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Disaster preparedness

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valley_parade:

--- Quote from: Bluesummers on 01 Nov 2012, 20:14 ---a buttload of glowsticks, self-lighting road flares, a flare gun

--- End quote ---

Less disaster kit, more Emergency Party Kit.

Papersatan:
I had a friend who kept the glove box full of sample size liquor bottles, for party emergencies.

The Seldom Killer:
Disasters in the UK are mostly limited to a it of snow and people panicking that they don't have any bread (a lesser known pitiful national obsession). My disaster preparedness extends to the following.

1) Paying attention to what is going on in the medium range weather forecast.
2) Ensuring that the house is always stocked with sufficient staples to feed the household, including the cat, for at least a week.
3) Having a rudimentary understanding of basic survival techniques.
4) Understanding my own physiology and the level of deprivation, exposure and discomfort that I can withstand without significant ill effect.
5) Knowing how I can a) gain access to shelter within a short time frame and b) return home within a medium time scale.
6) Having a sensible survivalist approach to looting should the needs demand it.
7) Retaining a mental preparedness for the sudden breakdown of the mechanisms of governance and society and general key actions of forward planning.

I realise that in the UK I will probably never have to face significant extreme weather so my preparedness extends to the minimalist focus on survival. However, if I were in the US or other area susceptible to hostile changes in climate then I'm not sure I would be inclined to set up the kind of outfit the bluesummers has. I see a lot of redundancy and repetition of function in there and many things that would be rendered useless or surplus fairly quickly. In extreme conditions I wouldn't want anything near a 90lb pack on me. I'd aim for less than half of that and work on a policy of acquisition and improvisation instead. An excess of supplies means you're less likely top move out of your comfort zone, which isn't always in your own best interests. And while that's sitting in your car all the time it just adds to your fuel costs now. Petrol or Diesel might be quite cheap now, but I think there is likely to be a move towards it being expensive in the near future. In Boy Scouts we were always cautioned against wastefulness.

Barmymoo:
I just bought two loaves of bread and a packet of tortilla wraps, so I suppose I just partook in a very British form of disaster preparedness (actually the bread was just on special offer).

If I did live in a country where natural disaster were more probable, and if I had space, I would definitely have a larger food storage. I'm not quite at the stage of thinking that LDS food storage is necessary, but apart from anything else it is more economical. My mum and stepdad definitely have enough food to last for several months (and a vegetable garden and orchard which would provide fresh fruit and veg if not destroyed by the disaster) and I think I've got a similar mindset. I'm not on any kind of medication so that wouldn't be a concern for me. I used to have a bag packed ready to leave at a moment's notice, with toothbrush, change of clothes etc - mostly so that I knew I could run away from home if necessary, which it never was.

jwhouk:
Bread, milk and beer are the three staples that end up flying off the shelves during storm warnings in the midwestern US.

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