70 Things That Can and Will Go Wrong in a Disaster

www.backdoorsurvival.com...

As much fun as it is to read about and prep up for coming disasters, real time occurrences can be much different
Some of the points are common knowledge, but others were surprising and to be honest, a bit disconcerting as well. Most of the 70 items are negative and many go against what we commonly believe will occur as first responders and rescuers come on the scene.

So read up and be ready

reply to post by winterkill


Thank you for posting this article Winterkill. The article was in fact very informative and made me think about additional things I could do to minimize my shortcomings. Some of which I will be able to control and some I will not.

Thanks again for thinking of us at ATS!

Normajean

Out of the entire list, this one was most poignant....

57. There are no critically injured in a disaster; only those who are dead or alive.

Ouch !

25. Portable toilets will be in demand; there will be no place to go, and if a place is found there will be six photographers there to cover the event.

This has got to be one of my favorites on the list. Too Funny!

33. Many injured people will have to find their own way to medical treatment facilities.

A good thing to think about is visiting a feed store/ animal supply store and grabbing some antibiotics for a survival kit. You can buy it without a prescription and farmers have been treating themselves with the stuff for years. It is something that a normal city dweller wouldn't think of and could save a life in a long term disaster situation. I never thought about it until I married a farmer.

37. Very few citizens will utilize evacuation/mass care centers; they will prefer to stay with friends and relatives, or to camp out in their own yards.

And who would after watching Katrina unfold?

57. There are no critically injured in a disaster; only those who are dead or alive.

True to some degree.. There is a color code system we use in triage for those injured in disaster situations. I personally have used it in triage after the May 3rd tornado that hit Moore Oklahoma. It is a very useful system and if you know it ahead of time, it will kind of let you know where you stand as far as medical care if it is available. Here is the list:

Red tags - (immediate) are used to label those who cannot survive without immediate treatment but who have a chance of survival.
Yellow tags - (observation) for those who require observation (and possible later re-triage). Their condition is stable for the moment and, they are not in immediate danger of death. These victims will still need hospital care and would be treated immediately under normal circumstances.
Green tags - (wait) are reserved for the "walking wounded" who will need medical care at some point, after more critical injuries have been treated.
White tags - (dismiss) are given to those with minor injuries for whom a doctor's care is not required.
Black tags - (expectant) are used for the deceased and for those whose injuries are so extensive that they will not be able to survive given the care that is available.

Triage Code Tags

64. Even though there will not be enough people to initially deal with emergencies, many available personnel will never be identified and never used. After the initial shock, there will be too many volunteers.

Very true and good point! I think the number one thing a person could do is look to help in their area of expertise. You may not think that what you know would be helpful in a disaster situation, but it really takes all types. My mother worked at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company when the Oklahoma City Bombing happened. Her building was across the street from the blast and after evacuating the building, her boss put her to work outside setting up communications for the emergency workers. Everyone has a skill set that can be useful.

Great list and thanks so much for sharing it! It definitely pointed out some things that I wouldn't have thought of before such as the critical desire to verify all info. I imagine there would be a mess of false reports and misunderstandings that could affect large amounts of people. I wouldn't want to have to be the one to try and sort out all of the reports and make decisions based on what might be true.

~OkieDokie

The name of the website makes it sound like it's dedicated to sharing the secrets of surviving a wing-ding.

But very valuable information nonetheless.