LHITS Prep-Along: Step 1. Be Informed!

Prepping over Breakfast! Mmmmm.... Eggs, cheese and avocado!

Well, since I've never really used this blog, might as well put it to good use! I'm starting a prep-a-long over at Little House in the Suburbs. I've been wanting to make sure I have an emergency plan in place, but honestly I've always felt like I've been fumbling around in the dark. There are so many things to know! So many supplies to get! So when I saw the prep-a-long, I jumped at the chance. 

This week's assignment is: Be Informed!

1. What hazards are most likely?
2. How will I get alerts and warnings?
3. Does my municipality have emergency plans (shelters, evacuation routes)?

1. Hazards.

I checked PrepareSoCal, FEMA, my county and city pages. Whew! Lots of info, but PrepareSoCal had it in the most concise format for my purposes. My hazards are (in no particular order):

Earthquake

Wildfire

Home Fire

Flood

Heat Wave

Power Outage

Drought

Tsunami

Pandemic

Terrorism

Space Weather

11 tings?! Wow! Technically I knew of all of them, its just shocks me that the list gets so long. I added drought, which the website doesn't have, because I think of it as a really long problem that can reach emergency status quickly and then stay there.

The probability for all of these? Anything to do with heat is ever present. I know this year is going to be really bad for water. A tsunami? I don't live by the coast, but I would be affected by it, and I would worry for my friends. Some of them may even need to come stay with us or close by. Earthquakes? The probability is high. We get some everyday, technically. You just can't feel them. So a plan for that is necessary, but kind of off the radar. Pandemic and terrorism? Hard to say. We live close to many airports (ONT, LAX, and a bunch of small ones) so I feel like that brings the threat closer. Terrorism would affect us, but through traffic and panic. Pandemic? I'm honestly not sure, but I'm ranking it low. On to the next step!

Printing the "What to do before, during, and after" pages for my binder. Bleh. I chose The American Red Cross printouts since they also run the website I'm mostly working with. After printing them I realized I needed a hole punch and my garage looks like this.....

....so I just stuck them in the binder for now.

2. Alerts and Warnings

I'm not real keen on having alerts on my phone. Whenever I sign up for something, it tends to go off waaaay more than I like. I did sign up for the wildfire alerts from County Fire. Because honestly? That's the real threat. And they don't call you with weird things. The rest of it I'll get through regular news sources and the great network that it my family and friends.

3. Community Plans

So far I can't find concrete community plans for emergencies. If FEMA recommends it, I would think the city or county would have this information available, but sadly not. Just like over at Little House, I'll be calling my fire department to see if they have that information. I'll edit later if I find out anything useful. Now I just need to find the number.....