Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
I am just way oversaturated in media coverage of the Katrina event. On one hand, its vitally important that I get as much information as possible, from as many sources as possible, so I can learn and see what works, what doesnt work, what should have been done differently and what shouldnt have been done at all. You don't often get this kind of mass destruction and population displacement in a first-world country without a war of some kind. This is an outstanding 'field laboratory' to see what works and what doesn't.
On the other hand, its mucking with my head with some of these infuriating tales of looting, agency turf battles and way-too-needy victims.
I read about a couple kids who stood in line with their mom for a couple hours to get a hot meal from the Salvation Army. A gal there sees these kids and decides to give them a treat and gives each one a jumbo box of Pop Tarts…..and then the kids examine the box, see its a flavor they dont like, and hand them back. People at the Guantanadome complained that after days of no food all they got were MRE's….Others rush the scene when a helicopter tries to land, forcing the copter to drop the cases of water from 20' where they burst open, useless, as a few smarter survivors futiley try to keep the crowd back so the copter can land…
Theres an expression 'There are no victims, only volunteers'.
Sure theyre tired, sure theyre hungry, sure theyre scared…..but people have always been hungry, scared and tired and while many of them make poor decisions because of it, even more don't…Im almost starting to think that the survivors/victims biggest enemy is themselves.
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I am having the most fascinating email conversation with a fella. He's telling me all about his emergency power system that he put together to run his gear during a blackout. Its an extremely informative read and if it's okay with him I may post some parts of it that I think the rest of you might find interesting. My needs are pretty simple: lighting, coomunications, battery charging… all things that are normally DC anyway, so right off the bat I can streamline things by leaving out the inverter for AC. (Although I might have one anyway just to play it safe.) Between fluorescent/LED lighting, small wattage radio and D- and AA-battery charger, I should be able to run for a failry good bit of time off a large enough bank of batteries. My own reading on the subject, and these emails, are convincing me that the AGM (absorbed glass media) batts will fit my needs since I want something that minimizes hydrogen gas during recharge…I want to keep these indoors in my basement area and I'd very much like to not have to worry about venting issues.
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“What would McGyver do” is rapidly becoming my problem-solving paradigm when I think of how Id cope with conditions in New Orleans. Of course, that means I really need to shell out the shekels and get a Leatherman Wave.
