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writingwithcolor · 1 year ago

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[Running Commentary] Zombies are Zombies: Cultural Relativism, Folklore, and Foreign Perspectives

She obviously started getting into media in Japan, and (from my research into Japanese media and culture), Japan’s movies about zombies are mostly comedic, since due to traditional funerary practices the idea of zombies bringing down society is ridiculous to a lot of Japanese people.

Rina: OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

Marika: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within.

Rina: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos”

~ ~ ~

Based on the reception we received the last time we did one of these, the Japanese moderator team returns with another running commentary. (They’re easier to answer this way) (Several of Marika’s answers may be troll answers)

Our question today pertains to foreign perspectives on folklore—that is, how people view folklore and stories that aren’t a part of their culture. CW: for anything you’d associate with zombies and a zombie apocalypse, really.

Keep reading for necromancy, horror games, debunking the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Hong Kong jiangshi films, Japanese disaster prep videos, and Vietnamese idol pop...

Essentially, in my story there’s an organization who wants to end the world. They think this one woman in particular, a woman of mixed Vietnamese (irreligious, Kinh) and Japanese descent who spent her formative years in Japan, is the person to do it because she’s (for lack of a better term) a necromancer; powers are semi-normal in this world. She prefers not to use her powers overall, but when she does she mostly talks to ghosts and spirits that are giving people issues. She could technically reanimate a corpse but she wouldn’t because she feels that would be morally wrong, not to mention she couldn’t start a zombie apocalypse in the traditional sense (plague, virus, etc.) in the first place.

(Marika (M): Your local public health officials would like to assure necromancers that reviving the dead will not provoke a zombie apocalypse. This is because necromancy is a reanimation technique, and not a pathogenic vector. Assuming that the technique does not release spores, airborne viruses, gasses, or other related physical matter that can affect neighboring corpses in a similar way, there should be no issue. However, necromancers should comply with local regulations w/r to permitting and only raise the dead with the approval of the local municipality and surviving family.)

M: I think it makes sense for most people of E. Asian descent, including Japanese and Vietnamese people, to find it culturally reprehensible to reanimate the dead. I imagine the religious background of your character matters as well. What religion(s) are her family members from? How do they each regard death and the treatment of human remains? Depending on where she grew up, I’m curious on how she got opportunities to practice outside specialized settings like morgues.

M: It’s true, space in Japan is at a premium, even for the dead. You note that most of Japan cremates, but, surely, it must have occurred to you that if there aren’t that many bodies in Japan to raise…she doesn’t exactly have much opportunity to practice with her powers, does she? I yield to our Vietnamese followers on funerary customs in Vietnam, but you may want to better flesh out your world-building logic on how necromancy operates in your story (And maybe distinguish between necromancy v. channeling v. summoning v. exorcisms).

Rina (R): OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

M: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within.

R: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos”

R: And yes, the Tofugu article uses Resident Evil and those games to support its theory, with the reason that they are set in the West. But that only suggests that Japanese people consider zombies a Western thing, not that Japanese people consider zombies nonthreatening if they were to exist.

M: Same with vampires - series like Castlevania also use Western/ European settings and not “Vampires in Japan '' because vampires just aren't part of our folklore.

(M: Also, realistically, these series deal with individuals who quickly perish after their bodies are used as hosts for the pathogen in question, rather than the pathogen reanimating a corpse. Although the victims are initially alive, they soon succumb to the pathogen/ parasite and their organic matter then becomes an infectious vector for the disease. It should be noted, infecting ordinary, living humans with viruses to grant them elevated powers, is not only a major violation of consent and defies all recommendations made by the Belmont Report (in addition to a number of articles in the Hague Convention w/r to the use of WMDs) and is unlikely to be approved by any reputable university’s IRB committee. This is why the Umbrella Corporation are naughty, naughty little children, and honestly, someone should have assassinated Wesker for the grant money.)

R: wwww

From what I know Vietnam didn’t have a zombie movie until 2022.

R: Do you mean a domestically produced zombie movie? Because Vietnamese people have most certainly had access to zombie movies for a long time. The Hong Kong film Mr. Vampire (1985) was a gigantic hit in Southeast Asia; you can find a gazillion copies of this movie online with Viet subs, with people commenting on how nostalgic this movie is or how they loved it as a kid.

M: “Didn’t have a [domestic] zombie movie” is not necessarily the same thing as “Would not have made one if the opportunity had arisen.” None of us here are personifications of the Vietnamese film industry, I think it’s safe to say we couldn’t know. Correlation is not causation. It’s important to do your research thoroughly, and not use minor facts to craft a narrative based on your own assumptions.

(R: …Also, I did find a 2017 music video for “Game Over” by the Vietnamese idol Thanh Duy which features… a zombie apocalypse.)

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(R: The MV has a very campy horror aesthetic and zombie backup dancers (which I love, everyone please watch this lol). But the scenes at the beginning and end where people are biting their fingers watching a threatening news report clearly establish that the zombies are considered a threat.)

So at one point, she laughs about the idea and remarks how ridiculous it is to think zombies could end the world. What I’m struggling with are other ways to show her attitude on the issue because I’d assume most non-Japanese readers wouldn’t get why she thinks like that. Are there any other ways to show why she thinks this way, especially ones that might resonate more with a Japanese reader?

R: The problem is this does not resonate in the first place. Your line of thinking is too Sapir-Whorf-adjacent. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, otherwise known as linguistic relativity theory, claims that language shapes cognition—that you can’t conceive of something if you can’t express it in your language. This is a very weak theory that you can easily bring evidence against: think of the last time you felt an emotion you had a hard time putting into words; just because you didn’t have the language for it doesn’t mean that you didn’t feel it, nor does it mean that you won’t be able to understand or recognize it if you feel it again. Similarly, it’s not a sound assumption to say that if some kind of subject matter does not exist in a culture, then people of that culture couldn't possibly conceive of it. This excerpt from linguist Laura Bailey sums it up quite well.

M: Just because ghosts may be more culturally relevant doesn’t mean that zombies (or vampires, or whatever) are nonexistent in a Japanese or Vietnamese person’s imagination when it comes to horror and disaster.

R: Really, if anything, Japanese people are much more attuned to how easily a society’s infrastructure can be destroyed by a disruptive force without adequate preparation. Japan is natural disaster central. A Japanese person would know better than anyone that if you aren’t prepared for a zombie epidemic—yeah it’s gonna be bad.

M: Earthquakes, tsunami, typhoon, floods: Japan has robust disaster infrastructure out of necessity. 防災 or bousai, meaning disaster preparedness is a common part of daily life, including drills at workplaces, schools, and community organizations. Local government and community agencies are always looking for ways to make disaster and pandemic preparedness relevant to the public.

M: Might “zombie apocalypse prep as a proxy for disaster prep” be humorous in an ironic, self-deprecating way? Sure, but it’s not like Japanese people are innately different from non-Japanese people. Rather, by being a relatively well-off country practiced at disaster preparation with more experience than most parts of the world with many different types of disasters (and the accompanying infrastructure), it likely would seem more odd to most Japanese people within Japan to not handle a zombie apocalypse rather like might one handle a combination of a WMD/ chemical disaster+pandemic+civil unrest (all of which at least some part of Japan has experienced). Enjoy this very long, slightly dry video on COVID-19 safety procedures and preparedness using the framing device of surviving a zombie apocalypse.

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M: Living in Los Angeles, I’ve often experienced similar tactics. We do a fair amount of advance and rehearsed disaster prep here as well. In elementary school, the first and last days of class were always for packing and unpacking home-made disaster packs, and “zombie apocalypse” simulations have been around since I was in middle school for all kinds of drills, including active shooter drills, like the one shown in this LAT article. The line between “prepper” and “well prepared” really comes down to degree of anxiety and zeal. So, it wouldn’t be just Japanese people who might not be able to resonate with your scene. The same could be said for anyone who lives somewhere with a robust disaster prevention culture.

M: A zombie apocalypse is not “real” in the sense of being a tangible threat that the majority of the world lives in fear of waking up to (At least, for the mental health of most people, I hope so). Rather, zombie apocalypse narratives are compelling to people because of the feelings of vague, existential dread they provoke: of isolation, paranoia, dwindling resources, and a definite end to everything familiar. I encourage you to stop thinking of the way Japanese people and non-Japanese people think about vague, existential dread as incomprehensible to each other. What would you think about zombies if they actually had a chance of existing in your world? That’s probably how most Japanese people would feel about them, too.

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etraytin · 26 days ago

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Emergency Preparedness on a Budget: Part Two (Medicine and Power)

Hey there everybody, time for Part Two of Emergency Preparedness When Money is No! You can find Part 1 (Food and Water) here.

Just a note on Part 1, someone in the comments made the extremely good point that having food is not super-useful if you cannot eat it because you can’t cook it or get into the cans. This is true! My example stash used Chunky Soup and tuna because they can be eaten cold and usually have pop tops, but a can opener is a great addition to the emergency kit. Many preppers will also include a propane camp stove in their food stash, but if you’re on a very tight budget, you can absolutely get by with a few days of cold soup. (A basic propane stove, tank and lighter runs about 30-40 dollars if you are interested in getting one.)

Now on to today’s topics: Medicine and Power

Once you’ve got your 3 days of food and water sorted, you want other important survival stuff in your kit. Being as how we are all here together on Tumblr, the odds are pretty good that you or someone in your house is reliant on at least one kind of medication that must be taken regularly. If that’s the case, you need to have at least 3 days and ideally a week of meds stocked up as well.

“Wait a second,” you might say, “a week of medicine is not going to do me much good if I starve to death after eating my three days of food,” and you would be right, if a bit dramatic. In a disaster situation, however, the food and water supply pipeline is basically the first thing that activates. I was in the Asheville area during Hurricane Helene and though it took about the expected three days for support to really gear up, there was food and water being passed around within about 24 hours despite no gas, no communications and highways blocked in all directions. In almost any situation, you are going to get access to food and water before you get any other kind of relief. Getting your own prescription medicines in the right dose, on the other hand? That’s a lot more dependent on the kind of disaster you’re looking at, so it pays to plan ahead.

If you are in the US and have non-controlled prescription meds, most insurance plans will allow you to refill your meds up to 7 days early. If you can set a reminder on your phone and do that a couple times, you will end up a couple of weeks ahead on your pills without any skipping or rationing. That’s a good place to be even without considering disasters, just because life does insist on happening ALL THE TIME and sometimes it’s hard to get to the pharmacy.

If your medicines are tightly controlled then this is a harder problem. One thing you should definitely NOT do is skip medicines to build up an emergency supply. The whole object of the game here is for you to be healthy and okay even when bad things happen, so it defeats the purpose if you are hurting yourself to try and prepare. Talk to your doctor about what you can do to get emergency supplies of your medicines, or what to do if there is a disaster. Usually they will be sympathetic, and hopefully they can help. If they cannot help you beforehand, they generally have more leeway to help if a disaster is looming and it’s worth trying to call them if the weather report is particularly grim. In a big disaster, especially if you’ve had to leave your home, get yourself to a Red Cross shelter and ask for Disaster Health Services. They can be really helpful in getting those important medications.

For nonprescription meds, it’s helpful to have a small supply of the basics in your medicine cabinet, built up over time. If you go into your Walmart or equivalent when you are not even sick and buy the generic version of all these meds, you’re probably going to save 50%, maybe more, over trying to buy them at the drugstore or gas station when you’re already feeling terrible. They’re just good to have around! Another thing to note is that medicines kept cool and dry will last a lot longer than their best-by dates, so you don’t need to go throwing them away every couple years. Here’s a short list of some of the best meds to have on hand in an emergency:

Painkiller/Fever Reducer: Advil or Tylenol in the US, ibuprofen and paracetamol elsewhere. Good for keeping fever down if anyone gets sick, or for treating sprains, muscle strains or headaches. Be very careful of the dosing since both of these can do bad things in high doses.

Anti-Diarrheal: Immodium or loperamide. It’s easy to accidentally eat something bad in an emergency, and diarrhea can be both a logistical problem (especially if water is off!) and a potentially life-threatening health issue.

Electrolyte Solution: Pedialyte, electrolyte drink, oral rehydration salts. If someone does get diarrhea or if the weather is very hot, hydration becomes a massive issue as well. Someone who is sick or dehydrated enough may throw up plain water, but electrolyte drinks are better tolerated and solve the problem much faster. If you do not have any of these, you can also make your own oral rehydration solution by mixing a three-finger pinch of salt and a one-hand scoop of sugar into about two cups of water.

Antihistamine: Benadryl (diphenhydramine) or Claratin (loratidine) This one’s especially big after hurricanes, tornadoes, or any other storm that really rustles the jimmes on the local vegetation. It can be a little slice of hell to be out clearing all the brush that fell on your house and be surrounded by vast clouds of pollen and the occasional swarm of really unhappy bees.

Antacid: Pepto-Bismol (Bismuth subsalicylate) If you’re already on a proton-pump inhbitor like Prilosec or Zantac, stock those up instead. Otherwise, Pepto-Bismol is a good all-rounder to cover heartburn, upset stomach and nausea, all things that might come from stress and weird food during a disaster.

First Aid: A first aid kit could be a post on its own, but you can get the basics for cheap and keep them in a drawer til you need them. For maximum versatility, get yourself gauze pads and medical tape because you can use them to make whatever size bandaid you need, a few butterfly closures for bigger cuts, a tube of bacitracin zinc for antibiotic cream, a long cloth wrap to brace a sprain or fracture, and a bottle of saline to wash a wound or clean your eyes.

Power:

A lot of the disasters you’re likely to face will involve power outages, whether it be just your neighborhood, half the town, or the ENTIRE TRI-STATE AREA (if you are Dr. Doofenschmirtz.) In our Modern Miracle Age just about everybody has at least one flashlight with them at all times, built into their phones, but that’s only going to get you so far when the lights go out.

Powering your phone is a top priority in a power outage, not so much for the light but because it is your main source of communication and information for as long as the cell towers are working. You will want a power bank for your emergency kit; a little battery pack about the size of a cell phone itself, that holds enough electricity to recharge your phone one or more times before needing charged. A basic power bank can be had for about $15, but they are nearly infinitely scalable both in cost and benefits. You can get them with built-in cords, with solar panels, with flashlights of their own, with capacity to charge multiple phones, etc. Buy whatever one fits your budget and needs, then make sure to keep it charged and keep the appropriate cords with it!

Given that you’ll need your phone for other things, you’re going to want some light sources in your emergency stash as well. The easiest and safest of these are battery-powered flashlights and lanterns. You’ll want a mix of lanterns to light a room, flashlights to carry around, and headlamps for reading and close work. All these come in a huge variety of quality and price, but you don’t need anything expensive, just something that will work. Watch for sales at the beginning and end of camping season. Once you have your lights, buy batteries for all of them but do not store them with the batteries installed! For best storage, put your batteries side by side (not touching end to end because they may discharge over time) in a plastic baggie and rubber band or tape the bag to its light. Put them with your emergency food and you’ll know where they are, even in the dark.

Candles are a power-outage classic because they’re cheap, cheerful and don’t need batteries, but be careful if you use them. Make sure it’s on a clean, hard surface with nothing around it to burn, and that you never leave one unattended or in a room with only kids or sleeping people. A mirror tile or flat mirror is great if you’ve got one because it’s not flammable and will make the light brighter. Make sure your smoke alarm is working! (If you don’t have a smoke detector, call your fire department or local Red Cross and they can get you hooked up with one.) Jar candles are usually the best in terms of burn time and safety, and you can often get them real cheap and barely used at garage sales. After-Christmas sales are also good, if you don’t mind the smell of off-season merriment.

There’s a lot more stuff out there for emergency power, from solar generators to backup power stations to uninterruptible power supplies. Preppers love power almost as much as they love weird food hacks, and that is a _lot._ Unfortunately, once you get past the power bank level, the prices start going up very fast. If you have a few hundred dollars to put into your preparations you can get a portable power station that can not only charge your devices but run small appliances for awhile on AC power. If you use a CPAP machine like me, a power station might mean the difference between being able to sleep soundly or not. If you get one of those, make sure to get one that can charge in several different ways, especially from a running vehicle. They’re really handy in a pinch! Watch very carefully for sales on these stations from companies like Jackery, Bluetti and EcoFlow. They compete closely with one another, and a new model on the market from any of them can trigger price wars. It’s worth doing a little research to get a better deal.

Next time: Temperature Management (Or “Too Hot and Too Cold.”)

#disaster preparedness #disaster preparation #prepping #winter storm #hurricane #the first 72 is on you #budget shopping

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victusinveritas · 3 months ago

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#mutual aid #margaret killjoy #disaster preparedness #western north carolina #hurricane helene #climate crisis #hardtack

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refugedepot · 1 year ago

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Before you run those dandelions over with the lawn mower or douse them with weed killer, check this video out. Dandelions have various benefits, edible leaves rich in vitamins, diuretic properties, potential antioxidant effects, and use in herbal medicine. via @bodylovebytal

#disaster preparedness #survival items #survival #urban farms #community gardens

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wachinyeya · 3 months ago

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This Hurricane-Proof Florida Development Easily Endured Helene, Ian, and Idalia–Proving Climate Designs Work https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/this-hurricane-proof-florida-development-easily-endured-helene-ian-and-idalia-proving-climate-designs-work/

#disaster preparedness #florida #hurricanes #climate adaptation #climate designs #arcitecture #good news #environmentalism #science #urban design #climate change #climate hope

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25centsoda · 8 months ago

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I am Once Again thinking about disaster preparedness

and, like, what are we doing?? D’y’all know how many tornadoes we’ve had in my area in the last month?? Way more than usual! A lot more flooding in the past 8 or so years also. What are we doing.

also shoutout to FEMA (US Federal Emergency Management Agency) for finally including considerations for disabled people on their easy-to-find infographics on disaster preparedness, I’ve been reading these articles since I was like 7 years old and it’s nice to see more than the assumption that everyone in a household is young and able-bodied. It just takes a few extra lines to say, or one more infographic to make

#Climate change #severe weather #severe storms #flooding #tornadoes #disaster preparedness #feel free to reblog with your thoughts #Including any fun/informative infographics you have I love infographics #and articles #would be very interested in non-US infographics and articles also 👀#plz share

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justalittlesolarpunk · 2 years ago

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This is my last post before I head off on my ten-day minimal-internet tidalpunk adventure (expect pics when I return!) so I thought I’d make a nice long list-type thing for all you solarpunks before I go.

Now, this might not seem very cheerful compared to my other topics - certainly all the people I’ve brought this up with irl have acted like I’m being alarmist and depressing, but I don’t see it that way. I view it as being prepared and maximising your ability to keep yourself and your community safe, which is after all what solarpunk is all about!

So without further ado, here is my *extremely idealised* suggestion for an emergency kit list to help you cope with increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events. The goal is that with the supplies in this bag you could either shelter safely in place or get up and go, and be well supplied in either case to care for yourself and share with those in need. In fact, in both scenarios you would hopefully be able to temporarily ‘start from scratch’ in terms of infrastructure should the frameworks of society around you no longer be reliable. I based mine off suggestions by climate scientist Kendra Pierre-Louis (you can check out her advice on the ‘Unnatural Disasters’ episode of the How To Save A Planet Podcast), but yours might look subtly different depending on who you are, what you can afford/carry, and where you live.

Emergency kit list:

-Big hiking rucksack, to keep everything in

-Sleeping bag

-A small portable tent and camping stove

-A penknife or multi tool

-Matches or a lighter

-Kindling or firestarters - I use wood wool balls held together with wax

-Torch (with up to date batteries!)

-Towels

-Non-perishable or long-life foods, such as protein bars, rice cakes/breadsticks/crackers, dried fruit, bagged nuts/seeds, crisps, tinned soup, pot noodles

-A seedbomb of edible plants (you can get some for slightly excessive prices here in the UK, otherwise they can be made fairly easily by combining clay, straw, paper or flour with the desired seeds)

-Two large water bottles (600-650ml) and a water bladder

-A water purifier (preferably one capable of filtering out both natural pathogens like bacteria and viruses and synthetic pollutants like heavy metals and PFAS)

-A collapsible bucket

-A first aid kit, including plasters, bandages, sterile wipes, hand sanitiser, latex gloves, antiseptic/disinfectant, (K)N95 masks to filter out particulates (whether ash or pathogens), painkillers, antihistamines, rehydration sachets, anti-emetics and anti-diarrhoeals, steroid creams, aloe vera gel, iodine tablets in case of radiation, and any medication you regularly take (including epipens and inhalers if needed)

-A pair of goggles to protect your eyes from air pollution such as smog, wildfire smoke, etc

-Toothpaste tablets and a spare toothbrush

-Period supplies (pack these even if you don’t get periods - someone you run into might need them)

-A solar charger

-A satellite phone

-A mechanical handheld fan, with working batteries, to keep you cool in extreme heat

-A magnetic heat belt for extra warmth

-A change of clothes, including a sun hat, a scarf, woolly hat and gloves for extreme cold, and waterproofs (plus an umbrella!) for wet conditions

-Pliers or secateurs for cutting through dense debris or vegetation

-Some strong, climbing-grade rope

-A trowel (for planting and digging up but also for burying…waste 😅 - a long-term wild camping scenario isn’t infeasible here)

-Your passport and any other documents (marriage certificate, adoption papers, savings bonds if you’re like a hundred years old) that you might need if fleeing your country becomes a necessity

-As much cash as you are comfortable withdrawing/leaving lying around your house/carrying with you in an emergency

-A personal locator beacon is a radio-transmitter that signals your location to emergency services via satellite. These tend to have a 24-hour battery life, so if you foresee being in any way ‘stranded’ for longer then a useful trick is to switch it on for one hour each day, and then turn it off again. This not only saves power but shows emergency services that there is conscious intention involved, proving you’re still alive and lucid

-Some things to keep your spirits up, like a chocolate bar and your favourite/funniest book

-It’s worth having a sturdy pair of hiking boots for if you have to pick up the bag and go

Obviously this list is super extra, a bunch of these things are prohibitively expensive, and some items would need periodic replacement if a long time passed without the necessity of using the emergency kit. You could also likely build a fairly functional emergency kit with only a fraction of these supplies, I’m just trying to anticipate every eventuality here.

It’s up to you whether you think the investment is worth it - it’s a big outlay for a possible zero return. Personally I think it’s at least somewhat worth it as extreme weather is only going to happen more often and have more serious consequences, and preparedness turns what could be a disaster into an inconvenience, often saving money in the long run. But it will depend on the relative likelihood of severe weather events in your local area. It’s also worth saying that these work for ostensibly non-climate related problems, from a power cut in your town to an authoritarian coup in your government to your house falling down! It isn’t just for wildfires or tornadoes.

Over the next few months I’m hoping to slowly build up the aspects of the kit that are affordable and accessible to me, with the aim of being able to keep myself safe and aid my neighbours should disaster strike.

#solarpunk #disaster preparedness #community care #hopepunk #cottagepunk #environmentalism #social justice #climate change #extreme weather #natural disasters #readiness #obvs all of this stuff is pretty intense but I thought it was worth making the list #also like it’s so expensive I acknowledge especially as I’ve tried not to put Amazon links #how to save a planet #Kendra Pierre-Louis #links mostly for reference #these are just suggestions do what you think is best

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zinjanthropusboisei · 1 year ago

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Since the wildfire smoke has been hitting the east coast, I've been thinking about doing a flowchart-style infographic on where to find US hazard information - so many of the comments on the info I posted were like "huh. I was wondering why the sky looked so funny." With the state of the Internet, search engines, and social media today, it really isn't intuitive where you can go to find reliable information on something so vague as "I noticed something a lil funky today," and so many of the platforms and accounts that emergency managers have spent years building up trust and visibility for have disappeared or become unverifiable because of Twitter's meltdown. Best to go to straight to the source when you can, as long as you know where to start.

This would just focus on the federal government, and mainly on immediate warnings and alert information...I'd rather just focus on natural hazards as well since those are the resources I'm familiar with, but that might be too narrow. Any ideas for questions and flowpaths besides what I've sketched out so far are welcome!

#social media and esp Twitter has become such a core piece of the emergency communications ecosystems over the last 20 years #that i think the whole crisis management space is still reeling over how quickly it has deteriorated #this post also brought to you by all my friends who recently moved to california & keep texting me 'how do i know if that was an eq or not'#hazards #disasters #disaster awareness #disaster preparedness #risk communication

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eskiworks · 9 months ago

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Colorado friends!

Xcel energy may be cutting off power Saturday April 6th during the high winds to prevent wildfires! Boulder, Jefferson, and Gilpin counties are the ones that will be affected.

https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/outage-safety/update?fbclid=IwAR3bEEbri2hujt32w214D0Kmxc4AXWJCBv9753vrG01yfpj4B_r5QtDrXMQ

Stay safe! 🔥👀

#Colorado #Xcel #xcel energy #disaster preparedness

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neolithicsheep · 3 months ago

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Ok so you're looking at the aftermath of Helene and you're thinking "shit, how would I keep my phone charged? What about my neighbors?" and you have some outdoor space and some cash. Your friendly formerly off grid sheep farmer is here to help.

You need this set up right here:

To that you will need to add:

Y connectors:

The 100aH (amp Hour) deep cycle battery of your choice - lead acid AGM will be cheaper, lithium (LiFePo) is more expensive but lasts much longer.

Finally, you need a small pure sine wave inverter like this one: https://a.co/d/70vRd79

Plug the panels into the Y connectors then into the single wire to run to the charge controller. They are now connected in parallel. Take them outside to a sunny spot and face them south and prop them up at about a 45 degree angle. This isn't perfect but it will be good enough.

Connect your battery and charge controller. Connect the panels to the charge controller. All of the places to do this are labeled and all you need is a Phillips screwdriver. I recommend doing it once in a non-disaster situation so you know you can do it but you'll be fine. Boom, you are getting electricity from the sun!

The inverter draws power even when it's not running so don't leave it hooked up when you're not using it. When someone needs to charge their phone, put those alligator clips on the matching color battery posts, turn the inverter on, and plug in the phone/radio. Voilà! A single 100aH battery is not going to run a bunch of things but it will help keep cell phones charged without using up the gas in your car.

The panels are weatherproof but everything else needs to be protected by the way so you'll need to set this up in a shed or garage or in the house. Lead acid batteries can produce hydrogen gas when being charged but just having one isn't a big risk.

FAQ:

Yes, you can permanently mount the panels to your roof if you own your home etc. They're designed for that!

It is true that places sell "solar generators" - those are a charge controller, battery, and an inverter in one box at a very high price point. When a component goes bad you will be unable to replace the component and must replace the entire $1000 box. They are also not upgradeable or expandable, this is.

You do not have to buy Renogy, I recommend them because they kept me in electricity for the years I was off grid.

You do not have to buy the kit, you can buy the components of it as and when you can afford them!

Remember to keep your battery on a trickle charger.

#natural disasters #disaster preparedness #solar energy #solar power

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annakie · 7 months ago

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I do not, in fact, have the power.

You may have heard there were pretty bad storms that camd through Dallas Tuesday morning.

I haven't had power until about two and a half hours ago... about 125 hours.

Warning: Very, very long.

TUESDAY

First of all, I was dumb. I was real dumb. I got woken up by the cats and a neighbor's dog at about 5am Tuesday morning, but I mean, that's not unusual. I came out to the office, did a little gaming, and was going to head back to bed around 6.

I heard a little thunder when I was about to head back, and then the warning sirens going off.

I checked text messages/phone calls/emails for any of the THREE weather warning services I use to see if I'd missed any notifications. I hadn't.

I then pulled up the actual weather report just as the winds really started slamming into my area.

A minute or two later, when it was already hitting in force, I started getting notifications. I peeked out a window and holy shit.

I grabbed Fry and threw him in the hall bath. Pemily figured out something was up and ran under the couch. I spent the next like two minutes trying to get to her. Just as I grabbed and started lifting her, the lights flickered, then went out. Plunged into total darkness.

I managed to grab her and my phone... and then in trying to get us INTO the hall bath, in the pitch black, Fry got out. And when I tried to get him to come in, Pemily almost got out and... I settled on hoping he'd run under a bed or do something safe because I could only get one or the other in there. The wind was RAGING and the house was creaking a little. I heard cracks and booms booms that weren't thunder.

I was seriously scared that the roof would fly off. It's old, and was going to need replacing soon anyway.

And there I was in PJs and no shoes with just a cat and a phone in the bathroom. Not exactly the model of preparedness.

After awhile, the wind subsided. I crept out of the bathroom and looked through a few windows. I used my phone flashlight to look for ceiling damage/water and thankfully saw none.

After a bit I put on jeans and shoes and went outside.

Tons of shingles all of my yard from my house.

Then looking up... the one remaining tree in my yard was uh... angled. Greatly. Resting on the chain link fence between me and my neighbhors yard. It had taken down a big branch on one of their trees and... oh great.. the top branches were tangled in the power wires.

In addition to this, I had a couple of lines yanked partially from my house and laying across my yard, with some of it still attached to my house.

My neighbors across the street had their big tree in their front yard laying into the street and covering one of their cars that they street park.

I texted/checked in with my neighbors, and everyone was OK. I put in a ticket with my city's utility company, though that took about a half hour to get through. I logged onto Teams on my phone and told my bosses and team what happened and sent pictures. I expected it might be awhile til I got power back.

I would have no idea how long that would be.

I contacted my handyman and he said he'd be able to get some guys to help with the tree when it was safe to do so.

I'd needed a plumber to come out for a couple of days and confirmed with them that they can't come out til we have power.

I texted the roofer my parents had used a year or two ago and he said he'd be out the next day to take a look.

Annnnd... then I waited. Ate some protein bars, didn't open the fridge. Internet sucked so I played on my Steam Deck some.

After the Great Freeze of 2021 I'd done some stuff to be more disaster prepared including buying a 500w high capacity rechargable battery, some LED headlamps, an extra phone charger, etc. I could run a small hotplate that I bought off of the big battery and recharge most anything.

Day one passed, the 5G was terrible on my phone since everyone was using it, but that's fine, still no power. Our city utilities has a power outage map that I started refreshing nigh constantly. I started playing Hades on my Steam Deck and sat outside for awhile..

Eventually it was bedtime. It wasn't too bad, though I missed my white noise. Kept the spare bedroom window open for air and got through it.

WEDNESDAY

Day two the 5G was better. I spent a lot of the time sitting outside letting my big battery recharge via solar panel.

I felt pretty genius for thinking that far ahead. It worked pretty well. Played more Hades, the roofer came and evaluated things. Helped me file a claim with my insurance.

I started trying to figure out a solution for the two lines laying in my yard, still attached to the house.

Eric helped me figure out via pictures that they were old telephone and internet lines and were no longer in use. I called the power company, they said they didn't own them and couldn't touch them.

So I called an electrician to come out and take a look. He wouldn't get there til Friday.

The other thing that happened Wednesday was that... during the storm my cattycorner-alley neighbor's fence blew completely down in the storm. And then... he just left it there.

Look, my tree was half blocking the alley, but I was told by the city not to touch it. But like... this guy's fence was laid out in the near-center of the alley. and he Did Not Care to move it I guess. Like my dude, take some pictures for insurance and then stop blocking shit. You Could drive around/next to my tree OK, it was very difficult to ignore his fence. You can kinda see it in the solar panel pic a little bit above.

There are only 2 or 3 houses that use that alley, I had driven down it maybe once or twice in the 21 years I've owned this house, but those couple of houses NEEDED IT for access.

So like, the white truck that I most often see driving by it stopped on Wednesday night, and just picked up this dude's fence and moved it himself. And he was not gentle. There was wood cracking and the fence was pretty much non-functional.

I was outside for the whole thing and heard the homeowner come out and start yelling at him.

My next-door neighbors had their generator going and it was kinda far away (and in Spanish which, well, I am not so good at anymore) but the argument was pretty clear.

Bonus appearance in the pic by my feral friend Peter.

About ten minutes later... they were laughing and slapping each other on the back. I had to leave before it was all over but it was an entertaining few minutes.

That night I went to my buddy Eric's place. He let me store my meds in his fridge, throw a protein shake in there to cool as well. He let me leave my Steam Deck charger there to charge and lent me his phone charger.

I stopped and got fast food for the first time in awhile on the way home. Grilled chicken, but still. I was tired of plain Protein food.

THURSDAY

Thursday it was overcast. But it looked like a HUGE number of people had gotten power back in the last two days so I was hopeful.

Got some well wishes and funny memes in Teams when I didn't make our Thursday staff meeting.

And then it started raining at 10 and didn't stop til 4.

Not a lot got done that day. From the city or from me. There wasn't much to do. I mostly sat/laid in bed. Played Hades a little, but mostly scrolled Reddit and checked my city's Twitter.

Two great things happened not long after though. First, my boss told me that he and his boss had talked and told me not to put in PTO for this week. It was out of my hands, they didn't want me to stress about it. I just got the week for free. I love a lot of things about my job, tbh.

I'll be honest, I'd started feeling pretty low that day as the rain went on and I knew that not much was getting done in the city. Most people who live here have municipal power, including me, so I just kept refreshing the map and taking screenshots two or three times day so I could see progress. I cried when my boss told me that, it was so kind and such a relief.

And then, an hour or so later, the Conviction happened, 34 for 45... it turned out to be a pretty great day after all.

And our across the street neighbors got their power on Thursday night! I was very happy for them, but sad ours didn't come with it. I knew for sure the Tree was the problem.

On the way to Eric's I saw work trucks in my neighborhood for the first time. I took pictures and texted both sides of my next-door neighbors. They didn't come to my house, though.

I left my big battery at Eric's overnight to charge since it couldn't solar charge. I also went to Sonic and got a Big Bag of Ice and a little food I did not enjoy. But the ice kept the freezer at refrigerator temperatures and I filled all my smaller thermal mugs with ice, so I had cold water with no worries from then on out.

By then I'd maxed out my Data plan for the month and the rest of the data would be free, 5G was working great by then, so I just watched the Taskmaster Season Finale and TMAustralia S2 E2... ending the night on a high note.

Until it rained for several hours at night and my across-the-alley neighbor let their dog bark for two hours straight because its terrified of lightning.

FRIDAY

Surely, I thought, today would be the day.

I was wrong.

Anyway, Friday I had an electrician out to the house. The city twitter said that if there was damage to the meter, that we had to get that fixed first. I had also been hoping he could help fix the two downed cable/phone lines running through my yard and all yanked out at the house.

First, he said that my power lines are completely fine. He also took a look at my neighbors who's yard my tree is in and he said theirs are fine, too. He also said he couldn't help with the lines, but to call my phone company. I've literally never had a landline, at this house, he said to try Verizon since they serviced the area when I bought the house.

Kindly, since he did no actual work and said I had enough to deal with, he didn't charge me. I plan on giving him some work later, anyway.

Called Verizon, they no longer operate in Texas.

I called my current internet provider, they have someone coming out this Wednesday, hopefully they can fix them. And by fix I mean just remove completely.

It's a mess. And still Like That.

Well that was a project that took like half the day. At least it was something to do.

When he left, I went to Eric's and spent about an hour working. Convenient since Eric and I work at the same place. We've worked together at four jobs since 2020. Basically my career path is "Eric finds job, Eric convinces people to hire Tori". We met at the first job in 2020. He left in 2006, I stayed. In 2012 he got me a job that we were both at from 2012 to 2018. I had a job I got WITHOUT his help 2018 to 2020, and then he and our old boss got me a job where they were. Then Eric left job #3 and in 2023 got me to move over to where we are now. He also lives like a mile away.

So after working I got lunch, got to keep the leftovers in the freezer-fridge, and cleaned out the fridge a bit. I need to do more of that. It's super annoying because trash day is Tuesday and ours didn't get picked up on Storm Day Tuesday so now my trash can is very full and I don't feel like I can put any more fridge stuff in there. Bleh.

I truly cannot think of anything else that happened Friday. It was in the high 80's and I mostly just closed up the house early (because it's actually well insulated) and stayed in bed all day refreshing Reddit.

I went back to Eric's that night to swap batteries and grab a protein shake I'd put in his fridge and on the way out there were a ton of work trucks in our neighborhood. I took pics. I texted people, I showed Eric and his family, I was SO excited.

SATURDAY

SURELY, I thought, Saturday would be our day for power. The power outage map said all of the big outages were taken care of, there were just a couple of medium sized ones left and a bunch of small ones like ours... about 5 - 10 house outages. The nicer neighborhood to the west now had NO outages big or small, and there was ONE small outage in the north side of our neighborhood now (also nicer than our side. Hmmm...) THIS was surely OUR DAY.

I spent a couple of hours that day out of the house. I met my friend Stephen for lunch and to loan him a bunch of D&D stuff halfway between his house and mine.

When I left my house to meet him it just started raining.

I drove up to meet him in the rain. It rained the entire hour+ we were in the restaurant. It rained most of the way home.

Not much got done in the nearly 3 hours I was gone.

I got home and drove around the neighborhood when it hadn't been raining in awhile looking for work trucks and there were none.

I'd gotten like 4, maybe 5 hours of sleep every night that week.

I was hot, tired and exhausted. I felt very... done.

I looked for work trucks when I left to go to Eric's and only saw a couple of brush clearing trucks trimming trees in an area that had no outages.

I was tired, y'all. Real low energy when I got to Eric's. They were really nice to me.

I went home, got more Sonic ice and cried as I refilled the stuff in the freezer with it.

Pretended I felt fine when I gave my updates to friends and family that night and that all was well. Truly, I didn't feel all that well. And there was one friend kinda snarky, saying more or less that I was soft and asking why I didn't go to a hotel. I was just like... find me a nearby hotel where I can take my cats and OK. Maybe. I'd looked into a few. Then he wanted me to abandon my cats there and just go myself.

No, I don't think I'll do that. I wasn't even whining in that chat, just giving updates as to the power situation in the city and me specifically. Pretty rankled about that still.

But I didn't feel like arguing, I didn't feel like gaming. I just caught up on Hacks, glad that even after maxing out my data plan the free 5G was holding up well, and went to sleep right after.

ANNND I finally slept decently even though it was the hottest night yet (high 70s which still... wasn't bad.)

SUNDAY

Woke up around 8 and felt... better.

I just spent the morning in bed, not really hoping, watching the map, seeing that some of the outages near me had been resolved. Wondering if my job would be cool with me missing more work and now thinking about tethering my phone to my work laptop, or just seeing if I could work half the day at Eric's tomorrow.

And then around 11 I heard work trucks.

Not unusual, lots had driven by my house many times a day almost every day.

But these were close. And they stopped.

Hoping against hope I looked out my back door and... there they were.

The most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

I put on shoes and went out to ask them if they needed anything from me. They said nope and that they'd have us back up soon. I thanked them from the bottom of my heart.

I went inside. Texted people. Cried a tiny bit in relief.

About twenty minutes later, I felt a cool breeze... and heard a buzzer going off.

Air conditioning and haha.. my stove timer. I turned it off then went back outside and thanked the workers again, sincerely. I wondered if they were just happy that they weren't being yelled at.

After getting my PC and internet back up and letting just about everyone know the situation, I headed to Eric's one last time to get my meds and shakes out of his fridge and give him his charger back.

It's over, here I am, sitting enjoying the full spoils of civilization again.

So here's a few lists.

Things I'm grateful for:

Eric & family, first and foremost. This would have been a lot rougher without having him to rely on for even the small stuff and he really helped keep my spirits up.

Honestly, the Tree situation could have been worse in SO many ways. It's something I'm still dealing with and will be for a couple of days -- the workers detangled the branches IN the wires but the rest of it is still there. But it fell on the shared fence and not into the alley, not onto the neighbor's shed, not on anyone's house or other people's property except that most of the tree is, ya know, IN their yard.

The roof looks ROUGH, there are a LOT of missing shingles and damage but it's still whole, as in, no leaks into my house. That is a FREAKING miracle to me. I've checked the ceilings and see no damage and I think by now I'd know. IDK if it'll withstand another storm like that but... it's fine for now.

I have good tradespeople who were helpful and I think will do a good job when I can employ them fully soon. My parents really liked the roofer and if my dad likes him, he's a good one.

My neighbors are being very kind and patient about the tree. I am of course going to take on all the expenses above what the insurance will pay for (and will be paying out of pocket for it and getting reimbursed for a lot of it.)

TBH I've been wanting to put up a sturdy wooden fence for as long as I've owned the house. Now I have a reason to and hopefully at least some seed money to do so from insurance.

The weather could have been a lot worse. At night it was in the low 70's most nights and stayed in the 70s until late morning almost every day. Today it's 86 out but overcast... this is the hottest day we've had I think. Maybe Wednesday it was like 88? But not that bad, for Texas this time of year. We could have done without the extra rain delays but... at least the temperature was decent most of the time.

Like I said earlier my house is well insulated so it never got too bad even on the hottest days. Later this week it's getting into the 90's though. Hopefully EVERYONE is back up by then.

I had plenty of nonperishable food and water to get me through the week if I wanted... and more. But honestly, gladder it didn't have to.

Lessons Learned:

Even when you look at the tree and think "Nah it's fine, it doesn't need to be trimmed this year." maybe think again. Of course... that no longer applies to me because I now have ZERO large trees on my property. When I bought the house I had... four. I'd like to plant another one where that one went down and one in my front yard to replace that one I had cut down several years ago but just... keep them relatively small this time.

Had to order batteries for the headlamp Friday. Keep more batteries in stock. The LED Headlamp is extremely useful and maybe I should order another one or two.

Keep rechargeables charged. I mean, I did well with that this time! Also I still have plenty of candles. Probably need another lighter.

I definitely needed to be more prepared at the very beginning. I didn't really take action when I heard the sirens go off for too long. I think I could have gotten both cats in the hall bath, clothes on, shoes on, supplies and a heavy blanket in the bath much sooner. In fact, I should keep some supplies under the cabinet in that bathroom in the future, and maybe a collapsible cage so I can get one cat secured while I go get the other one.

Stuff to do:

Call Plumber. The sewer situation isn't great but it's still moving. That just added to the stress this week but it was manageable.

Get garage door serviced. I didn't realize how much I needed to. My garage door is solid wood with real glass windows and it is FREAKING heavy. It's not bad when it's serviced and the springs are tight, but nigh impossible to open when it's not... and right now it's not. I can barely lift it. And now I can't get it back on the track to lift automatically.

Have already texted my handyman to take care of the tree, idk when he's coming though. May be a day or three =\ I don't love that.

Insurance called like Friday just to tell me they got my claim and are assigning an adjustor, but since my house is habitable and I'm not in immediate distress, I'm lower priority. I get it, but I don't love it because another bad storm and I may be in distress. But for now, just deal with all that.

I need to talk to my neighbors about the fact that I'm going to get a wood fence put up to replace our chain link one. It's time. They are lovely but I want the security of having my back yard fully fenced in. I've never done much with it back there and have shitty furniture because I'm like ehhhh.. it'll just get stolen if I put anything nice out there. I want the security and privacy of a full heavy fence. Gotta find someone to do that, too.

Get the electrician back to wire up the house for a generator.

Buy a generator (and gas cans) to run the fridge, an outlet for charging things, and either a window AC unit or space heater depending on season. That's all I need.

Clean out the garage, for real. This might wait until fall when it's cooler out. I can park my car in it but it's otherwise filled with clothes and just... stuff. I need to do a major wardrobe purge soon anyway. Need someplace to store the generator that I can easily pull it out and get it to the porch next time this happens.

So yeah, there's still a lot of work to be done.

This week sucked, but also it coulda been much worse and I had a lot of people being very cool with and/or concerned about me and that made it a lot easier.

And now I'm tired of typing. I hope anyone who actually read all this had a much better week. :D

#personal post tag thingy #disaster preparedness

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