Every dollar you spend on preparedness will save you $9 in response. Much better ROI than Wall Street.

I was at the IAEM (International Association of Emergency Managers) annual conference in Kansas City last year, and one of the speaker was Lt. Gen. Russel Honore (the guy who cleaned up the mess known as Katrina). His speech was enlightening to say the least. I came across one article today and thought it was excellent written. I’ve reposted the article from the great website Gov Tech. Here you and and enjoy!

http://www.govtech.com/gt/690367?topic=117680 written by Corey McKenna

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has come a long way since Hurricane Katrina in its response to disasters but the country has a long way to go to improve preparedness, Lt. Gen. Russel Honore told a gathering of homeland security stakeholders in Washington, D.C., last week at the 2009 Homeland Security S&T Stakeholders Conference. Honore was the commander of the Joint Task Force Katrina responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for areas across the Gulf Coast impacted by Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people. In contrast, Hurricane Ike killed fewer than 30 people, Honore said. That’s largely because people were warned and evacuated ahead of time.

“I believe for every dollar you spend on preparedness you save $9 in response,” Honore said. “The biggest example I can get you is: You go down to your grandma’s house that has that big old tree next to it that’s 200 years old that can fall on grandma’s house and kill her. On a given day you can go cut that tree for $1,000. You wait until after the tornado hit or after the hurricane hit, and it’s going to cost you about $10,000 to remove it. That is if grandma is still alive.”

The best mitigation strategy might be to not build in a disaster zone in the first place. And that’s a lesson that is well documented and used to be part of the popular mindset, Honore said.

“We’re doing some pretty stupid things in where we’re building buildings, how we build them, where people live, how they live. We have to get people to be more aware of doing a risk assessment of where they live and how they live,” he said. “It is predicted that an overtopping of Long Island would also mean about one story of water on Wall Street, but yet, take a look at how our infrastructure has been built.”
All the marketing and availability of useful products aren’t going to do any good if residents don’t use them to prepare for disasters.

“I went to Baton Rouge after Gustav last year and saw a cousin of mine. He said, ‘Well you know, cuz you all was a little late getting here with the tarps and the FEMA water. I said ‘Well, what impact did it have?’ ‘I guess some roof damage, but we had to wait three days for our tarp.’ I said ‘Let’s go out here and look at your property.’ As we walked around his big old mobile home, about a 30 footer, that he used to go to the [Louisiana State University football games] in and they tail gate in. Right behind it was parked a trailer with all type of stuff. You could have a field kitchen. You could feed about 1,000 troops with what they do tailgating parties with. Then we went to a shed with a little roof damage and inside that was his four vehicles he and his boys go deer hunting in. Right next to that was his $25,000 bass boat. I said ‘You know cuz, if you spent a little bit of time getting prepared for hurricane season like you do for football and deer season, you’d be OK. Get rid of some of this stuff, buy yourself a generator and go to Wal-Mart man and buy you some tarps and, by the way, buy a few cases of water to put in your house.

“Here are people who are totally able to do it but it is not in their mindset to be prepared.” Honore said.

That puts strain on first responders who also must deal with the elderly, disabled and lower-income residents, who make up one-third of the population and have less freedom to evacuate and stay in a hotel or with relatives.

“You get used to the 24-hour news cycle and your iPods and your BlackBerrys when things are working, but imagine [Washington, D.C.,] without power,” Honore said. “If you lose power, it will set back the way you live 80 years because there is no running water.”

He pointed out that 42 percent of people live next to water. And some people in places like areas of Southern California build houses secluded on edges of cliffs and then their house burns down because it’s not accessible to firefighters. Thus a part of preparedness is being smart about where development occurs.

The charity hospital and Veterans Affairs hospital in New Orleans were closed after their generators on the ground floor were flooded. “Had the first floor of those two hospitals been parking garages, those hospitals would have still been open, and I doubt we would have ever had to close them during Katrina because it wasn’t structural damage. It was the fact that they had water in the bottom of them and they cut the electricity off and the generators couldn’t operate.”

Many water utilities don’t have generators to provide water to residents following a disaster. Yet, Honore said, many people could shelter at home if they had running water. With generators, drug stores could stay open so the elderly and ill could get medications during a disaster.

“Being prepared starts at work,” he said. “Because you cannot run your business without your employees.” Honore believes American businesses ought to wage an active campaign because a culture of preparedness cannot be created without the private sector’s help. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA recommend having a three-day supply of food and water, an emergency evacuation plan, emergency evacuation pack and a weather radio. The evacuation pack should have some cash in it because ATMs are among the first things to go out during a disaster, Honore said. Every college graduate should have first aid and CPR training, and the national preparedness plan ought to be focused on family and community preparedness and standards for educating children about what to do in a disaster.

And while the DHS and rest of the country have gotten better at response, we still have a long way to go on preparedness. One story of the success of teaching preparedness leading up to Katrina that Honore discussed involved a young boy who learned life-saving skills from the Boy Scouts and Red Cross. He used those skills to save his baby sister and parents from Hurricane Katrina.

“You need to take this [seriously],” Honore said, “because we’ve got about 304 million [people] we know about.” The number of hospitals and emergency medical services teams are not growing with the population, he said. “Just like you know how to drive, [it] ought to be mandated in our future population because the world keeps getting bigger and the world is not getting safer,” he said.

Honore told the audience that they will know they’re creating a culture of preparedness when, for Father’s Day, sons give their fathers evacuation packs instead of silk ties that will go unworn.

Crisis spurs spike in ‘suburban survivalists’

SAN DIEGO – Six months ago, Jim Wiseman didn’t even have a spare nutrition bar in his kitchen cabinet.

Now, the 54-year-old businessman and father of five has a backup generator, a water filter, a grain mill and a 4-foot-tall pile of emergency food tucked in his home in the expensive San Diego suburb of La Jolla.

Wiseman isn’t alone. Emergency supply retailers and military surplus stores nationwide have seen business boom in the past few months as an increasing number of Americans spooked by the economy rush to stock up on gear that was once the domain of hardcore survivalists.

These people snapping up everything from water purification tablets to thermal blankets shatter the survivalist stereotype: they are mostly urban professionals with mortgages, SUVs, solid jobs and a twinge of embarrassment about their newfound hobby.

From teachers to real estate agents, these budding emergency gurus say the dismal economy has made them prepare for financial collapse as if it were an oncoming Category 5 hurricane. They worry about rampant inflation, runs on banks, bare grocery shelves and widespread power failures that could make taps run dry.

For Wiseman, a fire protection contractor, that’s meant spending roughly $20,000 since September on survival gear — and trying to persuade others to do the same.

“The UPS guy drops things off and he sees my 4-by-8-by-6-foot pile of food and I say ‘What are you doing to prepare, buddy?'” he said. “Because there won’t be a thing left on any shelf of any supermarket in the country if people’s confidence wavers.”

The surge in interest in emergency stockpiling has been a bonanza for camping supply companies and military surplus vendors, some of whom report sales spikes of up to 50 percent. These companies usually cater to people preparing for earthquakes or hurricanes, but informal customer surveys now indicate the bump is from first-time shoppers who cite financial, not natural, disaster as their primary concern, they say.

Top sellers include 55-gallon water jugs, waterproof containers, freeze-dried foods, water filters, water purification tablets, glow sticks, lamp oil, thermal blankets, dust masks, first-aid kits and inexpensive tents.

Joe Branin, owner of the online emergency supply store Living Fresh, said he’s seen a 700 percent increase in orders for water purification tablets in the past month and a similar increase in orders for sterile water pouches.

He is shipping meals ready to eat and food bars by the case to residential addresses nationwide.

“You’re hearing from the people you will always hear from, who will build their own bunkers and stuff,” he said. “But then you’re hearing from people who usually wouldn’t think about this, but now it’s in their heads: ‘What if something comes to the worst?'”

Online interest in survivalism has increased too. The niche Web site SurvivalBlog.com has seen its page views triple in the past 14 months to nearly 137,000 unique visitors a week. Jim Rawles, a self-described survivalist who runs the site, calls the newcomers “11th hour believers.” He charges $100 an hour for phone consulting on emergency preparedness and says that business also has tripled.

“There’s so many people who are concerned about the economy that there’s a huge interest in preparedness, and it pretty much crosses all lines, social, economic, political and religious,” he said. “There’s a steep learning curve going on right now.”

Art Markman, a cognitive psychologist, said he’s not surprised by the reaction to the nation’s financial woes — even though it may seem irrational. In an increasingly global and automated society, most people are dependent on strangers and systems they don’t understand — and the human brain isn’t programmed to work that way.

“We have no real causal understanding of the way our world works at all,” said Markman, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin. “When times are good, you trust that things are working, but when times are bad you realize you don’t have a clue what you would do if the supermarket didn’t have goods on the shelves and that if the banks disappear, you have no idea where your money is.”

Those preparing for the worst echo those thoughts and say learning to be self sufficient makes them feel more in control amid mounting uncertainty — even if it seems crazy to their friends and families.

Chris Macera, a 29-year-old IT systems administrator, said he started buying extra food to take advantage of sales after he lost his job and he was rehired elsewhere for $30,000 less.

But Macera, who works in suburban Orange County, said that over several months his mentality began to shift from saving money to preparing for possible financial mayhem. He is motivated, too, by memories of the government paralysis that followed Hurricane Katrina.

He now buys 15 pounds of meat at a time and freezes it, and buys wheat in 50-pound bags, mills it into flour and uses it to bake bread. He checks survivalist Web sites for advice at least once a day and listens to survival podcasts.

“You kind of have to sift through the people with their hats on a little bit too tight,” said Macera, who said his colleagues tease him about the grain mill. “But I see a lot of things (on the Web) and they’re real common sense-type things.”

“I don’t want to be a slave to anybody,” he said. “The more systems you’re dependent on, the more likely things are going to go bad for you.”

That’s a philosophy shared by Vincent Springer, a newcomer to emergency preparedness from the Chicago area.

Springer, a high school social studies teacher, says he’s most worried about energy shortages and an economic breakdown that could paralyze the just-in-time supply chain that grocery stores rely on.

In the past few months, Springer has stockpiled enough freeze-dried food for three months and bought 72-hour emergency supply kits for himself, his wife and two young children. The 39-year-old is also teaching himself to can food.

“I’m not looking for a retreat in northern Idaho or any of that stuff, but I think there’s more people like me out there and I think those numbers are growing,” he said.

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer – Mon May 25, 1:37 pm ET

wow. what would happen if H1N1 is much more virulent?

Swine flu may have infected over 100,000 Americans, CDC says

A recent article on the front page of Yahoo:

SATURDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) — While the official tally of confirmed U.S. swine flu cases topped 4,700 on Friday, experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimate the true number of infections at more than 100,000 nationwide.

Also on Friday, health officials announced two new deaths linked to the H1N1 virus, bringing the nationwide total to five.

“Today we had our fourth death reported from Maricopa County in Arizona,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, from CDC’s Influenza Division, said during an afternoon teleconference Friday. “There are more deaths and hospitalizations that we are monitoring,” he said.

The Arizona patient, a woman in her late 40s with an underlying lung condition, died last week, the Associated Press reported.

Also on Friday, health officials in Nueces County, Texas, announced that state’s third swine flu-related death, an unidentified 33-year-old man with multiple underlying health conditions who died May 5 or 6, according to the AP.

The two new fatalities come after two others in Texas and one in Washington state. All of the victims had underlying health problems besides the flu.

Most cases of swine flu occurring in the United States appear to be mild, health officials said.

In fact, “estimates of the confirmed and probable cases in the United States is probably not the best indicator of transmission at this point,” the CDC’s Jernigan said. “The outbreak is not localized, but is spreading and appears to be expanding throughout the United States. This is an ongoing public health threat.”

It’s a little hard to estimate the number of people who may be infected with swine flu, Jernigan said, “but if we had to make an estimate, I would say that the amount of activity we are seeing with our influenza-like illness network is probably upwards of 100,000.”

Jernigan said there also seems to be more cases of flu generally in the United States — both the seasonal and the new H1N1 swine flu — than is usually seen at this time of the year. “There are 22 U.S. states that are reporting widespread or regional influenza activity, which is something that we would not expect at this time,” he said.

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/swineflumayhaveinfectedmorethan100000americans

update (or the lack of)…

I am sorry for the lack of updates recently. I got a flu. Not sure if it’s H1N1 or regular flu since the symptoms are mostly identical. My symptoms included fever, chill, body aches, terrible running nose, soar throat and fatigue. It’s ironic really, since I am in the field to preach emergency preparedness and safety tips. I believed I got the bug when I went to downtown Toronto two nights in a row last week (or maybe it was a theater full of Trekkies). Social distancing is the best non-pharmaceutical measures to prevent one getting a flu. According to past historical figures, it’s estimate that 30% of all population will contract the virus during a pandemic. We are fortunate H1N1 is nowhere near as deadly as people originally feared. Still, as I find out, it’s important to keep social distancing and practice health hygiene.

Swine Flu Q&A with Brampton’s Emergency Manager

I’ve conducted a brief, yet informative Q&A with Mr. Alain Normand, the Emergency Manager of Brampton, ON. He is the author of three emergency management books titled: “The Return of the Spanish Lady: the 1918 Influenza Virus is Back”, “The Curse of El Niño”, and “The Harness of the Riviera ”. His personal blog http://avianfluhoax.blogspot.com/ discusses extensively about Influenza Pandemics.

Q: What is your take on the effectiveness of antiviral drugs (Tamiflu & Relenza) against the H1N1 Swine Flu?

A: With regards to the swine flu, there are a number of elements to consider. At this time, the indications are that both Tamiflu and Relenza have some effectiveness in the treatment of swine flu. However, the cases that are being observed are all mild cases. I haven’t seen any reports on the effectiveness on people who are in the advanced stages of the disease, probably because they don’t usually report when it doesn’t work. The people suffering from mild case may actually heal without the drugs but there are no studies on this since it is too early to tell.

Q: What are some concerns of using these antiviral drugs?

A: I have never been a strong proponent of medication preferring natural medicines. The main concern here is for side effects. We don’t know much about the side effects of the drugs because there have been no large scale use to date. One study out of Japan on the use of Tamiflu as a prophylactic has seemed to indicate an increase in number of cases of dementia as a side effect.

Q: Should business stockpile Tamiflu or Relenza?

A: As a corporation, you may want to have some available in case people start demanding it. In some cases the unions have made it a condition of their collective agreement. It’s probably more of a case of due diligence than anything. I would however transfer as much as possible of this responsibility to the Regional Health unit. Even if your staff requests it, it is always better to have it distributed by the official health providers. They have liability protection should something go wrong, whereas you may not.

Q: How about average households? Should families stockpile them?

A: On a personal basis, it’s really a matter of opinion. You have to know that the drugs don’t actually cure the disease, they only diminish the symptoms and reduce the length of time that you are sick by enhancing your own immunity. On the other hand, if you build your immunity without drug and come through the illness safely, then you will actually become stronger to resist the next waves of the disease. Some of the things that may influence your decision are whether or not you have young children at home or people living with you that are already weak or elderly. Then, reducing the length of the illness will mean reducing your contagion time and risk of transmission to those people.

Q: What treatment would you personally prefer if you are infected?

A: Personally, I will be going to my homeopath to get any treatment I need. That’s the whole premise of my book, “The Return of the Spanish Lady: the 1918 Influenza Virus is Back”. If you look up under homeopathy and influenza you will see that they have the best solutions available.

That’s basically it. Hope everyone enjoys it and have a nice weekend!