Stocking a village hall for emergencies

[adam2]

My advice was recently sought regarding what supplies should be stocked in a village hall in case persons need to be evacuated to this hall in an emergency.
The most likely emergency is flooding.

up to 30 victims are to be accomadeted, plus several volunteer staff, for several days

The budget is up to about £1,000. for supplies.

Description of building etc.
Mains water, drainage and electricity (restricted supply 60 amps only) No mains gas, LPG from cylinders in external store. Landline telephone and broadband.
Small catering servery with cooker, fridge and boiling water urn.
2 toilets, and proposed shower.
3 wall mounted gas heaters (LPG)
Dressing room/store room for local theatre group with washing machine and dryer.
The building is equipped with 3 hour emergency lighting, and fire extinguishers and a fire alarm system in line with normal practice for a small public building.
Existing supplies are limited to 40 camp beds and some manky looking blankets.

My proposed stock list is
40 blankets, the boilable white cotton ones.
4 catering packs of biscuits
1,000 tea bags
2 catering tins instant coffee
6 kilos sugar, 1 kilo milk powder
Powdered soup for about 30 portions
Mountain house doomfood, enough for 100 portions
1L bottled drinking water, 100 bottles.
Baby food, for 3 babies for 4 days

2 battery operated fluorescent lanterns
2 heavy duty rubber torches
6 home made LED battery operated area lights
2 battery radio receivers
100 alkaline D cells
Limited stocks of other batteries

2 large first aid kits as approved for 25 person workplace
1,000 water purification tablets
4 folding crates/cages to hold pet cats or dogs
Cat food for 12 cat days, dog food for 12 dog days.

2 extra propane bottles so as bring total stock to 4, one empty awaiting collection, one in use, and two full.

In addition to the above stocks, a few alterations to the premises are being considered, these do not come within the £1,000 budget for supplies.
Installing a 63 amp generator inlet in order that a transportable generator may be easily used.
Installing a large rainwater tank for non drinking water in case the mains water supply fails.
Fitting a larger backup battery to the existing fire alarm system.
Installing a couple of gas lights on the existing LPG supply.

Whilst food and bedding stocks seem a bit meagre, it is presumed that some evacuees will bring food and blankets with them.

The emphasis is on what might be called "indoor camping" and not on long term survival.

[vtsnowedin]

I agree that the food supply seams meager. I'd add 100 pounds each of rice, dried beans and dry pasta all in mouse proof containers.
If you ended up with thirty people for a whole week you are talking 630 meals.

[fuzzy]

Those catering tins of coffee are poor value and don't taste good after they are open a while. Just buy 6 Aldi instant coffee jars [about 1.70 each] and rotate dates with home stock.

[biffvernon]

Our village hall would be below sea level in the most likely emergency that might occur hereabouts.

[vtsnowedin]

This is most sobering to think about. My own town has 1150 residents but perhaps only about a 1000 at any one time so where would we put people in an emergency? The town hall would not sleep 50 and has just one bathroom and not a scrap of food in it or a cot. The high school gym might hold 200 and has the cafeteria next door capable of feeding 300 at a meal but has no great reserve of food to cook. The church between them can feed 200 if they have food to cook and propane but again no stockpile. None of these can be heated by wood fires today so if the grid is down and the roads washed out a winter emergency is that much more difficult.
Thankfully some 200 houses around the town have wood heat that is not grid dependent and backup generators are common.
The local stores that remain are small and rely on daily deliveries and the gas and diesel pumps are also subject to a two day turnover so both food and fuel would get short for the unprepared in less then a week.
It would not matter of course if it was confined to just your town or one or two neighbors but if it was state or region wide people might learn a thing or two.

[clv101]

What kind of scenario would render the 300 or so houses in the town uninhabitable but the hall, gym, school in good condition? I'd focus on building resilience in situ.

[vtsnowedin]

What kind of scenario would render the 300 or so houses in the town uninhabitable but the hall, gym, school in good condition? I'd focus on building resilience in situ.

The town was built after the revolution to utilize the water power of the small river running through it. Consequently about a third of the buildings in the village lie in the flood plain or even in the floodway of the river.
The school and church are on high ground and the town hall is out of the flood plain but only by the width of the street.
Floods and ice storms in my lifetime have shown that the power grid is vulnerable and that bridges can be totally washed away leaving sections of towns high and dry but cut off from any source of supply and without power as a bridge or road washout almost always takes numerous utility poles down with it and the repair crews can't get over the river to you to fix the lines. Many of the houses in the town have their own well and can't pump water without electricity and their furnaces wont work at all as well. In the winter those houses become unlivable within a few hours depending on the outside temperatures which might be minus forty Fahrenheit. There are enough portable generators in town and at the fire department to run the town wells and sewer plant so unless a water main is washed out that is not likely a problem.
If times get tough we can always eat a couple of the cows.

[boisdevie]

"it is presumed that some evacuees will bring food and blankets with them."

The minute you make assumptions is the moment when things might go wrong. Is your assumption correct? A wrong assumption is not a good basis for decisionmaking.

[adam2]

"it is presumed that some evacuees will bring food and blankets with them."

The minute you make assumptions is the moment when things might go wrong. Is your assumption correct? A wrong assumption is not a good basis for decision making.

Agree, to an extent, but both budget and storage space are limited, and I felt that the listed supplies were a reasonable compromise between no/very minimal preparations as was previously the case, or hugely expensive stocks that would be liable to spoil before they were used.

The most likely emergency is flooding as the area is at risk. Flooding in this area generally worsens over some hours and gives ample time to gather foodstuffs, bedding and other supplies.
The next most likely emergency is probably toxic fumes or smoke, such emergencies are usually over in at most 48 hours.
Another fairly remote possibility would be bus full of passengers stranded due to the vehicle running of the road in extreme weather, and conditions being too bad to send a replacement vehicle promptly.
Or even a party of hikers or walkers caught out by sudden bad weather.

No one knows exactly what future needs might be, but the assumed scenario was 30 adult victims plus a few pets and babies and a few volunteer helpers needing shelter for a few days, not for a full week.

Extra food could almost certainly be obtained from the nearby village shop, this of course is not to be absolutely relied upon but should be available.

[biffvernon]

Out here on the Lincolnshire Marsh the local council have but red signs on lot s of road junctions reading ER Out. No, the council hasn't gone all republican; the signs indicate the best route away from the sea towards higher ground, the 'ER' meaning 'Emergency Route'.

Of course the locals know all that already and visitors will probably be none the wiser!

There are about 30000 caravans and mobile homes below sea level at high tide.

[sam_uk]

1x black IBC tank for rainwater collection, use it for watering the garden you've planted around the hall.

10x filters £130 ish
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ATC-Super-Ste ... SwvgdW4rZU


Perhaps you could persuade them to go for a 12v LED lighting system to save money in general use, then use the saving to buy a decent battery to swap over to in a power failure.

[careful_eugene]

You might want to add some disposable nappies, sanitary towels, soap, toilet paper.

[adam2]

Apart from stock rotation and minor alterations, stocking the hall for emergencies is now complete.

Final supplies list.

48 blankets, the boilable white cotton ones as used in hospitals.
Assorted sweet and savoury biscuits, at least 5 kilos in total*
1000 tea bags*
At least 3 catering tins Nescafe*
At least 3 catering tins dried soup*
2 large packs drinking chocolate*
6 kilos sugar, 1 kilo milk powder*
Baby foods enough for 4 babies for 3 days
Mountain house doomfood, 120 portions
100 bottles of water each 1 litre*

Chlorine tablets, enough for 1000 litres.
Hand soap, 20 bars*
Toilet rolls at least 100*
Disposable nappies and female sanitary supplies.
2 large first aid kits.

2 fluorescent lanterns
2 heavy duty rubber torches
6 home made area lights, LED.
2 battery radio sets.
All the above use D cells of which 100 are stocked.
Limited stocks of other batteries.

4 folding crates crates/pens to contain pet cats or dogs
Cat food for 12 cat days
Dog food for 12 dog days

Items marked thus* are regularly used under normal conditions, I therefore had little input as regards the choice of items, all that I could urge was keeping extra stocks and rotating stocks via normal consumption.

The emphasis is on relatively cheap supplies and keeping it simple.

Potential evacuees will be urged to bring with them food and bedding if circumstances permit.

[clv101]

What will people 'do'? Any provision for entertainment? Packs of cards, colouring or sticker books for kids, toys... What about multiple phone chargers? Possibly even a solar phone charger as there's a good chance mains power would be unavailable.

[adam2]

No specific arrangements have been made for things to do, however regular second hand book sales are held to help with running costs, and the stock is stored at the hall, so plenty of reading material.

Presuming power is available then TV would be the major entertainment.

Assorted mobile chargers are already available. Power should be available since the building is now equipped with a generator inlet, and a local building contractor who lives nearby has promised a generator in time of need.