Skip to main content

Not So Common Sense: the Amazing Story of a Hurricane Survivor

Adam Graham of Adam's Blog has this guest post. I wonder what makes this man different from the rest of the survirvors? Survival instinct? Sure, but I would suspect there is a lot more to this man than a desire to survive.

***

MSNBC has the amazing story of a hurricane survivor:

Day after day, for more than two weeks, the 76-year-old man sat trapped and alone in his attic, sipping from a dwindling supply of water until it ran out. No food. No way out of a house ringed by foul floodwaters.

Without ever leaving home, Gerald Martin lived out one of the most remarkable survival stories of Hurricane Katrina. Rescuers who found him Friday, as they searched his neighborhood by boat, were astounded at his good spirits and resiliency after 18 days without food or human contact.
This is an amazing story, but it wasn't by chance that he survived. He lived to be 76 and continue to survive through common sense which isn't too common.

The man had a water supply that last him 17 days. Now, not having food wasn't a good idea, but you can survive for 40 days without food if you've got a good supply of water. What killed so many in Louisiana wasn't necessarily slow response time by the government, but the lack
of a plan. Now, his plan wasn't perfect but he's alive because he had a supply of water.

We have to be focused on being prepared in case of another disaster. The Department of Homeland Security has some pretty solid suggestions for an Emergency kit:
    1. A change of clothes
    2. Sleeping bags
    3. Food and water.
    4. A gallon of water per person per day should be enough.
    5. Canned and dried foods are easy to store and prepare.
Now the question is how many days to plan for. That's going to depend on your area, but being prepared could save your life.

-Adam Graham of Adam's Blog (http://www.adamsweb.us/blog)

,

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al Cardenas Comments on Univision Democrat Forum

Al Cardenas is Chairman of Romney for President's Hispanic Steering Committee. I got the following email from the campaign. Boston, MA – Al Cardenas, the Chairman of Romney for President's National Hispanic Steering Committee, issued the following statement regarding tonight's Democrat presidential forum on Univision: "Tonight's Univision forum demonstrated once again the consequences that a President Clinton, President Obama or President Edwards would have on the Hispanic community.  Whether it's tax increases for families and the two million Hispanic business owners, socialist-style health care, coddling dictators, opposing free trade with our allies or putting family values last, the Democrat presidential candidates made clear how out of sync their policies are with the best interests of the Hispanic community. Mitt Romney has put in the effort to reach out to this vital bloc, and, after watching tonight's debate...
Post a Comment
Read more

Harry Potter Mania -- Discussion

There is a great discussion going on at WorldMagBlog on the whole Harry Potter mania. Nothing to do with Latinos, I suppose, but I thought I would ad my two cents. A reader commented: I think its interesting how much people want to be in a group that is all connected by some common thread. It says a lot about our desire for homogeny, not always along racial, sexual or religious lines, but also simply based on what we do in our spare time. The interesting thing about Harry Potter fans vs. Star Trek fans is that a vast majority of them are kids who have grown up with the books, or the parents of said kids. I wonder if what sort of effects this will have on them as they get older (and whether or not they will remain HP fans). We live in an obsessive culture. Posted by David B. at July 22, 2005 07:54 AM This is an interesting phenomenon. I would think it is indicative of our society, more than anything else. I tend to agree with the idea that it shows a desire or need for communi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Communism: Good Money for the "El Viejo"

I guess Fidel Castro is doing ok . Forbes lists Castro as one of the richest in the world, right up there with the Queen of England. I bet he didn't like the attention. It was hard to figure it out, but it seems they managed to throw some numbers together. In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune. This year we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies. A reasonable discount was then applied to compensate for the obvious disclosure issues.
1 comment
Read more