The extreme weather threatening the US and parts of Europe has already downed electricity for thousands of people and made it hard to access supplies. Be smart; be prepared. Build a family emergency kit to get you and your household through at least 72 hours without normal services, as comfortably and safely as possible.

Make a list of things each family member regularly uses and can’t do without. For instance, a baby will need diapers, many changes of clothes, moist towelettes and specific food. Anyone depending on medications should have seven days’ supply stored away. Feminine hygiene products, entertainment items, pet supplies – each person or pet has unique needs.

Discuss it with your family. They’ll remind you of things you may not have thought of. Make sure you have these things, then store them in an accessible place.

If you can, make up an individual box or package for each person, and put it where they can easily find it.

Now let’s look at an all-purpose list of indispensable supplies. Below is the Red Cross list, with our comments in parenthesis:

• Water: one gallon per person, per day: 3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home. (We bought water purification tablets and used them to store tap water in tightly closed buckets. But plain non-perfumed bleach will also serve to sanitize water. Find instructions here.
• Food: non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items: 3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home. (Store foods that your family likes. And a manual can opener)
• Flashlight (or two)
• Battery-powered or hand-crank radio
• Extra batteries for flashlight and radio
• First aid kit (Things to have in the first-aid kit )
• Medications (7-day supply) and medical items
• Multi-purpose tool
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items (toilet paper, feminine hygiene products. Baby wipes can be used in a pinch for personal hygiene when no running water available. Also, shops that sell adult diapers often sell full-body moist towels; worth having for hygiene and comfort.)
• Copies of personal documents: medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies (plus marriage/divorce documents, bank account information). Put these documents in sealed, waterproof bags and keep them in a getaway suitcase in case of evacuation. Here is FEMA’s guide to safeguarding critical documents and valuables.
• Cell phone with chargers (and a portable power bank)
• Family and emergency contact information (put these names and numbers on everyone’s phones. Plus keep a paper copy taped to the refrigerator.)
• Extra cash
• Emergency blankets or sleeping bags
• Map(s) of the area

Depending on the types of disasters that are common where you live, also consider adding these things to your kit:

• Whistle (to call for help)
• N95 or surgical masks
• Matches
• Rain gear
• Towels
  Work gloves
• Tools/supplies for securing your home
• Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
• Plastic sheeting
• Duct tape
• Scissors
• Household liquid bleach
• Entertainment (and comfort) items
• Two-way radios
• Extra set of car keys and house keys (give a set to a trusted neighbor or friend)

We add:

• Moist antiseptic towels to sanitize areas.
• A portable solar-powered or hand-crank lantern, to avoid tripping in the dark.
• Several long-burning candles for comforting light; assuming that it’s safe to have fire burning.
• Two or three cigarette lighters. A cigarette lighter supplies fire many more times than a box of matches.

If the suppy list seems too long to deal with, the Red Cross sells emergency kits of all sizes on their site. But we recommend building your own kit that suits your particular needs.

Other notes:

Wash and dry all the laundry in the hamper, and don’t let more accumulate. If the power goes down or water stops running in the pipes, you’ll at least have clean changes of clothes. This is important not only for hygiene but for mental health: having to live in dirty clothes makes stress worse.

If it seems likely that running water might stop, improvise a toilet made from a tall, sturdy metal bucket, strong plastic bags to line it, and a tight lid. You can also order a portable toilet online.

If you wonder where to store the emergency supplies, stash the boxes or suitcases in unused spaces. Under a table. Under beds; under the sofa. On top of closets, or under a sink. In the space under the stairs. Out on the patio; in the garage – always assuming it’s safe to go outside. Put decorative items away and use the space for emergency storage. It might feel crowded, but you’ll restore order after the emergency.

The important thing is to stay safe and be prepared.

The post How does one start prepping? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II helped push a car that was stuck in the snow while touring Amman after a major winter storm called Alexa pummeled the region. 

Local residents snapped photographs of the King helping a large group of men push a beat up blue car out of the snow on Wasfi Tal Street on Saturday. The images uploaded to Facebook, twitter and other social media sites promptly “went viral.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsMWgWIp8dc#t=26[/youtube]

An Arabic station uploaded a video of the King, who grinned when the car finally took off on its own; his  security entourage ushered him towards the safety of his own vehicle, which looked substantially more capable of handling the bad weather. 

Earlier that day, the King stressed the importance of intensifying efforts to help Jordanians cope with the weather conditions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, and called particular attention to people living in remote areas.

“That’s what you call a true king,” said one video commentator.

Roughly half a meter of snow fell on Jordan over the weekend, according to local news reports, and 10 million cubic meters of water filled the country’s dams.

(Related story: Snow shocks Cairo for first time in 100 years)

While the water is welcome, and it’s great to see a leader from the Middle East bringing himself down to the same level of his people, the storm is just the first that will have serious repercussions for the country’s numerous refugees.

Za’atari camp, which houses approximately 80,000 of the 500,000 or more Syrian refugees living in Jordan, was particularly hard hit by the storm.

Khalil Atma from southern Syria, who tried to stay warm with her two daughters in a flooded, unheated trailer, told Reuters, “We have come from one tragedy to another.”

Save the Children International worked through the night in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan evacuating families whose tents had flooded due to the snow, according to a press release.

The refugees were moved into child friendly centers where they received warm food and blankets. The aid organization is also distributing children’s winter clothing and winter kits for adults as temperatures continue to hover near freezing.

“This snow is the first sign of the treacherous winter in the region that will only increase suffering for children and their families until March,” the group reports.

“Between November and February, temperatures can drop as low as minus six and with over 2 million refugees in the region, 1 million of them children, the humanitarian crisis will worsen in the coming months.”

Our own Laurie collected hats from around the world to distribute to refugees in Za’atari camp. Read her cautionary tale about saving refugees and the world.

The post World’s coolest King pushes a car stuck in snow [video] appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel, like other rich countries in the Middle East, has had to rely a lot on desalination plants to supply much of its drinking water. Desalination now supplies Mideast countries like Saudi Arabia, which is said to have the world’s largest desalination plant. The country receives almost all its fresh water supplies from this energy-intensive process.

In addition to using a significant amount of energy to remove salt and other minerals as well as various pollutants from sea water, the process also is responsible for contributing to raising the salinity levels in sea water due to the highly saline outflow that is returned back into the sea during the desalination process. Studies that have been made to this effect indicate that as more and more desalination plants are used, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, the sea water in these regions will become more and more saline which will be very damaging to marine life.

The recent winter storm that slammed into Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries, brought rain and winds of almost biblical proportions and literally swamped Tel Aviv and other cities. While the flood and wind damage was significant, there was a silver lining to all the clouds as millions of  cubic meters of fresh water not only helped fill reservoirs such as the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s largest inland fresh water lake, but also helped replenish the water level in the Dead Sea which in recent years has had significant drops in its water level due to its main water supply source, the Jordan River, being reduced to a mere trickle.

The lack of water in the Dead Sea was brought to world attention with demonstrations by photo artists such as Spencer Tunick, whose nude art photography was shown graphically with the help of  1,000 Israelis who posed naked in the Dead Sea’s placid waters.

The significant flooding  that occurred in the desert areas near the Dead Sea helped supply that lake with much needed water supplies.  In the coastal areas, flooding of streams like the Kishon, Alexander and Hadera caused havoc to area residents; especially in the city of Hadera and the Arab community of Baqa al Gharbiya where an entire neighborhood had to be rescued by the Israel Navy.

Flooding of   the Ayalon and Hayarkon streams in the Tel Aviv area have resulted in large amounts of fresh water finding its way into the Mediterranean and thereby helping to reduce the salinity increase caused by the country’s coastal desalination plants.

An official for the Mekorot Water Company was quoted as saying that last week’s storms resulted in the creation of as much fresh water as an entire year of operation by all of Israel’s desalination plants. The Sea of Galilee lake alone is said have increased its water level by almost  75 centimeters, and it is now the highest it has been in 20 years.

While last week’s stormy weather will not on its own solve the water problems of Israel and other regional countries, it certainly offered a welcome respite, despite the damages caused.

More articles on regional water and issues:
Biblical flood Swamps Tel Aviv and Fills Reservoirs
Following the Naked Dead Sea Would You Strip for the Jordan River?
Saudi Arabia Opens World’s Largest Desalination Plant
New Hadera Desalination Plant May Help Restore Water to Lower Jordan River

Image of camel in Israel from Shutterstock

The post Israel Floods Replenish the Med and Dead Sea appeared first on Green Prophet.

But urban dwellers aren’t celebrating at all. Sections of the central arteries of Tel Aviv, Ayalon Highway and Highway 1, were closed to traffic in both directions and all four of the city’s railway stations are closed, reports Haaretz. Areas north of the Mediterranean city have been swamped as well and authorities are bracing for the real possibility that both the Ayalon and Yarkon rivers will burst their banks.

It has been one of the wettest winters on record for Israel, but according to local reports, rains were fiercest on Tuesday morning and afternoon, and social media has been flooded with images of water inundating coffee shops and other public buildings.

Traffic in the center of Tel Aviv was heavily congested and police are urging drivers to stay home. At least three people have been killed in weather-related vehicular accidents already.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said the municipality is preparing for an emergency situation if the two rivers overflow. Funds will be made available to help evacuate residents as necessary and to clear their homes of floodwater.

Power outages were reported throughout Tel Aviv and several telephone lines are on the verge of collapse; even small airports have had to divert flights as a result of the storm.

Trees have been uprooted and many businesses shut down as rain continues to pummel the drenched city.

While the influx of water is seen by many as a godsend for the dry country, floods typically have a deleterious affect on topsoil, and the Yarkon River – Israel’s longest coastal river – has a dubious history of intense pollution.

Like Hurricane Sandy in the northeast USA, the flood in Tel Aviv underscores the importance for better disaster preparedness. Because thanks to climate change, there will be more to come.

:: Haaretz

Image of 2010 flood in Israel by ChameleonsEye, Shutterstock

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