SFist: 24 Hours of NERT Earth!

Elizabeth

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:43:24 -0800

Don't stand next to the Main library in an earthquake. The thin stone panels that surround it are designed to collapse to allow room for the building to move around.

Elizabeth

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:38:51 -0800

A Ham radio is way better than a CB. And you can't eat or drink either.

Darkmoon

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:16:23 -0800

Wow, I have a neighbor who took ' Nert' training... fortunatly I had a grandpa who like ' CB's' and still have a handheld one with enough rechagable batteries , dang I regressed... anywho... yea best thing to have in any natural disaster besides a boyscout/brownie ( thanks for the smile ) :-).... well you decide oh yea........ good luck is the best thing to have even if your prepared.

RinconHillSF

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:21:33 -0800

My takeaways from NERT training were: 1) Water is your most important resource - keep 5 days supply handy (3 days were thought to be good enough, until the Hurricane Katrina disaster) 2) When staying at hotels, don't stay on a floor above 7. Fire truck ladders can only extend to reach the 7th floor. 3) Corner buildings usually end up with the worst structural damage ... buildings sandwiched in between benefit from the support of the side-by-side buildings. 4) If you're downtown, don't try to get under cars or run into the middle of the street. Try to get against the wall of a building, preferably with no windows above (good luck on that point). If you get into the middle of the street, that's probably where the debris will land and crush you ... .like a pancake (word of the day)

Elizabeth

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:47:46 -0800

Not one thing mariconsoy mentions is taught in the NERT class. Except maybe the part about keeping pancakes in your kit. It was interesting to learn how to identify unreinforced masonry buildings. Bricks aren't necessarily a clue. Corner buildings, no matter what they are made of, are the most screwed. And the streets of the financial district will be 3 feet deep in broken glass. It's an awesome class!

pantsgolem

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:52:53 -0800

I can't hear "NERT" without thinking back to my high school chemistry class and the 80s instructional video that decided a good mnemonic to remember the equation PV = nRT was "pervnert" -- complete with an animated flasher in a trench coat. It worked in the sense that I remember the equation, but I can't for the life of me remember what it means. Well, I can guess what the individual parts mean: P = pressure, V = volume, n = number of... moles? and T = temperature. No idea what R is. Probably some constant. Lesson learned, I guess! That was far from the worst part of that class, btw.

gba

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:32:52 -0800

NERT = Neighborhood Emergency Response Team

mariconsoy

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:16:48 -0800

Remember cheerfully that many 3 story wood buildings- the kind that have a store on the ground floor and two living floors above- will likely pancake. So be sure to have pancakes in your NERT kit. Also many pre mid 1970s concrete buildings are going to squashy-killy everyone in them. Single unit wood frame houses are looking good. Be sure to have enough vital supplies on hand, such as fruit flavored coke and porno.

Darkmoon

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:56:56 -0800

Duct Tape !!!!!!! I wonder if he got that idea from ' The Red/Green ' show ?