Category: FEMA & Other Disaster Agencies

Community Building is Critical, by W.H.

A couple friends and I recently talked about the state of ‘things’, and how ‘things’ seem to be getting worse, and how ‘things’ are so bad that ‘things’ simply cannot get better. You’ve had those conversations, right? My friend David is well aware of the sorry state of our political system, and we’ve discussed those ‘things’ several times in the past. However, he was not thinking in terms of societal collapse. David started thinking along those lines pretty quickly, once I pointed out some weaknesses of our system, like the fact that our power utilities are not adding capacity, but …


Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy, by The Angry Prepper

Hurricane Sandy tore through the northern eastern seaboard.  The hurricane combined with two other weather systems to create a Super storm (Some say).  The Hurricane or Super Storm created a destructive path that hasn’t been seen this far up north, ever.  Homes were damaged, properties were destroyed, and lives were lost.  This Hurricane had a lot to teach us.  A lot of us (Preppers) were prepared for this storm and tested our emergency plan for the first time, in real time.  We got to learn a lot about our emergency plan and some of us will patch the holes in …


Thoughts on a Recent Disaster Drill, by Ken J.

Mr. Rawles:  I run a health care facility in a particular state.  I’d prefer not to give away all details as I do have access to certain pharmaceutical supplies in the event of certain happenings due to my position in the local community.  But I’ll be as specific as I can be in this forum in the hopes of shedding some light on a recent disaster exercise.  Local authorities from the state department of health teamed up with numerous statewide personnel from various agencies to conduct a disaster simulation recently that assumed an anthrax attack on the local populace.  It …


Letter Re: LEPCs Show That Help Won’t Be Coming

JWR, Just a few notes about RC’s article about ARES/RACES and becoming the EC.   I’ve been an emergency services volunteer since 1986 and a ham since 2003. Actually, Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) is under the control of the ARRL.   RACES is the ham radio group that is activated by a government emergency person, usually the state’s governor.   In many small areas they are combined, but ARES can operate in an emergency without specific government authority.   RACES only acts in time of war or officially declared emergencies.  Unless a war is declared or martial law declared, you can help others …


Letter Re: LEPCs Show That Help Won’t Be Coming

Jim: I wanted to comment on my experience with my county LEPC. When I got my ham radio license in 2003 I was invited attend the sectional ARRL ARES/RACES meeting being held at the local court house. I jumped at the opportunity to meet my local ham brothers. For those who don’t know ARES/RACES is the emergency response arm of ARRL. The idea is to provide amateur radio help to the local emergency response teams of the Government including FEMA. Sounds all well and good. The county had a total population of under 25,000 at that point. It is still …


Letter Re: LEPCs Show That Help Won’t Be Coming

Mr. Rawles, Here is my take on the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) for my hometown. At risk of preaching to the choir, the Government isn’t coming to help you. We all have seen the horrific images of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and how the Government response is woefully inadequate to help people after these large scale disasters. And in many cases, our current government uses these disasters to further tread on our collective liberty. The quote “Never let a crisis go to waste” leaps to mind. It occurred to me that the government is really made up of people, …


Michael Z. Williamson: Telecom Cable Rooms and Salt Water–A Bad Combination

This article bears special mention: Into the vault: the operation to rescue Manhattan’s drowned internet Hurricane. Steve [an acquaintance who is a telephone lineman] wrote to note: “Having a cable vault under a central office flood is a major disaster in the telecom industry. One splice getting wet is a big job. Losing the entire office brings up comments like I didn’t want any days off this year. Having fixed splices like this that have gotten wet I have a good idea what is involved to fix this. It’s a lot of slow meticulous work. If the damage is only …


Letter Re: Hurricane Sandy: An Outsider’s Perspective

JWR, I don’t live anywhere near the affected area from Sandy, but now that we’ve had some firsthand accounts, I wanted to throw in my $.02 as an observer from afar: When the storm hit, I defaulted to the main stream news channels and sites, which got old and repetitive quickly without being very informative.  To get a better feel for the local perspective, I resorted to my smart phone’s 5-0 police radio app.  By bouncing around and listening in on the various police, fire, and EMS dispatch feeds from Northeast counties and cities, I was able to get a …


Two Letters Re: Hurricane Sandy After Action Reports

Hello, I am a native New Yorker who has lived in the city for more than 30 years. As much as I would like to live elsewhere safer, I still very much love the city and have to remain here because of work and my mother. The recent devastation left by Sandy wreaked havoc in the city. You can read about plenty of details on the hurricane from the news and other posts so I’m just going to keep this post short based on some of the problems encountered that were unique to an urban environment. In addition to the …


Four Letters Re: Hurricane Sandy After Action Reports

Dear Editor: I live in southeastern Connecticut. I am far from wealthy and I live in a section of town while certainly is not what one may consider a ghetto, neither is it in any way “nice”. I would not label myself as a prepper nor a survivalist, instead I have common sense. I have a good stock of food and water, preparations and gear in case I have to leave, not for some cataclysmic disaster but because I live in a world that has hurricanes and natural disasters. Our Governor here in Connecticut recommended that my area evacuate. I did not. Though I am on the coast, …


Letter Re: Self-Reliance Versus Governmental Reliance Mindsets

JWR: Stories like these only help to illustrate the wide range of problems that come to the surface when the thin veneer of society is striped off due to an event like Superstorm Sandy.  The compression of people in high density population centers like metropolitan New York etc, is just asking for chaos and confusion when their normally well organized and managed structure of life is quickly changed for the worse. Our world is now comprised of what is known as the inverted technology pyramid.  When one side is  weakened in can quickly topple over and leave the entire structure …


Knowing Your Neighbors: All For One and One For All

Sound like an old cliche? “One for All, All for One”? A phrase from the past. But it is as valid today as it has ever been. Togetherness, cooperation, teamwork, none of those match the totality of “One for all, All for One”.       Of course there is no substitute for preparedness. As a former EMT, a person who has taken CERT training in my community, and who, as much as I can given my limited financial resources, taken the threat, for any reason, of societal breakdown seriously, I can attest to this. I remember my instructor many years …


Save Yourself, One Week at a Time, by Kelsie A.

Most of the citizenry in the United States has seen at least one of the movie theater box office hits “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” or “The Day After Tomorrow.”  Those are just movies, but the human brain not in touch with reality doesn’t entertain the thought of these scenarios actually happening in this day and age.  But one day, one or several of the things displayed in those movies will. Experts say that so many apocalyptic events we preppers expect have a very low chance of happening; but nothing is a 100% certain, anything could happen at any moment.  Experts set …


Letter Re: The Listening to Katrina Web Site

Jim: I’d like to recommend a great web site: Listening to Katrina. The author weaves his personal Katrina story together with fresh and different survivalist advice in a page-by-page format. He gives advice that I don’t believe I’d seen before. As a survivalist for years before the event, he explains the mistakes made and lessons learned. His section on protecting your wealth is outstanding. For example, if you had a regional disaster and needed to bug out/relocate within 60 seconds, would you have your resume, education certificates and references updated and ready to grab, so that you could start a …


Lessons Learned by J.S.P.

I will begin with a brief introduction. I have been an avid reader of SurvivalBlog for a few years. I have never found a better collection of tips, ideas, and information. Every time I view the blog I learn something new. I was born and raised in the south, spending most of my time outdoors or in church. I grew up hunting, fishing, camping, and learning the value of a hard days work. I had believed that growing up as I did would provide me advantages in disaster situations without really making any in-depth preparations other than the occasional power …