One thing to consider in the case of a large event is that everyone else will be doing the same thing that you want to do:

- Hurricane threat? Suddenly everyone gets bottled water.
- Large scary city event? Everyone heads home all at once.
-Blizzard coming? better buy a shovel.

How do plan for these mass reactions?

Proactive, not reactive. While I realize that not everyone is able to purchase or store vast quantities of tools, food, fuel, water, and etc., rudimentary equipment and provisions do not require that much space. Buy a little extra non-perishable food each trip to the store. Keep an extra "12 pack" of water on hand. The list could go on indefinitely, but the point is that the individual MUST be constantly vigilant about their preparedness status. Situational awareness is paramount in the grand scheme of things. If you develop the Ostrich mentality, that is to say living with your head in the sand, whatever your scenario is will not have a good outcome. By preparing for the obvious threats in our respective geographical areas, we will have most if not all the necessary provisions to deal with the sudden unforeseen happenings that occur. I guess the bottom line is don't wait until the excrement is in the ventilation to get what you need.

My suggestion is to know what your expected large event is. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area it's earthquakes first, followed by floods and mud slides in the winter and fires in the summer. Fortunately, I don't live in a flood-, slide-, and fire-prone area, although fires have a way of spreading. That leaves my major problem as quakes. I figure I'll be bugging in for that, as the peninsula has only two roads and one direction out. If the overpasses collapse, both roads will be closed.

We've got a month's worth of food and water for two, along with shelter, clothes, and such -- we hope all we need for a month without government help.

One of the issues about earthquakes is that there's no warning, so no long lines because no one will be "preparing." I figure no electricity, so no gasoline, no charge cards, no nothing that requires electricity. Probably no gas, but probably fires from gas main breaks.

So I'm guessing people will be hunkered down for awhile till the shaking stops, then we'll all step out into the brave new world of New Orleans after Katrina.

Like Philip in SF/Bay area, SOCAL has earthquakes (which are zero warning, come as you are events) and wildfires which are nice enough to give us some warning. Other areas will have tornadoes and hurricanes (near zero warning vs multiple days warning). You need to consider what those events are and determine the best way for you to prepare. For most situations preps have a lots of similarity -- we all have the same basic needs and rule of 3's applies.

You mentioned a large scary city event where everyone heads home at once. My advice is either be ahead of the first big wave of peeps by maintaining your situational awareness (SA), or being prepared to bug-in your office. I always tried to maintain SA and was able to leave quickly. In that particular office environment bugging in would have been a no-go, so having a boss that said, "go" was very fortunate.

I'm all set for disaster supplies, so for me I'd be going out for milk and the like.

I was a teenager during Hurricane Donna in 1962, and a critical object lesson was the image of a little old lady with a shopping basket full of toilet paper, and an empty shelf behind her....I tried to convey this mentality to my students, and a 5gal "go" bucket became a yearly lab assignment for many years..... if your local public school participates in the "Great American Teach In" you can spread the word if you volunteer for a presentation....check with the policy on edged tools

As everyone sais, the only thing which you can do better that the chap next door is to plan in advance.

Buy those extra goods if you can afford the cost and have the storage space. But above all PLAN. Designing a plan, or several plans, will cost you nothing. Its something which you can do at home, during your lunch break, or when you're out and about.

You need to think about the possible scenarios and then sort them into the most and least likely.
You need to be realistic about the duration and extent of any “outage” caused by each event. Is it a 24 hour storm or TEOTWAWKI ?

Simply having a shopping list so that you know your priorities of what to purchase (you don’t want to forget something)
Have a list of the things which need to be done around the house (securing outdoor furniture etc)

Of course buying critical items in advance makes sense, because then you are not competing with last minute panic buyers. You can break up your purchases into things which you can buy well in advance (often one off items like a that spare shovel), things which you can buy seasonally (eg restock long like food stuffs like rice or pasta at the start of the season, and eat them at the end of the season). Of course the more that is done in advance the better, but we all have constraints in time, money and storage space, so you need to strike a sensible balance.

There will always be last minute items, so having a clear list of what to do when the scenario starts to unfold makes sense too. When that emergency starts, at the first signs, you may still want to get to the shops for fuel or to get some items that you are low on, but at least you have a plan and you know what things you want and you have planned on acting on the list at an early point.

Don’t forget to include skills in your long term plans. Its great to have all that food, water and shelter stockpiled in a bunker, but skills can be overlooked when it comes to preparations. For instance a first aid course can literally be a lifesaver. Do you know how to change a tyre ? Can you make emergency repairs to your own home ? Car ? Can you light a fire ? in the wet ? Change a fuse ? Use a signal mirror ? What are your bushcraft / survival skills like ?
Now answer each of these questions for each member of your family !

Planning and following through on your preparations …

… that is what makes you different from everyone else.

I think the plan is to act fast, like within the first hour of an event. Many people will probably be in state of denial or disbelief, and may not act right away. So those first couple of hours may be critical. If there's a little warning, or immediately after a major event, my first plan is to gas up the car if the pumps are working. And definitely stay off the freeway. With earthquakes though, all bets are off. Thats why I never let the tank go below 1/2 and keep a 3 day kit in the car. Depending how bad it is, it may take that long to get home. And hopefully home is still standing.

Tornados don't have multiple day warnings. When we receive that tornado warning, we only have a few minutes.

Jeanette Isabelle

Very, very timely topic.

See the post I just made in regards to an Earthquake in New Zealand tonight.