Disaster Preparation: The Line Between Preparation and Survivalism

At dinner with some friends yesterday evening, a major topic of discussion surrounded the timely prominent images of the Japanese earthquake disaster, particularly the tsunami. The diatribe quickly turned to disaster self-preparation.

“It’s not a question of if, but when a natural disaster will hit our area,” my buddy said. “We all need to be prepared to survive without access to emergency services for a minimum of two weeks.”

“Hmmm,” I replied. “Two weeks? I should probably stock up on some more hooch.”

Seriously, what is the line between preparing and being a survival nut?

Proactively stocking extra food, water, medical, and other necessities not only makes good sense, but is reasonably doable, without having to stuff every nook and cranny in the house with supplies, like a submarine preparing for an upcoming patrol.

Living in a culture with abundant emergency resources makes me wonder, what if these services are completely overwhelmed on a much greater scale than Katrina? Imagine a major earthquake on the west coast, and simultaneous hurricane in the Gulf. Reasonable?

Preparing for an imaginable scenario is one matter. Preparing for a scenario of possibly having to shoot an opportunistic looter to protect my family, and limited survival supplies, is another.

The looting during Katrina coupled with elderly people abandoned in care facilities, and shootings, painted an ugly picture of human distress. it also demonstrated to me that there’s no excuse for not preparing for both scenarios.

The challenge is preparing without becoming a total survival loon.

How hard is it to get your ass moving?

A friend and I have started walking early mornings. Neither of us are exercise nuts.

Getting our asses moving first thing in the morning to walk 3 miles, 3-4 days a week, is just part of an ongoing effort to be healthy.

I’m not a healthy lifestyle expert, and enjoy eating apple pie & ice cream as much as anybody.

I must watch what I eat and exercise, or I’ll get fat, and suffer for it like so many other people.

We maximize the walk time by bouncing business ideas off each other, talking politics, etc.

In contrast, I work with a person who recently complained bitterly that the surgeon won’t replace her knees until she loses 100 pounds.

Her perspective is that her knees hurt too much to walk, so she is unable to exercise and lose the required weight.

I suggested that she ride an exercise bike, which was not what she wanted to hear, but….

The concept seems amazingly simple to me:
Slim: Burn more Calories than you Consume.
Fat: Consume more Calories than you Burn.

It’s a no-brainer, in my opinion.