We watch a lot of films about the ends of the world, global floods and other disasters, but none of us ever tries on the fate of the victims. As the events in the USA and in Russia have shown, it is not so difficult to be prepared for such disasters. And if you are still ready, your chances of suffering shocks or at least just surviving seriously increase!
We offer you some lessons, very simple tips on how to be prepared for hurricanes in your area.
The first thing that stopped working when Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast was mobile communications. Of course, the operators did everything in their power, but it worked extremely unstable. Imagine that the number of connections of each station is decreasing due to network node breakdowns, and people want to call more and more. If there is a landline connection in your apartment or house, then it may last a little longer and keep you connected to the outside world. And you can also use SMS, often they continue to work longer.
By the way, if you have ever been to the stadium, you know that it is often impossible to recruit someone during a match. But SMS messages go often.
Save all the important Internet pages that you may need during a disaster, but will not be available. It won't take much time, but it can help a lot.
Of course, you can't build a new solid house, but you can prepare yours for bad weather. Put wind-resistant windows, make bolts on the doors and check whether your roof will withstand the fall of a tree.
Social networks were overflowing with incorrect information, value judgments and just garbage. Relying on this information was sometimes dangerous. If you really rely on tweets and posts, then trust only trusted sources — newspapers or people to whom you have full personal trust.
Do you remember the last time you sat for several days without electricity at home? If yes, then you understand how much we have given away to electrical appliances — water heaters, refrigerators, gadgets, light in dark parts of the house (storerooms, bathroom and toilet). If you have an external charger for your phone, then keep it charged. Remember that you can use a car battery and just a car that starts to charge your phone. There are also chargers for gadgets that work from fire and firewood :)
And candles will not be superfluous. Buy a box and put matches next to it — one day we could not light the candles we had saved, because there were no lighters and matches in the house.
I hate queues and would do anything in my power to avoid them. If you get into a disaster zone, then get ready for long queues. They will be behind everything — for water, food, transport… Just don't create problems for the same victims as you.
As soon as the electrics disappear, your refrigerator will "die". In our experience, the freezer of a good refrigerator keeps food in a condition suitable for eating and cooking for 3-4 days, then they will begin to deteriorate. With the refrigerator, everything is more sudden. If you are in a flood zone and the water is at your home, then do not touch the products that the water has touched. It is always contaminated with chemicals and sewage.
Here is a table that provides a list of products that can and cannot be eaten, provided that they have been at a temperature of more than 5C for more than 2 hours.
Sooner or later, the problems with the flood and hurricane will pass, and new problems will pile on you — the safety of your data on computers flooded with water that you left at home. Well, what can I add here — save important things in Dropbox and its analogues, monitor the adequacy and freshness of these updates.
Well, be honest, don't you have an emergency backpack or suitcase? It is not expensive to assemble it and will take no more than half a day. Here's a list of everything you need.
