How screwed are you?

My wife's daughter in San Diego had the power go out for eight hours. She said it went out in other areas of south California for up to eighteen hours. She was without milk for the kids for four days afterwards.

It sure doesn't take much to have people doing without. I have been telling her for over a year to get ready for a major catastrophy, but when there is foor in the store today, why worry about tomorrow?

If evryone was prepared, there wouldn't be riots when something does happen.

I consider it often...

Q;"What if there isn't food in the 'handy' store tomorrow?"
Preparedness is key here...I think there comes a day where
we can't just depend on supermarkets, either the product has
become worse or the price is too jacked up.

I say a lot.. "Plan ahead, plant ahead."

I'm what's called a "doomer" so I'm pretty well prepared for emergencies.  Not so prepared for actual doom though. 

Moving away from Southern California was a start.

I think that "The End Of The World As We Know It" scenarios are rather extreme.  I believe that it will be a gradual transformation (kind of like we are seeing every day now).

People need to wean themselves from dependence on electronic survival.  A single storm can shut down systems for days on end.  When the ATMs won't work, and the gas pumps don't have electric power, it's a long walk home (on dark streets).  A major power outage 500 miles away can render your ATM card useless.

Simple disasters are not so simple when you are living within one.

I've lived through a couple disasters, well, a few I guess.  A tornado, The Northridge Earthquake, and an official disaster flood event.  I might also count the LA riots but I lived in the Valley at the time and the riots were pretty far away...

Not that big a deal as long as the larger society isn't collapsing also. 

I think everyone should have basic disaster preparedness supplies. 

http://www.ready.gov/

Yes, it says ".gov" but still useful info. 

The fact - that is not focused on too often in this talk of "surviving a disaster"  - is that for millions of people in the US, not to mention billions of people in the world, living through the day is an enormous struggle.
The "poor" includes people in wheelchairs, people over 65 and frail, babies.
It includes people who are mentally/emotionally/psychologically challenged.
It probably includes many of your neighbors, altho you may not know it.

So to talk about individuals or families suriving a major  catastrophe is to me reminiscent of Darwinism - only the strong survive.

There is another way to look at it, and that is that we are ALL responsible for each other, and that we have a responsibility to build a world in which the least able to protect themselves are not left to suffer and die because of their vulnerability.

To me it's not so much a matter of the strong surviving, but the prepared suviving. You can be in the "strong" and unprepared and won't survive. I look at it in a different way. Everything is looked at from an urban point of view, since only about 2% of the north American population live in a rural setting. When everyone talks about being ready to evacuate, I look at it as people evacuating to where I live. I live in the country, have great nieghbours, and don't think I need to evacuate to anywhere.

ellen rosner wrote:

There is another way to look at it, and that is that we are ALL responsible for each other, and that we have a responsibility to build a world in which the least able to protect themselves are not left to suffer and die because of their vulnerability.

100% agree, which is why those who are capable of preparing for disaster should do so, then they will be more capable of caring for those who can't care for themselves. 

In my opinion. 

The most significant 'disaster' is the patenting of genomes. It's happening all the time, all around us. Don't let seasonal storms or chance natural disasters deter you from the ongoing battle that is the patenting of life itself...

I've got a few physical 'issues' and won't be running trom the tsunami when 'the big one' inevitably arrives
While I can't do much about that, I'm as ready as I can be for short-medium term food and water supplies and  the garden's hopefully long-term. I say hopefully as one of our larger cities (Christchurch) was seriously devastated by an earthquake last year and many gardens were suffocated by tonnes of sewerage-infused sand.
I've always felt a bit smug about my food and water supplies, but I hadn't factored in the human shit!

LivingWind wrote:
The most significant 'disaster' is the patenting of genomes. It's happening all the time, all around us. Don't let seasonal storms or chance natural disasters deter you from the ongoing battle that is the patenting of life itself...

I agree. I don't know that I would call the patenting of life the "Most" significant disaster, as there are so many disasters.... 

But I do think it is terribly important and has mostly escaped any notice by the permies. The patenting of life has so many ugly implications. And I always wonder why more religiously-minded folk do not speak out.

Or- maybe they DO speak out, but that speech doesn't get broadcast.

So many things to be aware of. Sometimes I feel quite overwhelmed. 

Then I go to my garden and feel better...

The religious minority was quite vocal when it was sheep and pet dogs being cloned, but I have heard nothing when it is "merely" plant life being toyed with.  Since man was created to tend "His" garden, I think He would be offended with us trying to invent new plants to crowd out His plants.

prepare for the worst-hope for the best.