Latest news with #emergencypreparedness
CNET
2 days ago
- Business
- CNET
Pick Up This Colorful Portable Anker Battery Pack for Only $13 Right Now
With all of our devices and on-the-go lifestyles, having a portable power bank is an absolute must. Even better is one that is compact and incredibly affordable. The Anker Zolo power bank is a convenient option you can toss in your bag when you're on the go, and it has the needed USB-C cable built-in. And best of all, it's half-off right now, down to only $13. This 10,000-mAh, 30-watt portable charger with a built-in USB-C cable is just the thing you need. Since the cord is already attached, you won't have to worry about bringing an extra cable as you pack your backpack to get outdoors. It's great for juicing up smartphones, tablets, earbuds and other devices that might need a quick boost. You can charge three gadgets at the same time, thanks to the attached cord, USB-A and USB-C ports. Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money. Whether traveling or commuting, having a portable power bank can be helpful for day-to-day life. Plus, a power bank can also come in handy if you live in an area with frequent power outages or if you just want to be prepared for an emergency. Why this deal matters Running out of power on the road isn't something we should have to deal with in 2025. For just $13 you can have enough power to top up your phone, tablet or laptop. Not to mention that you'll look stylish with your choice of four colors as well. You can't beat having power ready to go when you need it. For more deals on devices that can add some convenient upgrades to your daily routine, check out our smart home deals roundup for more options.
CNET
3 days ago
- General
- CNET
Easily Make Your Own Distilled Water With 5 Simple Steps
When disaster strikes, distilled water can be a lifesaver, especially if you have a CPAP machine for sleep apnea or other critical medical devices that require it. As the purest type of water available, distilled water can be a blessing for dealing with cuts or scrapes, since you'll be limiting the risk of infection. Unlike simple filtered water, distilled water is pretty much free of all impurities. That means it's missing beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium and will taste a little weird, even though it's extremely safe to drink. Maintaining and storing a good supply of distilled water is a great way to prepare for emergency situations like hurricanes, floods, wildfires or other natural disasters. Most grocery stores sell distilled water, but in the past few years, we've seen many shortages. If you can't find distilled water and need it to prepare for an upcoming storm or to ensure you can run your medical devices, there's an easy way to make it at home yourself. Why make distilled water at home? For people suffering from sleep apnea who use CPAP machines or any other sort of humidifier, distilled water is essential. It's also useful if you don't want additional minerals in your water. (For example, distilled water won't corrode automobile engine parts or create lime-scale buildup in aquariums and it's easier on your home if you use it to make this all-natural cleaner.) Joey Skladany/CNET If you live in a place with "hard" water or water with lots of chemicals, you can even use distilled water to protect your hair when washing it. However, because distilled water doesn't have minerals like calcium and magnesium, it tastes bland and isn't the best for drinking. You can buy distilled water at your local grocery store or on Amazon, but making it at home will save you money and keep a few plastic jugs out of the recycling system. Learning to make this bacteria-free water at home will also save you if the store is out of stock. Below, I'll walk you through the five steps to make your own distilled water. I'll also explain the differences between all the types of water you come across in the store. For more tips, find out if it's cheaper to buy groceries online compared with the grocery store and our list of the best filtered water bottles. What's the difference between tap, filtered, purified and distilled water? Tap water is the easy one. Turn on your kitchen faucet. Water comes out of the tap. Voila! Tap water. The quality of tap water varies by location and might contain traces of minerals specific to the geology of your region, as well as traces of chemicals used in municipal water treatment. Hopefully, your tap water is safe to drink, but that's not true for as many as 45 million Americans. Filtered water is one solution. Filtered water starts out as plain tap water. You may already have filtered water in your home by way of a whole-house filtration system, a faucet filter or a water filtration pitcher. Most filtered water passes through some combination of carbon and micron filters, which help to remove chemicals such as chlorine (commonly added to municipal tap water as a disinfectant) and pesticides, and metals like copper or lead. Filters can also eliminate foul odors and tastes. Purified water usually begins as tap water as well. It will go through many purification processes, including those used for water filtration. Purified water goes a step further than filtering, with a process that removes chemical pollutants, bacteria, fungi and algae. You'll often find purified water in bottles at your local grocery. Distilled water is a more specialized type of purified water but much easier and cheaper to produce at home. As with purified water, it meets the classification requirement of 10ppm (parts per million) of total dissolved solids, aka contaminants, or less. The process of distilling is simple: Heat tap water to the point that it turns to vapor. When the vapor condenses back to water, it leaves behind any mineral residue. The resulting condensed liquid is distilled water. Is it safe to drink distilled water? Distilled water is completely safe for use but the downside of distilling is that it removes all of the helpful minerals like calcium and magnesium that occur naturally in tap water. For that reason, it isn't generally recommended to use distilled water as your daily drinking water. You might also find that it lacks the flavor of tap or filtered water. What's the best way to store distilled water? If stored properly, distilled water can have a long shelf life as long as it's not exposed to direct sunlight or warm temperatures. Choose the storage container you use for distilled water carefully. Distilled water's lack of nutrients can cause it to leach chemicals from the container it's stored in. If you plan to use the water immediately, most containers will do but for long-term storage it's best to use glass or high-quality stainless steel. Making distilled water is like a fun science project. Gettys Images/DanBrandenburg How to make your own distilled water Here's how you can distill your own water at home. Not to get too scientific here, but this is exciting for me. We'll be using water in all three of its known states -- solid, liquid and gas. The gist is this: You heat water (liquid), turn it into water vapor (gas), then collect the condensation with the aid of ice (solid). It's like middle school science class all over again. You'll likely find everything you need in your kitchen. A large pot with a lid, a small pot, water, ice and oven mitts for handling the hot cookware. It does take some time for all this science to happen, so be prepared. In my example below, I started with 8 cups of water in the large pot. After 1 hour, I had produced about 1 1/4 cup of distilled water. To create a gallon jug that you'd find in the supermarket you'd need about 13 hours of distilling time. If you follow these steps, you should get near 100% yield, but whatever amount of distilled water you want to end up with, make sure to add additional water so you don't end up heating an empty pot(s) at the end of the process, which can damage cookware. Ice speeds up the condensation process. Steve Conaway/CNET 1. First, place the large pot over a stovetop burner and add 8 cups of water. Then, place the smaller pot inside the large pot. At this point, the smaller pot should float on top of the water. The key to circulating water vapor inside the large pot is airflow. Make sure there's plenty of space around the smaller pot, both around its sides and between it and the top of the larger pot. 2. Next, turn the burner to somewhere between medium and medium-high heat. I tried to keep the heat level at a steady simmer -- somewhere between 180 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit -- and not a boil. Running a higher temperature won't get you a higher yield, but it will warm up the cold side of the lid faster, and make general handling of the equipment harder to deal with. 3. After you put the burner on, place the lid upside-down on the large pot. Lids are usually higher in the middle than around the edges. Flipping the lid will allow the condensed distilled water to trickle down to the middle of the lid and into the smaller pot. Once all this is done, head over to your icemaker (or tray) and load the top of the inverted lid with ice. The difference in temperature on the two sides of the lid will speed up the condensation process. Use caution throughout the process. Steve Conaway/CNET 4. At this point, you can sit back and wait. I ended up replenishing the ice supply twice within an hour, once at 30 minutes and once after 45 minutes. This is what you need the oven mitts for -- that lid will be hot! Use caution when dumping that now-hot melted ice. The water in the smaller pot is your distilled water. Steve Conaway/CNET 5. Any water that has dripped down into the smaller pot has now been distilled. Again, I was able to make about 1 1/4 cup of distilled water from 8 cups of tap water in about an hour. Just remember, making your own distilled water is easy (and fun!), but lack of nutrients makes it a bad choice for daily drinking water. But if you're stuck at home and you rely on a device that requires it, or perhaps you just want to keep your fish healthy, you may want to try making it yourself. For more, check out how to clean mold and bacteria out of your washing machine and the best way to unclog a clogged toilet.
Zawya
27-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Ministry of Finance holds workshop to boost crisis preparedness and forecasting capabilities
Younis Haji AlKhoori: We are committed to promoting a culture of readiness that empowers our teams to respond swiftly and thoughtfully during times of crisis. Dubai: The Ministry of Finance held a workshop on crisis management and forecasting, bringing together senior government officials and experts to explore best practices in emergency preparedness and strategic planning. The event, held in Dubai, was attended by H.E. Younis Haji AlKhoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance; assistant undersecretaries; department directors; and representatives from the American University of Sharjah. In addition to highlighting the latest international practices in crisis management and forecasting, the workshop aimed to enhance the capabilities of national teams to respond effectively and plan proactively for future challenges. This aligns with the country's efforts to build a flexible government capable of adapting to evolving circumstances. Institutional readiness His Excellency Younis Haji AlKhoori emphasised that the workshop is part of the Ministry's commitment to strengthening institutional readiness. He highlighted that investing in capacity building for crisis management and forecasting is key to ensuring business continuity and improving government performance amid regional and global challenges. 'We are moving forward with our efforts to instill a culture of readiness within the organisational work environment, empowering our staff to make swift, well-thought-out decisions during crises and ensuring sustainable service delivery,' said AlKhoori. Panel discussions The workshop featured three key sessions. The first focused on how to understand and prepare for crisis management, covering topics such as types of crises, response strategies, crisis communication, risk assessment techniques, and scenario analysis. The second session delved into the latest forecasting methods for proactive crisis management, highlighting their role in minimising risks. The third session was dedicated to practical applications and simulated responses, allowing participants to test their decision-making skills under pressure while applying forecasting and risk management tools. Professor Anis Samet, a Finance Professor at the American University of Sharjah and a recognised expert in risk management, sustainable finance, and corporate governance, delivered the workshop. He brings extensive academic and professional experience, having served as a risk management consultant for several prestigious international organisations. His research has been widely published in leading international academic journals. Participants also engaged in interactive discussions with specialists and academics leading the sessions, exchanging insights and experiences aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the government work system to meet future challenges.
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Readers reply: If you were prepping, what would your top five items be?
If you were prepping, what should be your top five things to hoard in light of the recent power outages in Spain and Portugal? Alina Ahmad, Johannesburg Send new questions to nq@ We live in a wildfire area and were evacuated in 2020 when half the town burned up. There is never enough you can do to prepare for every possible emergency. Electricity out is not a big deal really, depending on how long it lasts. Twenty four hours or less, you need some sort of lighting and batteries, something to eat that doesn't need to be cooked or a small camp stove for heating things up. A cord to plug in a cell phone in your car so you can get information on what's going on. Some drinking water. If the electricity is out for longer then you need to consider you will not have a toilet. This is when it gets more uncomfortable. We didn't have electricity for a week and yet somehow we are still alive. kiramango A UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for the computer and a satellite phone for when the local cell site runs its batteries flat (about 24 hours) and my 4G phone dies for lack of signal. Socialismnow The most useful appliance is a tall, strong, able-bodied man, unless you happen to be one already. It's amazing how many problems that seriously challenge my five-foot-three self can be easily addressed by somebody who's six feet tall with a corresponding reach. A car with enough fuel to take us to Grandma and Granddad's house, where they have an open fire and a gas cooker. We have neither. Candles – and don't forget matches unless one of you is a smoker. Better still, I have an ace battery-operated lantern which has a carrying handle and a flat base so you can light your way anywhere. Spare batteries. Tinned food, but don't forget dried I live in Spain and was there when the outage happened. The things I found most useful were my radio with solar panel and winding charge handle, portable power station and solar panel, cash, bottled water, head torch and a gas BBQ oven. Kpnuts888 Camping stove and gas, candles and matches, torches, wood for our stove, bottled water. Hugothecat The blackout in Spain and Portugal reminded me of the need to include cash. RebChloBrown I recommend The Art of Eating through the Zombie Apocalypse: A Cookbook and Culinary Survival Guide (2014). OK, I'll be dead before I manage to dig out a root cellar, build a mud oven (all that London clay) and start cooking the garden pigeons but we have to do our best. cambridgeLSE Water, lentil rice cakes, nuts, head torch, Roberts sports radio (small enough to carry in pocket). Apart from the water, the food is light (in case I have to run/walk a long way) but sustaining, if the rescue party is delayed! monono As a former Red Cross emergency volunteer in London, I have experienced that events such as blackouts, gas leaks and floods aren't as uncommon as we would like to think. I have a camping bag as a 'go bag' containing: toilet roll soap toothbrush and toothpaste a change of clothes, walking shoes and a raincoat a blanket a first-aid kit with added blister plasters and water filtration tablets 2 large bottles of water four days' worth of non-perishable snacks (cereal bars, crackers, flapjack type things) a battery and solar-powered radio a battery and solar-powered torch a map and compass a small address book containing my loved ones' home addresses. I'm a UK botanist, and I was in the mountains looking at plants in Portugal when the power outage occurred. The top item is a portable solar recharger. So much of the information we have is carried on our mobile phones. Also, the internet/reception just doesn't go down, it flickers on and off. This is essential for finding out what has happened, planning, or to let people know you're OK. Cash. There are no working cards or cashpoints, so you will need to buy food and a bottle of water with cash. Good shoes or boots. You may need to set off on foot for considerable distances. Light. Darkness can become dangerous with unlit stairs, streets, or just to keep your sanity. A sense of adventure and humour. Reconnecting with the everyday realities of Europeans who lived just a few generations ago and feeling grateful for the comforts we now take for granted is a humbling experience. I made it out of the mountains OK but a worried partner was waiting for me. AstridCardamine In 2003, I happened to be in New York on the day of the great north east blackout. I'd been to a conference and was due to fly back to the UK that evening. I was one of the last to get through security and into the departure lounge: as I walked in, the lights went out and the toilets, taps and tills all stopped working. Passengers were mutually supportive, sharing food, drink, phonecards, empathy and information. So my prep would be: gut-feeling, kindness, hope, things to share and a good book. WoollyAphid So they're ready at hand, I would suggest panic, despair, calm, ennui, lust. theteedeehoo Toilet roll. Lots and lots of toilet roll. Dorkalicious I have a couple of flexible lamps that came with a solar panel about the size of a paperback book – brilliant. Hours of light for about an hour of direct sun. Fit easily in a backpack. Probably not much good during a nuclear winter, but then nothing else is going to be, either. Has anyone mentioned chocolate? gardenerofearth Dark chocolate, 78%, and sweet popcorn. (While we're at it, Jaffa Cakes, Pringles, washed down with Hula Hoops.) My survival list is very …involved. EmmaStone As a Californian with a hefty and evolving earthquake kit, don't forget cash! Also, once a year, review your prep stash and swap out expiring food, batteries, meds etc. jgurrrl A petrol or diesel-powered car. An angle grinder, so I can cut my way out of the lift. wyrcommunity I'm from Canada. Whenever there is a storm with wind or ice, we fill our water jugs, pots and bathtubs and get out the supplies. We have a woodstove to keep us warm, cook on and melt snow. We also keep our camping gear close at hand, so we can make coffee with our jet boil. We have solar power banks and lights as well as battery-operated options. And a gas-powered generator. And beer. marmalily There's no need to do any 'prepping', leave the preppers to act out their doomy end of days stuff, and wish them well in their bunkers. bricklayersoption
CTV News
12-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Here's the Top 3 things Canadians would grab when fleeing a disaster
Its emergency preparedness week! Jason Small with the Canadian Red Cross reminds us on some safety measures and preparedness strategies.
