Thread by @LianaBrooks

Some of you have never lived through hurricane season and it shows.

Let's have a little chat about surviving disasters, city curfews, and lock downs like this... I'm seeing a lot of worry and - hey! guess what? - I used to teach emergency preparedness at the county level!

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First of all, if you're just making a disaster plan now, you're over 6 months too late. The first thing you should do when moving to a new area or home is familiarize yourself with the natural disasters your area is prone to.

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Do you know the Deep South gets hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, AND earthquakes?
It does!

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In other areas there are wildfires, floods, snowstorms, tsunamis, droughts, and every single city is at risk of having the ports or roads closed and supplies coming in.

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No large city in North America (that I'm aware of) is self-sufficient. Most cities only have a 24-hr supply of food citywide at any given time.
The shops look full because they're getting 4-10 delivery trucks a day to keep the shelves full.

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The good news here is that none of the ports are closed and all major highways are open, so your local store will have more on the shelves shortly. Be patient and don't stress about it.

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If you're sitting down to make an emergency plan for all disasters it's good to start by slowly stocking up supplies that will last and you know you need frequently.

Things like: bottles of water, dried beans, canned food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper...

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Ideally you will have a 3-6 month supply of all essentials (including medicines) stocked at your house at all times.
That sounds overwhelming but building it up over a long period of time makes it easy.

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If you have medicines that have restricted use talk to your doctor about what you can do to get extra.
In hurricane season doctors might give you a hand-written script to carry in case of evacuation.

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It is important to keep a list of medicines and health problems with you during an evacuation.
A list of contact numbers is good to have too.

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But let's look at what you can do right now during the COVID-19 isolations to keep you safe, fed, and healthy.
I promise it is not as overwhelming as it sounds. :)

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Before you go panic-buying take stock of what you have.
Those old soap bars from hotels?
That's soap! It'll work!
Do you have 16 bottles of half-empty shampoo?
That's also soap!

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Take inventory of your resources:
- food
- cleaning supplies
- pet food
- medicine
- paper goods
- clean clothes

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COVID-19 takes at least 3 days to die which means clothes worn outside need to be either washed or isolated before being reworn if you wore them in an area of possible contamination.

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If you do not have access to a place to wash laundry do everything you can to limit outside exposure and DO NOT wear clothes you went to the store in around the house.

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Speaking of which... the first step of self-isolating is cleaning your living space. Wash it down. Lysol everything (including door handles, light switches, keyboards, phones, ect), take a good shower, scrub up, and put on comfy, clean clothes. :)

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Second, look at what food you have available and plan out a menu.
Don't know how to cook?
Don't know what to make?

GOOGLE IT.

This is an excellent time to develop a new skill!

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Try to vary your diet and eat a full rainbow (foods that are naturally different colors).
Eating the same meal all the time puts you at risk of malnutrition even if you're eating and feeling full.

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Don't like vegetables?
To bad, Chad, if you're old enough to read this you are old enough to eat a balanced diet of healthy foods. Look for "hidden vegetable" recipes or make a smoothie.

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If you need to choose between fresh, canned, or frozen veggies ... fresh is best but soft skin fruits won't last long in isolation, so get frozen fruit and veggies, plus things like squash, carrots, and celery.

Try planting some lettuce mix in a windowsill box.

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Some has mentioned storage space... where do you save several weeks of food in a small space?
- under the bed
- ceiling racks
- top of the fridge
- if it's cold enough... outside

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My Alaskan and Yukon friends, your weather is excellent for outside storage, just make sure it's out of the way of bears. The grill on your porch makes a great second freezer during the cold months.

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Get creative with your food storage.
In a pinch (and if you're prone to bugs in the house) ... an empty dishwasher, oven, or microwave is a bug-safe storage place.

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Now you've:
- cleaned house
- taken inventory
- made a meal plan

Next up? Check your meds and order refills you need for the next month.

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You do not want to get to the point where you have one pill left before you order your refill.
If you have less than 10 doses on a med you need daily: call that refill in today.

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Now it's time to make a plan for your mental health.
Make a list of things you enjoy doing and see how you can make those activities isolation-friendly.

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This is a great time to Skype with friends, play that video game that's collecting dust, try that zumba class online, read a book, finish a painting, or do household repairs.

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The important part here is to make sure you're meeting all your physical and mental needs:
- eating
- hydrating
- social contact (online counts!)
- creative activities
- physical activity

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I'm not saying you need to do a 200 sit-up challenge today, but schedule in physical activity (yes, sex counts) into every day. Lift water jugs. Try doing a hand stand. Walk your pokemon. Stretch.

You need to move as much as you can for a little bit each day.

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If you like, go ahead and set alarms on your phone to remind you to get up and drink some water, stretch, and change activities.
2000 hours of Minecraft straight sounds fun but it's not super healthy.

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Now you have:
- a clean house
- inventory
- meal plan
-activity plan

You're almost set!

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The last step of your emergency preparedness plan (for today) is to find a reliable source of information and too limit your exposure to things that may depress you or upset you.

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I realize this can see like an unreachable goal because there's a lot of scared people out there, but you don't need to be one of them.
Find a news source that's been accurate (WHO is good - Fox News is not) and then filter out anything else that's stressing you out.

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If you need resources for activities for kids or yourself, google is your friend.
There's free museum walk-throughs, online classes, free classes you can stream, zoo-cams... there's so much out there!

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What do you do if you need to go out or to work?

1) keep a wide distance from other people

2) wash your hands

3) change clothes when you get home

4) wear a mask if you're coughing

5) follow your job's guidelines for health

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If you have questions about emergency planning, making a disaster plan, or how to refine this plan for your area... @ me!

I'm happy to help. :)

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And, hey, if you're in an area that's not impacted by anything right now... start your disaster plan today anyway.

Future You will thank you. :)

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One last thought for the #Prep thread... you probably need a lot less for 2-3 weeks than you think you need.

As a rule, people are wasting food and soap every day. You're using too much.

You do not need a huge dollop of soap, you need a puddle small than a dime (1 squirt from most bottles) and then 20 seconds of lathering.

A small bottle of soap is going to last your family 4 weeks.
A bar of soap probably 2-3 weeks.

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If you have a larger family (like me!) you might go through a bottle of hand soap in 2 weeks, but that's still only 2 bottles that you'll need for isolation.
If you're living alone and have one bottle of soap - you're fine if you're isolated.

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Do not go hoarding the soap.
Selling it for a severe markup to profit off any emergency is inhumane and cruel.
Make sure your house has what you need and leave the rest for other people.

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You do not need laws to force you to make good choices.
You can make good choices because they are the right choice to make. Just like that.
It's not hard.
Be a decent human being.
#Prep