Outdoor Gear and Disaster Preparedness

[Paul Magnanti]

The recent flood in Boulder had me thinking: Being an outdoors person works well for disaster preparedness.

Anyway..here's some random thoughts I had. May be of interest to some:

http://www.pmags.com/outdoor-gear-and-disaster-preparedness

(Yeah..I'm being lazy and just posting the link. :) )

[Steven Paris]

Good reminder, Mags, and glad to hear you and your wife are safe. I lived in Boulder and Longmont for many years and many of the photos of the area are hard to see.

The biggest looming threat to the PNW is a big earthquake, although we also have tsunamis, flooding, wildfires, the possibility of a volcanic eruption and now radioactive debris from Japan reaching the coastline. Whew!

I have to admit my own disaster preparedness comes down to having a few gallon containers of water in the garage and thinking I'll be able to access all of my camping/backpacking gear that's in bins there. For earthquakes, I also have good work gloves and a small crowbar in my garage.

Also, here's a link to a pdf for a simple solution to an overlooked problem (going to the bathroom) for anyone that might get stuck, especially in urban areas, for an extended period of time:

http://www.preporegon.org/PDFs/Emergency-Sanitation.pdf

[Paul Magnanti]

Basically a wag bag? (With separate bags for 1 and 2)

We have a cat and the accompanying kitty litter. Could work for the #2 bag pretty well.

[Jake D]

Comes in handy on the E coast when snow storms and hurricanes mess up our power. we have a gas stove so i don't need to bust out the Coleman but I could if needed. headlamps, sleeping bags. I even busted out my hip waders when our basement had ankle deep water in it a few years ago, was far better than freezing my feet while using the shop vac.

The other nice thing is the ability do go DO something while the power is out and most folks are sitting around. ski or snowshoe when it snows, bike after the rains stop

[Nick Gatel]

Nice post.

Of course those of us long time residents of the Great Welfare State of California are used to disasters and are prepared for the day the west side falls into the ocean.

[Author]

Posts