Pandemic Lockdown - Surviving Isolation

Enduring a long stay in Everest Base camp (2006)

Some of our compatriots struggle daily in this difficult time, while some of us have the luxury of finding ways how to live a good life at home.  So let’s be thankful!

I’ve spent 2.5 months in the mountains for my Everest expedition, including +1month (on & off) at the remote and miserable base camp.  While not limited in the confines of a house or a building – it’s a life of isolation devoid of the usual urban luxury.  So how can one survive such a challenge? Let me share what I learned from the experience.

1.      Routine. To put order and system – build a routine & schedule for regular tasks. This will reduce stress of ‘randomness’ and helps one refocus from worrying to executing. That could include your daily tasks (cooking, eating, exercising, playing with kids, reading or watching), or those done weekly (grocery, drive-thru, bike to market, etc.)

What happens after the Covid-19 crisis?

"Noah at the Sea of Corona" - Painting exercise during locked down period. 

Post-pandemic Predictions

Life – as we know it, will never be the same again.  And more so for our medical front-liners, for those who got infected, and especially those who lost their loved ones.

The SARS COV2 virus is a transformational element that will drive all of us to re-think, reflect and hopefully, do things better for the future.

So, how will the future look like?  Here’s some of my thoughts and predictions of what the world would be like post-COVID19.

Thai Cave Rescue - a Feel and Glimpse

A leisure caving that quickly turned into survival scenario.  Java Indonesia

Disclaimer:  I am not a cave-diving specialist.  The fiction narrative below is based on my experience as a Scuba Dive Master, limited wreck and cave-diving experience, and a few spelunking (caving) trips – including 1 major trip in Java where my team got lost for 6 hours with no map, guide and extra provisions.  And although part of mountain and water - Search & Rescue team, hands-on experience are mostly reef-diving related.

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Invite me to participate in the Thai cave rescue and there will be no second thoughts to say NO!  Or I’ll think 100 times, 99% saying No.  That 1%? – It’ll be ”If there’s no other choice” and/or a loved one was trap in there.  It will be a big life risk – equally, if not more dangerous than climbing a high-altitude mountain ridge with a sudden squall.  Caving alone is dangerous, but mixed with diving will be something else.  Further mix it with a complex task to rescue teenagers – that’ll be a perfect recipe for disaster.  There’s very little margin for error, if at all.

Now, inspired by Discovery Channel’s feature -  here’s to provide a (fake) story to give some audience a ‘feel and glimpse’ of what it could be like for the rescue divers…. The fear, the daunting tasks, the thankless job.

Winter Survival - Quit or Not Quit?

Session with Louie - the North Pole Marathon participant, along with coaches Ige and Ani.

I know that we should seldom entertain the word ‘Quit’; but reality dictates that we should be practical and smart in our approach, whether that’s attempting a summit in a very cold place, or – as these questions are designed for, attempting a marathon in the North Pole!

I used these questions to preempt my one-on-one sharing with the marathon candidate, to see his risk perspective and detect what should I highlight in our discussion – and sharing this to you in case you plan to climb or do any winter endurance sport. 

How many ‘Quit -yes’ will you answer?

Eco-Living: Baking Soda for Home and Personal Care

Initially experimented adding stevia (for flavor) and sea salt, but later just use VCO mix.

Yes, sodium bicarbonate.   Food-grade, but also useful in many other things.   

I happen to watch this CNN episode on green living and saw this home-made toothpaste – which made me intrigued.  I’ve heard the same stuff before, but never tried it.  Yes, even after reading that fluoride is a known neurotoxin – an indispensable ingredient in every toothpaste that we buy.

Now NaHC03 (the baking soda, dude) – is simply natural with no harmful effects on human.  Food-grade! Used for baking!  But a very good cleaner and acid neutralizer.   It’s been around for centuries (actually ancient Egypt used the same substance for mummification)  – but distracting advertisement easily lured us all in buying bad brands and products.  So start the better alternative – DIY!

How I make my toothpaste

Get a small re-purposed glass or plastic container.  I used a very small candy jar, (and another small pickle-bottle to store my ‘deodorant’).

Survival Camp for Kids

Here briefing the kids on the mechanics of the obstacle course.  The parents will of course be everywhere with ready cams.  

Start them young.  Kids need to have fun, exert physical effort, hone their motor skills and creativity, socialize and learn a lot.

My first attempt of organizing a kids’ version of survival camp turned out to be more fun than expected – even the parents loved it, but managing a chaotic environment full of excited kids (and parents) made it difficult to properly execute each activity.  Nonetheless, I will rate this ‘successful’ in many ways especially when funding is low and resources are scarce.

Flash Floods - Manage the Risk

At a river in the jungles of West Papua. Tell-tale signs of a possible flash flood: floating debris, murky water, swelling river

The recent incident in Tarlac gave us another pause to think about mountain safety.  With 6 fatalities, and all too familiar cause – flash flood, some ask what could have been done differently.

Flash flood, like its cousin - avalanche, is an ‘instant killer’.  It’s probably the number one cause of death in the Philippine mountains, not counting war or other man-made ‘disasters’.  It’s not always “timely predictable”, but there are known risk areas to avoid.

It is likely that experienced hikers or mountaineers in the tropical setting had some experiences with this roaring force of water – in some ways or another.  In fact, heavy rains – especially during monsoon, is nothing but common and hence the consequential rush of water from the mountain slopes,  surging down the tributaries and river system.  

Death in the Mountains - Managing the Fear and Risk

A close-up view of the mini-avalanche that I encountered in Everest, 2006 

 

 

The recent accident in Annapurna, Nepal which claimed at least 30 lives – and which happen to coincide with my (aborted) trek and climb trip,  seemed to make mountain accidents closer and real for some. 

Especially for those who thought or considered joining the trip.   

While we don’t want to over think bad things that could happen in a trip, it pays to have proper preparation, should that black-hooded guy carrying a scythe invited us for a dinner.

Survival Cord

Practicing rope ascending - 505 Rescue (1995).

From various internet social groups, and mingling with outdoor communities - I’ve observed the popularity of emergency cords – thanks to the likes of Bear Grylls who promoted its use. 

I’ve seen many write-ups about ‘100 uses of paracord’ and other related stuff, which most preppers immersed themselves into.  The good news for most outdoor-trained people (mountaineers specifically) is that, they are trained on ropemanship and knotting techniques, along with other critical survival skills.  While newbie enthusiasts immersed themselves in the ‘how tos’ of cord braiding and knotting – (and I must add, but minus the more critical training on survival (food, water, etc.)).

So in general - it’s good news that the need for emergency cord is now widely known and the fact that one may need such supply as aid or tool for minor, to more critical survival situation.

I've seen many already started 'wearing' or carrying utility cords.

But will this be enough?

Home Disaster Response Plan

official poster of OCD re: Disaster Consciousness

Related post:  Preparing for Disaster

I occasionally talk about home preparedness with friends and office mates and as a way to illustrate the 'how to plan', I came up with this rough 'home disaster response plan' several years back.

I think everyone should have an easy-to-read-and-follow plan available to all family members, yaya's and helpers included.  Kids and elderly should also be aware, and even join the practice.
Here below is a sample response plan that can be customized (based on your needs) and printed and shared to your household. By no means that this sample is complete or perfect - but it can be a starting point or guide for anyone to build his/her own version.

After a Disaster




wilderness know-how and long
hikes may be good preps for after-
disaster survival (pix:checking
matulid river)

 I’ve spent one restless night reflecting on the recent Yolanda super typhoon effect, especially the ‘after disaster’ chaos and lawlessness. It made me think how I / we will act and behave after a super disaster struck our big city. Take Metro Manila for example, home of 15million people. The looming/ predicted 7.2 magnitude earthquake (West Valley fault) was the first thing that came to my mind. Surviving the disaster was one worry, surviving the after-effect was an even bigger concern.

People were shocked with the looting and ‘criminal behaviour’ displayed by some survivors. I’ve observed this in past post-calamities in the news. Even on non-calamity ‘event’ like that one in Jakarta (where I worked on a stint) during the anti-Suharto people power wherein on the side, rich families were attacked, women raped, house ransacked and looted. Mob ruled the city. At least for several days.

Minor (and understandable) human-survival behavioural changes are commonly witnessed in relief operations as well. After Ondoy, a joined a relief team in Montalban and instead of doing goods-giving, I switched role to truck-goods security to prevent unruly snatchers from ransacking our supply. In Marinduque, I also joined a group, and witnessed how rampant the cheatings were in getting free goodies (i.e. hiding their goods in bushes to queue for more, or several family members pretended to belong to different families to hoard supplies). Even simple outreach activity in remote villages offered some of this ‘survival looting’ scenes (never mind the details).

So, to be conservative in our future after-disaster planning – let’s assume that these bad things (chaos/lawlessness/mob rule) will be part of the survival game.

I’ve posted pre-disaster tips here including what to put in one's survival kit -  hopefully we’ll be able to survive the onslaught and the after-effects, or at least buy us precious survival time before help arrives.

Below are just my thoughts on how I think I/we should act and behave after a disaster;

Useful Lessons from Rescue



Mountain Search & Rescue training
with UP Mountaineers

 Some things I learned from my rescue trainings, or actual incidents – and how we can apply to everyday problems:


1. Hierarchy of Needs. Accident, incident or any problem have their unique ‘need to address this’ priority list. In the right order.

a. Ex. in steep mountain rescue scenario (assuming we’ve done our planning/ survey the scene stage), although we’re taught to perform primary care (cardio/breathing) first, if there’s an obvious risk for the victim to fall down (or fall down further) – the need#1 is to secure him/her FIRST, but very quickly. #2 would be check his pulse/breathing then perform necessary medical attention. Next phase (assuming stabilized) is the need to evacuate the victim. In that order. Another example in scuba diving, if say at 70ft, a diver panics, drop his/her regulator (mouth piece) and swims fast upwards – the need#1 is to STOP him/her from ascending quickly (even without his/her regulator on). We normally pull the leg down, or fins or whatever we can grab – this is to avoid air embolism (air expansion) which will instantly injure if not kill the diver. THEN need#2 is to put back the regulator in place (his/her or yours). Then relax him/her, then surface slowly if needed. In that order.

Prepare for Disasters



Khumbu icefall (Everest), a small, 'safe'
avalanche approaching my team

 I recall reading a Belgian study stating that Philippines was the most disaster-prone country in the world. This study included earthquakes, frequent typhoons, landslides and mudslides, flooding, political/ civilian unrest, armed conflict among many other things. I think this has been ‘downgraded’ but Philippines may very well still be on the top 5. After Ondoy aka Ketsana (which caused severe flooding in Metro Manila and left hundreds of dead)– I realized that it’s just a matter of time before we, (I mean each of us) become victims of another looming disaster. (I wrote this a while back, then Yolanda/ Haiyan typhoon came - reminding us that more disasters will come).


Not just in this country, but ANYWHERE! Think climate change and its effect of unpredictable strong typhoons. Think armed conflict that seems to never end (despite our so-called modern, civilized society)! Tectonic ‘instability’ (well – I just meant bad earthquakes)! Or volcanoes and tsunamis! Let me tentatively dismiss zombie and alien invasion for now. :P