Nuclear Aftermath for Beginners (or - That could be us!)

www.cbsnews.com

 

What should you do about nuclear safety in your home? In the US, public awareness and education campaigns have failed.  In Japan, as time hurdles on and as more residents are evacuated due to concerns at the nuclear plants, the need for basic resources becomes desperate.  Many victims have no phone, no power, no heat, and no food, some have no home.  And many residents are now facing a cloud of radioactive exhaust from efforts to stabilize the affected reactors. 

What can we do if we are thrust into a situation where nuclear contamination is a concern?  With so many variables out of our control, here's how to prepare for what we can control.

1) Be prepared to shelter in place.  Make a kit and train your family.  Do it now.

• Know local risks and listen for the alert or notification.
• Go to a room on the top floor, with fewest windows and vents.
• Turn off fans and ventilation systems in whole house.
• Take shelter in place kit with you. (Add duct tape, large sheets of plastic, and a bucket to your current emergency kit.)
• Close doors and windows, seal all openings to the room with tape and plastic.
• Listen to media for further instructions.

2) Keep a stock of food, bottled water, medication, and needed supplies in your home at all times.

3) Chemical emergencies usually only last an hour or more.  Depending on the contamination, nuclear incidents could last more.  If you live within 50 miles of a reactor, check with local authorities for plans and preferred evacuation routes.  Include such information in your family preparedness plan.

4) Stay where you are!  Even if you are in your car (perhaps stranded), staying enclosed is a greater protection than leaving your home, work, or car seeking shelter nearby.  If you are outdoors, seek the closest immediate shelter.

5) Radiation sickness can often be avoided or treated.  Be certain to indoors and follow instructions.  First responders will try to contain and decontaminate the area (and you, if needed).  Do not expose others by moving about before you are permitted.  Decontamination will be simplified if everyone cooperates. 

6) Most related illnesses are caused by high levels or longer terms of exposure to contaminants. Symptoms may be slow and/or subtle to manifest.  Report concerns and symptoms and seek treatment for concern over the next several months.

Japan's Quake Should Shake Us Into Action

www.news.com.au

I just got an email from a friend of a friend.  John P. is stuck at the airport in Narita, Japan.  Apparently the earthquake struck just as his plane landed.  He's fine, but for over five hours he's been standing in the airport shoulder to shoulder next to thousands of others with no provisions.  Hundreds (if not thousands) of victims lost their lives today, and the aftermath of this morning's 8.9 quake and tsunami will last for days, weeks, months, and years into the future. 

Help! As members of a global community, we all have the ability and (I dare say) obligation to lend a hand to our fellow man.  (Red Cross, World Vision)  For some of us prayers are the most precious gift we are able to offer.  Certainly financial gifts will be needed to restore that region.  Some Americans will have an opportunity to travel to Japan and assist in the restoration.  Whatever your situation, I urge you to do something right now.

Learn!  I also want to remind you that most of the United States' population lives in seismically active areas.  The US Geological Survey's website offers a lot of useful information.  Check to see what the risk is in your area.  (Remember that areas you travel to for business and leisure may be affected as well.)

Prepare!  As we watch the recovery in Japan unfold, be reminded of the steps that you might take to reduce the panic, heartbreak, and devastation if this happened in your community.  Take measures to quake-proof your home.  Know (and train your family) on what to do during an earthquake.  Prepare an emergency kit - with flashlights and other supplies you may need immediately after a quake or other disaster.  Keep supplies on hand to ride out inevitable post-disaster shortages.

Plan ahead!  Finally, when you travel, keep a few supplies right with you everywhere you go.  I hope John had a bottle of water, a granola bar and a pen light in his carry on bag.  I also hope he has a designated emergency contact here in the states.  Although he was able to get some information back to the states, he may have had his only opportunity to call.  His friends and family need to know who to contact here to check on him.

Related Posts:
Functional Friday: Preparedness Project - Evacuation Bag
Preparedness at Night
Disaster Cycle
Functional Friday: Go-Bag Part I - The Need

Avoiding the (Practically) Unavoidable - BPA

After reading Jennifer's post about food safety and BPA, I started looking around and paying attention to this issue.  And what I've found is amazing.  BPA is absolutely everywhere.

A trip to Whole Foods yielded the three tomato items pictured, but they are only potentially in BPA free packaging.  (I have found none but pasta sauce elsewhere.)  I was not able to find  confirmation of BPA testing for any of these products.  Despite BPA free packaging and labeling, many food products still contain measurable amounts of BPA, perhaps from being stored, shipped, and processed in containers that may contain BPA. 

I've also learned that the "BPA free" labeling on many products only includes the raw materials.  These items may contain BPA that leached into the product from the manufacturing equipment that did contain BPA.

And if you mother told you once, she told you a thousand times, "Wash your hands before you eat."  Here's one more reason why.  Those quick and convenient thermal receipts are often coated in BPA.  BPA has been proven to absorb through the skin, but handling a receipt and eating would significantly increase exposure.

Good news from SC Johnson!  Ziplock bags and plastic containers do not contain BPA, according to their website.

I've begun avoiding canned goods altogether, which is a huge jump from where I started.  As I originally collected a pantry full of "inventory," a good portion of that was canned goods.  I've begun looking for tetra-pak and pouched foods.  I've also purchased a lot more frozen foods, especially vegetables.  And I'm buying everything I can in glass.  (Although most lids still contain BPA, it's obviously less area and in less contact.)

According to the Environmental Working Group, plastics #1, #2, and #4 are BPA free.  I'm checking the package before I buy products now.

I also just invested in more glass storage-ware.  And I'm looking at purchasing some canning jars for food storage, as well.  (Although those lids also contain BPA.)

Functional Friday: Family Emergency Plan

We're going to write your first Family Emergency Preparedness Plan.  Get a pad of paper and a pen (or pencil or computer, whatever...).  Let's go!  (You can construct a basic plan online here.)

Household Information

• Write down the address, phone, photo of residence, landlord's name and number
• Write down the names of household members at your residence, list each birthdate, identifying characteristics, medical needs, social security number, and contact information (cell number, email, work location and info, etc.)
• Now write the names, location/addresses, and above information of other family members or important people included in your plan.

Meeting Places

• Initially you should plan to meet up at home, if possible.  That is where your resources and safety will lie.  From there you can make decisions and plans.
• Establish three meeting places at your home.  1) The first is where to meet inside the house during a storm, a tornado, or other unsafe situation outside our home (Riots?).  Our "hide-out" is the red sofa in our basement rec room. 2) Next is a shelter-in-place room.  We'll talk about this room later, in detail.  But for now pick a room on the highest level of your house, few windows, and space for everyone to hang out for a few hours.   3) The last is one next to your home to meet if your own residence is not accessible, such as in a fire.  Ours is my neighbor's front porch. Make sure everyone understands to stay there until everyone is safely accounted for.
• Finally, decide another location near your home where your family could meet if your home were not accessible.  Maybe a friend's house a few blocks away, a business, a park, a landmark.

Emergency Contact

• Determine an out-of-region/out-of-state telephone contact for the whole family.  In an emergency, phone systems may allow calls out of the region when lines within the region are jammed.
• Make certain that everyone in the family knows the name, address, phone number, and possibly email for that out of town contact.  Determine if that contact's residence will also be a meeting place, as well.  (Out-of-town meeting place should be, perhaps, 50-120 miles away.  Close enough to drive easily and quickly, far enough to escape regional disaster.)  Everyone should practice calling the contact person, especially if your household contains younger children.  
• If the out-of-town contact cannot be your long distance meeting place, designate another and include it in your emergency and communication plans as well.

Other Contacts

• Make a list (name, address, phone and email) of friends, family, agencies and professionals you might need to contact in an emergency situation.
• Family, friends and neighbors
• Doctors and pediatrician, hospital and ambulance, police and fire, 
• Car dealership and/or garage, veterinarian, attorney, accountant, bank, day care and/or babysitter
• Clergy, therapist, 
  
• Local assistance organizations website, phone number, and address (Red Cross, Salvation Army, churches)
  

Records and Data (Originals or Copies)

• Driver's License, Identification cards, Social Security cards, 
• Car and house keys
• Marriage License, Divorce Decree, Adoption Certificate, other relevant court documents
• Car titles, land deeds, tax records, financial records, wills and trusts
• Prescriptions, medical information and requirements,
• Photos of family members, homes, other property, jewelry and valuables
• Copies of insurance cards, policies, and credit cards
• Pets medical and vaccination records
• Flash drive or other digital storage of photos, documents, and other data
• City and regional maps

 Emergency Resources

• Cash (Cash is critical in a disaster where power is out.  Banks, stores, and ATM will be closed.)  An actual credit card may be of use as well.
• Home disaster kit, Shelter-in-place kit, Go-bag or evacuation kit, Car kits, Work/School kit, Purse or personal kit
• Long term stock of food storage, medications, supplies
• Commodities - What will a neighborhood or community run out of and be unable to restock in an emergency?  What will people want or need but not have?  These useful (or luxury) items can be given to others in Good Samaritan fashion, as a thank you for assistance, as a bargaining tool for items you might need, or simply as additional stores for later use.
• Emergency utilities (generator, fuel powered heating and cooking, water purification, battery powered radio or tv)

 Written Plan

• Write a few paragraphs describing what your family will do in each of several disasters.  Where will you go.  Will you stay together?  Who will pick up the kids? Where will you meet?
• Power outage, family separated, kids at home but unreachable, kids at school but unreachable, kids or parent "gone out", parent/spouse out of town, phone communication down, evacuation requested/ordered, house/neighborhood inaccessible, house is damaged while occupied, house fire, flash flooding, local eminent disasters, earthquake, etc.
• Don't get too bogged down in the details, at first.  Concentrate on the basics: will we stay or go?, where?, what resources and training do we have?

Do It Yourself - Granola

I didn't want to be left out of the fun.  After making my own yogurt (with a couple of humorous errors), I wanted to tell you about my granola creation experience, which perfectly complemented our recent begun quest to create homemade fruit and yogurt parfaits.

The only person in our house that loves granola more than me is my ten year old daughter.  She loves anything that seems special and out of the ordinary.  (She is quite a princess and deserves only the finest things, don't you know.)  I have also discovered foodily.com.  This website mines other cooking sites to bring together recipes that fit your criteria.  You can search by the recipe name or by the ingredients in a dish, and you can specify which ingredients to leave out, as well.  I typed in granola and Whammo! there are 25+ recipes for me to peruse.  I picked this one, and left out the raisins.  (There are no raisins in a Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait.)

The results were delicious and it was so easy.  I want to try a few other granola recipes.  I'd like to get the pieces to clump together and crunch a bit more.  I'm not sure how to do that, yet.  I also want to try this recipe for citrus granola.  Mmmm...