I was talking with a friend today while eating at Taco Bell (we sat there drinking pop for a few hours talking & watching people coming in & out “mostly watching the cute womenfolk”.)

And the talk turned to what to prepare for and not to prepare for. Living in Toledo Ohio there is not a lot of natural disaster situations that are likely to happen. Tornados are about it for mother nature, a lot of man-made disasters could come about like a tanker truck or rail accident involving hazardous material.

Tornados really seem to scare people that have not been around them, I don’t think much about them as they are very selective in what damage they do and cut a narrow path and can go through the area and only hit a few houses. They bounce and seem to skip over most areas in their path. At least the ones in this area act like this.

The truck or rail accident seems like the most likely problem, and a simple bug out kit and awareness of the event so you know what way to run seems like the best answer.

I suppose a terrorist event is a concern, but not a high one like it would be in a larger city.

We also have a few refineries (one of them I could hit with a stone from a slingshot) but these places are not really dangerous more then ¼ mile away from them, and probably not even then. There have been a few large fires that burn very furiously, but not really the dangerous thing they look to be. My dad was a fireman for 41-years and now my brother is one (coming on 20-years) and the joke is that when the Sun refinery needs to be updated or rebuilt they have a fire so they have to rebuild & update it.


There is a nuke plant 30-miles away, but a terrorist would be very hard pressed to do much to it. I use to work there and it’s a well protected place.


I was just wondering about other parts of the country (world) and what you plan for and what you don’t plan for or feel the need to not plan for.


Looking at past history of my area of the country, I don’t worry about tidal waves, earth quakes, forest fires, large scale flooding. These are things that just don’t happen here. I know someone will post that an earth quake (insert your favorite disaster here) could happen tomorrow, but being realistic it’s not going to happen.

I was having a talk with my girlfriend at lunch yesterday and she pulled out the stash of cash she feels she still must have on hand all the time. She tells me that in her early days, when she was involved with a man she wasn't always comfortable with, she prepared for the day when the relationship would go very bad. She always made sure she enough cash to get to the next state. I'm sure a lot of women see a few more hazards around the house than men might.

This raised the exact same question in my mind that you asked. I live where I have already seen a 100 year storm and came through unscathed, where there is relatively little risk of quakes, 0% chance of hurricanes, extremely small to zero chance of a tornado, brush fire, and so on. A dam burst up river could wipe out much of the local infrastructure but I would be safe where I live at least in the short term.

I believe my biggest risk in the desert Southwest is a long-term failure of electricity or of the water utilities -- especially during the summer. I have some water stored away now but will probably increase that before next summer. I'm not really that worried about it though.

Of course there is always the random act of crime or a lightning strike....

A good question. Living in the great State of Lousy-anna (we've got the best politicians and Police that $$$$ can buy), my preparations are geared towards:

Highly Possible:
Hurricanes; Hazardous Materials Incident (from Railroad or Interstates); National Financial Meltdown*1; Martial Law*2; High Criminal Activity*3; Supply Shortages**1; Food Shortages**1;

Possible:
Tornadoes; Nuclear Incident of any kind; Civil Unrest*3; Flooding; Local Financial Meltdown; Foreign Invasion; Home Fire; Major Medical Emergency***1; Other Severe Wind/Electrical Weather; Being recalled to Active Duty****1; Ice Storm; Yellowstone Cauldera Eruption; West Coast Volcanic eruption causing a disruption;

Unlikely Possibility:
Tsunami; Terrorist Incident;

Not on the RADAR Scope at all:
Earthquakes; ExtraTerrestrial Invasion; Zombie Uprising; Local Volcano Eruption;

* 1) In the process of occurring, 2) Currently being used as a threat, 3) Logical result of *1.

** 1) Beginning stage currently being observed in stores;

*** 1) Currently have 1 elderly and 1 severely handicapped, adults living in my home;

**** 1) Would result in Family Financial Crisis;

This question has proven much more worthy of the time I've spent answering it than I first thought!! It has helped get the STOBAR in a different light. This list could/does change day by day as current events evolve and dissolve.

I don't have a plan for a Yellowstone eruption - I figure I'm close enough that it won't matter too much.
But tornadoes, severe snow/rain, some flooding, ice, power outage, things of that nature.
Also hazmat as we have lots of trains and I-80, one of the main east/west interstates, is about 5 miles south of here. You can see everything get hauled down that way.
I've somewhat prepared for civil unrest, but mostly because it's one of the more fun things to prepare for since it involves firearms (and lots of them).

The one that I missed was the possibility of a home fire.

According to the USFA there were over 400,000 residential fires in the US in 2007.

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/statistics/national/residential.shtm

Fire and Long-term loss of electricity/water due to weather related events seem to be the most probable events to prepare for.

IMHO if lives in an area relativly free from natural disasters, and not a likely terrorist target, then the main risks come from natural disasters and terrorism in distant places.

An area not prone to hurricanes could still suffer fuel shortages due to a bad hurricane destroying oil industry assets thousands of miles away.

An area not at real risk of terrorism could still suffer the effects of terrorism thousands of miles away, resulting in oil or food shortages.

A bad ice storm in Canada could disrupt power supplies in the Southern states.

The main preps would appear to be stockpiles of food,fuel and other supplies, growing your own and not being over grid reliant.

My concerns are:
1. hurricanes
2. power outages
3. flooding
4. hazmat incident on railroad tracks or freeway near our house
5. house fire
6. car accident
7. accident while outdoors (hiking/paddling/etc)
8. disruption of fuel shipments (and associated issues)
9. being stranded away from home
10. inflation and other economic issues
11. job loss
12. being directly in the path of Houston evacuations
13. potential for an ice age due to naturally occuring solar cycles
14. bad dogs (and one bad cat)

-Blast

mine is wilderness emergencys--dumping the canoe with the loss of all the gear is the big one followed by falling and busting something with a long wait untill someone else passes thru and might be able to help.i say might, because what could they do outside of paddle for a few days to find help..i was at a local outdoor gear shop and the price of the SPOT has come down and i was told by spring will be down more and the month at a time payment program is avalable..so that would solve the canoe trip problems by quite a bit---
this is a "safe" part of the world..about the only thing nature could throw our way could be a tornado and thats very unlikely..
a generator is the only bit of gear that i don't have that would make me feel more prepared..a winter ice storm that brought down power lines over a wide area would be a hard one to deal with if i could not power up the gas furnace..
but i don't have a BOB or feel i need one but could fill up the car with camping gear and what food we have around and be on the road in half an hour..but thats also so unlikely thats its not something i even think about unless i'm reading this fourm..

I am with CANOEDOGS, my emergency troubles will proabably arise of some outdoor adventure going wrong, either at work or on leisure time (e.g. sink boat, crash snowmobile, get lost, truck accident, ditch plane, violent confrontation, etc).

I live in a very stable, safe place; the most common thing that happens at home is power outages due to winter storms or high winds. Other things to consider would be a house fire or toxic spill on the nearby highway/railroad.

Mike

I live along the Alaska Highway in the Yukon. A major earthquake (we have 4 faults) could make food delivery difficult either by road or by air since the airport could also be closed for a while.