Disaster Prepping Myths

There are a lot of myths and misinformation out there on what to do in case of certain situations. I am only going to mention those involving weather disasters, but this can apply to all areas, please feel free to add any that you may know of. I would love to hear it, especially if it comes to first aid.

Why is this important? Because your knowledge can mean the difference between surviving and helping others survive around you.

You can be faced with a disaster you are not experienced with, and it can happen at any time. And sometimes, the word of mouth information is all you have to rely on. Or your area can even be experienced with these disasters, and people will still rely on faulty information.

Think it doesn't happen? There have been plenty of recent events that shows it can. Last year the east coast was hit with a large earthquake. since there have only been 8 that can be felt in over 200 years, most didn't even know what it was. I was the only person on a floor of EMS workers who knew what to do, get under your desk.

This past week, the mid west and Mid Atlantic area was faced with a deadly derecho, that came swiftly and caused unbelievable damage in a matter of minutes. Most people don't even know what it is called.

The best way to survive any disaster and to help those around you surive, is good ol basic information. I will start with a few examples:

Lightening is the most dangerous, powerful entity the Earth has to offer, it is also the least understood, and myths about it abound.

*Don't touch someone if they are struck by lightning, as you will get shocked too. People do not conduct lightning, which is why it can kill you. You can immediately assist someone who has been struck.
*If you don't see clouds, or hear thunder, such as in heat lightning, you can't get stuck. Truth is any lightning is dangerous, and lightning can travel miles ahead of clouds and strike you. You don't hear thunder because the lightning is so far ahead of it, but if you can see it, it can strike.
even if the sky above you is completely clear, if you can hear thunder, you can get struck by lightning.
*Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. Yes it does. the Empire State Building has been struck almost 100 times.
*You are not safe in a car. Rubber tires do not insulate you from 10,000 volts.
*Standing near tall trees or buildings does not protect you from lightning, in fact, if lightning strikes nearby trees or buildings, it can be transferred to run along the ground.

Hurricanes
*Taping the windows of your building do not prevent breaking and flying glass during hurricanes, in fact, it makes it that much more dangerous by creating larger, flying debris.
*The size and scale of hurricanes does not determine impact. The heaviest rains tend to be from slow moving hurricanes. Hurricane Andrew was the most destructive but was relatively small in size.
*Surge isn't based strictly on the intensity of the hurricane, it is also determined by the angle a hurricane hits and the condition and shape of a coastline. Small storms can produce large surge.
*It is safe after a hurricane is over. Actually other dangerous weather phenomenon can be created as a result of a hurricane passign through, including flash flooding. A lot of damage is done after a hurricane passes.

Tornadoes
*Hiding underneath an overpass on a highway is not a safe place to hide. It is actually an extremely dangerous place to hide, you need to get below ground level, not above it.
*Opening windows does not equalize air pressure in your home. Your home has enough gaps and spaces to allow air to move and vent pressure. Opening the wrong window can allow pressure in. this is a waste of time that should be spent moving to a safe place.
*The southwest corner of a home is not the safest, considering most tornadoes can shift a house around before lifting it off its foundation. Your best bet is just being under a heavy tornado or stairwell in the basement.
*A tornado doesn't have to touch the ground to be dangerous, there are still surface circular winds that throw plenty of debris.

Heat Wave
*Heat kills more people than any other natural disaster.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
Lightening is the most dangerous, powerful entity the Earth has to offer,

I beg to differ, I think the Ocean is more powerful than lightning

*You are not safe in a car. Rubber tires do not insulate you from 10,000 volts.

Yes you are safe, It's not the tires that insulate you, google "Faraday Cage"

Survival really isn't that hard, you can use the "Rule of 3's" as a basic. I think the most important aspect of surviving anything is not to panic and never give up your will to live.

reply to post by EyesWideShut


If you are in a car or piece of construction equipment that is actually made of metal. If it is a convirtable, or a car made of fiberglass, then no.

reply to post by EyesWideShut


Rules of 3's?

reply to post by nixie_nox


C'mon Nikki...lol You're reaching.



Quick, name all of the fiberglass framed cars that you can off of the top of your head.

Originally posted by RedClock
reply to post by EyesWideShut

 

Rules of 3's?

1.You can survive for three hours without shelter

2.You can survive for three days without water

3.You can survive for three weeks without food

This is in an optimal and temporate climate. Obviously extremely high or low temperatures as well as strenuous activities will change things, YMMV. It's not a science, just a Mnemonic.

MYTH: A Lightning Victim Is Electrified. If You Touch Them, You’ll Be Electrocuted.
TRUTH: The human body doesn’t store electricity. It is perfectly safe to touch a lightning victim to give them first aid. This is the most chilling of lightning myths. Imagine someone dying needlessly, for want of simple CPR or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, when their chances of survival was 90%!

MYTH: Rubber Tires Protect You From Lightning In A Car By Insulating You From The Ground.

TRUTH: Lightning laughs at two inches of rubber! Most cars are reasonably safe from lightning. But it’s the metal roof and metal sides that protect you, not the rubber tires. Thus convertibles, motorcycles, bicycles, open outdoor recreational vehicles, and cars with plastic or fiberglass shells offer no lightning protection. Likewise, farm and construction vehicles with open cockpits offer no lightning protection. But closed cockpits with metal roof and sides are safer than going outside. And don’t even ask about sneakers!

www.thesurvivorsclub.org...

reply to post by Catalyst317


As long as you are not touching any metal part of the car when the lightning strikes! I am quite sure that even if you are in a car with a metal body if you are touching any part of that metal and the lightning says "Hello" it's "Bye Bye!"

reply to post by EyesWideShut


Poor baby, don't like being trumped do you?
But congratulations on taking a well meaning thread designed to help people at the start of disaster season and turning it into a pissing contest. Good job citizen!

Late night posting made me forget to put high tech plastics and composites, or a composite of both, in there. My apologies.

Steel is considered the biggest barrier to fuel economy. Not only is it heavy, it is environmentally damaging and expensive to produce, as you need a whole nother industry to produce it. Not to mention, it doesn't rust.

THAT all being said.

Two things, though your car has a steel frame, if you are in a soft top, convertibles, jeep, far equipment, or any vehicle that doesn't have a solid steel roof, you are not safe. I don't know how T tops come into play.

Secondly, even if you do have a full metal frame, nothing can be gaurenteed, as a car is NOT a solid metal box.
There are other conditions that need to be factored in to make it work. All electricity has to be off in the vehicle, whether the vehicle is wet or not determines conductivity, you have to have the windows rolled up so water doesn't draw the electricity inside. And you have to make sure you are not touching anything metal.
So unless you are a car engineer, you have no idea where metal is in your car these days. And considering how many people know nothing about their car, they can't analyze their situation.

If cars were that safe and insulated from lightning, they would tell you to get into a car first. ( I do know idiots who leave the house to sit in the car) Instead, it is recommended as a course of action only if you don't have a building to go into.

As for a car off the top of my head? My stepfather's camaro, and the corvette. My husband just had to do fiberglass work on a car but I can't remember what kind it was.

Common sense will tell you that in order to make cars more fuel efficient to meet upcoming EPA demands, they need to eliminate metals. Composites and plastics are used in cars more than ever.

Don't believe me? Ask any machinist and they will tell you their workload has dropped significantly in recent years.

In the next 20 years, as they figure out how to produce carbon composite cheaply, you will see metal eliminated from cars altogether.

Next year, BMW and another company who I forget, are releasing all composite cars with no metal in them. Not that I will ever be able to afford it.

And that is the route the auto industry is taking unless the steel industry manages to come out with a steel that weighs less than a carbon composite that can still be stamped.

Pissing contests aside, anyone else have ideas?

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by EyesWideShut

 

Poor baby, don't like being trumped do you?
But congratulations on taking a well meaning thread designed to help people at the start of disaster season and turning it into a pissing contest. Good job citizen!

edit on 4-7-2012 by nixie_nox because: (no reason given)

Hypocrite much?

I have heard these things, and am no expert, but maybe someone else can chime in.

Many people often die from collapses because of ash buildup on roofs during volcanic eruptions. Maybe staying inside is not the best idea if your building is flat-topped or unstable.

Ive heard putting a wet rag over your face to filter ash/smoke works well. I asked someone who went through firefighter school and he said if it were too hot the water in your rag would steam up and could seriously injure you.

reply to post by nixie_nox


No pissing contests & I think you took my post out of context. When it comes to issues involving safety I just want the right information to get out, I'm not concerned with how it's disseminated. If you hadn't have made this thread, people wouldn't have learned what was in it so to you.

Here's Hamster from Top Gear showing a pretty telling vid.

Some of your facts are more harmful than helpful Im afraid. You cant just state your opinion as fact and think its ok, especially when someones life might be in harms way....

Taping windows does help, nothing is full proof. But taping big windows will keep it together better and keep it from shattering, 2 big pieces sure can be dangerous, but a hundred smaller ones have that many more times to cause harm....your not suppose to be near the windows anyways once they are taped...

I see a couple others have commented on the car thing as well, I dont anyone said your totally safe in a car, but running out of a car will now make you the taller object, nobody is going to jump out of car and lay on the ground everytimje you see lightning in the area, might as well not leave the house if that is the way you think, the odds of being stuck by lightning are extremely thin, but staying in your car makes more since and keeps you out of the cold rain, can keep things that might be blowing around from hitting you as well, Im not talking trees in a tornado here, Im talking the wind blowing smaller objects which is way more likely...I applaud you for trying to help folks, but you have to make sure your info is really helpful and not something that can get somebody killed.