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The World Health Organisation tonight raised the pandemic alert level to five out of six after the continued spread of swine flu world wide. Margaret Chan, the organisation's director-general, said tonight: "I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5. "Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world." Making a call to governments, she said: "This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other industries, to the pharmaceutical industry...

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledged on Friday that "concern has grown" since the first reports of a novel swine flu infecting patients in Texas and California emerged late March. Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the agency, said health officials are closely tracking the spread of the swine flu, after additional cases of flu and some deaths were reported in Mexico. ----snip------------ In preparation for such a scenario, the CDC has created a seed stock of a vaccine against the swine flu, which could be pushed into production should the number of cases jump...

The Obama administration declared a "public health emergency" Sunday to confront the swine flu — but is heading into its first medical outbreak without: - No Secretary of Health and Human Services or appointees in any of the department’s 19 key posts. - No surgeon general - No head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, his choice to run the Food and Drug Administration awaits confirmation. Obama was caught off guard by the emergence of this virus and many decisions that should have been made have not as a result of no leadership in the departments...

Note to Fluwikians: Remember, this “If You Only Have 24 Hours” list is different from a “How Do I Start To Prep” list. Both are directed at people who haven’t started prepping yet, but the former is for dire straits once the pandemic becomes “official” or there is an otherwise obvious escalated emergency pandemic situation. The latter is simply for the calm before the storm, like right now, while we all still have (forseeable) time to prep. This list is for individuals who have failed to stockpile goods and supplies for the event of an avian flu pandemic. It assumes...

A Cyber-Attack on an American City Bruce Perens Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported. That attack demonstrated a severe fault in American infrastructure: its centralization. The city of Morgan Hill and parts of three counties lost 911 service, cellular mobile telephone communications, land-line telephone, DSL internet and private networks, central station fire and burglar alarms,...

As a recovering scientist, I think it might be prudent, seriously, for FReepers to think about their plans and preparedness should the current swine flu become epidemic and or pandemic. Request: FReepers please post your thoughts and wisdom to help your fellow FReepers be prudent without freaking out. Rationale: This virus, compared to the H5N1 "bird flu" virus (hype) *has* demonstrated a very capable human-to-human vector and an ability to rapidly disable and kill a human host. Similar to the influenza of the early 1900s, it is particularly able to infect and kill folks 20 - 45, the age group...

In the past 24 hours I've received dozens of e-mails from SurvivalBlog readers about the emerging Mexican Flu. Some news stories have included cryptic comments from heath officials, implying that the mechanism of infection makes this particular virus "very difficult to contain." This leads me to conclude that those infected have a long latency period during which they are infectious, yet, they do not display frank symptoms. This does not bode well for any hopes of containing the spread of the virus. Then we hear a CDC official stating: "The swine flu virus contains four different gene segments representing both...

http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/Copy_of_press_release_0046.shtm Homeland Security Advisory System Current Threat Level April 24, 2009 The United States government's national threat level is Elevated, or Yellow. For all domestic and international flights, the U.S. threat level is High, or Orange. See the Transportation Security Administration for up-to-date information on items permitted and prohibited on airlines. Recommended Activities All Americans should continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately. Everyone should establish an emergency preparedness kit and emergency plan for themselves and their family, and stay informed about what to do during an emergency....

Note: The following text is a quote: Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101 A Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning Overview The FEMA Comprehensive Preparedness Guide, CPG 101 provides general guidelines on developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs). It promotes a common understanding of the fundamentals of planning and decision making to help emergency planners examine a hazard and produce integrated, coordinated, and synchronized plans. This Guide helps emergency managers in State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal governments in their efforts to develop and maintain a viable all-hazard EOP. CPG 101 continues the more than 50-year effort to provide guidance about emergency operations planning...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53628 Disaster Preparedness Exercise Trains 500 Guardsmen in Puerto Rico By Army Staff Sgt. S. Patrick McCollum Special to American Forces Press Service PONCE, Puerto Rico, March 25, 2009 – An underwater earthquake triggers a tsunami as a terrorist cell is discovered producing dangerous chemicals. If there was a time to call the National Guard, this is it. Fortunately, these scenarios are only a simulation at Vigilant Guard 2009, an exercise under way here that tests the capabilities of more than 500 Guard members from five states and territories to handle disasters and...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09030071.htm Thursday, March 12, 2009 Christian Security Expert Jeff Hawkins says Churches not Immune from Random Acts of Violence, Need to be Prepared By Michael Ireland Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- A pastor shot to death during a Sunday morning service, a policeman and two soldiers killed in Northern Ireland, a shooting rampage that killed ten in Alabama, and 15 murdered by a disgruntled student in Germany. Random acts of violence affecting and forever changing the lives of those around the victims who have been gunned down in...

There has been a number of post about preparing yourself for what could be a dramatic economic and societal 'crash'. And I was wondering how many of you have just in the past year started 'preping'? How many have don it for years? How far are you into it? I read a great post somewhere that there where three types of survivalist they discribed them something like: Type 1: The Prep Survivalist- Regular people possible owns one or to guns strictly for home/person defense. And has prepared for himself and famliy to get by small disasters hurricanes, earthquakes,ice storms, tornados,...

A late winter snow storm in New York City forced the local FBI office to shut down for the day. To head off the possibility that criminals or terrorists might take advantage of the ensuing imbalance of forces, the NYC Bureau Chief, Chip Bloch, quickly used the T-shaped hand signal to call for a “time out.” “With the snow snarling the morning traffic, it would’ve been extremely difficult for us to field a full team,” Bloch said. “So, I had to call for a time out.” As an avid “weekend warrior” at various City recreational facilities, Bloch said he has...

There is a great list posted over at the The Power Hour for those of you who are as a precaution preping some emergency stores. http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/items_disappearfirst.htm

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53313 Guard Needs Full Spectrum of Capabilities, General Says By Army Staff Sgt. S. Patrick McCollum Special to American Forces Press Service BALTIMORE, March 3, 2009 – Living up to the National Guard’s motto of “Always Ready, Always There” requires a full spectrum of capabilities, a senior National Guard official told an audience at the Domestic Operations Conference here today. Army Maj. Gen. Peter M. Aylward, director of the National Guard Bureau Joint Staff, speaks to conferees at the NGB Domestic Operations Conference, March 3, 2009, in Baltimore. U.S. Army photo by Staff...

The 72-hour Kit: Gotta Rosary for the run? By Ben Fisher - Jesus Be With Us Published February 13th, 2009 In the event of an emergency, do you have a 72-hour or Bug-out Kit? Gotta Rosary for the run? A 72-hour kit is a bag, bucket, or box of everything you will need (food, water, medicine, …) to survive 72-hours as you flee a natural disaster, terrorist event, or civil unrest. The idea is that you should be able to get where you’re evacuating to within three-days, or that civil authorities (police, national guard, etc.) will have brought the unrest...

8-years of liberal appeasment of terrorists beget us 911. Who knows what Zero's administration will bring. -click on image-

NAVAL SUPPORT FACILITY INDIAN HEAD, Md., Dec. 11, 2008 – The first active-duty unit dedicated to supporting U.S. civilian authorities in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack is wrapping up three days of intensive training its members hope they never have to apply in real life. Army Spc. Dale Soniger from the 3rd Infantry Division’s Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, uses the “jaws of life” to extract mock casualties from a damaged vehicle at the Raymond M. Downey Sr. Responder Training Facility in Indian Head, Md. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jared S. Eastman  (Click...

I am seriously thinking of taking to steps to go to a survivalist approach planning to survuve total chaos and financial and institutional break down. Some one please help me see why this is not going to happen. Thanks

-ATLANTA- Should someone call you this month asking your plans for evacuation on a gargantuan scale, don't fret - it's not an end-times conspiracy theorist. It's just the Atlanta Regional Commission. Starting this week, 10,000 random phone calls from the ARC will blanket the metro area, including Gwinnett, in an attempt to gather data on how residents might best be evacuated, if the need should ever arise. The 13-questions query residents as to where they get emergency information, their transportation preferences, as well as plans for household pets in an evacuation situation, among other questions. The random calls started this...

Note: Utah wrote this article and posted on FR 9-15-2001. I believe it is timely to present this as I have had some disturbing informations regarding what the short and long future may look like in respect to the economic condition of our country. It always pay to be prepared! Sen Jack S. Fogbound Emergency Preparedness (year's supply of food, 72 hour kit) The LDS Church who believes strongly in self reliance. Spencer W. Kimball, one of the deceased presidents of this church said, "No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his...

When I built the house I just spent 7 years working on, I had a lot of days that were just plane monotonous, so I would daydream about the Next Great Project as soon as I finished the house... If you're OCD you know exactly what I am speaking about. Perhaps it was watching too many reruns of Stollag 17... Maybe it was all the Underground cabins we built as kids to have a cool place to hide out in the summer. Truthfully though I just love to build things and when I designed the house I made the bottom...

from some good friends: GET READY, GET READY, GET READY!! An Urgent Letter of Warning, Preparation and Promises Dear Friends and Family, (This letter recently came to us from people we trust.. Please read prayerfully and be warned. Be ready! For in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Matt 24:44 The only thing the NWO people don't know is that the 4 angels of Rev 7 are still holding back the winds...till God's servants are sealed...Nonetheless, it behooves us to be ready. Europe is talking about the imminent US economic collapse which will spread...

AP Article, can't be posted

On what would normally be a slow summer weekday, the three employees at Gretna Gun Works Inc. frantically tended to a crush of customers admiring the racks of shotguns and rifles lined up behind the glass counter. Among the patrons: a jewelry store owner from eastern New Orleans with plans to stand guard through Gustav; two uniformed Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies inquiring about additional firearms; and an avid hunter who was in to pick up a 12-gauge he dropped off for cleaning. "It's hurricane season, you definitely want it back now, right?" employee John DeRosier said with a grin...

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama urged Gulf Coast residents to take the evacuation ahead of Gustav 'seriously.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8axHKw2ueI

Check it out, Live on FOX now. You can see why Bobby Jinal was on so many people's recomendation for VP.

Hurricane Gustav bears down on Cuba on Saturday evening local time.(Credit: NOAA)With Hurricane Gustav headed straight toward New Orleans, emergency officials and telecommunication companies are preparing for the worst. Gustav's winds had reached 150mph as of midday Saturday, making it dangerous Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The NHC predicted that Gustav could reach Category 5--the highest level possible. Gustav is pounding Cuba right now. It is expected to reach the Gulf Coast on Monday afternoon. On Saturday, the NHC began trying out Gustav updates via podcast. The NHC is also making a PDA/smartphone-friendly version of...

As 1,500 National Guard members arrived in New Orleans yesterday to support the city’s police department and assist in executing civil support missions, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced the activation of all available remaining Louisiana National Guard forces to assist with emergency operations in preparation for Hurricane Gustav. With the newly activated troops coming on board today, the total of Louisiana Guard members activated reaches 7,000.

On what would normally be a slow summer weekday, the three employees at Gretna Gun Works Inc. frantically tended to a crush of customers admiring the racks of shotguns and rifles lined up behind the glass counter. Among the patrons: a jewelry store owner from eastern New Orleans with plans to stand guard through Gustav; two uniformed Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies inquiring about additional firearms; and an avid hunter who was in to pick up a 12-gauge he dropped off for cleaning. "It's hurricane season, you definitely want it back now, right?" employee John DeRosier said with a grin...

We just got a call from Devline Rossell, a charter captain based out of Venice, Louisiana. He was shopping in New Orleans to get some supplies before the arrival of Gustav (currently listed as a tropical storm that has left at least 22 dead in the Caribbean) and reported that the item most in demand was not food, clothing or shelter. “I just left a sporting goods store and you would think that the number-one selling item would be plywood or potable water or gasoline right now,” he said. “Apparently it is AR-15s and .223 ammo. I watched at least...

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal laid out the state's emergency preparedness plan this evening for the potential arrival of Hurricane Gustav, which he said could make landfall in Louisiana sometime early Tuesday. The state's catastrophic action team has been activated and the governor plans to hold a meeting Wednesday of his unified command group, who are key officials with state agencies that would be dealing with the emergency. If the storm continues to threaten the state, Jindal would declare a state emergency and request a federally declared emergency on Thursday. Those declarations trigger regulatory and financing programs to help...

President Bush declared National Preparedness Month, 2008 Link President Bush declared National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, 2008 Link President Bush condemned the actions take by the Russian President in regards to Georgia Link Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice participated in a joint press conference with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Secretary of State Rice participated in a press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

BUSKIRK — A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings. That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear. Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore...

RICHMOND (AP) — Virginians already have been excused from paying sales taxes on back-to-school supplies and energy-saving appliances. Now it's hurricane-preparedness supplies. The state's first Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday begins Sunday and continues through May 31. During that week, sales tax will not be collected on generators costing $1,000 or less, or on nearly two dozen other items ranging from flashlights to duct tape. State officials hope the 5 percent savings will encourage shoppers to stock up on items they would need if the state gets slammed by another storm akin to Hurricane Isabel, which in 2003 left about...

BENTONVILLE — What started as an idea to better prepare congregation members for an emergency grew to an event that has served thousands of community members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bentonville hosted its second annual Emergency Preparedness Fair Saturday on the church grounds. This year’s fair was twice as big as the first year, with about 75 sponsors and 50 booths, said cocoordinator Travis Larson. The idea for the first fair came nearly two years ago when the area was hit hard with ice storms. The area Churches of Jesus Christ wanted to help their...

...Preparedness activity is difficult to track statistically, since people who take measures are usually highly circumspect by nature, said Jim Rawles, the editor of www.survivalblog.com, a preparedness Web site. Nevertheless, interest in the survivalist movement “is experiencing its largest growth since the late 1970s,” Mr. Rawles said in an e-mail, adding that traffic at his blog has more than doubled in the past 11 months, with more than 67,000 unique visitors per week. And its base is growing. “Our core readership is still solidly conservative,” he said. “But in recent months I’ve noticed an increasing number of stridently green and...

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies. At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in...

Defense establishment officials reported on Sunday that Israel has recently purchased a new supply of "Logol" pills against nuclear radiation. The pills were first experimentally distributed in 2004 to residents of Arad and Yavneh in southern Israel, and were met with strong opposition from the mayors of these Negev towns. The initiative to repurchase the pills was reported by officials on Sunday as part of a visiting delegation of Knesset Members to the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, located southeast of Dimona. Advertisement However, the defense establishment is still mulling whether to redistribute the pills to residents of communities located near...

There will be a joint Arlington County – Pentagon Force Protection Agency Test in Crystal City in early March,weather dependent. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Explosives Directorate (PFPA-CBRNE), in cooperation with Arlington County, will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a simulated chemical release in an urban area. This cooperative test – to be conducted in the Crystal City area – will provide valuable information for both Arlington County and the Pentagon’s response to a chemical attack. The Crystal City Urban Transport Study (CCUTS) will involve releasing a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and inert tracer gas that poses...

FOREST PARK, Ga. - The gruff, cigar-chomping general who led federal troops into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is convinced America hasn't learned its lesson from the storm. As Lt. Gen. Russel Honore gets ready to retire from the Army and hand over his command on Friday, he says he wants to spend the rest of his life creating a "culture of preparedness" to prevent another post-disaster disaster. "There's an attitude everywhere else that people are smarter than they are in New Orleans and in Mississippi. They're not," the 60-year-old general said at his office at Fort Gillem, just outside...

FOREST PARK, Ga. — The gruff, cigar-chomping general who led federal troops into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is convinced America hasn't learned its lesson from the storm. As Lt. Gen. Russel Honore gets ready to retire from the Army and hand over his command on Friday, he says he wants to spend the rest of his life creating a "culture of preparedness" to prevent another post-disaster disaster. "There's an attitude everywhere else that people are smarter than they are in New Orleans and in Mississippi. They're not," the 60-year-old general said at his office at Fort Gillem, just outside...

LOS ANGELES, Oct 25 (Reuters) - California's fire-fighting strategy has made big strides since deadly infernos in 2003 but little could have prepared it for the perfect storm of drought, high winds and triple-digit temperatures behind massive blazes this week, officials said on Thursday. As 9,000 weary firefighters, air tankers and water-dropping helicopters struggled for a fifth day to bring the last of about 20 wild fires under control, authorities said lessons had been learned from previous fires. "After the first two days, we had almost as many resources in the field as it took six days to mobilize in...

Sydney residents 'must carry survival bags' By Mark Chipperfield in Sydney Last Updated: 2:12am BST 18/07/2007 The easy-going residents of Australia's biggest city are being urged to carry personal "survival bags" to help them cope with a future terrorist attack or natural disaster. The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, says citizens should pack a "Go Bag" containing such essentials as toilet paper, running shoes, spare keys, a torch, disposable gloves, adhesive tape, a transistor radio and sun cream before they leave home each day. Miss Moore, who has yet to pack her own Go Bag, says it is her...

High school English teacher Shirley Katz insists she needs to take her pistol with her to work because she fears her ex-husband could show up and try to harm her. She's also worried about a Columbine-style attack. But Katz's district has barred teachers from bringing guns to school, so she is challenging the ban as unlawful, since Oregon is among states that allow people with a permit to carry concealed weapons into public buildings. "This is primarily about my Second Amendment right and Oregon law and the simple fact that I know it is my right to carry that gun,"...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia Tech plans to test its expanded emergency notification system this week, nearly six months after the mass shootings on campus. The system uses text messages, voice mails, e-mails and online instant messages to alert the campus community during emergencies. University spokesman Mark Owczarski says the school will test its ``VT Alerts'' system sometime this week. Nearly 18,000 students, faculty, and staff have subscribed to the system since it was launched in July. That's over half of the university community. The school had already been looking into expanding its alert system when student Seung-Hui Cho (sung-wee...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation's most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground. Others would hunker down in college dorms, churches, libraries and research halls that planners hope will bring the community's shelter capacity to 300,000, or space for every man, woman and child in Huntsville and the surrounding county. Emergency planners in Huntsville — an out-of-the-way city best known as the home of NASA's Marshall Space...

GLENN BECK - "THE PERFECT DAY"FReepers, our government did not connect the dots that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. We face an even more horrific threat. Glenn Beck is doing a special this week called THE PERFECT DAY. We have discovered architectural plans in a safe house in Iraq. Those plans are of American elementary schools. We have discovered tapes of a mock attack in which our children in the schools under seige are spoken to in English. . The terrorist have plans for multiple attacks on our children. They plan to brutalize them and murder them. When...

This week Rudy Giuliani rolled out another of his 12 Commitments -- this one to ensure preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Giuliani is promising not to repeat the errors of Katrina and to develop a better funded and coordinated and more decentralized Department of Homeland Security. His chief advisor on this issue is Louis Freeh, who served under Giuliani as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and then later as FBI Director. He talked about disaster preparedness as well as the Justice Department and his past experience with Giuliani. How is Giuliani's approach to disaster preparedness better than the current...

RED CROSS USES GUERRILLA TACTICS TO URGE EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS First they handed out empty bottles of water that read: "Try living on this for three days." They parked mobile billboards in San Francisco that made it look as if a major earthquake had just rocked downtown. They even posted housing ads on craigslist for heavily damaged flats near the Presidio that exclaimed "Available immediately!" And now the American Red Cross - frustrated with its findings that a whopping 83 percent of Bay Area residents remain unprepared for the Big One - is unveiling its latest guerrilla marketing tactic today:...