Summary from Indonesia Outbreak as at 26 October 2006 (latest update)
| Cases Discussed | Jun-06 | Jul-06 | Aug-06 | Sep-06 | Oct-06 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Died, no tests | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| Died, tested positive | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Other tested positive | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Suspected symptoms | 4 | 2 | 46 | 38 | 27 | 117 |
| Tested negative | 0 | 6 | 26 | 19 | 7 | 58 |
| Totals | 10 | 14 | 81 | 64 | 41 | 210 |
Please visit these threads for latest information from these regions or to add news
| No | Region Name | No | Region Name | No | Region Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | 8 | East Africa | 15 | Arab Peninsula |
| 2 | Canada, Greenland and the Arctic Circle | 9 | Southern Africa and Madagascar | 16 | Central Asia |
| 3 | Central America and Caribbean | 10 | Northwest Europe and British Isles | 17 | Southern Asia |
| 4 | South America and Surrounding Islands | 11 | West and Southwest Europe | 18 | Mainland East Asia and Japan |
| 5 | Northern Africa | 12 | Central and Southeast Europe | 19 | Southeast Asia |
| 6 | West Africa | 13 | Eastern Europe and Baltic Region | 20 | Australasia Melanesia and Micronesia |
| 7 | Central Africa | 14 | Middle East and Caucasus Region | 21 | Pacific Islands and Antarctic |
(Please see the thread Volunteers Needed as Lookouts Worldwide if you want to help)
(From WHO as at 16 Oct - latest update) Total human cases worldwide 256, deaths 151 (2006 – 109 with 73 deaths)
(If you want the links to open in a new window, hold down the shift key and then click on the link)
India
Indonesia
Italy
United States of America
Vietnam
General
Link to news thread for 28 October (link News Reports for October 28 )
(Usual disclaimer about may not have captured everything. Feel free to add your own where omissions have occurred.)
Please note that I copy the links directly from the thread so if they don’t work you may need to re-visit the Thread.
Just checked out the Ministry of Health Surveillance site for Thailand and here are their latest figures as at 26 October - last update.
Cumulative number of patients under surveillance are 5,354 cases 72 provinces. Today reports are 6 cases; Two cases each from Nonthaburi and Chiangrai, and 1 each from Kanchanaburi and Singburi.
Confirmed human case of avian influenza 2006 = 3 cases, with 3 death cases.
There are 10 cases under investigate reported, of which waiting for laboratory result.
(link - just change the date in the address for the latest numbers http://tinyurl.com/yhosj7 )
Bangkok Post - October 29, 2006
More floating toilets needed Public donations call, schools to reopen
The Public Health Ministry yesterday called on the public to donate more floating toilets, citing fear of diarrhoea outbreaks.
Human faeces released into stagnating floodwaters was chiefly blamed for most of the illnesses from water-borne diseases among the 574,520 flood victims. As many as 40% had foot infections from wading through floodwaters, followed by rashes and colds.
More floating toilets were dispatched to Ang Thong and Ayutthaya yesterday to prevent diarrhoea outbreaks.
But Public Health permanent secretary Prat Boonyawongvirote said 400 more were still needed.
Dr Prat has invited the public to donate money to built the floating toilets via the ministry’s flood relief centre, by dialling 02–590–1994 between 8am to 8pm everyday.
Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin was confident that schools could reopen on Wednesday, saying water in key eastern areas should recede and dry out next week.
But communities along bursting canals and submerged farmland were likely to remain flooded for a while longer, he said.
The governor inspected areas in Lat Krabang yesterday and was satisfied with the water level which had receded by 10–20 cm in the past week.
But we’re going to face another period of high tide on Nov 8–9 in Thawi Watthana, Taling Chan, Bang Khun Thian and Bang Bon areas, he said.
What about Egypt panic?
Bird flu likely to re-emerge in cold, wet
Fowls in weak state, cooler days coming
By Kultida SamabuddhI & Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
A re-emergence of the avian influenza outbreak is likely as the country is entering the cold season while fowls are in poor health due to widespread floods, Livestock Development Department chief Yukol Limlamthong has warned. The poultry population is in a weak condition as a result of the flood disaster, which could make them contract the virus easily, said Dr Yukol.
The department’s bird flu prevention units have started to spray disinfectant in poultry farms across the country, focusing on flood-hit provinces, he added.
The agency normally stepped up bird flu prevention operations around year-end because the deadly virus is found to spread well in cold weather.
However, this year’s operation has to be more stringent than previous years due to the weak condition of the fowls.
Nirundorn Aungtragoolsuk, chief of the department’s animal disease control bureau, said authorities working on bird flu prevention were preparing to seek cabinet approval to revive the National Committee on Avian Influenza, dissolved in the aftermath of the coup d’etat.
The committee is in charge of drafting and supervising the national policy on bird flu outbreak control and prevention.
Comprising experts and officials from various agencies, it was chaired by the ousted deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit.
A virologist yesterday urged agencies to again consider poultry vaccination following the Public Health Ministry’s proposal to use the method to combat bird flu.
Use of bird flu vaccine in fowls is currently banned.
Prasert Auewarakul, a virologist at Siriraj Hospital’s faculty of medicine, said strict safety procedures were needed if the government decided to carry out vaccinations.
The government should follow safety procedures when conducting the vaccine programme, he said. It should also consider the vaccine use guidelines developed by the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
The Livestock Development Department opposes vaccinating poultry against the avian flu virus, saying vaccination would make it more difficult to control bird flu outbreaks because vaccinated and infected fowls could not be kept apart easily.
However, Disease Control Department chief Thawat Sundarajarn, who backs lifting the ban, said the programme would be effective in combating bird flu.
In the first stage, it would be limited to only rare fowl species, birds raised for their plumage and backyard chickens. Vaccinated fowl would be contained.
Asbury Park Press reports that NJ is ready. When the next global pandemic comes, humanity will at least be ready, Miro said. “Those last three pandemics showed up without warning . . . At least we can see it coming and begin to prepare.”
http://tinyurl.com/yzgu3s Pandemics demand ounce of prevention
Deseret Morning News editorial A recent survey points out a poignant truth: The road to a national pandemic is paved with good intentions. <snip> Plan ahead.
We urge people to anticipate problems before they occur. Saying you’ll stay home for 10 days with the flu is one thing, but staying home and starving to death is quite another.
<snip>
Get rid of debt. Have enough food and other needs at home to last for several weeks. Put some money away for a rainy day and make arrangements in advance for child care and personal help around the house.
Every photographer and athlete knows the importance and value of anticipation.
We urge all citizens to learn why forethought pays off.
Take precautions and prepare for the unexpected
USA
Preparing the world for a flu pandemic
The World Health Organization’s new plan for ramping up the production of flu vaccine is a measure of how unprepared the world is to cope with an onslaught of pandemic influenza. The plan, conceived by a group of more than 120 experts, lays out a sensible path toward vaccine sufficiency - but it will take years to complete and cost up to $10 billion.
[snip]
The administration has also invested substantially in vaccine research, including $1 billion to develop new cell-based technologies that would allow rapid expansion of production in an emergency. Although those investments are primarily for America’s own benefit, the knowledge generated is likely to help others around the world.
Still, both the American and global efforts ought to be intensified. The Bush administration’s goal of being able to make enough vaccine quickly to protect all Americans is also probably four to five years away. Neither America nor the rest of the world is yet ready to handle a worst-case pandemic.
This appears to be an opinion piece in the NYT, but I can’t tell who wrote it.
USA
Preparedness and a Flu Epidemic (5 Letters)
The Department of Health and Human Services has made significant investments to buy N95 respirators, surgical masks and antiviral stockpiles, expand vaccine manufacturing capabilities, improve monitoring and surveillance, support state and local preparedness and many other activities.
We agree with Mr. Weil that nonpharmaceutical interventions like N95 respirators and surgical masks have an important role in mitigating the effect of a pandemic on Americans, and we are buying the necessary countermeasures to protect the public health.
John O. Agwunobi, M.D. Assistant Secretary for Health Department of Health and Human Service
N95 respirator masks, mentioned by Mr. Wein, are useful in the intensive-care setting to prevent spread of respiratory viruses, but this is a far cry from advocating their use in the general population, where they are not likely to be worn or used properly.
Marc Siegel, M.D.
South Carolina, USA
The next flu pandemic: Not if but when
“With pandemic flu,” Dr. Fabian recently told a joint meeting of the Anderson, Oconee and Pickens county medical associations, “it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
[snip]
South Carolina is stockpiling about 275,000 doses of antivirals as part of its preparedness plans.
But planning for the pandemic’s opening infections also focuses on containment, Dr. Fabian explained, and that centers on social isolation of the population.
“The safest thing would be for people just to stay home,” he said, adding that planners foresaw levels of absenteeism among the population approaching 40 percent at the pandemic’s peak. Plans called for the closing of schools, the cancellation of public events and perhaps enforced quarantine in particular circumstances.
South Carolina, USA
What You Should Know About the Avian (Bird) Flu
Spartanburg County Public Libraries
[snip]
Thursday
6 p.m. Headquarters Library, “What You Should Know About the Avian (Bird) Flu.” Pat Elliott of the American Red Cross will give information about the possible bird flu pandemic and how to prepare for such an emergency. BMW Board Room. Call 596–3500, Ext. 1203.
North Carolina, USA
Barger, a retired Catawba County Schools superintendent, said the county should continue following education recommendations of the 2004 Foresight report. The Foresight committee, a volunteer group appointed by the Board of Commissioners, issued the report on education, the economy and other issues.
He said the county also should plan more for catastrophic emergencies, such as a pandemic, and work to improve air and water quality.
2nd mention of a pandemic as an election issue within the last 2 days. Personally, I would support any politician that makes preparing for a pandemic and strengthening infrastructure a priority, regardless of party affiliation. The best possible outcome would be if the two major parties in the US were to start to see preparing their communities as an important issue.
USA
A sobering view of America’s vulnerability
The United States is a country with a population of 300 million and an annual budget of $2.77 trillion a year. Are we prepared for the next large-scale disaster? Irwin Redlener vehemently writes, “No!”
He is the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and he thinks our country is in serious trouble. Five years after Sept. 11 and one year after Hurricane Katrina, Redlener points out the problems with spending billions on “random acts of preparedness” with very little to show for it.
[snip]
Disturbing, provocative and eye-opening, this book will keep you up at night, and not in the “I-have-to-finish-the-last-page-of-this-book-to-find-out-who-the-real-villain-is” way but in the “How-in-the-world-did-this-happen-and-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it?” way that practically guarantees many water-cooler discussions the next morning.
Redlener presents five fatalistic scenarios for us to ponder: pandemic avian flu in New York City; a major earthquake in Seattle and Puget Sound; a nuclear attack; a toxic chemical release in a tornado-risk zone; and a terrorist attack at elementary schools in Arizona. Light reading? Not exactly. Important reading? Absolutely. Each scenario is thoroughly discussed and evaluated in excruciating detail that will leave the reader questioning everything he’s ever learned about government, bureaucracy and risk management.
I wanted to share this excerpt:
http://tinyurl.com/ylw2x8
Anatidae Migration in the Western Palearctic and Spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Virus
It could be argued that an important contradiction of the hypothesis that wild birds spread HPAI H5N1 virus along their migration paths stems from our “false-positive” predictions (e.g., Figure 2E, Spain, Morocco, Greece). We propose 3 possible explanations for these deviations. First, as well as being along flyways of infected wild bird, establishment of HPAI H5N1 virus in domestic poultry may require additional conditions: 1) an aggregation of waterfowl for a sufficient period (more risk for transmission within wintering areas than at more transient stopover sites), 2) a high proportion of small poultry farms and backyard poultry, and 3) extensive (aquatic) poultry units in contact with waterfowl populations and habitat, i.e., floodplain or other forms of wetland agriculture in close proximity to natural wetlands used as wildfowl wintering sites. Such conditions have been shown to be associated with HPAI H5N1 virus persistence in Southeast Asia (6) and were certainly also met in parts of Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. Second, the overall prevalence of HPAI H5N1 virus found in wild bird populations was very low, usually <1% (8). This finding suggests that virus persistence in wild bird populations may be subject to stochastic fluctuation. Also, few infected individual birds are likely to be evenly distributed in the population; i.e., the distribution of infected birds is probably clustered. The scarcity of infected individual birds and their likely clustering produce a pattern in which several regions exposed to equivalent wintering populations may have been exposed to different levels of virus exposure. Finally, HPAI H5N1 virus was found either in dead and apparently healthy ducks, which suggests a dichotomy in wild bird susceptibility. The exact status of species, as sentinels or spreaders, and precise migratory pattern may help explain any inconsistencies that arise from considering all species at equal risk for transmission.
One could also mention here the discrepancies between the geographic spread of HPAI H5N1 virus and overall pattern of wild bird migrations: the virus has never been reported in the Philippines and in several countries farther south such as New Zealand and Australia (although these 2 countries have no migratory anatid populations connecting them to Southeast Asia, they do have many shore bird and wader species in common [20]). Conversely, with the possible exception of African countries, HPAI H5N1 virus was established in domestic poultry only in countries connected by flyways with existing infected countries. The introduction in Nigeria is inconclusive. Two species of dabbling ducks, Anas querquedula and A. acuta, have large wintering concentrations in and near Lake Chad and in the Niger delta, both under the western Siberia/Black Sea flyways, and are presumed to be infected by HPAI H5N1 virus. However, Nigeria imported large numbers of poultry from Turkey and People’s Republic of China until a ban was imposed, and illegal trade may well have continued after the ban and brought in infected animals or products (33).
Tamiflu helped avert outbreak of bird flu (India) Kounteya Sinha [ 29 Oct, 2006 2344hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NEW DELHI: The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus that hit India in February 2006 was sensitive to Tamiflu, the drug which many governments including India used to ward off a deadly bird flu pandemic. Genetic and DNA sequencing of the virus collected from Jalgaon and Navapur by scientists from Bhopal’s High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, has revealed that the virus contained several types of amino acids - glutamic acid, asparigine, histidine and arvinone - that made it sensitive to Tamiflu. This, scientists say, helped India avert a possible transmission of the deadly H5N1 virus from birds to humans.
Scientists B Patnaik and C Tosh, who have completed sequencing the genes HA1 and HA2 of the virus and studying the 10 proteins, specially HA and NA present in the virus, told TOI that “timely administering of Tamiflu to those who were quarantined on suspicions of having been in contact with H5N1 virus infected birds, helped us avert the transmission of the virus to humans.
<snip> “Our DNA tests, conducted of the HA, NA, NS1 and PV2 proteins, showed the virus that hit India was capable of infecting mammals, including humans. Therefore, a Tamiflu resistant virus would have resulted in people being infected by the bird flu virus easily, ultimately resulting in their mortality.”
The scientists have made another interesting discovery. They say the virus that hit India, specially the one that was isolated from the outbreak in Navapur, had mutated and undergone a re-assortment in Turkey.
This means that the virus, which had originated in Qinghai (central China), was carried to Turkey by migratory birds. Here, the virus mutated and mixed with the Vietnamese strain. The mixed strain was then brought to India by migratory birds. … More at http://tinyurl.com/ye6cno
Comment: It’s nice to see they really are trying to understand the virus. This article doesn’t reveal anything earth-shattering. It’s a little unsettling, but promising at the same time.
NEW DELHI: The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus that hit India in February 2006 was sensitive to Tamiflu, the drug which many governments including India used to ward off a deadly bird flu pandemic.
Genetic and DNA sequencing of the virus collected from Jalgaon and Navapur by scientists from Bhopal’s High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, has revealed that the virus contained several types of amino acids - glutamic acid, asparigine, histidine and arvinone - that made it sensitive to Tamiflu.
This, scientists say, helped India avert a possible transmission of the deadly H5N1 virus from birds to humans.
Scientists B Patnaik and C Tosh, who have completed sequencing the genes HA1 and HA2 of the virus and studying the 10 proteins, specially HA and NA present in the virus, told TOI that “timely administering of Tamiflu to those who were quarantined on suspicions of having been in contact with H5N1 virus infected birds, helped us avert the transmission of the virus to humans.
DNA analysis of the virus has shown it to be highly sensitive to Tamiflu”. According to lab chief H K Pradhan, some countries including Vietnam have reported that the virus circulating there is resistant to Tamiflu making its containment even more difficult.
“Our DNA tests, conducted of the HA, NA, NS1 and PV2 proteins, showed the virus that hit India was capable of infecting mammals, including humans. Therefore, a Tamiflu resistant virus would have resulted in people being infected by the bird flu virus easily, ultimately resulting in their mortality.”
The scientists have made another interesting discovery. They say the virus that hit India, specially the one that was isolated from the outbreak in Navapur, had mutated and undergone a re-assortment in Turkey.
This means that the virus, which had originated in Qinghai (central China), was carried to Turkey by migratory birds. Here, the virus mutated and mixed with the Vietnamese strain. The mixed strain was then brought to India by migratory birds. This phenomenon of being hit by a re-assorted virus has not been reported from any other country over the past four years.
“The influenza virus mutates quickly. So did the H5N1 virus that came to India. Turkey is one of the few countries where both the Chinese and Vietnamese strain have been found.
“The virus that was found in Navapur was a mixed strain. That’s why we believe the mixing happened in Turkey. While the NA was the Vietnamese type, the HA was Chinese,” Pradhan added.
Recombinomics Commentary October 29, 2006
“ Recent H5N1 sequences released at Genbank included 404 H5N1 isolates from China deposited by Hong Kong University and collaborators. Although many of the HA sequences were partial sequences, most included the HA cleavage site and the vast majority have the novel HA cleavage site, PLRERRRK_R found in the recently reported Fujian strain.
“”“H5N1 evolves via acquisitions of polymorphisms by homologous recombination in dually infected hosts. The profile of newly acquire polymorphisms in the Shantou isolate indicate the Qinghai strain is evolving via dual infections in eastern and southeastern China.
The limited detection in China may be related to vaccination efforts or natural immunity which may have suppressed levels of the Qinghai strain, but increased levels of the Fujian strain. Alternatively, current surveillance methods may select against detection of the Qinghai strain” .”“”
- excerpt
Klatu - I think you meant to put it in bold? If so, that is three single quotation marks, not in caps. Like an apostrophe. Can you please tell me in a language I can comprehend, what Dr. Niman is saying in his Commentary?
Kansas, USA
Cherokee County is Preparing for Possible Pandemic with a Mass Vaccination
Officials in Cherokee County will use a mass flu vaccination this week to prepare for fighting much worse diseases in the future.
The county’s health department plans to give out 1,000 vaccinations on Wednesday in Riverton for twenty bucks each.
Authorities say administering that many doses will give them experience in rapidly providing medication. That would come in handy during an infectious pandemic, when they would have to provide vaccinations or other medication to all county residents within 48 hours.
New York, USA
We have gone to cemeteries and seen markers for several members of a single family who died within a few days or weeks of each other as victims of some pestilence or pandemic.
We’ve all heard news about a possible pandemic of bird flu. Kaye’s parents and mine were lucky to have survived the influenza pandemic of 1918.
During that year and the next, more people died from the flu than were killed in all of World War I.
The so-called Black Death of bubonic plague in the middle of the 10th century felled only about a quarter of those who died in that one year between 1918 and 1919 from the Spanish flu.
When Kaye and I toured cemeteries at a place called Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we walked solemnly among the rows of stones and shed a tear for tiny babies and mothers who died in the 1918–19 epidemic.
Commonground – at 18:43 wrote:
“Klatu - I think you meant to put it in bold? If so, that is three single quotation marks, not in caps. Like an apostrophe.
Can you please tell me in a language I can comprehend, what Dr. Niman is saying in his Commentary?”
re: quotation marks
The technology does always co-operate. I run a Crapple.
> “Can you please tell me in a language I can comprehend,”
“suppressed levels of the Qinghai strain, but increased levels of the Fujian”
My personal read is, when authorities/Chinese/WHO/CDC reassure the public in scientific sounding releases by saying, they found no deadly virus, (in the right pocket “suppressed Qinghai strain”), it’s because they know everything has moved into the left pocket, (“increased levels of the Fujian”). This could be a misleading shell game, both strains are bad.
Dr. N suggests, you have to ask the right question to get the right answer, not unlike Simon Says. My 2-cents.
Sinar Indonesia Online
(software translation from Indonesian)
Oct 28, 2006 at 09:17 AM
“The Range (SIB) was estimated hundreds of tails of the citizen’s chicken Desagajah, the Series Subdistrict of the shavings Hall mati suddenly. The local citizen expected the chicken that died that was affected by bird flu.
Amir Siagian to SIB, on Thursday (26/10) said, since Wednesday (25/10) several tails of the nonpedigreed chicken that was allocated for lebaran died suddenly, in fact beforehand the chicken that indeed disengaja diternak since the last 7 months healthy, but suddenly the chicken as being not powerful, his cock’s comb turned blue then his mouth issued the foam.
The citizen in the village mentioned the chicken illness “peokkon”.
The chicken that still was living walaupn has been sick was cut off to be consumed, because of from long before also the chicken that be hit by dented could be eaten.
However the chicken that has died was buried and was also a part was swept away to the river because the river water overflowed, explained Amir Siagian.
-excerpt
Klatu - Thank you - I would not have picked that up in that Commentary. Very enlightening.
October 30, 2006
Times2
“If you have the stomach for it, go to www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/ and click on “frequently asked questions”.
Here, courtesy of the World Health Organisation (WHO), you will find everything you ever wanted to know about H5N1, the avian influenza virus — and plenty that you wished you didn’t.
That the potential for H5N1 to fuel a human influenza pandemic “is serious and has increased” ; that once a pandemic is under way it is “considered unstoppable”; that the best way to prevent one is to eliminate H5N1 in birds but that this is seen as “increasingly doubtful”.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-223059,curpg-1.cms
Tamiflu helped avert outbreak of bird flu
NEW DELHI: The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus that hit India in February 2006 was sensitive to Tamiflu, the drug which many governments including India used to ward off a deadly bird flu pandemic.
Genetic and DNA sequencing of the virus collected from Jalgaon and Navapur by scientists from Bhopal’s High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, has revealed that the virus contained several types of amino acids - glutamic acid, asparigine, histidine and arvinone - that made it sensitive to Tamiflu.
This, scientists say, helped India avert a possible transmission of the deadly H5N1 virus from birds to humans.
Scientists B Patnaik and C Tosh, who have completed sequencing the genes HA1 and HA2 of the virus and studying the 10 proteins, specially HA and NA present in the virus, told TOI that “timely administering of Tamiflu to those who were quarantined on suspicions of having been in contact with H5N1 virus infected birds, helped us avert the transmission of the virus to humans.
DNA analysis of the virus has shown it to be highly sensitive to Tamiflu”. According to lab chief H K Pradhan, some countries including Vietnam have reported that the virus circulating there is resistant to Tamiflu making its containment even more difficult.
“Our DNA tests, conducted of the HA, NA, NS1 and PV2 proteins, showed the virus that hit India was capable of infecting mammals, including humans. Therefore, a Tamiflu resistant virus would have resulted in people being infected by the bird flu virus easily, ultimately resulting in their mortality.”
The scientists have made another interesting discovery. They say the virus that hit India, specially the one that was isolated from the outbreak in Navapur, had mutated and undergone a re-assortment in Turkey.
This means that the virus, which had originated in Qinghai (central China), was carried to Turkey by migratory birds. Here, the virus mutated and mixed with the Vietnamese strain. The mixed strain was then brought to India by migratory birds. This phenomenon of being hit by a re-assorted virus has not been reported from any other country over the past four years.
“The influenza virus mutates quickly. So did the H5N1 virus that came to India. Turkey is one of the few countries where both the Chinese and Vietnamese strain have been found.
“The virus that was found in Navapur was a mixed strain. That’s why we believe the mixing happened in Turkey. While the NA was the Vietnamese type, the HA was Chinese,” Pradhan added.
not too newsy and what we already know but it is a slow day so:
The home front Individual households need to know how and why they should
“……This essential defense is the ability of individuals and families to take shelter at home for extended periods without the usual sources of water, food, electricity, medicine and other essentials or evacuate on short notice. …
For countless Americans, it all comes down to one simple truth: the quality of your life after a pandemic, terrorist attack or natural disaster will reflect the quality of your planning and preparations before the event. Relying totally on the government and other relief agencies is a strategic blunder with potentially dire outcomes. …
Each family prepared to shelter at home or evacuate during a disaster is one less family in need of assistance. It releases emergency responders to aid others unable to help themselves. And every family that has made these preparations is another family enjoying the peace of mind that comes from knowing it can cope with the next disaster, whether natural or man-made. ..”
I am just preparing the News Summary then I will open a new thread so you might like to save your post for about 30 minutes.