Preparedness for when

Rainy-Days

thriftwizard wrote: »

Can I just say that none of us, anywhere, know what's round the corner?

Some time ago, the Government handed responsibility for keeping people fed in a national emergency to the supermarkets, who have just 3 days supplies in stock. But it could take more than 3 days for things to return to some semblance of normality after a disaster of any kind; it certainly did after hurricane Katrina.

True, but the biggest problem is that you have people panic buying and that is something that the stores just cannot control. If the SHTF big time you would find looting on an unprcedented scale and martial law would be called. We did this yongos ago when I was at Uni. People revert to vulturism and it will be every man for himself. Personally, I hope I never see the day when it all goes tits up, but natural disasters and last years summer riots in particular give you a mere taster as to what it would be like if it went completely off kilter.

Remember 9th September 2001 when the World Trade Centres got struck? America closed down their air space. The result was that it took two weeks for the entire worlds jets (regardless of company) to be back into the right position. British Airways had their Boeings scattered all over the world and caused huge logistical problems getting them back on the correct course. Most of our food supplies - especially fresh produce - comes in via passenger jets in the holds. Fresh peas and beans, things such as monge tout are all loaded into the carrying holds and are brought in daily from places such as Kenya. Anything fresh based would be scare for a good week or so even if it was grown here. So don't rely on that as a food source.

These are the ultimate worse case scenarios though!

GreenNinja

thriftwizard wrote: »

Can I just say that none of us, anywhere, know what's round the corner? Whilst it's extremely unlikely, there are such things as intracrustal earthquakes which can strike anywhere, including places well away from tectonic plate boundaries, because they come from really, really deep down. Bird flu hasn't gone away; it probably isn't ever going to be a huge threat (I'm a backyard poultrykeeper myself) but the next big epidemic might come from, say, mice, or gnats, or something quite unexpected. There are some big volcanoes out there that are well "overdue" & whilst we in the UK are well away from those, our "just-in-time" transport & delivery networks are very vulnerable to disruption from ash clouds. Weather-related disasters seem to be becoming rather more common than they were, for whatever reason. There are various conflicts going on elsewhere, some of them in places that do have nuclear capabilities. There are unmapped & very ancient mine workings under housing estates in some parts of the UK, and many more have recently been built on flood plains.

Some time ago, the Government handed responsibility for keeping people fed in a national emergency to the supermarkets, who have just 3 days supplies in stock. But it could take more than 3 days for things to return to some semblance of normality after a disaster of any kind; it certainly did after hurricane Katrina.

So although most of the time, for most of us, life just ticks along pretty normally, it's possibly a bit optimistic to assume that it always will for all of us. Some preparedness, just a few sensible precautions and some non-perishable supplies on hand, and an emergency kit/BOB/whatever you want to call it, in case you ever have to leave home in a hurry, strikes me as the least you should do, particularly if you are responsible for other people's wellbeing, like children or elderly relatives.

A quick aside - one of my friends used to live in Beverly Hills, with the San Andreas fault, running very close by, a constant threat. Her biggest dread was that in the event of an earthquake, she'd be crushed under her own emergency supplies of tinned food & bottled water...

I have to agree... some very valid points and interesting info, however I do have to say if there was a nuclear war I would not want to survive it. :cool:

Justamum

GreenNinja wrote: »

I have to agree... some very valid points and interesting info, however I do have to say if there was a nuclear war I would not want to survive it. :cool:

You and me both - I'd be outside waiting for the blast tbh

Popperwell

If things continue the way they are I may be ready to go without waiting for a natural disaster...we've got one coming that is manmade and caused by the politicians and those running the economy...

vanoonoo

many other threads in old style are really useful for ideas on how to go about "being prepared" such as :

learning how to forage https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4050903

having a storecupboard
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4031559

preparing for winter
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3519771

feel free to suggest other threads which help us to get prepared for any eventuality.

My friends father slipped over on saturday and broke his ankle in three places and has to have surgery to realign it.

How would you cope if your life partner was suddenly unable to earn money, drive you to the shops, take things to the tip, walk the dog, look after the grandchildren .... would you be able to put together a hospital stay over bag easily for a loved one without having to go to great expense in the hospital shop?

made me think

fortunately he is doing well and should be out of hospital within a week but will be pretty immobile for 6 weeks so thats their summer holidays cancelled!

vanoonoo

found another great thread elsewhere on the site

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/510311

with a flylady updated link

http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/prepared/

mardatha

A shiny new thread, all about prepping and bugging.. which many people laugh at, but times are changing & they might not laugh much longer...Ok let's have some scenarios, pretend events, which might never happen but which have happened in some places to some people already. Ok first one -
You're at home with your family including a baby in your all-electric house. It's Feb, and its snowing hard. The news is full of rumours re problems with the National Grid IT systems - coming so soon after the RBS glitch, you roll your eyes and ignore it....And then, at 5pm, the lights go out.
no news
no power
no light
no sound
no heating. (gas and oil heating are off too as you need elect to run them)
You know that water will go off soon without power.
Your hubby is stopping at the supermarket on his way home from work because you have very little food in, and no baby milk.... but he doesn't come. You have no way of getting in touch because the mobile mast is down due to no power, and the landline at his office is just ringing on and on. The house gets darker and colder, the kids are crying, and you don't know what to do.
You ask your neighbour to watch the kids while you nip down to the shops. It's pitch dark and chaos - shops are closed but people are banging on the doors yelling that they should still be open at 8pm... the manager comes and shouts that the tills are jammed and they cant let anyone in. The traffic is a nightmare because all traffic lights are out and there are no street lights so people are bumping into everything. You hear teenagers whooping and screaming, you get panicky and head home, wondering what to do next...
What would you do? How would you cope?

fuddle

Yey Mar Thank you.

I read it elsewhere but... failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Looking forward to learning how to be a super prepper the oldstyle way.

[Deleted User]

MAR - Thank You!!!!!. I would get out my gas cannister and single burner and use what I had to make a scratch meal. I would use my solar lamp for lighting and use the wind up radio to try to find out as much information as I could. I would keep the curtains drawn and the doors locked and do as low a profile as I could. I would also worry a lot about DH. To keep warm I'd bring down matresses and bedding into one room and keep all others closed off. That's a start - over to you.

emmad5689

I did a little prep last year but could have done much more, I do plan on doing more prep this year so will be interested to see peoples ideas x