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Don’t Just Hope For Adequate Emergency Response

February 14, 2024

Don’t Just Hope For Adequate Emergency Response

Lessons from the Oregon Ice Storm of 2024

Last month, I, along with many fellow Oregonians (and others in the Pacific Northwest), faced the chilling grip of a devastating ice storm. At work, I experienced the test of a power outage. The storm’s fury was evident in the menacing dance of falling trees and limbs, a stark reminder of nature’s unpredictable power. Navigating icy roads became a treacherous ordeal, each journey a test of nerve and skill.

At work, my worries deepened for a person I support. The biting cold seeped into the house rendered heatless by a power outage. The sealed fireplace, once a potential source of warmth, stood as a silent witness to our unpreparedness. Our reliance on modern amenities was laid bare when even gas-powered appliances, like the oven and furnace, became useless without their electrical control components.

This experience was not just mine alone; it was a shared ordeal across the state, highlighting the harsh realities of our infrastructure’s vulnerabilities and the limitations of governmental response in the face of such extreme weather. Several people died of hypothermia, injury from falling trees, and downed power lines. As we struggled through the darkness and cold, it became abundantly clear: we need to be better prepared, both as individuals and as a community, for the challenges that such natural disasters bring.

Failing Infrastructure

The Oregon ice storm of 2024 was a brutal lesson in the fragility of our infrastructure. The storm’s icy grasp strangled power lines, leaving them limp and lifeless, plunging neighborhoods into darkness. Roads, once arteries of our daily life, transformed into treacherous ice rinks, cutting off communities and halting the pulse of the city. Water treatment facilities, overwhelmed, faltered under nature’s assault, prompting advisories that turned the simple act of drinking water into a calculated risk…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Climate change stokes mayhem in several ways

February 22, 2019

Climate change stokes mayhem in several ways

Syria: Glimpse of the future as rapid climate change continues? Image: By Ahmed Abu Hameeda on Unsplash

Three outcomes could follow if climate change stokes mayhem, conflict and violence. It might be helpful to think about the strains to come.

LONDON, 22 February, 2019 − Stand by for long hot summers marked by riot and racial tension. As climate change stokes mayhem, global warming is likely to see a direct rise in human irritability.

Climate change accompanied by natural disaster such as flood or drought could lead to harvest failure and food and water shortages for which people must compete.

And the same natural disasters could lead to a generation of babies, children and adolescents more likely, because of disadvantage and deprivation, to become more prone to violence in adulthood.

Researchers in the US have been thinking carefully about the links between climate change and conflict. This, they write in Current Climate Change Reports, has a long history, and a huge range of studies have addressed the hazard.

And they see more civic strife and conflict on the way. Some of it is likely to involve climate refugees, or ecological migrants: persons driven from their homes by climate change. The steady rise in global temperatures could also help incubate the conditions for global terrorism.

“Syria offers us a glimpse of what the future might look like as the climate continues to change rapidly”

“This is a global issue with very serious consequences. We need to plan for ways to reduce the negative consequences,” said Craig Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University in the US.

“An inadequate food supply and economic disparity make it difficult to raise healthy and productive citizens, which is one way to reduce long-term violence. We also need to plan for and devote resources to aid eco-migrants in their relocation to new lands and countries.”

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Most Americans Are Not Prepared For A Major Disaster! Are You?

June 19, 2018

Most Americans Are Not Prepared For A Major Disaster! Are You?

Most people living in the United States are ill-prepared, or not prepared at all for a major disaster. According to the results of a recent poll, a natural disaster would devastate the majority of the population.

A recent poll conducted by Business Insider partner MSN asked people about their emergency preparedness levels. The results, although not alarming, show just how poorly prepared most of the population is for a natural disaster. After conducting the survey, MSNused machine learning and big data, such as the census, to model how a representative sample of the US would have responded.

According to the poll as reported by Science Alert, only three in ten Americans say they have an emergency preparedness kit, 42 percent of Americans say they’re not at all prepared for a disaster, and 46 percent say they’re only prepared a little. What’s perhaps more troubling, some parts of America are even less prepared than this. In 16 states, 25 percent or fewer residents said they have an emergency preparedness kit. In those same states, almost half of the population said they’re not at all prepared for disaster, while more than 40 percent said they’re a little prepared.

Are you living in a disaster zone? If so, now would be a great time to start preparing for what could happen.

States which tend to be more prone to disasters tend to also be more concerned about natural disasters. The majority of South Carolinians, for example, say they understand the need to prepare for hurricanes and unsurprisingly, South Carolina is one of the most prepared states.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

U.S. Disaster Zones: Are You Living In A Place Where Disasters Are Common?

June 17, 2018

U.S. Disaster Zones: Are You Living In A Place Where Disasters Are Common?

With constant media bombardment of fears of a nuclear war, many have begun to prepare for a disaster.  But government uncertainty isn’t the only thing on the minds of the masses.  Volcanic activity appears to be increasing and earthquakes seem to be getting more severe.  That begs the question: do you live in a disaster zone?

In just the past 16 years, parts of Louisiana have been struck by six hurricanes. Areas near San Diego were devastated by three particularly vicious wildfire seasons. And a town in eastern Kentucky has been pummeled by at least nine storms severe enough to warrant federal assistance.  These are obvious red flag areas, but what about the rest of the country?

The New York Times has put together a map showing which areas in the United States were subjected to the most disasters which caused monetary losses by ZIP code between 2002 – 2017.

                                    $150,000                         $500,000                           $1 million                       $5 million

All the maps in show losses verified by the Small Business Administration for disasters in which a presidential disaster declaration was issued. The values of the losses are expressed in 2017 dollars.

The statistics for living in the “red zones” in the above map are not comforting either. About 90 percent of the total losses across the United States occurred in ZIP codes that contain less than 20 percent of the national population, according to an analysis of data from the Small Business Administration.

In the first three months of 2018, billion-dollar storms hit the United States three times. By contrast, in the first three months of an average year, just one disaster that causes more than a billion dollars in damages occurs, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records dating back to 1980.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

So This Is What Happens With Government Disaster Relief?

November 1, 2017

So This Is What Happens With Government Disaster Relief?

There is no possibility of eliminating corruption in government.

The idea of having government assist after a natural disaster sounds great. It makes us feel good. Houston floods? Send millions. New Orleans floods? Send hundreds of millions. Puerto Rico? The place is a mess and needs billions and billions. It all seems right.

The great truth about government is that every penny it spends must come from somewhere and must land somewhere else. 

Until you look at the details. Someone gets the money. Whether they are the same institutions who actually do the reconstruction is another matter. And what kind of relief they provide is still another question. Other people’s money usually works this way. Look closely enough and you find corruption at every level.I recall living in a town hit by a hurricane many years ago. The town mayor instructed people not to clean up yet because FEMA was coming to town. To get the maximum cash infusion, the inspectors needed to see terrible things. When the money finally arrived, it went to the largest real estate developers, who promptly used it to clear cut land for new housing developments. That’s some nice capital if you can get it.

And now we have the remarkable case of Whitefish Energy. It’s a good example of how a website can make anything seem awesome. You would never know by looking at the impressive digital space that this is a father/son business. That’s right: just two employees.

It does seem highly strange that this desktop operation in Montana would be awarded a $300 million contract to rebuild the electrical grid in Puerto Rico. That sounds outrageous. But guess what? This is a day and a half of disaster relief spending.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Two South Carolina lawmakers pushing Americans to form like-minded communities in preparation for coming societal collapse

March 27, 2017

Image: Two South Carolina lawmakers pushing Americans to form like-minded communities in preparation for coming societal collapse
(Natural News) A couple of state lawmakers from South Carolina are pushing a concept for Americans concerned about a future societal collapse that centers around the formation of like-minded prepping outposts that feature community ammunition depots and tactical weapons training.

As reported by the Post and Courier, the lawmakers – State Reps. Josiah Magnuson and Jonathan Hill, both Republicans and both from very small towns upstate – are currently establishing what they have called the “Virtue Solution Project,” a group that wants to save the U.S. or survive a societal collapse they both see on the horizon. (RELATED: Don’t Stop Prepping Just Because Trump Won… Get Ready For The Massive Financial Crash Of 2017)

The paper noted further:

The organization is a mixture of religious ministry, grassroots political organizing and disaster prepping. At its core, their movement hopes to save the country by reshaping it to their interpretation of the Founding Father’s ideals.

The pair is asking supporters and followers, as well as aligned groups, to begin forming their own communities of like-minded individuals and families in a way they will no longer have to depend on corporations or the “tyrannical” federal government. They advocate for the support of “principled men” similar to themselves who are ready to ignore laws and court decisions they don’t agree with (kind of like all sanctuary cities and most of California).

They are also asking supporters to get involved in existing structures of the civil society. They don’t expect everyone to run for elective office. Instead, they are asking people to serve as jurors so they can acquit people charged with crimes they fell are “unjust.”

Should these tactics fail to bring about the desired changes, the two state lawmakers recommend establishing “community preparedness centers” containing “reading material, tools, food storage, ammo and more.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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