National Preparedness Month is held each September to increase public awareness about emergency preparedness. During the month, Americans are encouraged to participate by hosting activities and initiatives. For more information about NPM, visit the
Ready Web site: http://www.ready.gov/
Since I am new to the Western area and new to the calling of Relief Society Emergency Preparedness Leader, I am going to stop the course I was taking and do this blog with some Question (and their answers) that I have heard or been asked since I started here. I would also appreciate if each one that reads this blog would comment on their preparedness or ask any of the many questions you may have about Preparedness. Or perhaps tell us what keeps you from going in this direction of preparing. All questions will be with no name along with all comments unless you desire or don't care. Send these to my email address.
What is emergency preparedness?
Emergency preparedness means taking action to be ready for emergencies before they happen. The objective of emergency preparedness is to simplify decision making during emergencies. The emergency preparedness process incorporates the means to rapidly identify, evaluate and react to a wide spectrum of emergency conditions. Emergency plans are dynamic and are routinely reviewed and updated to reflect an ever changing environment.
What should you do if your wheat is infested with insects? How do you guard against insect infestation?
Several options may be considered. The degree of infestation may determine which you choose. Highly infested wheat, which appears to be covered with insect shells, contaminated with fine debris (excreta), and slowly crawling with insects, should be discarded if replacement is available. Such wheat may safely be used for animal or fowl feed.
In times of emergency or with lower infestation levels, the wheat may be treated in a number of ways:
1. It may be placed in a roasting pan or on a deep cookie sheet at a wheat depth of not more than two inches and placed in the oven at 200° F. for one hour. Killed insects will dry out if left open to the air in a dry climate and may be removed by dropping the wheat in front of a fan or a moderate wind to blow away the debris while catching the grain in a large container. This should be done prior to subsequent storage.
2. If the wheat is stored in an airtight container it may be treated with dry ice. Remove all the wheat, except for one to two inches, from the container. Drop a piece (not pulverized) of dry ice (one-fourth pound per five-gallon container) in the container and pour the wheat on top of it. Place the lid on, but not tightly, for five to six hours; then tighten the lid to be airtight. Leave the wheat for at least one week; then use fan or wind to clean as suggested above.
3. Place the entire container of wheat in a freezer at 0° F. and leave it there for five to six days. Then remove it, allow it to dry, and clean as above.
How much would the Church be able to help its members in case of widespread disaster or economic collapse? Would the bishops storehouses be able to take care of everybody?
The bishops storehouses have always been geared to care only for the “poor and needy and distressed” among us at normal, everyday levels of need. Therefore, the storehouse system carries only a year’s supply of commodities to meet the present level of member needs. It is not possible to maintain a backup supply to cover the needs of all the families of the Church.
In cases of localized emergency—Idaho’s Teton Dam disaster, for example—the Church Production-Distribution Division is able to call upon Church resources, including the bishops storehouses, to send aid to those in need. But if a major, widespread disaster were to occur, the storehouse supplies would be depleted very quickly.
This is one of the reasons why the family’s year’s supply is so important. During good times our welfare projects can meet ordinary commodity needs and pay their own operating costs. But if times were to become more demanding, the members of the Church would be obliged to live from their food supplies while they and Church leaders worked to produce adequate crops and other supplies.
Why is there so much emphasis on home gardening and production? These things are so time-consuming and troublesome. Hasn’t mass production proved to be cheaper and much more efficient?
There are several reasons. First, from the time that the early Saints moved West right down to the present, home production has been encouraged in the spirit of our knowing how to be self-reliant. The issue is not purely economics or preparation for emergencies, either; it reaches deeper into life than that. There are a great many satisfactions in self-reliance and provident living.
Second, although it may cost more in terms of time, effort, and sometimes even money to produce certain necessities, it is cheaper in the long run because it is the beginning of self-reliance and independence. It will enable us to help ourselves and our neighbors during times of trouble.
Third, these activities keep alive the skills necessary for our survival in times of emergency. By and large we are no longer an agrarian society that could turn back to the soil and begin right away to make a living for ourselves. Many, many beginners in home gardening, for example, can testify to that! Learning these skills once again is very reassuring, as well as satisfying.
Finally, President Kimball said, “I remember when the sisters used to say, ‘Well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we can put it up.’ But that isn’t quite the answer, is it? … Because there will come a time when there isn’t any store.” (April 1974 Welfare Session.)
What is the difference between Self Reliance and
Preparedness?After learning a skill, a process, a task or anything else for that matter it’s a good idea to occasionally have a refresher course on the basics, and emergency preparedness planning is no different.
Because emergencies and disasters can happen any place and any time it’s important to be ready in a moments notice. As someone who thinks about emergency preparedness a lot I feel pretty confident suggesting that the last thing we want to happen when a difficult situation presents itself is to be standing there unprepared and not knowing what to do. With that said, here’s a quick breakdown of the fundamentals.
Self-reliance is a simple concept that encourages each of us to take responsibility for our own needs—physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and economic.
"We become self-reliant," explains Julie Beck, president of the Church's Relief Society, "through obtaining sufficient knowledge, education, and literacy; by managing money and resources wisely, being spiritually strong, preparing for emergencies and eventualities; and by having physical health and social and emotional well-being."
- Be ready for rainy-day emergencies
- Avoid excessive debt; be content with what we have
- Use the resources of the earth wisely; don´t be wasteful
- Prepare for the future by making spending and savings plans
- Keep a family or personal budget
- Teach children wise spending habits and help them save for the future
- Obtain an education or vocational training
- Find gainful employment
A year’s supply costs a lot of money—money I don’t have right now. Since it is important that my family does have a year’s supply, should I borrow enough money to
get it right now?
get it right now?
No. The teaching of the Church is that we don’t go into debt for anything of this nature.
When the Welfare Services program of the Church was first being established, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., advised, “Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow. Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.” (Conference Reports, April 1937, p. 26.)
We still adhere to that counsel; and although storage is extremely important, it would not do to violate one principle in order to live another.
Families can live both principles by planning to gather their basic supplies in an orderly and systematic way as means permit. There are many ways besides borrowing to get started on food storage.
As President Kimball has said, “Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program.” (October 1976 Regional Representatives Seminar address.)
I don't have any place to store food or emergency items what do I do?
Be creative, as this sister suggests:
Food Storage Idea: Use the space behind books on bookshelves
By Brigitte
For those who struggle with space to store food supplies, creativity is a must. Here is one idea to store non-perishable food items. Think of the space available behind the books on shelves.
Why do I need to store water, there is an abundance of water around us here?
Your outside of the home water (or snow) can be damaged or otherwise contaminated during an earthquake or other emergency. What if it becomes extremely cold and frozen, how would you reach the water up in the mountain areas. What if the father of the house was not available at the home and the mother became ill, how would the children collect good water? Better to have some already available in the home. (perhaps stored behind the books on the bookshelf) .
