tornado – 1800PrepareBlog

Let’s say your area just got hit with a sizable disaster, maybe a tornado, earthquake, or something of that magnitude.

Let’s also assume you had followed all the advice found in “Disaster Prep 101” and you’re safe and sound.

The first thing you’d be doing is checking on neighbors and loved ones in your area to make sure they were safe.

Simultaneously though, your friends and loved ones in other areas are wondering how you are and may start calling to check. If they call, they’ll start to tie up phone lines in your area (if your phone system is up) that local emergency services will need, and if they get through, they’ll tie up your time which is one of your more critical assets in any emergency situation.

The thing you want to do is set up some sort of automatic notification so your family knows you’re safe and so that you won’t be bogged down fielding calls. Try these steps:

1. If you have internet service, post a message to all your social media accounts stating that you’re safe and well. Facebook and Twitter are the most popular, but don’t forget others such as MySpace, and also post a quick note to any forums or professional online groups you’re a part of. Hint: Write only one message and copy and paste it into these different sites.

2. Facebook is working on a new feature that will let you “Mark Yourself as Safe After a Disaster.” More on that is at http://techland.time.com/2012/02/29/new-facebook-feature-lets-you-mark-yourself-as-safe-after-major-disaster/

3. The Red Cross has a page where you can post this info as well. It’s part of their “Safe and Well” program at https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php

4. Update your voice mail greeting on any phone(s) you have to let callers know the date and that you’re fine.

5. Or, contact your “Notify In Case of Emergency” contact and let them know that you may be forwarding calls to them so that they can field the inquiries, or (if you set up your contact person right to start with) tell them to start calling your list of family members you provided them to let everyone know you’re okay.

6. Local emergency management may set up a notification website of their own. Do a quick search, and post your safe-and-sound message their too.

Did you know that your electric dryer could help in a tornado?

If your safe room also happens to be your laundry room, your dryer may offer additional protection to small children or pets. Being a double-walled metal appliance your dryer gives an additional layer of projectile protection and crush resistance.

But, as with most preparedness options, we need to cover a few details:

1. As with all preparedness measures, we must first take a clue from the Hippocratic Oath; “First, do no harm.” So, when choosing an area to be your “safe area” during a tornado, make sure it’s either free from items that could become secondary hazards, or that those potential hazards are secure. Our list here would include:

Water heaters. Try not to be in the same room with it during a destructive event. It could topple and spill gallons of potentially scalding water. Whether it’s in your safe area or not though, it’s best to secure your water heater with anchor strapping.
Gas lines. All gas lines running to appliances should be flex lines. However, somewhere along the way the line will be pipe and is subject to breakage during structure-damaging disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes. Best to stay away from gas lines when planning your safe area.
Breakables and droppables. Anything in your prospective safe room should be secured as much as possible. This includes seemingly minor things like irons, ironing boards (since we’re still going with the laundry room theme here), wall hangings, etc. Make sure everything has a bracket or is in a cabinet with closing doors and those doors have latches on them.

2. All your heavy appliances, such as your stove, oven, fridge, freezer, washer, and dryer, should be anchored to the wall as well as possible. Most appliances come with kits, and your local hardware / home / appliance store can give you some guidance on better anchors. Anchoring helps in a number of ways. First, if you have small children who like to climb, anchoring keeps appliances from tipping over on them. Second, no place on earth is completely immune from earthquakes and anchoring keeps your heavy machinery in place. Third, any time you bolt something large and sturdy to a wall, you actually strengthen that wall a little, which is a good thing in any potentially destructive event.

3. Speaking of destructive events, if severe weather is heading your way (don’t wait for the actual warning that a tornado has touched down) prep your safe room accordingly and put your small pets in their individual carriers and put a few towels or a blanket in the drum of the dryer for a little padding if it’s your child that’s going in. (And, still have them wear a bike or skateboard helmet if they have one.)

4. If you choose this option and put a child in the dryer for safety, don’t close the dryer door. Prop something in the opening so that the dryer door can’t be closed accidentally.

5. This option is really good if all you have for a “safe room” is an interior hallway where your “laundry room” is a closet that opens to the hall.

6. Again, if the water heater is in your laundry room, or you have a gas dryer, rethink using the laundry room as your safe area. A broken or toppled water heater will spill gallons of potentially scalding-hot water, and a broken gas line could be a deadly fire hazard or a suffocation threat.

Watch for future installments where we pull even more bits and pieces from “Disaster Prep 101” and describe additional attributes of a good safe room and some of the safety equipment that should be stored in one.