I'm definitely not what "preppers" would call a "prepper".

That whole thing seems to be to be a lot of reacationary authoritarian religion wrapped up in a barely disguised veneer of paranoia.

I'm more of a Girl Guide. "Be Prepared", but also "No one is an island". The fact of the matter is, the most important thing you need in a mass survival scenario is community. If you don't have community already, don't expect to spontaneously form one in the event of a disaster, though people will generally surprise you with their generosity.

Every good community expects its individual members to at least take care of themselves, if they can. Nobody likes a lazy freeloader.

I generally tell people that the standard 72-hour preparedness guideline is woefully inadequate, and to keep enough essential supplies on hand to get you through at least two weeks cut off from outside assistance.

In the aftermath of the 2012 superderecho storm, we were without power for a week in New Jersey, with so many trees down that it took crews that long to clear the roads so they could repair the lines.

Granted, if it were a true emergency, I'd have gone out with my truck and hauled trees off the roads, myself, but in most cases, it will take at least a week just for relief agencies to get an organised response together.

So, no, I do not have a year's worth of food, ammo, and magic underwear stashed in my hermetically sealed bunker, nor am I worried about my neighbors finding out that I own water and gasoline storage cans.

I have enough stuff to get by for a couple of weeks without power or food shopping, and an all-band Yaesu FT-100 for communications. My only real concern is that my apartment doesn't have a backup heating source in winter. I've got oil-fired forced air heat. Without power, I freeze, unless I heat with my LP oven.