Beans & LegumesThe Japan Crisis: What Does It Mean for Me?
On Friday, March 11, 2011 at 02:46:23pm, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck about 80 miles east of Sendai, just off the northeast coast of Japan. This earthquake, which was the largest earthquake in recorded history for Japan, was caused by thrust faulting on or near the subduction zone plate boundary between the Pacific and North America plates. Modeling by the United States Geological Survey indicates that the fault moved 130 ft! This incredible movement triggered a huge tsunami which caused waves as high as 30ft clear across the ocean on the west coast of the United States and utterly devastated coastal towns and villages on Japan’s northeast coast with waves as high as 80ft traveling at 45mph!
This incredibly deadly earthquake/tsunami combo killed thousands. The current death toll is over 10,000 with nearly 3,000 injured and another 17,000 individuals possibly dead because their location is unknown. There have been 18,000 households destroyed and another 130,000 households damaged causing nearly 250,000 people taking refuge in various evacuation sites.
As if this devastation was not enough, nearly all of the reactors at the Fukishima I Nuclear Power Plant were severely damaged. As a result, there has been radiation detected in Japanese produce and milk produced in the region, which has halted shipments, and more than 150 miles away, the Tokyo water supply is now contaminated with radioactive Iodine-131 with measured levels past the limit for infants and near the limit for adults.
Now, a full two weeks later, the Fukishima nuclear facility is still not under control and at least one core containment vessels is now feared to be breached with highly radioactive material possibly leaking into the atmosphere.
Amidst all the chaos and devastation from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis across the ocean in Japan, there is growing concern in the United States, and the questions people are asking are…
“Q: What does this mean for me?”
and
“Q: Do I need to be worried?”
and
“Q: What should I be doing about it?”
The answers to these questions are fairly simple…
“A: It means your daily life will likely be impacted”
and
“A: You don’t need to be worried if you’ve been preparing?”
and
“A: You should be preparing your family the same as you have been in the past?”
So, now you might be asking yourself, “How will my daily life be impacted?” Japan has already halted nearly 5% of their exports, the capacity of manufacturing facilities for electronics and automobiles in Japan has been reduced, and the oil refining capacity has been impacted, and the impact of the economic turmoil has already caused the US dollar to fall in value which increases your cost of living and some experts say the weakened Japanese economy may cause interest rates to rise, but…
If you’ve been preparing your family with food storage, water storage, financial storage, getting out of debt and other emergency preparedness measures… you don’t need to worry. Most experts agree that there is little chance of radiation reaching the United States but even if it does, and even if food prices or cost of living increases you can live off your food storage and savings if you have them. If you are prepared… you have no need to worry or be afraid.
Again… now you may be asking yourself… “So what if I haven’t been preparing already?” Don’t wait. The entire emergency preparedness industry is seeing incredible demand and is backed up. Get prepared today. If there is a line… get in line now. If you wait, the line could just be longer later and you never know what could happen between now and then.
No matter what disaster or crisis is currently happening in the world or in your neighborhood, our advice will always be the same. Prepare today for what may happen tomorrow. You will never regret it.
· Make a plan for emergencies or disasters.
· Get some water storage.
· Buy some food storage.
· Have what you need to Shelter-in-Place.
· Get out of debt & save some money
· Prepare your family with Grab-n-Go supplies in case you need to leave your home.
Start small if you need to… we’re here to help if you have questions… Prepare today and don’t worry about tomorrow.
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I purchased some water storage containers – only six – I have not filled them yet – if I use tap water – is the preservative application going to be the same? There is chlorine in the water already – do I still need it?
Also, do the water purifier systems you carry remove radioactivity?
From The Ready Store:
Marji, if you use tap water you can need to rotate the water every 6 months to 12 months. Add water preserver and you are looking at every 5 years instead. The water preserver does work with chlorinated water and yes you will need the water preserver if you want to rotate with the water only once every 5 years as opposed to 1-2 times a year without it.
Thanks,
The Ready Store
March 28th, 2011 at 7:04 amI purchased a 500 gallon food grade water tank as a reserve water supply. I haven’t filled it yet but have a couple of questions.
How much “water perserver” do I need to purchase to keep all that water drinkable for 5 year? AND, is it okay to use a regular garden hose to fill it or do I need to buy a more sanitary hose (like ones used to fill anad drain a swimming pool) to assure this water does not get contaminated.
From The Ready Store:
Pat, the water preserver we sell treats 55 gallons so you would need 9 at least. As for the hose it is better to go with a drink safe hose.
Thanks, hope that helps
The Ready Store
March 28th, 2011 at 11:02 amRecently, my boyfriend and I have started thinking about saving up food. Currently, we have rice, pastas, things that will keep for weeks on the shelf if we need. Because of our current financial situation, however, it has been getting harder and harder to get the bills paid and to keep putting food on the table, so we started eating up what we had stored.
I have several questions today:
1.) How do you suggest we store everything we save up? We have a small apartment, so drums and huge boxes aren’t an option.
2.) How much of a time period should we store food for? For example, two weeks, a month, six months?
3.) I have read several lists from several different websites as to what kinds of food to store. What do you suggest saving up?
Thanks for any help you or others can give.
From The Ready Store:
Thanks rastaprepper for your advice. I will take a shot at answering questions too.
When space is a premium vacuum packing items can be a nice option to help save space. You can also get Mountain House freeze dried pouches which as smaller than #10 cans. You should see if you have a water source near your location and get a water filter/purifier. Also there are pouches of emergency water as well that you can buy. You can add these items to backpacks for grab n’ go flexibility and have a 2 week supply pretty easily. For longer term supplies maybe you have family near you where you can store other supplies or maybe rent out a storage unit and put emergency supplies in that instead.
As for doing this all on a budget you need to do just that – budget. Wherever there is some fat to trim (maybe reduce snack purchases, carpool to work, ect…) then you can use the cost savings towards these emergency preparedness items.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:58 am@ Dameon..
To store dried foods properly you should definitely buy a good vacuum sealer. Look at it like this, rice only keeps in the pantry for about 6months, if you vacuum pack the rice, the rice will keep for 2-3 years.
I vac seal varies types of rice and beans 2cup servings at a time. You can use what you need and then reseal the back.
I suggest saving all the dried foods you can. Rice, beans, pasta, red hard wheat, anything that’s dried that you eat or “trade or barter” with.
Now you may also look into buying a Excalibur food dehydrator. You can dry veggies, fruit, scram eggs, meats, just about anything. Then vac seal those dried foods and you will be amazed at how food you will have stored in no time. And it helps if you are on tight daily or weekly budget.
Good luck. And happy prepping.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:35 pmRemember… think what if’s…. what if there is
No power
No police
No running water
No natural gas flowing
After a trial run with our west coast tsunami (we live near a river estuary on the Pacific Ocean), we discovered we needed grab’n go bags. We were prepared with food, water, alternative cooking source, etc. but what if our house was destroyed? Also if you are involved in emergency services, you need to have a grab’n go bag for long duty hours.
March 28th, 2011 at 5:10 pm@ Dameon
If space is an issue, be creative. Think of unusual places to store foods such as in stackable containers under the bed, in the back of a closet, even use storage containers to make a table behind the sofa, next to your bed or even make a coffee table and cover with a nice piece of fabric and decorate on top to hide your food storage. Hope this helps.
March 29th, 2011 at 11:18 pmI ordered food from your store three weeks before the Japanese earthquake. At that time, shipping was 6 to 8 weeks. Now, your site says it’s 11 to 12 weeks. Does that mean my shipping time will be delayed even longer? Or, will you honor your original shipping estimate? Thanks.
From The Ready Store:
Gigi, the time that was on the site at the time of purchase applies to you. The updated time applies to people AFTER the change in time. Good thing is we are making good headway and should be able to lower the time here very soon.
Thanks for your patience.
April 6th, 2011 at 12:51 pmI think that in light of all of these natural disasters occurring worldwide, we all need to make sure that we are prepared for anything that comes our way! As spring approaches, many areas are faced with severe storms and such, so make sure you’re stocked up and informed on what to do
. Thanks for posting and keeping us all safe 
. Happy Earth Day!
April 22nd, 2011 at 2:30 pmI am Praying for the People of Japan and will do whatever is nessassery to HELP them! We are Americans and Americans do BEST at what there the Best AT! Giving!!!!! God be with you all People of Japan we Love you and are with you Love Kenny
May 2nd, 2011 at 6:54 pm