If you had 30 minutes, what would you save from your house?
In recent years, for whatever reason, there seems to be an increasing number of natural disasters throughout the world. Disasters such as flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes suddenly erupting, to name but a few of the disasters experienced in various overseas countries, particularly North America and Europe.
Fortunately, here in New Zealand we rarely have to face the possibility of leaving our homes at short notice, so the full impact of how we would respond to such an emergency has never been seriously thought about or discussed, certainly between my wife and me.
Yes, we have had earthquakes, and whilst they have been devastating with loss of life and damage to buildings and the country’s infrastructure, this type of disaster is a little different, as no one knew when they were about to happen and did not have “30 minutes…”
Recently our papers and television have been dominated with the unusually high, record temperatures in many towns and cities of our neighbours “across the ditch”. Whilst we sympathised with them and tried to imagine what it must be like trying to survive in temperatures daily between 40-45 degrees, what was to follow, was far worse, namely bushfires.
Having spent my younger years in rural Australia, even at a young age, we were taught and instructed about fire safety, so that during the hotter, dryer months of the year, we automatically knew what to do, but more importantly, what not to do.
My father was the local rural fire chief, and in my early teenage years I went with him on numerous local fires and helped where I could. The farmland was always flat and almost totally devoid of trees, and caused very little damage apart from fencing and in a few instances some sheep were lost. At no stage were houses or lives threatened so nobody was ever faced with “if they had 30 minutes…” to evacuate.
Twice I have returned to Aussie and visited family after devastating bushfires. One was in Victoria and the other where a number of fires took hold in various parts of my home state of South Australia, in the same day.
What struck me the most was the absolute and total destruction of everything in the path of the bushfire. The loss of homes, sheds, business properties, all forms of livestock, from domesticated farm animals to native animals that lived in the bush. Beyond that however was the dreadful loss of human life.
How those people must have felt and reacted when told by authorities they had 30 minutes to pack their belongings and evacuate?
Several years later, when I returned to some of those areas that had been totally devastated, it was like entering a new world. Trees, shrubs, bushes and vegetation in general had regenerated and were lush and green. Some trees still bore the black scaring, as if to remind us what they had experienced but survived. The animals, both big and small had also returned, because not only was the bush home to humans, it was also home to them as well. New homes had been built among the ruins, a new start and a new life for everything and everybody.
I really had to look hard to find maybe an old rusty, burnt-out water tank or farm implement that showed signs that a fire had once caused so much death and destruction.
Last year, there were fires again in my home state, only these were a little different and much more personal, as they got within 5kms of our family farm I spent my first 17 years on. Many former neighbours and friends still live in the same district, and most of them lost everything, their houses, farms, machinery and livestock.
How did they react when told they had 30 minutes to evacuate?
A small town, about 10kms where we once shopped, was the centre of the local district, where most of us played various kinds of sport, completely burnt out including the local lawn bowling club, where both of my parents were local and district champions for a number of years, total and absolute devastation.
This brings me back to the dreadful fires in eastern Australia.
We were shown, the emotional, heart-warming sight of people returning to the burnt-out shells of their former homes. They had returned, but to what and what did the future hold for these people, most of whom were elderly, and how will they cope both emotionally and physically?
Recently we had the fires in North Island. Starting to get a little close for comfort now and starting to make us think about what we would do if we had just 30 minutes to leave.
Now, we have the bushfires overlooking the city of Christchurch, and burning in some of the most affluent parts of the city, and adjacent parks and beautiful surrounding hilly countryside.
We live about 50 minutes away from the city on a rural, lifestyle block, but can clearly see the smoke and haze from our property.
Late last night, we were advised that an elderly, family couple had to be evacuated at short notice. They are both very frail and not in good health. They hurriedly packed their bags, and waited for other family members to pick them up and take them to safety. In the short time they had before leaving, what was important to them, and what did they pack?
At this stage it is not known if they will have a home to return to.
This brings me to the point of this story, which my wife and I discussed last night after hearing about her sister and her husband.
We are surrounded by farm land which at this time of year is typically brown and dry, and given the correct conditions would easily carry a fire. Yes, in many instances we have green, irrigated paddocks scattered around the district but would that guarantee us safety, in the event of a disastrous fire?
How would we react and what would WE do if emergency authorities informed us we had 30 minutes to pack up and evacuate our home?
I would like to think we would try to stay calm and not panic, but I think that would be difficult, due to the situation we were faced with.
In this situation, I would imagine those people deeply religious/spiritual would certainly pray and grab Bibles and other objects of religious importance to them, first of all.
Knowing my wife, I’m certain she would be praying and then grab her Bible from her bedside cabinet, and then a photo of her late husband which sits on top of that, right beside her. From there, as we discussed, she would grab our passports and all important business papers, before hurriedly gathering as many clothes as possible.
What would I do if I had 30 minutes?
Trying to remain calm would be extremely difficult for me personally, but firstly I would try to grab my computer, watch and wallet. Then I would go outside and try to rescue our very spoilt cat, before rushing inside and gathering up as many clothes as possible, and then with time and room permitting would attempt to save precious photos and photo albums.
Where we would go, I have no idea, as it would depend on the direction of the wind.
We have a close support network of both family and friends, so I’m sure we would be ok, certainly in the short term.
If our property was destroyed, and we lost everything, I’m not sure how we would cope, but I sense my wife would be able to deal with the situation better than me.
Providing we still had each other that would be the most important. Certainly our lives would never be the same, and we would never forget the time when we had 30 minutes.
If you had 30 minutes to grab what’s most important to you, what would you save? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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