Doomsday planning for less crazy folk
Why didn&#x27;t any of the planning include participation in emergency preparedness organizations, or funding watchdog organizations to make sure that services are mismanaging their resources (e.g, Pro Publica and NPR&#x27;s exposes on the American Red Cross, at <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.propublica.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;the-red-cross-secret-disaster" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.propublica.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;the-red-cross-secret-disas...</a> and <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.propublica.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.propublica.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;how-the-red-cross-raised-...</a> ).<p>The closest it gets is &quot;Make friends with neighbors&quot;, but plenty more is possible. I did see the comment that many will &quot;pray for the government to bail us out&quot;, but that leaves out the people who will volunteer to be part of the NGOs to help others, and suggests that we, the people, have nothing to do with the actions of the government.<p>It&#x27;s very detailed on what you can buy, but doesn&#x27;t give any advice on figuring out which are real worries, and which are movie scenarios. Consider &quot;Respiratory and environmental protection&quot;, where &quot;If you worry about releases from chemical plants or overturned ammonia tankers, 3M multi gas cartridges ($17) and half facepieces ($12) offer robust protection when sized and fitted properly. In such an event, it would be also important to develop a plan for sealing your home&quot;.<p>Why not recommend visiting the Local Emergency Planning Committee to learn about any dangerous chemicals in your area? That would give an idea of which chemical plants are nearby, and a better idea of how to respond. It may be more likely that there&#x27;s a fertilizer plant nearby (as residents in Waco discovered in 2013) or gas pipeline (as residents in Adair County, KY discovered in 2105, and residents near Carlsbad, N.M. discovered in 2000) and you need to worry about explosion more than gas problems.<p>In any case, I&#x27;ve now looked through a few dozen news reports of chemical plant problems, and found no example where gas masks, etc. would be useful.<p>On the other hand, and using the recent news report about Flint as an example, it seems that occasional water and air testing for long-term, low-grade poisons would more useful and cost effective than worrying about short-term, acute events.<p>Personally, I would prefer to see things structured around known problems - what does one need should there be a heavy metals spill upstream of you, like what happened at the Animas River? How much money would you need in order to be able to move, and no one wants to buy your property because the well water on the land is now toxic? How should you prepare for an oil pipeline spill in your backyard, as the residents of Mayflower, AR (and many others) have had?<p>When would it be better to put the money into applying more pressure on the EPA and FEMA, for more oversight and more funding for oversight, than to assume that individual preparedness is the right solution?<p>BTW, as it stands, its discussion about what to do in case of hurricanes is nearly non-existent, mostly saying &quot;If you own a house, especially in a region prone to earthquakes or tropical storms, you should probably have a sledgehammer, a chainsaw (with a charged battery or some fuel at hand), bolt cutters, and a pry bar.&quot; Chainsaws after Hurricane Andrew were worth their weight in gold - as part of the cleanup process. But if we&#x27;re talking planning, then window storm shutters are also important, as is tree trimming before the season starts.<p>What it should really do is point to more complete resources, like <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ready.gov&#x2F;hurricanes" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ready.gov&#x2F;hurricanes</a> or <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nhc.noaa.gov&#x2F;prepare&#x2F;ready.php" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nhc.noaa.gov&#x2F;prepare&#x2F;ready.php</a> . Viewing the latter, I see it includes things like &quot;Make sure schools and daycares have School Emergency Plans&quot; and &quot;Pet owners should have plans to care for their animals&quot; which should also be part of any plan.