Haiti: Lessons for Survival

shecky said:
Don't know about Costa Rica, but if Haiti even has things like building codes, it's unlikely they're enforced. Probably low likelihood that they could afford such a luxury in such an impoverished economy. Unreinforced concrete is the most economical building material, rebar being an imported luxury, lumber scarce and an expensive import in a largely deforested island, and amateur makeshift architecture for common buildings.

Unreinforced masonry is one reason a New Madrid earthquake would be so devastating. Commonly found architecture in that region is unheard of in places like California. Partly because modern building codes make it costly. Mostly because buildings originally constructed in those styles simply never survived. The ones that remain are likely only facade shells hiding modern construction underneath. It's really hard to prepare for being buried under tons of bricks
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All good points, however, a disaster like this can only be mitigated, it cannot be avoided. A bigger issue is what I have also seen in the photos - a population that seems to be standing by in a near catatonic state waiting for some external force to rescue them. Where is the initiative, where is the action; why are these people standing there when there is so much to do? Why aren't they trying to rescue those trapped under rubble; the window of opportunity is only a few hours long. Why aren't they making a maximum effort to clear those streets and roads? They should already be working on salvaging whatever shelters can be salvage; propping up those damaged buildings until there is an opportunity to repair them. Yes there is a stark shortage of heavy equipment and materials; but, much can be done by hand, if no better alternative presents itself, and I just don't see it happening - and, the aftermath with starvation, thirsts, and desease are going to be much worse then what we have seen up to now.

n2s
 
Earthquake preparedness (they can happen anywhere);
Cash is king
BOB in the vehicle with a minimum of 1/2 tank of fuel (park it where the building won't fall on it.
Do the standard household preps.
Don't live in a third world toilet, or a multi story building.
Don't count on help, Grit your teeth and do whats necessary yourself. (After the last Mexican earthquake I saw lots of folks trying to dig survivors out by hand, on the news; in Haiti I saw people walking around with one or 2 trying to dig mostly they seem to be waiting for someone else to do it for them (might be a wrong impression but its what I saw on the news).
Acquire the necessary skills and basic tools to rebuild your structures. Good basic tools will likely survive a building falling on them, see to your family friends and neighbors then dig the tools out and start work.
Learn how to construct a simple, effective, sanitary, privy and where you can get potable water locally (a good filter would be an excellent idea) boiling works and would likely prevent the diseases that they talked about on the news. (People in Haiti apparently don't know enough to boil water...)

Enjoy!
 
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One of the best survival tools a Haitian could have is a fishing pole. They're surrounded by food for cryin' out loud.
 
Remember that the video coming to the states is going to be selected for the western audience. I'm sure that there are a lot of local people doing quite a lot, it remains to be seen who many leave the urban areas and head back to the village.
Imagine a post earthquake american city, all the gangers are homeless, and not very many of them will have any concept of construction, so they will suddenly be all out in the open, standing around. All of the older people who have skills, even if its lawyers that spent two summers on jobsites in high school, will be working to improve things. My point is that some people will not know that they can improve themselves. I suspect that most of the young men in haiti have little to no real skills. including bush skills, compared to a generation ago.

I hear there is a motion in congress to forgive the loans that they live under, which will go a long way to helping long term.
I know some medics working in the north part of the country, and they are having trouble getting everything, including diabetic testing strips, and "simple" things like that.

there is more to the situation than meets the eye.
 
Learn a lesson from the tragedy in Haiti.

People here should look into the stuff in their BOB/Survival bags and carefully think through the value of each item in it.

Dump the repetitive gear and get more practical survival items like food, water purification & shelter into your bags.

Nobody needs 4 kinds of firestarters or 4 knives in lieu of food & water.
 
Lesson - MOVE away from earthquake zones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone
The New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1811–12 New Madrid Earthquakes and may have the potential to produce large earthquakes in the future. Since 1812 frequent smaller earthquakes were recorded for the area.[1]

Earthquakes that occur there potentially threaten parts of seven U.S. states: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi
 
Lesson - MOVE away from earthquake zones
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Both coastlines, central and south USA could have an earthquake at any time.

You suggestion to "move away" is as useful as telling someone to "move away" from crime.
 
dextersp1 said:
Not really.
You can educate yourself about earthquakes here.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1128/
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Since Haiti hadn't had any major earthquakes for 200 years, how would most people even be aware of earthquake potential to move-away from? You really think most people are aware of the 1812 New Madrid quake which made the Mississippi flow backwards for days?

I have lived in CA for most of my life and have been through 2 of the last 3 major earthquakes since 1982, I do know what earthquakes are like. I also know that modern, seismically-fit structures can survive a 7.0 earthquake - I think the standard is 8.3 for CA. Personally, my house sits on bedrock that is immune to liquefaction.

Rather than offering ridiculous advice like "move away", the correct manner to handle potential disaster is to prepare for them.
 
Water and water purification devices (tablets, filters, etc.). I imagine a bunch of a town's water pipes and water system in general would be pretty messed up by a quake. That wouldn't get fixed very quickly.
 
CWL said:
Since Haiti hadn't had any major earthquakes for 200 years, how would most people even be aware of earthquake potential to move-away from?
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I was wrong - I thought we were talking about what people in the USA could learn.

CWL said:
You really think most people are aware of the 1812 New Madrid quake which made the Mississippi flow backwards for days?
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This would be a good time to learn about it.
 
sodak said:
There's really not much you can do except have the normal supplies on hand that you would for any emergency. But they still could get buried.

The main thing would be to get out in the open if possible. I was in an 8.0 in 1968 in Okinawa, and will never forget it.
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Damn ! 8.0 !
Please elaborate.
For those that don't know, I believe an 8 is ten times stronger than a seven :eek:
 
As people have said you can't carry all your gear with you all the time.

I worked in Japan and in my teaching room I kept a rucksack with a flashlight, dust mask, a few litres of sports drinks, packets of walnuts and dried fruit, a plastic survival bag, small FAK with lots of eye wash (to remove dust), spare walking socks and 5000 yen in coins. In the rainy season I kept a waterproof jacket and at winter I added a fleece.

When not teaching and going outside I would change into my trekking shoes. I always kept a SAK and a mini maglite in my suit pocket, along with a large handkerchief, cell phone and my wallet with my Gaijin I.D. card.

Amongst the usual stuff to keep at home, I bought a fairly substantial crow bar. At the least I thought I'd be able to break open one of the many drinks machines that were on every street corner. Some may call that theft, I would call it emergency need.

When I asked the Japanese about their home preps they kept at least 3 days worth of water, hard hats in case of falling masonry plus other things.

Anyway, not much to add to peoples comments but I thought I'd share.
 
A lot to add!
Eye wash - never though of it!
Gatorade-ish drinks also good idea, some sugar included
Hard Hat - as an engineer I appreciate what one of those can protect you from

May I add that if you are using sunglasses make them safety glasses, even the cheap ones can protect you from UV to shrapnel to broken glass to lots of other things.
 
Aside from the usual advice on BOBs, supplies, from the news coverage, I was struck by the lack of shelter, so maybe a tube tent/tarp/tent is a good idea.

Our office has an emergency shelter in the parking lot (it looks like a metal shipping container) with emergency communications, supplies and lumber to build temporary shelter or command posts. Each office worker is asked to have a desk survival box beneath their desks.
One good idea is to have an alternate telephone number at an alternate remote location that family and loved ones can call to check in with each other. Our alternate number is another regional office at the other end of the state. So having an arrangement with a friend at a remote location in such instances is a good idea.
 
The 5.2 quake in the midwest last year was close enough to my house that it woke me up and gave me a scare. I had no idea what was happening for about 10 seconds and even when I did realize what was happening it seemed to take forever for it to stop. I couldn't imagine a 7.0. My house shook in the 5.2, 7.0 it would be on the ground no doubt.

And I do agree that it seems like there are a lot of people standing around looking for someone to help them instead of helping themselves. The people in Haiti remind me of the images from some African countries; In times of crisis they unfortunately have a much higher propensity for violence and greed then we do in the U.S.
 
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remmmm said:
The people in Haiti remind me of the images from some African countries in times of crisis, they unfortunately have a much high propensity for violence and greed in a situation like this then we do in the US.
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Port Au Prince was a festering disaster area long before the quake hit- mudlslides, open running sewage, corruption and rampant violent crime. For those who were fortunate to survive there will be a windfall of international aid then it will go right back as it was. I wouldn't be surprised if the U.N. doesn't send in military police to help maintain order in the meantime.
 
Keeping a small pack with essentials is the most you can hope for.They really could save your life, but in an earthquake, you need a good slice of luck too.

An earthquake of this magnitude in a populous area is something akin to a nuclear attack, everything is destroyed: roads, buildings,water supplies,gas,fuel,water etc.No shelter is left and there may be thousands of rotting corpses. No WONDER people are traumatised, where can they go? What do they see? Then there's after shocks terrorising people.

Western news media that sanctimoniously go on about people descending into 'looting' enfuriate me! Who wouldn't go and take food or basic supplies from the rubble in order to survive?? If your home had been flattened,many of your family buried or dead, wouldn't YOU help yourself to the contents of a wrecked supermarket? That's called foraging and staying alive in my book in such a situation. SURVIVAL skills no less.
 
Same things happened with Katrina. Our country is the richest country in the world by a lot, and in less than 3 days New Orleans descended into total anarchy. And just like Haiti, help did not arrive in the most expedient fashion. At least the people in New Orleans had a normal life before and basic education. This people live in total misery but even worse the dictatorial governments had made sure that they remain completely ignorant, isolated and without hope for progress. Most of the faces that you see in the news are from "broken" people, emotionally and spiritually.
 
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