I've read all over (and it makes sense) that your best bets at surviving is having members of your community on your side. Right now, I live in the apts, most everyone is transient (people relocated here by their companies that come and go, college students, etc.) and there is no real sense of community.<br><br>Still, for disaster preparedness I would like to have the odds on my side. Do you seek out members of your community, or do you live nearby your friends? My friends are not preparedness-minded and blow me off as paranoid.<br><br>What's the best way to form a community? Ideally it would be nice to use my friends for mutual protection while sharing the goods. On the other hand, I would like to give back and join an emergency preparedness comms group or even the NG, but I won't be any good to them when called out.<br><br>Your thoughts?

Skunk, SOCAL isn't the easiest place to emulate Mayberry USA. A "'community" doesn't have to be spatial. Join a few groups or classes such as a basic Red Cross first aid course, volunteer nieghborhood watch program etc. You will soon network with like minded individuals and groups. One suggestion, emulate our forum policies at first; no overt politics, religon etc. My small network is very diverse. We learned to like each other as people and share knowledge and resources. Political/religous hostility becomes silly after getting lost hiking together ;O)

The FEMA program CERT orginated in Calif. Suggest you search the web for CERT, Commmunity Emergency Response Team. You can also contact your local Public Safety services organizations and they should be able to steer you towards your local CERT contacts. <br><br>You might try joining some outdoor clubs, take trips arranged by the local outdoor center, or taking training classes in outdoor survival. You are more likely to me people with similar interests. It will also put you in an environment outside utilities and air conditioning to see how those people deal with reduced services.

Skunk,<br>I don't know where you live so what is available is not clear. I have chosen to go the volunteer route. By volunteering on the local EMS, SAR and HAM ARES teams I have become involved with the individuals that have the skills to be most useful in an emergency. On the flip side of this is the fact that I have had to accept some responsibilities beyond my family for the eventuality that something happens. Then again that is the nature of community. I live in NH which may be the only state in the US left that doesn't have a CERT program. I would consider participation in CERT, Neighborhood Watch, ARC, Salvation Army, Civil Air Patrol, NRA or any similar organized volunteer effort would be a good way to become introduced to the individuals that you would want in a community if something went bad. <br><br>There are of-course other communities and organizations that might be worth joining for the purposes of preparation and skills development. After basic camp craft which can be learned by volunteering in the BSA or CAP. the first that I would checkout would be the SCA Though the historical aspects of the SCA are fascinating I would think more pertinent to survival preparations would be the primitive industry that can be picked upt there such as smithing, forging, construction and agriculture. In the 72 hr. survival situation these skills will be less useful but in anything approximating 4 weeks or longer then these skills become more and more useful.<br><br>Apologies to the international community for the American focus of this post. I live here and am aware of the organizations here. I would be interested in knowing what similar orgainizations exist elsewhere. I know that the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are international and I presume that any nation with an active HAM community will have something similar to ARES.<br><br>Unless you are preparing for TEOTWAWKI I wouldn't join with any of the hardcore survivalists. I don't have any problem with that level of preparedness and once I have finished preparations for 72 hr. interruptions of normalcy I will strive for 1yr as the Amish and most other prudent thoughtfull individuals suggest. The issue that prevents me from becomming involved with the survivalists is that most of them subscribe to some apocalyptic vision (usually one based in a religious world view) which must be accepted as fact (gospel) in order to participate as a member. This is too much bagage for me.