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A few scenes from the “snowquester” at our house.

At one point, the power went out for several hours, testing our emergency preparedness capabilities. The supplies we ended up needing were:

Emergency hand-crank powered radio.

Bottled water is essential for power outages when your well-water is powered by electricity.

Powdered milk to make hot chocolate (for the non-dieters of course).

Natural gas powered stoves are a lifesaver in a winter emergency!

Manual can opener.

While the schools closed for 3 days this week, my poor homeschooled children can’t catch a break. When school is at your house, school goes on, snow or not!

The snow coincided nicely with our lessons on measuring in centimeters and inches.

No one felt the least bit stressed during this power outage. The day before, I made several loaves of banana bread to use up some browning bananas we had. Even though we couldn’t open the fridge, the banana bread was an appealing snack to everyone. Combined with a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, it was a nice way to relax and enjoy the snow. For me, the dieter, it was a little more complicated. I couldn’t have my lunchtime salad since all the greens were in the fridge. Fortunately, I found some acceptable substitutes in the pantry: a can of green beans, raw almonds and some freeze-dried apple chips.

They enjoyed hot chocolate and banana bread.

I ate: almonds and dried apple chips.

The snow was heavy and slushy and put a lot of stress on the branches of the bushes around our house. We will see if some spring pruning is necessary.

At first, I found the snow a confusing intrusion into our progression toward spring. Snow is always beautiful, though and I find myself missing it already as it starts to melt! The last hurrah of winter. We are supposed to get 50 degree temperatures this weekend!

Fall’s ultimate fashion accessory . . . the flu shot band-aid!

As you have probably seen in the news, the flu season is particularly harsh this year. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Even here in Fredericksburg, hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.

Our family is not affected (knock wood) because we all got our flu shots this year. We get them every year whether there is a harsh flu season or not. Because the flu has struck really early in Washington in years past (once in October), once I see flu shot signs go up in August or September, I rush to get everyone in ASAP because I know it takes a few weeks for the immunity to take effect. Usually, we have to wait a few weeks to get pediatric flu shots for the youngest members of our family. This year, my son got his first flu shots (2 of them) at the pediatrician.

In 2004, there was a national flu vaccine shortage and people were asked not to get the vaccine unless they were in a vulnerable group. My husband and I did not get vaccinated and we got hit HARD by the flu that year. I am not sure if I have ever had a true flu virus before that year. Once you have experienced true flu it is unmistakable. Your body is so exhausted, it hurts to move. You have really high fever and you feel delirious and spacey. I could not get out of bed for 24 hours when I had that flu. I have the “gift” of being able to sleep even when I feel terrible so I just slept it off. My husband can’t sleep when he feels terrible so he was up trying to use the computer or read. I heard him walking in the hallway and he suddenly collapsed! Even though I was barely functioning, a jolt of adrenaline ran through me and I ran to him.

“Are you all right?” I asked, lightly slapping his cheeks to wake him up.

His eyes opened, “I’m fine! What are you doing?” he inquired puzzlingly, apparently unaware he was lying down in the hallway.

We recovered from the worst effects after a few days and were fine but the amount of energy it took to get through those first hard days was immense! We were young and healthy and it was tough so I can’t imagine how tough it would be if you were weaker to begin with. As a parent, I cannot afford to be that ill and still manage to take care of my children.

It is somewhat sad to me to think that a lot of the flu is preventable and that so few people take advantage of the vaccine. Sure, now that there is a crisis in Massachusetts, everyone wants to get a shot and there are now shortages.

Imagine if you are in Boston right now and you just happen to have a heart attack or some other health emergency. Good luck getting in at the local hospital! Those hospitals have no capacity right now to handle any other emergencies. And even if you do get in, wouldn’t you be worried about your recovery being compounded by exposure to the flu?

Yes, the vaccine isn’t perfect. It isn’t always a perfect match for the flu virus circulating (but this year it is). There are always some people who can’t get vaccinated due to medical conditions or lack of money. But if most of us who could get vaccinated did, we might be able to reduce the severity of these flu outbreaks and protect the most vulnerable members of society.

If you happen to have a fear of needles, you really need to know that many places offering flu vaccine promise really tiny needles that you can hardly feel. This year, the nurse administering the vaccine to me and my girls had some sort of palsy where she was shaking. “Oh, this is going to hurt!” I thought but was determined to go through with it. The nurse shook as she put the needle in and even as she injected the vaccine and would you believe it didn’t hurt at all? Truly. Those needles are really tiny. And, if you really hate needles, some places have the “intranasal” vaccine where they just put a few drops of liquid up your nose.

So next year, when you first see that sign for flu vaccine, pull the car over and get vaccinated!

If you are affected by the flu this year, you have my sympathies. You may find my previous post helpful:

10 Natural Ways to Pamper Yourself When You Have a Cold

Salud!

"Maternal Caress" by Mary Cassatt (1891). From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Today, it’s hard to know exactly when and how to move forward with day-to-day life. The Newtown shootings still weigh heavily on everyone’s minds. My husband tells me not to get too bogged down in the news reports. When the shootings happened, I told my 4-year-old what had happened and even hearing the words of what happened, she told me, “I don’t want to hear about that anymore!” I don’t show my children the news for now.

Many friends are posting on Facebook that their children were terrified to go to school today and that parents were having a hard time letting them go. Here in Virginia, the police stationed officers at all schools, not because of any threat, but just as a means of helping reassure people that schools are safe places and that the police are here to protect us. I have to confess that as a homeschooling parent, it is a luxury to not have this burden of worry on my mind.

My husband and I are following the gun control debate issues as well. He sent me an interesting article from The Atlantic (who just happened to put gun control on their front cover story recently) and we have had some interesting discussions about guns. What has come to light for me is that if you are even going to contemplate legislating weapons, you need to be knowledgeable about weapons technology. You need to know how guns really work (and how they don’t). If your only information about guns comes from watching news reports, video games and action movies, you (like me) probably have a lot of misconceptions about how guns really function. My husband and I had an interesting discussion about the word “semi-automatic” a term, which many people, including me, probably emphasize the “automatic” part without knowing that “semi-automatic” does not mean an unending stream of bullets.

I still feel that the main issue at play here is treatment of mental illness in adults. Liza Long’s insightful blog post where she details her own experience with her 13-year old son who struggles with mental illness and violence and claims: “I am Adam Lanza’s mother.” is so timely. We have known for years that we have rising rates of autism (just to mention one mental impairment) and PBS shows like News Hour and Need to Know have profiled the fact that we, as a society, have no plan for any of these children once they graduate from the public school system. For now, we leave it all up to the families affected and this incident shows that families are incredibly strained and need help. I have no idea what “the answer” is but it most likely involves spending some money.

So, for now, I am still following the news, sad as it is. If you want to discuss any of these issues or share stories you find insightful, feel free to comment.

It is also important, however, that we move forward and it seems that one of the most comforting things to people right now is to have reminders that the world is a good place with many good people in it. In my small part in reminding the world of this fact, I am going to focus my next several posts on our holiday charitable efforts.

I do have some more self-indulgent Christmas things to share too but it doesn’t seem right to go there just yet. If you are wanting some of that holiday spirit, just hang tight and thanks for your patience!

The worst Sandy dealt us was mild winds and mild but steady rain. This shot shows some of the trees swaying (and me tipping the camera).

I am glad to report that Hurricane Sandy was very mild here in Fredericksburg. Aside from constant light rain and light winds, we have no damage, no flooding, no snow and no downed trees. It appears all the damage went further north to New Jersey and New York. I am still catching up on all that seems to have occurred there.

With every emergency situation, we learn more. One thing the DC area seemed to have done right with Hurricane Sandy is to take early action to close schools, the federal government, businesses, etc. Although in hindsight the storm in this area was milder than expected, I imagine it made it much easier for emergency personnel to respond to storm disasters with the roads cleared. It was easier for schools and employers to communicate closures before power outages and disruption of communication networks made communication more difficult. It was also easier for parents also to plan logistics such as work commutes, child care, etc. with more notice. While we might have squeezed in one more day of work or school by resuming normal schedules today, all in all I think officials made the right decision.

It is always amazing to me to see how many people refuse to evacuate during these types of disasters. I hope that someone will study this issue and figure out what is needed to get people to heed instructions. The story from CNN about a fire in Queens (who was expecting fire during a hurricane?) showed how people who insist on staying put are asking emergency personnel to take incredible risks with their lives. We ask enough of firefighters and police on a regular basis, why make them take extra risk?

Thinking of those who were severely affected and hoping you are in a good situation very soon. Any of us could be one disaster away from losing everything. Here’s hoping Sandy will help us remember to value what is truly important in our lives and to find the positives even in adversity.

Sandy, darling, did you have to pick Halloween for your arrival? Honestly, your timing could not be worse.

Not for the usual reasons.

Weather-wise, this is not the worst time of year for massive destruction and power outages. It is not unseasonably hot or cold. We recently restocked our water, flashlights and food so we were all set there too. The hundreds of wise trees near our house have obliged by dropping about every single leaf in the last two days. Trick or treating in the pitch dark with flashlights actually sounds kind of cool.

The problem, Sandy, is that we are right at the start of the busiest holiday season. I still have costumes to sew and I don’t want to do that by hand in the dark.

So, if you are looking for me during the power outage, I will be headed toward the nearest Michael’s store, where I will beg them to plug in a generator for my sewing machine. I’m sure to be joined by other moms armed with glue guns and other electric crafting supplies. Likely someone will be trying to bake cookies or cupcakes for the class Halloween party too.

Sandy, it would be the best “trick” to just bypass us without damage. We’ll leave candy on the porch for you on Halloween if you oblige.

*To all my Sandy-affected readers, may you be safe these next few days.

“We’re a little low on gas.  We should fuel up here before we get on our way,” my husband advised as we left Grandview.

The first gas station we stopped at appeared to be closed with plastic bags over the gas pump handles.  We drove past another. At first glance it looked fine.

Then we looked a little closer and saw yellow caution tape and orange cones roping off the gas tanks.

Caution tape and orange cones closing off the pumps.

“Hmmmm…..” we thought.

Another flashing sign popped up “No Gas.” We learned the storm had knocked out power to many gas stations in this area.

“Too bad,” we thought.  “We’ll try for the next exit.”

We drove to the next exit and got off.  The first thing we saw were long lines at all of the gas stations.  Long lines even for stations where there was no power and no gas!  People were just pulling up and parking in front of the pumps to wait.

The line for gas--at a station with no power and no gas!

This is where we started to get a bit nervous.  A woman at the gas station indicated there was gas just down the road.  My husband used the gas station finder application on his smartphone to locate more gas stations and drove several miles in either direction from the freeway exit only to find all the gas stations closed or out of power.  In the meantime, I was madly searching Google and Twitter to find out what was going on.

I learned that what we thought was just a thunderstorm was actually a derecho, which confused me even more because our rudimentary homeschool Spanish taught me that derecho means “right” as in derecho (right) and izquierda (left).  Wikipedia straightened me out and said that derecho also means straight and refers to a powerful storm moving in a straight line.  My searching also came across this scary article indicating that 650,000 West Virginia businesses and residents had lost power in 53 of 55 of West Virginia’s counties due to the derecho!  Helpfully, the article mentioned that there were lines for gas in the Charleston area, about 50-60 miles away from us.

With very little gas to sustain us, we had to make a decision.  We could:

1) Choose to wait in line with the growing line of cars at the gas station near the freeway exit and hope for power (or, alternatively, try to book ourselves into a hotel for the night).  We discussed the possibility that we might not be able to get a hotel due to the lack of power and/or lack of sufficient cash.

2) Take a risk and get on the freeway toward Charleston, hoping we could make it on what little gas we had left.

Interestingly, although my husband outwits me in almost every emergency, since this was essentially a shopping problem, where knowledge of people and shopping patterns were helpful, I had the upper hand.

“We need to get near Charleston,” I said.  “Even if they are out of gas, they will likely get resupplied first as the largest city.”

My husband did not want to entertain the possibility of stranding our family on the highway.  He reluctantly agreed to head toward Charleston but noted that I would be to blame if we got stranded.  The empty light came on as we approached a toll booth.

The empty light comes on.

“Ask the toll booth attendant if she knows where we can find gas,” I instructed him.

“Why on earth would the toll booth attendant know where gas is?” my husband testily replied.

“Please just ask her!” I pleaded.

So, as we paid our toll, he inquired.

“There’s gas in Marmet, about 30 miles away,” the toll booth attendant responded.

Feeling a bit smug, I breathed a sigh of relief as I consulted the owners manual for the car to determine the gas remaining once the empty light comes on and we calculated that we might just have enough gas to make it to Marmet.

“Are you really going to plan our course based on the word of a toll booth attendant?” my husband asked me.

However, since we had nothing else to go on, we headed to Marmet.

About halfway to Marmet, we came across the service plaza for the toll road.  My husband wanted to check to see if the gas station for the service plaza was open.  As we approached the service plaza, a lighted “NO GAS” sign met us and we saw a growing number of cars parked in the plaza.

It was a white knuckle ride to Marmet.  I was constantly scanning Google and Twitter on my smart phone for any updates.  All I found were complaints about people freaking out and hoarding gas.  There was a slight air of desperation to it all.  One person wrote that this must be what the end of the world is like.

As we drove, I tried to figure out how we could camp in the car for the evening if things got really desperate.  We had enough food and water to last us several days but finding a safe place to sleep was going to be a challenge.

We had no idea exactly how much gas was left.  My husband was monitoring the mileage and we calculated that we could make it to Marmet but no further.  To save gas, we coasted down hills with the car in neutral and drove at a slow-ish 60 mph, trying to utilize the cars “ECO” gas-saving driving mode as best we could.

Finally, we arrived in Marmet.

We found long lines at the stations.  I jumped out of the car and began questioning people at the pumps.

“Is there any gas left?  We just need a few gallons to get out of the state.”

At first, someone told me there was no gas left and that all was coming out was drops.  I went back to report this to my husband.

“No way,” he said.  “Those people are filling up right over there.”

I went back to double-check and it turned out that there was gas.  They were all out of 85 grade and just tapped out their 87 grade but there was some premium 92 gas remaining, available on a cash-only prepaid basis.

“We’ll take it!” I said.

We put in $20 and planned to fill up again closer to Charleston.  I stuck around inside the gas station to chat for a minute and learned that this might be the very last gas station in West Virginia with any gas at all! We added another $20 in gas.  I called the hotel in Kentucky we were scheduled to stay at to confirm they were not facing the same storm damage/power outage/gas shortage we had just escaped and the desk attendant seemed to think I was crazy and confirmed things were fine in Kentucky.

We were finally able to relax and my husband and I congratulated ourselves on our team effort getting our family out of this disaster situation.  We drove out of Marmet grateful for our good fortune.

At this point, another small disaster arose as my second child announced she needed the bathroom urgently.  My husband managed to find an open department store with a generator aptly called “Magic Mart.”  To express our appreciation for their bathroom services, I bought this cute shirt that I now associate as my “survivor shirt.”

Survivor!

We passed people lined up for an Applebee’s food truck and I felt a twinge of guilt for having to pass only temporarily through all of this while friends were suffering in 100 degree temperatures without power.

Sadly, there was not much we could do.  We had a trip to make and family counting on us and we pressed on to our hotel in Lexington, Kentucky.

From this experience, however, and from monitoring news updates about the situation in West Virginia for a few days after we left, I learned the following emergency situation tips.

Ruly Tips for Finding Gas in an Emergency Situation

1.  The two best tools for finding gasoline in an emergency/low gas situation are a smart phone and cash.  I have mentioned before why you should have cash in your emergency kit.

2.  Search the Internet for news about where power outages or gas shortages are occurring. Hopefully you will at least come up with a general area that is unaffected.

3.  If the Internet is unhelpful, ask everyone you run into where you might find gas but prioritize information from people who actually filled up with said gas.  I imagine truck drivers are a great resource in this situation.  In my case, a toll booth attendant was the key.

4.  If you still have no reliable source of information, heading for the closest big city or (we later learned), a service station on a major highway or toll plaza is probably the best choice.  A day after our gas emergency, we learned that the police put a priority on getting gas to cars parked at the toll plaza gas station because the line was backing onto the highway and disrupting the flow of traffic.

5.  Conserve your fuel as you are driving around looking for gas.  Drive below standard highway speed if necessary.  Turn off your engine while waiting in line.

6.  Know whether your car can handle different grades of gas rather than the standard 85, at least for a short time period or emergency situation.  It’s no good filling your tank with gas that will kill the engine.  If you don’t know the answer to this question, ask your mechanic.

7. If you find gas, Tweet it out to help someone else.  I don’t believe there is any standard hashtag convention but using the two-letter state code plus “gas” would be a good idea.  Ex.  #wvgas

8.  Aside from budgeting and car maintenance benefits, calculating your car’s typical gas mileage on a regular basis and knowing your car’s typical performance is a tremendous help in an emergency situation.  Know how many gallons you have once the empty light comes on.

9.  Most importantly, however, if a major disaster strikes your area and you are fortunately unaffected, don’t assume that everyone else is in the same situation.  Do some research before you head out in the car and take appropriate precautions.  The best advice might be to stay home and off the roads entirely!

As for us, we have put learning more about gas storage on our emergency preparedness list.

Have a low-gas/out-of-gas adventure?  Please share in the comments.

Continue reading: Day 2 – Kentucky and Missouri

This month at Ruly we have been discussing emergency preparedness in connection with National Preparedness Month.

While I didn’t get to discuss every topic and idea I had in mind and got a bit off-schedule at the end of the month (as we are enjoying visiting family), I have at least made forward progress in my emergency preparedness. I already have some ideas in mind for future posts.

Emergency preparedness is such a huge subject that no one can have it all done at once. It is a topic we should all revisit periodically to review and refresh our knowledge. I hope reading the posts this month at Ruly have helped you to do that for yourself.

In brief, this month:

We looked at three weaknesses in our current emergency preparedness efforts generally.

Ruth commented:

“Do you prepare for everything all the time? Seems a bit over the top to me…..maybe I’ll regret typing that one day!”

I gave 3 quick ways to improve your emergency preparedness:

• Quick Emergency Preparedness Tip #1: Sign Up for Facebook or Twitter Updates from FEMA and Your Local Emergency Authority
• Quick Emergency Preparedness Tip #2: Identify the Types of Emergencies You Need to Prepare For – Curiously, seconds after writing that Flood was a “Very Unlikely” event for my situation, the entire DC area was deluged with rain, causing extensive flooding.
• Quick Emergency Preparedness Tip #3: ICE Your Cell Phone – Ruth added a great comment to this post that after the word ICE add a number showing the order you want your ICE contacts called.  So, for example, the contact to be called first should be ICE1, the second contact, ICE2, etc.  I am waiting for “Be my ICE1″ to show up on a candy valentine heart.

I shared my memories of 9/11/01 in Washington.

Suze Orman reminded us that the chief financial lesson of 9/11 is that we all should remember to update our will and trust documents.

Ruly Ruth provided a great form to organize information for families, where an emergency is really any situation where parents cannot care for their children.

I showed you what it is like trying to go shopping for emergency supplies when a predictable disaster like a hurricane is just about to strike.

We also looked at two recent news stories showing how emergency drills and emergency training saves lives.

Mary commented:

“EVERYONE should become CPR and First Aid certified and recertify every couple of years. There is nothing worse than coming across someone in need and not knowing how to use those precious moments to help them. Trust me, I know from personal experience watching a young boy pass away. Because of this tragedy, I promised myself I would never be helpless to helping others again. As the old survivalists say, ‘Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.’”

We discussed the visual-spatial thinking advantage in emergency situations.

I reviewed some of the latest earthquake advice and gave some tips for organizing stuff in earthquake-prone spaces.

We also discussed the importance of planning for mental recovery after an emergency has passed.

Also, if you are new to Ruly and wondering why I didn’t discuss water and food storage, it’s because we did that last year! If you want to read last year’s emergency preparedness posts, they are below:

• Emergency Water Storage
• Emergency Water Storage – Implementation!
• 20 Emergency Preparedness Foods You Can Find at the Grocery Store
• Emergency Food Supply Planning continued. . . Male Versus Female Nutritional Needs
• Veteran’s Day Salute: The MRE
• Emergency Food Storage Update: 6 Dinner Options
• Emergency Food Storage Update: 6 Lunch Options
• Emergency Food Storage Update: 4 Breakfasts and 6 Snacks
• Sample Emergency Food Plans for Men, Women and Children

Finally, I wanted to share a few references to organizing in recent news stories this month.

First, a theory for organizing motivation in an article about eyebrow tweezing in The New York Times fashion column.

“When your hormones are out of whack, you want . . . order. You want everything to look clean. I think that’s because of the chaos that’s going on in your body.”

–Meredith Madron, makeup artist and eyebrow specialist, quoted in Kayleen Schaefer’s “For Shapely Brows, Put Down the Tweezers,” The New York Times, September 21, 2011.

Somewhat related to hormonal organizing, I shared a link on my Facebook page to Sandra Tsing Loh’s latest article in Atlantic Magazine about menopause. She had this great quote:

“And now that Aunt Carol’s hormonal cloud is finally wearing off, it’s not a tragedy, or an abnormality, or her going crazy—it just means she can rejoin the rest of the human race: she can be the same selfish, non-nurturing, non-bonding type of person everyone else is.”

–Sandra Tsing Loh, “The Bitch is Back,” Atlantic Magazine, October 2011.

Lorraine commented on Facebook:

“I can relate to this!!”

Is it possible to be too organized? Facebook users may think so. The recent uproar over changes to Facebook’s user interface that is supposed to organize your data to make it easier to use prompted this comment:

“This is another example of improving something until it is unusable.”

–David Jay Crispin commenting on Vince Horiuchi’s Salt Lake Tribune article, “Facebook fans express their disgust with changes,” September 21, 2011.

Hoping you had a wonderful September! Please check back next week for October’s organizing theme!

HACKBERRY, La. – 2nd Lt. Angela K. Fry hugs her cousin Stephanie G. East, of Hackberry, La., after East and other family members were rescued from flood waters by the Louisiana Army National Guard after Hurricane Ike. Fry knew her family was there, but lost phone contact with them before discovering the Guard had brought them ashore to safety. The Eros, La., resident is a member of the 528th Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade in Monroe, La. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Rebekah L. Malone, 225th Engineer Brigade Unit Public Affairs Representative). From the Flickr Creative Commons.

Every time you go through an emergency situation, you learn a little bit more about survival tactics, physical and mental.

After the recent back-to-back earthquake and hurricane events, I learned that after the initial danger of a disaster has passed, you need to take a moment to relax, to celebrate life, to appreciate that things could have been worse, to recognize that you are fine and to realize that people are tough and that life goes on. You can’t just go from emergency situation back to “normal” without passing through this transitional state for at least a brief moment.

After the earthquake and aftershocks, it took several days of normalcy to remember that the earth isn’t always going to shake violently at unexpected times and that this only happens once in a while (hopefully!). Some things that helped me cope after the earthquake:

1) Check-ins from family and friends. About an hour after the earthquake, I received a nice phone call from a neighbor who just wanted to check that we were OK. Later, phone calls poured in from family members as well. It’s a simple but meaningful gesture that helps you realize that you are safe and that there are many people out there who care. The act of repeating your situation over and over again sometimes can desensitize you to the situation and help you start to view it more objectively as well.

2) Stress Management. While it is true that the east coast earthquake was relatively insignificant in terms of physical damage, it definitely caused a lot of stress. Sometimes you need to take a moment to acknowledge that you are stressed out, afraid or overwhelmed and process what happened rather than pretend that it all was no big deal.

3) Humor. Humor is a complex coping tool. At the right moment, it is incredibly helpful but at the wrong moment, it trivializes the situation and can be offensive. Once you have calmed down, the use of humor is very healing. It was so helpful to read hilarious Facebook messages from friends who had been in the earthquake and who can forget the famous lawn chair photo.

Many of the same coping mechanisms applied to our hurricane recovery. However, the biggest help was that after the hurricane, we had a sunny, beautiful day. It was such a relief to see good weather and sunshine to signal that the danger had passed.

The human mind is tough but it works overtime in disaster situations. Taking a moment for rest and relaxation is important. It is also important to recognize that others you work with or depend upon may need this stress relief time for themselves. If you are an employer, for example, give your employees some time off to go home, hug their loved ones and recover before asking them to get back to work.

How do you destress after a traumatic event like an emergency situation? Please share in the comments.

"Office after the Tokyo earthquake, March 11, 2011." Photo by hawken king. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

When the recent Virginia earthquake occurred, we were caught unprepared.  As I mentioned earlier, from my vantage point inside the house in a room with the curtains drawn, I did not actually identify it as an earthquake at the time, thought it was a freak tornado or hurricane and headed to the basement!

After this experience, I wanted to review my earthquake preparedness knowledge.  I grew up in the earthquake-prone state of Utah and the knowledge I remembered was to get in a doorway or under a desk or other sturdy object.  It turns out this is sort-of correct.  Based on current information from ready.gov, here are a few pointers we should remember about earthquakes.

#1: Running Outside May Not Be the Best Strategy

Our greatest risk of death during an earthquake is generally not from structures collapsing but from falling debris.  However, perhaps with images from Haiti fresh in mind, many people in the east coast quake felt that the best thing to do was to run outside!  My visual-spatial husband explained to me that in Haiti most buildings collapsed because of the way they are inexpensively constructed with cinderblocks and heavy, concrete roofs.  When a roof is heavier than the walls of a structure, it will tend to collapse.  For modern U.S. construction, this rarely happens.  We can note that in Japan’s 9.0 earthquake, there were very few reports of building collapses and in the east coast earthquake, even the historic homes from the 1800’s survived the quake with minimal damage.

“The greatest danger exists directly outside buildings, at exits and alongside exterior walls.   Many of the 120 fatalities from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred when people ran outside of buildings only to be killed by falling debris from collapsing walls.”

–Ready.gov: Earthquakes

#2: Watch Out for Brick and Stone

Most people know to avoid glass and windows during an earthquake but the same applies to brick and stone.  Brick and stone don’t seem to handle earthquakes quite as well as wood.  In the Fredericksburg area, during the recent quake, most damage was to brick structures like chimneys.  Washington National Cathedral in DC saw several of the decorative stone carvings on one of its towers fall.  In my neighborhood, for example, we definitely felt our wood-framed house shake like it was in a washing machine during the earthquake but we saw pretty much zero damage (so far).  We don’t recall anything falling over or falling off of shelves.  A neighbor one block away in a brick house saw her dining room chairs fall over and some pictures fall off the wall.

During an earthquake you need to be alert for any overhead stone or brick structures and avoid them.  Stay away from the fireplace, or, if outside, the chimney.  After an earthquake, inspect your chimney for damage to the bricks and mortar, preferably hiring a professional to do this.  This was a helpful flier from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management on chimney inspection.

Here is the post-earthquake inspection process for the Washington Monument.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

#3: Stay Away from Tall, Heavy or Hazardous Stuff That Falls

Inside a building, probably our greatest risk during an earthquake is that we will be crushed by our stuff.  A heavy bookcase, curio cabinet or entertainment center could fall over and crush us.  Heavy mirrors, light fixtures or framed objects could fall off the wall and crush or injure us.  If you live in an earthquake prone region you should probably avoid putting heavy or hazardous objects overhead.  If you use tall shelves for storage, make sure you bolt them to the wall.    If you can, use ground-level storage solutions instead.

Earthquake Storage Tip: If you have tall bookcases like this one, make sure they are bolted to the wall and consider moving heavy objects to the bottom shelves.

Earthquake Storage Tip: If you have the space, consider floor cabinets, storage benches and other close-to-the-ground storage. Put small, lightweight objects on the walls.

#4: The new mantra is “Drop to the Ground, Take Cover and Hold On”

I have to say this mantra doesn’t entirely make sense to me.  If you happen to be standing or sitting right near a heavy, sturdy object that you can get under when the earthquake hits, you are lucky.  Most of us could be next to a window or a heavy bookcase.  In that case, the mantra might be “Take a quick look around (and up!), avoid the biggest dangers, run/crawl to the safest nearby spot, then drop to the ground, take cover and hold on.”  Also, the “Hold On” portion is confusing.  Sometimes there is nothing to hold on to!  But I suppose you could reinterpret this to be a mental “Hold on! It will be over soon!”

There are many other tips at ready.gov for earthquake preparedness that I encourage you to read.  From an organizing perspective, the biggest lesson is to be thoughtful about our stuff and where we put it.  Take a moment in the spaces you most frequently inhabit and:

Look up.  What is overhead that could fall?

Look around.  Is there anything heavy like a bookcase that could tip over?  Could you reorganize these spaces so they are more sturdy with the heavier objects on the bottom shelves?

Look for glass, brick or stone.  Where could you go to avoid these areas?

What sturdy furniture could you duck under?  Is there a load-bearing doorframe could you stand under?

As you are organizing your spaces, keep these ideas in mind so that hopefully you have at least one minimally safe zone in each room.

What do you think of the new earthquake guidance?  Does it answer or raise more questions for you?  Please share in the comments.

During the recent earthquake and hurricane, I got a lesson in thinking styles comparing my response to these disasters to that of my husband, a classic visual-spatial thinker.  It just goes to show that even after 14 years of marriage, you can still learn something new about your spouse!

I have come to the realization that in an emergency, I am generally a panicker and am not capable of doing much thinking.  My best bet for survival is to default to a memorized, practiced instruction or follow instruction from a knowledgeable source.  Most people are probably similar.

My husband, in contrast, falls in the category of people Amanda Ripley described in her book The Unthinkable, (that I reviewed in March) that “see very little risk in most threats” and are well-suited to survival situations.  Two examples show this ability.

When the recent earthquake struck my husband’s office building, he paused for a moment to survey what was happening, made a conscious analysis that this was an earthquake and made a quick calculation of its severity based on the impact it was having on objects around him.  He determined that the earthquake was not going to cause major damage, sheltered in an appropriate spot in the building and soon after the earthquake was over was back to work!

When we were preparing our home for Hurricane Irene, I nervously insisted my husband pull in all furniture and loose objects off the patio, (having recently read an article that if the windows in your home get broken in high winds, it can destabilize the walls of your house and cause it to fall down).  My husband explained that he had left a few items out when he was putting things away because they did not have enough surface area to be picked up by the 30 mph winds expected.  We then had an interesting discussion about how we see objects generally.  While I see them in a sort of one dimensional way, as just stuff that can be moved about in various ways, he sees them in a very three dimensional way, as objects that interact with their environment according to inherent properties of motion and utility.

This intense rationality under stress is unusual and valuable.  If you have this ability, consider volunteering to be trained for emergency response initiatives, or at least shout some directions to the rest of us when we are panicked and incapacitated!   While we recently discussed how visual-spatial thinking can pose challenges in certain situations, like the school environment, emergency preparedness is one situation where it is a definite advantage.

Are you a visual-spatial thinker?  Please share in the comments.