[Advisory] Global Al-Qaeda Threat #1

[Status] Upgraded to ELEVATED

Interpol have issued a worldwide alert, advising that terrorist attacks are ‘imminent’ against North Africa and the Middle East (During August). The US authorities have apparently received creditable evidence. Article from Interpol: http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News-media-releases/2013/PR091

Although initial predictions do not involve New Zealand or Tauranga, it is still important to remain vigilant and prepared.

Keep checking for regular updates.

 

[Advisory] N.Korea Update #1

After much discussion we have decided to raise the alert level for the community to elevated, this is predominantly down to the current situation between North Korea and the United States. Although the event of any nuclear attack on Tauranga is low, we still have reason to be concerned as a nuclear war would spark economic unrest/failure. We are advising all preppers in our area to ensure they have a plan ready to join us at the dedicated camp once we have it established. Please keep checking back for updates.

[Advisory] N.Korea #1

[Status] Elevated

Water Sources in an Emergency

Emergency water sources are useful to urban dwellers who’ve bugged in, depleting their water reserves. The electricity is off, this means the pumps are no longer working and water’s nowhere to be found. Don’t sweat it; there are ways to get the water you need.

First things first, you need to get out of the city and make it to rural land where natural resources are more likely to come by. That’s assuming it’s not a flaming post-apocalyptic wasteland. When choosing to stay, due to preference or necessity, use the following emergency water sources:

• Water Heater – If your house uses gas for heat, you undoubtedly have a water heater. Inside you will find a moderate reserve of water.
• Canned Goods – Tuna, canned vegetables, beans and fruit all contain liquids that can be drained, weigh the risks.
• Pipes – If you live in a multilevel home, you can drain the water in your pipes by using gravity to your advantage.
• Toilet Water – In an emergency, boil the water from the upper tank (not the bowl) of your toilet.  I would only use this water as a last resort and only if I was sure it was free of chemicals.
• Rainwater – Use large pots and containers to catch and store rainwater.

Sustained Water Sources

A sustainable water source as a precursor to a two year water supply (while allowing for rotation of your stored water) is ideal when prepping for SHTF. America is an abundant country with abundant resources like water, and when SHTF you’re going to have to rely on your ability to tap this resource for an indefinite amount of time.

A local visit to the doctor won’t be easy when SHTF, making it important to properly test and filter your water for; protozoa, bacteria, viruses, radiation, chemicals and etc.

Rain Water / Morning Dew – For people in population center replacement drinking water will most likely have to be rain. Unless a large body of water is within safe traveling distance.  While unpredictable, it could mean the difference between survival and death to urban preppers. Examples of rain water collection: large tarp or heavy duty plastic sheeting over a large flat roof to catch condensation, roof gutters and spouts (filtering required), ‘v’ shaped tarp angled toward 5 gal bucket. Note: In compromised atmospheres rain water does not require additional filtering or treatment.

• Rainwater collection systems available on Amazon

Ground Water – Ground water is almost always contaminated. When you’re in back-country ground water is lake, pond, creek, stream, or river water. For urban dwellers it’s sidewalks during a heavy rain. If no other source of water is available, you may be forced to collect the only water you can find. Note: Water that is flowing swiftly is cleaner than water in stagnant pools.

Spring Water – Rain soaks into the earth and some of it makes its way down to the water table. The earth is an excellent water filter. If the water table is 100 feet or more beneath the surface, then the water there is usually safe without any treatment. Note: if purchasing/renting a home, inquire about wells on the property; When SHTF, be sure to keep your well adequately protected from outside contaminants.

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Sars-like virus spreads person to person in the UK

In more recent news it has been reported that a Sars-like virus has been transmitted between humans in the UK, this virus can be deadly once contracted, plus it is only a matter of time before it “spreads” across the globe. Will it find its way onto New Zealand shores, nobody knows, still it won’t hurt to ensure your survival kits are ready for such a disaster. Recommend that people invest in some face masks, respirators and ensure that you constantly wash your hands.

Source of article is here > The Independent (UK)

How to stay warm in a power outage

Now that the winter months are upon us, we need to be prepared for power outages. How do you stay warm if the power goes out during a cold winter storm? Here are some points to consider:

Move to One Room
Instead of trying to heat the whole house, focus your attention on heating just one room of the house. Everyone’s body heat in one room is a great help to keeping everyone warm. Try to pick a room that gets a lot of natural sunlight and has a heating source. Ideally, you would pick a windowed room on the southwest side of your home.

“We’re Not Heating the Neighborhood!”
Like your parents yelled at you as a kid, “We’re not trying to heat the neighborhood!” Try to plug up all those leaks where the heat is seeping out of the room. Stuff towels and small blankets into window sills, door frames and other areas where the heat is leaking out.

Shower Curtains Over Windows
You’ll want to keep heat in your room but still allow natural light to enter the room from a window. A great way to help you do that is with a shower curtain. Remove the shower curtain from the bathroom – without power no one is going to want to take a cold shower anyways. Carefully tape or attach the clear shower curtain to the wall so that natural light can come through the curtain but it prevents hot air from leaving through the window.

Rugs or Carpet
Make sure that heat isn’t escaping through the floor either. Take rugs and mats from around the home and lay them down in your room. Add a few layers between you and the cold floor.

Tents in the Living Room
A great idea that we have seen is to set up tents inside your living room. One family had a tent for the boys and a tent for the girls. This trapped in the heat to an even more confined area inside their living room.

Put on a Hat
“[The] reason we lose heat through our head is because most of the time when we’re … in the cold, we’re clothed,” said Richard Ingebretsen, adjunct instructor at the University of Utah School of Medicine. “If you don’t have a hat on, you lose heat through your head, just as you would lose heat through your legs if you were wearing shorts.”

Leave During the Day
You don’t want your home to become a cold dungeon. Make the family go outside and soak up the rays during the day. Obviously, if there is a winter storm, you’ll have to stay indoors. But make the house a warm location to return to at the end of the day instead of a cold jail.

Eat Before You Go To Bed
By eating before you go to bed, your body will be digesting during the night time – keeping you a little warmer than normal as you sleep.

How Do You Stay Warm?
When the power goes out, what do you do? Provide your comments below to tell us how you stay warm during a power outage.

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The Four Stages of a Disaster

The four stages of a disaster are:

1. Preparation
2. Warning
3. Impact
4. Aftermath

Preparation

One of the biggest challenges for disaster preparedness (survival preparedness) includes the general public acknowledging that there is the possibility of disaster, and then actually forming contingency plans and preparations for a disaster. You yourself may be tuned in to ‘risk awareness’, but how many of your neighbors are?

The more who are prepared in a disaster, the less the danger during the aftermath. Rather than focusing solely on one’s own personal preparation, converting others to the notion of risk awareness and preparedness ‘insurance’ (prepping) is the bigger goal, leading to a higher percentage of survival (even yours).

Preparations vary widely in scope and resources, but at a minimum should be based upon the risks of the local region. In all cases though, the basic and essential principles should be the foundation of your preparedness (food, water, shelter, security).

 

Warning

Disaster sometimes comes with plenty of warning, provided the public has been listening. Other times however disaster will come in an instant, with no warning at all.

When it comes to weather related disasters for example, there is usually lots of warning. In fact, one could argue that there is so much warning and hype over weather related disasters that the public has largely become numb to it all. This is an unfortunate result of the main-stream-media outlets need to make more money – more hype – more ratings.

Really, the best method of warning is the intuition of the individual who instinctively has a suspicion that something isn’t quite right. This requires the discipline of being informed enough to ‘know’ when something is out kilter.

Increasing the odds to surviving a disaster includes recognizing the warning signs as early as possible, or recognizing the risks as early as possible, so as to have a head start in front of the unprepared mass. Don’t wait for the siren to wail before you take action…

 

Impact

This is the stage at which the contingency plans take effect. Emergency services and rescue teams will work to help who they can, but the ultimate disaster response insurance is your own preparation and the actions you have taken prior to impact.

The sad truth is that the vast majority of the public assume and depend upon the government or others to save them, which may lead to a jolt-to-reality when the rescue team isn’t at their door immediately after a large scale disaster.

During disaster impact, a prepared person will be sheltered in place, provided there were warning signs. If there were not warning signs, a prepared person will be better able to act quickly with purpose – having planned ahead.

For the unprepared, the impact stage will be frightful and shocking, often leading to very bad decisions.

During ‘impact’ it is important to remain level-headed, recognize what has happened, estimate the follow-on consequences, and gauge your response and actions to beat the odds. Think quickly, clearly, calmly, and adapt to the impact.

 

Aftermath

This is the period of time which hopefully will be short,  but may become long and may challenge even the best of prepared. A goal of the disaster-response is to reestablish normalcy including providing supplies and aid to those in need.

This is the stage where preppers win, and may take comfort in their own preparedness. Hopefully there is enough left to help your neighbor.

The aftermath itself will consist of several stages, from surviving the immediate disaster (getting to short-term safety, medical attention), getting to home-base and securing the family – hunkering down, to perhaps a longer term survival scenario where your way-of-life will need to change to adapt to the new ‘normal’.

The aftermath, in a worst case scenario, will require skills that our ancestors had and used in their every day lives. Knowing how to live and survive without the direct support of technological assistance, could be the difference between life and death.

 

ABC’s of Keeping Food Safe in an Emergency

The ABC’s of Keeping your food safe in an emergency

1. Always keep meat, poultry, fish, and eggs refrigerated at or below 40 °F (4 C) and frozen food at or below 0 °F (-17 C). This may be difficult when the power is out.
2. Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.
3. The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened.
4. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
5. Obtain dry or block ice to keep your refrigerator as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time.
6. Fifty pounds (23kg) of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic foot full freezer for 2 days. Plan ahead and know where dry ice and block ice can be purchased.

Be Prepared for an Emergency

1. By having items on hand that don’t require refrigeration and can be eaten cold or heated on the outdoor grill.
2. Shelf-stable food, boxed or canned milk, water, and canned goods should be part of a planned emergency food supply.
3. Make sure you have ready-to-use baby formula for infants and pet food.
4. Remember to use these items and replace them from time to time.
5. Be sure to keep a hand-held can opener for an emergency.
6. Consider what you can do ahead of time to store your food safely in an emergency.
7. If you live in a location that could be affected by a flood, plan your food storage on shelves that will be safely out of the way of contaminated water.
8. Coolers are a great help for keeping food cold if the power will be out for more than 4 hours—have a couple on hand along with frozen gel packs.
9. When your freezer is not full, keep items close together—this helps the food stay cold longer.
10. Digital, dial, or instant-read food thermometers and appliance thermometers will help you know if the food is at safe temperatures.
11. Keep appliance thermometers in the refrigerator and freezer at all times.
12. When the power is out, an appliance thermometer will always indicate the temperature in the refrigerator and freezer no matter how long the power has been out.
13. The refrigerator temperature should be 40 °F or below; the freezer, 0 °F or lower.
14. If you’re not sure a particular food is cold enough, take its temperature with a food thermometer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Flood waters covered our food stored on shelves and in cabinets. What can I keep and what should I throw out?

A. Do not eat any food that may have come into contact with flood water.

1)Discard any food that is not in a waterproof container if there is any chance that it has come into contact with flood water.

2)Food containers that are not waterproof include those with screw-caps, snap lids, pull tops, and crimped caps.

3)Also, discard cardboard juice/milk/baby formula boxes and home canned foods if they have come in contact with flood water, because they cannot be effectively cleaned and sanitized.

4)Inspect canned foods and discard any food in damaged cans.

Credit: Here

**Can damage is shown by swelling, leakage, punctures, holes, fractures, extensive deep rusting, or crushing/denting severe enough to prevent normal stacking or opening with a manual, wheel-type can opener.**