Just as in all preparedness plans, it is important to make your preparations before the emergency happens.  Make your home ready for cold weather emergencies by applying the concepts spoken of in previous posts about Emergency Sheltering.

Look for & create a warm room.  Choose one room of the house as the designated warm room where everyone will spend most of their time.  This saves on any limited heating resources you may have during the emergency situation.

• Select a room on the highest level of the house with a low ceiling.  Since heat rises, these will be the warmest rooms.  The low ceiling will hold the heat closer to where you need it to stay warm.
• Select a room with south-facing windows.  This will allow the direct sunlight to help provide heat during the day to your room.  Keep all house windows clear & clean during the day to allow as much solar radiation in as possible.  Think about turning your home into a make-shift solar oven.
• Insulate your windows with clear plastic sheeting.  This allows sunlight in during the day, but creates an insulative layer of trapped air to hold in heat.  The distance between the plastic sheeting and the window should be about one inch.  Be sure no air can escape from between the plastic and the window.  Use duct tape the seal off any drafts.  At night use curtains, blankets or other insulative materials draped over windows to help hold in the heat.
•  Isolate and insulate your warm room from the rest of the house.  Again you only want to warm as few areas as possible to conserve your heating supplies.  Cover doors, under doors and other openings with blankets or towels.  Don’t forget to leave some ventilation to allow oxygen into the room for breathing, especially if using heaters, candles, or other indoor safe supplies that consume oxygen.
• Make a “nest” or a room within your warm room.  Use small tents, blankets, couch cushions, etc. to isolate and insulate your nest and make it even warmer than the larger warm room.  Couch cushions just like the fort you made as a kid are excellent for insulation.
• Get cozy with the family.  Radiation from body heat can be used to keep each other warm and warm the inside of the nest.  Get Mom, Dad, the kids, Grandma, and Grandpa all together in the same nest.  Sleep together inside the same tent, even in the same bed or sleeping bag if possible.
• Eat high calorie foods and stay hydrated to generate heat from your metabolism, the process of breaking down food into energy.  When possible, eat hot, simple to prepare meals to help in maintaining your body temperature.
• Use indoor safe heaters, fireplaces, or wood stoves.  There are many commercially available alternative fuel heaters that are safe to use indoors.  Be sure to allow a sufficient supply of oxygen to enter into your room and check the manufacture’s guidelines to know how to safely use your device.  Keep a ready supply of fuel for your heater or fireplace.

Don’t forget the dangers of Carbon Monoxide (CO).  Don’t use fuel burning camp equipment indoors.  Don’t use gas appliances like the oven, stove or dryer to heat your home.  Don’t use gas-powered tools indoors (generators, etc).  Large propane bottles are never to be indoors so have a long enough hose to allow the bottle to stay outside while the indoor safe heater is inside.  Check the manufactures directions for safe operation.

3 Cold Weather Layers

Use a 3 layer clothing system to maintain a normal body temperature in cold weather conditions.  The main goals are to retain heat and stay dry by dispensing and repelling moisture.

BASE LAYER:

The Base Layer of clothing is right next to your skin and is made from artificial fibers like polyester or nylon.  Artificial fiber clothing wicks moisture away from your body, which can otherwise freeze or evaporate, both which make you colder.

Cotton underwear and even cotton thermal underwear should not be used because cotton holds moisture next to your body which promotes heat loss through evaporation and conduction.

INSULATION LAYER:

The Insulation Layer of clothing needs to be breathable, like wool or fleece, allowing moisture to vent.  Multiple small layers insulate by trapping non-heat conducting air between them.  They also have the added benefit of being able to easily self-regulate to a comfortable temperature by adding or removing layers as necessary, rather than one bulky layer.

For shelters, wool or fleece blankets work wonderfully.  In a pinch, you can use dry leaves, crumpled paper, or anything else that will trap air layers all around you.

OUTSIDE PROTECTIVE LAYER:

The Outside Protective Layer of clothing protects against the elements such as wind, rain, snow & sun. Unless you are in an extremely wet environment, water resistant is usually better than water proof because it “breathes” better, letting moisture out.

A protective layer for your shelter, like a tarp, protects you from the ground.  A tent also will protect you from other elemental hazards in the surrounding environment.  A Mylar tent can reflect your body heat back to you in cold weather and reflect sun and heat away in hot.  Any safe structures that block wind, rain or sun can save your life.

An understanding of Cold Weather Clothing Layers and the Science of Effective Emergency Sheltering will help you to use your available resources to maintain body temperature and make effective, life saving shelters in an emergency.

Gaining & Losing Heat

In cold temperature situations, you usually want to retain and gain heat; whereas in warm temperatures, you want to promote heat loss or at least not increase your temperature.  Remember that heat
always travels from warmer areas to colder areas.

Conduction:  Heat transfer through direct contact, such as bare feet on a cold floor.  Ice packs use conduction to pull heat away from burns or sore muscles.  Prevent conduction from your body in cold temperatures by wearing socks or when camping by making an insulation barrier between your sleeping area and the ground.

Convection:  Heat transfer through air and liquid currents.  Wind chill is a good example of convection.  When the wind blows, it feels colder than the ambient temperature because the moving air is pulling heat away from your body.  You use convection in warmer temperatures to cool down when you use a fan.  Prevent convection in colder temperatures by wearing clothing or using shelters that block wind.

Radiation:  Heat transfer through emission.  A car’s radiator radiates heat to keep the engine from overheating.  You experience radiation from the sun every day.  In the same way you feel warmth from a campfire without having to touch the flame.  You can even feel your own body radiating heat if you put your hand just above an area of skin.  Prevent radiation heat loss in cold temperatures by using insulated clothing and shelters, and by using shelters that reflect your heat back to you.

Metabolism:  Converting food into energy and heat.  Food is your body’s source of fuel.  Help your body regulate your temperature in cold weather by eating high calorie foods like energy bars, trail mix & fruit snacks.  Water is an important part in the metabolism process, be sure to stay properly hydrated in warm and cold situations.

Evaporation:  Heat transfer through converting liquid to gas.  When your body sweats, the sweat evaporates, or changes from a liquid into a gas, which requires heat energy.  This helps keep you cool.  When you get out of a pool, even on a hot day, you feel cold until you dry off because of evaporation.  Promote evaporation in hot temperatures by staying hydrated.  In extreme situations you can even wear wet clothing.  Prevent heat loss in the cold by staying dry, minimizing sweating, and by wearing artificial fiber clothing, which wicks moisture away next to your skin.  In humid climates, regulating temperature through evaporation is not effective.

Respiration:  Heat loss through breathing.  You breathe out warm, moist air.  You can’t stop breathing, so in cold temperature situations, wear a mask or scarf that covers your mouth & nose.  Breathe through your nose to warm & moisten the air before it gets to your lungs, and to retain as much heat and moisture when you breathe out.

You could also say friction generates heat, like when you rub your hands together, but heat generation is very small and can be damaging to skin tissues in extreme situations like frost bite.

Preventing or Promoting Heat Transfer

After learning how your body gains or losses heat, it is important to learn how to prevent or promote those heat losses and gains.

Insulation:  Trapping air to stop or slow the transfer of heat.  Air is not a good heat conductor, so it works well as a barrier.  Multiple small layers of clothing trap air for insulation and allow you to regulate to a comfortable temperature by adding or removing layers as needed.  Insulation prevents conduction and radiation.

Reflection:  Bouncing heat back to or away from.  Heat, also known as infrared light, can be deflected and directed just like a flashlight beam and a mirror.  Reflect your radiated body heat back to you in
cold or reflect solar heat away from you in hot weather by using Mylar blankets, sleeping bags, or tents.  Be sure to have an insulating layer of clothing or cloth between your skin & the Mylar, otherwise it turns from reflecting your heat back, to conducting your heat away.

Protection:  Keeping out the heat transferring elements like sun, water, wind, and physical dangers.  Maintain your body temperature by protecting yourself from the elements. Stay dry and warm by wearing an outer layer that sheds water.  Shelters that block wind and/or provide shade from the hot sun are also vital to survival in extreme temperatures.

Moisture Wicking:  Pulling water away from the body.  Artificial fiber clothing or shelters like polyester, fleece, and nylon or a non-plant fiber like wool can actually wick, or pull moisture, away from your skin.  This is essential in cold weather.  You do not want evaporation happening or ice forming next to your skin when you are cold.  DO NOT wear cotton in cold weather situations since cotton holds moisture and causes evaporation next to your skin.

This list is the basic food requirements for an average adult for one year.  Bold items are the total for the whole category, non-bold are possible suggestions.  Tailor your list based on these recommendations.  Consider your needs, wants, abilities, resources and budget.

“Eat what you store, and store what you eat.”

Include dried or canned fruits and vegetables to add vitamins and nutrients.

Sources:

Preparedness Principles, Barbara Salsbury, pg.86

www.providentliving.org  “New Findings for Longer-Term Food Storage”

• Before

1. Learn & Plan
2. Prepare
3. Practice

• During

1. Remain Calm
2. Gather Information
3. Think
4. Act
5. Help

• After

1. Help
2. Talk About It
3. Resume Normal Life

When making preparations for an emergency, we usually just think about surviving the ordeal, not recovering from the incident.  After large-scale disasters like September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina, we have seen communities and the entire nation come together and help those in need.  Emergency responders and other volunteers leave family and home to travel to the other side of the country to render assistance.  Neighborhoods, churches, and business donate time and money to put together disaster, food, and sanitation kits.  Blood donors flock to literally give the gift of life.

When thinking about post-disaster recovery, we often think about search and rescue, removing debris and cleaning, or reconstructing homes and other structures.  Many people don’t have the skills or ability to help in these actions.  So what can these other individuals do?

After an emergency on your area, after you have taken care of the needs of your family and neighbors, it is a good idea to report to CERT, Red Cross or other community action groups.  They are trained in how to organize volunteers to help. 

There are many things that can be done besides heavy lifting, cleaning and building. 

• Volunteers can help prepare and distribute food, clothing, sanitation, and shelter supplies. 
• Just as in any organization, there is a lot of paperwork and documentation that needs to be done.  Volunteers can help collect, organize and distribute information. 
• If traditional communication lines are down, volunteers can act as information runners in cars, on bikes, horses, ATVs, or on foot.
• In emergencies, children can get separated from parents.  A volunteer experienced in child care can care for these children or for the children of parents who are volunteering in other areas.
• Sometimes one of the most important jobs a volunteer can do is to hold a hand, listen, and provide a shoulder to cry on.

If a person is willing and able to help, there is always something that he or she can do.  Be proactive and think about what you and your family can do to help others after a disaster.  Remember that when we are helping others, we forget about our own sorrows and can find comfort in serving others.

Mobile Sanitation Kit

• 5 Gallon Plastic Bucket
• “Potty Seat” Lid
• At least 6 Bucket liners / Garbage Bags & Twist Ties (double bag the bucket)
• Privacy Shelter
• Rope, Clothes Pins, Tarp/Blanket or Commercial Shelter
• Toilet Tissue – As many rolls as will fit
• Hand Sanitizer
• Bar Soap
• Gallon Plastic Jug (makes hand washing station)
• Chemical Deodorizer
• Disposable Gloves
• Laundry Soap
• Anti Bacterial Dish Soap
• Disinfectant / Diluted Chlorine Bleach Solution (in a spray bottle is very good)
• Moistened Towelettes
• Paper Towels
• Scrub Brush

Home Sanitation Supplies

• Water Storage
• Toilet Tissue
• Paper Towels
• Hand Sanitizer
• Large Garbage Can (no bigger than 30 Gal.) with Tight Fitting Lid
• Plastic Liners
• Disposable Gloves
• Chemical Deodorizer
• Shredded Newspaper
• Bucket of Wood Ash
• Rope and or Bungee Cord
• Shovel
• Pick or Digger Bar
• Post Hole Digger
• 2 Wash Basins
• Wash Board
• Large Pot for Boiling Water
• Laundry Detergent
• Rope & Clothes Pins (Laundry Line)
• Anti Bacterial Dish Soap
• Sponges or Dish Cloths
• Scouring Pads
• Dish Drying Rack
• Box of Disposable Gloves
• Large Trash Bags with Twist Ties
• Spray Bottles
• Containers for carrying Water
• Insecticide
• Mop
• Broom & Dust Pan 

Portable Hygiene Emergency Kit

• Shampoo
• Sun Screen
• Hand or Body Lotion
• Tooth Brush
• Tooth Paste
• Comb or Hair Brush
• Razor
• Lip Balm
• Bug Repellant
• Dust Mask
• Bar Soap
• Shave Gel
• Facial Tissue
• Emery Board
• Fingernail Clippers
• Dental Floss
• Mouth Wash
• Toilet Tissue
• Wet Wipes
• Paper Towels
• Anti-Bacterial Liquid Soap
• Sewing Kit
• Feminine Supplies
• Hand Sanitizer
• Nail Brush
• Cotton Swab & Cotton Balls
• Hand Towels
• Petroleum Jelly
• Muscle Cream
• Talcum Powder
• Small Non-Glass Mirror

What external, environmental influences can affect our body temperature?  Obviously, temperature extremes of hot and cold can affect us as well as our exposure to the elements like wind and rain.  If our bodies are wet from rain, being in water, or sweating we will lose heat faster than if we are dry.

Our circulatory system uses water to transport heat throughout our bodies, so our level of hydration is a factor as well.  Just as a tuned-up car works best, our health and the quality of our diet can determine how well our bodies can maintain temperature.  If we are physically exerting ourselves, we will be generating internal heat. 

Our internal regulatory systems will be affected as well if we are taking medications or intoxicants like alcohol, nicotine, or drugs.  These DO NOT warm the body, they cause the body to relax, giving the sensation of warming, but in reality the body is losing heat at a much faster rate.

If the body gets too cold and the temperature drops below 98.6 degrees, it is known as hypothermia.  Symptoms include shivering.  If you are shivering, you are in the first stages of hypothermia.  Other symptoms are slurred speech, apathy, confusion, loss of fine motor skills, difficulty walking or maintaining balance.  As severity increases, skin may turn pale or gray.  Eventually shivering will stop and the internal organs start to shut down.

If the body gets too hot and the temperature rises above 98.6 degrees, it is known as hyperthermia.  Symptoms include thirst, sweating, slurred speech, apathy, confusion, loss of fine motor skills, difficulty walking or maintaining balance, headache, dizziness, and nausea.  As severity increases, there could be vomiting, cramps, rapid pulse and breathing.  Eventually the body stops sweating and the internal organs start to shut down.

Hypothermia and hyperthermia both have different levels of severity and they can both be deadly.  Watch yourself and others for the symptoms and treat as necessary.

Food

 All ten things need to be planned for, for every emergency, even though these items may apply differently in different situations.

Work Emergency Kit

Keep this personal emergency kit in a desk, locker or other quick access area to help you survive an emergency until you are able to evacuate and go home.  Make sure your place of business has an emergency plan and additional emergency supplies. 

Water

• 1 gal. Water in Sturdy, Refillable Container
• Water Purification Tablets/Drops
• Water Filter

Food

• Emergency Food Bars
• High Energy, No Prep/Low Prep Foods (Jerky, Granola Bars, Cocoa/Soup Packets)
• Hard Candies

Shelter & Warmth

• Emergency Mylar Blanket
• Fleece/Wool Blanket
• Poncho
• Tarp & or Emergency Tent
• Harsh Weather Gear
• Coat, Hat, Gloves, Boots
• Umbrella
• Hand Warmers

Cooking

• Emergency Candle in Can
• Waterproof Matches
• Metal Drink/Cook Cup
• Utensil Set

Light

• Flashlight
• Extra Batteries
• Non-Battery Flashlight
• Glow Sticks

First Aid

• Basic First-Aid Kit
•           Various Adhesive Bandages
•           Gauze Pads & Rolls
•           First-Aid Tape
•           Aspirin
•           Ibuprofen
•           Hydrocortisone
•           Triple Antibiotic
•           Burn Cream
•           Alcohol Prep Pads
•           Antiseptic Towelettes
•           Vinyl Gloves
•           Safety Pins
•           Triangle Bandage
•           Blunt Nosed Scissors
•           Tongue Depressors
•           Tweezers
•           Cold Pack
•           First Aid Booklet
• Personal Medications
• Allergy Medications
• CPR Mouth Shield
• Saline Eye Wash
• Sun Block
• Bug Repellant
• Sewing Kit
• Dust Filtering Mask

Communication

• Emergency Mobile Charger
• Signal Whistle
• Mirror
• Pencil & Notebook
• Emergency Multi-Powered Radio
• Laser Pointer
• Rubber Bands/Paperclips

Hygiene & Sanitation

• Toilet Paper
• Feminine Supplies
• Moist Towelettes
• Hand Sanitizer
• Paper Towels
• Disposable Baggies
• Garbage Bags & Ties
• Facial Tissues
• Nail Clipper
• Lip Balm

Clothing & Personal Items

• Complete Change of Clothing, Underclothing & Socks
• Comfortable Walking Shoes
• Time Passers, Cards, Book, Game
• Multi-Function Pocket Knife
• Compass
• 50’ Clothesline
• Watch
• Knee Pads

Important Papers & Money

• Emergency & Non-Emergency Numbers
• Emergency Family Contacts:  Phone, Address & E-mail
• Home, Work, School, Day Care, Out of Area, Out of State
• Local Maps with Evacuation Routes, Home, Work, School, Family Meeting Places
• Currant Copies of Family Photos & IDs
• Personal Medical Information
•           Medical Providers
•           List of Medications
•           Special Medical Equipment
•           Medical Conditions
•           Vaccinations
•           Blood Type
•           Allergies & Sensitivities
•           Health Insurance
• Emergency Cash
• Coins for Pay Phones

Kits must be small enough to fit in a desk or locker.

Water

• Refillable Water Bottle

Food

• High Energy, No Prep Food

Shelter & Warmth

• Poncho
• Emergency Blanket
• Hand Warmers

Cooking

• Unnecessary

Light

• Flashlight &/or Glowstick
• Extra Batteries

First Aid

• Various Bandages
• Antiseptic Wipes
• Additional Per Ability of Child

Communication

• Whistle
• Pencil & Paper

Hygiene & Sanitation

• Toilet Paper
• Facial Tissue
• Hand Sanitizer
• Baggies

Clothing & Personal Items

• Full Change of Clothing
• Small Book or Game

Important Papers & Money

• Child ID Tag with Emergency Contact Info, Family Picture & Medical Info 
• Small Bills & Change