#quake hint<–$300 saved
17 messages in this thread
Hi, Martin–
Your mention of $10 batteries suggests another ingredient for a quake
preparation kit – they will need replacing in the kit every so often, but you
cannot be sure of finding more batteries even at $10.
Don't be too hard on the "scuzballs" – whether they have it in mind or not, the
high price on those batteries tends to insure they are there for someone who
needs them enough to pay so much. If they continued to sell at the normal
price, the dealers and first customers after the quake would scarf up more
batteries than they really need, and latecomers, no matter how great their
need, would find none. The high price also makes people get a move on bringing
in more batteries, so the price/supply situation will return to normal faster.
Furthermore, the high price gets stories told that make encourage people to
store batteries for a quake, so it will not be as bad next time. Save the
bricks to build unreinforced masonry prisons atop faults, to house the builders
who cheated on the specs to make buildings that fell…
–Doug
Doug,
>> Don't be too hard on the "scuzballs
Interesting point. Here in NY, it's illegal to raise prices in the wake of a
disaster, unless you can prove that it was a "natural" increase you're just
passing on the the buyer. Several local merchants were prosecuted after the
big ice storm a few years ago.
The real value of California is so the rest of us can think camping in a house
with no power or heat for a week or so really isn't so bad <G>.
Al
Hi, Al–
While some people may have camped inside their houses without heat/power, many
hit hard enough by a quake to have lost utilities will camp outside the house,
for fear aftershocks will finish it off. A serious non-Calif. winter would
have made the situation far worse.
Another item for your quake-preparedness kit: Rod found a hardhat with miner's
lamp very handy (and comforting, no doubt) after the Northridge quake for
forays into his powerless house.
–Doug
Doug,
Luckily, the only noticable quake we've had around here in recent years turned
out to really be a massive salt mine collapse. It did jiggle the seismographs,
though, and fooled some people for a while.
Al
Hi, Al–
I am not sure where I saw it, but I recall recently seeing a map of quake
magnitude hazards in the U.S., and being surprised to see a dangerous region in
upstate NY. The map was saying nothing about how often quakes might occur, but
was saying when they occur, they would be really nasty in the dangerous
regions. In that view, Buffalo looked as bad as L.A.! Add general
unpreparedness and things could get rather bad. I do not recall how close to
you that region reached…
–Doug
Doug,
That map, at least _a_ map, was in a recent Time.
Ben
Hi, Ben–
I must have seen the quake map somewhere else – I have not seen an issue of
Time in quite a while.
–Doug
Doug,
I'm not really up on it, but I know there have been quakes within a couple of
hendred miles of Rochester, as I recall, on the edge of the Adirondacks near
the Canadian border.
You're right about the potential for big trouble. In the urban areas, we're
fairly well prepared for ice & snow, floods, and such, but I doubt that anyone
has given serious thought to a disastrous quake.
Al
Hi, Al–
That unpreparedness in terms of building codes and whatnot could be costly.
But the good news is that some forms of preparedness apply to other potential
disasters as well. Having some cash, batteries, tools, etc. handy should be
just as helpful whether it is a hurricane or a quake.
–Doug
Hi, Doug
I've made an effort to stay prepared, since our week in the cold after the ice
storm, but it's surprising how soon we forget. The first year after, there were
an amazing number of electrical generators in people's garages. The second
year, there were an amazing number offered at garage sales <g>. I've still got
mine, along with a cable made up to plug it into the house wiring.
Al
Having a home generator is all well and good, but you do understand that you
need to have a provision for disconnecting your house from the power grid when
you fire it up? If you don't, you will end up trying to provide power to the
entire blacked out area. More important, you may kill or injure electrical
workers trying to fix the problem.
>>>Your mention of $10 batteries suggests another ingredient for a quake
preparation kit – they will need replacing in the kit every so often…<<<
Stash them in a plastic bag in the back of your freezer or the freezer section
of the fridge. The speed of chemical reactions at -10 degrees C is about three
orders of magnitude slower than at room temp, so batteries don't go dead or
corrode very quickly if you freeze them and keep them frozen. (And, yes, they
work when you take them out).
Hi, Don
> The speed of chemical reactions at -10 degrees C is about three orders of
> magnitude slower than at room temp, so batteries don't go dead or corrode
> very quickly if you freeze them …
> (And, yes, they work when you take them out).
I assume that you mean that you have to let them thaw out before you expect
them to work? <g> Thanks for the tip.
Regards, Guy
Hi, Don–
That sounds like an excellent idea for normal battery-hoarding, but remember
that that freezer may become difficult/dangerous to reach in the event of
really bad quake damage. The best place for a quake kit is outside the house.
Crowbars, work gloves, flashlights, and whatnot could be handy for re-entering
the house to free trapped people and get other supplies – unless they are
inside the house. I have such in my car trunk at all times, and they prove
handy for other reasons (driving emergencies, impromptu collecting) – batteries
beyond those for the flashlight could be saved in the fridge to be "rescued" at
need.
Have you tried freezing batteries enough to know if they become more
leak-prone? Thermal stress might do that, I suppose.
A single-family standalone house may be unlikely to be flattened that badly
–Doug
My mom has been stashing batteries in her freezer for about 40 years without
problems, and I've done it myself for about 10. They work fine even before
they "thaw" although they are a little weak at first. I doubt they actually
freeze as the moisture inside them has an awfully high concentration of
impurities.
Hi, Don–
I was being a little silly in asking about leakage – the batteries in my car
trunk have been subjected to a number of freeze/thaw cycles, not just one, and
do not leak any more often than those kept indoors that I can tell.
–Doug