Good points, Andy.
I guess it all depends on what your assessment of the threats your region is susceptible to. I've heard some people say that living in a city is almost completely "artificial", with all of our needs being magically delivered to a faucet, furnace, or grocery shelf on a reliable basis. As people lose their knowledge/ability to perform those once necessary tasks, they are more reliant on someone else to provide them.

When you look at what has already occurred to the just the US in the last 100 years or so, you'll see that there are a lot of potential threats to the "Fragile Shell" of modern society. Some things haven't occurred in the US, but could. I put together a little look at these threats at http://tirec.mysite.com/rich_text_2.html

I'm still trying to figure out just how much to prepare and for what. Money, time, space, family requirements all have to be figured in for me.

Good luck and thanks for the reality check.