In January, "We DARE you to get prepared through organization!" This can include organizing important papers in your home, inventorying food storage and your 90-day menu, cleaning out a closet to fit more food storage, preparing a month's worth of family home evening lessons, etc.
As a committee we have planned a very important class to help you get organized - a legal documents class taught by Brother Narducci who is a lawyer. Come learn what you need to do legally to have your affairs in order. It's something you usually don't think about until a tragedy. Hear a first hand account about why it is important to have decisions made before something happens and what the consequences are for not having life completely in order.
We will provide a nursery so both husband and wife can attend this class. It will be held January 19th, 7 PM at the Lindsay building. Mark your calendars now. In addition, we will have a fabulous binder available for you to purchase. Super cute and WAY organized. When I saw it I was stunned how thorough it is! Made an uber organizer like myself squeal with joy. HA! Look for an example outside the Relief Society room soon and sign up if you'd like to purchase one. I will let you know the price when I have shopped around a bit more to get the lowest price available on printing and a binder.
I dare you to stay tuned for the next challenge that will bless you and your family!
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Now for something else entirely... I spent last weekend at a 2-day CERT training and certification class - Community Emergency Response Team. It was life-changing. Granted it kept me up for a few nights stressing about what I had learned but I took comfort in the scripture, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." I wanted to share a few of the things I learned so you too can prepare:
According to U of A and substantiated by the USGS, Phoenix will likely experience an earthquake of 8.0 or greater in the next 5-10 years. That magnitude is considered a “great” quake surpassing “major” on the scale the USGS uses.
Kenneth Moravec, the instructor from Utah, interviewed the fire chiefs in our local cities and, should a disaster occur in the Phoenix area, response time (that is the length of time it will take fire, police, and emergency services to reach damaged areas) is as follows:
Chandler – 7 days
Mesa – 11 days
Gilbert – 9 days
Queen Creek – 9 days
In addition, 40% of the firehouses in Maricopa Co are NOT earthquake resistant. This means that 40% of the firehouses will have to first DIG OUT their equipment BEFORE they can do any good in the community. Anyone else go to the Gilbert Temple youth fireside a while back? Gilbert Temple is being built to be earthquake resistant to the maximum code possible . . . hmmmm, food for thought I’d say.
Once fire crews have dug out their equipment we all know where the 1st priority areas are for them to attend to – (our neighborhoods are LAST on the list folks)
1. Hospitals, clinics
2. Schools
3. Colleges and universities
4. Businesses over 10,000
5. Businesses over 5,000
6. Etc.
Not all disasters in greater PHX area can be natural – last year AZ Highway Patrol pulled over 182,000 trucking rigs and cited them for improper hauling of materials. One example was a Fry’s grocery truck that was hauling 7,000 gallons of bleach AS WELL AS 9,000 pints of ammonia. Ladies, we clean the house and we know what happens when you mix ammonia and bleach. Basic chemistry 101. Had this truck had an accident or rolled over the chemical reaction it would have created would have evacuated the ENTIRE PHX downtown. By the way, the Fry's truck was issued a warning and let go . . . WHAT???
Since 1983 (I think I got the date correct as I took notes but I may be off) the population here in PHX has quadrupled. In that time ADOT has not increased ways in or out of the valley. Basically, there is no way to leave our area should disaster strike. We must be prepared then to shelter-in-place. ***This means 72-hour kits! Preferably a 7 day kit! And that kit is really the bare minimum of what we should have in our arsenal. Remember those response times listed above by the city fire chiefs???
That is really just the tip of the iceberg. We discussed nuclear disasters, decontamination methods, more natural disaster preparation, basic triage in a disaster, EMP’s, disaster psychology, etc. etc. Saturday morning we had a mock disaster with “victims.” It was our job to assess the damage, triage victims and organize relief. I’ll be honest, it kicked my can. Intense to say the least and I learned I need to learn a lot more.
On another note, I considered my household to be pretty prepared but I came home after this weekend with a page of paper filled BOTH sides of equipment we still need to survive. Looks like a Christmas with presents of N95 rated masks, plastic sheeting, car kits, charcoal from the pet store as another means to filter water and flares as stocking stuffers. J Doesn't THAT sound fun from Santa?!
OK, so why am I sharing this? To freak you out? To keep you up at night? NO!!!! I am telling you so 1. you can get your own homes in better order and 2. I really want you to take the CERT training course this next March when Kenneth returns to AZ. The cost is $60 and with that you get all the equipment you need to be certified. Only $15 goes to help pay for gas for Kenneth to drive down. The training you will get is absolutely invaluable. We have 5 people trained or being trained in our ward right now. We need 10 people to make a legitimate CERT team. In the case of an emergency don't you want to be able to help your neighbor's and friends?
One key point Kenneth emphasized was this - “How you recover from a disaster depends 100% upon how you prepared for it.” He said over and over – DO SOMETHING! And get over the “I never thought it could happen to me” mentality because it will happen to us he said.
Anyway, I would like to challenge you, encourage you, beg you(?!?!?) to pray about taking this course the next time it is offered. Take it with your spouse! It was a treat to have Michael there where both of us could have promptings about what our next steps need to be as a family regarding preparedness and the last days.If you have questions about the training course, let me know. I will be heading back in March for a refresher but hopefully next time I will get a little more sleep after the course . . .
Yours in Preparedness,
~L
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