Fred588 wrote:I have made as much preparation as I can for an array of potential natural disasters (tonados, ice storms, earthquakes, etc).
And that is the realistic level of preparation. I don't want to come across like one of these bunker building nut-jobs that constantly prepares for the imminent collapse of civilization. We certainly don't have to worry about nuclear war on the scale we once did but there is an increasing level of danger from terrorist nukes at the level of North Korea on down. A hit from a Tunguska sized asteroid or comet is probably even more likely than that for most of us. Regardless of the threat it's not difficult to make plans to sustain you and yours for a week.
A couple of examples - During "The Great Flood of 2010" as it's known here some of my neighbors absolutely freaked out when announcement was made that the water might be cut off as the treatment plant was in danger of being submerged. I pointed out that they all had 120-200 liters of water in each house in their water heaters if they knew how to shut their house supply off and get to it. I had to travel a circuitous route to work the next day that was a mystery to the non-natives who thought they were stranded. Gasoline ran low but I had filled two 5 gallon cans when things first started looking bad. One often overlooked resource is living near to a large number of relatives. Not just myself but all of us have a plan for mutual aid if it should be required. We know who among us has the biggest, remotest, most easily defended basement, and there we would meet if something unthinkable happened. A week's worth of canned goods doesn't take up much space or cost much. Just stuff like that.
