.  That is what your Get Back To Life Plan is all about.   

Imagine that you and your family have survived an earthquake, but had to leave your area because it is uninhabitable.   You’re in your evacuation location two days after the hurricane subsides.  The phone rings.  It’s a good friend of yours, who has just toured your neighborhood and is calling to tell you that your home is badly damaged and he doubts that you will be able to live in it for several months, if ever again.  After you and your family hold each other for a while and talk, you finally feel strong enough to open your Ready In 10 Notebook.   There you find your Get Back To Life Plan and begin making calls to your insurance agent, your contractor and your boss.  You call the local real estate agent in your evacuation city and ask her to begin looking for temporary housing, register your children in the local school, and begin calling the contacts you need (that you jotted down just in case), to help you settle in.  Getting settled is easier than you thought, since you have copies of all of the vital documents you need, like your birth certificates and property deeds in a safe deposit box at the local bank.  It takes some time, but with hard work and a lot of courage, you and your family are back to living in a matter of weeks.  

Now imagine the same scenario, the same phone call, holding your family, talking and then realizing that you have no plan and no clue how to get back to living your life.   It’s CNN coverage all over again.  The best part of this little scenario is that it hasn’t happened to you and that you have time right now, to make sure no matter what ever occurs in your area, you and your family will be prepared.

If you don’t have a copy of our actual Get Back To Life Plan, grab a piece of paper.  Take a few minutes to answer the following questions:

• How will we handle our bank accounts, paying our monthly bills and receiving our paychecks?  How much emergency cash do we need to have, while traveling?
• What are our credit card limits and toll free numbers for emergency increases?
• How will we work?  Will we work remotely or have to look for new positions?  What people or contacts can we call about temporary or permanent jobs?
• How will we handle our medical, dental and prescription needs while in the new location?  What doctors and dentists can we use while there?
• How long can we stay in our evacuation location?  If we need to remain evacuated longer, where will we go/stay?  Who will our real estate contacts be, if we need to find new permanent or temporary housing?
• How are we going to secure the property or vehicles we had to leave behind?
• How will we take care of our pets, during the evacuation and until we find new permanent housing?
• How will we handle our transportation needs?  What contacts will we need to purchase or lease vehicles?
• How will we handle our daycare needs?  How will we handle getting our children into school if necessary?  What schools or contacts will we need, to enroll them in a new school in a temporary or new location?
• How will we handle any special needs in our family?

Once you’ve answered the questions, get your family together to work out any potential problems you have uncovered and then draft your plan.  And don’t forget to compile a list of real estate agents, financial contacts and jobs, schools, doctors and other professionals or information that you might need to establish yourself in the new city temporarily or permanently.  

Starting over is never easy, especially when it happens because of a disaster or other life changing emergency.  But taking a few hours now to think through and draft a plan, will give you and your family the direction, information and support that you need, to get through not only the first hours and days after a disaster, but the first steps back to living the life you’ve worked so hard to build.

The Right Way to Get Ready For Earthquakes

This is the second part, in a three part series:   part 1 Earthquake Rocks Baja California   part 3 Think You’re Ready For A Disaster?  Think Again!

Our last post was about the recent California/Mexico earthquake and the best ways to prepare for future quakes.  As we said in the last post, and as we tell our Ready In 10 System clients, the first step, is to make sure that you have your earthquake survival gear and know how to secure your home and personal safety when an earthquake strikes.

The second, is to make sure that you’re able to grab everything you need – necessities, keepsakes, vital information – and leave for a safe location, in less than ten minutes.  It’s a lot easier than it sounds.  All you need is to do is ensure you have access to all the items and information that will help you get back to living your normal life, as quickly and easily as possible.

The best way to physically prepare for earthquakes, is to think through the different scenarios that could take place.  If a quake is large enough to have to “deal with” chances are, the electricity is going to go out.  Telephone and/or cell service could also be down.  In Calexico, power lines fell, plunging the city into darkness.  That means not only means you won’t have light, but you also won’t have power for computers or televisions and radios.  Grocery and drug stores won’t be able to ring up purchases, ATMs won’t work, garage door openers might not function.  Name any tool in this world and chances are it’s powered by electricity.  So your first defense is making sure that you always have an alternative source of power, battery powered flashlights, extra cash, a supply of canned or frozen food that doesn’t need to be cooked to be eaten, and the all important supply of water – enough to last you and everyone in your family for three days.  Your home or neighborhood might be damaged.  Broken glass and rocks will be strewn everywhere.  Rubber-soled shoes, a warm jacket and other emergency gear should be easily reachable from your bed or right inside your closet.  

There are literally hundreds of sources that can give you tremendous lists of what you should have on hand during an earthquake, including our web site.  Even more will give you specific instructions on what to do before and after a quake – for example, how to turn off your gas line, or when to boil your water – so we won’t get into details like that.   You should also create or update your evacuation checklist, detailing the items that you and your family would need if you were unable to live in your home for three or more days.  This includes all of your necessities, prescriptions, vital documents (or access to them on portable hard drives, online or in out of area safe deposit boxes), keepsakes, personal and professional contacts, ID and basic medical history and anything else that your family will need while evacuated.

But I want you to think about something.  Think about the last few earthquakes – or hurricanes for that matter.  Think about the coverage you saw on CNN or the local news.  Think about the faces of the people in the midst of the quake zone or the storm.  They looked shell-shocked, terrified, lost.  Most of those people, were at least moderately prepared for a disaster.  Those in earthquake country most likely had stockpiled some food and water, those in hurricane country might even have evacuated and done everything their local news and emergency authorities told them to do.  And yet, after the disaster, they were standing there, scared and helpless, because their homes, the people they loved, and basically their entire lives have been destroyed to the point that their own existence was now unrecognizable.  All of those people, rich and poor, young and old — they all had one thing in common.  They had NO idea where to go and what to do from here.

And THAT – knowing what to do and where to go after the disaster, is step two.  The most important step of all.

To Be Continued…

Earthquake Rocks Baja California

This is the first part in a three part series:   part 2 The Right Way To Get Ready For Earthquakes     part 3 Think You’re Ready For A Disaster?  Think Again!

7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes California/Mexico Border

On Sunday April 4^th, millions of families from California and Mexico who were sitting down to Easter dinner, were jolted by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.   According to Lucy Jones of the US Geological Survey, the powerful quake, centered near the city of Calexico, was felt by nearly 20 million people, from Baja to Los Angeles and as far away as the Bay Area, Las Vegas and Phoenix.  The quake, was most damaging to the city of Calexico, which by mid-afternoon on Monday, was reporting that nearly 80% of its buildings had been red-tagged, a designation that means a building is uninhabitable.  The quake devastated their downtown area and jangled the nerves of people throughout the Southwest, especially after recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. 

Watch Mike Von Fremd’s coverage of the quake, along with the rest of the ABC News team on location in Calexico, for more details of the Easter earthquake.  As USGS reminds us, aftershocks continue to occur and probably will for the next week or two.

As longtime residents of Southern California, we know how difficult it can be to spend the days and weeks after a quake, living in earthquake mode.  The phenomenon isn’t really something you can explain to someone who hasn’t experience it personally.  New Californians are always asking how they’ll know if what they feel is a quake, or just an especially loud garbage truck.  There’s only one answer to that question.  You’ll know!  And sure enough when it happens, they’ll say, “you were absolutely right!”  An earthquake combines two things that most humans hate– the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  Feeling like the floor is going to crack open and swallow you, while listening to your house, cracking and groaning, while glass, bricks and your best china crashing to the ground around you, is a horrible sensation.

So what’s the best way to prepare for an earthquake? 

Earthquakes are probably the most difficult type of disaster to prepare for, for two reasons.  First, there is absolutely no warning when one is going to strike.  Second, you never know how or where it’s going to strike.  Two earthquakes of the same magnitude aren’t necessarily going to have the same destructive capability.  A shallow 5.0 quake, can potentially create more damages and injury than a 7.0 quake centered deep within the earth.  Shallow earthquakes mean more shaking and more cracks and fissures in the earth, which in turn damages more  buildings, streets and injures more people.  You also have to factor in how close the earthquake is to your home and where your home is located.  We once experienced a 1.5 quake that was centered very close to our home and knocked books off the shelves – while a 6.4 earthquake 30 or 40 miles away got us out of bed, but left our possessions exactly where the were the night before. 

In earthquake country “location, location, location couldn’t be more true.  Remember the parable of the man who built his house on the sand versus the man who built his on the rock?  Those guys must have lived in earthquake country!   It’s called liquefaction.  Especially in California, in areas where there are high concentrations of sand in the soil – aka high priced beach communities – the violent shaking of an earthquake causes water underground to rise up through the sandy soil, turning pseudo solid earth beneath homes to turn into liquid, swallowing anything above it – houses, stores, freeway on ramps.  Making sure that your home is build on rock solid ground is a great first step to long term earthquake safety.

The final reason that earthquakes are so hard to prepare for, is that they tend to happen very early in the morning.  Imagine being shaken out of a sound sleep, only to realize that your bed, your walls and your floor are all moving in opposite directions, while you try and remember the first item on your disaster checklist!  Not going to happen!

So how do we prepare?  The way we and our customers  prepare is by taking a two-step approach. 

The first step, is to make sure that you have your earthquake survival gear and know how to secure your home and personal safety when an earthquake strikes.

The second, is to make sure that you’re able to grab everything you need – necessities, keepsakes, vital information – and leave for a safer location, in less than ten minutes.  It’s a lot easier than it sounds.  All you need is to do is to take the necessary steps now, to ensure you have access to all the items and information that will help you get back to living your normal life, as quickly and easily as possible.

To Be Continued…