Pandemic Prep…and hurricanes, earthquakes…H1N1 News

I have become accustomed to people thinking I’m a little Kooky and over the top. One example of that is that I have been telling friends, family and you for a while now that the power could fail during a pandemic. Now everyone knows the flu will not cause a power outage but many other events can, and who would fix the problem if everyone had the flu? Well…

While we have been focused on fighting the H1N1 flu things have happened. There were earthquakes in Mexico city, southern California and China, Mount Redoubt in Alaska has spewed ash in huge amounts, a firestorm in Santa Barbara has destroyed homes and has been out of control for over a week, thunderstorms have killed in the midwest and tornadoes have killed in the south. Yes multiple disaster can, do, and will, happen and one may happen while we are quarantined due to a pandemic.

So lets change our thinking just a little for this week. Are you prepared for the other disasters which may hit you? An earthquake, fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, wind storm or blizzard?

If the flu returns as expected in the fall we will be headed into hurricane and ice storm season. Earthquakes can happen any time and they are years overdue in many parts of the United States. Consider how you will deal with a loss of services should a second disaster strike.

Think water. If your water supply is contaminated or interrupted due to a power outage or broken pipeline can you survive for a month or more on your reserves? If you have been stocking your General Store with us each week you already have some “water” stored. There is water in your canned vegetables and syrup in your canned fruits. Naturally, you cannot count on this for your survival but it is a big part of the reason to store canned and not dried foods.

Since I have written before about storing water please take a few minutes to review the following posts. There is also water storage information in your Mother Hubbard book if you don’t want to spend time checking out the posts.

You cannot survive more than a few days without water and if you are battling the flu you will need even more water than usual. Remember the leading cause of death from the flu is dehydration.

http://blog.totallyready.com/?p=327

http://blog.totallyready.com/?p=15

Very interesting info today:

Scientists say air travel is a single largest reason why the deadly H1N1 flu virus has now infected 6,500 people and killed 61 in 33 countries. About two billion people travel by air each year.

A study done earlier when the world was preparing for a H5N1 avian influenza outbreak had confirmed how restricting air travel may slow the spread of flu. A study published in the journal PLOS Medicine found a noticeable drop in the number of people travelling by air following the September 11 attacks in US which in turn had an effect on the start and spread of the 2001-2002 US flu season. During the 2001-2002 flu season, it took 53 days for flu to spread across the US, 60% longer than the average time of 33 days.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Search-on-for-15-flyers-with-H1N1-symptoms-/articleshow/4531337.cms

Sounds like grounding planes is not out of the question during a second wave.

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