From tighter security on the subways in Washington D.C., Boston and New York to plywood sheets covering windows along the Gulf Coast in Texas, this summer is turning out to be all about managing risk in people’s daily lives. Silver Lake Publishing’s best-selling book THE PERSONAL SECURITY HANDBOOK: Practical Tools for Keeping Yourself, Your Family and Your Things Safe at Work, Home or on the Road gives readers the background, checklists and tips they need to stay secure in a dangerous world.

Specifically this week, Hurricane Emily is gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico—and threatening the south Texas coast.

The storm already hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with winds as high as 135 m.p.h. There, it tore the roofs off of several resorts along the so-called “Mayan Riviera.”Then, Emily switched direction and headed back out to sea, where it regained wind speed and headed toward the north.

In Texas, summer vacationers in the South Padre Island resort area started leaving. A parade of RVs headed north after a local judge ordered vehicles in danger of being blown over by high winds to leave county parks on the island. However, many thousands remained.

Emily was the strongest storm this early in the Atlantic season since record keeping began in 1860. The storm has many weather experts worried the Gulf Coast regions are in for a rough hurricane season—which runs through October.

A thousand miles to the north and east, leaders in the big cities of the Atlantic Coast region are more worried about their subways.  In the wake of the 7/7 bombings in the London underground, transit authorities in places like New York, Boston and Washington D.C. have increased their security efforts to dissuade possible “copycat” bombers like those who attacked the British subway.

However, even the security managers admit these efforts are largely for show. Mass transit systems—whether light rail, buses or ferries—remain the vulnerable point in most big cities. Residents need to take basic precautions.

What can an ordinary person do about all of this? THE PERSONAL SECURITY HANDBOOK spends its first chapter explaining the psychology of risk—and gives readers standard risk management tools for identifying the biggest dangers in their lives.

In many cases, they will discover that mundane, everyday risks are more likely to do harm that exotic risks like hurricanes and terrorists.

But prevention is useful, even for exotic risks. So, the book includes extensive checklists for making disaster preparations. Here are some of the key points:

Preparing Your Family

1. Store a three-day supply of water (one gallon—two quarts for drinking, two quarts for food prep and cleaning—for each member of your household...including pets)
2. Store a three-day supply of basic dry food—crackers, snack bars, dried fruit, dried meat—so that each member of your household (including pets) can eat something every 4 to 6 hours
3. Keep one battery-powered radio or TV for the household and at least two extra sets of batteries for this device
4. Keep one battery-powered flashlight for each member of your household.
5. Establish a least two escape routes from your neighborhood—in case you’re separated during an evacuation—with everyone in your household
6. Establish a safe contact (often a relative or friend) outside of your immediate area that household members can contact or where you can meet in case of separation

Preparing Your Home

1. Check for any loose electrical wiring or shaky gas connection—inside and outside. Repair them personally, if you can; call a contractor, if you can’t.
2. Look for any loose structures (patios, porches, carports, fences, etc.) outside of your house. Secure them or remove them.
3. Fasten shelves and hanging units inside your house; place heavier items on lower shelves.
4. Make sure pictures, mirror and other such items are hanging away from beds or couches. If they’re nearby, take them down.
5. Make sure your water heater is strapped to wall studs or other solid bases.

Silver Lake editorial direct James Walsh—one of the co-authors of THE PERSONAL SECURITY HANDBOOK—says that the most important part of disaster preparation is the home inspection. This usually happens in greatest detail when you buy a house. But it’s also important check on the cumulative effect of repairs and improvements. According to Walsh, “The main way most people do this is by the inspection that your homeowners insurance company makes every couple of years. Look at it as a chance to see problems before they explode.”

Walsh goes on to say:

It’s not always structural flaws that cause problems, though they make the news. In many cases, the building materials used are not strong enough to withstand extreme weather conditions. Thin plywood, sheetrock instead of plywood, etc. Often, you have homes built 30-plus years ago—when building codes were less demanding—with do-it-yourself repairs and non-code improvements that add up to trouble. Like a WaterPik on your teeth, a hurricane finds the weakest points. Walk around your house and look at it with a clear eye. Are there any additions or repairs that include exposed 2x4s, thin walls or shaky transitions from inside to outside patio or deck? These are things that hurricane winds can tear out and hurl like missiles.

 

Finally, THE PERSONAL SECURITY HANDBOOK includes detailed lists of the things that any person should have in a first aid kit, to handle the kinds of health problems that disasters—and the infrastructure problems (downed power lines, tainted drinking water, etc.) that follow them—can cause. Every should make a first aid kit for their home…and their work or car.

Preparing a First-Aid Kit

Include:

1. An assortment of sterile bandages and band-aids
2. A disinfectant and/or antibacterial soap
3. Latex gloves
4. 4 gauze pads
5. Triangular bandages
6. Scissors
7. Tweezers
8. Needle
9. Thermometer
10. Tongue blades
11. Aspirin or other pain reliever
12. Antacid
13. Antidiarrhea medicine
14. Laxative
15. Syrup of Ipecac (to induce vomiting)
16. Activated charcoal (in case of poisoning)
17. Petroleum jelly
18. Moistened towelettes
19. Tissues
20. A three-day supply of any prescription drugs family members might need

“The critical period is three days,” Walsh says. “If you have supplied to last that long, you’re usually in good shape to get past even the worst disaster.”

 

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Silver Lake Publishing is an independent press specializing in books on personal finance, consumer protection and popular economics. THE PERSONAL SECURITY HANDBOOK is the 17^th title in Silver Lake’s series of books on risk and financial issues that face people living in the United States and other developed countries. Other titles in the series include: Identity Theft, Kids and Health Care and Credit Scores/Credit Cards.

 

 THE PERSONAL SECURITY HANDBOOK: Practical Tools for Keeping Yourself, Your Family and Your Things Safe at Work, Home or on the Road

by The Silver Lake Editors

$11.95

288 pages

4½” x 7¾”/trade paperback

ISBN: 1-56343-775-9