Consideration a Tornado Shelter?

If you read yesterday's post on Tornado's, and you live in an area that is susceptible to tornado activity, then one thing you can consider is to have a safe room (not that terrible Jodie Foster movie). 

According to Ready.gov, when some considerations when building your safe room:

"You can build a safe room in one of several places in your home.

• Your basement
• Atop a concrete slab-on-grade foundation or garage floor.
• An interior room on the first floor.

Safe rooms built below ground level provide the greatest protection, but a safe room built in a first-floor interior room also can provide the necessary protection. Below-ground safe rooms must be designed to avoid accumulating water during the heavy rains that often accompany severe windstorms.
To protect its occupants, a safe room must be built to withstand high winds and flying debris, even if the rest of the residence is severely damaged or destroyed. Consider the following when building a safe room:

• The safe room must be adequately anchored to resist overturning and uplift.
• The walls, ceiling and door of the shelter must withstand wind pressure and resist penetration by windborne objects and falling debris.
• The connections between all parts of the safe room must be strong enough to resist the wind.
• Sections of either interior or exterior residence walls that are used as walls of the safe room must be separated from the structure of the residence so that damage to the residence will not cause damage to the safe room."

So you have decided to obtain a shelter for you and your loved ones, you have two choices: Build or Buy. Lets walk through these two options:

Build: If you are a DIY kinda person, then this is a good option for you.

1. Since you will be starting from scratch, check out FEMA-320, which is described as a "Manual with detailed information about how to build a wind-safe room to withstand tornado, hurricane and other high winds." Now my personal recommendation (for what is worth) is to use this as a reference or introduction. When building your shelter please keep the following things in mind:

• It can ruin your foundation 
• Make sure it is properly secured 
• Proper ventilation and debris guards on the doors
• Finally, have more than one way out, in case the main door becomes blocked
• Please consider your options, underground shelters are not guaranteed safety so craft your room to your house, no the other way around.

Buy: So you have looked into the building process, and you figured that it will either A) Take too long or B) Cost too much. Buying it is! Unfortunately it isn't simply plug and play.

•  Make sure the storm shelter you purchase meets FEMA guidelines and has been impacted tested at Texas Tech Wind Institute
• Do your research - you would do it for a car, so take a little time to research the company you are interesting in.
• Pay attention to the quality of metal being used.
• Is it welded on the inside as well as on the outside?
• Make sure you can operate all the latches and doors within a matter of seconds.

Ultimately the decision is up to you, hopefully this is helpful.

Good Luck and Good Hunting  

Severe Weather Series - Toronado

Ready.gov has their section on the Severe Weather. Now this website is very good for a base understanding of potential threats and damages that a serve weather event can cause. The following is from Ready.gov (with my comments will be bold)

Before we start, is important to understand this point made by Roger Edwards of the Storm Prediction Center: "There is no such thing as guaranteed safety inside a tornado. Freak accidents happen; and the most violent tornado can level and blow away almost any house and its occupants." 

A tornado is an act of God, and as such there is only so much we can do. That being the case, we here at the Brief feel that even a little bit of preparedness is better than none. Here we go:

• Before a Tornado:
• Build an emergency kit and make a family communication plan (I will detail these two things in coming posts) 
• Listen to NOAA Weather Radio or commercial radio or television newscast for the latest information.
• I will list several options as well, because you cannot rely on just one source for your information (remember 2=1 & 1=0) 
•  Download one of the following apps to your phone:
• FEMA: not a bad option, gives you NWS alerts, etc
•  NOAA: Weather Radar: Real time HD animated radar. 
• Consider a Walkie-Talkie with an emergency scanner.
•  Be alert to changing weather conditions. Look for approaching storms
• Look for the following danger signs:
• Dark, often greenish sky
• Large hail
• A large, dark, low-lying cloud
• Loud roar, similar to a freight train

• During a Tornado 
• If you are under a tornado warning, seek shelter ASAP! Most injuries associated with high winds are from flying debris, so protect your head
• If you are in a structure (such as a residence, small building, school, nursing home, hospital, factory, shopping center, high-rise building)
• Go to a per-designated area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest level in the building. 
• If there is no basement, go to the center of a small interior room, once again on the lowest level (such as a closet or interior hallway)
• Make sure you are away from corners, windows, doors, or outside walls. 
• Make sure to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible. 
• If it is available, get under a sturdy table and use your arms to once again protect your head. 
• If you are in a high rise building, go to a small interior room or hallway on the lowest floor possible. 
• DO NOT OPEN WINDOW
• A manufactured home or office:
•  Get out immediately and go to a per-identified location such as the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or storm shelter. Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes. 
•  The outside with no shelter: (If you are not in a study building, there is no single research based recommendation for what last-resort action to take because many factors can affect your decision, the following are possible actions)
• Immediately get into a vehicle, buckle your seat belt and try to drive to the closest sturdy shelter, if the traffic is light. 
• If you are caught by extreme winds or flying debris, park the car as quickly and safely as possible. Stay in the car with the seat belt on and get your head down below the windows and cover your head. 
• If you can safely get noticeably lower than the level of the roadway.
• DO NOT SEEK SHELTER UNDER A BRIDGE: it offers little protection against flying degree. 
• If you have no access to a car, lie in a area noticeably lower than the level of the roadway. 
•  Long-Span Buildings
• A long span-building, such as a shopping mall, theater, or gymnasium, is especially dangerous because the roof structure is usually supported solely by the outside walls, so most of these types of buildings cannot withstand the enormous pressure and will simply collapse.
• If you find yourself in one of these buildings in this event, once again stay away from windows, and get to the lowest level of the building.
• If not possible, find a door frame or against something that will support or deflect falling debris. (tables, heavy shelves, etc) Your best bet in one of these place is to get to an interior bathroom or storage room. 

Quick facts you should know about tornadoes:

• They may strike quickly, with little or no warning.
• They may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel.
• The average tornado moves Southwest to Northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.
• The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 mph, but may vary from stationary to 70 mph.
• Tornadoes can accompany tropical storms and hurricanes as they move onto land.
• Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water.
• Tornadoes are most frequently reported east of the Rocky Mountains during spring and summer months.
• Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through May; in the northern states, it is late spring through early summer.
• Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 pm and 9 pm, but can occur at any time.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

The Homeland Security Enterprise

Good Monday to you all,

One of the questions that comes up is "What is homeland security?" According to the 2010 Quadrennial Homeland Security Report (QHSR) remarks that the term is a fairly new concept. It goes on to say:

"Yet it is one that can trace its roots to traditional functions such as civil defense, emergency response, law enforcement, customs, border control, and immigration. Homeland security captures the effort to adapt these traditional functions to confront new threats and evolving hazards." 

continues:

"In 2002, the Homeland Security Act sought to integrate the various elements of homeland security in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Homeland Security Council. In effect, the 2002 Homeland Security Act added a third concept to the military and foreign affairs pillars of national security by associating domestic security concerns with national security." 

That sounds great, but how does that get done? How is it organized? Do counties wait around for FEMA to show up? (Check Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy to see how that went) The solution actually can be found within that same 2010 QHSR, and it is called the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE). According to the QHSR:

"Securing the United States and its people represents an overarching national objective. Equally important, and aside from obviously identifying a Cabinet-level department of the Federal Government, homeland security is a widely distributed and diverse-but unmistakable-national enterprise." 

The Homeland Security Enterprise is defined in the 2010 QHSR as "the collective efforts and shared responsibilities of Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, nongovernmental and private-sector partners- as well as individuals, families and communities- to maintain critical homeland security capabilities. It connotes a broad-based community with a common interest in the safety and well-being of America and American society." 

While this has never really gone anywhere from this review, it should be noted that the Federal Government (as I have been telling you) knows it cannot provide adequate per-disaster mitigation and recovery efforts for a country with a population over 300 million and  3,000,000 sq miles .
You have to take the initiative and get involved in your community. It doesn't matter what your station is within you community, you can do your part to be prepared. If you own a business,what can you do to help with recovery efforts? Depending on the size of the place you live, talk to your emergency management office. Find out what you states incident management system. Become a member of your local Community Emergency Response Team,  or check with the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) for opportunities in your area. Do your part, because when the time comes, you can either look to those who are ready or be one that is ready, the choice is yours.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Basic Survivial Kit- Food

BSK - Food 

Food, we all love it, myself especially. Let us take a moment, if you are reading this in the United States, to remind ourselves that we are truly fortunate to live in a country where so much food is so readily available. That being said, we are in are one crisis away from being in a total state of disarray. One only has to look to the situation in Venezuela to see how perilous our fragile our state of being is. 

According to Dr. Alan D. Liberson responds to the question "How long can a person survive without food?"  with the following:

"The duration of survival without food is greatly influenced by factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration."

 Most doctors and nutritionist state that the average person can live about 4 to 6 weeks without food, but the answer actually depends on the person's body, state of mind, willpower, body weigh and activity level. 

When we look at storing food, we have to take into account how calories we should consumer. Not because we are trying to look good for summer season but because calories=energy. For example a male ages 19-30 (you can check for you own needs here):

Sedentary:              Moderately Active:         Active:
2,400 a day                  2,600-2,800                    3,000

So you need to be prepared to at least consume 2,000 calories a day in a disaster situation.

Another requirement you should consider is protein, which is, simply put they are one of the building blocks of body tissue, and can also serve as a fuel source. More protein in food can help you feel fuller, leading you to consumer less of your supply.

For an adult males need 56 grams a day. (check you needs here) 

Now how do we prepare for this? Let us look at what ready.gov gives you as a guideline:

"Consider the following things when putting together your emergency food supplies:

• Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.
• Choose foods your family will eat.
• Remember any special dietary needs.
• Avoid foods that will make you thirsty.
• Choose salt-free crackers, whole grain cereals and canned foods with high liquid content."

Let's go through this, point by point:

1. Store at least a three days supply of non-perishable food. 
1. What is a good non-perishable food: Canned goods are what usually comes to mind. While this is good for a short term solution, most are good for one year (on average, some will last less than that, some will stay fresh a few months longer than a year). If you are willing to change out your supply then this is a fine option, consider the following:
1. Beans: i.e. Bush's Beans: 170 calories a serving and 6g of protein. Very inexpensive to obtain, but need to cycled out yearly.
2. Spam: Yes, Spam. Serving temperature is hot or cold, 310 calories a serving and 13g of protein. 
3. Lentils: Lentils are high in protein and fiber and low in fat, which makes them a healthy substitute for meat. They're also packed with folate, iron, phosphorus, potassium and fiber. Also they can be stored for an infinite amount of time. (These are a personal favorite of mine) 230 calories per serving, 18g of protein.
4. Canned Vegetables: Many different combinations, you would have to check the individual cans, but here is an example: 80 calories per serving, 4g of protein. As you can see, they are not a great foundation for your food prep, but they are great to have to break up the monotony.
2. Go to your local Walmart, Cabela's, or Camping store and walk up and down the isle that has food. You will be shocked at the choices you will have. Especially check out these manufacturers:
1. Mountain House Freeze Dry Food: They have it all, breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also have different buying options, from Pouch, Can  Packs and Kits. For example for breakfast:
1.  Freeze Dried Granola: 250 calories and 8g of protein w/ up to 25+ years of shelf life. You also get 20 servings out of one of the #10 cans. Excellent product (my personally favorite)
2. For entrees:
1.  Noodles and Chicken: 220 calories and 10g of protein w/ up to 25+ years. You get 12 servings out of the #10 cans.

 There also choices from AlpineAire, Wise Company as well. It is all about what you prefer, so find something you feel works with skill set and situation and stock up. Ready.gov says find foods your family will eat, but I will say this, if you haven't eaten for 2 days, are you really not going eat what is put in front of you? Remember you are looking for sustenance, not gourmet. The rest of the information they provide is case by case, so use your best judgement (needless to say, a large containers of cheese puffs is not what you want to be counting to keep you alive.)
      Here is some additional tips:

• Look for ease of cooking, if you can find foods that can be served with as little water as possible, that is good. If you can find food that can be served with cold water, that is even better. 
• If you want to get MRE's by all means go ahead, but you will be scraping the bottom of the barrel (If you want them for a last ditch source, then that makes sense) but by no means should this be you first source of food. 

Government's first job when a disaster is to restore services to the community at large, not the individual. You have to be prepared  to support yourself for as long as possible. Ready.gov says three days, I would recommend doubling that. Remember, 2=1 and 1=0.

Good Luck and Good Hunting.

Fundamentals of Emergency Management

This is an continuation of the "Think Piece"  B. Wayne Blancard wrote a  for an Emergency Management Round table Meeting on March 2007 for the FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI).

This time we are focusing on the Fundamentals of Emergency Management:

1. Mission:  Safeguarding Life and Property Mission – Public Safety Public Trust

2. Comprehensive Emergency Management

3. Intergovernmental Structure

4. Building Disaster Resistant and Resilient Communities

5. Building Nationwide System of Effective Disaster Response and Recovery

6. All Actors:  Building and Maintaining Relationships – Communication, Collaboration, Coordination, Customer Focus and Service, Information-Sharing, Team Building

7. All Hazards, Functionalism and Anticipating Anything That Could Happen

8. All Phases -- Four Phases of Emergency Management

9. All Disasters Are Different

10. All Disasters Are Local First

11. Disasters Impact Differentially

12. Integrated Emergency Management

13. Disasters Are A Growth Business

14. Emergence Management Is Situated in Political, Social, Economic, Administrative, Historical, Contexts  

15. Professional Emergency Management Is Science and Knowledge-Based – A Full-Time Occupation Which Requires Education, Training, Experience and Continuous Improvement

16. Models of Emergency Management Organization Matter

17. Approaches to Emergency Management Matter

18. Emergency Management Standards and Certification

  

I will be going through these in the future, but it is good to know what we will be looking at in the future.

Good Luck and Good Hunting  

What is Emergency Management?

B. Wayne Blancard wrote a "Think Piece" for an Emergency Management Round table Meeting on March 2007 for the FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI).  In particular I found how the question of "What is Emergency Management?" is not a simple answer. There are many misconceptions on what this job description entails and its relationship with the rest of the homeland security apparatus. I was surprised at these misconceptions.

I invite you to take a look, and if you have any role in selecting your emergency manager in your town, state, or business consider these principles:

Definition:  Emergency Management is the risk-based coordinated and collaborative integration of all relevant stakeholders into the four phases of emergency management (mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery) related to natural, technological, and intentional hazards (All-Hazards). 

Mission:  To safeguard life and property from all-hazards, and to protect the environment and economy.

Principles:

1. Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM).  CEM is the central organizing principle and definition of professional emergency management -- all-hazards, all phases, all actors.   

2. Intergovernmental Structure.  Emergency Management is a shared responsibility of local, State, Tribal and Federal government.  Its framework is both top-down as well as bottom-up. Authorities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from hazards and disasters should be supervised by one official at each level of government.

3. Horizontal and Vertical Integration.  Integrated Emergency Management is best accomplished through the integration of emergency management principles and practice into the regular routine of a wide range of community, governmental and private sector organizations.

4. Building Disaster Resistant and Resilient Communities.  The First Aim of Emergency Management is creating a Culture of Disaster Prevention and Preparedness – recognizing that it is better to prevent or reduce impact of disasters through risk-based management approach than to respond and recover. 

5. Nationwide System of Effective Disaster Response and Recovery.  Recognizing that not all disasters can be prevented, the Second Aim of Emergency Management is to build a nationwide disaster Response and Recovery system.

6. Building//Maintaining Relationships.  Emergency Management is guided by the constant practice of Collaboration, Coordination, Customer-Service, Information-Sharing and Team Building.

7. All Disasters Are Different.  While there are many similarities in disaster events, it is a fundamental principle of emergency management that all disasters are different.  It necessarily follows that “one size fits all” approaches are inadequate and that such attributes as Flexibility, Innovation, and Improvisation must be practiced.

8. All Disasters Are Local First.  A recognition of this principle of emergency management drives the centrality of local Community Capability Building as the foundation of national preparedness.

9. Disasters Impact Differentially.  Some segments of communities and society experience disaster and suffer the consequences more than other segments, such as the economically disadvantaged, the disabled, and the institutionalized elderly.  Emergency management recognizes that its resources need to target high-risk and highly vulnerable segments of the population in order to increase their resilience and decrease their vulnerability.

10. Professionalism.  Emergency Management is a science and knowledge-based profession, valuing education, training, experience, ethical practice, public stewardship, and continuous improvement.

Good Luck and Good Hunting