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Welcome to the NorthStar Preparedness Network Show. I'm your host, Suzanne Settle. Welcome to our second show. We will be on for 30 minutes today and then move to a one hour show beginning next Saturday, April 19th, at 12pm, Noon, Pacific Standard
Time.

Each week we will discuss current news events as they pertain to emergency preparedness and planning for your family. We are not a political show but politics sometimes creep in to emergency response and preparedness. We will always double check news stories to confirm that they’re accurate and we will cite the sources. We will cover topics each week in the hopes that should a disaster strike we will have helped you prepare.

Occasionally we will have guests on the show and we encourage you to call in and join the conversation. The guest call in number is (347) 838-9205. Feel free to ask questions about your specific needs and visit our website at NorthStar Preparedness Network for the FEMA and American Red Cross emergency preparedness lists and recommendations. If you're on BlogTalkRadio right now you can go to our page by searching for NorthStarXO. That also lists our call-in number. You can also email us using our Questions & Comments link on our website.

Future shows will cover Home & Business Emergency Preparedness, in-depth Sheltering In Place, and more. If you have any ideas be sure to email me directly at northstarxo@preparednessnetwork.org or leave a message here on BlogTalkRadio for us. You can also contact us through our website which is again, NorthStar Preparedness Network and use the Comments & Questions link.

Be sure to visit our blog here on BlogTalk Radio and we’ll post each week's episode with valuable links. And on our MySpace page at NorthStar Preparedness on MySpace

Last week I did a quick 30 minutes on Food Storage. I've given a lot of public seminars & classes on family home preparedness and I can tell you that 30 minutes isn't enough but it's a subject that interjects itself into other aspects of preparedness so it'll get covered over and over and we'll do another show on it here in a couple weeks, especially in light of the crop damage and food shortages that are occurring world-wide.

Since I told you that you need to stock all this food and that you needed to plant fruits & vegetables then I assume that you're, at least initially, going to shelter in place.

When a disaster strikes there are several options:

1) Sheltering-in-place. This is where you hunker down in your location and stay put. You should be prepared enough to take care of yourself and your family without expecting local, state or federal help. Now I'm not saying suck it up and take it. If a family member is injured or ill, if your home is no longer stable, if there's is a clear & present danger, then get the heck out. That's just common sense. But if you can, if you're in a good, safe location, then why go anywhere else?

2) The next option is emergency evacuation which is today's topic. Emergency evacuation is for when the danger warrants that you leave your home and it’s no longer safe to shelter-in-place It means you can't stay where you are, it's not safe, and you're leaving. You should have bags packed in advance and something that holds copies of important documents so that you can "grab & go".

3) The third option, which I don't count as an option, is government shelters. In the case of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, people who had no place to evacuate to and who, for obvious reason couldn't shelter-in-place, had to go to a facilities that held literally thousands and tens of thousands of people. We all saw from the news reports how poorly-organized these facilities were. Now politics could creep in here but I'm not going to go there. We'll save that topic for another day also.

Let's give a quick run down of current news this week and see what would make you "bug out":

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption — except there are no volcanoes in the area.

Scientists don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University.

There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin 150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and two others were more than magnitude 5.0, OSU reported.

On the hydrophones, the quakes sound like low thunder and are unlike anything scientists have heard in 17 years of listening, Dziak said. Some of the quakes have also been detected by earthquake instruments on land.

The hydrophones are left over from a network the Navy used to listen for submarines during the Cold War. They routinely detect passing ships, earthquakes on the ocean bottom and whales calling to one another.

Scientists hope to send out an OSU research ship to take water samples, looking for evidence that sediment has been stirred up and chemicals that would indicate magma is moving up through the Juan de Fuca Plate, Dziak said.

The quakes have not followed the typical pattern of a major shock followed by a series of diminishing aftershocks, and few have been strong enough to be felt on shore.

The Earth's crust is made up of plates that rest on molten rock, which are rubbing together. When the molten rock, or magma, erupts through the crust, it creates volcanoes.

That can happen in the middle of a plate. When the plates lurch against each other, they create earthquakes along the edges.

In this case, the Juan de Fuca Plate is a small piece of crust being crushed between the Pacific Plate and North America, Dziak said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A foot of snow buried parts of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys early Saturday, shutting down travel and many public events.

Blizzard warnings remained in effect in Ohio, with winter storm warnings from Tennessee to upstate New York and northern Maine. Wind up to 35 mph whipped the snow and cut visibility to less than a quarter mile in places, the weather service said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Unusually heavy rain has caused flooding in some areas of western Kentucky and may have been a contributing factor in a deadly interstate wreck in south-central Kentucky.

State police were investigating the cause of a crash that killed five people Wednesday morning on Interstate 65 in Hart County. The crash happened during heavy rain, Kentucky State Police Trooper Todd Holder said.

Tornadoes Hit Texas, Oklahoma

A line of severe thunderstorms, possible tornadoes and even snow pounded the nation's heartland on Thursday, flooding nearly 200 roads in Missouri, closing schools in Arkansas and ripping the roofs of dozens of houses in Texas.

The band of storms stretched from Colorado and Nebraska, which was expected to get up to 10 inches of snow, to Texas, where high winds and driving rain at one point quarter of a million people were left without power.

In Missouri, 3-4 inches of rain fell in just a few hours, unleashing flash floods that swamped parts of 180 roads across the state.

Noted Colorado State University hurricane forecasters have predicted a "well-above-average" 2008 hurricane season.

Forecasters William Gray and Phil Klotzbach told a weather conference here Wednesday that 15 named tropical storms are expected to form in the Atlantic Ocean during the upcoming June 1 to November 30 season.

Gray said eight of the 2008 storms would develop into hurricanes and indicated that there was an "above-average" chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall in the Caribbean.

The forecaster, who has been issuing long-range hurricane forecasts for decades, said this summer will "continue a trend of above-average hurricane seasons that started in 1995".

And this is just the weather this past week.

Some of these situations warrant that you shelter-in-place like the snow storms, civil disruptions like the riots out here in Seattle a couple years back, pandemic/disease outbreak.

Emergency Evacuation is warranted when there is a imminent threat to the shelter you're in like wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes if you have advance warning, the aftermath of earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tsunami warning, rising flood waters, etc.

If it’s a situation where you have to go then you have to be prepared to go. In advance.

So here’s what you do.

First, prepare your vehicle. It should always be kept up anyway. You shouldn't let your gas tank go below 1/2 full. I know that sounds kind of anal but if you always have a 1/2-full tank then you can always go at least that distance without filling up. Especially if there’s going to be a LOT of traffic on the roads.

Do regular oil changes, keep an eye on your tire pressure. I know I’m preaching to the choir but common sense isn’t so common anymore.

Next, get a container with a lid. Like those big storage box-type containers that you can keep in your trunk. In it should go:

Water - enough for everyone who’d going to be with you. You don’t have to buy individual bottles. Just throw a gallon or two of drinking water and an extra for pets or a vehicle. Add some cups and a bowl for pets. If you do individual bottles, add a gallon to refill the bottles with. They make the single use fruit drinks to add to the water. Plus single use coffee bags (like tea bags) or the little envelopes of instant coffee and tea bags. Also throw in a bottle of water purification tablets.

Food - Meal Replacement Bars, granola bars, pretzels, crackers, small jar of peanut butter. Include utensils to eat with and a good, sharp knife for food gathering. Instant soup crystals. A small Esbit stove or single burner stove to heat water. MRE’s if you can afford them. I don’t particularly care for them because it’s not food you normally eat and it can be hard to get the kids to eat it unless you make it fun. Better to pack some canned tuna, cans of ravioli and such can be heated in the cans for a warm meal. And add some hard candy but no chocolate, it’ll just melt.

Shelter - Well your vehicle will be shelter but I keep blankets or sleeping bags depending on the seasons or the climate you live in. In the bin put emergency blankets, one for each person. A small tent is nice - they make them so compact nowadays. Also include a small axe.

Clothing - A change of clothes, including undergarments. I rotate out by season - you don’t want a snow parka at the height of summer and shorts would put you in harms way in the dead of winter. Add a rain poncho for each person. Keeping dry will keep you warm and will keep morale up.

Personal Items - A good first aid kit, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, wipes, personal hygiene items.

Light - You should have a flashlight inside the vehicle ready to go. You should also have one in the bin in the trunk but don’t store the batteries in it. Store them separately. Add some tea light candles and weatherproof matches.

Tools - A multi-tool is very useful in many situations along with a folding shovel. General tools that you should have in your vehicle, like a crowbar, screwdrivers, wrenches, fuses, etc. Tire repair kits and a portable air compressor, spare oil and antifreeze should be stored in the vehicle.

Safety Items - Masks (like the dust masks) for each person in the family, work-type gloves for each person, reflective vests, safety goggles and bandannas.

And the most important aspect of Emergency Evacuation? Where are you going?

This should be planned in advance, hopefully with family & friends who live in safer locations. You should have emergency phone numbers and call someone and let them know you're on your way. Hopefully you've planned this before the emergency arises. If you know you have a hurricane coming in the next 48-72 hours, call someone, let them know you might be heading in their direction.

Once you're on the road, use your cell phone if you have one and can get service. Call and let them know you're on your way but then, turn the cell phone off. This way you preserve the battery in case something happens and you'll be able to be tracked using your cell signal. Turn it on only to call.

Plan your route carefully, have a map and plan more than one route in case roads are blocked or an overpass has collapsed, etc. This is why you have to pay attention to your situation and your surroundings and make an informed decision to leave early as opposed to leaving with the crowd.

I know that this isn't always possible in the case of an earthquake or tornado, etc. But it does make sense to pay attention and think in advance. Last minute preparedness means things missed and opportunities lost.

So, that wraps it up for today. I want to thank you for listening today and hope that you’ll listen each week as we tackle your family’s emergency preparedness needs.