EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND THE VETERAN
New York and most of the northeastern part of the US and Canada were without power for between 24 hours and up to a week this past August 2003. Power outage time depended on what part of the country you lived in. One power plant went down and within three minutes, 20 more power plants were no longer distributing electricity to approximately 50 million customers. This outage stretched as far west as Ohio. The lucky thing was the site of the mechanical problems that produced the outage was right there on power generation property. The various power companies could immediately go directly to the problem area and start repairs. They did not have to send linemen and response trucks out in driving wind and rain to locate and repair the damage in the field that created the outage. What if there had been wide spread physical damage because of nature created destruction, or worse yet political, ideology generated sabotage? It still took almost a week in some areas to get power restored to the public.
Italy just had a catastrophic power failure on 28 September 2003 that left virtually the entire nation in the dark. A tree branch struck a Swiss power line that caused a chain reaction through French that shut power off to over 58 million Italians. My first reaction was, what in the "Sam-hill" was Italy doing allowing another country to have so much control over something as critical as their nation's internal electricity distribution? The answer is, Italy imports almost all its electricity. Kind of makes our US worry about foreign oil dependency pale in comparison. In other parts of the world if an all-inclusive power blackout were to occur, you might expect an invasion of the stricken country by an unfriendly neighbor. Italy is lucky Liechtenstein was not mad at them that week.
If you watch these new Homeland Security commercials on TV, the cops and firefighters tell you to prepare for a possible three day emergency, during which time you and your family would have to stand alone without any outside help. I do not buy it. I have been in the emergency-disaster preparedness business for over twenty years and this false hope of three short days until everything is back to normal, is misleading. The truth of the matter is no one in the local, state or federal government wants to go on line to the public and tell how bad it really could get. I have heard the "three day" preparedness idea sold as: "just like getting ready for a long weekend camping trip." Now doesn't that have the sound of family fun in the wilderness?
Just prior to the predicted Y2K crisis I was trying to offer emergency preparedness classes to the public. I worked for a police department in Texas. The department got federal money for promoting emergency preparedness. My preparedness classes and the training I acquired from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were all used as documentation to support the police department receiving continued federal money. The problem for me started when I was spotted at a Sam's Club store by a local TV camera crew, while I was buying some items to get ready for potential Y2K problems. When they asked me to speak about Y2K on camera I advised them I had to first have permission from my Chief of Police before I could speak to the press. The reporter right there on the spot called my Chief and he said no. That afternoon when I got to work I received a thirty-minute dressing down by two senior officers at the direction of the Chief. I had followed the department rules, but the real problem was the senior management of the police department and the city, were not ready for Y2K. Now we all know nothing happened with Y2K, so we got away with it that time.
As great as the destruction and loss of life was because of the 9-11 terrorist attack, the damage really was localized. When I first saw it on TV that day, I was sure that all of New York City was going to be without power. Come nightfall that city was going to be a very unnerving place for humanity. The power outage did not happen. For the most part, the rest of the city did continue to function. Had the major power distribution points of the city been not repairable-damaged, but destroyed, New York would have shut down almost completely. Besides the immediately impact on the people who live there, the fact of the matter is New York City is the center of the world for the flow of money and all that, that implies.
We are a nation of the over-insured. We spend thousands of dollars a year to protect our life, health and property from damage after the fact. However, we spend very little and in many cases nothing on assurance. Assurance defined as, freedom from doubt and the inspiring of confidence. We are a 9-1-1 society. We expect to be able to pick up the phone anytime and get immediate gratification for our fire, police and medical emergencies. What happens when the emergency personnel are task-saturated and can not get to you? For that matter, the phones to call for help do not work
A family has to be prepared to stand on their own to meet the food, water, shelter, emergency medical and physical protection needs well beyond this three day concept. If you want a scary exercise, find out how many total ambulances are available in your home county and then bump that up against the number of people who live in your county. You will be very surprised. People who have been in the military have learned field craft skills that can be used in time of physical crisis, but they need to pass these skills on to their family members and friends. This needs to be done without instilling fear, but at the same time making sure it is understood this is no joke.
Spending money for assurance is very important. Buying the correct type and amount of emergency supplies is a paramount issue in your family's safety and wellbeing. Wellbeing in this case, means survivability. Educate yourself on preparedness efforts in your local area and your home state. After a major incident has occurred, it is too late to demand better preparedness and performance by your government controlled emergency response forces. The truth of the matter is, in time of major crisis the only one you can count on is yourself. Like the Boy Scouts say "Be Prepared." Be prepared to stand on your own, protect and help your family and then go help others. Veteran's helping veterans, and then helping the general public, this is a positive concept.