OK, I’m not a survivalist. I don’t think the road warriors are coming, but holy cow. I can’t believe the number of people who can’t make it for 24 hours without going to the store for necessities.
I know people in Chile (nobody hurt, touch wood). They live in the land of volcanos, earthquakes, and tsunamis, and some of them are really hurting right now because they had never done any preparations. One aquaintance has a emergency hurricane lantern but didn’t keep any fuel for it. Many can’t get water, and didn’t have any on hand.
The store shelves in Hawaii, when the tsunami warning went up, were striped bare. Traffic was locked down, blocked by the huge lines at the gas stations.
Mother Nature doesn’t worry about your convenience and stuff happens just about everywhere in the world. How inconvenient could it possibly be to always have a couple of weeks worth of food, a way to cook, a source of light, and a few gallons of water in the house?
It’s better for your car’s health to keep the gas tank at least half full. Then, additional benefit, you don’t have to stop to get fuel before you can get out of town ahead of the hurricane or whatever Mother Nature is throwing your way.
There aren’t many places in the world where there is absolutely no possibility of being evacuated, or where you can’t lose electrical power for a day or two. It’s simply unbelievable to me how many people are completely unprepared for even a few hours without their modern conveniences and 24 hour grocery store.
The average person has only 3 days of food on hand. The average grocery store only has 3 days of food on hand. As you said, in a REAL emergency the store shelves will be stipped bare in a matter of hours (assuming no looting).
The government has spent MILLIONS of dollars on advertising to tell people to have some stockpile of food, water, medicine, and other supplies. I heard another one of these commercials on the radio the other day.
However, on this forum it is blasphemy to think that anything bad could ever happen. Heaven knows that several people on this forum think that the more than 100 TRILLION dollars of unfunded mandates; trillion dollar deficit; and national debt approaching 13 TRILLION dollars is no cause for concern. Even though Bernanke said that we’re in danger of a debt crisis like Greece, I guess others know better.
Mother Nature doesn't worry about your convenience and stuff happens just about everywhere in the world. How inconvenient could it possibly be to always have a couple of weeks worth of food, a way to cook, a source of light, and a few gallons of water in the house?
Furthermore, if anything ever happens to the power grid, modern life will stop almost immediately and we’ll be living back in the 1800’s (the few that survive, that is). What could happen to the power grid? A solar flare could DESTROY it - there was a bad enough solar storm in 1859 that telegraph operators were shocked and telegraph papers caught on fire. The electric grid is a lot more vulnerable than telegraph lines. Any country with a missle and a single nuke could detonate a nuke above the atmosphere and wipe out the entire electrical grid in the USA and parts of Canada and Mexico in an instant. It would likely take YEARS to get the grid back up. An economic collapse could easily lead to the loss of the electric grid and that’s the most likely scenario. If any of those things (or a bunch of others) happened, would it be nice to be prepared with a little extra food and water? Nah - nothing bad could ever happen!
propertymanager,
You are absolutely right. I too, was shocked at how quickly people needed supplies, but then when they ran out of a collapsing house there might not be anything left to salvage.
Here my plan is to walk to my sister’s house. She has a large supply of vintage canned goods in her attic and porch. She can feed our entire family 4-year-old baked beans and canned peaches for weeks.
Also, the Spring River is nearby. So named because water bubbles up out of the ground always. Thirst and washing solved.
I have a giant wood pile that will take 2 years to burn. I don’t have any firearms to ward off marauders, but everyone else in town has 8 weapons each. I will swap a deal.
Horses are going to become a lot more valuable when there’s no gasoline being delivered. And horse thieves will be strung up again. Are you putting a stable in your bunker, Mike?
So you folks living in metropolitan areas…how are you going to survive?
Furnishedowner
I don’t have any supplies and I don’ t need any. I have a gun. I am going to take yours.
LOL!
You can try, but I have a long history of building Indian pit traps with sharpened sticks in the bottom. My mother, holding my baby brother, fell in one when I was a kid. My history of trap-making goes way back. My Mom was displeased, as you will be.
Furnishedowner
You guys are talking crazy. Our Government will take care of all of us!
Just like Katrina as long as Browny is still there.