Out of every great disaster comes some lessons we take into the future, if we’re smart. Hurricane Katrina is still teaching us lessons about disaster prevention and recovery. One notable area is the lessons we’ve learned about housing. Many will remember the notorious “FEMA trailers” that were given to many displaced residents of the Gulf…
Category Archives: Success stories
Cheap, Green Housing For Disaster Relief – No More Trailers!
Written on May 29, 2012 by Margaret Lukens in Disaster, Earthquake, Neighborhood networks, Preparedness, Resources, Success stories
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Tornado Season
Written on April 28, 2012 by Margaret Lukens in Cautionary tales, Commnunication, Flood, Preparedness, Shelter in place, Success stories, Tornadoes
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Tornadoes can occur just about any time or place, given the right conditions – an apparent tornado struck Lambert Field, the main St. Louis airport, last year, blowing out windows and shutting the entire airport for a time. (The video below is security camera footage, showing passengers and TSA officials scrambling as ceiling tiles fell…
Retrofitting a California House is Good Insurance
Written on February 12, 2012 by Margaret Lukens in Earthquake, Gas leak, Insurance, Preparedness, Products, Success stories
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When it comes to emergency preparation, I try to be a realist. I am not laying in a supply of powdered beef stroganoff to last for months, nor expecting a violent landscape worthy of films like Mad Max. But I’d be a fool, living in an area where my water supply crosses two major quake…
Emergency Backups – What’s Your Plan?
Written on July 11, 2011 by Margaret Lukens in Cautionary tales, Disaster, Evacuation, Flood, Insurance, Preparedness, Success stories
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Last weekend I visited the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. For now the Figge is home to some of the outstanding works belonging to the University of Iowa Museum of Art in Iowa City. The works were moved to the Figge when the university museum’s building was inundated during the flooding on the Iowa…
Need an AED? There's an app for that
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Seriously, I hope you NEVER need an AED, or automated external defibrillator, the device that can save the life of someone in cardiac arrest. But if you should need one, there really is an app for that. Just download the free iPhone app “AED Nearby.” It’s easy, it’s free, and it could save a life…
Tags: AED, app, defibrillator, iPhone
What would inspire you to get prepared for emergencies?
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A question from my organizing colleague Amanda Kovattana appeared on my facebook wall this morning: Here is a question I had for you while thinking new thoughts in Coastside Books yesterday. What about emergency preparedness inspires you? Our clients, we have noted, are largely averse to preparing for disaster, but love to be inspired. I…
Tags: motivation
Please Read "The Unthinkable: who survives when disaster strikes – and why"
Written on December 1, 2009 by Margaret Lukens in Cautionary tales, emergency, Fire, Success stories
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I’ve never enjoyed reading about disasters. It makes me tense. Likewise, I did not watch the film The Perfect Storm. I don’t enjoy disasters. If you feel, as I do, that life is too short to focus on the negative, don’t be put off by this book’s title. The Unthinkable is simultaneously educational, fascinating, and…
Can emergency preparation be fun?
Written on October 25, 2009 by Margaret Lukens in emergency, Neighborhood networks, Products, Resources, Speaking, Success stories
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Short answer: yes (and I do my best to make it fun every time!) Tomorrow I’ll be speaking to folks at a neighborhood Halloween fair. The planners for this event are combining pumpkin carving, costume judging, and other seasonal activities with some timely emergency preparation education. I’ll be demonstrating the Vital Records PortaVault (and raffling…
Tags: PortaVault
Lessons from Hurricane Ike
Written on October 7, 2009 by Margaret Lukens in Cautionary tales, emergency, Power outage, Success stories
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Every disaster teaches lessons we can all use to become better prepared in the future. I’m not a regular reader of Popular Mechanics, but my Professional Organizer colleague Amanda Kovattana (thanks, Amanda!) pointed me toward the October issue, with its stories of four people who faced disasters and survived. Among the four stories in the…
Tags: hurricane, neighborhood, network, Popular Mechanics
Crazier: Midwest or California?
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If you missed it on the radio yesterday, be sure to listen online as Reed Timmer, host of the Discovery Channel’s show “Storm Chasers”, visits with Peter Sagal on NPR’s news quiz program “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” Timmer, an inspiration for the movie “Twister”, races toward the sort of weather events that most of…
Tags: NPR, Peter Sagal, Reed Timmer, storm chasers, Wait Wait
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