Disaster Ready

HiKing808

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Oct 27, 2006
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28
ok so bottom line, in the event of a natural disaster i.e. hurricane, earthquake, etc, REALISTICALLY!!! how many days do you think one needs to be ready with illumination, b4 national/world wide help arrives, or power is restored.

oh yeah i live in hawaii, so basically there is no where for me to drive i.e. katrina victims.

im thinking 3 days. night only last at most 12 hrs i'll sleep through 6 so some where around 36 hrs lets say 50 just to be safe.

what are your thoughts?
 

tebore

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May 10, 2006
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Toronto, Ontario. CAN.
Re: disaster ready

If it's anything like New Orleans then you would need enough run time to get away from the city and to a new place. Or if you're staying then a few months worth of light.
 

Flying Turtle

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Jan 28, 2003
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Apex, NC
Re: disaster ready

A few years back (actually 10, I think) when Hurricane Fran came through our area we were without power for ten days. This was about as bad as it's likely to get this far from the coast. Now if I had earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis to worry about I'd want to be prepared for worse.

Geoff
 

h2xblive

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Oct 17, 2006
Messages
295
Re: disaster ready

Last year, we lost power due to a nasty ice storm. We had no power for about 3.5 days. Since I ran out of batteries, I made a candle holder out of a used CD spindle and a plastic plate.
 

Campdavid

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Oct 19, 2006
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Re: disaster ready

The American Red Cross suggests having a disaster kit that will sustain you and your family for 10 days. You would probably not need it for that long, but then again it is "disaster preparedness".
 

Sub_Umbra

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la bonne vie en Amérique
Re: disaster ready

tebore said:
If it's anything like New Orleans then you would need enough run time to get away from the city and to a new place. Or if you're staying then a few months worth of light.
Mrs Umbra and I were on the high ground above sea level for Katrina and it's entire aftermath. We were very well prepared and in a good house and we hid from the Mayors minions. Our power was out for one day short of six weeks. Our phone was out for 7.5 weeks. Natural gas was out much longer.

We used mostly dim lights and with just a little thought you can be ready to provide light for months without having to stock hundreds of cells. In the entire six weeks our total use of our brighter lights only came to a few minutes when it was all added together. This post may give you an idea for lights that will put you in good stead in an emergency without spending a lot of money on spare cells. Remember that when the power is out for a while your dim lights will seem brighter as you will have more visual purple to work with and much less ambient light to overcome.

This post explains why lights with blue/green LEDs were used more than any of our than others.

It should be remembered that hurricanes are just one of many threats that could cause you to have to rely on yourself for six weeks or more. Hurricanes at least give you three days warning before impact. Massive power failures, terrorist strikes or a bird flu 'Shelter In Place' quarantine and many other events may strike any urban area with almost unthinkable ramifications for all in the region. They are all come as you are parties.
 

bigfoot

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May 23, 2006
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Orygun
Re: disaster ready

For those interested, this site has GREAT preparedness info, especially on assembling disaster kits. A good forum, too:

www.equipped.org
 

paulr

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Joined
Mar 29, 2003
Messages
10,832
Re: disaster ready

If there's a prolonged power outage I think after a while life becomes not too different from before electricity was invented. Candlelight and torches were used for a few things; if you needed to walk at night, there was the moon; but basically, most activities needing illumination were planned around the availability of sunlight.

So unless you're doing SAR or something, I think like Sub Umbra, that powerful lights are rarely needed. People do multi-month AT trail hikes with nothing but a Photon II. As a flashaholic I'd want more, e.g. on Hawaii, I'd go for 1) a long running EDC like an Infinity Ultra; 2) some reasonable LED headlamp; 3) something a little more powerful like a Fenix. Run everything on AA NiMH cells, have a solar charger and an Energizer 15 minute charger with 12 volt power plug, letting you recharge in a vehicle. I think that's enough lights for most folks. If you want something monstrously powerful, go for something like a mag85 (NiMH powered) or an SLA spotlight that you charge up from 12 volts.
 

watt4

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Jun 7, 2002
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Indiana, U.S.A.
Re: disaster ready

for starters, have a couple long-runtime AA led lights and a couple dozen AA batteries
 

Lightmania

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Sep 10, 2006
Messages
214
Re: disaster ready

Four days of no power after two particular hurricanes last year. In my case, we were lucky to have it back so soon because a lot of people in other areas didn't get it back for about 3 weeks or so. So yes, do get plenty of batteries. Anything LED were the best 'cuz of their runtime.

Bottom line? Get a generator; we had one running non-stop. Nothing as beautiful as the sound of the generator running in those time.

I didn't mind those nights, heheh. Real excuses to use flashlights. :D Cleaning up the mess is another matter, however.

Lightmania

oh, I almost forgot. Water. Very important. After one of the hurricane, our water supply was knocked out but that came out ok 'cuz we were well stocked with water. It is probably most important thing to have above all.
 

Lightmania

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Messages
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Re: disaster ready

Also, if there's a lot of trees around you, it is not a bad idea to have a chain saw handy.

Lightmania
 

Concept

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Joined
Sep 1, 2006
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1,403
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Townsville, Australia.
Re: disaster ready

I live in an area that can be prone to cyclones, but touch wood it has been many years since a decent one has hit. I think there are so many variables, mainly the severity of the cyclone will obviously determine the length of time we are without power. My only saving grace is that we are on an underground supply so there would have to be a decent cyclone hit before we lost power.
 

HiKing808

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Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
28
Re: disaster ready

man where do you guys live??? no offence, but i can't see being without running power and water, for longer than 2 days b4 major help arrives from either the mainland, or other countries. i mean oahu is a major tourist destination, thus i would asume that the disaster infostructure should be in place.i mean at least 1/4th of the people living on the island are probably tourists and who in their right mind packs disaster kits when vacationing in hawaii? aside for a small emergency flashlight of course.

i mean does anyone know how long those islands victimized by the 04 tsunamis were without power, water, etc,

but hey thanks for all the responses, and realworld experiences, i guess you never really know until it happens, i mean i bet katrina victims thought help would have arrived alot sooner than it did right?

oh yeah and what is edc? sorry still new
 

270winchester

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Aug 9, 2004
Messages
3,983
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down the road from Pleasure Point.
Re: disaster ready

Sub_Umbra said:
Mrs Umbra and I were on the high ground above sea level for Katrina and it's entire aftermath. We were very well prepared and in a good house and we hid from the Mayors minions. Our power was out for one day short of six weeks. Our phone was out for 7.5 weeks. Natural gas was out much longer.

We used mostly dim lights and with just a little thought you can be ready to provide light for months without having to stock hundreds of cells. In the entire six weeks our total use of our brighter lights only came to a few minutes when it was all added together. This post may give you an idea for lights that will put you in good stead in an emergency without spending a lot of money on spare cells. Remember that when the power is out for a while your dim lights will seem brighter as you will have more visual purple to work with and much less ambient light to overcome.

This post explains why lights with blue/green LEDs were used more than any of our than others.

It should be remembered that hurricanes are just one of many threats that could cause you to have to rely on yourself for six weeks or more. Hurricanes at least give you three days warning before impact. Massive power failures, terrorist strikes or a bird flu 'Shelter In Place' quarantine and many other events may strike any urban area with almost unthinkable ramifications for all in the region. They are all come as you are parties.


what about blue filters for LED lights? would they do the job to avoid detection? I have a few blue LED lights but just ordered a blue filter from SF.
 

bfg9000

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Joined
Jan 7, 2005
Messages
1,119
Re: disaster ready

HiKing808 said:
man where do you guys live??? no offence, but i can't see being without running power and water, for longer than 2 days b4 major help arrives from either the mainland, or other countries.
Of Oahu's 4 military and 3 public airports, only two have an elevation over 18' (just one has an elevation over 30', and that is at Wheeler AFB). So it isn't impossible for a hurricane (Iniki in 1992 had gusts to 160mph) or tsunami to damage all of them except for a smallish one.

In that case only small planes could land on short runways or on highways, and the bulk of relief aid would arrive at a minimum of three weeks later by ship (weather permitting, and if the ports are ok). By comparison, New Orleans is crisscrossed by Interstate highways, and it still took weeks to make them passable.
 

flame2000

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Sep 5, 2006
Messages
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Location
Singapore
Re: disaster ready

Just curious.......do you guys keep a small backup generator and a jerry can of petrol in case there is any disaster?
 

EV_007

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Mar 4, 2006
Messages
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Over there -- >
Re: disaster ready

I agree, a long lasting dim LED would be the best option for a disaster light. Multiple lights using same size batteries is another wise choice.[font=&quot][/font]

Oahu is a popular tourist destination, however, if the brown stuff started flying and law and order deteriorated, you'd literally be stuck on an Island with nowhere to go. When I lived in Hawaii, I remember Tsunami evacuation routes outlined in the first few pages of phonebooks, so it is a real threat there.

Also, Hawaii 's main industry is tourism and the majority of the jobs support it. If the crap truly hit the fan ala New Orleans style, it would be open season on the "rich" tourists. The social economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots is ever present on the Islands. Anytime you have that imbalance, a disaster occurring event levels the playing field, which can indeed get a bit hairy.



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bfg9000

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Messages
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Re: disaster ready

HiKing808 said:
i mean does anyone know how long those islands victimized by the 04 tsunamis were without power, water, etc,
Um, I guess you could say the villages that were washed away are still without power and water because everybody in them died after the 100 foot tall waves buried them! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake In the third world, you're on your own.

BTW:
On April 2, 1868, a local earthquake with a magnitude estimated between 7.25 and 7.75 rocked the southeast coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. It triggered a landslide on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano, five miles north of Pahala, killing 31 persons. A tsunami then claimed 46 additional lives. The villages of Punaluu, Ninole, Kawaa, Honuapo, and Keauhou Landing were severely damaged. According to one account, the tsunami "rolled in over the tops of the cocoanut trees, probably 60 feet high .... inland a distance of a quarter of a mile in some places, taking out to sea when it returned, houses, men, women, and almost everything movable."
The April 1 (1946) Aleutian Island earthquake tsunami that killed 159 people on Hawaii and five in Alaska resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system (specifically The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center), established in 1949 for Pacific Ocean area countries. The tsunami is locally known in Hawaii as the April Fools Day Tsunami in Hawaii due to people thinking the warnings were an April Fools prank.
There's now 900,000 people on that tiny island of Oahu in the middle of the Pacific.
And EDC is "every day carry."

Lightmania said:
Also, if there's a lot of trees around you, it is not a bad idea to have a chain saw handy.
Somehow I can't imagine HiKing808 would need to cut down coconut palms in Waikiki for firewood, since Hawaii is so much more tropical than Florida that nobody has indoor heating, and washing machines are often plumbed outdoors. Maybe for cooking the rich tourists?
icon12.gif
 

etc

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Dec 19, 2004
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Northern Virginia
Re: disaster ready

Bottom line? Get a generator; we had one running non-stop. Nothing as beautiful as the sound of the generator running in those time


+1

I just had a power outage a few days ago, due to strong winds. Visiting a friend to work on her car. It was cold, rainy, miserable, very windy (which brought down the temp. index), and well, dark. Plus I got flu, which made things really much worse.

I did use the multitude of lites I had with me to discover what kind of shyte I was in.... she had no generator, no propane devices, all in all, poorly prepared. Just some candles.

Lites are the first line of defense so you can set up the entire infrastructure if something like this happens. LP stove is the way to go, kerosine heater is great, and a generator is a good idea. But if you get these for 2.5 days per year, it may not be worthwhile to spent on these things.
 

Lightmania

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Sep 10, 2006
Messages
214
Re: disaster ready

lol, I was thinking of debris clearing, making road passable, etc when I said that. But that'll work too if you live somewhere else cold.

Lightmania
 
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