Common mistakes people make during emergency situations

[The Stig]

I'm hoping our LEO and Mil friends can chime in with their experiences to add a different frame of reference to the discussion.

I'm going to throw out some.

1) Immediately rush to Wall-Mart in the aftermath to buy the things they should have already had.

2) Do nothing and assume local LEO or .gov organizations are going to come along and drop off warm meals, wipe their nose and tuck them in at night.

3) If a weather event, rush outside to take pictures of the storm. :confused:

4) Panic. (kinda obvious one I suppose)

5) Call 911 because a tree fell in their backyard or other similarly retarded reason

Others?

Discussion?

Donations?

[Stg1swret]

1. Assuming that downed power line is dead
2. Buying milk, bread and eggs, are you making French Toast?
3. Not heading evacuation notices, there is a reason they were issued.
4. Driving around to see the damage, if you have no important place to go, stay home and out of the way.
5. The cable will come back after the power is restored, and not a minute sooner.
6. Don't expect us to individually risk our lives because you were stupid enough to risk yours.

[dragon5126]

Were to begin?!?!?!!! Rather than dont, lets look at the do...
Basicly stated, unless it's a matter of life or death stay where you are unless ordered to evacuate. Forget the TV for emergency notices, use a radio on a LOCAL station. TV stations are national network rebroadcast services and are inherently behind the radio stations in the announcements, sometime ist only a few seconds but usually by a minutes and in many situations that can be a matter of the time it takes to get to safety or being in the path of danger. Two words: COMMON SENSE! The time to buy supplies is before the emergency is eminent. DO Not let your car's gas tank drop below 1/3 tank it's false economy and puts you at risk when shlt happens. The same goes for taking care of it's tires, and all other maintenace items on your transportation. Same for furnace on your home in areas that drop below freezing. I've been on too many cases where lack of maintenance of a furnace killed a whole family during a sudden deep freeze when it wasnt expected. Do NOT let your meds run out, as obvious as it is, insurance companies want you to refill only when you are out. Dont watch Dvds or pay per view during an emergency, you wont get warnings. Your Rights ARE your Rights, but why go out of your way to exercise them needlessly just to prove a point during an emergency situation? STAY LOW KEY! There is a difference between having your rights and rubbing the powers that be's noses in it, when at the time all it does is escalate the problems at hand. We all could write huge lists but other than a few simple things like listening to a radio instead of TV for announcements, using commonsense it the big thing.

[LUNCHBOX]

My area lost power a few weeks ago....our 911 operators got hundreds of calls asking about the weather. In the past news talks about high water, frozen wires, you name it and what happens, load up the kids and let's go take a look. I can honestly say some situations will always be predictable.

[dragon5126]

There is an old saying that started out in satire in a Copy of Mad Magazine that says it all "Let one person in and there goes the whole neighborhood".

[realist]

Dragon you are right on your assessment. When it comes to common sense it is the failure to use it that gets most people in trouble. Keep low key and out of the way so the first responders can do their job. If you are away and trying to get home I would suggest topping off your gas tank ASAP if you need it. Then get home and stay there unless it is destroyed or is a hazard. If you need heat make sure that you have proper ventilation. Cook outside if the power if off, you can do it in the garage with the door open in inclement weather.

If at all possible, stay out of high water you do not know what is under the surface. The fewer people that need help the better so don’t become a victim; there are already probably more than enough to go around. If you are told to evacuate, do it. I can’t tell you how many times we have told people to evacuate and they don’t. Then in a day or two they call because the water is too high and they can’t get out. Now we have to put our people at risk for no good reason.

Communications are important when something like this happens everyone wants to use their cell phone. Don’t use it; the system is probably pretty much overloaded from the usage. Recently in the Southern California power outage cell phones could not get out but texts could. If you need to, send a quick text to others letting them know where you are and that you are ok. I have a phone tree set up with my sister who lives out of state.

Obviously you want to make sure your family is okay. You might also check on your neighbors if you can do it safely. Anything that you can do to help will take some of the load off the rescue crews.

The idea is to conserve your supplies as much as possible. You do not know when you will be able to resupply.

[dragon5126]

Haven't been able to get online for a few days, work has been hell. Realist you hit on a topic I cant harp on enough and the spouse is the biggest offender I know. Fuel in the gas tank, while we all know that fuel has weight and the less weight in the vehicle the better the mileage you will get, you HAVE to develop the mindset that when the gauge hits half tanK you are at EMPTY! You will have to shell out more cash to fill it if you let it go lower, you dont know what tomorrow brings and if you will have time to fill it. if you have a metal tank the habit of letting it be below half tank is asking for it to start rusting at the seams, if you live in the snow belt in the winter the extra weight improves the performance of your tires as the weight sits below the vehicles center of balance, and the list goes on and on and on for practical arguements, but in the end when you really NEED the fuel in the tank you will have it.