Did James Kim Have to Die?
More Articles Related to PeopleAs many know who practice survival skills, when disaster or emergency strikes it is a mistake to rely soley upon your government for assistance. Especially in the first time period, which may last days or even weeks, when the powers that be attempt to marshal at least a semblance of organization that should have already been in place as a matter of course.
Just ask those who experienced first hand the initial government help received by the devastated New Orleans area when Hurricane Katrina hit. More recently the James Kim family search and rescue fiasco highlights the fact that you cannot rely upon any outside entity to help you when an emergency survival situation arises.
The Oregon State Sheriffs Association Report
The Oregon State Sheriffs Association has published a 150-page report about the Kim family search and rescue efforts. The search and rescue report leaves many questions unanswered and is hopefully yet another wakeup call that prior organization is needed well before any actualy emergency takes place.
"Bottom line: during the days the James Kim family struggled for survival, confusion as to just who was in charge of search and rescue hampered the efforts of search teams in the mountains."
As all too often is the case, the search and rescue efforts mounted for the James Kim family, lost in the Oregon mountains last December, was marred by political infighting, personality conflicts, and indecision. This certainly lead to confusion as searchers did not always know who was in charge as conflicting orders were given.
Budget cuts, recent elections in which the undersherrif had only one week left in office, and unwillingness to get along between departments and individuals lead to frequent questions about exactly who was in charge of the search and rescue efforts.
Compounding the leadership problems were tensions between Josephine and Jackson counties and personalities in open conflict.
"The investigation turned up some notable personality conflicts that may have affected communication," the Oregon State Sheriffs Association report states.
Search and Rescue Leadership Confusion
Of course it did not help that James Kim was well-known, even famous, to thousands of Internet savvy people. When the story broke it quickly came to world news forefront largely because of the worldwide blogging community. It wasn't long before big media television, radio, and newspaper, which trolls the Internet for juicy tidbits, picked up the story and added its broadcast barrage of ongoing details.
An Oregon State Police lieutenant described working with Josephine County officials during the rescue operations as "walking on eggshells."
The search and rescue leadership quickly recognized the worldwide interest in the efforts to find James Kim and his family. This made leadership of the search and rescue effort a great prize and one not to be given up easily to any potential usurper. Valuable energy was wasted between departments and individuals jockeying for leadership position that would have been better spent conducting the actual search and rescue efforts.
An Oregon State Police lieutenant described working with Josephine County officials during the rescue operations as "walking on eggshells."
Bottom line: during the days the James Kim family struggled for survival, confusion as to just who was in charge of search and rescue hampered the efforts of search teams in the mountains.
James Kim Should Have Been Better Prepared
As infighting within the search and rescue leadership continued, James Kim, Katie Kim, and their two children, trapped in their snowbound vehicle in the Oregon mountains, clung to the hope that they would soon be rescued. A week after becoming snowbound, having exhausted their meager supplies of food, water, and fuel, James Kim made the fateful decision to leave his family and hike out to help. He was never seen alive again.
Lacking the basic winter survival skills, James Kim never had a chance.
Once again we can see in all too obvious terms – first and foremost plan to rely upon yourself in case of an emergency. James Kim should have had a proper survival kit in the family car at all times with at least serverals days of extra food, water and fuel for cooking and melting snow. He should have had warm blankets, extra warm clothing for the season, and signaling devices, firestarting materials (waterproof matches, magnesium firestarter or Swedish firesteel, and lighter) and the knowledge on how to build a fire.
All this in addition to whatever the family had with them for their trip.
With proper survival gear and survival knowledge the ability of his family to live while snowbound in the mountains would have been greatly extended, improving the odds of successful rescue in spite of the disorganized rescue efforts.
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