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I couldn’t be more annoyed. In an effort to help the girlfriend wake up I drug her to a Red Cross presentation last night that was centered on emergency preparedness. It was so full of misinformation and outright bad advice that I couldn’t sit still.
Among the information and suggestions they shared were the following gems:
• You only need to be prepared for food, water, shelter for 3 days. (They defended this strongly even when questioned.)
• Having cash on hand is a good idea. They suggest $50.00
• One G.O.O.D. bag is sufficient for a family
• The Red Cross kit contains everything you’ll need in an emergency
• During an earthquake stay in bed and cover your head with a pillow.(!!!!!!)
• We only discuss natural disasters and can’t address pandemics, terrorism, or other events.
In their 90 minute presentation they spent 45 minutes blowing their own horn. They talked about how they could turn out 28,000 meals a day in my area, provide shelter for 60,000 people (see something wrong yet?), could mobilize in 3 days and then discussed how many volunteers they had and how long they’d been a part of the team. (I live in area with a population over 2 million.)
They spent 30 minutes demonstrating CPR (no audience participation) and discussing your liability if someone were to sue.
The remaining 15 minutes was Q&A, during which there were tons of questions, many more than they had time to answer. I questioned being prepared for only three days and asked if that was a minimum suggestion (pointing out that FEMA now suggests two weeks). She again strongly defended their 3 day party line even when Katrina, Japan, 2003 Northeast Blackout, 2009 Midwest Ice Storms, etc. were mentioned.
Ultimately, the presentation was a huge disappointment. In fact, they tried to make a disaster sound like an adventure. They missed so many opportunities to call people to action and instead instilled a false sense of security. Based on what they said, I’m getting rid of all my preps. It looks like the Red Cross has me covered. :headshake:
Among the information and suggestions they shared were the following gems:
• You only need to be prepared for food, water, shelter for 3 days. (They defended this strongly even when questioned.)
• Having cash on hand is a good idea. They suggest $50.00
• One G.O.O.D. bag is sufficient for a family
• The Red Cross kit contains everything you’ll need in an emergency
• During an earthquake stay in bed and cover your head with a pillow.(!!!!!!)
• We only discuss natural disasters and can’t address pandemics, terrorism, or other events.
In their 90 minute presentation they spent 45 minutes blowing their own horn. They talked about how they could turn out 28,000 meals a day in my area, provide shelter for 60,000 people (see something wrong yet?), could mobilize in 3 days and then discussed how many volunteers they had and how long they’d been a part of the team. (I live in area with a population over 2 million.)
They spent 30 minutes demonstrating CPR (no audience participation) and discussing your liability if someone were to sue.
The remaining 15 minutes was Q&A, during which there were tons of questions, many more than they had time to answer. I questioned being prepared for only three days and asked if that was a minimum suggestion (pointing out that FEMA now suggests two weeks). She again strongly defended their 3 day party line even when Katrina, Japan, 2003 Northeast Blackout, 2009 Midwest Ice Storms, etc. were mentioned.
Ultimately, the presentation was a huge disappointment. In fact, they tried to make a disaster sound like an adventure. They missed so many opportunities to call people to action and instead instilled a false sense of security. Based on what they said, I’m getting rid of all my preps. It looks like the Red Cross has me covered. :headshake:
