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American Morning

How Do You Know Exactly What to Stow?

Aired February 13, 2003 - 08:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With worries about terrorism here at home on the rise, Americans are doing their best to prepare for the worst, stocking up on food, water and emergency supplies. But how do you know exactly what to stow?
Well, two retired U.S. Army master sergeants have written "The Citizen's Smart Book," offering advice on how to prepare for a terrorist attack. The authors, Steve Gamache and Pete Presley, join us now from Los Angeles.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Welcome.

Glad to have both of you with us.

STEVE GAMACHE, CO-AUTHOR, "THE CITIZEN'S SMART BOOK": Good morning.

PETE PRESLEY, CO-AUTHOR, "THE CITIZEN'S SMART BOOK": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Steve, would you acknowledge right off the bat when it comes to this new state of alert that folks in Manhattan, New York have to be far more concerned than those folks living in Manhattan, Kansas?

GAMACHE: Yes, Paula, that's absolutely right. The, people in Manhattan are in a high density populated area. So they're what's known as a high payoff target. A terrorist is going to attempt to hit a more densely populated area because they want to create a lot of civilian casualties.

In our rural areas, we're not so much at risk. That doesn't mean that we're not at risk everywhere we're at in this country. We most certainly are. Bin Laden has already said he wants to kill us all. But the truth of the matter is that if you're in a city area such as Manhattan or any of our cities through, major cities throughout the United States, those are, indeed, our high risk areas.

ZAHN: And I know, Pete, your advice to folks living in these densely populated metropolitan areas is to be vigilant and trust their senses. Help us understand what that means.

PRESLEY: You go about your normal life doing the things that you're supposed to be doing, as Tom Ridge has pointed out and the rest of the homeland security people. But you've got to be more cautious and trust your senses. Most people know when something's going wrong or something isn't right in an area and they need to trust those senses and be aware of what they're doing and have a good sense of and feeling of what's around you.

And if you trust your senses, I think you'll do good. But that's the whole thing. Most times you know if something's wrong, if something's not right.

ZAHN: And, Pete, you also say there's some common sense things we can do whether we're at a sporting event or a shopping mall that might ultimately make us safer. Can you run through some of those for us this morning?

PRESLEY: If you're at the shopping mall, the, most of us know that the Oklahoma City bombing, some of the other bombings happened right in front of the building. If your car is right in front of the building, your bomb -- your car is going to be taken out, also. I would part it about 200 or 300 meters away from wherever you're going to be at. That is your safe haven. Most people think that once they get in their car, they're safe, and normally you are because that's where you have maybe some kind of water or something in there, some kind of survival kit or whatever.

And you can get in your car and feel safe. And if your car is rendered disabled because of a bomb attack in front of a building, then you won't be able to get to your car.

ZAHN: Steve, you also say there are certain provisions that all Americans should have on hand now given the state of alert that we're living through. Run through that list for us, starting out with a five day supply of food and water.

GAMACHE: Paula, all Americans need to be prepared for a supply interruption. That's actually the biggest threat that we've got in light of our current alert status. What we're recommending right now for the, that people should get, you know, through this weekend is a five day supply of water. For the family, that's one gallon of water per person in your house per day. And canned goods for food supply and what we recommend is that you get two cans per meal per person per day. So in my case we've got a couple people in the house so we eat three meals a day, we'll need six cans of canned food a day.

We recommend a battery powered radio in case there's a, you know, an electrical interruption. The batteries will run the radio, of course. But the radio has excellent information on it. We recommend a battery powered flashlight. And the biggest thing that we recommend is a cell phone. That's our most effective tool in communicating with our loved ones and keeping them informed and letting them get in touch with us.

And the other important thing is to keep your car mechanically fit to have at least...

ZAHN: Sure, and filled with gas.

GAMACHE: Yes, ma'am. Well, at least half a tank because that'll get you, should get you about 100 miles away from any epicenter of an attack.

ZAHN: All right, well, I appreciate both of your getting up at that ungodly hour in Los Angeles to share some of this information with us.

Steve Gamache, Pete Presley, the authors of "The Citizen's Smart Book," we pray that we'll never have to utilize any of these supplies that many Americans are stockpiling.

Thanks again.

GAMACHE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 13, 2003 - 08:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With worries about terrorism here at home on the rise, Americans are doing their best to prepare for the worst, stocking up on food, water and emergency supplies. But how do you know exactly what to stow?
Well, two retired U.S. Army master sergeants have written "The Citizen's Smart Book," offering advice on how to prepare for a terrorist attack. The authors, Steve Gamache and Pete Presley, join us now from Los Angeles.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Welcome.

Glad to have both of you with us.

STEVE GAMACHE, CO-AUTHOR, "THE CITIZEN'S SMART BOOK": Good morning.

PETE PRESLEY, CO-AUTHOR, "THE CITIZEN'S SMART BOOK": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Steve, would you acknowledge right off the bat when it comes to this new state of alert that folks in Manhattan, New York have to be far more concerned than those folks living in Manhattan, Kansas?

GAMACHE: Yes, Paula, that's absolutely right. The, people in Manhattan are in a high density populated area. So they're what's known as a high payoff target. A terrorist is going to attempt to hit a more densely populated area because they want to create a lot of civilian casualties.

In our rural areas, we're not so much at risk. That doesn't mean that we're not at risk everywhere we're at in this country. We most certainly are. Bin Laden has already said he wants to kill us all. But the truth of the matter is that if you're in a city area such as Manhattan or any of our cities through, major cities throughout the United States, those are, indeed, our high risk areas.

ZAHN: And I know, Pete, your advice to folks living in these densely populated metropolitan areas is to be vigilant and trust their senses. Help us understand what that means.

PRESLEY: You go about your normal life doing the things that you're supposed to be doing, as Tom Ridge has pointed out and the rest of the homeland security people. But you've got to be more cautious and trust your senses. Most people know when something's going wrong or something isn't right in an area and they need to trust those senses and be aware of what they're doing and have a good sense of and feeling of what's around you.

And if you trust your senses, I think you'll do good. But that's the whole thing. Most times you know if something's wrong, if something's not right.

ZAHN: And, Pete, you also say there's some common sense things we can do whether we're at a sporting event or a shopping mall that might ultimately make us safer. Can you run through some of those for us this morning?

PRESLEY: If you're at the shopping mall, the, most of us know that the Oklahoma City bombing, some of the other bombings happened right in front of the building. If your car is right in front of the building, your bomb -- your car is going to be taken out, also. I would part it about 200 or 300 meters away from wherever you're going to be at. That is your safe haven. Most people think that once they get in their car, they're safe, and normally you are because that's where you have maybe some kind of water or something in there, some kind of survival kit or whatever.

And you can get in your car and feel safe. And if your car is rendered disabled because of a bomb attack in front of a building, then you won't be able to get to your car.

ZAHN: Steve, you also say there are certain provisions that all Americans should have on hand now given the state of alert that we're living through. Run through that list for us, starting out with a five day supply of food and water.

GAMACHE: Paula, all Americans need to be prepared for a supply interruption. That's actually the biggest threat that we've got in light of our current alert status. What we're recommending right now for the, that people should get, you know, through this weekend is a five day supply of water. For the family, that's one gallon of water per person in your house per day. And canned goods for food supply and what we recommend is that you get two cans per meal per person per day. So in my case we've got a couple people in the house so we eat three meals a day, we'll need six cans of canned food a day.

We recommend a battery powered radio in case there's a, you know, an electrical interruption. The batteries will run the radio, of course. But the radio has excellent information on it. We recommend a battery powered flashlight. And the biggest thing that we recommend is a cell phone. That's our most effective tool in communicating with our loved ones and keeping them informed and letting them get in touch with us.

And the other important thing is to keep your car mechanically fit to have at least...

ZAHN: Sure, and filled with gas.

GAMACHE: Yes, ma'am. Well, at least half a tank because that'll get you, should get you about 100 miles away from any epicenter of an attack.

ZAHN: All right, well, I appreciate both of your getting up at that ungodly hour in Los Angeles to share some of this information with us.

Steve Gamache, Pete Presley, the authors of "The Citizen's Smart Book," we pray that we'll never have to utilize any of these supplies that many Americans are stockpiling.

Thanks again.

GAMACHE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com