Surviving A Natural Disaster

So all these crazy Occupy Wall Street protesters got me thinking. They're living in these filthy tent cities and they're depending on donated food, water, tents and toilet paper. The sanitation is a complete nightmare and reports of the stench of waste are coming out about pretty much every tent cities.

Just what would these people do if a natural disaster happened? What would they do if a terrorist attack cut supply lines and suddenly the donations stopped coming in? Well, most likely they'd return to the home (the ones who aren't homeless, at least) and most likely they wouldn't be prepared for the empty store shelves. They would probably have three days or so worth of food (or less, especially if the disaster was accompanied by a power outage). Then what?

For whatever reason, and I won't try to analyze it, most conservatives believe in preparation. Preparation for hard times by saving money and having an emergency fund, preparing for retirement by making IRA contributions, and in many cases, preparing for natural disasters by storing non-perishable food, supplies of water, some fuel, candles, etc. Personally, I could probably be more prepared, but I think I could probably live semi-comfortably for about 30 days without outside food or power. I could probably do 60 if the power wasn't out.

Anyway, I started wondering if I really was as prepared as I should be and in doing my research I found Damian Campbell's survival program. It turns out I'm not nearly as prepared as I thought I was, but I've got a good start going. Damian's information shed a lot of light on things I hadn't even considered, especially for long-term crises, like water purification and alternate power.

I've kind of re-committed myself to improving my level of preparedness, and I think most of us could probably be more prepared, but as I continue to witness the Occupy Wall Street protests, I fear what might happen after a crisis or natural disaster. Clearly these people and many more aren't prepared, and once they run out of food, the rule of law is going to be out the window. Of course this leads to the discussion of being well-armed in the event of a disaster. Those of us who actually prepared for a crisis may have to protect ourselves and our families from those who would take it away.

It's no fun to think about, and God willing, we'll never have to face a situation where the stores run out of food, the water supply is disrupted, and there's panic in the streets, but it's worth considering. In the coming weeks, I'm going to add to my stores just in case. It can't hurt to be prepared, can it?