In May of 2011, a tornado warning was issued in Joplin, Mo.. Sirens sounded and residents were told to move to a secure shelter. However, most residents did not heed the warning. In the end, 158 people lost their lives that day.

Why didn’t people heed the warnings?

Notice the sirens going off in the background:

I started looking for more information into why people don’t follow tornado warnings and found that scientists are just as stumped as I am.

Wait, Is This For Real?
According to research by Laura Myers, a Mississippi State University sociologist, about 10 percent of the population takes warning at the first sign of bad weather. However, the majority respond to tornado warnings and sirens with “denial.”

“They’re sitting there saying, ‘OK, I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want to have to worry about it.,” Myers told MPR News. “I want to assume everything is going to be OK.’ That’s why the person will wait for that secondary confirmation. They’ll say, ‘I’ve really gotta know it’s going to hit me.’”

Researchers have found that the majority of people will keep an eye on the news but they look to the sky more often. The average tornado warning in the United States occurs about 13 minutes before an incident, according to the National Weather Service. However, most people spend time looking for more news to confirm the warning.

“People turn into information vampires when they hear their town and village might be struck by a violent tornado,” said Dennis Mileti, retired director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. “That’s how human beings are wired. Nothing is going to change that.”

In order to combat this problem, the NWS is planning on using more intense tornado warning language. For example, warnings will state that “mass devastation is highly likely, making the are unrecognizable to survivors” or “complete destruction in your neighborhood is likely.”

However, they are finding that many people are still not heeding the warnings because of a perception that most of the warnings are false alarms.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Reportedly, 75 percent of tornado warnings are false alarms – there is no observed tornado. However, that doesn’t mean that a tornado wasn’t forming – it just didn’t touch the ground.

Warning graphics on televisions typically show whole counties that may be affected instead of the actual path of the storm. This leads to whole counties being warned while a city on the edge of the county might be the only area affected.

Issues like this have lead the NWS to issue “storm-based” warnings.

“That means that they do not issue warnings based on political boundaries (like cities or counties),” wrote Mike Eilts, CEO of Weather Decision Technologies. “Rather, the warnings are issued as polygons which precisely outline the area that the expert meteorological believes is in the hazardous path. Yet, many communities continue to set off their sirens for the entire city or county.” And that seems to be the problem.

Eilts recommends that people use modern technology, like phone apps, to get more precise information about their neighborhood. His company offers an app, iMapWeather Radio, that issues alerts via your phone if you are in a polygon affected area instead of just the county.

“We have over 250,000 users of this app, and we have many testimonials about how we have saved people’s lives during tornados,” he wrote. “However, our biggest complaint is: ‘I did not get an alert for the tornado/severe thunderstorm warning in my area even though the sirens were going off and the television meteorologist was showing I was in the warning.’ We actually had to build a tool so that we could investigate each of these complaints … and guess what? EVERY single complaint we have received we have shown that the location of the person was actually NOT in the warning polygon even though they were getting alerts from multiple credible sources!”

What Do You Do?
So we’re curious. What do you do to be forewarned about tornadoes? Is there certain websites or apps that you would recommend? Share your knowledge below and comment!

By The Ready Store

Over 700 million euros ($898 million USD) have been withdrawn from Greek banks in a week’s time. The country’s insecure financial situation has brought many people to start withdrawing their money from the country’s banking systems.

This announcement came from Greek president Karolos Papoulias, who had just been briefed on the subject by the Central Bank president, George Provopoulos.

With this news today, stocks closed at a 3-month low today. The Dow Jones lost 63 points, closing at it’s lowest levels since Jan. 19. (Read the CNN Money article.)

Greek citizens are beginning to pour their money into out-of-country banks for security. During the past two years, offshore transfers have generally averaged between €2 billion and €3 billion per month – however, in January they topped the €5 billion mark, according to the Digital Journal.

Provopoulos tried to quelch fears by stating that it is not a sign of panic but that it was people preparing against a real panic.

“The situation in the banks is very difficult,” Papoulias said, according to a transcript of the meeting’s minutes. “Mr. Provopoulos told me that of course there is no panic, but there is great fear which could turn into panic.”

The economic mishandlings have sparked citizens to demand changes in the government. Greece held elections on May 6, punishing the country’s most prominent political parties by withholding their votes and instead, splitting the votes among smaller side-interest political parties.

However, those elections have failed to form a new coalition government, sparking debate about how to move forward.

Leaders from the five main political parties met together today to talk about forming a technocratic government – a system that would run the country without politicians. This, in an effort to avoid having to redo elections in the country. They also discussed other political options.

However, those efforts proved fruitless too. Evangelos Venizelos, a member of the country’s Socialist Party, said they failed due to “arrogance, petty party politics and opportunism.” This will force Greece to go back to the drawing board and hold another round of elections.

If no decision is reached in time, Greece will stop receiving financial help from other European countries and default.

Jonathan Loynes, a chief European economist at Capital Economics, told Reuters that there is “now a considerable danger that Greece simply runs out of money. It can’t pay wages, can’t run public transport, can’t maintain infrastructure and that the country just descends into complete chaos.” Greece’s partners – especially France and Germany – would be exposed to the loss of billions of euros.

However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has dismissed ideas that Europe’s economy will collapse.

“Europe won’t sink that easily,” he said. “We want Greece to remain in the eurozone but it also has to want this and to fulfil its obligations. Irish central bank governor Patrick Honohan agreed, saying that Greece’s departure from the eurozone “isn’t necessarily fatal.”

By The Ready Store

According to a recent survey, more than half of small businesses in the United States have not taken any measures to prepare against natural disasters.

The survey, conducted by FedEx Corp and the American Red Cross, found that 51 percent of small businesses have never practiced evacuations or other emergency drills. Forty-seven percent have not assigned or communicated employee’s roles for the business in a disaster.

Further, while 40 percent of small businesses do not believe they could fully recover within six months if their business was completely destroyed in a disaster, fewer than one third (29 percent) of those surveyed are prepared if a disaster disrupts their business for just one month.

Additionally, the majority of small businesses may not fully realize how a disaster could impact one of their greatest resources–their employees. Seventy-seven percent have not taken steps to encourage employees to create disaster preparedness plans for their homes and families. (Read the BusinessWire release.)

Having natural disasters affect small businesses in the U.S. could have a huge impact on our economy.

After Hurricane Katrina, the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, more than $2.3 billion of small business loans were made to about 22,000 companies in the area.

“Many small businesses put off disaster preparation because of concerns about lack of resources or expertise,” said Rose Flenorl, manager, Global Citizenship, FedEx Services. “But some simple, inexpensive steps can go a long way toward helping businesses be prepared if disaster strikes. The survey found that 77 percent of small businesses would be more likely to take action to prepare for disaster if they were provided with educational materials.”

Previously, we wrote about ways that your business could prepare for an earthquake or other natural disaster. Please take time to prepare your business, along with your family.

By The Ready Store

WaterBricks began as a smart way to transport water to impoverished countries while helping them build their communities. Now, WaterBricks have become a durable, vertsatile water storage option for millions of Americans!

Check out how WaterBrick started, how you might be able to use the WaterBrick and demonstrations on just how durable a WaterBrick can be!

History
Adams came up with the idea of the WaterBrick – an interlocking brick water container that could double as housing. The water would be delivered to those in need and then they would be able to use the bricks to create shelter and housing for their communities.

The Ready Store was the first company in the nation to begin selling WaterBricks back in 2010. Now, they are recognized as a high-quality, dependable source of water storage in the industry!

Building A House
WaterBricks were designed so that once the contents were emptied, you can reuse the container to create a transitional housing. It doesn’t require a foundation or mortar, just stack them and run a ¾” PVC pipe vertically along the grooves and it joins together. They are surprisingly strong.

Please note that WaterBricks are not an approved building product in the United States.

Storage Variety
WaterBricks are great for camping, home water storage, boating or even transporting other materials in a food-grade container. Some people use them for transporting ammo, paintballs or other materials. You can even freeze the WaterBricks to make giant ice cubes.

With the interlocking peices, you can strap them to campers, RVs or even use them handles to carry them around.

Durable
The WaterBricks are so durable that they can stop a bullet! The bricks are 9 inches long and most bullets didn’t get half way through the brick.

We even decided to throw one off our roof to see what happened. Take a look:

China continues to experience major flooding that affects thousands of people, has taken lives, and wiped out precious crops.

The Chinese goverment has warned that more storms may be on their way. They say that rainstorms are expected for the next three days, with up to 150 millmeters of rain.

This announcement came after three people were killed, with another missing, after a flash flood engulfed a shed at a construction site in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region early yesterday. Rescuers retrieved the bodies by noon, but last night were still looking for one missing person in Wanggao township in the city of Hezhou, firefighters said. (Read the East Day article.)

About 172,000 residents in Hunan, China, were relocated over the weekend. Continuous rains and flooding have affected over 2.91 million people in 50 provinces in the country.

Over 3,600 houses in Hunan have collapsed in the storms, which have also led to direct economic losses of about 2.87 billion yuan (about $456.3 million).

The heavy rains have also lifted water levels on the province’s major rivers to dangerous levels, the provincial meteorological bureau said, adding that the Miluo, Zishui and Yuanshui rivers have all been affected.

The provincial government has ordered local authorities to make preparations for disaster relief work and make efforts to prevent the rivers from flooding.

Precipitation in Hunan is expected to drop on Tuesday, although another round of rain is expected for Friday, according to the provincial meteorological bureau. (Read the China Daily article.)

Southern China’s Guangi Zhuang region has also experienced heavy flooding and rains. The storms have left at least four people dead and more missing. The storms there have affected more than 70,000 people and damaged thousands of acres of crops.

By The Ready Store

Each day, you interact with chemicals and probably don’t even realize it. You use them at work, in the kitchen, bathroom, have them in your medicine cabinet and all around your home.

Each year, thousands of new chemical products are introduced into the market place, increasing our risk of chemical accidents. Not to mention, millions of gallons of chemicals are transported across the United States on a regular basis.

With the prevalence of chemicals, it’s important to know what to do if there is a chemical accident close to you. Here are a few tips:

How chemicals can harm
One of the best ways to be prepared is to know how chemicals could potentially harm you. You should be aware that you can be exposed to chemicals in three ways:

• Through breathing
• Consuming food, water or medication
• Touching a chemical or contaminated object

If you come on someone who you believe has been injured in a chemical incident, ensure that you are not in harm’s way before you try and help them.

At the scene of the accident
If you are the area where the incident has occurred, follow these tips:

• Call 911 or your local fire department to report the incident.
• Move away from the accident location and help others to move
• Do not touch the substance
• Avoid inhaling gases, fumes or smoke. It would be helpful to have emergency respirator masks on hand if you deal with chemicals on a regular basis.
• Stay away from accident victims until the substance has been identified. This might be hard to do but it’s important not to spread the chemical. Once the chemical has been identified, help victims by removing contaminated clothing and placing it in a plastic bag. Pour cool water over the victim’s skin or eyes for at least 15 minutes, unless authorities instruct you not to use water on this particular chemical.
• Try to minimize your exposure to the chemical by staying upstream, uphill and upwind from the accident.

At your home
If there is a chemical incident near your home, you will be notified via your emergency notification service. They might appear on the television, on the radio or even through a siren or loud speaker.

They will instruct you on where the incident occurred, what areas might be affected and where you should go to avoid contamination.

If you are told to shelter-in-place by the emergency notification services, here is what you should do:

• Gather all members of your family into an above-ground room. This room should have few doors and windows.
• Seal off your house so no contaminants can enter. Close all windows and vents, turn off all fans, heating or cooling systems.
• Fill a bathtub with a large amount of water and turn off the intake valve to the house. Make sure this water is not contaminated.
• Listen to an emergency radio for updates.

Evacuations
Other times, emergency services will ask you to evacuate to avoid being contaminated by the chemical incident. If you are instructed to evacuate, move quickly to seal up your home before you leave. Seal off vents, windows and doors.

When leaving in a car, ensure that the windows are rolled up and that the car’s heating or cooling system is not on. Close all vents in the car.

Returning home
After an evacuation, be careful when returning home. Local authorities will provide instructions on what you should do when returning home. They will also provide you with information on what do if you come in contact with the chemical again. Be sure to follow these instructions, especially regarding food and water.

Tips?
What advice do you have to prepare against chemical incidents? Do you have a helpful item in your 72-hour kit to help against chemicals?

With hurricane season starting soon, it’s important to make sure your home is secure enough to withstand the storms.

Here are a few tips that you can take to prepare your home for the hurricane season that officially starts May 1.

Shingles
Most shingles aren’t necessarily designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. They are more designed to withstand and dispel water. Sometimes, the adhesive on the shingles doesn’t stick correctly. If a qualified inspector agrees that your shingles’ adhesive is not sticking properly, use a quick-setting asphalt cement to fix them.

Apply a quarter-sized spot of cement under each shingle and press it into the shingle below it. Be careful not to bend the shingle too far when applying the cement.

If you notice dark patches on your roof, this can be a sign of moisture and will be a weak spot. Take measures to repair the area.

Secure Roof to Top of Wall
Often, the roof is connected to your house by nails that have been placed at an angle (toenailing). If this is the case, you’ll need more security than that.
You can use hurricane straps to connect the roof trusses to the top of your wall. The National Hurricane Center recommends:

To install hurricane straps and clips, remove the roof sheathing around the perimeter of the roof to reveal the top of the wall. You may also need to remove the soffit and exterior cladding to reveal the top 12 to 18 inches of the wall. In addition, if the exterior cladding is brick veneer, you may need to remove small sections of brick as needed.

If your roof has trusses, make sure you tie them to the wall by either anchoring to the top plate and then the top plate to the wall stud, or strapping the truss directly to the wall stud. (Read the NHC article.)

Windows
Many homes in hurricane zones may already be fitted with shutters. However, you’ll want to make sure that you shutters are impact-resistant. Many people also have laminated window system, which is plastic that has been bonded to glass.

Many times, people will place temporary plywood shutters over their windows. However, many homeowners return to find that these plywood shutters have blown away because they weren’t fastened well enough.

The American Plywood Association has some free hurricane shutter designs that are more dependable. You can download them at APA’s website.

If you decide to purchase manufactured shutters, determine how much bend each shutter has. By gently leaning on the shutter you can determine if the shutter will place stress on your window when the winds starts blowing. Ensure that all shutters are properly installed and that missing connections are replaced.

Doors
Homes will have single or double entry doors. Most solid wood or hollow metal doors can withstand hurricane conditions. However, if you believe your door will put you at risk, the NHC recommends that you place these precautions are in place:

• Install head and foot bolts on the inactive door of double-entry doors.
• Make sure your doors have at least three hinges and a deadbolt security lock which has a minimum one inch bolt throw length.
• Since double entry doors fail when their surface bolts break at the header trim or threshold, check the connections at both places. Be sure the surface bolt extends into the door header and through the threshold into the subfloor. (Read the NHC article.)

Gabled Roofs
A gabled roof is a typical A-frame roof that has an exposed end. This side of your home can take quite the beating during a hurricane. It’s important to ensure that your gable end wall is secure and won’t collapse due to wind pressure.

To secure gable end walls secure eight-foot long braces connecting the roof section the wall. Use 16d nails to secure the braces.

Vents
Make sure that all heater and water vents are well attached and not loose. If they are, take measures to secure them to your home.

Garage Doors
The garage door is very susceptible to hurricane winds due to its size.

You can obtain a garage door bracing kit at many hardware stores. You can also use horizontal and vertical braces on each panel. Use wood or or metal braces that connect into the metal supports.

Exterior
Lastly, be sure that your yard is well kept in case of a hurricane. Many times dead tree branches become weak during a storm and end up causing damage to your home. This is the same with shrubbery and ornaments in your yard. Be sure to put unnecessary items away when you know a storm is approaching.

Also, be sure that water flows away from your home. When it begins to rain, the flood waters will need to flow down and away from your home.

Your Recommendations
What do you usually do to prepare your home for hurricane season? Tell us below and share the wisdom!

By The Ready Store

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, you better be prepared! We thought we’d have some fun and we prepared this graphic about what men think women want for Mother’s Day. Then we asked around to see what women actually want for Mother’s Day.

What do you want for Mother’s Day? Let us know your thoughts below!

Click on image to see our large infographic

Breakfast in Bed
This is what men always think. Look at the Mother’s Day TV commercials! Every last one of them has a dad helping a kid carry a tray of food to a mom in bed. You might also notice that the mom is always a morning person and looks like she’s been awake for a while. That’s probably because she was the one that made the breakfast while everyone else was getting ready.

Lingerie
Let’s be honest, is this a gift for her or him? Plus, you thought that a scanty outfit would be a good gift for the lady who is usually piling on the blankets and wearing a jacket during the summer? Let’s save this gift for Father’s Day.

Chocolates
Yeeeah … I know I always talk about how I love chocolates but I’m kind of on this on-and-off-again relationship with my diet right now. So, providing me with a heart-shaped box of calories really isn’t helping. If you want to give me a treat, please provide me with something that fits within my diet. For example, if I’m on a low-carb diet, fruits would be awesome!

To Go Shopping
She wants to go shopping. She doesn’t want to go shopping with her husband or her kids. She wants to go with her girlfriends or by herself.

Flowers
Sure, women like flowers. But it means a lot more if you buy her flowers that you know she likes. Most men go to a store like Costco and buy the bushel of a dozen red roses. Show some spunk and get her some yellow daisies, tulips or another one of  her favorite flowers. Better yet, grow them! That will show that you spent some time on her gift!

Clothes
This is a great idea if you know there is some outfit that she’s been keeping her eye on. However, and I mean this, don’t expect her to be flattered when you get her clothes in the wrong size, even if it’s a size too small. The “I think you look this size” excuse will never fly.

Card
Do you know why people spend so long trying to find a card in the aisles at the store? Because none of them were written for you! Women would appreciate a thoughtful letter or card that you created! It means a lot more when you spend some time showing that you care.

Home Appliances
Your mom already spends a significant amount of time cleaning up after you. She doesn’t really want a gift that reminds her of all the chores that she’ll be able do with your new gift. Save gifts like washers, dryers, blenders, an iron, etc for another day. Heck, save this one and randomly surprise your mom with it.

Click on image to see large infographic

To Do Nothing
Most women would just like a day to relax. This doesn’t mean that you force them to not do anything. It means that they can relax because they don’t have anything to do. This would entail that you organize the children to clean the home, make the food, make sure she doesn’t have any errands to run, etc.

Go for a Drive
This is a great way to relax and spend some quality time with your mother and wife. Just plop all the family in the car and go check out the beautiful spring weather. Make sure the children know that they won’t be watching any TV on this car ride. Form some good memories and reminisce about some of your favorite memories as a family. This will help your mother know how much you love her and how much she’s taught you.

No Dirty Diapers
While it might be hard to get your kid to stop pooping for the day, it’s easy to take over diaper changing services for the day.

Something Thoughtful
A wife wants you know what she wants. Show that you catch all of those subtle hints that she’s been laying down. Make her day by giving her that one thing that she mentioned she wanted one time. You’ll show that you actually listen to her needs and care about everything she wants. Whatever your gift, make sure it’s well thought out.

A Cease-fire
“Mom what do you want for mother’s day?” “Oh, I don’t know. How about that you kids stop fighting for one whole day?” Keep things cool and friendly for the day and make your mom happy. This is a great way to make a peaceful environment that your mom will love.

Spa Day
Recently, Harris Interactive conducted a survey which showed that 48 percent of women wanted a day at the spa, making it their top choice for a gift. Seventy-two percent of men responded that moms wanted flowers, making it their top gift choice. I see a problem brewing on the horizon.

Cozy Up to a Book
Ask your wife or mother what books she is looking into reading. Buy her a few of those books and let her read them the whole day. You and the kids can prepare a cozy place for her to read her books and then take care of the chores for the day.

The Overnight Vacation
Your mom loves you, I promise. But that doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t love a night alone with dad in a hotel room. She would love to sleep through the night and pass on some responsibilities to a baby sitter for the day. Schedule the hotel for the night before Mother’s Day and have a hot date the night before. Extend the Mother’s Day celebration for a whole day and show your appreciation.

So what do you think?
What other recommendations do you have for Mother’s Day?

By The Ready Store

Many Japanese citizens are lucky to be alive after a tsunami last year that destroyed the Fukushima power plant.

However, there is one man who has escaped death twice! The man survived the tsunami and a very rare tornado that struck last week in Japan.

A tornado with winds of 113-157 mph (F2 intensity) ripped through the city of Tsukuba in Japan Sunday, 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Tokyo. The twister left a trail of destruction, killed a 14-year old boy and injured dozens. (Read the Washington Post article.)

Tornadoes are very rare in Japan and occur maybe only once a decade.

It almost seems as if mother nature is out to get Seiichi Ohkawa. He survived the Fukushima quake and was in the path of the rare tornado this week.

Ohkawa was working inside the nuclear plant when the 9.0 quake hit.

Then he and his wife became evacuees. Their house, just miles from the plant, became and remains a radioactive wasteland. (Read the KSDK.com article.)

After the power plant disaster, they picked up the pieces of their life and moved away. He and his wife moved 3 ½ hours away to Tsukuba, Japan.

“I don’t know whether we’re unlucky because we got hit twice by disaster or we’re lucky that we survived both,” he told CNN.

An apartment building, one of the taller buildings, took the brunt of the destruction, and it’s where 20 evacuees from the area around the Fukushima nuke plant were calling home.

“I can’t believe this happened to them,” said Miyuki Takada. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”

Ohkawa and his wife narrowly survived by diving behind the bedroom screen just as the twister passed through their apartment.

Is he supposed to be grateful? Still in shock, Ohkawa says he doesn’t know.

“It’s a natural disaster. I don’t know who to be angry at,” he said. (Read the KSDK.com article.)

By The Ready Store

Many times people want to prepare with food storage but, like most of us, are going through some economic hard times. There are a number of things you can do to continue your food storage goals even when you’re on a tight budget or just starting.

We’ve shared some tips below and we’d love to hear from you! What recommendations do you have?

Gather little bits of money
A lot of people think they have to purchase all of their food storage at the same time. While some people might have the means to do that, many need to make smaller purchases.

Save up you extra pennies. Save the few extra bucks you have after buying groceries each week and it adds up. After a month you’ll probably even have some money to buy a #10 can of food. Save those few dollars for a few months and you could buy a six-can ReadyPack.

Bulk deals
Buying in bulk is a great way to get ahead of your food storage goals. With our ReadyPacks, you can save $10 – $30 just by buying in bulk instead of each can individually. With larger long term kits like the 3-, 6- or 12-month kits, you can save 13 – 20 % buy buying in bulk instead of separately.

The Ready Store conveniently displays the bulk savings price next to each product. Whenever you see this gray badge next to the product it means that you can receive bulk savings. We also list the money you’ll save below the price.

Make a list
Yes, I know this sounds tedious but it helps. Know what food storage items you have and which ones you lack. This will help you know which items you should be saving for.

Keep an eye out for sales
You can save money by getting on the mailing lists for food storage supply companies. Stores will have sales periodically. Check out our weekly sales and daily deal tabs to see if there is anything that you’ve been keeping an eye on.

Split the cost with friends
A great idea is to place orders with friends. Find something that you can split, like a 6-month food storage supply, and then split the cost. That way you can save on shipping costs and get savings on bulk food!

Package your own food
A lot of people will  purchase large quantities of basic staple foods like grains and legumes in buckets. You can take these items and seal them with Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers to keep them safe.

Be consistent
The most important thing is to be consistent with your food storage goals. You’ll be surprised at how quickly small things can add up. Be consistent and add to your food storage when you can!

What advice do you have?
Comment below and share your advice! How can you keep preparing on a tight budget?