Evacuate vs. Shelter in Place

[Valerie in WA]

I'm wondering what your opinions are, as my dh and I are having a disagreement. The main question is: Do you think in most disasters you would have the opportunity to evacuate or is there a reasonable risk that you would be stuck at home and forced to shelter in place?

The secondary questions is this: If the disaster was such that you could choose between evacuating and sheltering in place, which would you choose?

This all started with me looking into auxillary heat for our home. We are all electric with no fireplace. There was once a woodstove and the chimney still exists, although dh did patch over the hole in the wall that the stove pipe connected to. The brick surround also still exists: floor and two walls (it's in the corner) bricked up to about 4ft high.

So over the weekend I found kits that will convert an old hot water heater into a wood stove. The kit is $55. Plus you need some stove piping. We will soon have an old hot water heater, as we are replacing this one next year in the remodel. My thought was that we could buy and store the kit, store the old hot water heater & some stove pipe. Then, if the 'big one' hits in the winter time, we could knock out dh's patch in the wall, and hook up our impromptu stove. It's a relatively small financial investment, considering that we may never use it.

Also over the weekend, he had a big windstorm. We lost the Magnolia tree. I suggested that dh cut it to woodstove size pieces and stack it somewhere - just in case. We also discussed a large fir tree that really needs to be removed. We say that after every wind storm, because it's gonna go - it's just a question of when. So I further suggested that we save its wood as well. Then we would have some nice seasoned firewood if we ever needed it. If the disaster was prolonged, we could cut down other trees on our property and burn them green, but that's yucky.

Well, dh absolutely refused! He did make the valid point that we may need to hire pros to remove the fir and that letting them take the wood would offset some of the expense. But he insisted that no matter what the disaster, "I would just evacuate." I said that I think that may not be possible. Our most likely disaster is a big earthquake, so I'm picturing bridges out and roads heaved up into rubble. Neither of our vehicles has 4WD. Furthermore, we usually have 2-3 months worth of food on hand and with the exception of heat, we are well prepared to shelter in place. Even sanitation is covered.

So, what are your thoughts???

[Darlene]

Jack & I like to be as self suffecient as possible and would only evacuate if we had no other choice. But being self suffecient takes a lot of work and isn't for everyone. We do all our own wood for heating and have only used 80 gal of oil for our furnace so far this year.
Our biggest threat here is flooding and we monitor it closely and would have time to evacuate. I think most threats are a short lived thing like being snowed in, power outages and we are all set for those kinds of things.

I just think it's important to take care of yourself & not rely on others... "they" will have plenty of other people & things to deal with. I don't want to be in that scene if I don't have to.

[canadian gardener]

You need to have game plans for the likely emergency situations you face in your neck of the woods.

here it's more likely to be forest fire evacuations or being at home due to a blizzard or heavy snow or ice conditions (rare) with a remote possibility of electric failure, but other places, floods or earth quakes make different solutions the answer.

The thing is to have a game plan set up for each eventuality you are likely to face.

And have the family on board so you aren't coping with figuring it out in the stress of the situation.

When the fires came the other year, I was flat on my back, in pain waiting for my hysterectomy, and during the worst of it, I was in hospital with smoke from 3 close fires filling the air inside the hospital. I came home to recover still concerned about an emergency situation.

During that time dd took her car and went to Vancouver for a visit. We needed to have a plan in case the highway home was closed.

We talked, and I was surprised to hear that she thought she would head up to prince George or William's lake instead of gathering down in Vancouver if she couldn't get home via the Coquihalla and we were being evacuated.

We set a permanent plan that if we are ever evac'd we all gather at dh's sister's place in Vancouver as we are able to travel.

Talk, think it thru, PUT IT DOWN ON PAPER.

I have a zippered binder with handles that I used to cart my homeschool paperwork around in, to work on when I had free time in the car.

Some years back I paid attention to flylady, and resurrected it as my household central information depot.

I have addresses, phone numbers and financial info there so that I can resurrect my life as long as I'm able to grab that one thing on the way out the door.

it's the thing that if I die or George dies, we have instructions in there for the other one.

It's got birthday's, a perpetual list of stuff we need to know even if everything got lost in a fire.

It's also got our emergency evacuation packing list for a 5 minute and a 24 hour evac listed so I'm not panicky thinking that I'll forget something.

The list is there, ready to go.

And trust me have 2 lists. Grab your purse and the binder if you have time, but get out alive.

If the house is burning, DON"T GO LOOKING FOR THOSE ITEMS, fire goes fast. KEEP your purse and planner near the exit but not in plain sight, you don't want to give a thief at the front door an opportunity.

the five minute list is if you should be lucky enough to have that warning, open the doors, set the horses free, give them a chance, grab your stuff and go.

24 hours is if you know it's coming, you have time to pack the photos, some changes of clothes, files and anything else you'll need like medications, prescriptions, etc to live safe and healthy away from the house indefinitely.

I learnt that thru watching the fires around here. The folks up at Barriere didn't even have 5 minutes, the flames were licking at the back porches as they were scrambling into vehicles it happened so fast on some places up there. Others had more time.

GAS IN THE CAR OR TRUCK TANK!!!!!

The other thing to keep is always use gas from the top half of the tank. It doesn't cost you much to keep it topped up, and in an emergency you will find life MUCH simpler if that tank is routinely half full or more.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

I see no reason why you shouldn't chop up the tree that fell down in the windstorm and keep that for emergencies. I don't know what to say about the fir tree. Giving the workers the wood would save money, so maybe you could compromise and keep the maple tree wood and trade the fir tree wood? Good luck!

Jennifer

[Sari]

Most disasters you would be able to evacuate. If something happened that your home was destroyed, you most likely would also be able to leave. I like the idea of being prepared either way, though.

[ama]

I myself would prefer to shelter at home. Hunkering down seems far more preferable than taking my chances out in the world with the rest of society losing their minds.


There is a book from Citizens Corp/FEMA called Are You Ready? I recommend sending away for it. Its 200 pages and very indepth about each and every situation and what you should have for supplies, ER's etc.
www.ready.gov

[Persimmon Lace]

Unless forced too, I will not go to a shelter. I live in tornado country, my family all lives in the same town and we would all bunk with each other depending upon who was still standing! My goal is to get a small self contained trailer and if it were to come to that to go to our family in Texas or a little further north of where I live. No way would I go to a shelter!

[patches]

We've prepared as much as possible to shelter in place. When the hurricane came through VA a couple of years ago, hubby kept wanting to go to this hotel in another county. I told him I wouldn't leave.

We live in a mobile home.

The eye of the storm ended up going directly towards that hotel and missed us by 15 miles.