Louise and I are in a couple of groups with the purpose of providing relief. On a practical level, though, if the disaster wipes out our town, we're all victims and nobody's a reliever. One of our friends is in the Red Cross, and he's flown to all parts of the country after a disaster because nobody _in_ the disaster, Red Cross, Salvation Army, whatever, can provide help to the community because they're all victims themselves.

Yes, our town has a disaster plan, yes, the town has ideas on where to set up shelters, and no, I don't expect the town to deliver. I look to New Orleans for my expectations of help from the government at whatever level. If my town is hit by a quake of Katrina proportions, I expect no help.

I think I mentioned in another post on this thread that my town officials have said they don't expect the town to be rebuilt to its current condition if it's wiped out in an earthquake. I look at New Orleans, and I believe _that_.

Yes, we all have plans - the government, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, our CERT teams, my neighbors. If the quake is not so severe that the plans are completely impossible to put into effect, well and good. But the possibililty is that the devastation will be Katrina-like and all the plans will be in the shambles that was my town.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that long-term survival is a worst case scenario. If it's not a Katrina-like quake, I'm a happy camper with plans, supplies, and ham radios to join in the rescue/reporting/communications efforts. My goal is to game plan the worst case, and I've gotten a lot of good information; I've put some of the ideas into effect.

> privy to additional information that may help in your personal plans.

My wife and I were at a meeting where our county's emergency services coordinator gave a presentation on what the county's plans were in the event of a devastating earthquake. They're detailed and involve providing defined amounts of supplies to the population using defined locations and routes. The government _has_ a plan. Then he asked, "The question is, do you trust your government?" That's the additional information I'm privy to in making my personal plans.