[EAS] Preparedness and Survival Generalities

[Bill Ruck]

Interesting discussion.

 From my own warped perspective I've learned the following:

1.  Learned in '89 you must have a coffee pot on the studio emergency 
generator.  Also learned you must have the bathroom exhaust fan on 
the emergency generator.

2.  While I live in San Francisco we spend weekends at a cabin my 
grandfather built in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  "Mountain folks" 
survive.  Last winter a landslide not only blocked the ONLY road to 
Lompico but also took out power, telephone, and cable TV for three 
days.  Lompico suddenly went back to the '20's.  But most have wood 
stoves for heat and cooking, and the water is gravity fed.  And 
everybody has their own septic system.  I'm told that there were some 
fun block parties.

3.  My old Susquehanna VP-Operations used to tell me "You don't build 
a church for the Easter Sunday crowd."  My response was "Most 
churches make their nut on the Easter Sunday collection".  But one 
has to recognize that the 100 year event probably can't have 
infrastructure designed around it.  So there will be floods and land 
slides and wildfires and . . .

4.  People that ignore living in a flood plain will learn the hard 
way what that means.  Or people that live in the urban/wildland 
interface will learn the hard way what that means.   I know people 
that lost their homes in fires, especially the Calaveras fire two 
years ago.*  After the Japan earthquake and tsunami got together with 
friends and plotted how that might affect being on the Pacific Ocean 
coast like the San Francisco Sunset.  Turns out that I will be 
looking down at wreckage; I'm high enough to miss all of it.  Told a 
couple friends they could camp out here on 28th Avenue.

5.  We have some food, some water, a camp stove, etc., at home in San 
Francisco.  Enough batteries to keep flashlights and a radio 
working.  We probably could survive for a couple of days.  Beyond 
that who knows?

6.  My emergency plan at KFOG / KNBR was simply for all engineering 
staff to head to the studio or KNBR transmitter; whichever was 
closer.  Then we'd sort out what needed to be done.  There was backup 
power, etc., at both sties and backup communications.  There is no 
point in making detailed plans as Mr. Murphy always wins.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco

*It's really sad but check out the JKL Telephone Museum 
website.  Burned to the ground in the Calaveras fire.