[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's Around the House. We sit down with Professor Monica Sanders and talk about disaster preparedness in this week's Around the House.

[00:00:12] Prof Monica Sanders: And you need a few basic things in there. You need food and water for three to seven days, non perishable food. If you take prescriptions, you want to get your prescription refilled.

[00:00:22] Prof Monica Sanders: So whenever you hit wildfire season, or if you get a place where you get a hurricane warning, when you get the warning, you want to go ahead and get that refill done so that you're not missing out. You want to make sure you have a few changes of clothes. Also chargers, power banks, or solar chargers for your devices so you don't lose digital communication, you know, and the opportunity if that does stay up for you.

[00:00:44] Prof Monica Sanders: Also take pictures of documents, because, you know, we're talking about a house, so if you have to deal with insurance or with FEMA after an event, you're going to want to have pictures of things like insurance policies, identification... When

[00:00:56] Eric Goranson: it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to [00:01:00] know.

[00:01:00] Eric Goranson: Then we've got you. Welcome to the Around the House show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've got a special guest here in the studio, Professor Monica Sanders. We're going to talk about disaster and disaster resilience.

[00:01:20] Eric Goranson: Welcome to Around the House.

[00:01:23] Prof Monica Sanders: Thank you so much for having me. Eric, it's great to be here. Ah,

[00:01:27] Eric Goranson: this is great. And this is such an important subject out there because, you know, everybody gets caught up in their busy lives and all of a sudden a disaster sneaks up on them. Whether it's something that happened quick, or maybe something that a lot of people have been watching on the news, like a hurricane for the week.

[00:01:44] Eric Goranson: But all of a sudden you catch yourself not prepared. It's a big deal when that

[00:01:49] Prof Monica Sanders: happens. Yeah, absolutely. And we are in a moment where we've got multiple hazards happening at any given time. And so you have to [00:02:00] stay ready. So you're not scrambling in the midst of an emergency, right here on the East coast.

[00:02:05] Prof Monica Sanders: We're like kind of watching with fingers crossed, whatever's happening in the Atlantic and where there's going to be a hurricane and then over on the West coast. You know, some people are getting ready for wildfire season, whereas in Hawaii they're recovering. Yeah. So we're constantly dealing with disasters now, and so we have to understand how to constantly be prepared to navigate those situations.

[00:02:25] Eric Goranson: You know, and this is something you've dealt a lot with in your career. I mean, you've got a, a legendary list of projects you've worked on out there and it's very impressive, including some of the organizations you work with. Uh, let's talk about that for a second. 'cause that's a big deal.

[00:02:43] Prof Monica Sanders: Well, thank you for that.

[00:02:44] Prof Monica Sanders: I mean, it's a big deal for me too, because, you know, I mentioned I'm a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. And so all of this, you know, everything has an origin story. And so for me, it started in the Gulf with me coming home to relax before law school in [00:03:00] August of 2005. The relaxation part didn't exactly happen.

[00:03:05] Prof Monica Sanders: And I was actually delayed going to school for a month because of hurricane Katrina and the curfews and the lockdowns. And that was my first time really understanding how disasters impact people's lives. And so I made a conscious decision that I really wanted to help communities do disaster recovery work, and more importantly, preparedness work.

[00:03:26] Prof Monica Sanders: And so that's how this all started. And I've been doing it in different places with a lot of very cool people in the years since then. Well, I want to talk a

[00:03:35] Eric Goranson: little bit about before we get into the, that stuff. I'd love to talk about the undivide project that you've got going. This is really cool. And I hadn't seen anything like this before.

[00:03:46] Prof Monica Sanders: Well, you know, I think that we are digging into something that a lot of people don't realize because we talk about the digital divide, and we think that has to do with just access to Internet or access to digital jobs. But really, what happens is, [00:04:00] in a lot of poor places, in a lot of rural places, particularly in the South and middle of the country, people don't get access to emergency alerts and the kind of warning that we're talking about, because there's no Internet infrastructure up there, not good Wi Fi infrastructure.

[00:04:16] Prof Monica Sanders: And the other piece of it, as a researcher, you can't get in there and really measure what's going on to talk to people about risk. And so what we try to do with the undivided project is get them connected and get access to these resources and then work with them on climate resilience. So it could be anything from like, well, we're talking about, like, how to prep your home to community based solutions.

[00:04:38] Prof Monica Sanders: Like, we're going to restore an oyster bed because it means so much for coastal degradation down in the Gulf South and some parts of the East coast. Or here in DC, we did something cool where the community wanted to have. Funding resources in a cloud based system to where if something happened, people could very quickly apply and get cash going [00:05:00] back into the community after disaster, which is super important.

[00:05:03] Prof Monica Sanders: So we do kind of that kind of work with the undivided project. And it is very fulfilling. We can say cool, but it's actually quite fulfilling. Yeah,

[00:05:11] Eric Goranson: that is awesome. And that's such a need. And, and being in a, from a metro area myself, I didn't realize until this last kind of early spring, I was off in the.

[00:05:20] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Eastern side of the state and started looking at internet. I'm like, I was trying to do a couple of things. On a zoom and I'm like, I can't even support a zoom meeting out here. And, and that's not even the worst of it, right? Exactly.

[00:05:34] Prof Monica Sanders: Because in some places it can be because, you know, back in the nineties, when we actually started bringing internet to household, either the infrastructure wasn't ever there or it hasn't been kept up very well.

[00:05:46] Prof Monica Sanders: And so in a lot of these places, yeah, you can't do a video call. It seems like the whole world is zooming, but actually some people can't even support a video call. So there's no teleworking, telehealth, all of these amenities that we think about in cities in some places. And so that's [00:06:00] really what we're trying to tackle.

[00:06:01] Prof Monica Sanders: Yeah.

[00:06:01] Eric Goranson: And that's a big project right there. So that's, that's, I like that. That's something that's just innovative and haven't seen anybody doing it. So congrats to you on working on that. That's a, that's a big pull right there. Well,

[00:06:13] thank

[00:06:13] Prof Monica Sanders: you. Say congrats to us, but also root for us because you're right.

[00:06:16] Prof Monica Sanders: It's a big project. It's a lot of work. We need all the supporters and cheerleaders that we can because it is a lot to do, but it has to be done. Yeah, that is

[00:06:24] Eric Goranson: great. And then, of course, you're working on my friends over a team Rubicon as well. Kevin O'Connor from this old house and that group, uh, you know, they had that TV show this last season and those guys out there are just cranking along doing some great stuff.

[00:06:40] Prof Monica Sanders: You know, one of the reasons why I like that organization so much is because it's a double benefit. Communities get people because a lot of TR folks respond in places really close to them. So this isn't a group that's like coming and parachuting in from somewhere else. Most, um, team Rubicon volunteers volunteer right around them.

[00:06:59] Prof Monica Sanders: Like I saw [00:07:00] something to actually, we're going to talk about remediation. What we call the Sawyer mission to like go and cut down some trees and brush that needs to be removed here in Virginia as a mitigation project. So that's the first thing I love about is that people work in their communities, but also it gives veterans an opportunity to get back after they've been away for whatever reason, to get back in their communities and reconnect with people.

[00:07:24] Prof Monica Sanders: And that has so many mental, social. Um, psychological benefits for our veterans. So I love TR because it is, like I said, it gives benefits on both sides of the operation.

[00:07:36] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that is great. And those guys, I just, I just love it because, you know, those veterans have put so much out there for all of us and then they get back and they get that satisfaction of being back in their community again.

[00:07:47] Eric Goranson: And that's, man, like you said, that's just a win in so many different directions. It's a, it's a great program.

[00:07:54] Prof Monica Sanders: Yeah, exactly. And then you learn the term GSD, which is get stuff done, which is our model in disaster response [00:08:00] is get out there and start doing something and do what you can for the community.

[00:08:03] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that is great. Well, let's talk a little bit about, uh, let's pivot a little here and talk about, uh, preparedness because that is 1 of the biggest things that, uh, we run into is that, uh, you know, there's that small percentage that's ready. And then there's the other percentage that's much larger, that's kind of reacting and they haven't given a lot of thought.

[00:08:23] Eric Goranson: And, uh, I see you've been spending a lot of your career trying to help people. Maybe make that a little more front of mind.

[00:08:31] Prof Monica Sanders: Yeah, exactly. Because we tend to look at the news coverage or things on social media. And, you know, oftentimes these dramatic images look like they're so far away, but the reality of it is that could be happening a few states over from you, or just a few communities over from you, because we're living in a moment where disaster severity and frequency is increasing all the time.

[00:08:54] Prof Monica Sanders: And so we need to get prepared and stay. Prepare. Yeah. Right. It is. [00:09:00] Like you say, you don't have to get ready if you stay ready.

[00:09:02] Eric Goranson: Yeah. It's so true. It's so true. And it's, and it's not that big a deal to get ready. Um, it's not that expensive to go out and, and build a kit and start the process. Right. As we go out to commercial break, don't change that dial towards the end of the show.

[00:09:16] Eric Goranson: This interview doesn't take up the entire show. We're going to be talking about my tips for emergency preparedness. To make sure you got the right stuff for your home. And we'll do that just as soon as around the house returns. If you want more information about us, head over to around the house, online.

[00:09:31] Eric Goranson: com. We'll be right back after these important messages.

[00:09:58] Eric Goranson: What's up, this is Dick and [00:10:00] Satchel from steel Panther. And you are listening to around the house with Eric G. We love Eric G and you should too.

[00:10:21] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. If you want to find out more about us, like check out my TV show and all of that, you can head over to around the house online. com and you can find out more about it right there.

[00:10:37] Eric Goranson: We've been talking with Monica Sanders, professor Monica Sanders about disaster resiliency and things that we can be doing. To be a little bit more prepared. Now, let's get back to that conversation and we'll talk more about getting ready for that disaster. Exactly.

[00:10:52] Prof Monica Sanders: So, what you want to do is you want to build an emergency kit or a go kit.

[00:10:56] Prof Monica Sanders: You can use it whether you're going to evacuate shelter in place and you need a [00:11:00] few basic things in there. You need food and water for 3 to 7 days, nonperishable food. If you take prescriptions, you want to get your prescription refill. So whenever you hit wildfire season, or if you get a place where you get a hurricane warning, when you get the warning, you want to go ahead and get that refill done so that you're not missing your medication.

[00:11:19] Prof Monica Sanders: You want to make sure you have a few changes of clothes, also chargers, power banks, or solar chargers for your devices. So you don't lose digital communication, you know, and, and the opportunity that that does stay up for you. Also take pictures of documents. Because, you know, we're talking about our house.

[00:11:35] Prof Monica Sanders: So if you have to deal with insurance or with FEMA after an event, you're going to want to have pictures of things like insurance policies, identification, birth certificates, store them on the cloud on your phone, but also put hard copies in your emergency kit. And so have all those things ready. Like you said, it's not expensive.

[00:11:52] Prof Monica Sanders: A lot of this stuff you can get at a big box store or like at a target or Walmart or something like that. And it's not going to cost you hundreds of dollars. I [00:12:00] put one together for myself. It cost me 50 bucks. And part of that was I reused an old backpack that I wasn't using anymore.

[00:12:05] Eric Goranson: So. I mean, that's just what it is, but that's so smart and, and the food doesn't have to be complex.

[00:12:13] Eric Goranson: I mean, you can go out and get freeze dried, uh, hiking food stuff. And that'll last you 30 years. You can buy it once and don't have to worry about if those canned goods or something like that is going bad. You got a lot of time to sit there with that stuff.

[00:12:26] Prof Monica Sanders: Exactly. You can get things like that in a sporting goods store.

[00:12:30] Prof Monica Sanders: Or if you have a service member in your family, you can go to the PX and get in, it does last forever. And if you don't have time to do that, think about things like, you know, run into a CVS and get those tuna salad kits. Those things even stay good for about 30 days. So you actually do have a while. Like if you're, if you're a last minute meeting.

[00:12:48] Prof Monica Sanders: You can do things like it's not complicated food. You don't need these extravagant celebrity endorsed emergency kits. Like you can put something together on your own. Oh

[00:12:57] Eric Goranson: man. Some of those kits. It's okay. That's a little [00:13:00] over the top. And, uh, wow, that gets expensive quick. If you don't do a little shopping

[00:13:04] Prof Monica Sanders: around.

[00:13:05] Prof Monica Sanders: Yeah, we won't say names, but I've seen some that, you know. Have meals in there that you probably also, there's a lot of steps. So if you're evacuated, you're not going to want to be dealing with the three step meal. And I've seen some kits in there that have like multi preparation meal kits and things like that in there.

[00:13:22] Prof Monica Sanders: And that looks like fun, but that's not what you want to be doing in the middle of a wildfire hurricane or something like that, keep it simple and accessible. So, you talked about having to evacuate. You want something you can grab and run away in 10 minutes.

[00:13:34] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the last thing you want to do is have a meal prep that looks like you're trying to beat Bobby Flay or something.

[00:13:39] Eric Goranson: I mean, that's not what you're trying to do when you're out in the middle of the, uh, wherever you're parked trying to get the meal in you.

[00:13:46] Prof Monica Sanders: Exactly. You don't want to be doing that. And the other thing is make sure you have an evacuation route prepared. And not just knowing where you're going and who you're going with, store it offline in your [00:14:00] whatever app you use, Waze, Google Maps, Apple Maps, but also print a hard copy of it, put it in your vehicle.

[00:14:07] Prof Monica Sanders: And, or get a map and make sure that you have a map. So that way, particularly out where you live, you know, wildfires are fast moving. So if you have to redirect having a map close at hand will help you from getting lost in a potentially dangerous situation. So make sure you have a good evacuation route.

[00:14:23] Eric Goranson: Smart and for all you younger audience members out there, make sure you know how to read the map because I used to have to have the book before this. So I'd be going around with the book, trying to page and figure out how I'm going to get someplace. And we've gotten spoiled with all the different apps these days.

[00:14:39] Prof Monica Sanders: Yeah, exactly. There will be no blue dot telling you whether you've turned in the right direction. So, if you're going to use a map. Put a sticker where your starting point is, so you'll have some sort of guiding place from where you started to where you're going. But yeah, that's a good point. Like some of us grew up in a semi analog world, but other people have [00:15:00] already been in the digital space, and so that might be a little foreign to them.

[00:15:03] Prof Monica Sanders: Exactly.

[00:15:06] Eric Goranson: You know, and those are great tips. Another thing I think that's important too, and I would love to talk about it, is just making sure that you've got all the things for personal hygiene. I mean, it's one thing to... It's to stay alive and to stay fed, but you also want to make sure that you're taking care of stuff around you as well.

[00:15:20] Eric Goranson: So you've got a healthy atmosphere.

[00:15:23] Prof Monica Sanders: Yeah. And there's a couple of things, you know, On the West Coast, you want to make sure that those KN 95s that we still have from COVID and some people may still be making health choices about masks, that those are what you want to use to protect yourself during wildfire season.

[00:15:39] Prof Monica Sanders: The other thing is, if you're going to evacuate, you're going to a shelter, a hotel, maybe the home of someone you don't know all that well. Take some Clorox disinfecting mist with you. You can spray it on hard surfaces. 99. 9 percent of those virus and bacteria are going to go away. So that's a great way that you can help [00:16:00] keep things, um, sanitized.

[00:16:03] Prof Monica Sanders: Right. And it's easy to care, easy to transport and it works on hard surfaces as well as some fabrics. And so that's one way to stay healthy as well. Yeah, that's

[00:16:10] Eric Goranson: super smart. What other tips do you have? I know if you go outside your home getting ready, that's a whole other thing, especially with wildfires and hurricanes and that kind of stuff.

[00:16:20] Prof Monica Sanders: All right, so let's do wildfires first. You want to create that defensible zone few meters around your house. Get the potential tender away from your house, remove dry brush and debris, trim dead hedges back, reconsider the standard American grass lawn because that'll go brown and become fuel for fire. Um, and there's wonderful, wonderful shows that can talk about, you know, different approaches to your lawn.

[00:16:51] Prof Monica Sanders: So it's not actually a fire hazard. Also make sure the trees around your house are trimmed. So the first thing you want to do is like make sure anything that can be fueled for fire [00:17:00] is removed from around your house. And then, okay, good friends are dealing with water events like hurricanes and tornadoes and flooding.

[00:17:09] Prof Monica Sanders: Some of us like to keep our projects outside, so make sure. Fuel containers in particular, which can be fuel for a wildfire, but also if you've got a downed power line or something like that, you don't want to invite house fire. Make sure you bring those things inside. If you have storm shutters, make sure that they are installed correctly and you have them closed.

[00:17:28] Prof Monica Sanders: Take patio furniture and those kinds of things inside. During a hurricane that can become airborne and cause all kinds of damage, if it's wood, and you're in a wildfire, again, we're talking about remove potential tender from around your house. So, what I say is take, for lack of a better description, what I call a security walk around your house and look for things that can become detached and blow away or wash away in water.

[00:17:53] Prof Monica Sanders: Or it could become fuel for a wildfire and make sure you secure it and bring

[00:17:57] Eric Goranson: it inside. Yeah, that is smart. And you know, [00:18:00] there's one thing that i'm seeing out there in the hurricane world that i'm really starting to see Uh, some of the insurance safety institutes and stuff are working to really build some fortified homes these days So for in those areas that are rebuilding and and people that are building new homes out there we're really starting to see some some hard work being done on building homes that'll hold up a lot better to Hurricanes and wind events like that, that, um, might've been an issue down the road.

[00:18:27] Eric Goranson: You know, we all see that on the, uh, on the news where you're like, wow, all these homes just literally we're blown away, but there's that one that somebody built that stand in there. Right. And it's like, wow, they did something right. Don't go anywhere around the house. We'll be right back.[00:19:00]

[00:19:00] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel band and Steeler. We are rocking around the house with Eric G. Ray is welcome back to the round the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking with Monica Sanders, the professor about disaster resilience, you know, and she's got such a great resume for dealing with this in so many different organizations.

[00:19:29] Eric Goranson: And, uh, it's been a great joy to talk to her today. We'll get back to that interview. And afterwards here, when we wrap up later on in this segment, we're going to dive into some of my top picks for the right products for disaster preparedness and some of the things that you should have to be ready. Now let's get back to that interview and wrap it up.

[00:19:46] Prof Monica Sanders: Exactly. Because those of us that have been in this for awhile have been talking about building codes and construction standards for many, many years and. It's unfortunate, but the silver lining to all of this is that people and construction companies and [00:20:00] municipalities are starting to listen. So that can be anything from raising a home.

[00:20:05] Prof Monica Sanders: So that water comes under it, as opposed to through it to, like, when we were talking about looking at the wildfires in Hawaii or in California. Moving away from the shingle roof to a tin roof so that if there are embers blowing in the wind, it doesn't hit the roof and catch the house on fire. Well, similarly, when you're out in the hurricane area, those shingles fly off.

[00:20:27] Prof Monica Sanders: That tin roof stays attached to the house. So that's a great mitigation. It's a great multi hazard. Way of reconstructing a house. And so all of those things, we're talking about hurricane shutters, different ways of installing windows, and then moving away from having a wooden outside of your house to using like fire and windproof siding.

[00:20:47] Prof Monica Sanders: And you're right. You see it. We were fixated on the house of Hawaii, but you've also seen like over in North Carolina, that one house on the beach. That survived the hurricane and a lot of that is because of these different [00:21:00] construction techniques. It's a lot of good stuff happening to

[00:21:04] Eric Goranson: there is and I get it.

[00:21:05] Eric Goranson: I mean, you know, things are expensive out there. And anytime that people start looking at doing more expensive things to house, because we've got this battle of what's affordable housing, but then we're going to do all these things that that we need to do to the house that might cost a little more. So there's always a balance out there that people are trying to navigate.

[00:21:24] Eric Goranson: Yeah,

[00:21:25] Prof Monica Sanders: there are. And, you know, a lot of these things will get cheaper as more people use them. Right. So those who can, if you do, then price of it will, as it becomes more accessible price, it will come down. But also, you know, I've looked around and we've got a couple of things going on and people are listening.

[00:21:43] Prof Monica Sanders: A lot of municipalities are actually starting to do homeowner grants for different things. Like where I live, there's homeowner grants for solar panels and changing out roofs because it actually is cheaper. For the county or the city, in some cases, to pay you to mitigate than to shell out [00:22:00] the money to do a large scale recovery effort.

[00:22:03] Prof Monica Sanders: And so, you know, go on the website of your municipality and see if that's available to you. And then also there's a lot of mitigation funding coming now from the federal government. So hopefully what that will mean is some of these things are more accessible for more people to be able to do this kind of construction work that you're talking about.

[00:22:19] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that is great because there's so many people out there that are in lower income areas that are just trying to stay in their home, let alone maintain it or build something that's more resilient. Yeah,

[00:22:31] Prof Monica Sanders: because we talk about, you know, when you're in what we call lower income or underserved or whatever you want to call the areas is that some aspects of day to day life create inside the household emergencies.

[00:22:43] Prof Monica Sanders: And so then there's not the bandwidth to think about the larger emergency that comes along when you have a natural hazard impacts you. And so there really is a lot of opportunity, like you said, to rethink what's affordable housing, what's a healthy and resilient neighborhood. So that we move [00:23:00] people, you know, into a space to where we take care of those day-to-day issues, but also give them the opportunity to do some of this work that we've been talking about, replacing rules n or nega, navigating the conversation with the landlord about doing some of the work, right?

[00:23:13] Eric Goranson: Yeah. That could be even the tougher battle right there. That's a tough one when you don't own the place and you're just trying to navigate it and, and do something that, uh, you know, you might have another party that's involved that doesn't wanna be involved.

[00:23:27] Prof Monica Sanders: Writer doesn't live around, you know, there's a lot of people who it's a great way to invest in real estate.

[00:23:33] Prof Monica Sanders: So a lot of people who are doing real estate investing that might not even be present. And so there is a lot of work that can be done and a lot of people, and I know some organizations that help people like to be able to navigate this with their landlords. I'm into be sure that those conversations happen.

[00:23:48] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that is smart. That is smart Well, thank you so much for the tips today What are some great resources for people out there that want to find more information?

[00:23:57] Prof Monica Sanders: So we talked about [00:24:00] Cleanup so you want to go to clorox. com for some of these health and safety cleanup and other disaster preparedness tips I always tell people look at ready.

[00:24:09] Prof Monica Sanders: gov so you can learn more about the different kinds of hazards and the risks that we're talking about. Also sign up for alerts from your local emergency management agency and your local news and weather channel so that you can constantly stay abreast of what's happening immediately around you. So we've told you all these things about how to evacuate so you can get the information to know when you actually need to do it.

[00:24:31] Prof Monica Sanders: So Clorox. com, ready. gov, and your state and local emergency. Response agency,

[00:24:38] Eric Goranson: Monica Sanders. Thank you so much for coming on today, professor. I really appreciate the time.

[00:24:44] Prof Monica Sanders: Thank you so much, Eric, and good luck with everything that you're doing and say hi to the team Rubicon people next time they're on.

[00:24:50] Eric Goranson: I sure will.

[00:24:51] Eric Goranson: Thanks again.

[00:24:52] Prof Monica Sanders: All right. Take

[00:24:53] Eric Goranson: care. All right, guys. Now that we've talked to the expert, let's talk about my favorite products out there [00:25:00] that, um, well, I think you should have as part of your. Um, you know, your, your routine of being ready for a natural disaster, no matter where you're located. The first thing is, is I want to make sure that you've got drinkable water.

[00:25:13] Eric Goranson: So whether you're storing tons of water or you've got multiple water sources around you that are naturally occurring, uh, whether you have a life straw, which is one of those plastic, um, kind of tubes that you can hold down into a puddle of mud, basically a water. And, uh, you might not taste great, but I tell you what, it does work.

[00:25:31] Eric Goranson: Well, you can go through and do that and it'll work great for having a drinkable water source. So that's a good way to go. Now I went with a bigger system because I have lakes and rivers and stuff around me. So I know that, uh, I've got multiple drinking sources. So when I run out of water, if I was to ever have a natural disaster, when I run out of it here, I have options.

[00:25:53] Eric Goranson: And so. I got the pure well pro gravity water filtration system and again, this is nothing that's [00:26:00] sponsored in the show, but these are things that I think are really important that you should have. And so, um, they're not too bad for price. I mean, you can get a good, good one here. It's on sale. I think, um, about 170, 180 bucks, depending on what you're doing.

[00:26:14] Eric Goranson: And, uh, that holds 2. 9 gallons. And it's really good for be able to bring like a, a bucket of water back and to be able to really filter it out. I mean, this stuff, as far as what it removes is absolutely insane. And so, uh, it's a physical purification process. So, uh, there's no chemicals involved in this. Uh, all the containers are food grade three or four stainless.

[00:26:40] Eric Goranson: Um, really you can take it around with you. I know people that use these for their everyday drinking water cause they don't like the stuff that's in it. Um, and it's really impressive when you start looking at what, uh, how this works and they have certified independent lab test results. So, uh, I mean, it takes out 99.

[00:26:59] Eric Goranson: [00:27:00] 99 percent of, uh, E. coli, uh, 99. 6 percent chlorine, 93. 4 percent mercury, 99. 8 percent lead. And so if you've got the two filter configuration, it actually will do 6, 000 gallons of water, which is plenty. So the filter capacity is about 3000 gallons, but it also depends on how dirty that water is and which is cool.

[00:27:25] Eric Goranson: And of course you can just jump on Amazon and buy more elements if you need them, but that is a really smart way to go. So make sure you're storing water, make sure you've got. Uh, a way to filter it. If you, if you have a water source, uh, don't forget that your water heater, if done correctly, can be a source of water for you.

[00:27:45] Eric Goranson: So, if you've got a 40, 50, 60, 75, 80 gallon tank, that can also be water storage for you. So, uh, make sure, you know, if you do have a natural disaster to close off that water system, so it's clean in case that they have any, uh, you know, [00:28:00] contaminated water. You see that a lot with floods, And, uh, things like that where, um, things backflow and that's not what you want, but that's what's important there.

[00:28:08] Eric Goranson: So those are all things that you should be taking care of. All right, everybody, when we come back, we're going to wrap up and hit my, in the last segment, my, uh, top materials you should have in there and some of my favorite brands. So you're comfortable. During a natural disaster let alone survivor. We'll do that just as soon

[00:28:31] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to[00:29:00]

[00:29:02] Eric Goranson: the round the house show this where we hope to get the most out of your home

[00:29:14] Eric Goranson: through information and education Appreciate you guys joining us today in our last You know, segment of the two hours of show here. So I really wanted to talk about disaster preparedness. And we were talking with professor Monica Sanders earlier, but one of the most important things is your survivability afterwards.

[00:29:31] Eric Goranson: And so we talked about water in the last segment and this one here, I wanted to talk about some things that are just the basics and of course. We could do hours of show on emergency preparedness, but I wanted to make sure that you had the basics here and this is important stuff. Next one is going to be, we had water.

[00:29:47] Eric Goranson: Now I'm going to say we need to get you food, right? We want to make sure that you're fed. We're going to the basics here. So my next one is go to mountainhouse. com. Take a look. You can get these at many other places. Freeze [00:30:00] dried food. Now here's the cool thing. I love these things and. They're darn good meals.

[00:30:07] Eric Goranson: I went down and did a segment with these guys because they're local to me and got to actually watch them make their, their, their foods and their, and their entrees. And so, uh, when I was there, I got to watch them make their, um, their chorizo breakfast. Oh, actually, we know it's where they were making the trees and the classic breakfast skillet.

[00:30:31] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, wow. Talk about. Amazing stuff. So they did the veggie chorizo breakfast scramble, and then we had the classic skillet. I tell you what, this stuff, you can watch them literally cooking meals. Like it was ready to go. And then they flash freeze it and dehydrate it. And this stuff is good for 30 years.

[00:30:56] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, it doesn't matter if it's 10 years old, it still [00:31:00] tastes like it did before because they've removed all the water out of it. And what they do is it's amazing how this works. So they've got this. And the really cool part is. Is that when they do this flash freezing and when they take the moisture out of it, they basically send it up to where, you know, they create an environment like where it's at the space station.

[00:31:22] Eric Goranson: And so what they do is it just sucks the moisture right out of the food. So you're not cooking it again. So what happens is, is you don't have to sit there and really worry about it. It's going to be something that's going to be delicious. And, um, I'm impressed. This stuff is solid. And I know a lot of you that are campers or anything else, these are good, solid meals that if you are lazy at home, you might be tempted to crack one open and eat it because they're really that good.

[00:31:51] Eric Goranson: And so some of the foods that they make, I'll tell you about this. I mean, these guys make MREs for the military. They do great stuff. You can find out more of this stuff over at mountainhouse. [00:32:00] com, but literally they have their breakfast skillet, biscuits and gravy. They've got, um, granola with milk and blueberries.

[00:32:08] Eric Goranson: This is all freeze dried. So you're just going to add your boiling water and go scrambled eggs and bacon. Um, so they've got all these different pouches, which is great. And it's just absolutely cool how this works. And so when you get into the emergency food and survival part of it, they have their boxes, so they have these boxes, which is their 14 day emergency food supply.

[00:32:34] Eric Goranson: It's just a case of their stuff. Okay. It's 400 bucks, but you know, something you buy it once and forget about it. And so they have a 30 day case, which is more money, or you can go through as you get paid and get the buckets like they have a classic assortment bucket of 24 servings. And so it looks kind of like a 5 gallon bucket and, um, 30 year shelf lights.

[00:32:58] Eric Goranson: So the classic [00:33:00] bucket is just a great basic food supply. So you've got freeze dried entrees and breakfast. Uh, so it's got all the good stuff in it, and so you can take a look at that. It's about 128 bucks, but it's got all the right stuff in it. I mean, it's got, uh, the granola, it's got the, uh, spaghetti and meat sauce, chicken fried rice.

[00:33:22] Eric Goranson: Spaghetti, you know, I mean, it's got all the right stuff in it. So this is something for you. The beef stew, uh, beef stroganoff, you know, all the good stuff in there. So you got a really good protein packed food supply. So take a look at that. That's a solid one there. I'm really impressed with it in, uh, It's something that makes sense for many people.

[00:33:41] Eric Goranson: So next thing I want to talk about is what happens if you have to survive? Do you have a tent? Do you have, you know, do you have shelter? So maybe having in your bag of tricks, some tarps and some tents, right? Get a couple big blue tarp setups and the heavier duty, the better. [00:34:00] Uh, with that and some rope and some stakes, you can, you can button up a house that's been damaged.

[00:34:05] Eric Goranson: You can cover things up. I mean, this is money if you can make this happen. So, uh, you can protect your property, um, if you need to build a campsite out of it because you, uh, you've lost everything and you're waiting for help to arrive, it can be done. So just some simple heavy duty tarps. Rope stakes all of that is really important and sleeping bags things like that that you can have just in case you're trying to do Operate here without it.

[00:34:34] Eric Goranson: Of course generator is great But if it's a big natural disaster gas is important and that's one of the things that You know propane can be easy because it's easier to store gas doesn't go back gas goes bad propane really doesn't So you can go through that. Um, those are good things to have. And then make sure guys that you've got enough dog food, medical supplies, all of [00:35:00] that stuff.

[00:35:00] Eric Goranson: If you are running prescription to prescription, maybe call that prescription in a week early. Make sure that you've always got. You know, a couple weeks of prescriptions around because guess what? That CVS Walgreens turn of disaster might not be open for a matter of weeks. So you need to make sure that you've got enough time to be able to get that medication and you know If it's one thing like it's your cholesterol meds or something like that.

[00:35:29] Eric Goranson: You'll probably be okay But if this is heart medication if this is asthma stuff This is life or death stuff that you have to sustain life. Make sure you have that Okay, and then making sure you've got you've got set up, you know, make sure that you've got Things to sustain life. Make sure that you've got all that stuff.

[00:35:50] Eric Goranson: Make sure your cars, right? Make sure that your cars are, are, are always running on the first half of the fuel tank versus the last. You know, and, and one [00:36:00] thing is, is when you see a hurricane coming, for instance, for you guys on the East coast, you can go fuel up your car and get a little more prepared with us, with earthquakes or places in the country with earthquakes, this can happen at any time and you darn well better be prepared.

[00:36:14] Eric Goranson: So if you have all your cars on E cause paychecks on Friday, trust me, I've done this as well. So I'm just as guilty. You want to make sure that you've got that stuff dialed in and that way you're good to go. And I also recommend having emergency kits in your vehicles. Have a little go bag. If something happens where a bridge collapses or a natural disaster occurs where you're out there running around, maybe it's a tornado and you can't get back home.

[00:36:38] Eric Goranson: Can you make it through the night? Can you make it through the night with no place to stay? Do you have a some bottle of water? Do you have Ways to survive there to even have a cup to put water in. These are all things that you should think about to keep you going. So these are all important things to make sure that you've got it all dialed in.

[00:36:54] Eric Goranson: So think about that stuff, you know, in the winter time, do you have the right coats and blankets having some [00:37:00] extra stuff is a key piece right there as well as fire extinguishers and that rest of that stuff that's important. And so there's a lot of things that you should have, including if you get evacuated, we talked about this a little bit earlier, but making sure that you've got a go bag.

[00:37:14] Eric Goranson: Where do you know where all of your things that are valuable to you? You know, if you've got a safe, you can go in there, grab that stuff out there, or maybe it's better left in the safe. If you've got a good one. Uh, do you know where all your documents are? You know, put copies of those things in certain places So you've got a copy of your driver's license your your credit cards that kind of stuff having that in the safe as a backup It's not a bad idea.

[00:37:37] Eric Goranson: So, you know exactly what you got and only takes a minute of it and then for insurance reasons Here's what I would do every few months if you're doing work on your house Like I am I walk around and videotape everything so i've got a copy of what's going on in my house So I know for my insurance company, I can do a slow walk and go, Oh, cause when you've lost things, guys, when you've had a house, you forget [00:38:00] about the things that you've lost.

[00:38:01] Eric Goranson: So you just walk around, check all your storage areas, give a complete walk around tour with your phone. And if you've got it saved, like most people do up into the iCloud or Google or whatever. It's saved in the cloud. So you've got all that information. So having that stuff, including on your phone, if you've got a lock on your phone, making sure, you know, I don't want to make sure that you've got any issues there as far as identity theft, but make sure that you've got things locked down, but really having copies of that stuff where you get it and you need it.

[00:38:28] Eric Goranson: And of course, making sure you have some cash on hand. Great recommendation is always running around with a hundred bucks in your pocket, because don't forget when the internet goes down, so does the credit card reading machines. And not too many people have the old, uh, You know, swipe type things where you can sit there and imprint them like you could in the seventies and eighties.

[00:38:46] Eric Goranson: So when technology goes down, cell phones are down, all that kind of stuff, that plastic credit card is not going to be worth the plastic it's printed on. So make sure you got some cash to get around. And that's a wrap of this week's episode. Thanks everybody for [00:39:00] tuning in and as always. Thanks for listening to around the house.