After a flood, check you kitchen and room and discard anything porous, wooden or plastic that you use with food or to prepare food with. Picnic-type cutlery such as stryofoam plates, paper plates and plastic cups should also be discarded as well.

Throw away cosmetics, medicine, baby bottle nipples and pacifiers that have also come in contact with waters.

Throw out all vegetables, fresh fruits and produce which have come in contact with flood waters. Any fruit or vegetable – even root crops growing underneath soil are not safe. It takes around a month for your garden to become clean, so do not harvest anything yet and wait for the new crops to grow one month after the flood.

In Case of Power Outages

Disasters like earthquakes and typhoons can cause power outages, so a lot of items inside your refrigerator can perish. Basically, after the disaster you should first check all the perishable items in your refrigerator and use all of them as soon as possible.

Perishable items include fresh meats, eggs, foods that have been cooked already and other content inside your freezer.

Remember that if some frozen foods are thawed, it is not safe to freeze them again so consider them perishable as well. You can keep them inside the refrigerator for two days and cook them within that span of time, or else discard them right after.

After using up perishable items, you can continue on and use the non-perishable items like hard cheese, jams and jelly preserves, margarine, butter, mayonnaise, ketchup, peanut butters, peanuts, syrups, pickles and other preserved food.

What To Do With Thawed Foods?

However, freezers and refrigerators can keep its internal temperature for a short period of time as long as it remains closed. If the power outage lasts more than two to four hours, some frozen foods might start to thaw. Once food starts to thaw, consider these as perishable goods which you should not attempt to refreeze but serve right away.

If your freezer is not full, arrange the food items inside in such a way that meat and poultry is separate from the other content. Try to put them in trays or plastic containers so that if they thaw, their juices do not contaminate any other item inside the freezer. Make sure that you use these and serve right away.

What You Can Do With Canned Goods

Let’s say you have your own home survival foods which Commercial canned goods which were not exposed to flood waters can be consumed right from the can. If the cans were exposed to flood waters, check to make sure that they remain sealed and airtight. If the cans show any signs of swelling, bulging, sweeping or damage, these are no longer safe to eat and must be discarded right away.

If they are sealed and airtight, remove the labels, clean them and sanitize them properly, then re-label them using a permanent marker. Don’t forget to include the expiration date.

Do not keep these information for yourself. Write them down or educate the people in your home so they will know what to do after disasters and emergencies as well.

-    WATER SAFETY:
First, you should assume that water from your faucet or well is contaminated unless it is disinfected or tested and proven otherwise. You should drink only clean water, which means that it should either be purified and bottled, boiled or treated water. You should also use only clean water for washing hands, cleaning and cooking food and cleaning kitchen items.

You can disinfect water by boiling it or mixing eight drops of household bleach to one gallon of water.

-    FOOD SAFETY:
For food items, is recommended that you throw out foods that have come into contact with floodwaters. If food is stored in waterproof containers or cans, inspect the containers for damage first o see if any trace of water can seep in.

If the food container remains waterproof, clean it first by removing all labels, washing with clean soap and water and sanitizing them with boiling or chemically-treated water. Make sure to air dry the containers before opening them and cooking them.

Of course, you should also thoroughly wash and disinfect all dishes, cutlery and kitchen countertops prior to preparing food and allow them to air dry before using them.

If you have a kit containing disaster survival supplies, put in some water purifying tablets or household bleach, which you can use to disinfect water in the event of a crisis.

Treating Wounds and Other Injury

Cuts and wounds are common injuries during disasters such as typhoons and floods. This is where your survival kits will come in handy.

What To Do: Immediately clean out all cuts and wounds using soap and clean (purified, boiled or disinfected) water. Then treat the wound and cover it with clean and dry bandage. Seek out medical attention when able in order to see if further treatment, like a tetanus shot, is needed. Look out for swelling or draining and visit your doctor right away in case this occurs.

Keeping Yourself and Your Family Well

Cough and colds are also common occurrences during the aftermath of a disaster. Keep your family’s immune system healthy by continuing to take in vitamins, especially Vitamin C. Make sure that you wash your hands always with clean water and soap, or use alcohol-based products and sanitizing gels.

Indeed, crises can occur, and what’s important is surviving during and AFTER it. As long as you are prepared and know the right precautionary measures to take – you and your family should be fine and safe.

While surviving during the typhoon or during the disaster is first most important thing, the danger isn’t really over right after the disaster. The aftermath can bring about a wide range of illnesses and it’s important to be prepared and know what to do right away.

Preventing Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis, wich is also known by several names such as Weil’s syndrome, canefield fever, canicola fever, 7-day fever, black jaundice and Rat Catcher’s Yellows is an infection caused by the bacteria leptospira. While it is known to be carried and spread through the urine of rats and mice, it can also affect and can also be carried by other mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles.

The infection is transmitted through contact with the urine of a host or infected animal. The infected urine can get into water, soil or food and contaminate it. You can contract the condition if the contaminated moist soil or water gets in contact with broken skin or mucous membranes. The same can also happen if you ingest contaminated food and water, as well.

Symptoms and signs of the illness can appear within two to twenty-five days upon contamination, and is divided into two stages. The first stage includes the appearance of flu-related symptoms such as:

-    muscle pain
-    headaches
-    eye pain
-    conjunctivitis
-    fever and
-    chills

After the fifth to ninth day, you may start to feel well again, but that’s just a phase. The second stage will then follow after several days of feeling well, and will start with the same symptoms as the first stage. The second stage is more dangerous though because some patients will begin to suffer from extreme inflammation in different parts of the body including the brain, spinal column, eyes and other important organs such as the liver, kidneys, lungs and heart.

By the first week of January 2012, the condition already killed more than ten people in our city, and the public hospitals were filling up with patients that they had to create makeshift-tents to serve as emergency room extensions to accommodate the throngs of patients coming in.

When left untreated, leptospirosis can completely damage the kidneys or cause severe meningitis and can cause death, but if diagnosed and treated right away, patients can make full recovery.

What made our situation unfortunate was that people weren’t informed about this risk, so a lot of them didn’t take preventive medication or use preventive safety gears when they went back to their homes to clean up.

What To Do: Leptospirosis can be prevented with prophylaxis, which is recommended to be taken right away after (ideally before) contact with flood waters and mud. Prophylaxis involves taking 200 mg of doxyclycline once a week.

You can also prevent contact with possibly contaminated water by wearing protective materials like boots and waterproof gloves. If you plan to go or stay in affected areas, you should continue taking at least one dose of doxycycline each week for as long as you continue exposure.

If you have been exposed to floodwaters and mud, it is also recommended that you pay attention to the possible symptoms of leptospirosis and have yourself checked right away in order to get diagnosed and treated.

I looked at our water containers, which I filled up the night before during the onslaught of the typhoon and to my horror we were left with just a large pail of water. We still had several large 5-gallon containers of purified drinking water at home, but our supply of emergency water storage was slowly dwindling so we had almost nothing to use for washing the dishes, flushing the toilets or washing up with. Worst of all, we received news that several major water pipes in the city were broken, which left 80% of the city waterless for the days or weeks.

Given the water emergency, the city water provider opened up fire hydrants and several water stations in the city that provided free water, and dozens of fire trucks were also mobilized to get water from different parts of the province and provide water to different villages and neighborhoods. All people had to do was gather all their water containers, wait for their containers to be filled up and bring them back home.

While that was a relief, it still wasn’t easy, considering that plenty of families didn’t own cars and had to carry large containers of water back to their homes. Lucky for us I had two able-bodied brothers who made carrying look so easy. Looking back, I wonder how everyone in the family managed to live off on one 5-gallon bottle of purified bottled water (for drinking) and five 5-gallon bottles of tap water for all the other necessities.

Luckily, by the fourth day (around December 20, Wednesday), the city’s water company was able to fix the pipes supplying water to our area. By that time we already had running water, which although slow and erratic, was better than nothing. Others weren’t as lucky and had to wait for one to two weeks before finally getting their water supply back.

Anyway, here’s how we survived the four days without proper water supply was amazing, and here are some quick tips that you might want to keep in mind just in case the same happens to you or your area.

Prepare Water

Always have potable drinking water ready. Experts recommend having a three-day supply of water for everyone, with each one having one gallon of water per day. If you have a water tank or large water containers at home – use it to store water. Just make sure to use the water and replenish it every few months or so.

Don’t Trust Tap Water

In the event of a flood, water emergency is one of the most important things to consider. This is because floodwaters may have contaminated the water through broken piping or through well systems. Even if you have running water from pipes or from your backyard well – do not use it to drink, prepare food, prepare formula milk or brush your teeth with unless you are sure that it is disinfected or proven safe to drink. It is advisable to use purified drinking or bottled water for the activities mentioned above, but in the event that purified or bottled water is not available – you can do emergency water filtration. There are two ways to do so, and these are:

-    Boiling. Boiling water is the surest way to kill harmful contaminants brought about by flooding. Simply take the water and bring it to a boil for several minutes. Let the water stand and cool before using it.

-    Chemical Filtration. If you cannot boil the water, disinfect the water chemically. You can do this by adding 8 drops of chlorine-based household bleach to each gallon of water and letting it stand for thirty minutes. The water should smell like chlorine (think of swimming pools).

In our case, we used purified bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, preparing formula milk and cooking, but used chemically treated water for washing dishes and taking a bath.

Reduce Your Use Of Water

If your water supply is cut-off and you need to get water from another source, then you’ll have to make do with what you get for the day and that means using your water wisely. Here are some water-saving tips that you might want to consider to reduce your use of and conserve the water supply that you have at home.

-    Assign everyone in the family individual water containers to serve as drinking bottles. This way, you don’t need to use and wash glasses every so often.
-    Use paper plates and utensils as much as possible. You can also use waxed paper to line the plates. It’s easy to use and takes up less space in the trash than paper plates.

-    Cook big meals that can be reheated for lunch, dinner or even breakfast the following day. This way you’ll only need to wash the utensils, pots and pans once and not several times a day.

-    Never mind the laundry first. During water shortage or a shut-down of water supply in your area, your primary concern should be drinking water and water to use for more important things like washing and preparing food. Don’t worry if your laundry is piling up since you can always attend to it once the water supply returns.

-    Easy on the washing. Whether you plan to do a quick wash-up or take a quick bath, try standing on a big plastic basin and ask everyone else to do the same. When you wash the dishes, try collecting the dirty or used water in another basin, too. The water you collect can be used to flush toilets.

These are just some things to remember in case a water emergency crisis happens to your area or city. While nobody can determine when disasters would happen and if they would happen but it pays to be prepared and know what to do in case something does happen in the future.

Yes they are! Even if you live in a place that isn’t usually struck by disasters, you can never underestimate the reach of Mother Nature. My city, for example, has never experienced or seen disaster in so many years and we never expected anything to happen at all – but something did and we were not prepared for it at all. You’ll never know when a fire, landslide, flashflood or blizzard will occur; so it pays to be prepared when it happens.

When Should You Prepare Disaster Kits?

You should put together a survival kit the first minute a storm warning is signal. Since storm signals are usually given out several days before the storm makes landfall, there’s plenty of time for you to prepare. However, it’s good to remember that some types of disasters like fire or earthquakes happen without warning at all. In this case, it is better to be prepared all the time – which means that you can actually make your disaster preparedness kit right now.

What To Put Inside The Kit

-    Food. Your supply should be good for at least 72 hours or three days. Choose small and non-perishable items that pack calories, do not need refrigeration and heating such as food bars, crackers, candy, canned goods, baby food (if needed) and dried fruits. Don’t forget to include a can opener to open up canned goods. You can include a can of sterno for heating up food and drinks. In the event that no disaster happens, consume and replace food items every four to six months so as not to waste them.

-    Water. Water is very important. You will also need at least 72 hours supply of water, with each person getting a ration of one gallon per day. You can prepare bottled water or use your own potable water at home. Store the bottles in a cool, dark place. The bottles can be stored for up to six months, so in order to not waste them, consume and replace them every five months or so.

-    First Aid Supplies. You should have at least one first aid kit at home, but it is a good idea to have one kit inside each of your cars and one where you work, too. Your kit should be small and compact but should contain the basic necessities like adhesive bandages, gauze pads, sterile bandages, scissors, needles, tweezers, wet wipes, antiseptic, rash ointments, thermometer, safety pins and cleansing soap. They should also include non-prescription drugs like aspirin or any type of pain reliever, medication for fever, diarrhea and colds, antacids, Ipecac and Activated charcoal. Check the items regularly for their expiration date and use or replace if necessary.

-    Sanitation and Personal Hygiene Supplies. Include soaps, hand sanitizer, no-rinse shampoos or body wash, wet wipes, household bleach, sanitary napkins, toothbrush and toothpastes.

-    Clothing and Bedding Items. Keep at least one change of clothing for each person in the house. Your items of choice should protect you from the heat or the cold, so replace the items every few months to match the season. Keep some blankets inside the kit, too. If you have them, sleeping bags may also come in handy. Plastic sheets or tarps can come in handy too because they’re easy to fold and can serve as  mats or even as make-shift tents in case you really need shelter.

-    Tools. Important tools include battery operated radio or television, portable chargers, flashlight, extra batteries, wrench (for shutting off gas and water pipes), a Swiss Army knife, several meters of strong, sturdy rope, plastic bags, plastic cutlery, duct tape and plastic sheets.
-    Special Items. Special items include all important household documents (or copies of those), prescription medication, money and special needs for the elderly or infants, if necessary. Include identification cards, personal information and a list of important contact numbers such as other family members and your doctor.

Storing the items

You can put the items inside a lockable and waterproof plastic box – which is a great thing if the disaster forces you to stay inside the house. However, some disasters like wildfires may force you to leave your home, so you may also opt for something that’s easier to carry, such as a waterproof duffel bag or dry bags.

Place the kit in an area where you spend most of your time in and not in the basement. If your kit is for the whole family – then keep it in the kitchen, and make sure everyone knows where it is. Ideally, you should also have another kit inside your car, just in case. You can buy those glow-in-the-dark strips or stickers which you can stick onto the kit, making it easy to find in the dark.

Some Final Reminders

Sometimes it may be tempting to pack too much, but remember that you’re packing for survival – not for a holiday trip. Limit your choice of items and stick to the necessary, and pack just for the first 3 days. Packing too much may sometimes be just as bad as not packing at all, so easy off on the hoarding.

Also, it pays not to hesitate in buying the best items for your kit. After all, in the event of a disaster where things are crucial, you’ll be thankful for those long-life batteries or extra sharp scissors.

Keep in mind that disasters may – or may not happen. So if a disaster doesn’t happen within months or years after preparing your kit, don’t just leave the kit and forget about it. You’ll never know when the time comes that you’ll need it.

Check on the kit every four to six months and consume and replace all food and water. Regularly replace other items such as over-the-counter medication, batteries and even clothing in order to match the season. This may sound like tedious work, but a devoting a couple of hours for this every four to six weeks can certainly help in the event of a disaster.

Lastly, don’t hesitate to try the kit out. Bring it with you if you’re going camping, or try a test-run at home with your family. By trying it out, you’ll know for sure how it will work out and can add or reduce items depending on what you will decide is necessary or not.

I ’m slowly putting together a kit for my family now. Nobody knows when the next disaster might hit our city, and we’re praying it won’t happen within the next few years – but when it happens, I want to make sure that we’re prepared.

1)    Go to a high area. If you live in low-lying or flood prone areas,
evacuate and move to higher ground during the day or the day before the
typhoon’s expected landfall. If you live in an elevated area, high-rise
building, or a tall house – make sure that you stay indoors all the
time.

2)    Monitor the situation. You will need electronic devices to monitor
the situation. Charge your mobile phones and laptops and make sure
their batteries are full. If you have extra batteries, make sure that
you also have a battery-operated radio incase electricity goes out. You
can get information through your mobile phone but your radio is your
best bet in getting information about things especially during
blackouts. Make sure that your mobile phone also has credits so you can
call up your family anytime you need to.

3)    Prepare for Blackouts. At 11 PM, the power in the city was turned
off – so we were all left in the dark. We only had four stubby candles –
and nothing else. If I could do it over again, I would have charged our
portable emergency lights and lamps because it would definitely have
helped.

4)    Prepare for Water Shortage. The typhoon damaged some major
pipelines in the city, which caused water shortage for over 80% of the
city for several weeks. This was what made things really difficult
because people had no water to drink, clean themselves up, clean their
houses with and use for other purposes. Nobody knows when water
shortages might come up and how soon the water supply will return so
always have extra water in store always. You can buy big water
containers or tanks which you can install at home and keep it filled
always.

5)    Prepare A Kit. Disaster preparedness kits are necessary. These can
include bottles of water, some ready to eat food, a change of clothes,
inflatable life jackets, flashlights or candles and thick ropes. You can
place the items inside a bag or a plastic box and can adjust the
content depending on what you or your family needs. Make sure that you
consume the food and drink the water and replace these items every
several months or so.

These five steps are quite simple and easy to do – but they can make a huge difference in the event of any disaster.

People were walking on the streets, some of them wet up to the waits. Cars were speeding past, jeepneys (Philippine public utility vehicles) carrying families and belongings. Some people were running with bags on their backs, carrying children. The village on the other side of the road was slowly being flooded – the water levels were already up to the waist.

Thus, we started to panic. If various parts of the city were flooded, and the village in front of where we lived was already half-submerged in water, how long would it take for the water to reach us? It was a scary thought not knowing what to do, having no news because there was no electricity, no access to the television or radio.

My mom instructed all of us – my brothers, boyfriend and house help to pack up a change of clothes, a bottle of water and some basic necessities. Because there was no power – and we only had four candles left, we scrambled in the dark to for backpacks, clothing, water bottles and the like.

I packed my laptop and external hard drive inside a Ziploc bag in order to protect it from getting wet. We took out an inflatable life jacket and put it on my three year old daughter, just in case the waters would rise. It took us around an hour to get our personal preparedness kits ready.

So we had our bags ready and lined up, but we were unsure of what to do. Should we evacuate like the rest or stay at home and pray that the water wouldn’t reach us? We eventually decided to stay home, although my brothers would keep going back and forth to the main road to look at the situation.

My mother turned on her mobile phone and turned on her radio, and we were able to listen to the news. My mobile phone was of no use because I only had one battery bar left. The news reporter painted a picture of the flooding – flood waters almost reaching the level of the bridge, people clinging on to floating objects for dear life.

They also announced that the water company would shut down the supply of the whole city, because several main pipes were damaged, so we turned on all the faucets and filled all the water basins and buckets that we had.

At around three in the morning, I received text messages that the water was already starting to go down, so my mom and brother went back to sleep, while the rest of us stayed awake just in case something would come up but thankfully, nothing else happened – but that did not prepare us for the aftermath that would embrace the city the following morning.

Sure, we had strong rains during the monsoon season – but it was nothing that rain boots and umbrellas couldn’t handle. Thus being strangers to typhoons and crisis preparedness – we were never prepared for what would happen on the eve of December 16 when Typhoon Washi (Sendong as it is more known to us) ripped through the city.

Warnings from National Authority

Several days before December 16, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAGASA released warning already. Generally, Public Storm Warning Signals measure tropical cyclone winds with Public Storm Warning Signal #1 being the weakest and Public Storm Warning Signal #4 being the strongest.

Several years ago, a typhoon passed by the islands north of the city, and Cagayan de Oro was given a Public Storm Signal #1. We experienced heavy rains – but there was nothing scary about it at all. So when PAGASA issued a PSWS #2 – nobody really panicked. There were no hoarding of goods or emergency water.

In fact, I personally thought it would just be like a PSWS #1, albeit a little bit stronger. No warnings were made all over the city and no advisories were given to people living in possible flood-prone areas near the riverside (and there were indeed plenty of them.)

No Panic, No Preparation

Without any idea on what to expect and without any advisories and disaster preparedness warnings from the local government, most the city went about as usual on that fateful day. I remember the sky being gloomy since morning, but I took my daughter to lunch at Jollibee (our local version of McDonald’s).

The fast-food chain was full of people, unsuspecting of the danger that would eventually come that night. My daughter had a lot of fun inside the play area, which was full of kids, too. Truly, the rest of the city went about with the usual – as most of the primary schools, secondary schools as well as private and public offices even held their Christmas parties on that day.

A gloomy sky continued to hover over us that afternoon, sprinkling light rain-showers every now and then. Armed with my trusty blue umbrella, I went about with my errands and had roast-beef for dinner at a local hotel restaurant. At around six in the evening though, strong rain started to pour, so my companions and I hailed a cab and went home.

The Eve Of Sendong

That night, the winds started to howl. Looking outside the window I could see tree branches and leaves swaying ferociously to the wind – but there was no heavy downpour at all. There would be a little rain here, and then it would stop for several minutes, then some light rain would pour again. Safe inside my room, I thought to myself, “Wow this PSWS #2 isn’t scary at all!”

At around 11 PM, after putting my daughter to sleep, the boyfriend and I were talking about the typhoon, and how mild it was because of the lack of heavy downpour. We compared it to conventional storms and rain-showers. We talked about his mother and her house and how she would probably be safe from any possible flood, because her home was elevated from the main road.

We also talked about the possible flooding of our driveway, which usually happens because our home is a bit lower than the main road and rain water tended to settle on our driveway after a strong rain.

At 1 AM we received a call from his mother. She said they were already on their roof. And while their village was quite nearer to the river than our home was, was we still panicked considering that their house being a bit elevated from the main road, and the village itself was on elevated ground.

If the water already reached their homes – what damage could it possibly do to ours, which lay on the plains of the city?

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