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helwenAn interesting thought came up in the comments to my previous post; it made more sense for L and I to be prepared for emergencies because we live in a isolated area. Now while it's true that we don't have a supermarket, movie theatre, or hospital, I don't really think of us as being isolated, at least not in terms of power outages or fire. And having had the ambulance here a couple of times last year, that service also seems to work well.
Our community came together and provided things like old phones that would work with the power they could get from the phone lines. Our house had heat and water. And although we enjoyed our shower at our friends' place in Sunderland and their company as well, we could have done what my FIL did and heat up water on one of the stoves and filled up the tub that way.
As soon as the business district had power (sometime Saturday), people were congregating at Country Pie Pizza, the hardware store, and probably over at Elmer's as well. They weren't there just for food or supplies but also to check on how other parts of town were doing, how folks were doing, even getting news on neighboring towns. Some of the cheeriest conversations I'd seen all year happened during the power outage.
For those who couldn't manage on their own the Sanderson Academy was set up as a shelter. Some folks went there to stay, others to pick up some basic supplies, others to help, and still others just to share meals and company with those who were staying there. All of the emergency services were available and busily at work. So, all the services one might expect in a bigger town or in a city.
If this had happened last year in Holyoke, L and I probably could have closed up most of the house and stayed in the living/dining room for a few days. We would have had to drain the radiator pipes (which would have given us plenty of flushing water at least). If it had gone on for longer than that we would have had to find somewhere else for us and our cats to stay.
If it had happened this year, we might have had a wood stove by then, as we'd been talking about getting one and installing it in the living/dining room. But as it stood when we left, our house wasn't ready for a prolonged winter power outage. It didn't even have a fireplace, inefficient as those are.
Every year people freeze to death in winter or die during heat waves in the summer. They do it in the countryside and in the city. And of course unemployment doesn't care where people live either (another reason for having some extra food on the shelves).
***
So, we do what we can in the places we live.
That might be seeing to our own personal preparedness so we don't have to tax the local emergency shelter's limits.
Or we might be able to put someone else up for a night or two because we have some extra blankets and enough food and water for them as well as ourselves.
Or if we are the ones who need help, we know ahead of time where those places are that we can get help.
What comes around goes around. Being prepared isn't just serving ourselves, but serving our community.
Our community came together and provided things like old phones that would work with the power they could get from the phone lines. Our house had heat and water. And although we enjoyed our shower at our friends' place in Sunderland and their company as well, we could have done what my FIL did and heat up water on one of the stoves and filled up the tub that way.
As soon as the business district had power (sometime Saturday), people were congregating at Country Pie Pizza, the hardware store, and probably over at Elmer's as well. They weren't there just for food or supplies but also to check on how other parts of town were doing, how folks were doing, even getting news on neighboring towns. Some of the cheeriest conversations I'd seen all year happened during the power outage.
For those who couldn't manage on their own the Sanderson Academy was set up as a shelter. Some folks went there to stay, others to pick up some basic supplies, others to help, and still others just to share meals and company with those who were staying there. All of the emergency services were available and busily at work. So, all the services one might expect in a bigger town or in a city.
If this had happened last year in Holyoke, L and I probably could have closed up most of the house and stayed in the living/dining room for a few days. We would have had to drain the radiator pipes (which would have given us plenty of flushing water at least). If it had gone on for longer than that we would have had to find somewhere else for us and our cats to stay.
If it had happened this year, we might have had a wood stove by then, as we'd been talking about getting one and installing it in the living/dining room. But as it stood when we left, our house wasn't ready for a prolonged winter power outage. It didn't even have a fireplace, inefficient as those are.
Every year people freeze to death in winter or die during heat waves in the summer. They do it in the countryside and in the city. And of course unemployment doesn't care where people live either (another reason for having some extra food on the shelves).
***
So, we do what we can in the places we live.
That might be seeing to our own personal preparedness so we don't have to tax the local emergency shelter's limits.
Or we might be able to put someone else up for a night or two because we have some extra blankets and enough food and water for them as well as ourselves.
Or if we are the ones who need help, we know ahead of time where those places are that we can get help.
What comes around goes around. Being prepared isn't just serving ourselves, but serving our community.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 05:39 am (UTC)