Are we ready?

'Hurricane preparedness urged,' reads a Sunday headline. Seems our chances are better than usual this hurricane season (June 1 to Nov. 30) for a good set of storms.

We discussed our memories of Iniki at the shindig, and I've mentioned before that my sense is that Honolulu urbanites are particularly unprepared and feeling unjustifiably secure in their safety. If O'ahu ever got nailed head on, we'd be paralyzed for weeks.

As Link noted, the neighbor islands are all rightly humble in the shadow of Mother Nature. From tsunami to volcanoes to direct-hit hurricanes, I think being prepared for the worst is almost second nature. We've just been lucky so far. So lucky, Germy Harris wants to raid our emergency hurricane fund to balance his bloated budget. And I say that's the best way to invite a smackdown by the fates.

We've all seen the warning posters on the bus. But how many of us really do have water stored, a supply of batteries, working battery-operated radios and flashlights, and keep gas in our tanks? I have to admit, I live in an apartment, and I don't have much of a hurricane kit.

No doubt you'll see me on the TV news fighting with my fellow condo-dwellers at Longs when that first warning is issued.

Comments

Having cowered through Iniki (on Kaua'i) while the second story of the house blew off and down the road, let me just heartily encourage hurricane preparedness. Including getting a tetanus booster if your last one was more than 10 years ago. Yikes.

Sheesh, it takes a Bostonian to remind me about tetanus boosters! Hadn't even thought of that.

I have a shelf in my freezer door full of batteries of varying sizes, and at least 8 gallon-sized containers which "could" be filled with water if need be. Beyond that, I ain't ready.

During the last close call with the Big Island, my employer opened the warehouse to us for whatever supplies we needed after we got the store and lumberyards "tied down". I was almost tempted to help myself to the huge propane grill but I dont think I could've justified needing that. We have a semi-large store of canned goods (lots of SPAM) but no water storage. We would need to store.. umm... a whole lot for 7 people for a week...

Steve -- I stepped on a nail in the debris, after the hurricane, and unfortunately my tetanus wasn't up to date. Which meant an hour plus drive down the hill (normally a 15 minute drive) to the hospital, a 3 hour wait there, and then a nice, juicy $300 to cover it. Much cheaper, easier, and faster to just keep 'em up to date. ;)

AA batteries I have, never mind the fact that the flashlights I have around here take C or D batteries.

Just ate the last can of Spam in the house tonight. I guess I need to buy some more soon.

Then again I am an apartment dweller with a limited amount of space to store things. I suppose if a hurricane warning was issued I would be joining the ranks of people buying stuff to stock up on the on coming disaster, but least in a hurricane one does have at least 1 to 3 days to stock up on the supplies, where as in an earthquake or tsumani there is little or no warning at all.

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