BootsnAll Travel Community

With all the natural disasters happening of late, it got me thinking - do you make any sort of provisions/plans for disaster when you travel?

I probably wouldn't have thought of this much, except my coworker's sister is currently missing in China; she was traveling with a tour group to the Word Wildlife Fund Reserve. I think it is good in this case that they are with an organized tour; my colleague knows they arrived to the reserve, and there are people on the ground looking for them. An independent traveler does not have this...often times, our friends/family/government have no idea where we may be.

Do you even think about this when you travel? I'll admit I didn't until recently. I wrote an itinerary (which kills me a little inside) to give to my mom; plans may change but at least they will know approximately where I should be if something happens.

Mother Nature is pissed off, for sure.

No. While bad things can happen, being prepared for any disaster that might come your way is very difficult, so I just don't bother. I keep a first aid kit available, and that's it. If the worst should happen, we'll have to manage. I'm not really sure what a disaster plan can do to help me, anyway.

If you're really concerned about it, this is a gadget we give out at work. It's a satellite beacon that can be used to send a call for help or send an "OK" message to a predetermined email list from most places. They don't quite have global coverage...subsaharan africa, and parts of SE Asia are missed...but I guess if it's a big concern for you, it's an option.

Like I said, I have taken the precautions I need to take. But I probably wouldn't have thought if it if my coworker's sister was currently unheard from at the epicenter of a major earthquake.

It also, to me, isn't just about me or you. It is about the people at home freaking out. I know it is an unpopular opinion around here to give thought to that, but watching my coworker trying to stay calm really changed my perspective.

I keep my website uptodate while on the road, so people will have some indication where I was last and when - and where I was heading to. Additionally, I do wear my army dog tag for identification purposes.

Otherwise, nah.

Travel Insurance is about the extent of my disaster preparedness.

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Originally posted by elAdi:
Additionally, I do wear my army dog tag for identification purposes.

That is pretty fracking morbid. And weird.

I've only got world wide evacuation insurance (REGA), but that also covers the Alps and is the main reason I have it. And a first aid kit. And I email my sister if I am going somewhere somewhat doggy.

Why is this topic in Chit Chat..I think it should be out on the boards so that others who are not members can also see it. Its a good topic.

I think after hearing about parents searching for their kids in Burma..I have decided that I will def take a cell phone.

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That is pretty fracking morbid. And weird.

The way I figure it is, if I die I won't care much. But my parents might want to have certainty. The dog tag will still be intact after most forms of death (excluding a nuke, maybe) - unlike IDs and passports.

I'm a search planner, done a number of disaster and lost person searches, so I do think about this from time to time. There are a few items that I've seen save someone's life, so I put them in my pack: A bottle of water. A piece of rope. A trash bag.

Plus, I try to always spot a landmark that will get me somewhere useful. (This works as well when you're drunk in the city as it does when you're alone in the woods.)

I worry more about someone knowing when I left and where I went from the perspective of personal accidents and crime than natural disaster. If you are near the epicenter of something like an earthquake or a flood, there will be people looking for people as soon as it's safe (or maybe before). Get visible, stay put and try not to die until someone finds you.

Oh, and the dogtags...yeah. Nothing worse than having to look at a mangled body and wonder if it's your cousin or not. Positive ID saves a lot of grief.

My free opinion.
La

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I think after hearing about parents searching for their kids in Burma..I have decided that I will def take a cell phone

Not only a cell phone, but make sure that someone knows where you are if possible. (cell service is likely to be disrupted)

I guess because I live in an earthquake zone, I take disaster preparations seriously. Even when I am walking my dog, or going somewhere about town, I try to let someone know where I might be (even a text to a friend to invite them to come along). May sound like overkill, but oh well. I know what it's like to be unsure of where someone is in an emergency, and it is scary.

My coworker heard from her sister, who was at the Panda refuge. They are all safe and sound, and so are the Pandas. They are the lucky ones.

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It also, to me, isn't just about me or you. It is about the people at home freaking out. I know it is an unpopular opinion around here to give thought to that

I'm not thinking that's unpopular, just difficult to deal with. If there's a disaster, or something bad happens, I will let people know that I'm okay as soon as I find out about it and can get in communication, as we did after the Dahab bombing.

But if the infrastructure is trashed, I'm afraid they're just out of luck...the only option is to pay for the use of a satellite beacon or phone, and I just don't have enough extra money for that. And if something actually does happen to me, it's not likely to be much help. Harsh but true...all the planning in the world won't protect you from a tsunami.

Again, after seeing my coworker this week, I have a completely different perspective. At least she knew approximate whereabouts, and that gave the family some peace of mind.

Disaster preparedness has been drilled into my brain since I was little because of quakes. I get that you can't avoid them (I mean, really, duh, I am not that stupid), but I do think you can have given it some thought and put some precautions in place (even if it is blogging so people can follow where you are/going). It's not that difficult.

Whenever I pop in for internet, I update my location on a website that my friends/family have access to. I add a sentence or two of where I think I may be going. That's about it and it only takes a minute or two.

Anyway, travel is pretty easy. Lots of communication options available and in a major event everyone is looking for people anyway. I used to spend a lot of my 20s soloing in the mountains. The best I could do then was leave my anticipated route with a friend and have them notify the authorities if I was a few days late.

I think I may just be having difficulty with what 'disaster preparedness' means to you. Letting people know where you are regularly seems to be a big part of what people have mentioned here. To me disaster preparedness means having stashes of food, water, money, and, to let people know you're OK, satellite communication. Not really practical in my books. Just having people know where I was the last time the internet worked...well, I do that anyway but if there's a disaster it could be just as big of a negative as a positive.

If my last blog entry was a couple weeks ago, saying I'm in Rangoon...that's going to cause a lot of worry, and there's no way to update people. While I don't doubt your coworkers are having an awful time waiting for some news, any news, I guess my issue is - what would you have done differently that might have prevented that.

Just 5 minutes ago i was reading an article about how tons of small hotels in China were demolished in the quakes...Going to China in September, this struck me just a bit.

Having dealt with traveling adult children and not knowing where they are when there is a natural disaster in the area they are traveling,as well as volunteering for Red Cross, I have a suggestion. Families, whether traveling or not, should have a disaster plan including a central location such as grandparents house or someone's office telephone where everyone can check in in case of a disaster whether traveling or in their home area. If you are in the area of a catastrophic disaster, as soon as possible- call and let them know you are ok. If you see a Red Cross, Red Crescent or Cruz Roja volunteer- give them the information-who you are and that you are alive- there is a safe and well website they can post to.

I'm not sure there is anything one can do. I know it's awful for the people looking for you, but what can I possibly do to prevent it? We do update our blog every chance we get, so people would know approximately the area we're in, but otherwise there's nothing.

Years ago I had given a rough itineray of where I was going to my mom. On a certain day I planned to fly up to Tikal in guatemala, but changed my mind at the last minute and did something else first. I didn't think anything of it.

Well, it turned out that the plane I had planned to take crashed and everybody on board died. My parents were frantic - calling the State Department and everywhere they could to get information.

Three or four days later I called home - just to say Hi. I hadn't heard about the crash. Needless to say - they were in tears when they heard my voice.

I think it probably would have been better to NOT have told my mom where I was planning to go in that case - she wouldn't have thought it likely that I would have been on that plane and wouldn't have panicked as much.

We were also in Burma during the tsunami. fortuantely, we were up in the mountains, so were fine - but Mom didn't know where we were and was very worried. As soon as I could get on internet I sent a short message from a friend's email - "We're fine. Will write more later." Mom printed out that email and carried it around the house with her for three days to reassure that we were all fine.

What could I have done to prevent either of those situations? nothing.

That is an excellent idea, a601mom.

I am not saying you can prevent situations. I am saying you can do things like a601mom suggested above.

A German tourist was reported to be rescued in Wenchuan 114 hours after the earthquake in China.
I wonder if he was prepared for disaster and thus have survived.
Would it help - what do you think?

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f you are in the area of a catastrophic disaster, as soon as possible

But isn't that all relative? I mean, for those at home you're always closer to the disaster zone than what you perceive on the ground.

I've been on the missing list after the Boxing Day Tsunami - for about 1.5 weeks. I think, the last thing my parents heard of me before the Tsunami was from Rajasthan. Then I disappeared for a few days (as I so often do while traveling). I didn't learn about the disaster till about one week after it. In the meantime my mom had tried to contact me through email. Then she put me on the missing list.
To me - even after the fact - that was illogical. I was thousands of kilometers away from where the Tsunami hit India.

I guess, my point is: if disasters strikes...there is very little you can do to be prepared for it. Sinking ferry in Indonesia? How do you want to prepare for that? It gets even worse if the disaster is so bad that the infrastructure is being destroyed - which usually disrupts communication. There's nothing you can do. A guy I've traveled with through China and Pakistan was on the Andamans during the Tsunami. He wasn't hurt - but all communication and transportation collapsed. The British embassy informed his parents, that he was dead. Until they found him alive on a small island two weeks later.

Unless you want to call home every time you leave the hostel to let your folks know where you're going now...there's no way of letting people know where exactly you are.

That's why I find means of post-mortem identification is the most important thing you can do.