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I expect everyone remembers the episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S where it was revealed to everyone that the smell of gas is synthetically added…

That’s a helpful safety feature which makes it possible to detect a gas leak early, and report it to your gas provider.

Reporting utility incidents is the focus of Day 20’s challenge

1 Pt: Identify all of your homes emergency shut offs…  Should you shut these off or do you need to call a professional?

2 Pts: Who are you gonna call?  We want you to program into your phones emergency contact numbers for power, gas, and water.  

As well as saving the numbers below to my phone, I’ve also included the out of hours number for my landlord, so that I can pass on any relevant information in the event of an emergency. I’ve also followed the relevant social media accounts as the companies often provide really useful information about service restoration on twitter.

UK Power Networks – 0800 028 0247 or @UKPowerNetworks

SGN Gas – 0800 111 999 or @SGNGas

Thames Water – 0800 714 614 or Report A Leak or @ThamesWater

I have also located my utility shut off points, however I’m not sure I’d have the confidence in knowing how to switch off gas, so that’s something that I’ll need to follow up!

I’m also aware that there are conversations within the electricity industry in the UK at the moment about having a single reporting line for power-cuts rather than each operator having different details. Whilst I think a common number makes it easier to find the right number (as for the National Gas Leak Number) whether they will ever be as ingrained as 999 I’m not yet convinced.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I’ve been wondering recently how much Resilience is connected to stamina. The ability to ‘keep going’ surely has a crossover to being prepared for any eventuality? It;s therefore telling that I’ve struggled, for various reasons, to maintain stamina to complete the 30Days challenges! Sometimes life just gets in the way!

However, I’m determined to see the challenge through to completion, and will be attempting to meet the deadline! With that in mind…here’s day 19’s task – to create a preparedness message

1 Pt: Today we ask you to create your own preparedness message. Share on your Facebook page or Tweet it out.

2 Pts: Add a photo or make a video of your message and share it with us.

BONUS  3 Pts: Create your preparedness message  with a “Pirate Theme.”  Today is National Talk Like a Pirate Day!!  

Ok, lets see, a preparedness message. I have two options, one which I have suggested at work, and one which I’ve shamelessly stolen from elsewhere!

Option 1 – Go In, Stay In, Tune In, Join In

In July 2004 the UK Government initiated the Preparing for Emergencies, which saw the distribution of a booklet to every household, with advice on preparedness. The key strap-line of the campaign was Go In, Stay in, Tune In – advice that in the event of an emergency it was usually best to get inside, to stay inside, and to switch on your TV or radio for more information. Not bad advice, but to me it was missing one key element, looking after each other. So I’d like to suggest adapting the national message to include Join In as the final call to action.

Share the information that you have, encourage friends and family members to be as prepared as you are, and don’t forget to check on them should an emergency occur.

I’d also propose a slightly adapted logo…

Option 2 – Keep Calm and Carry On 

One of the challenges in developing preparedness messages is understanding your audience. The messages that resonate in America aren’t necessarily those which would be well received in the UK. In addition, they need to be developed informed by local risk.

I can’t take credit for this message, which was developed but never used during wartime in Britain. Whilst it doesn’t actually provide much advice this message perfectly captures British stoicism and resilience to adversity, and I think it’s very applicable to preparing for emergencies.

And for the bonus points, here’s my Pirate translations:

Go In, Stay, In, Tune In, Join In = Avast, batten down the hatches, listen for ye shipmates report from the crows nest and look after ye hearties. (not quite as snappy!)

Keep Calm and Carry On = Blow me down and hoist the mizzen

 

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Two years ago I undertook to live on £1 per day for a week as part of Live Below The Line. It was a week that saw culinary creations such as egg fried rice with sausages and vegetable toad in the hole and where I discovered that mushy peas can be served with literally any meal!

It tested my inventiveness, but not quite as much as today’s 30 Days task. Joining forces with the Emergency Kit Cook Off campaign (which is brilliant!) players are challenged to rustle up something from the following ingredients:

• Protein:  Chickpeas 
• Fruit or Vegetable: Canned Pumpkin
• Starch, grain or nut:  Instant Ramen Noodles
• Beverage:  Almond Milk 
• Comfort food:  Dark Chocolate

Live Below The Line was difficult, but as I could choose my ingredients for the week it was easier than having that choice taken away from me! I managed to use all of the listed ingredients, but I’m not sure my recipes will be featuring in any restaurants any time soon!

Chickpea and Pumpkin Patties with Chicken Noodles

I made it up as I was going, but I’d estimate that my recipe was as follows

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 can unsweetened pumpkin (it turns out this is quite difficult to find in the UK)
• 50g golden breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp garlic puree
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander

I mashed all the ingredients together (in hindsight I mashed it a little too much and would recommend some of the chickpea texture is preserved) and formed into patties. I coated in seasoned flour and fried in a little oil for several minutes. I served this with chicken instant noodles made to the packet instructions, but I also threw in some chopped spring onions (or scallions!) as I had some lying around.

Black Forest Smoothie

To follow my dinner, I used the almond milk and dark chocolate (and some poetic license) to create a smoothie. Given the choice I’d probably have them separately but that didn’t seem to be in the spirit of the challenge, but making the smoothie would be tricky if restricted to manual equipment only!

• 100ml almond milk
• 150g dark chocolate
• 1/2 punnet of frozen cherries
• 1 banana

It was difficult to get the chocolate chopped fine enough, which resulted in a somewhat lumpy smoothie, but it didn’t taste too bad!

So, there we have it, my creations for today’s task. I don’t think I;d rush to make either again, but I know that if that was all I had in the cupboard I wouldn’t starve!

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I blogged almost two years ago about how the rise of the smartphone has reduced our resilience in that most of us no longer commit phone numbers to memory. Yes, everything is backed up to the Cloud (which rings some brilliant advantages), but that’s not very helpful when your phone runs out of charge, or you’re away from internet access.

I have two phones (personal and work) and make sure that my key contacts are available on both devices, and I also stubbornly refuse to leave the ‘good old days’ of a paper phonebook, and although I expect most of the numbers in there are very out of date, it’s a starter for ten.

I can confirm for today’s 30 Days task that I have two out of area contact (my parents who live outside of London), and that I do know these numbers off by heart. To go one step beyond the challenge, I’ve also made sure that my local contacts have access to my out of area contacts so they can speak just in case I’m directly affected by an emergency.

 

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Anybody that knows me will tell you that I can get pretty severe ‘cabin fever’, so I naturally do quite a lot of exploring of my local area. The task for today’s 30 Days challenge is to go for a short walk and identify local hazards and resources that could be useful in an emergency, with points allocated as follows:

1 Pt:  Identify what is within a 20 minute walk of your home, without being too specific…  Fire Stations, Churches, Grocery stores, resources that my be useful in an emergency.. etc. or take a virtual walk if you can’t physically.

2 Pts:   What Hazards are within that same 20 minute walk?  Bridges, Highways, Rail, Hazardous Materials? Don’t forget hidden hazards.. Pipelines, Earthquake Faults.

I decided I’d go for a quick stroll around where I work and put new app Hyperlapse to the test to give you a virtual tour of the local hazards (annotated in red) and resources (in green). I’ve probably missed lots, and would welcome anyone else’s suggestions, either from the video clip, or their own local knowledge of the area.

I think there is a lot of potential with Hyperlapse, however I noticed a couple of things

• I should have shot the video in landscape rather than portrait
• I need to work out how to refocus on the move
• You need to have a lot of storage space. I’d intended it to be a 20 minute walk condensed into 2 minutes, however my phone ran out of space at 18 minutes!

I know my camera work isn’t exactly oscar worthy, but I’m quite impressed with how easy this was, and wonder if it could be a really useful tool for helping communicate risk.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Eleventh task in the 30 Days 30 Ways challenge centres on crime prevention and local action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Pt:  Share an idea or resource in how to keep your home and neighbourhood safe.

2 Pts:   We want you to do a little research. Do you know where to find “Crime Watch” information for your neighbourhood? Share what you find about where you live without sharing too much about where you live…Were you surprised?

Following a disaster, news media often cover stories of social disorder, panic and looting; a post-disaster response perpetuated by Hollywood. However, there is evidence which points to reduced crime after a major disaster.

The shared experience (both by those directly impacted and through being so visibly public) can reduce social divisions, bringing individuals and communities closer together. The visibility of suffering increases empathy, altruism and social cooperation, and whilst this is often fleeting, can also serve as the catalyst for longer-term social change.

The availability of targets, absence of guardians and presence of offenders presents an increased likelihood of acquisitive crime. However, contrary to this logic there is rarely strong evidence of looting. Similarly for more violent crime, whilst there are a handful of well-known exceptions, the general rule is for a decrease in crime rates.

So although I question the link between emergencies and crime, I do think that having strong, reciprocal relationships with neighbours can be useful techniques for reducing the likelihood of both. Having someone to watch over your home while you’re on holiday means that thieves are less likely to break in; it also means that should there be a major emergency, someone is able to contact you. There are also some very practical benefits to knowing your neighbours too, like not having to rearrange deliveries!

To get the 2 points, I think the best resource in the UK is police.uk which shows local crime mapping, and is very useful for people looking at moving to a new area. Neighbourhood Watch schemes in the UK, in my experience, seem to have stagnated, but there is growth in online localism (like NeighbourBlog), which could be another way of finding out about your local area.

Oh, and in case you don;t know the image for today;s post – it’s Michael Pain, the Nosey Neighbour from 90’s TV Sketch Show Harry Enfield and Chums, who definitely knew his neighbours well!