Do you have 3 months emergency supplies & food?

[mountainmist]

I thought that this was a pretty interesting article from a college newspaper, particularly as I'd never heard that some emergency responders are being advised to stockpile enough food to last their families THREE months.

I'd like to find out more about these recommendations, how many people have been advised to do this, when were they given these instructions, and where was this advice initially issued? Is this common advice to all emergency responders in all states across America?

Here's a short quote from the article, written by an economics professor.



================================================== =====

Pandemic flu soon? The odds seem to worsen - Viewpoints

http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/medi...epublisher.com



,,,,,,What does this mean for Tufts students? The period of maximum danger is during the flu season, roughly from October to April. If a pandemic were to occur, the best way to slow it down would be to "shelter in place" - stay home.

However, home would probably not mean Tufts. Tufts would find it very hard to keep thousands of students in dorms healthy and separated from each other.

Food supplies might be interrupted, and Dining Services now has only a limited emergency supply of food, though they could extend this in an emergency.

But where could students go to? How many of their parents have a 30-day supply of food stored, as Governor Romney suggested families should put aside this year?


How many have a three-month supply as some emergency workers are now being told to provide for themselves and their families?


How many know about frequent hand washing, social distancing, N-95 masks and other tricks to reduce the spread of the flu? (In a normal year, about 10 percent of people get the seasonal flu.) What would international students do if airline flights were cancelled? What would students whose parents live in major cities do if food supply shipments broke down?

One Boston-area college sent a letter on Aug. 23 to all incoming students saying that it might be necessary to close the university in a pandemic emergency. It instructs the students to have a realistic place to go to for shelter, a way to get there, a designated person with whom to travel (if by car), and to set aside provisions for food and water.

Every student has to certify that these preparations are in place and give a contact phone number so that they can be warned by the college in the event of an emergency.

It is very difficult to plan for something that is so uncertain. We do not know if a pandemic will occur this flu season or even in the next few years.

However, on Sept. 6 in New York, Dr. David Nabarro, the UN senior coordinator for avian flu, said that there will be a pandemic and that we now have only "God-given time" to prepare for it.
He also said that officially reported H5N1 cases and deaths were likely significantly under-reported. He said that, while we were now officially at Level 3 on the pandemic warning scale (1= no worries; 6 = run for the cellar), levels 4, 5 and 6 might come very quickly.

Recent World Health Organization warnings say
that H5N1 is mutating, making vaccine production harder and raising fears of resistance to current medicines used to control it.

The other uncertainty is how bad it will be. Part of "bad" is how many will be infected and what percentage of those infected would die. Part of "bad" is what the impact will be on our society and economy.

Would power and other utilities continue to function? Would healthcare workers report for work? Would food and fuel deliveries keep being made? It is very difficult to predict just how difficult life would become or for how long......



http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/medi...epublisher.com

[mountainmist]

I thought that this was a pretty interesting article from a college newspaper, particularly as I'd never heard that some emergency responders are being advised to stockpile enough food to last their families THREE months.

I'd like to find out more about these recommendations, how many people have been advised to do this, when were they given these instructions, and where was this advice initially issued? Is this common advice to all emergency responders in all states across America?

Here's a short quote from the article, written by an economics professor.



================================================== =====

Pandemic flu soon? The odds seem to worsen - Viewpoints

http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/medi...epublisher.com



,,,,,,What does this mean for Tufts students? The period of maximum danger is during the flu season, roughly from October to April. If a pandemic were to occur, the best way to slow it down would be to "shelter in place" - stay home.

However, home would probably not mean Tufts. Tufts would find it very hard to keep thousands of students in dorms healthy and separated from each other.

Food supplies might be interrupted, and Dining Services now has only a limited emergency supply of food, though they could extend this in an emergency.

But where could students go to? How many of their parents have a 30-day supply of food stored, as Governor Romney suggested families should put aside this year?


How many have a three-month supply as some emergency workers are now being told to provide for themselves and their families?


How many know about frequent hand washing, social distancing, N-95 masks and other tricks to reduce the spread of the flu? (In a normal year, about 10 percent of people get the seasonal flu.) What would international students do if airline flights were cancelled? What would students whose parents live in major cities do if food supply shipments broke down?

One Boston-area college sent a letter on Aug. 23 to all incoming students saying that it might be necessary to close the university in a pandemic emergency. It instructs the students to have a realistic place to go to for shelter, a way to get there, a designated person with whom to travel (if by car), and to set aside provisions for food and water.

Every student has to certify that these preparations are in place and give a contact phone number so that they can be warned by the college in the event of an emergency.

It is very difficult to plan for something that is so uncertain. We do not know if a pandemic will occur this flu season or even in the next few years.

However, on Sept. 6 in New York, Dr. David Nabarro, the UN senior coordinator for avian flu, said that there will be a pandemic and that we now have only "God-given time" to prepare for it.
He also said that officially reported H5N1 cases and deaths were likely significantly under-reported. He said that, while we were now officially at Level 3 on the pandemic warning scale (1= no worries; 6 = run for the cellar), levels 4, 5 and 6 might come very quickly.

Recent World Health Organization warnings say
that H5N1 is mutating, making vaccine production harder and raising fears of resistance to current medicines used to control it.

The other uncertainty is how bad it will be. Part of "bad" is how many will be infected and what percentage of those infected would die. Part of "bad" is what the impact will be on our society and economy.

Would power and other utilities continue to function? Would healthcare workers report for work? Would food and fuel deliveries keep being made? It is very difficult to predict just how difficult life would become or for how long......



http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/medi...epublisher.com

[disneysteve]

I'm not an alarmist. While I certainly believe in keeping 6 months of living expenses in liquid accounts, and I keep some cash on hand for emergencies, I see no reason to stock 3-months worth of food.

That said, if we were really forced to, we could probably get by for at least a few weeks on just what we have in the house at any given time between the pantry, the extra storage in the basement and the stuff in both freezers.

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by mountainmist

had such a very long URL, I had to have it shortened at tinyurl.com

In the future, please use the [url] tag to shorten URLs rather than going through a 3rd party redirect. The users like to know where they are going before they click on the link. Also moderators like to know whether your link conforms to site rules without clicking on it first. Thanks.

To answer the original question, no, I probably have enough supplies to last 3 or 4 weeks. Maintaining a 3-month supply of food, water and other supplies takes too much money and effort for the benefits to outweigh the risks, in my opinion.

[mountainmist]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

In the future, please use the [url] tag to shorten URLs rather than going through a 3rd party redirect. The users like to know where they are going before they click on the link. Also moderators like to know whether your link conforms to site rules without clicking on it first. Thanks.

To answer the original question, no, I probably have enough supplies to last 3 or 4 weeks. Maintaining a 3-month supply of food, water and other supplies takes too much money and effort for the benefits to outweigh the risks, in my opinion.

THANKS so much, I'd never seen such a LONG url, and I didn't realize that the board software automatically takes care of that - it was like almost 4-5 lines long, that's LONG!

I can't imagine the time & money needing to keep three months of food on hand at all times, the only way I can imagine this is buying three months worth of MREs -- which I'd never ever do, because not only because of the extreme expense, but also because so many MREs are described as unpalatable, just disgusting, and that is NOT what I'd want to feed my family during an emergency, and particularly since, inedible food would be worthless were any of them ill with flu.

I would like to know which emergency responders in what states have been told to establish these family stockpiles - and WHY the general public has not been given similar instructions.

Ninety days worth of food and water is a BIG expense, and I wonder how many emergency responders are paid well enough to simply go out to the big box stores and do such massive shopping... particularly since we still have NO idea if a pandemic will actually occur.

[mountainmist]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

In the future, please use the [url] tag to shorten URLs rather than going through a 3rd party redirect. The users like to know where they are going before they click on the link. Also moderators like to know whether your link conforms to site rules without clicking on it first. Thanks.

To answer the original question, no, I probably have enough supplies to last 3 or 4 weeks. Maintaining a 3-month supply of food, water and other supplies takes too much money and effort for the benefits to outweigh the risks, in my opinion.

THANKS so much, I'd never seen such a LONG url, and I didn't realize that the board software automatically takes care of that - it was like almost 4-5 lines long, that's LONG!

I can't imagine the time & money needing to keep three months of food on hand at all times, the only way I can imagine this is buying three months worth of MREs -- which I'd never ever do, because not only because of the extreme expense, but also because so many MREs are described as unpalatable, just disgusting, and that is NOT what I'd want to feed my family during an emergency, and particularly since, inedible food would be worthless were any of them ill with flu.

I would like to know which emergency responders in what states have been told to establish these family stockpiles - and WHY the general public has not been given similar instructions.

Ninety days worth of food and water is a BIG expense, and I wonder how many emergency responders are paid well enough to simply go out to the big box stores and do such massive shopping... particularly since we still have NO idea if a pandemic will actually occur.

[boefixepa]

Hum....I have well over a year's supply of food. It's just a thing I do. I am currently no buying food for three months just for kicks and giggles to make myself rotate it! To me it's just plain common sense, but I've accepted I'm wierd.

Now to heat my home for three months without utilities...that would be hard. Not having electricty for three months...doable, but inconvient. Water I have enough for one person for about 6 days...then I'd run out. But food...no problem.

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by mountainmist

THANKS so much, I'd never seen such a LONG url, and I didn't realize that the board software automatically takes care of that - it was like almost 4-5 lines long, that's LONG!

No problem. You can also change the link text. For example:
Tufts Daily Article

If someone mouses over the link they see the URL, but you can still give it a friendly name.

Here's how it's done: [ URL=SomeURL ] Some text [ /URL ]
Just remove the spaces to get it to work.

[JanH]

I guess you'd have to have food stockpiled that a flu-sickened person could stomach. That would change the dynamic some wouldn't it? You'd have to be sure to stockpile specific items also.

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I'm not an alarmist. While I certainly believe in keeping 6 months of living expenses in liquid accounts, and I keep some cash on hand for emergencies, I see no reason to stock 3-months worth of food.

That said, if we were really forced to, we could probably get by for at least a few weeks on just what we have in the house at any given time

That's exactly how I feel about the issue. What I've got on hand is enough to get by for a while if we really had to, but I don't keep a stockpile. It will keep us going long enough to get to my mom's house about 8 miles away. She's got enough in her pantry to keep us fed until the second coming!

I would imagine people may think about it differently depending on where they live. Here in densely developed suburbia, provisions are never more than a couple of miles away. If I lived in a rural area far from stores, I probably would keep a larger supply of everything on hand.

[mountainmist]

Originally Posted by boefixepa

Hum....I have well over a year's supply of food. It's just a thing I do. I am currently no buying food for three months just for kicks and giggles to make myself rotate it! To me it's just plain common sense, but I've accepted I'm wierd.

Now to heat my home for three months without utilities...that would be hard. Not having electricty for three months...doable, but inconvient. Water I have enough for one person for about 6 days...then I'd run out. But food...no problem.

Hi there, I've been following your thread, and actually wanting to stop over at your home, LOL!!, and show you how to sprout chickpeas (garbanzos) and sunflower seeds.

Sure, you can sprout other legumes, like lentils (and all the rest) and other seeds like fenugreek & radish..... but you see, sunflower sprouts and garbanzo bean sprouts are REALLY delicious.

Want to make sure you have some FRESH food now that harvest is just about totally over in most areas of the USA.

I haven't read any of the H1N5 flu forums in ages & ages, but I remember participants being very concerned about HYDRATION issues, many people with serious influenza actually die from dehydration, so that STRAWS are very important, so is SALT, you add a dash to the water you MAKE the ill person sip.

IF you have a person with avian influenza whom you are nursing back to health, there was lots of discussions about disposable silverware and paper plates --- although unless fresh water were an issue, I presume that bleach & hot water might be sufficient.

Caned chicken broth, beef broth, veggie broth - I've seen them all suggested as important provisions.

And somewhere or another I read that the potassium in gatorade might be a lifesaver, particular for the heart.

But, actually I really am not familiar with any recent discussions about Avian Flu preps for the home.... hopefully by now there'll be a bit more organized, but I don't know.

[mountainmist]

Originally Posted by boefixepa

Hum....I have well over a year's supply of food. It's just a thing I do. I am currently no buying food for three months just for kicks and giggles to make myself rotate it! To me it's just plain common sense, but I've accepted I'm wierd.

Now to heat my home for three months without utilities...that would be hard. Not having electricty for three months...doable, but inconvient. Water I have enough for one person for about 6 days...then I'd run out. But food...no problem.

Hi there, I've been following your thread, and actually wanting to stop over at your home, LOL!!, and show you how to sprout chickpeas (garbanzos) and sunflower seeds.

Sure, you can sprout other legumes, like lentils (and all the rest) and other seeds like fenugreek & radish..... but you see, sunflower sprouts and garbanzo bean sprouts are REALLY delicious.

Want to make sure you have some FRESH food now that harvest is just about totally over in most areas of the USA.

I haven't read any of the H1N5 flu forums in ages & ages, but I remember participants being very concerned about HYDRATION issues, many people with serious influenza actually die from dehydration, so that STRAWS are very important, so is SALT, you add a dash to the water you MAKE the ill person sip.

IF you have a person with avian influenza whom you are nursing back to health, there was lots of discussions about disposable silverware and paper plates --- although unless fresh water were an issue, I presume that bleach & hot water might be sufficient.

Caned chicken broth, beef broth, veggie broth - I've seen them all suggested as important provisions.

And somewhere or another I read that the potassium in gatorade might be a lifesaver, particular for the heart.

But, actually I really am not familiar with any recent discussions about Avian Flu preps for the home.... hopefully by now there'll be a bit more organized, but I don't know.

[LuxLiving]

I am not an alarmist either, but we do have what might be considered a LARGE storage of food. Maybe not a year on everything, but enough to last a good long time. I'm just that kind of person that wants to BE SURE that I can provide for me and mine. I rotate stuff in and out on a fairly systematic basis. Canned & boxed foodstuff is marked w/an in-date on it. I stock to the bottom or back as the case maybe and use a FIFO system. Works for us.

Before you ask, No - it did not happen overnight. It is something that I have consciously worked on thru the years. I also have a large pantry room in the basement and a nice big freezer. I figured if I was going to be a SAHM, then I needed to make my contribution by being a good money manager and stocking up on the things we use when it's on sale and clearance in an organized fashion.

I have been slowing down on restocking things as we may downsize our living quarters sometime in the next couple of years. If that be the case I don't want to have the extra bedroom stacked to the roof w/canned goods! BUT, once I was relocated I'd up my new pantry stockpiles to their full capacity based on the room available at that time.

It certainly came in handy when The Hubster was laid off for six months!

[mountainmist]

FLU AWARENESS WEEK


http://www.timescommunity.com/site/t... 579538&rfi=6


.... To prepare for a pandemic, individuals and families should gather and store food, water, and prescription and over-the-counter medications and other emergency equipment and supplies. The US Department of Health and Human Services website (www.pandemicflu.gov) recommends that a two-week supply of water, nonperishable foods, and medications be stocked for each household member.


However, many scientific and government experts are urging individuals and families to be prepared for six weeks or longer.



In past pandemics, three waves, each lasting six to eight weeks, have occurred. Because the time between waves may not be long enough for the supply and distribution systems to recover, pandemic preparations should be made for as long as possible. Experts such as David Nabarro of the WHO and Dr. Osterholm, have both stated publicly that they have personally prepared their families for more than three months.....


http://www.timescommunity.com/site/t... 579538&rfi=6

[mountainmist]

FLU AWARENESS WEEK


http://www.timescommunity.com/site/t... 579538&rfi=6


.... To prepare for a pandemic, individuals and families should gather and store food, water, and prescription and over-the-counter medications and other emergency equipment and supplies. The US Department of Health and Human Services website (www.pandemicflu.gov) recommends that a two-week supply of water, nonperishable foods, and medications be stocked for each household member.


However, many scientific and government experts are urging individuals and families to be prepared for six weeks or longer.



In past pandemics, three waves, each lasting six to eight weeks, have occurred. Because the time between waves may not be long enough for the supply and distribution systems to recover, pandemic preparations should be made for as long as possible. Experts such as David Nabarro of the WHO and Dr. Osterholm, have both stated publicly that they have personally prepared their families for more than three months.....


http://www.timescommunity.com/site/t... 579538&rfi=6

[JanH]

Our insurance company won't allow more than a months worth of medications at a time, but they did waive some restrictions after Hurricane Rita. But I wonder if that would be timely enough in a pandemic?

[Gruntina]

If a Pandemic happens, you would have to lock up your stockpile so other person that may know about it does not pester you for it or steal it.

I am currently a live in attendant and we have an emergency supply box in the Garage which is more geared for earthquakes (Northern California here!) It does contain sleeping bags for everyone and warm/cold apparels, food and etc. It was a group project where everyone split up the items to purchase and a laminated paper with emergencies phone numbers for out of state network if at all possible.

Other than that, I only have one small cupboard to put any kitchen items or food in so no room for stockpiling. I am iffy on stockpiling for pandemic and stuff for many reasons as well as pschologicial reasons. The earthquake is a very possible factor that can happen in my area so it makes sense for me to prepare for that first.

As far as the Flu Pandemic, It was reported by Madeline Albright that we have enough vaccine for every Americans at this time. I saw this a while back on the late night program where Britton and other countries were debating / arguing that American should provide Turkey (They were struck with some virus or flu thing and did not have enough vaccine for their citizens a while back) some of our Vaccines. Madeline on the program would not share because she mentioned that Americans paid for the vaccine by their tax money and there was no evidence that the vaccine would work if dissolute. Very interesting program I watch and I was amazed with Madeline’s soft spoken with confident when others were basically screaming. I never forgot that program but do not mean I can depend on it.

[Staceyy]

Yes, I have a three months supply of food and water.I also buy extras when things are on sale. I live in the suburbs and do not drive. Dh is away on business most of the time so I need to be prepared. I always try to keep extra garlic in the house. Garlic has been used for years in Russia in place of antibiotics. So in case of emergency such as a pandemic flu, this is what I would use.

[JanH]

Has someone mentioned their animals. We keep a supply during hurricane season for the pets, also. Food, water, and medication.

[Saving in So Cal]

I also live in earthquake country, so have been thinking about this issue for some time, particularly after the Katrina disaster.

We have enough food and water on hand to last a couple of weeks, maybe a month if we were very careful. Other supplies are more iffy. In prep for Y2K, I read a lot about preparedness. Most of the books I read recommended having a large supply of necessities and using a system similar to LuxLiving's. Although it definitely seemed like a prudent idea, it requires organization and a commitment to continually "store what you eat and eat what you store." I wasn't ready for the commitment then.

However, I just finished reading The 9/11 Commission Report and one of its broader messages was that we have to be responsible for our own emergency preparedness. The doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, etc. simply can't do it all. The more we are able to do for ourselves, the better off everyone is. I don't know if I can achieve the ideal, but I can definitely improve and I am going to try for a 60-day supply of necessities.

I am not sure what to do about the medicine issue. It's easy enough to have aspirin, tylenol and similar first-aid type medicines on hand. But, you really can't do that with other drugs. Both my parents and my in-laws take maintenance drugs. They can get 90-day supplies, but only at certain intervals. They can't stockpile their drugs.