Teaching Disaster Realities

A statistic from 5 Ways to Educate People About the Realities of Disaster Recovery caught my

attention:

A 2010 American Red Cross survey found that an alarming 75 percent of 1,058 respondents expected help to arrive within an hour if they posted a request on a social media site.

I have occasionally volunteered to give presentations on disaster preparation. One part of the standard spiel talks about how many days a family should be prepared to wait for help. The standard speech refers to "3 days" not 1 hour. However, as the article linked above notes, the practicality of major disaster relief logistics is that 5 to 7 days is a far more realistic time period (depending on the scope of the disaster, of course).

I use the 5 to 7 day period and back it up with tales of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

Oh, and failing to evacuate elderly citizens from highrise retirement communities when a storm is expected is a form of malpractice. See here.

Plan accordingly.

Hurricane season is upon us.