WEBVTT - How does emergency preparedness work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from how Stuff Works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart Happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, how

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<v Speaker 1>does someone get ready for a disaster like the one

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<v Speaker 1>we saw in Japan? Or, to put it another way,

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<v Speaker 1>how does emergency preparedness work? If there's one thing we

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<v Speaker 1>saw with the earthquake in Japan, it's how quickly the

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<v Speaker 1>world can go from normal to complete disaster. After the

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<v Speaker 1>earthquakes and tsunami struck, many people in Japan were thrown

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<v Speaker 1>into quite primitive conditions. No electricity, no telephone service, no medicine,

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<v Speaker 1>no clean drinking water, and no shipments of food arriving

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<v Speaker 1>because the roads were gone. Hurricanes can bring the same

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<v Speaker 1>kind of destructive force across a wide area, and so

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<v Speaker 1>can volcanoes. If your city were to be struck with

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<v Speaker 1>a large scale disaster like this, would you and your

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<v Speaker 1>family be read need to handle it? That's where emergency

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<v Speaker 1>preparedness comes in. The basic idea is to have enough

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<v Speaker 1>supplies on hand so that your family can survive the

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<v Speaker 1>week or two of pandemonium that follows any major disaster.

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<v Speaker 1>One reason to be prepared is because it ensures the

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<v Speaker 1>survival and relative comfort of your family. The other reason

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<v Speaker 1>is because it makes things less chaotic for rescuers and

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<v Speaker 1>relief crews. If you are able to manage your life

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<v Speaker 1>without any help, it frees up rescue teams to handle

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<v Speaker 1>those who are truly in need of their help. So

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<v Speaker 1>what do you have on hand in an emergency? Perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>the most important thing is water. Human beings use a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and even for

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<v Speaker 1>flushing the toilet. At a bare minimum, a person needs

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<v Speaker 1>about a gallon per day. You would like to have

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<v Speaker 1>at least enough water to handle three days, and a

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<v Speaker 1>week or two would be even better. If you have

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<v Speaker 1>four people in your family and you're planning for a

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<v Speaker 1>week of coverage, you need a minimum of twenty eight

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<v Speaker 1>gallons stored somewhere in your house, and it needs to

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<v Speaker 1>be in the right kind of package. Milk jugs of

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<v Speaker 1>water start leaking after a year or so, clear plastic

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<v Speaker 1>bottles won't. If there is a natural source of water nearby,

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<v Speaker 1>like a river or a lake, you can use it.

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<v Speaker 1>If you have a way to carry and sterilize the water.

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<v Speaker 1>You need any prescription medicines that are essential to your life,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as an adequate first aid kit. Because there

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<v Speaker 1>will be no electricity, you'll want to have a good

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<v Speaker 1>flashlight and fresh batteries, as well as a battery operated

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<v Speaker 1>radio to get information. Glow sticks are also nice to

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<v Speaker 1>have available. You need some food. Many people have enough

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<v Speaker 1>food in the pantry to handle a couple of days.

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<v Speaker 1>In a big disaster, you may want a week or

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<v Speaker 1>two of food on hand. Canned foods like soups and

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<v Speaker 1>other prepared foods, and dry foods like rice and pasta

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<v Speaker 1>are probably best for long term storage. Keep in mind

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<v Speaker 1>that you need a way to open the cans and

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<v Speaker 1>to the food, an old fashioned can opener and a

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<v Speaker 1>camp stover handy. It's nice to have some cash. With

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<v Speaker 1>the power out in the telephone system down, a t

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<v Speaker 1>m S and credit card machines are not going to

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<v Speaker 1>work for the same reason. Gas stations are not going

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<v Speaker 1>to be pumping gas either. If you have some advanced

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<v Speaker 1>warning of something like an approaching hurricane, filling up your

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<v Speaker 1>car's gas tank is a good move, and taking out

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<v Speaker 1>several hundred dollars in cash is also a smart thing

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<v Speaker 1>to do. And don't forget the little things. If you

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<v Speaker 1>run out of toilet paper, that is its own special disaster,

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<v Speaker 1>keep several packages of toilet paper in the back of

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<v Speaker 1>the bathroom cabinet just in case. Speaking of hurricanes, a

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<v Speaker 1>big tarp and some rope might be nice things to

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<v Speaker 1>have in the garage. If your roof gets damaged, you

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<v Speaker 1>may be able to cover the whole. If you want

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<v Speaker 1>to write out a disaster and style, an emergency generator

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<v Speaker 1>and enough gasoline to keep it running can be very

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<v Speaker 1>nice things to have with it. You can keep your

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<v Speaker 1>refrigerator running, provide lights at night, and so on. Having

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<v Speaker 1>a generator requires an extra level of discipline because gasoline

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<v Speaker 1>goes bad. If you're keeping gasoline in the garage for

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<v Speaker 1>the generator, you need to replace it on a regular schedule.

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<v Speaker 1>Full on disasters like the one that happened in Japan

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<v Speaker 1>don't occur very often, but when they do, it's nice

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<v Speaker 1>to be prepared so you can survive without undue hardship.

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