Post-Armageddon; Lessons for a prepper

[rcjordan]

Because of CV-19, I've been discussing prepper issues with my daughter.  Her nursing home, about 1 mile inland from the mid-Atlantic, was spec-built to handle 130mph winds.  UNlike 99% of nursing homes, it has the capacity for full-service (HVAC), off-grid electricity and food prep for a week, maybe 10 days.  During the last hurricane, which came ashore directly over her facility, she housed 110 residents, 100 family members, and 130 staff.  Her building held up fine and her generator allowed her to provide some services to other nearby nursing homes in the aftermath (laundry).

She was not prepared, however, for loss of the city's infrastructure.  Here's what hit her...

#1 - No gasoline available. This is not for the facility's generator, it's diesel, but for staff to get to work.  When the roads finally opened, she had a 500-gallon tanker brought in from across the state.  BUT, she had no storage tanks for gasoline, so she called a local marine supply and they loaned her boat tanks.

#2 - Water. The city's system was flooded and contaminated.  The city did a priority fix for her, but she learned a lesson. They had a well drilled on-site.

#3 - Paper goods were good ...but also a problem, as they generated massive amounts of wet garbage.  And there was no garbage pick-up service.  She has mandated that they are to use washable china & utensils next time, but

#4 - garbage is still going to be a problem. We're discussing make-shift incinerators.

[ukgimp]

Interesting. Thanks

[rcjordan]

>on-site well

That will be used to flush toilets, bathe, etc. but it might not be suitable for drinking water.  Long-term storage of emergency use tanks & containers is an available-space problem. So, I've suggested these for each resident.  They'd draw potable water ahead of the storm and store it in the patient's bathroom.

Coghlan's Collapsible Water Container, 5-Gallon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EHACXS/

>gas
Setting up storage for 500 gal of gasoline is a real problem. There are a host of regulations and safety issues.

[ergophobe]

>gas
Setting up storage for 500 gal of gasoline is a real problem. There are a host of regulations and safety issues.

I store 2,000 gallons of water, but storing even a small amount of gas is an issue in fire country. We used to store some gas for the winter, but now keep the amounts very small. Come summer, we pour it into the cars and save none almost none, even though summer power outages are common.

[Brad]

I've been trying to plug these kinda gaps as money and attention permit.  I just got a Berkey gravity fed water filter unit in plus some collapsible water cubes.  BTW i notice all the Berkey units I got are now all sold out on Amazon.