Many elders are probably going to have trouble understanding why they need to make all these preparations, or will find the process overwhelming and just give up. A good indicator of people who need to evacuate. The lack of community resources for people with disabilities (of all ages) is a serious problem.
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This is timely and worth sharing with anyone who is connected to more frail folks facing these decisions - whether family, in government or ngos, or neighbors.
People do have the right to make decisions , including bad ones.
But it isn't easy to evaluate someone's ability to take information, act on it - or - to tell how they really feel.
Sometimes people will take a safer option if it is a real option - if sufficient supports are provided. In order for many to have a choice, someone must provide transport, often specialized (ambulette), a shelter equipped for their special needs -from ramps through accessible bathrooms; on and on.
If they have needs that cannot be met in any available shelter, then actually, they do not have choices. There isn't anywhere to go.
Perhaps - in retrospect - communities could set up registries (voluntary) of those who have disabilities which would make emergency evacuation difficult, and at least start with an estimation of how many would need special help in the event of a catastrophe.
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Good advice to have backup prescription medication, but if your pharmacy only issues a month's supply at the expiration of that month's allotment, where do you obtain an extra 5-7 days worth to keep in a kit? Perhaps your primary care doctor could give you samples, if they are available?
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Have the people who gave this advice ever helped a hospice patient or a person with dementia or even just a frail elderly person? In the Houston case described last week by the Times, the woman who died was basically kicked out of the hospital and sent out into the community with no support. In addition, people who are sick and/or just frail and overwhelmed are often unable to make the necessary decisions that might save them. Filling up multiple water containers would have been more than several elderly people whom I have known would have been able to do. (Water weighs 8 pounds a gallon.)
What communities really need is systems to help people who cannot help themselves and that starts with understanding how frail people are often overwhelmed by the actions that they need to take. Also, it’s not helpful when you feature op Ed’s by those who stayed and did just fine because they were lucky, not because they knew what they were doing. Remember that the first two people who stayed and died were killed when a tree fell on their roof. They were a mom and a newborn. There was absolutely nothing they could have done except evacuate. The writer who wrote the piece about staying and who glorified his foolish decision could just easily had a tree fall on his house rather than in the other direction.
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@Ceilidth
The easiest way to deal with water is to fill the bathtub with water for washing dishes, etc. and have a good stock of bottled water on hand.
If there isn't a bath tub to use the water heater also has water in it. But to use the water heater absolutely requires turning correct* circuit breaker off, or removing the fuse(s) or turning off the gas valve off. Unless you want to buy a new water heater. If you have hard water the drain valve at the bottom may be completely blocked by a mineral buildup.
* Personal experience with a bad plumbing repair and my husband also flipped the dryer circuit breaker. , instead of the water heater breaker.
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Excellent article and advice. But to evacuate or fully prepare such a kit many aged, fragile or poor people would need assistant and financial resources long BEFORE a storm hits. In the case of Puerto Rico the Trump administration knew in advance that the island was not prepared but failed to act and even turned away offers of help.
In the event of a failure of the electric grid the mainland of the US could be similarly devastated with potentially millions of fatalities unless the grid is restored immediately. Experts have warned that such an existential disaster could happen in at least 3 ways: a powerful solar storm; a cyber attack; or a nuclear weapon detonated in the stratosphere over the central US. It would take months to manufacture and ship new transformers from the other side of the world. In other words, the entire US is just as vulnerable and unprepared as Puerto Rico was. Trump’s ignorance and callousness toward Puerto Rico could turn out to be a cautionary tale for the entire US.
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@Rick Hind I'm not sure the blame should be Trump's - the Puerto Rico government has responsibility for a lot of the problems experienced as a result of badly maintained infrastructure and disaster planning. Then, too, their approach try to control FEMA and federal workers did not help.
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@Margo
Not taken into consideration is that the warehouses of supplies were not completely restocked after the hurricane two weeks prior to Maria.
The fog of war is a military expression that describes the confusion that results initially during an attack. It is apt for Hurricane Maria's attack on Puerto Rico. Recently over 100 semi containers were found sitting around in Puerto Rico that were never delivered because the roads were impassable. Most of the food in them has spoiled because cans rusted and exposed it to the elements. In addition 20,000 palettes of water was found just sitting around.
Much could have been done better in the emergency but much also couldn't be done at all. I've lived through a few hurricanes growing up in South Florida and even a flood in Ponce Puerto Rico and it's difficult to blame anyone for mishaps. It's mass confusion for the first few days until reports come in and resources are allotted.
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Very nice advice but it’s too tough to stay back and face the music since help might not reach in time in spite of people willing to help the needy as quickly as possible. Perhaps it will be too late by then.
It sounds much easier to just leave.
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This is a very helpful article! Blessings!
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