Snowmans Blog

The Doomsday Manual

I was over at the Oregon Coast a couple weeks ago and picked up a copy of the "Depoe Bay Beacon" newspaper. Depoe Bay is a nice small town north of Newport and south of Lincoln City.

Their editorial was on a new 5-page brochure which tells "just how shoddy the official response will be" in case of a tsunami or any other disaster. The brochure cost $2000, but such "experts" as the OSP, Sheriff, Fire Dept and Coast Guard were never consulted. (Actually I question the expertise of any of these aside from the Coast Guard).


Make sure you have an emergency kit with a pot to boil water, and laundry detergent. Although they fail to mention any source of heat should the power be out. And are clean clothes going to be my biggest concern? And your 36 hour kit should have a pint of water. That's right - a pint. For a day and a half.

Apparently the Beacon sent somebody to a committee meeting who asked to see such emergency kits. Nobody on the committe writing this brochure had one! At all. Only the person from the Beacon was prepared with any kind of kit.

Finally, the brochure shows human and pet safe havens but fails to offer address such dilemmas as what to do with pets if you need to head for a human shelter. And no property owners were involved in determining the routes and safehavens.

The Beacon concludes that the $2000 could have been used for a siren to alert people to head for high ground. After all, thats what one does in a tsunami. That's what the signs along the coastal roads instruct.

This is reminiscent of the guy who knocks on your door and says "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you". And he was just paid $2000 with your money.

The worthlessness of officials and their appointed committees is hardly limited to Depoe Bay. How many of us live in a place where it's really any different? The first step towards "homeland security" seems to be ignoring our political leaders, at all levels.

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