Words of our Prophets: Preparedness video

10 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUWGCEocKwQ&feature=player_embedded#!

No need to add anything to city water

I was just asked if we need to add anything to tap water before we store it in clean empty juice bottles.  On the Church's Provident Living website, http://www.providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,7446-1,00.html  it says:

Drinking Water

Store drinking water for circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted. If water comes directly from a good, pretreated source, then no additional purification is needed; otherwise, pretreat water before use. Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soft drinks. Keep water containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.

So, since our city water has been treated with chlorine, etc., I see no need to add anything to it.

I do try to rotate the water every now and then, because I would be a little afraid to drink it after a year or so.  But like I said, most of this water will be used for washing, so I don't worry about using it for that.

To my ward: Give me empty soda pop/juice bottles

I am putting out this request to my ward:


Along with a couple of 55 gallon barrels, I also use empty clean soda pop or juice bottles to store water in my home.  I have enough bottles myself.  But I have heard of others in our ward who want to start storing water, but they rarely drink soda pop or juice.  

If you don't need your empty bottles, please give them to me so I can start providing them to other people in the ward.

Remember, these need to be plastic food grade jugs or bottles which held juice or soda pop.  We don't want milk jugs (they disintegrate rapidly, and it is impossible to get all the milk residue out) or anything which contained non-food products.

P.S.  In case you are wondering why anyone would want to fill empty bottles with tap water instead of buying bottled drinking water, remember:  Only a small portion of your stored water will be for drinking and cooking in a disaster.  The vast majority of it will be for bathing, washing dishes, laundry, washing hands.  

So even if you buy all your drinking water, please store much more than that cheaply by refilling empty containers.

The Church recommends storing a minimum of 2 weeks worth of water, which equals 1 gallon per person per day  (14 gallons per person).  

But believe me, that is NOT ENOUGH.  Every time I have practiced, it is much more do-able to have at least 3 gallons of water per person per day.  

Remembering the Ice Storm of December 2002

It is such beautiful weather outside today, that I am sure that most of you are not thinking about winter weather.  But you should know that one of the banes of our existence here in North Carolina are ICE STORMS.  

I just found an old family letter I had written shortly after the big ice storm that hit North Carolina in December 2002.  One of these could happen to us this winter, and I wanted you to read my first hand account.  Maybe it will help you gather some supplies for the future.

Here are some excerpts:

I spent lots of time the first few days of the week (December 2002) getting ready for the big nativity scene event which was to happen Friday night at the Cary church building. On Monday the news started saying there was a chance of an ice storm coming on Wednesday, so I moved up my preparations.  I hoped the ice storm would be melted off by Friday morning. 

Wednesday afternoon the kids were let out of school one hour early, and the sleet and snow and freezing rain started and went on all evening. It wasn't bad at all, because the streets were warm enough that the snow didn't stick. The streets were wet all night. But the problem was with the air temperature. Trees got coated with ice and were breaking everywhere. All night it sounded like gunshots and big explosions as trees hit the ground. About midnight our power went off. 

(NOTE:  This was a very strange ice storm, in that no one was trapped at home by icy roads.  The roads were fine and we could all drive around.  But there was NO POWER because all the trees had fallen onto the power lines all over the state.)


(2.2 million people were without power.)

Thursday morning we woke up, and the sidewalks and streets were still passable. But we had no phone and no power. All my radios in the house ran on electricity, so I sat in the car a couple of times a day to listen to the radio news, and they said over 1 million people were without power from CP&L in North Carolina and 1.2 million people were without power with Duke Power. It was worse than Hurricane Fran, because with Fran, it took them 9 days to get all the power back on, but with this ice storm, they knew people could freeze to death if they didn't get the power on quickly. 

The high on Thursday was 34 degrees. We still had no phone or power. We had our fireplace on, and our kerosene heater. We cooked frozen dinners from the freezer on top of the kerosene heater, and then my husband cooked supper in the garage on the campstove (he left the garage door open for ventilation). I drove over to Tiffin’s, and her phone worked, so I called Marta A. (who was the chairman over the whole big nativity event) and she said she had so many trees down she couldn't get out of her long driveway. She was going to have to wait for her husband to get home on a plane, and he would drive home, and park by the road and walk to their house. She planned to walk out and use that car in the morning. She and I didn't know if the church building had power or if it would get power. 

Thursday night we turned off the kerosene heater and let the fire in the fireplace die down, and went to bed with massive amounts of blankets and sleeping bags, and slept just fine. 

Friday morning, I had set the kitchen timer to wake me up at 6 am, and checked to see if the phone worked. It didn't. So I checked it again at 7 am, and the phone was still dead. I had no idea if the church had power, but since I was in charge of the nativities I had to know. My husband drove to church and found that it had no power. When I heard that, I knew we wouldn't have the nativity event, but I couldn't phone anyone, I had to let them figure it out on their own. Later in the day I found out that Marta had driven to the church later, found out there was no power, and had put up signs on the doors saying the nativity was cancelled. 

It is too bad that the weather ruined our event, because we had articles in the Apex News, The Cary News, and the News and Observer, inviting the public to attend. But I'm glad it was cancelled, because if we had gone ahead with it, no one would have come anyway, people were so busy trying to get the trees out of their yards and figuring out how to survive without power. Most people, (me included) forgot all about it after Friday morning, and just went on with survival. 

We spent all day Friday trying to stay warm and cook food in unfamiliar ways. My husband had to go to work and was gone all day. The kids were bored without any TV or computer. Thankfully, our gas water heater worked great and I took a shower in the frigid bathroom. The roads were fine, so I took my kids to a few stores just for a break. The heater in the van decided to break, so we couldn't even get warm in there. 

There were whole sections of town that had power, so lots of people were out shopping, but as it started to get dark I decided to go home because I didn't want to be in that cold van. 

We had lots of different foods to choose from, but just for fun Friday evening I decided to try out a cooking method I had read about in Civil War books, where the soldiers would wrap bread dough around their ramrods and cook the dough over the fire. We tried it with biscuit dough wrapped on a stick we used for marshmallows, but it kept falling off. So I covered the fireplace shovel with foil and put a thin biscuit on it and held it in the fire to bake. That was a very slow way to get some supper, so when my husband came home he cooked a big pot of hamburger helper on the campstove with the hamburger that was thawing in the freezer. 

I went out to the car Friday 9 pm, and heard on the radio that 292,000 in the Triangle were still without power. It was 26 degrees. I came back in the house, and at 10 minutes after 9, the power came back on. We were so happy! 

I learned a few things in those 45 hours. 1) I was thankful to have a fireplace, firewood, a kerosene heater, and two cans of kerosene. 2) I wish I had a working radio inside the house. 3) I will buy a cell phone charger for the car. My electric charger did me no good. 4) I will buy an inverter, which can power your fridge or other electric appliance or gadget from the car battery. 5) And most important, always keep my husband around to help out in a power outage.

Amy

Reuters: "Disasters will cause widespread disruption"

Here are excerpts from the story:



http://www.cnbc.com/id/45899109

"The global economy could withstand widespread disruption from a natural disaster or attack by militants for only a week as governments and businesses are not sufficiently prepared to deal with unexpected events, a report by a respected think-tank said.

Events such as the 2010 volcanic ash cloud, which grounded flights in Europe, Japan's earthquake and tsunami and Thailand's floods last year, have showed that key sectors and businesses can be severely affected if disruption to production or transport goes on for more than a week."
"'Be Prepared'Costs can escalate quickly when transport or major production hubs are disrupted for more than a few days, which can in turn threaten food and water supplies and energy and communication networks, the report said."

But you already knew that natural disasters or military attacks could threaten food and water supplies, didn't you?  And thats a great reason to have food and water stored in your house.

Frigid weather!

On an exceptionally cold day like today, we get reminded of how much we rely on indoor heating.  It was absolutely bitter outside yesterday and today!

Just think about it.....what if we had a disaster which caused our power to be out, and we had to live in such frigid temperatures all day and all night?

Do you have enough heavy blankets, sleeping bags, and emergency methods of heating your house?

Okay, now think about clothing for yourself and your kids.  If you had no heat, you would still need to be moving around and accomplishing things (like cooking, changing diapers, etc.).  You can't stay under blankets all day.  Do you have warm clothing for all parts of everybody's body?   Picture each person head to toe.  Do you have each of these things, in the correct sizes for every member of your family?

Warm hat
muffler
warm gloves or mittens
work gloves
warm shirt
warm jacket or sweatshirt
waterproof poncho
heavy coat
insulated pants, ski pants, or long johns and pants
heavy socks
boots, snowboots, or sturdy shoes, for walking in adverse conditions

I am continually reminded that we are supposed to have one year's supply of food, clothing, and if possible, fuel.  So I like to stock up on winter clothing for every size, every time I see something good at a thrift store.  I don't want my little grandchildren to be cold!

Jan. 2012 Provident Living Challenges

January 2012 Provident Living Challenges

Do one of these by the February 2012 evening Relief Society meeting, and get a prize!

Challenge #1:  Buy Breakfast for 3 months:  Cold cereal.

Determine how many boxes of cold cereal your family goes through in a week, and what flavors they like.  Buy 13 weeks worth of cold cereal.  

Mark the date on the top so you can rotate the boxes.  Make a goal to never go below this amount of cold cereal in the future, so you will always have a three month’s supply.

(To make a complete breakfast, you would also need fresh milk or powdered milk.  However, that is not part of this month’s challenge.)

Challenge #2:

Safeguarding your important documents.  The challenge this month is to save at least three major documents (or categories of documents) safer than they were last month.  You be the judge.

Picture your house burned to the ground, with all your documents destroyed.  Which documents would be the most painful to lose?  This month we are going to try to protect our documents and find ways to store them safely or duplicate them and store the duplicates in different places. 

I will not attempt to list every document you might want to protect.  Some documents include confidential business/financial information, and these need to be protected from unfriendly eyes using encryption, locks and keys, or passwords.  Other documents, like recipes, can be open to the world, but you need to save them offsite because you would be heartbroken to lose them all in a fire or flood.

Think of all the ways documents could be lost:  theft, fire, flood, mold, chewed by mice or bugs, hurricane, left behind in an evacuation, etc.  Try to keep every document in at least two places OR MORE so that if one place has a disaster, you can get it from the other place.

Important paper documents:

Deeds to house, cars

Insurance documents

Birth certificates, adoption records

Passports

Marriage certificate

Wills

Life Stories

Genealogy

Financial records

Tax records

Etc.

Protect paper documents from fire by storing them in a fireproof safe ($33 at Target) or protect them from theft in a safety deposit box.  Also, make copies and store the copies elsewhere (either digitally or on paper)

Where to store digital photos and documents:

Your computer internal hard drive stores documents and photos automatically.  This does not count for our challenge.  You need to find an additional place to safeguard your information.

Here are some options:

Store on CDs, ask a friend to keep a copy at their house.

Store on external hard drive, keep it at work or at a relative’s house.

Email them to yourself (saved on Gmail)

Email them to someone else

Pay an online backup service, like Carbonite or Mozy

Keep a thumbdrive in your purse or at work. (These can be encrypted with a password.)

Copy all your recipes onto a blog or website.

If I were Santa

Merry Christmas!
If I were Santa I would give you all the food, cash and necessities to get you and yours through your lean times. But, alas, I don't have the resources to do that and besides, becoming self-reliant through provident livingis something the Lord wants us to choose to do for ourselves. So, here is my preparedness present to you:

http://peaceofpreparedness.com


This website is Debbie Kent's accumulation of preparedness information and motivational talks. It teaches us how to live providently so that we can provide for ourselves and our loved ones now and during hard times. The site has a vast and wonderful Resource Library and continues to be my favorite preparedness site so I keep on recommending it for your preparedness questions.

(I plagiarized this post from another preparedness person, but I feel the same way about Debbie Kent's website.  So consider this post "re-gifted".)

Benson: The Lord has warned and forewarned us

We encourage you to be more self-reliant so that, as the Lord has declared, “notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you, … the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world” (D&C 78:14). The Lord wants us to be independent and self-reliant because these will be days of tribulation. He has warned and forewarned us of the eventuality.

President Brigham Young said, “If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?” (In Journal of Discourses, 8:68.)

Food production is just one part of the repeated emphasis that you store a provision of food which will last for at least a year wherever it is legally permissible to do so. The Church has not told you what foods should be stored. This decision is left up to individual members. ...

From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord’s counsel, wheat should have high priority. “There is more salvation and security in wheat,” said Orson Hyde years ago, “than in all the political schemes of the world” (in Journal of Discourses, 2:207). Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.

This talk was given by Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oct. 1980

Read the rest of the talk:

http://lds.org/ensign/1980/11/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

FEMA says "Resolve to be Ready in 2012"

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As 2011 – one of the most active years for disasters in recent history – comes to a close and Americans get ready to ring in a new year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is encouraging all Americans to Resolve to be Ready in the new year by making a resolution to be prepared for emergencies.

As a recent report by the National Climatic Data Center highlights, 2011 has seen more billion-dollar natural disasters than any year on record. This year alone, the U.S. experienced its first hurricane landfall since 2008, the most deadly series of tornadoes since the 1950s, significant earthquakes and severe flooding – hazards that impacted every region of the country. All of these events have served as important reminders that disasters can strike anytime, anywhere, and being prepared is one of the most effective things we can do to protect our homes, businesses and loved ones.

Today, FEMA kicked off its annual campaign, Resolve to be Ready in 2012, which urges Americans to make preparedness a priority during the holiday season by making a new year’s resolution to be ready for disasters or by thinking about preparedness tools for last minute gift ideas.

“One of the most important lessons we can take away from this year is that disasters can impact all of us, no matter what part of the country we live in,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.  “While we can’t control where or when they might hit, we can take steps in advance to prepare for them – efforts that can go a long way toward protecting our families, homes and business. Resolving to be Ready in 2012 could be the most important pledge you make this year.”

By making a resolution to take a few simple steps in advance, Americans can minimize the impact of an emergency on their families, homes or businesses.  To take the pledge, visit www.ready.gov/resolve or www.listo.gov, which includes free information, checklists, and guidelines about how to put together a kit, make a plan, and stay informed.

Resolve to be Ready in 2012 is a nationwide effort to increase awareness and encourage individuals, families, businesses, and communities to take action and prepare for emergencies in the New Year.  This effort is led by FEMA’s Ready Campaign in partnership with Citizen Corps and The Advertising Council.  For more information, visit Ready.gov and CitizenCorps.gov or follow the campaign on Twitter using the hashtags #ready2012 and #resolve.

Food and Supplies MUCH better than gold

Here is a quote by Brigham Young:


"But pause for a moment, and suppose you had millions of bushels to sell, and could sell it for twenty dollars per bushel, or for a million dollars per bushel, no matter what amount, so that you sell all your wheat, and transport it out of the country, and you are left with nothing more than a pile of gold, what good would it do you? You could not eat it, drink it, wear it, or carry it off where you could have something to eat. 

The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat. Gold is not to be compared with it in value. Why would it be precious to you now? Simply because you could get gold for it? Gold is good for nothing, only as men value it. "
(Journal of Discourses, 1:, p.250).




Now compare what Brigham Young said to the following article:



Here is a link to a very interesting article dispelling the notion that you should have gold when times are tough (like during war or during a total collapse of society).  This man lived through the Balkan Wars of 1992-1995, and this is what he said about gold:

http://shtfschool.com/trading/on-buying-gold-silver-for-survival-preparedness/

It is interesting, isn't it, that this man is also advocating for owning food and supplies, not gold.  It looks like Brigham Young was correct.

(Of course, I believe Brigham was a living prophet of God, so I am glad to see his ideas corroborated by someone who lived through a war.)

Preparing for an Ice Storm

A survey of the Durham NC Second Ward after the ice storm of December 2002 revealed what preparation the people said they missed most:

Cleaning the house before the storm

Catching up on laundry and sheets before the storm

Having dishes washed before the storm

Having batteries for their battery-powered equipment

For those on well-water, who lost water as well as power, having more disposables such as paper plates.