Preparedness.
Many Americans are not prepared for anything. They live in the moment and want instant gratification. "Long Term" is not in their vocabulary and TEOTW/Disasaters are a SciFi genres to them. Most Americans only care about Hurricane Katrina or Sandy for as long as the MSM reports on it and once the coverage stops, people move on to the next "distraction."
Turn off the TV and pay attention. EF5 Tornadoes, category 4 Hurricanes, massive wildfires, pandemics...These are just a few examples of real types of disasters. Real disasters that have happened many times before and will happen many times in your future. People die, property is destroyed, lives are turned upside down and in some cases, life as you and I know it will never be the same.
Here's an eye opening test for you. Go to your local mall and ask random strangers questions like "Which contestant lost in the season finale of (Insert current popular show). I guarantee you that they would know without having to look it up. Then I want you to ask the same person "How many people died in New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina?" Do you think they would know? I bet they would be shocked when you tell them that 1,833 people died.
Hurricane Sandy killed 286 people.
The 1900 Galveston hurricane killed upwards of 12,000 people.
"The Great Pandemic" sounds like a Zombie Apocalypse thriller doesn't it. Well what if I told you that "The Great Pandemic" was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed over 40 million people world wide. (Some experts say that 100 million people died). It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS had killed in 24 years.
The 1968 "Hong Kong Flu" Pandemic killed 33,800 people in the USA and infected 15% of the Hong Kong population.
The bottom line is that bad things can and will happen. Mother Nature is a violent merciless bitch. Do you think the government can help everyone affected? The pathetic response to what happened after Katrina wasn't the fault of President Bush. Our government may have the infrastructure and supplies but our gov't does not have a clue on how to respond and initiate recovery in an effective way. You know how I know that the government can't help you? Because I remember what happened in New Orleans. I was there when Hurricane Irene and Sandy hit and I think of them as educators. I wasn't a prepper then, but I am now. I didn't have a grid down plan, I do now. By being prepared, I can avoid the negative affects of a disaster. It's not crazy at all.
I keep hearing that the government hates preppers and I think...That's BS. The gov't has websites like Ready.gov which are dedicated to personal preparedness! The problem is that the Entertainment Industry has eroded the minds of so many people. Doomsday Preppers is NOT who I am. Solar Flares, Zombies and Invasions OH MY! It's all a load of crap. I'm not saying those things wont happen and in fact a solar flare did cause chaos in the 1800's. What I am saying is: stay real. I live in CT so I prepare for disasters that are relevant to my area. Wildfires don't happen here the way they happen out west. We don't get earthquakes or major flooding and we rarely get tornadoes. We do get blizzards, hurricanes, Nor'easters, thunderstorms and heavy rains. There are some nuclear power plants inside my 300mi Zone and a NukeBioChem disaster could happen, even though it isn't likely. If the Economy collapses, it will have horrible consequences in CT because of the high unemployment, high poverty and horrible government.
Right now, there is an invasion of Illegal Aliens at our Southern Border. States like TX, NM, AZ and CA are the ones directly affected, states like CT are not...At least not yet.
So, how can you prepare? You need to know what historically impacts your area. Know your surroundings, population density, economic situation and geographical area. I like the 300mi Zone plan because that is about the range my vehicle has on a full tank of gas. The best advice I can give you is to educate yourself. Go get some training, EMT-B or something like that. Everyone in your family should be certified for CPR/AED/Basic First Aid through the American Red Cross.
Like I said, forget about the stuff on TV. Unless you really want to, you don't need to have more than 1 year worth of food and water. I wont tell you the extent of the preparations and planning for my family because of this thing called OpSec but I will advise that you buy the following if you want to have the basics of preparedness for 1 month:
- Bottled Water
- Food
- Charcoal Grill and charcoal
- medical supplies
- household cleaning supplies
- 5 gallon buckets
- 70% wool blankets
- Candles
- Flashlights and batteries
- Lighters and stick matches
- Portable Emergency Radio
- 5 gallon fuel container
- Tools (household and vehicle)
- Firearms and ammunition
- Trash bags
- Board games, playing cards and toys
I will elaborate on emergency supplies in another blog post.
Call me crazy, call me paranoid; I don't care. One of these days you will be happy that you took the necessary steps to be prepared too.
Thanks for reading.
Keep Calm and Prep On!
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