Ridiculous

[77nick77]

So we had our monthly meeting with a counselor at the apartment tonight. Tonights topic: emergency/disaster preparedness. We have these occasionally but we finally got somewhere tonight. The counselor has the right idea but she overdoes it. She wants us to prepare for an earthquake or fire or gas leak or if the power goes out or if there’s a food shortage or if we have no water.

Fine. In an ideal situation, I would live in a huge house and I would keep fifteen gallons of water stored at all times. I would have enough extra food stored in the basement to feed me for a couple weeks in case of an emergency. I would have have lanterns, a portable stove and radios ready in case the power went off. But I live in a tiny, two bedroom apartment, not a house and when the counselor suggests all this stuff it seems stupid and impracticable. Every inch of space is already being used; where am I going to store 5 gallons of water and extra food? Is it realistic (as she suggests) to buy a couple more flashlights, a lantern, a radio, a solar battery charger, a portable stove, an extra cell phone and a portable power bank? I mean they’re good ideas but they’re not realistic for someone in our position. I’m sorry, I’m 61 years old and been through many earthquakes and usually, they’re no big deal. If the big one comes then I’ll accept it, I’ve lived in California my entire life and I’ve never been in a huge earthquake so I already beat the odds. I barely have room in my room for an extra pair off shoes let alone 5 gallons of water or a weeks worth of canned food.

[Bowens]

These exercises in preparedness often seem ridiculous and impractical to me. I get your point. I remember shortly after 9/11 the government encouraged people to to insulate their homes with duct tape and plastic sheeting in preparation for a terrorist attack. Seemed ridiculous at the time and even more so in hindsight.

[rogueone]

All’s I know is living in New Orleans La for a couple of years it almost became an annual thing. You’d get hurricane warnings and you’d leave town. You’d come back and start again. I think eventually it became a bit blase and people thought it’s just the same old same old…that was till Katrina hit. That really got ugly quick…

I got out just before Katrina but I saw the pics and devastation that stuff did to the population. I agree. It seems over the top but some simple plans and preparation is probably a good thing. I have heard that the big one will come one day to California but you just never know…