Emergency Sanitation

 

How to Set Up Sanitary Facilities In An Emergency

By razzberry-jam, eHow Member

Here's a simple way to set up an emergency outhouse.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 5 gallon bucket with lid
• Toilet seat
• Kitty litter - the cheap stuff
• Trowel or old mug

1. Locate a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. Detergent, paint, any kind, just so it's a good size and has a lid. Put a garbage bag inside it.
   
2. Put in a corner of the fence or house, anywhere that you can make a bit private with a screen, tarp or sheet. If possible put into a covered space so your outhouse is sheltered from rain and dew.
   
3. Take the toilet seat off the toilet in the house (if possible), set it on top of the bucket. Put the bucket lid off to the side, you'll want that later.
   
4. Put the kitty litter next to the bucket, preferably in a container so it doesn't get damp. Put the trowel or an old mug in the top of the bag or container.
   
5. To use, scoop a cup or two of kitty litter into the bucket. Then sit on the seat and do your business. Drop the toilet tissue on top. Then scoop another cup or two of kitty litter over the waste.
   
   Have hand sanitizer handy and insist that everyone use it after doing their business.
   
6. When the bucket is about half full, put the lid on it tightly and set aside for disposal after the emergency is over. If it's the only bucket you have, carefully remove the garbage bag. Close tightly and then put into a covered garbage bin so animals, bugs and vermin can't get into it.
   
   Again, use hand sanitizer after emptying the bucket and putting it back in your emergency outhouse.
   
7. After the emergency, ask the local garbage company how the used litter should be disposed of. Don't just put it in the garbage for pickup.
   

Tips & Warnings

• If there's no kitty litter available, you can use dirt.
• Respect people's privacy while they're using the outhouse.
• People who live off the grid use similar methods for their outhouses. They dispose of the waste in various ways.
• Don't flush the kitty litter down the toilet when the emergency is over. If you do, you'll have another (and very expensive) emergency involving clogged pipes and plumbers.
• Clean your hands thoroughly with hand sanitizer. You don't want to get sick.
• If there are a lot of people using your emergency facility (outhouse), watch your children carefully. You just never know about people...

Read more: How to Set Up Sanitary Facilities In An Emergency | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6010334_set-up-sanitary-facilities-emergency.html#ixzz1FkdcTigu

A Word from our Prophets. . .

By the looks of things going on around us, from earthquakes to world economies collapsing, hopefully there is no longer any need to convince ourselves of the need to be prepared for anything that might happen.  We are fortunate in this church to have prophets who receive revelation for the church.  This month I’m going to remind of some of the things they have told us in years past.  Hopefully we listened to what they said back then, and if not, let’s get busy.  Times, they are a getting’ tougher.  We’ve been told what to do so we’ll be able to weather those times with as little discomfort as possible.  

And now, a word (or two) from our prophets. . .

 

“For the righteous, the gospel provides a warning before calamity, a program for the crises, refuge for each disaster... The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to the prophets and stored at least one year's supply of survival food...”

- Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, October 1973)

 

“The little gardens and a few trees are very valuable. I remember when the sisters used to say, `well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we could put it up.' But that isn't quite the answer, is it, Sister Spafford? Because there will become a time when there isn't a store.”

- Spencer W. Kimball (General Conference, April 1974)

 

“I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice. It is a prophetic voice, for I shall say only what the apostles and the prophets have spoken concerning our day. ...It is a voice calling upon the Lord's people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured upon the world without measure. . . Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually.”

- Bruce R. McConkie (General Conference April 1979)

 

“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake ... cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?”

- Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, October 1980)

 

“Noah heeded God’s command to build an ark...that they might be saved from the floodwaters. Yet there was no evidence of rain and flood. His actions were considered irrational. The sun was shining and life moved forward as usual. But time ran out. The floods came, the disobedient were drowned.  When God speaks and we obey, we will always be right.”

- Thomas S. Monson (October 2002 Ensign)

 

"...when we really get into hard times, where food is scarce or there is none at all, and so with clothing and shelter, money may be no good for there may be nothing to buy, and you cannot eat money, you cannot get enough of it together to burn to keep you warm, and you cannot wear it." (President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. - Church News, November 21, 1953, p.4.)

"How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion, when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing so, he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family." (Elder George A. Smith - Journal of Discourses, vol. 12, p. 142.)

“The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat.” (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p. 250, 1943 ed., p. 298.)

“I have a sense and a feeling as we have watched some of these disasters in the world, that this is a time for us to learn and prepare from these experiences.   The preparation happens in our own homes. There are not enough tents in the world to furnish every person with a tent unless the members of the church have a tent in their own homes...a simple thing like that. And then the storehouse is pressed down, heaped over and running over in our own homes. Some of you have student apartments, how prepared are you? If an earthquake or an economic disaster happened, would you have enough water to drink for 24 hours? Would you be able to get by until help could come to you? Those are the kind of the things we need to be thinking about in our day and time, the Lord expects us to do our little part and then He can bring on the miracles and then we don't need to fear.  I bear you my testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that these principles will strengthen us individually, and as a family, and as a people, and as a church.  As we listen to prophets of God we will be okay.  We don’t need to worry about being alive in this scary time.  The world has had scary times before and the Lord has always taken care of His people who have been faithful. “   –  Julie B. Beck  (in a recent Self Reliance Training Meeting)

 

"It is better to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent." – Ezra Taft Benson

 

"We want you to be ready with your personal storehouses filled with at least a year’s supply. You don’t argue why it cannot be done; you just plan to organize and get it done" (Spencer W. Kimball, August 1976).

"We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard" (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, Apr. 1976, 171; or Ensign, May 1976, 124).

"The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." Pres. Ezra Taft Bensen

"We will see the day when we live on what we produce." Pres. Marion G. Romney

"When people are able but unwilling to take care of themselves we are responsible to employ the dictum of the Lord that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer". Elder Boyd K. Packer

 The prophets have spoken.  Let’s be about the business of following their counsel. 

Laws Irrevocably Decreed

One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 130:17-18:

20There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

21And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

I believe that understanding this principle and applying it unlocks some of the mysteries of heaven. I’ve been thinking about these verses as they apply to the blessings of health and politics. I’m just going to talk about health right now, and how this can relate to our preparedness efforts.

Years ago, I was visiting teaching a family that seemed to always be having health problems. I asked them if they had looked at diet as a possibility to help them with their concerns. The answer was, “Yeah, we tried that,” with the unspoken words, “but it didn’t help,” left hanging in the air. I have since thought back on the implications of that conversation. What she was telling me was that they had “tried” to eat healthy, but when that didn’t work, they’d gone back to doing what they always did, whatever that was.

Good eating isn’t something we “try” when we find our health failing, and then hope it will make us feel better overnight, like the results we expect from an anti-biotic, which can have its own problems. Going back to the above-mentioned scripture, if we expect any blessing from God (in this case, good health), we must be obedient to the laws of good health. What are those laws?

Let’s take a look at the 89th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which we call The Word of Wisdom, and see what principles we can find there [all emphases are mine, with my comments inserted in bold and bracketed]:

1A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion—

2To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days— [It has been given to us to save us temporally in these days.]

3Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints. [It has been adapted so that even the weakest among us can follow it.]

4Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation— [It was given because the Lord knew that there would be evil influences in our day which would try to get us to do things that would compromise our health.]

5That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him. [Principle 1: Stay away from alcoholic beverages.]

6And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make.

7And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.

8And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill. [Principle 2: No smoking or chewing tobacco.]

9And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly. [Principle 3: This has been interpreted by the brethren to refer to tea and coffee, and they have also mentioned other drinks that would contain addictive substances.]

10And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. [Principle 4: Eat an abundance of fruit and vegetables.]

12Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

13And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. [Principle 5: Eat meat sparingly.]

14Allagrain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

15And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

16All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

17Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain. [Principle 6: Eat grains.]

18And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

19And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

20And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

21And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen. [The Promises: health, wisdom and knowledge, stamina, protection from the destroying angel.]

I think the Word of Wisdom is one of the most amazing scriptures we have. We have been told how to have the blessings of good health. Modern science now preaches the same thing. If we want these blessings, we must be obedient to the laws upon which good health is based. It’s right here. I feel this will have huge implications in our lives as the events of the last days continue to unfold. Let’s apply these principles now, so our bodies will already be strong and able to withstand the things that are coming. We must have the faith to be committed to keeping the commandments, so that the Lord can then bless us for that obedience. The Lord has told us that He is bound to keep His promises when we do what He says (D&C 82:10). I hope we’ll take a more serious look at this section as part of our preparedness efforts.