PORTLAND, Ore. — Are you ready for the big one?
Chances are, even if you have an emergency kit at home, you're probably missing one very important item - a place to go to the bathroom.
Communities across the Portland area are urging people to get a portable one of sorts or more precisely two separate buckets. One for number one and the other for number two.
Laura Hall works with the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management and is leading a campaign called the Emergency Toilet Project.
Nick-named the "Poo Lady," Hall has made it her mission to educate people on how to potty post-earthquake, specifically the massive Cascadia Subduction Zone quake offshore that scientists say could hit at any time.
When it does our sewer system could be wiped out for months.
Health experts say digging holes to go to the bathroom in could contaminate our groundwater and spread disease.
The healthiest option is to go number one in one bucket number two in another.
"Line the poo bucket with a garbage bag, a heavy duty garbage bag, and fill it about halfway,” Hall explained. “Then tie it up really tightly... double bag it to make sure its extra safe and then store that bag of poo until your local emergency management system tells you what to do with it.”
Which means you'll likely be storing your waste for at least thirty days before it's picked up.
You can buy the 5-gallon buckets at most big box stores or if available, Metro Paint will give them out for free.