Emergency Preparedness & Expat Update (long)

[stellarose]

Hi all, 

Time is quickly passing by.  I have about 5 weekends left at my house before I will return to my hometown for 2 weeks before packing out and moving.  My tentative start date in Sri Lanka is June 20th, but I really would prefer it to be June 27th.  I will most likely depart the US on June 20th and start the 23rd.

My boss is over there now getting everything set up since we are of the first expats our company will have in Sri Lanka specifically.  We have many expats all over Asia and he has been an expat the past 8 years in Taiwan so he has a good idea how things should be run.

I'm going to probably have a million questions so I'll try to consolidate as much as I can over the next 5-8 weeks. 

I have my apartment already, I have my driver already.  My medicine situation is proving to be not be as wrapped up as I thought it was so I'm quickly trying to sort through that. 

Here are some quick updates regarding health and safety:

• Dengue

o Dengue Fever is reportedly one the top health threats and is apparently prevalent anywhere in the country, not just in Colombo.

o Based on conversations with embassy employees, the US govn’t requires all dwellings to have their premises sprayed 2 times a month, mosquito nets for beds, and screens on all window’s/doors. If a dwelling does not have it, they install it.

o We need input from the company on preferred medical facilities that we should use when either an expat or a family member has dengue. And in emergency situations, we would like to have an understanding of where we fly people to (Singapore? Dubai?) to seek professional attention. 
• Transportation

o The road conditions can be variable and the drivers are aggressive Road safety is definitely a concern. As per above, I would like to hear more about emergency protocol if/when a serious accident happens and we need to extract an expat or their family.

o As a result of the roads a 4runner/jeep style vehicle or larger is highly recommended. Rides are bumpy and break downs can be common due to the road quality. No input on what service is like and/or road support.

o Drive times to/from work commonly is long.
(for me, I will be about 1.5 hours from work, 1 way, but this allows me to be in the city center)
• Political/Civil stability

o I have not heard of any resurgence from the civil war and the country is working on re-building the North. 
o Small crimes and harassment appear to be increasing somewhat and I have heard growing concerns for female travelers. Overall this is low though and common sense prevails.

o There have been more political protests as of late, the most recent being quite large and targeted at the current administration (rising living costs).  
o We’ve also encountered several periods of country wide power outages, apparently political sabotage. Most apartment buildings are equipped with generators. The embassies also require generators for all their homes.



So considering the health and safety concerns, the fact that our international team recommends any medical necessities be done outside of country.....what are some things that you would bring with you?  My coworker mentioned bringing a small dehydrated food supply, life straws (although my husband tried one once and it still seemed iffy).  I need a plan for the power outages as they have been happening more and more during my recent visits.  Iphones suck because you can't carry back up batteries so I suppose I'll just have to have power banks prepared as a back up.  Anything else?  All of this has gotten me a bit panicky about it all.  

Update on the husband, right now the job situation is not working out so he is planning to stay.  We both feel good about this, we will see each other every 2.5 months for 2-3 weeks at a time.  But that does mean that I'll be living and traveling alone.  Are there any other precautions you have used in this scenario?  I am hoping to have a live in maid just to have someone else around.  My apartment is where many embassy employees live so I feel somewhat safe with that.  There is a 24 hour guard in the lobby.  

My boss knows that there is a medical condition that I have to work around, but nothing more than that.  He was asking whether he should know more to help ensure my safety, are there things he should be aware of or to watch for?  It was a good question, especially since my husband will not be there.  I told him I would consider what I would need assistance with.  I already feel like work knows more than I want them to, meaning they know there is a medical condition.  I would rather them not know more than that, but I also want to think of safety as well.  There are a few things that could be good for them to be aware of.

Sorry so long!  Let me know your thoughts/experiences!

[origami]

I'd recommend emailing your questions to my friend Doria, an American who is very familiar with living in Sri Lanka: doriatravels.com/contact-me/

[GilliC]

Honestly, I would emergency prep as I would in any other urban area, and make sure you have an extraction plan in place with the company for if things get too sticky. We have operations all over the world with varying levels of risk. If the local situation changes to a risk level high enough, non-essential personnel are pulled out.

Keep a stock of bottled water, canned food, and maybe a small camping-style propane burner on hand for short-term outages.

Since phones have started draining batteries in a day, the portable backup power supplies have really dropped in price. I have a lot of friends who have ready access to power and still never go anywhere without them. For peace of mind, you might also consider buying a manual charger. There are a few companies that make hand-crank generators to emergency-power USB devices. There are some reviews of different models here:
www.macworld.com/article/2086548/review-seven-off-the-grid-chargers-for-your-portable-devices.html
I decided to get one for my parents just for peace of mind, because they live in the country and have power outages when the lines go down in storms.

[Cicero]

Make sure you plug your electronics into surge protectors. You don't want to lose them to a surge.

Are generators something that is common to have? Having one makes living with rolling and random power outages a lot easier. We've been on generator power for 3 of the last 7 days. Our house has a massive one attached but people who are leaving sell smaller second hand ones all of the time here for not all that expensive. Just wanted to throw that out as something to look into.

ETA: Just reread and saw that your building will have a generator. Honestly, so long as it is well serviced I wouldn't worry too much about power outages.

[Cicero]

Also, we brought some heavy duty aluminum flash lights and a ton of batteries. Murphy's law is that the power goes out and the generator doesn't flip on when it is pitch dark. We also got a 65 liter Yeti cooler. If the power goes out we can throw the contents of our freezer in there and extend its frozen lifespan by a day or two.

I'd also want to pack heavy duty DEET bug spray. Bathing in that is part of a well balanced masquito borne illness avoidance plan.

A thermometer and multiple boxes of any over the counter medication you might possibly ever take--Advil, Tylenol, NyQuil, Immodium, Epicac, etc, etc.

A metric ton of your brand of choice tampons or pads.

Ziplock freezer bags.

Sunscreen

Lastly, I (and please feel free to pm me if you want to talk as I've been through the whole medical evacuation thing in the past) have a medical condition that needs to be cared for outside of the country. It's not super uncommon in the west but there's not a single Neurologist in this country who has experience with it. The people who would all be involved in getting me out of the country if I have another attack all know about it. I've found its a lot easier that way. The last thing I want is to be having to explain everything to the HR director should I find myself in a position where I need to be on the next flight out. Obviously you are better suited to make that call as it relates to your career, but there is something to be said for having people to watch out for you.

[Brit]

I don't have much to add, but as a resident of Dubai, I advise to arrange for medical evacuation to Singapore or somewhere else. I have been way underwhelmed by the medical care here. Obviously it might depend on what you are seeking care for, but I would try to leave here if anything serious went wrong. There are lots of very fancy looking hospitals here, but I haven't been impressed with the doctors.

[stellarose]

I cannot thank you each enough. I appreciate the feedback and advice you have given.

[cottoncandy]

I just want to second the DEET bug spray and to make sure you have all the nets and screens. My sister got dengue fever when she lived in Panama and it was really bad. Besides being far sicker than she has ever been in her life, she lost a lot of hair and it has never been as thick since. I know that seems really shallow, but it's what I think of every time anyone mentions dengue.

[stellarose]

cottoncandy , thank you. I appreciate this. I am not sure if I have screens bc I'm on the 6th floor apartment but I wonder if they still can fly up that high. I hear that they can't.

[dorothyinAus]

May 7, 2016 19:42:48 GMT -5 stellarose said:

cottoncandy , thank you. I appreciate this. I am not sure if I have screens bc I'm on the 6th floor apartment but I wonder if they still can fly up that high. I hear that they can't.

They can -- especially if there are areas of standing water for egg laying.

I had a problem in the office when I worked in New Orleans with one of the window ledges on the 27th floor collecting water and there was almost always a whole bunch of mosquitoes around.  It was near the access door to the roof so sometimes the maintenance men weren't careful and the mosquitoes would invade the office.

[alleinesein]

May 7, 2016 19:42:48 GMT -5 stellarose said:

cottoncandy , thank you. I appreciate this. I am not sure if I have screens bc I'm on the 6th floor apartment but I wonder if they still can fly up that high. I hear that they can't.

The mosquitos in India can reach the 17th/18th floor.  Those evil little blood suckers treated me like an all you can eat buffet while I was sleeping.  I spent all my time living in Bangalore smelling like a weird combo of Deep Woods Off and Lemongrass just to keep those demons from sucking me dry.

[stellarose]

Thank you dorothyinAus and alleinesein for sharing your personal testimony. I knew I couldn't trust that they couldn't fly higher than 3 floors. I think I will smell the same!