Way back in 1978 I was living in Illinois and we had an ice storm. I remember exactly when it was because in 1979 in the same month, I was due to give birth to my first daughter and I was very concerned about having another ice storm and being unable to get to the hospital if labor commenced.
Despite how beautiful the trees and telephone lines looked with their ice-covered limbs and lines, we were without electricity for a good week. That's a very long time when you're ill-prepared.
After that, you'd think I'd learned my lesson but alas, no. A few years back (pre-boyfriend) we had some torrential rain here and once again, my power went out. This time it only lasted 11 hours but on a cold and dreary day in the desert, that's also a very long time.
My laptop, bless its little hard drive heart, lasted 4 hours, but it didn't much matter because there was no internet access. Yes, at that time I still had a landline but my phones, both cordless, didn't work. There was no heat, no lights, no TV, no stove, nothing. Thank goodness for my cell phone -- my only link to civilization.
And, as embarrassing as this is to admit, not only were the batteries in my flashlight dead, but I couldn't initially locate the release lever for the garage door so I could let daylight in to search for batteries.
I couldn't find the release lever -- not because I'm an idiot, but the release wasn't where I expected it to be. I had no idea where the circuit breaker panel was or, for that matter, the utility meters. Worse, it never even crossed my mind to find out until the power went out.
So, as I sat looking around at my inoperable home, I thought: "what if this had been an earthquake?" We tend to get complacent about the fact the ground moves here, even though we should know better.
True, we have better building codes than other places where earthquakes strike, but our homes are built on sand and liquefaction is a real and true potential for extreme damage.
As someone who lived within 10 miles of the epicenter of the 1994 Northridge earthquake (do you remember this one? 6.7 magnitude, 20 seconds of sheer terror!), I can tell you that even here, where we're fairly well built and most construction is single story, factors like magnitude, depth, duration and seismic path can level even the sturdiest structures.
So despite my previous experience, I was unprepared to be without electricity for even a day, much less the week or more you can endure during a serious disaster.
We're all familiar with the guidelines for keeping water and non-perishable foodstuffs and having an emergency preparedness plan, but here is a common sense checklist just in case you're like me and need a reminder about the little things:
--Keep batteries on hand and at least one flashlight working
and close by. My fiancé keeps one on his side of the bed, in both of his vehicles, in the garage, in the living room -- everywhere. He would be hard pressed not to find a flashlight in an emergency. And we always have a lot of batteries around too. We even have a solar flashlight so batteries are less of an issue.
--Make sure everyone in your family knows where the emergency shut off items are and how to work them. This includes the location of the circuit breaker panel, how to recognize a tripped breaker and how to reset it. Turning off a gas valve can save your life, believe me. Likewise, if a pipe breaks and you're spewing water, know how to turn it off at the Main.
And don't forget the garage door release lever -- the security guard at our community had quite a number of requests to help get garage doors open the day the electricity went off, so as intuitive as it seems, make sure everyone in your family knows how to release the opener.
--Keep candles, matches, and a battery (or solar) operated radio
in an easily accessible (and easily remembered) place. The radio is paramount. During the Northridge quake we had no idea what was happening around us until almost a week after the quake and, trust me, it is an isolated and scary feeling when you have no information.
--Keep your car gassed up. This was another issue for me during the Northridge quake. I had less than a ¼ tank of gas when the earth shook violently at 4:31am on January 17, 1994. I never -- NEVER -- let my gas get under a half tank since that day. Thankfully, no one was hurt in our home so we didn't have to go anywhere but what if they had been? I shudder to think about it.
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Keep a list of emergency numbers handy, including your utility companies -- like most everyone, I rely on the internet to provide all my phone numbers so half the time I don't know any by heart. And you can't depend on your cell phone since in the event of a catastrophe none of that may work.
Today we have a home manual created specifically for our home with account numbers for all utilities, local first responders, hospitals, doctors, prescriptions (with dosages), allergies, cable, internet, regular vendors, the bank, etc. Anything and everything we can think of to remember that can be forgotten in an emergency.
If something happens to one or both of us, everything is in one place. And it's easy to grab that one book if we have to move in a hurry.
My loss of electricity wasn't a major disaster. Heck, it wasn't even a minor disaster, but it served as a reminder that we are all dependent on the automation of our surroundings.
Take a moment to consider the way you live and work. What do you use most? What is your backup plan when services are interrupted? A little forethought can go a long way toward minimizing the aggravation associated with minor hiccups and may be vital during a major tragedy.
There is no need for you to scramble around in the dark. Executive Errands® absentee home care services includes an emergency plan that will check your home in the event of excessive rain, excessive wind or an earthquake over 3.5 magnitude in your area.
We don't just flush toilets (why do people think that's all you do for a home check?) We inspect your home for a myriad of potential disasters and we are here for you if Mother Nature decides to get nasty.
If you'd like to see an overview of our home check, please watch our video, Follow the Wall. This video doesn't cover everything, but it will give you a solid idea of what we do and why.
Executive Errands® provides lifestyle management services dedicated 100% to enhancing your living experience here in the desert. Whether you need us every once in a while, every week or in an emergency; we have flexible plans to make your life easier.
For more information, or to find out how we can work together, please call us at
760.898.9604
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