Sorry I haven't been here in a while, I had surgery on my knee and was out of touch for a while.
Two major lessons from the Chile Haiti earthquakes.
1. Survivors were found after the "official" search was called off. It seems that is always the case. A little further along I'm going to reveal how you can increase your chances of being rescued from a collapsed building or home by 10 to 100 times the odds for people who do NOT do this one little thing.
It was heart wrenching to see people trying to tunnel into collapsed building with their bare hands. Heavy machinery was scarce and was generally reserved for the government office until other bulldozers could be flown in. When you try to move earthquake rubble with your bare hands you invariably get cuts on your hands. Now you have increased risk of infection.
2. Radio Operator KF7ADW (Joe) was in Hawaii when the announcement was made that there would be a tsunami from the Chile earthquake. His experience was most enlightening. People were told to evacuate the beachfront hotels and move to higher ground. The problem is that over 90% of the people in the hotel had no car! You fly into Hawaii and a shuttle takes you to your hotel. From there you can walk to most attractions and there are shuttles and taxis to take you to the more remote spots of interest.
It quickly became obvious that there were not enough shuttles to evacuate the hotels in time. The suggestion was made to move to higher floors in the hotels and remain there until the tsunami passed. It was a scary time.
Since I teach Emergency Preparedness, I have been in the habit for many years of checking out evacuation routes whenever I arrive in another town. I usually have a car available, but not always. I also look for alternate less popular routes. For example, here in Salt Lake City, during rush hour, State street is very crowded. Move over one block to Main street and you will often be doing 35 miles an hour while the folks on State street are averaging 5 MPH.
In Las Vegas I've been caught in traffic jams on the main drag for over 45 minutes trying to go just 12 miles. I learned to move over just one block to Industrial Boulevard and cruise along at the full speed limit.
A fast escape route can be the difference between life and death.
Earlier I said I would give you a tip on how to GREATLY increase your chances of being rescued when trapped in a building. It is so simple. Have a plastic whistle. Those used to cost 25 cents, I see them now for $2.95 to $4.95. I'm trying to buy a hundred or so from a manufacturer and if successful, I will put up a link where they can be bought for about 30 or 40 cents apiece.
Why a whistle?
1. The sound carries a LOT further than the human voice.
2. The sound penetrates walls and debris better than the human voice.
3. With time, your voice will become weaker and weaker. The amount of air needed to blow a whistle is a tiny fraction of that needed to yell for help.
4. The effects of dehydration are identical to those of a stroke or heart attack, minus the chest pain. Your speech becomes slurred. One side of your mouth will not work right. You become confused and don't make much sense. I recently saw all this in an acquantance who was rushed to the hospital with dehydration and we told the doctor that she seemed to have had a stroke or heart attack. He agreed. Until after he ran the test and decided she was only dehydrated.
Get whistles. Put them in your car, your office, your house, your grab and go kit, your camping supplies and take them with you on vacations and business trips.
When this training was given on a net someone asked what do we need the most to be better prepared. I listed four things.
1. Gloves
2. A Crowbar
3. An LED light that can be worn on your head (Harbor Freight, $2.99 to $7.99).
4. Plastic whistle.
Harbor Freight has Work Gloves in bags of six pairs for $7.99. I have them in the cars, garage, office, house, etc.
Other suggestions that came in from the net members included a Hard Hat, some hard candy, and of course, water. Water ALWAYS.
For years I have put hard candy in every desk at the office. Every desk. If you are sitting at someone else's desk and the building collapses, you need a candy supply close by. It helps to generate saliva and is actually an emergency food. I use individually wrapped pieces because they last longer and do not stick together to form an amorphous blob of sugar. You can buy it in the store in bulk. Costco sells a HUGE bag of hard candy, all individually wrapped, for under $10. Halloween and Christmas are excellent times to stock up on bulk hard candy. Sometimes even Valentines.
Think safety and preparedness. Always plan ahead.
More next time, thanks for visiting.
N7OZH
