(no subject)

[artemisofluna]

Still no running water, though people on this side of town are starting to get it back so this gives me hope we'll have it soon. Our stores are still going strong though. We even have five bottles of our original stash left, and we've been boiling up the stuff we got from across the road. I am so glad it's there so we can replace what we've been using. If this goes on much longer we would have run out and we stockpiled water like mad. It just goes to show that even when you do prepare, sometimes it's not enough.

So. Guys. If you can? Have emergency kits. Even if you live in a place where you think they won't be necessary. We used to think they weren't absolutely necessary here even though we had one, because the dangerous fault lines were in Wellington and on the West Coast, not in Christchurch. And then a previously unknown fault ruptured. You just never know. If you're someone who can afford an emergency kit (and please know I completely understand that not everyone can), it's responsible to have one. It means emergency rations of food provided by whatever disaster relief happens to be around can go to the people who can't afford to have an emergency kit in a disaster and who need it far more, instead of getting used up on people who should and could have been more careful. It's just goddamn socially responsible, okay? It's caring about your fellow human beings while taking care of yourself too.

Put some tinned food and toilet paper and no-wash anti-bacterial hand cleaner and batteries and flashlights/torches and candles and matches and blankets and anything else you think you might need (including pet food) in your kit. And keep clean water around and replace it often (use the old stuff to water the garden or wash the car or...something). Hell, in Melbourne a couple of years ago, some kind of plant exploded and it left part of the city without electricity and running water for days and that was just a random malfunction without any natural disaster cause. So be prepared. Please. Be as prepared as you can be. The ability to have extra food lying around in case of an emergency is a luxury and if you can, please just do it.

Sorry. Preachy. But I can tell you first-hand how important this is. Never assume this doesn't apply to you. Be safe, lovelies. Gosh, this isn't even what I came here to do. I was going to talk about how I can't write fiction because it feels so utterly useless at the moment. And I got on my soapbox instead. Oh well.

Comments

[spiffanda.livejournal.com]

We are so going to make one when we get to CA. We're going to be living in an earthquake-prone area, although most of them are very small. I was telling Michael today that we need to be prepared.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Excellent idea! They used to be very small here too. Every couple years they'd get a 3-pointer, and then this.

[potatoeangel.livejournal.com]

You get on your soap box as much a you like, Lara! People need to be prepared. Seeing on the news people who HAD experienced the 7.1 in September not having any water stored was just insane to me. How could someone live through something like that and not have any water? Cath and I had like 30 litres.

Cath and I have an emergency kit but it isn't a prepared as we would like, but atleast we have the basics and we have plenty of spare food. We are hoping to stock up on the coast when we are over there.

Hope your still doing okay!

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Yes, we had about 30 litres too! Now we have about 50, thanks to Woot's lovely bigass water...thingamajig. I can't imagine going through what we did in September and not seeing that as a warning to stockpile. I mean, we had the kit before then, but we definitely bulked it up since!

We're still fine! I hope you have a lovely time on the coast! Enjoy your indoor plumbing and showers! ;)

[neptune-storm.livejournal.com]

*SNUGGLES TIGHTLY*

I love you guys.

And I appreciate the lengthy info. I've never really thought of having an emergency kit around, but this makes me think otherwise now. *hugs*

[pretty-kozi.livejournal.com]

Dangit that was me Lara! >_>

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA I am fairly certain I would have known it was you :D

And yes. Emergency kit. It's just smart.

[pretty-kozi.livejournal.com]

Still.....

I told Circe I'll make Poseidon stop his tantrums so you guys can breathe.

I am learning that now through you. The closest thing we ever got that we needed stuff was during an ice storm, but that was years ago.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAH we did, the both of us, have a little bitch at Poseidon. We decided this is because Richard Armitage is in Wellington at the moment, filming it up. He's Poseidon in sekrit and he's having his revenge and it's not cool Poseidon! Simmer down, up there and continue being dwarfy!

You may never actually need it and I hope you never do, but the point is you absolutely never know. That plant explosion in Melbourne wasn't caused by weather or the Earth moving, it was just plain bad luck, and it put people in a real bad place for several days. And they thought they only had to worry about bushfires. It pays to have a little gas stove too, though we don't have one of those. I think they're expensive. Or...something. So we ate cold food on the day of the quake when we had no power, but it was better than nothing!

[pretty-kozi.livejournal.com]

That's what she said. Oh Richard. Which is not so hilarious, but at the same time ridiculously ironic. He needs to learn that making things shift and shake is not the answer to all his problems. He needs to not be a two year old.

I wonder how he looks as a dwarf....

With Mother Nature, no one knows. True. I will keep this in consideration and idylly stock up on things from time to time. It's like the first aid kit to...natural disasters.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Awww, BB!Poseidon.

ME TOO OMG

Even not mother nature. No one knows about infrastructure as well. First aid kits and emergency kits are just common sense if it's something you can afford.

[pretty-kozi.livejournal.com]

I know it's a cute image until the ground starts to shake. He's prolly pissed off at the wifey.

I don't know how I like the idea of Richard in a beard, and hoping he's not some ugly dwarf. Cause...it's freaking Richard Armitage!

*nods* Thank you for filling me in on it all though, really! *hugs*

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

As usual!

Yeah, Aiden Turner (Leah's boyfriend) is so gorgeous but the photos of him in his beard are so amusing.

You're welcome! I want you to be safe!

[moment-of-sen.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd got a portable radio. That's what I was missing most of all. It was on my list of things to get and I didn't get there.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

AH! That's something we need too, though the neighbors had one and they were listening to it loudly enough we could hear it in our yard. So we sat out there and listened for a while. And Leah had radio on her MP3 player as well.

[moment-of-sen.livejournal.com]

I have a radio on my ipod too, but the batteries ran out too quickly. And radios are only about $25 from my work. I guess I didn't think there would be another one like that again, you know?

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Awww, batteries are a bitch! And yeah, I think most people didn't think there would be. I know I didn't, but I was mad about stockpiling the water and getting the emergency kit in order after Sept. 4th anyway. After that one, we only had two bottles of water (luckily we had running water THAT time or I'd have been screwed!) and the kit wasn't up to scratch so when Leah and Alison got home I informed them we needed to fix it up and we got right to it. I am so glad we did too.

[ikona-rakasha.livejournal.com]

My emergency kit in Japan had a small spirit stove for boiling water, really small sleeping bag, iodine tablets, a noise maker, a good thick book, space blanket, torch with 90 hrs worth of batteries, 10lt of bottled water and enough food for 5 days (rice in a tin!). if i took out the water it weighed about 6kg which was excellent if I needed to grab the blasted thing and run.

Japan is a super scary place to live Earthquake wise.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the only thing about ours that isn't great, is that it isn't mobile. We may need to reassess!

I freaking bet it is, yikes.

[ikona-rakasha.livejournal.com]

It is easier when it is just for one person. Maybe have it set up in 2 or 3 backpacks? or an old suitcase or 2? mine was in a small travel pack with everything stuffed in and strapped onto the sides. I even had a first aid kit dangling off one side and an umbrella on the other in case a volcano exploded and there was ash everywhere :P

I kept my kit right next to the front door hanging on a hook. My one in aus is smaller and I keep it in the boot of my car. It has some tins of food, 4lts of water and the old sleeping bag in it. Oh and money, money is important.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Well ours needs to be waterproof which is why it's in a plastic tub, but we could have it in backpacks in the plastic container!

Money IS important!

[littledrow.livejournal.com]

My husband insists on having an emergency kit from back when we lived in Oly, WA. Granted his reasoning is for the zombie apocalypse or revolution, but here in GA I'm thinking rogue hurricane.

[artemisofluna.livejournal.com]

Whatever the reason, if you can have one, you should.