Earlier this month I attended Emergency Preparation Day at my county fair. As I strolled among booths offering information on CPR, earthquakes, and how to turn off your gas, one display caught my eye: the county government offered health information about Hepatitis B in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, and more. Recently a lady came to…
Category Archives: Cautionary tales
Securing Your Water Heater in Case of Earthquake
The shaking of an earthquake can topple a standing water heater, causing water damage, rupturing the gas line, and possibly sparking a fire. That’s why California law requires homeowners to secure their water heaters. I’ve poked my nose into a lot of basements and garages, and what I’ve seen can be scary. It is not…
Apocalypse Chow – How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out
Boy, I wish I’d thought of that title! But the title, like the book it’s attached to, is the brainchild of Jon Robertson with Robin Robertson. Jon, a writer, and his wife Robin, a cookbook author and former chef, share their approach to food preparation for emergencies. Writing from hurricane country, their focus is on…
Sometimes Preparation Isn’t Enough
I began this blog to help everyone take one or two steps to become just a little better prepared for emergencies. And I still believe in the value of those small steps that help us through life’s catastrophes. But. But what has happened in Japan in the past four days — unimaginably strong 8.9 earthquake;…
More Lessons Emerging From New Zealand’s Latest Earthquake
Early Wednesday afternoon local time a devastating 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck New Zealand’s second largest city, Christchurch. The city has been suffering numerous smaller quakes, sometimes called aftershocks, since a major earthquake last September, and I have posted several items from my friend and Christchurch resident Wendy Davie, who has endured every day of it, sometimes…
Learning From OPM (Other People’s Mistakes)
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. – Eleanor Roosevelt Whenever I learn of someone who has gone through a tough situation, I’m eager to debrief them so that I can learn things I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. So I was especially happy…
Guest Post: What the 7.4 New Zealand Earthquake Felt Like
Today I’m really happy to share with you a post by my New Zealand organizing colleague, Wendy Davie, owner and organizing guru at Totally Organised (yes, in New Zealand it’s spelled with an “s” rather than a “z.”) Beginning Saturday, September 4, when a magnitude 7.4 quake struck near her home city of Christchurch, in…
Lessons from the San Bruno fire
Sometimes we get fixed on preparing for “the Big One,” that devastating earthquake that has a 2-to-1 chance of hitting the Bay Area between now and 2030. The San Bruno explosion and fire, which originated in a 24″gas pipeline [update 9/12: pipeline now reported to be 30 inches] south of San Francisco, makes the point…