Emergency Preparedness - What Are You Doing? (If Anything)

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I'm not really a "prepper" per say. I figure if any sort of actual SHTF event occurs we're mostly all screwed and there really isn't a way to prepare for it...at least not in any way that won't cost a fortune and require an incredible amount of space and gear and planning. But, I do kind of think about more mundane emergency situations such as bad weather events or something that causes the grid to shut down temporarily. I haven't done anything extreme really, but I do own several solar power banks (I have yet to invest in a solar charging panel though but I am planning to) and an array of battery lights and so forth. I would be able to get through a few days without grid power and still have internet service and lights at night and charged up phones and all that. I also use the stuff for camping trips (along with a bunch of other camping gear of course) and actually my headphone rig is powered by a battery bank all the time too so the stuff isn't solely for emergency purposes but it's part of the reason for having it.

I wouldn't characterize my efforts in this regard as entirely "serious and sober" though. I'm not really contemplating "what will I do to survive?" as much as I am thinking it would be cool to sit out a big blizzard with the power out but still able to watch some netflix and play some video games lol.

 

[BeeKay]

Typically every government agency to deal with disaster relief will offer recommendations for their citizens. For example in Germany it’s the BBK

Prepare for disasters

Disasters are part of life. Almost every day, we can read about disasters and largescale emergencies in a variety of media and see the images of destruction and suffering. These are not just major disasters which affect large areas for a long time. Local torrential rain, a severe storm, an...

www.bbk.bund.de

(English version)

 

[Berwhale]

We had some bad weather in the Northern UK and Ireland today with Red, risk to life warnings issued by both countries meteorological organisations. I'm in the South and it's not bad here, but we did experience a momentary power loss this morning which caused me to get out a selection of torches, USB powered lights and power banks and then make sure that they were all charged and working.

I also have a small petrol generator in the garage which I keep forgetting to test regularly. I bought the generator to keep fridge/freezer and gas fired boiler (with electric pump) working for longer periods without power.

We had a 10 hour power outage 3 or 4 years ago, but this length of outage is very rare where I live and the generator purchase was a bit of an overreaction on my part

 

[ZolaIII]

I can keep my phone, headphone BT and laptop for cuple of days without the grid. Live in the country side (15 min drive from capital and airport) have spare water system which does need electricity but in post apocalyptic meltdown you can use good old bucket to get water (which is filtered and sanitised with tablets). Central heating system and wood stove work without network. As the winter can be harsh up here in the mountains it's usual to have some reserve regarding food but not for more than a month, two at best. I do gardening, grow fruit and vegetables, have a greenhouse but don't have any domesticated animal other than pet cats. Guess that would change in such necessity. Plenty of wood around, know to use arms, whose a scout when I whose young. Had ideas about growing mushrooms and bean there (civic war and post apocalypse). If its the end it's what it is. Tomorrow I can fall under the shower and bump my head to be end of me. You can't know what tomorrow can bring but you need to keep hoping and working to your best that it indeed is a better one.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I went through a few years here where every time we got any significant rain or wet snow my power would go out for as much as 4 or 5 hours. That's what sort of inspired me to get some battery power on hand. But since I got the battery back-ups the power failures have all but stopped happening! lol

I live in central Canada. Mostly the sorts of weather events we deal with are winter storms. We can get some real heavy thunderstorms in the summer too but they don't tend to be very long in terms of real impact. Tornados can be an issue but again pretty rare and confined in terms of impact. But a real good blizzard or ice storm can shut things down pretty hard for a few days for sure. Another thing I worry about though is solar events. I sorta think we're overdue for a big one of those and that could be pretty serious.

 

[Mart68]

I have a few battery powered candles. And some batteries.

 

[Jimbob54]

We had some bad weather in the Northern UK and Ireland today with Red, risk to life warnings issued by both countries meteorological organisations. I'm in the South and it's not bad here, but we did experience a momentary power loss this morning which caused me to get out a selection of torches, USB powered lights and power banks and then make sure that they were all charged and working.

I also have a small petrol generator in the garage which I keep forgetting to test regularly. I bought the generator to keep fridge/freezer and gas fired boiler (with electric pump) working for longer periods without power.

We had a 10 hour power outage 3 or 4 years ago, but this length of outage is very rare where I live and the generator purchase was a bit of an overreaction on my part

I have some family in NI that still have power out since 9am . So they are now in freezer food spoiling territory . Though not sure having to buy and house a generator is worth a once a decade freezer spoil.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

As long as you were keeping the door closed I'd imagine freezer food would be OK for a couple days wouldn't it? I actually have a Bluetti AC70 on order right now that I think would run a fridge for at least a day if I needed to.

 

[Devnull]

The only "prep" stuff I really think about is having a couple of generators and 20 gallons of gas. Enough to keep the house from freezing during the winter for a few days using natural gas furnace. I run the big genny during the summer because I like my central air.

We did have some wanna be looters at the shopping mall a couple blocks down from the neighborhood during the BLM protests. That was quickly squashed when they started into the neighborhood with some 12 gauge pepper ball rounds.

 

[kemmler3D]

I have a few bins stocked with food / water / supplies as recommended by the local government in case of earthquakes, but nothing beyond that. A battery "generator" is on my vague-notion-of-buying-one list also.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Probably half of what's in my fridge right now needs to be thrown out as it is!

 

[Berwhale]

I have some family in NI that still have power out since 9am . So they are now in freezer food spoiling territory . Though not sure having to buy and house a generator is worth a once a decade freezer spoil.

I agree, but I was actually more concerned about keeping the heating and hot water going as it was November and quite chilly when we lost power the last time. I just checked and I paid £270 for a 4 stroke 4HP 1200W invertor generator at the time (so less than I paid for my Topping EX5 or either of my iLoud MTM monitors)

 

[BeeKay]

Take pictures of your belongings. Store them in the cloud and have a good insurance policy.

This easy to do and can be life saving when dealing with companies that are smooth to get along with as long they don’t have to pay. Also, people tend to misinterpret what’s the expensive stuff. Often it’s the dressing room full of clothes and the stereo gear might struggle to keep up. Pictures will help when all is gone.

 

[007Shorty]

We don't actually have regular weather disasters, but since the Ukraine war in combination with an incompetent government, things can quickly go wrong.

- I make sure that my car's tank is always at least half full
- Firewood, candles, matches
- Battery-operated radio, flashlights & batteries
- Food for a week & 50 liters of water per person
- Power bank
- Camping stove & gas
- Cash

I know, it's far from being perfect.

Edit: I just checked again, my old Samsung S4 mini still works (it has an FM radio) and my old S7 still has a 256 GB SD card with lots of music and both still have a jack socket, how cool is that?

 

[kemmler3D]

This easy to do and can be life saving when dealing with companies that are smooth to get along with as long they don’t have to pay. Also, people tend to misinterpret what’s the expensive stuff. Often it’s the dressing room full of clothes and the stereo gear might struggle to keep up. Pictures will help when all is gone.

I once got burglarized and used my renter's insurance. They were willing to replace everything with a pretty generous valuation, but only if I had some tangible evidence that I actually owned the thing. Which seems fair when you think about it.

"The guy stole my 32" TV, a clock radio from 2009, my Timex watch, and my beloved Fabergé egg collection!"

 

[Timcognito]

I have solar panels and whole house battery. In 2024 the bill for electricity was $211 for the year. My house is an active solar design since 1984 with south facing glass and a fireplace in the loop heating an insulated crawlspace and ground keeping us cozy despite the almost constant NW wind off the Pacific 500ft away. Cut trees and vegetation back for fire safety and don't live in dense forest. Almost every structural wall has shear plywood under 5/8" drywall and hold-downs for earthquakes prevalent in this area. One concern would be interruption of the water supply as I replaced our 50 gallon water heater with a tankless WH. We keep extra water and shelf stable food. Power outages are common with high winds that routinely knock down trees and power lines in our rainy season.

 

[Berwhale]

I just remembered that I also keep this in the cloakroom, but there are no windows in there, so I might struggle to find it in power cut...

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I live in a 3rd floor apartment and I've been thinking about acquiring some form of rope ladder or climbing rope just in the case of a fire where my son and I needed to go out the window.

 

[Berwhale]

I live in a 3rd floor apartment and I've been thinking about acquiring some form of rope ladder or climbing rope just in the case of a fire where my son and I needed to go out the window.

You can buy fire escape ladders that you can keep near a window... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Storey-Fire-Escape-Ladder-Warranty/dp/B08W2MF169?th=1

 

[ZolaIII]

I just remembered that I also keep this in the cloakroom, but there are no windows in there, so I might struggle to find it in power cut...

View attachment 423571

Those can be useful to hit someone or start the fire... Better prepare some literature to keep you occupied and recicle some at necessity time of need. There's always a thumb rule.

Who likes the gerne? Played classics cuple of times.