Should You Prepare For A Disaster?

What is it about the words survival and preparedness that elicit such strong feelings in many? You have people on one side of the spectrum that live in fear and see conspiracy’s around every corner. On the other side you have people who feel a condescending amusement toward anyone who suggests one should prepare for possible disasters. For some, disaster preparedness becomes their life; and they stop enjoying the here and now that God gave them. Then you have those on the other side who go through life with blinders on acting as if they’re in a protected bubble.

How about some balance?

Not all survivalists are created equal. Our government and media have done a great job of shining the light on fringe groups here and there who are rather paranoid and say a lot of ridiculous things. So the idea of preparing for possible disasters has turned a lot of people off. If you talk about survival, many will lump you into some group and call you fringe or right wing.

It’s like what much of the media has done with Christianity. They take every chance they can to make Christians look like bigots, hate mongers, and naïve and uneducated red necks. Why do they do that? To me it’s about emasculating a group, taking the wind out of their sails. It’s about shutting them up and making them insignificant. It would be very hard in this article to cover all the reasons why this is, but if you are reading this instead of sitting in front of your TV all day playing video games you probably have a pretty good idea.

With that out of the way let’s look as some of the possible disasters that could happen and why it would be best to do some survival preparing. The likelihood of some of the following disasters happening can vary by region, but disasters can strike anywhere and at any time.

First, let’s look at different types of disasters. There are weather related disasters that can come from severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, ice storms, flooding, hurricanes, etc. Next, there are natural disasters that can affect you directly or indirectly, and they include earthquakes, droughts, and even volcanoes for some. Then there are the man-made disasters that can happen. Although these are not as likely, they have happened and could very well happen again. Nuclear accidents, hazardous material spills, natural gas explosions, etc. There is also a possibility of terrorist attacks, which could include dirty bombs, biological, chemical and even viral weapons.

Now depending on the type of disaster you could either be forced to flee your home quickly, or be stuck in it for some time. Either of these scenarios could result in great hardship and in some cases even death if you are not prepared for them.

What are some of the problems various disasters can cause? You could lose power from several hours to even several weeks. In the summer you would have no air conditioning, and in the winter no heat. Without power you would probably not have running

water for drinking and sanitation. What if roads were washed away, destroyed from earthquakes, or strewn with trees? If the disaster is bad enough, like Katrina, there could be mass looting, and nowhere to get food, water or gas. You could have anarchy and lawlessness rampant for a while until government, at some level, was able to restore order.

There are way too many possible scenarios to touch on in this article, but I think you get my point. Any of these things could happen, and you need to ask yourself some “what if” questions. What if I lost power; how would I heat my house, store food, cook food, have light to see, or be able to turn on a radio to hear what’s going on? What if I had no running water; what would I drink, how would I wash, deal with sanitation issues, and keep things clean? What if the roads were impassable or my car was destroyed, or there wasn’t enough gas to get somewhere; how would I get food, how would I connect with my children if they were at school, how would I get home to my family, what if one of us needed medical treatment? These are all very possible situations.

Suddenly being prepared for a possible disaster doesn’t seem so paranoid does it?

Because you prepare for various disaster scenarios, it does not mean you’re paranoid. In my opinion it makes you a wise steward. It means you care about your family, and choose not to be a victim. It means you choose not to live in a bubble of ignorance with your head buried in the sand.

In a perfect world you would never have to use the skills or supplies needed for a survival situation. Of course we don't live in a perfect world, so it is far better to have a survival plan in place and not need it than not have one and find yourself in the middle of a disaster situation. Always hope for and expect the best, but be wise and plan for the worse.

If you’re not sure what to do, or how to get started, I have you covered. I’ve just started a new survival/preparedness blog called Mikes-Ready-or-Not, and will be posting a tip or idea every day or two. My contact and blog information is below.

Mike Shanta currently lives in Branson Missouri with his wife and two children. He serves as a volunteer fire fighter and believes strongly in always being prepared. He writes a Survival/Preparedness blog at http://mikes-ready-or-not.blogspot.com, or you can email him at preparedness.blog@mail.com.