We Are... Safe And Sound Emergency and Disaster Community

Building to Withstand Hurricanes

abrown — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:46:29 +0000

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010) — Rima Taher, an expert in the design of low-rise buildings for extreme winds and hurricane, hopes her phone won’t ring much this hurricane season. It’s already been busy with requests for information about best building design and construction practices to reduce wind pressures on building surfaces. Read the remainder of Building to Withstand Hurricanes.

2010 Hurricane Season Summary

abrown — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:18:21 +0000

2010 Hurricane Season Summary

The Atlantic basin sits still and quiet for now, but come June 1st the warm waters will start to wake up and go into full cylcle.

The Storm Names for 2010 are as follows:

Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Igor, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter.

Prepare today and visit our WeAreSafeAndSound.com Facebook page, or get more information at 2010 Hurricane Season.

2010 Hurricane Season Starts Today, June 1st

abrown — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:27:40 +0000

Today marks the first day of the 2010 Hurricane Season, and what a 2010 Hurricane Forecast that has been made. In preparation, we’ve started a facebook fan page to stay up to date with the latest tips, storm names, vital support information, and overall preparedness materials (see or click image below to visit page). Remember, don’t the roll the dice on a Hurricane being a near miss… Prepare Now!

Homemade: Low-Budget Disaster Supply Kit.

abrown — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:50:09 +0000

So you don’t have time or don’t know where to begin in creating a homemade low-budget disaster supply kit for you and your family to survive on for at least 72 hours? Well, it doesn’t have to take that much time or cost that much money. Most of the products you are sitting around your home or can be found a garage sale or shelter for a little bit of nothing. To help you put together your kit, follow the checklist below and you’ll be set for the first 72 hours:

Water – at least a five to seven day supply, basically one gallon per person per day as a rule of thumb.
Food – at least a five to seven day supply of nonperishable/canned food.
For both food and water, be sure to change out stored items every 6 months or you’ll end up with a less than tasty surprise when you’re needing them the most.
First Aid Kit – ointments, band-aides,wraps, scissors, rubbing alcohol.
Flashlight with extra batteries or a solar light; you may be able to find a crank-style light too, all the better if you do!
Solar, battery or crank-style radio.
Medications and special items needed to survive or maintain stable health.
Tools and supplies
Sanitation (toilet paper, personal hygiene items, etc.)
Change of clothes and bedding
Cash — important as ATM’s could be down due to no power!
Food, water, shelter/crates/kennels/trailers and meds for your pets/livestock.

What if a hurricane were to slam into the oil slick?

abrown — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:14:26 +0000

While the oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is bad enough, many people have been wondering what could happen if a hurricane were to slam into the region. AccuWeather.com hurricane expert Joe Bastardi is concerned but multiple threats from storms throughout the season in the Gulf of Mexico. Bastardi attributes heat rising over the tropical Atlantic to a collapsing El Niño pattern in the Pacific. In turn, the rising warm, moist air over the tropical Atlantic is forecast to unleash a top-10 hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin. With 16 to 18 tropical storms and/or hurricanes expected, a significant number of these are bound to make their way into the Gulf of Mexico. Bastardi expects a little more than 1 out of 3 tropical storms and/or hurricanes to impact U.S. coastal waters this season. The hurricane seasons of 1998, 2005 and 2008 had similarities to the expected pattern this season. Some locations could be hit by…

Read the remainder of a Hurricane Slamming Into The Oil Slick.

Was Katrina A “Natural” Or “Man-Made” Disaster? New York Times Ombudsman Says Maybe Just Call It A “Disaster”

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:29:34 +0000

Also today in the New York Times ombudsman Clark Hoyt raised a wording question that has both journalistic and policy implications when it comes to disasters. As part of the column, “Semantic Minefields,” Hoyt wrote about a petition organized by Sandy Rosenthal of New Orleans asking the Times “to issue a style memo requiring that news articles use ‘man-made disaster,’ not ‘natural disaster,’ when referring to Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans.” The column continues: Read the remainder of Was Katrina A 'Natural' or 'Man-Made' Disaster?

“Preparing For The Next Haiti, With Maps, Texts And Tweets”

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:54:16 +0000

Nathan Hodge of Wired.com’s Danger Room blog has a good post, Preparing For The Next Haiti, With Maps, Texts, And Tweets, which discusses the impressive high-tech volunteer response to the earthquake. Hodge attended the Haiti Tech Meetup yesterday at the U.S. State Department yesterday and spoke to a number of those involved in the recovery effort: read the remainder of Preparing For The Next Haiti, With Maps, Texts and Tweets.

Surviving a Nuclear Bomb, by Robert B.

Guest Blogger — Sun, 09 May 2010 01:30:00 +0000

A serious letter to my dear beloved son, Eric, It is quite possible that the USA will soon experience a terrorist attack in the form of a nuclear detonation. The city just west of the University you are attending would be a high profile, terrorist "trophy" to attack. If a nuclear detonation by terrorist occurs in that city, you will notice a bright flash of light and, then feel the blast wave a few seconds after. Although the University is somewhat distant and shielded by terrain from that city, train yourself to not look toward the flash and immediately duck behind a solid barrier. Expect glass to be flying from any windows and plug your ears. Once the blast wave passes note the time. Your goal is to be inside a fallout shelter within 40 minutes and with enough supplies to last 2 weeks. This will only be possible if you prepare in advance... Read the remainder of Surviving a Nuclear Bomb.

“Tornado Alley, Twitter Style”

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:58:49 +0000

On the KnowTheNetwork.com blog, there is a fascinating post, “Tornado Alley, Twitter Style,” by Keith Crawford. He offers a terrific case study of how Twitter — and in particular the hashtag #ARwx created by one Tweeter — outpaced the mainstream media in informing his Arkansas community when a tornado struck this week: Read the remainder of Tornado Alley, Twitter Style.

Showering with Just One Gallon of Water, by The Survival Nurse

Guest Blogger — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:34:25 +0000

In a TEOTWAWKI situation hygiene is going to become very important. As an E.R. Nurse I see hygiene problems everyday. I can’t begin to describe the things that I have seen… and I probably have post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result. Do you know that homeless alcoholics care very little about their personal hygiene?? A few years ago I learned a nice lesson on personal hygiene that I wanted to pass on. It may not be a new idea to some but I think it would be very useful to a lot of people who haven’t considered hygiene/showering post-SHTF. Ten years ago while going to nursing school I stumbled on an outstanding deal on 20 acres in Northern Arizona with a run down travel trailer on it. Being a poor college student I couldn’t afford rent and the land payment so I gave up the apartment and started an 18-month adventure. The trailer was full of mouse poop, had no running water, no electricity and no septic system. I learned a lot fast… Read the remainder of Showering with Just One Gallon of Water.