Food For Thought

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Subject: When Things Break Down, Morale Is Crucial. So Are Matches.

Comment: Here is a first-hand report on what it's like in wartime. Y2K could rival wartime if the power grid goes down.

Gravy. I would never have thought of it.

This is from the Co-intelligence mailing list.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm sort of curious about whether anyone here has actually been through a war - not as a soldier, but as someone who experienced war in their own community.

I lived through the siege of my city (Sarajevo) and experienced most of the crummy things that can happen in a war - death of parents and friends, hunger and malnutrition, endless freezing cold, fear, sniper attacks. It's odd to see many people concerned about things that aren't going to matter that much if something awful happens. So I offer my advice, free of charge:

1) Stockpiling helps, but you never no how long trouble will last, so locate near renewable food resources.

2) Living near a well with a manual pump is like being in Eden.

3) After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is great than gold's.

4) If you had to go without one utility, lose electricity - it's the easiest to do without (unless you're in a very nice climate with no need for heat.)

5) Canned foods are awesome, especially if their contents are tasty without heating. One of the best things to stockpile is canned gravy - it makes a lot of the dry unappetizing things you find to eat in war somewhat edible. Only needs enough heat to "warm", not to cook. It's cheap too, especially if you buy it in bulk.

6) Bring some books - escapist ones like romances or mysteries become more valuable as the war continues. Sure, it's great to have a lot of survival guides, but you'll figure most of that out on your own anyway - trust me, you'll have a lot of time on your hands.

7) The feeling that you're human can fade pretty fast. I can't tell you how many people I knew who would have traded a much needed meal for just a little bit of toothpaste, rouge, soap or cologne. Not much point in fighting if you have to lose your humanity. These things are morale-builders like nothing else.

8) Slow burning candles and matches, matches, matches.

9) More matches.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), September 02, 1999

Answers

BOKONON: Good food, excellent thought! There is nothing quite as sobering as the words of someone that has "been there - done that."

Thanks for posting it.

With respect,

-- Dave Walden (wprop@concentric.net), September 02, 1999.


Thank you so much Bokonon.

Its so often the little things that can make a big difference. wonderful insightful post I will remember in the days to come.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), September 02, 1999.


FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/l atest&f=99083101.llt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

31 August 1999

CD-ROM Offers Advice For Coping With Natural Disasters

(PAHO creates "Virtual Disaster Library" on disc) (680) By Eric Green USIA Staff Writer

Washington -- A new compact disc containing more than 250 publications dealing with all aspects of natural disasters has been produced by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the international public health agency that carries out projects for such institutions as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

PAHO's "Virtual Disaster Library," which is also available on the agency's Internet website, includes major publications since 1976 that offer advice on such things as securing hospital roofs in the Caribbean against hurricanes, and ensuring that water systems in Central America can resist earthquakes. Officials chose the 1976 date because that is when PAHO created its emergency preparedness and disaster relief coordination program. The CD, while oriented toward Latin America and the Caribbean, is useful for all countries worldwide, PAHO officials added.

The CD also offers advice on post-disaster strategies for handling mass casualties, supplying water to people in tents or refugee camps, and eliminating mosquitoes and other disease-carrying bugs that infest regions struck by earthquakes, floods and typhoons.

A PAHO spokesman said that providing advice on effective post-disaster international relief "is very, very important."

"What often happens after a disaster," said the spokesman, "is that the outpouring of international aid becomes a second disaster because people send what is not needed or requested. This is done from the goodness of their hearts; people are trying to be nice and they want to help. But the classic case is they send blankets to tropical countries, or old clothes, shoes, and [the wrong] medicines that don't help" the situation, but instead cause bottlenecks in the supply system.

What PAHO has done, the spokesman said, "is try to distill all the experiences of the disaster program in the Americas onto one CD and one web page and offer it to the whole world in English and Spanish."

The spokesman said that those people who don't have a copy of the CD or access to the Internet can visit regional disaster centers in their country's health ministry. Latin Americans can go to one of PAHO's 27 offices in the region, where libraries or documentation centers are open to the public free of charge. Noting that access to the CD will depend largely on the public's awareness of its existence, the spokesman said that getting the word out about the CD is one of PAHO's big challenges.

The new CD was prepared in collaboration with PAHO's Regional Disaster Information Center in San Jose, Costa Rica. The CD will be distributed to hundreds of libraries and organizations, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, so that individuals with no access or limited access to the Internet can obtain the information.

PAHO said in a press release about the new CD that one of its "cornerstones" in the area of disaster preparedness and relief coordination is the production and publication of technical information and disaster training materials such as books, slides, and videos, and the dissemination and distribution of this information to all the countries of the Americas at the lowest possible cost.

"Creation of this Virtual Disaster Library is one more step in this long journey," said Claude de Ville de Goyet, chief of PAHO's Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Coordination program. He described the CD as a "technical information resource for all individuals and organizations related to disaster preparedness."

The CD includes such topics as "Assessing Needs in the Health Sector after Floods and Hurricanes," "Making Cities Safer Before Disaster Strikes," and "The Role of Local Health Personnel and the Community."

PAHO said it is encouraging people, whenever possible, to access the Virtual Disaster Library on the worldwide web, since it has a limited number of CD-Roms available. The complete collection of documents for people to search, copy or print is available at PAHO's corporate web site at http://www.paho.org/english/ped/pedhome.htm. Those seeking extra information about PAHO's CD should send an E-mail to PAHO at Disaster@PAHO.org.

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 02, 1999.


This was actually posted on Gary North's www.garynorth.com site a few months ago, but is certainly worth posting again. Thanks, dude.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), September 02, 1999.

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