Do you have a two month supply of food and water on hand? ( Archived) (42)

Yes, I own a supermarket

Interesting. In America it is part and parcel of our Federal Emergency Management Agencie's (FEMA) advice for all Americans.

As jokingly suggested by a former FEMA head, 'everyone should be individually prepared for a zombie apocalypse and to hunker down through it.'

Disaster preparation is called Disaster Mitigation, which ranges all the way from stockpiling supplies, a plan for obtaining and cleaning water, extra blankets, fuel for an emergency generator, planning and discussing rendezvous points with family members, identifying the direction of possible threats (tsunamis, nuclear plant disasters, etc.) and pre-planning your best 3 evacuation routes (again thought to rendezvous points for other family members traveling other routes), possible discussion of cooperative plans with trustworthy neighbors, etc.

After the Regional Disasters of Hurricanes Katrina, and Sandy the value of pre-planning and mitigation proved it's worth in gold for some families. No one needed 2 months worth of food, but for that first week as many bridges were closed and nothing came into the damaged stores, knowing your own family had food and other supplies made things a lot easier for some.

One can go high dollar if they wish, pre bagged, precooked individual meals, or one can go low tech, low dollar. A few extra bags of rice and dried beans, maybe some dried fish or meat supplemented by a bottle or three of vitamins with minerals, and an ability to filter and boil water.

It is important to remember that while it is all very nice to imagine that the Government will shelter and provide for me and my children, and while the Government before the disaster hits may actually wish to do so, in reality.. Sometimes the disaster is big enough that your own local Government may need the help of other external Governments just to climb back onto it's feet before even being capable of thinking about anyone else. That can add days or weeks to government response. Again in such times, having predetermined plans and some measure of self sufficiency is nice.

One man asked the same question recently. But on top, he added that he also has a gun to protect his supplies of those like me

Well you have to decide in advance how, within what the law and reality allows, you will react when not friendly mobs or thieves come looking for the food you set aside for your children and yourself.

Run away and yield it all to them? Battle their guns with your kitchen knife? Or meet their force with equal or greater force?

Some decide option one is better than violence and maybe the Lord will feed their children anyway. Others believe if they don't own guns, the thieves will respect that and not have any of their own. Some go with option three when it is permissible.

If you wish a what for regarding disaster preparation, look at the Nepal region today.

The only supplies coming in today and probably for the next few days come in by military C-130, thus far feeding the capital will probably be their priority. The roads are simply impassable and the bridges are down. The commercial flights are probably a month from resuming, but even then, the distribution infrastructure has been destroyed.

Yes, in the rural areas some folks will be able to eat what is there. But in the other towns and cities? The food the residents have is all there will be, possibly for weeks to come and the tertiary death toll will possibly be very large a month from now.

i have 30 cans of peaches, does that count?

Of course it does. Now add a few 1 or 5 pound bags or jars of beans or rice (or both) and maybe a jar or two of honey, some salt, and some canned fish.
Maybe also some one a day with minerals and vitamins.

Those simple acquisitions put you light years ahead of millions of other folks today.

They have been non-stop since the airport was pronounced safe again. Also a half dozen other countries. Means nothing though without any open roads or helicopters to deliver the supplies. A mountain of supplies 3 stories tall and no way to distribute it. It is only today maybe 30 hours after the earthquake the first small helicopter reached the city of Pokhara where the hospital itself allegedly had collapsed. The helicopter stayed an hour then left. No news or casualty figures from that area have been announced. As you can see from the aerial photo at
the town of Gorhka is effectively leveled. With two epicenters to deal with and a lack of roads to get to such places what you had in your possession before the earthquake is probably all you will have for weeks to come.

Okay, latest news is the only airport closed again for resurfacing after this mornings aftershock. Hopefully that won't take long.

With 300 million other people tromping around in the woods shooting deer and rabbits or whatever moves for food, just how many hours do you expect the deer supply to last?

Well rare observation from Nepal is a first disaster can be followed by a second.

Interesting Mother Nature can play the old Cold War tricks.

Back in the Cold War everyone had shelters stocked with two weeks worth of food. Hiroshima and Nagasaki measurements had taught that two weeks after a nuclear blast radiation levels should have fallen enough it should be safe to come out of the hole. So on both sides the fallout shelters were stocked with two or three weeks worth of food and water. Then came the nuclear submarine and by the 1970s the realization of a new tactic.

When the war begins, every other sub should go dark, settle on the bottom and wait 2 or 3 weeks. At that time, launch the missiles. Those hiding in shelters from the first round of blasts, should be out now looking for new food and water. Wham. Both sides planned to do this.

We see in Nepal, Mother Nature knows this trick too. So again I say, plan for months, not days or weeks.

seems to be a quirk of paranoia ruled people particular to the US

Midst of the Cold War we had a few novels, Alas Babalyon, etc., warning that if your neighbors, or strangers, know you have food, or teenage girls in your shelter, they will come, kill you then take what they want unless you drive them off yourself, because the police, phones, electric (all that) will be dead and no one is coming to help.

The only novel or film about your portion of the planet from the same era was On The Beach, our allies down under dying slowly of rising radiation poisoning their cities. Course Mad Max 20 years later, but very few down there were smart enough to realize it would be just like that.