MrsFychan

of Wellington with water after a major quake.
Wellington suburbs face a 100-day wait for water reconnection after quake | Stuff.co.nz

Please make sure that you regularly change your water in your emergency kits or get those sterilising tablets.

Hazelnut

Business opportunity retrofitting composting toilets instead of water driven ones before the quakes hit? I guess the hills might make gravity issues less of a challenge!

On a more serious note how long do most people allow for in their emergency kits? Does everyone have one?

MrH and I were messing about with a wind up torch that someone left at the house to see how bright it was compared to a battery driven one. Yes, entertainment is pretty basic when you live rurally...

We were joking we'd need one in an NZ emergency kit as a month's worth of torch batteries would be expensive and not store well but do you allow for a month or just a few days?

Stormer999

We allow for 1 week. Small stove and lamps all gas fed off small canisters plus candles. Don't forget your car will be full of power still.

MrsFychan

think ours is a week. We also have planned that it would probably take MrF up to 3 days to get back from the CBD to Kapiti coast if it happened there and we were unable to get to him or more if he stayed to help. My priority would be the kids, the animals and elderly neighbours.

Speaking of cars in one of the larger quakes 2 years ago one lady one lady couldn't get her car out of the garage as the electrics were out and she had no manual over ride, piece of string thing, We made sure we had it on this house but not sure I would have the strength to lift the garage door, but thats when neighbours come in, hopefully

Stormer999

Excellent point, we had a power outage and no way of getting into the garage (if you have a side door the garage door has an internal override pull toggle) no side door so quick visit to Mitre10, one hole in garage door, job done.

Bo-Jangles

They say three litres of water per person per day, for at least three days.

Emergency Survival Items

I had some semblance of a 'kit' not exactly all in one place but it is pretty hard to keep it going. i.e. To remember to check dates and maintain current stuff. A lot of things here seem to have a short shelf life. During the winter months especially, I usually like to have some extra things like UHT milk on hand, as the power and infrastructure is very precarious and susceptible to weather events that can take days to get fixed.

When I looked at getting some milk the other day the expiry was something like Nov 16 so I decided it wasn't worth it and then of course I am likely to forget to look again until prompted or it's too late.

BEVS

That is actually just how it is BJ

We try with this and we know we must do and it is sensible but then we forget a bit and it all goes a bit to pot.

LittleGreyCat

Ah, I was about to pile in with sympathy and mental support when I read the article and realised that it hasn't happened yet!

Do you include an emergency generator in your survival pack?

Good for keeping the fridge and freezer going but you do need some sensible wiring to prevent it feeding back into the main grid.

Camper van on the drive fully self-contained and you'll be right!

Bo-Jangles

Assuming that:

(1) You will be at home or able to get there
(2) your house hasn't fallen apart and buried it
(3) that it's not knee deep in liquefaction or fallen into an abyss

scrubbedexpat094

You know when you've lived here a good while because those were my exact thoughts too, though not necessarily in that order

Charismatic

...and a petrol generator.

MrsFychan

we have a UPS but thats for the fish tank, but don't think that would last more than an hour or two. Oh well we will have crab and shrimps to eat

Kotare

Yes is the answer -3 kva with two power take offs - enough for fridge/freezer, lights, TV and wifi and of course a 40 litre supply of fuel (in case I need to mow the lawns)

Charismatic

WiFi after an earthquake? Mine sometimes stops working even when there is no earthquake. Also the only thing on telly would be earthquake and you've already seen that.