I'm not being sarcastic or anything, but for most of my family, that is a funny question. We've always been into camping and traveling, so we naturally are in the habit of carrying certain types of things with us: water, changes of clothing, tent, stove, food, etc. I don't even know where the line was between "just" camping and survival/self preservation.

My Dad was a ham from the age of 16 to 78. My Mom grew up in mining towns (like Aspen, CO). Both spent their twenties in the Great Depression (they always said "Great"), which was something of a survival situation for what, 11-12 years?

After my Dad died, Mom came to live with me. And my sister came, too. We lived through quite a few CA earthquakes. Up here, we have earthquakes, two volcanoes and flooding. I bought my house carefully: we wouldn't flood, we wouldn't slide, although we could be marooned for a while (which is just camping at home!).

Once here, the three of us just kind of naturally fixed things to deal with the possibilities. We stored food and water, have a wood stove. My sis and I worked about 20 mi from home (on the other side of the flood plain), so we kept smaller pieces of dry wood in a rack outside the back door, so Mom could keep the stove going for several days, if necessary. We kept dog and cat food ahead. Stored water. Extra of Mom's meds. We have good, like-minded friends. We would be welcome there, they would be welcome here (and they would bring their "stuff" along).

If we needed to evacuate, my sis and I both have trucks, mine with a camper shell. We have collapsible wire dog cages we could put the cats in if we had to leave. We have tarps, rope, stakes, a tent.

There was never any question of whether or not to prepare for trouble... it just seemed stupid NOT to. I have a job now, where a couple of my coworkers have shown interest in preparing, so I've given them some info and some lists. One just bought a largish tent in case their MH was knocked off its foundation. Another is beginning to store water and food. Both are thinking ahead, they just weren't sure where to begin.

I always kind of laugh when people ask if they should have some kind of preparations. Why would they NOT???

Sue