Disaster Kit

As someone who was shaken by the Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco area, and later the Nisqually earthquake in the Puget Sound region, I pay attention to the regular suggestions from authorities to have emergency supplies stocked, just in case.

I suggest that everyone reading this have their own kit ready, customized for whatever type of disaster (hurricane, earthquake, tornado, blizzard, flood, wildfire, etc.) is most probable to hit your particular location. Generalized lists of what to have are available all over the net, but give some thought to your particular needs. Imagine the first few hours after the disaster: what are you going to really wish you had. For me, the answer was more tarps to keep the rain off, and cat food for our pets. I don't need as much sunscreen here as I did in California.

It's possible to buy supplies that are packaged for long-term storage. Regular store-bought water isn't sterile, and after a year or so can be risky. I have some special water packs, and some Coast Guard approved ration blocks in our disaster kit; it won't be a gourmet meal, but it'll keep us going. And that has been a conscious element in stocking the kit: to keep going for the 72 hours that authorities suggest we might need to wait for help. I have a smaller version I keep in a convenient bag in my car trunk. (Earthquakes don't wait for you to be home.)

That 72-hour survival suggestion has been on my mind a lot since Katrina struck. If I had to wait for help as long as the people of New Orleans, I'd have run through my supplies and be in big trouble. The uninformed average-joe feeling that the response should have been faster isn't just an ignorant sensation. Even those of us who've been listening, who dutifully filled our disaster kits and thought about the worst ahead of time, had the assurance that 72 hours was about as long as we'd need to wait.

I used to tell myself that I, personally, wouldn't have to worry about having a full 72 hour wait, because I live near the center of a city that is a center of its region and a major port. Now, having seen the organizational disaster called FEMA, I'm considering adding some more supplies to my kit. We'll need more food and water, particularly if FEMA is turning back the trucks rushing to our aid. I'm also thinking about communications, and possible evacuation. I have my eye on some of those new personal radios, for example. (I've already got my hand-cranked AM/FM radio.)

In the Bush era, we're a lot closer to "every man for himself" than at any time in my life. It seems their philosophical goal is to return us to a Hobbesian state of nature. (I thought we were all trying to get away from that.)

That inclination to get more supplies grew stronger when I saw this story from the Seattle Times.

John Pennington, the official in charge of federal disaster response in the Northwest, was a four-term Republican state representative who ran a mom-and-pop coffee company in Cowlitz County when then-Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn helped him get his federal post.

Before he was appointed regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Pennington got a degree from a correspondence school that government investigators later described as a "diploma mill."

During the last election campaign, I never understood those who argued that Bush would keep us safer than Kerry. What I didn't realize was quite how less safe a Bush win would end up making me feel.