Marginal Revolution: Sentences to ponder, Haiti edition

Marginal Revolution: Sentences to ponder, Haiti edition: "“Money is worth nothing right now; water is the currency,” one foreign aid worker told Reuters."

What's really important to have on hand?

More on Haiti and community preparedness

Haiti 48 hours later - The Big Picture - Boston.com: "Two days after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck beneath Port-au-Prince, Haiti, some of the massive damage is becoming more apparent."

Mind blowing pictures of the devastation.

There is also some security video from outside, it was very violent.

Popular Mechanics wonders about what preventative measures could have been taken. Mainly cutting out corruption and not cutting corners in construction.

We've passed the 72 hour mark and now a big worry would be the criminals figuring out that the law is not working and they can take charge because they still have guns and organization.

One of the things my church is working on is organizing the members in case of a major disaster. We have a few hundred people spread over a good sized area.

Mapping them out has been a bit of a pain. Fortunately, they have tended to clump together so we are organizing the neighborhoods and apartment complexes and mobile home parks into what we are calling blocks which are about a mile square.

We are calling people as block captains who will have radios and will check up on people during a disaster. This is our Plan B if the telephone system is down.

We are working through the scenario of no power or phones and a Tornado or Blizzard being the disaster. Those being the most likely or our area.

Ideally we want everyone on ham radio since we already have a thriving Ham community, but we'll probably use FRS/CB for those who don't have a Ham license.

It takes time to build a prepared community but it will be very worthwhile if it ever needs to be activated.

ARRLWeb: ARRL NEWS: Haiti Earthquake: "It's Chaos, I'm Telling You -- It's Real Chaos"

ARRLWeb: ARRL NEWS: Haiti Earthquake: "It's Chaos, I'm Telling You -- It's Real Chaos": "On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM Haiti time (2153 UTC), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, the island nation's capital. Communications in and out of Haiti have been disrupted. The ARRL encourages US amateurs to be aware of the emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173."

There hasn't been much communications between, well, pretty much anywhere and Haiti.

Things in Haiti still remain desperate, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson has arrived which should make a huge difference.

More news. Expect bizarre behavior during disasters.

Some information on helping.

Haiti Earthquake Relief - Coast Guard, Navy and Hospital Ship in Haiti - Popular Mechanics

Haiti Earthquake Relief - Coast Guard, Navy and Hospital Ship in Haiti - Popular Mechanics: "When calamity on the level of Haiti's earthquake strikes, the first U.S. responders bear a heavy load. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, Navy sailors, Coast Guardsmen and professional urban rescue teams will be some of the first to save lives amid the rubble."

Lots of assets on the way already.

The Death Star?

The Death Star?: "The Earth could soon be wiped out by the explosion of a star more than 3,000 light years away, according to American scientists. The star, called T Pyxidis, is set to self-destruct in an explosion called a supernova with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT."

Something else to not bother worrying about. We got more down to earth problems to get ready for.

Haiti: Earthquake! � Global Voices Online

Haiti: Earthquake! � Global Voices Online

The earthquake in Haiti has done a lot of damage but things are being mobilized already.

The Many Different Kinds of Disasters

I was playing around with mindmapping and came up with this for how they are. There are lots of different kinds of disasters but they do seem to fall into 2 broad categories, natural and man-made.
You can quibble about wether famine is natural or man-made (it depends on the cause, but does that really matter when you're hungry) or that something might show up twice.

What I want you to do is red through it and think about how a particular disaster might effect your home and family.