Looking For Some Help From ATS.

In roughly less than a week from now I will be giving a persuasive speech for my speech class. I have pretty much decided on the topic of disaster preparedness, both natural and man-made, but a focus on the former. I was hoping you guys might be able to point me in the direction of why this is so important this day and age and what kinds of things people need to do to be prepared. My reasons for this topic: Increased solar activity that could release a devastating solar flare causing a disruption or shutdown of the power grid, the fact that we are overdue for a large earthquake in the New Madrid area and the west coast, and an increase in natural disasters overall.

I have Googled my info already, but the problem is that I need reliable sources to back up what I am trying to convince people to do. So far I have come up with very little.

The help is much appreciated and I thank everyone in advance for any contributions!

for a good effect, turn off the power in the classroom for a few minutes before you enter.

the class will fell strange.....play off of it...say something like "the power is not coming back on"

grab their attention

mention civil unrest in power outage situations.

definitely talk about new madrid, i think the 200 year anniversary was the other day, ...a quake that shook half of america...a repeat would probably wipe out memphis

yellowstone definitely, but just touch on it...katrina briefly (to reenforce that it can happen here)

japan obviously.

if you have a computer that you can project for the class, use 3d earthquake....that's an amazing program to grab attention.

sorry if that's not what you are looking for.

good luck

Mention the "rule of threes." Insofar as is possible, you should have three different sources of fresh water, three different places (not close together) that you could theoretically sleep, three plans for getting food, and so on. This idea is to build in redundancy, so that if plan A fails you have plan B, and if plan B fails you have plan C.

This is, of course, not always possible or practical, but I think it is very important and often overlooked.

reply to post by edgecrusher2199


The problem with telling them how to prepare is that it is dependant on each individuals needs and survival skills. Some folks can survive with absolutely nothing, some cannot survive even with a fully stocked set of survival gear, yet others have serious medical needs that will make it nearly impossible without outside help.

Here is what the government recommends though:
www.ready.gov...

reply to post by silent thunder


Thats not the rule of threes I learned, this is:

3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food

reply to post by defcon5


3 hours without shelter?
In what conditions exactly?

reply to post by BadBoYeed


Love the idea of turning off the power in the class for effect.... I can see it now...

Billy(edgecrusher) has prepared his class presentation on Disaster prepardness, he turns off the the power to his class, waiting patiently outside the door.
Sam, inside the dark classroom takes the darkness as an opportunity to scarea fellow classmate, Marie.
Marie tells Sam to grow up.
Now enters Billy saying, "congratulations Sam you are the first to react to this hypothetical disaster, the power is out in your area just outside of the epicenter of a major disaster. You take this opportunity to prey on others in a negative manner. Unfortunately for you Marie, although most looters and criminals act on necessity in times of lawlessness, Sam has no motive. He's just out to have fun, as he goes through the town door to door taking what he wishes with his band of psychopaths.
Billy points to Eddy and Jimbo saying, "you guys have prepared for a disaster by stockpiling food and water, this is good, although not good considering Sam is crazy as S%@! and wants all your stuff and probably your scalp too. But you Timothy are a champion of disaster preparedness youve packed a BUG OUT BAG, and are safely away from the crazyness of modern man without his consumer cushion living in hte woods in self sufficiency...

Take a line from the government and pray on fear in your presentation.

Every one should have three months at least worth of water and food, toilet paper, painkillers, and batteries.
They should have solar radios, torches, heaps of spare gasoline and portable heating fuel (gas or butane ect).
They should have lots of whisky for emergencys.
Soap, toothpaste ect ect all in stored in manageable containers ready to be moved if needed.
If one had none of the above supermarkets were emptied one would die or have to fight or loot to survive.

reply to post by edgecrusher2199


I believe it is important in this age to be prepared for a disaster because these days people cant go a couple days without power to run a re-fridgerator, any event that empties the store shelves is life or death.
Modern man has, for the most part, lost touch with nature and his ability to tap this resource during an unforseeable event. In earlier times, when crops failed, we turned to each other and natures bounty of wild edibles and medicine to hold us over til the next staple was regrown. Because most do not have arable land at their disposal, we lack the means to care for ourselves when the supply chain is broken. Thus the need for a "kit" or bag of stuff that will help us survive until someone rescues us from our own inability to maintain our own present condition.

The second greatest resource one can tap is your neighbors, get to know them and create a community plan, "many hands make light work". Unless the situation calls for migration, then less is better, for stealthy movement if needed.

Why preparedness is important is because we have come to rely on a very tenuous supply chain that is fueled by petroleum. This was not always the case and the farther back in time you go the more people had to do for themselves and stock up for winter and/or hard times.
Most of our stuff comes from China now, even food like dried apples. Carried overseas in giant cargo ships, dropped at a port and then trucked or sent by train to your town. As fuel prices go up so does everything else due to shipping costs. This is seriously affecting those whose financial situation is already precarious.
So many things can affect this supply chain that to blindly cling to it in hopes that it will continue is more or less suicidal thinking.
The war in Bosnia will give you some ideas on what happens when that chain breaks. People have to improvise, barter and find alternative modes of transportation. I read a diary of a guy in Sarajevo that was very informative - try googling that.
Good luck with your presentation.

reply to post by TraptInTheSystem


Obviously the type that will cause death by exposure.
I assume either excessive heat, cold, rain, snow, etc.

Originally posted by BadBoYeed
for a good effect, turn off the power in the classroom for a few minutes before you enter.

the class will fell strange.....play off of it...say something like "the power is not coming back on"

grab their attention

mention civil unrest in power outage situations.

definitely talk about new madrid, i think the 200 year anniversary was the other day, ...a quake that shook half of america...a repeat would probably wipe out memphis

yellowstone definitely, but just touch on it...katrina briefly (to reenforce that it can happen here)

japan obviously.

if you have a computer that you can project for the class, use 3d earthquake....that's an amazing program to grab attention.

sorry if that's not what you are looking for.

good luck

The power getting shut off in school while I was in class back in the day would mean all smiles from everyone. If theres no light, ya cant do any more work, and no work means goofing off and having fun.

...oh what fun those days were!! Life just goes downhill after those days... So kids, STAY in school for as long as you can stay there because as soon as ya get out, the sooner reality SMACKS YA IN THE FACE and life goes to all work and no play...

...NO play...

Think about stressing water and the need for a good filtering device for that water when something happens. You can also work Haiti into the project. This long after their disaster it just keeps getting worse. There's no guarantee of any "knight in shining armor" saving anyone, anywhere in the world. When there's a disaster you are on your own for as long as it takes. It may be 5 minutes (if you're lucky) for police or EMS or fire respondrs to arrive or it may be 5 days depending on the conditions...and if it's really bad they might never show up.

Technology failure will make any disaster worse. All the help coming depends on radios, gps, etc. to help you and to keep themselves safe in a catastrophe.

Congratulations on a timely topic for your project that a lot of people worldwide still think "can't happen to me."

3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without hope


i think it goes along what what the other posters have already said.

For a speech on man-made disaster preparedness don't go crazy with talk about solar flares and assumed earthquakes.

Speak about reality. Talk about what people should do in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. Speak about the danger of flooding from man-made changes to rivers.

Speak about the increased risk of landslides from building on the sides of hills where mass wasting occurs and how to prevent it.

People will just look at you funny if you bring up these unproven theory's about future earthquakes or volcanic eruptions that no one knows will happen or not.