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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.
(continued) #DisasterPreparedness #disasters

#disasters #disasterpreparedness
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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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.) #DisasterPreparedness

#disasterpreparedness
in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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3a. ps. they will be here at my house if a disaster strikes and they are able to drive over her, for sure.

5. CONSERVE GASOLINE. Again, gasoline rapidly runs out. (have seen this in disasters before). Don't let your car go below half a tank. Don't go driving around town as a looky loo. Gasoline runs out rapidly without resupply from the outside world. Long lines, gas stations out, fighting even reported at a gas station.

6. Corollary: CONSERVE GASOLINE, invest in a small scale solar+battery system at minimum (for radio/lights/recharging). With no gasoline available and stations out, they are now 4 days out and generators are either empty or soon to be. Solar, solar, solar!

(cont.)

in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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7. As much as people repeat "have food for an emergency", it sounds like there were a lot of people without food to eat and hungry (now day 4, note for the longest time FEMA was recommending only 3 days of food. They now recommend a week). I do note the ham radio folks did NOT seem to have food issues, and one was grilling up hamburgers (stuff from the freezer etc.). I guess if you have to cook everything in your big freezer because you can't keep it cool, might as well feed your neighbors, LOL.

(cont).

in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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8. Repeating this: but in a complete telecom/communications down situation, the ONLY people who can get a message anywhere are ham radio operators within the disaster zone. it's near impossible to reach anyone inside a disaster zone (even a ham, where it MIGHT be possible, but no guarantee). However, EVERY ham radio operator in the affected area within repeater reach was able to get someone outside to take a phone number or list of phone numbers and -- IN REAL TIME -- get confirmation that their loved ones knew they were okay. That ability is priceless.
in reply to AI6YR Ben

Hunter Hillegas
Hunter Hillegas
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What is the impact of say recent iPhone models that can communicate via satellite when cell service is down?
in reply to Hunter Hillegas

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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🤷 No idea. But definitely can't talk to people in your neighborhood or get local information via satellite iPhone.
in reply to AI6YR Ben

AlexanderMars
AlexanderMars
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my best friend lives in #Asheville, there’s no mobile signal, no water or power. No one he knows has an phone that supports satellite. However he and I have been able to text each other using #meshtastic and MQTT which we both got into over the summer. He’s also been able to text with other locals sharing information. I don’t have a complete picture of his experience, but he’s been very positive over texts I’ve received.
#meshtastic #asheville
This entry was edited (2 days ago)
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