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heck, living where I do, within sight of three volcanoes, within 100 miles of another, within the impact area of the Cascade subduction zone, I don't worry about global scale, I'm more worried about the here and when it happens.
 
It's not a matter of if, but when. I try to keep emergency supplies of fuel and food on hand. I have list of nieghbors to bater with for fresh foods and live stock. If your not ready, you really should be. I am just glad I don't live in town, or even with-in easy walking distance of town. When I did live in the Portland area, I always wondered what my wife and I would do if we had a major earth quake. We both worked in Portland, several bridges from our children in Vancouver. It's something everyone needs to think about and plan for. Urban areas are great for modern living, but horrible for disasters.
 
Contrast that with Katrina...

-d

I think its amazing when compared to how the population of any other country would react.

Seattle had a large windstorm 4 or 5 years ago which cut off power to a good chunk of the city and I was people get into fistfights over gas at one of the fuel working gas tations. While in Japan people were obeying crosswalk sights during the earthquake.
 
...While in Japan people were obeying crosswalk sights during the earthquake.

Ok, that is taking "politeness" way too far!

Went by REI today to pick up an extra filter for one of the water purifiers. Have NEVER seen REI so busy (couldn't find a parking spot). Guess a lot of other people were stocking up on essentials too.
 
I was in Hurricane Andrew at the tail end of the time I lived in South Florida, people never talk about what happened down there but it literally changed my outlook on a lot of things in life. The then-rural communities south of the city and one large area of residential Miami were decimated by tornadoes, for a few days the streets were impassable with debris and people were on their own as far as food, water and sanitation were concerned. There is no outdoorsy, camping, self-reliant culture in Miami: people were living with whatever they could salvage from their homes for shelter and food. Those who didn't lose their homes were still stuck in place due to the roads and the general lawlessness that began shortly after the storm passed. Looting began immediately and was extremely violent, having firearms available saved a lot of people's lives and allowed them to hold on to whatever they had that the looters wanted. Once the army got into town, martial law was declared and the streets were "cleaned up" (by pushing the debris in front of a lot back onto it) the Red Cross started going in and trying to get supplies to people. They do good work, but have a massive bureaucracy that hobbles their reaction time...after a few of us tried volunteering for them and got frustrated, we organized our own effort and brought a couple of vanloads of stuff down to the affected areas and started handing them out (I worked in the medical industry driving a truck for a living, so the company truck and uniforms got us through the checkpoints). This was the only relief the people we talked to had seen, and because of the danger of looters they were not at liberty to leave their property to go looking for help at the shelters and rally points. That's what the **** hitting the fan looks like in the middle of a major city in the United States, where only part of the city was destroyed. It was not pretty.
 
One thing I see from the Japan situation is that preparedness and stockpiles at home can mean next to nothing when the whole area is leveled and/or if you commute very far from home you may end up with nothing, stranded and not able to reach home.
 
One thing I see from the Japan situation is that preparedness and stockpiles at home can mean next to nothing when the whole area is leveled and/or if you commute very far from home you may end up with nothing, stranded and not able to reach home.

It all depends where you are when SHTF as well as what type of emergency you are dealing with. I'll be the first to admit that I am not really ready. I live in Seattle, so I'm in a major population center. I have no stocks of food nor water not fuel or just about any other item that people store up just in case.
However, living in Seattle, unless SHTF during the 2 months when the sky is clear, I do not have to worry about not having water LOL.
I do have firearms to protect my self and a dirt bike to get the **** out of town no matter what the traffic or roads look like. No family, so I would just would have to worry about getting myself to safety.
If we get hit by anything like Japan, then I'm heading east away from the damage. Don't care about the house or cars or any of the material possessions. They are all meaningless and can be replaced.
If we have a national type SHTF when the society has collapsed on grand scale, than I am screwed (along with millions and millions of other people).
 
One thing I see from the Japan situation is that preparedness and stockpiles at home can mean next to nothing when the whole area is leveled and/or if you commute very far from home you may end up with nothing, stranded and not able to reach home.

Which is exactly why each of my rigs has a BOB in it. While not as extensive as the home stockpile of course, it has food, water, shelter and equipment to help us get back home. I have a tickler memo on my computer to remind me to rotate the perishables in them as well as my main stock.
 

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