Random Disaster Preparedness tip (which I didn't know until we ended up evacuated for a wildfire here): Many (most?) evacuation centers don't provide much more than a roof over your head, water, and a bathroom (at least, initially). You really need to be prepared with more than you might imagine. (for example, in Florida, they don't provide any cots or bedding; you might have to prove you live in the county where the shelter is; there are no blankets; and not all shetlers accept pets). In the wildfire evacuation here a few years back, ostensibly the Red Cross was going to run the shelter, but they never showed up.
3. Don't just prep for yourself, prep extra for the neighbors/relatives/friends who cannot or will not prepare themselves for disasters. (here, I have relatives who live in la la land and refuse to acknowledge anything bad ever happens, and insist there will never be earthquakes or wildfires here, so do not have any emergency supplies.)
4. If you're running a ham radio net, try to remember to repeat the frequency and offset to get into the repeater, it is clear there are a lot of newer hams who do not have all the local frequencies/repeaters programmed. Heard people trying to get in on the output, and some local hams had to run HTs to newer folks. (cont.)
Disaster Preparedness Lessons (so far) from observing the disaster in Western North Carolina the last few days:
1. Stay on top of emergency water supply. Lack of drinking water is the biggest issue (and continues to be an issue) in Western North Carolina, people without anything to drink after a flood. This would be an issue in California after a major earthquake, too.
2. Write down the phone numbers for out of the area contacts and put them with emergency supplies. A number of outbound messages were not delivered due to incorrect phone numbers and inability to remember/pull up phone numbers from phones/etc.
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