A good read.


http://www.npr.org/2011/07/04/137526401/the-key-to-disaster-survival-friends-and-neighbors

The Key To Disaster Survival? Friends And Neighbors

by SHANKAR VEDANTAM

... ambulances and firetrucks and government aid are not the principal ways most people survive during — and recover after — a disaster.

...Rather, it is the personal ties among members of a community that determine survival during a disaster, and recovery in its aftermath.

...It's this passion for a local community and granular knowledge about who needs what that makes large-scale government interventions ineffective by comparison. It's even true when it comes to long-term recovery.

... The problem isn't that experts are dumb. It's that communities are not the sum of their roads, schools and malls. They are the sum of their relationships.

The Japanese government seems to get this. The government there actually funds block parties to bring communities together.

The key passage for us preppers:


I thought about piping up in an earlier thread about this issue of working together. It seems that so many people are willing to jump straight to the Mad Max scenario and "rely on their 9 mm" to survive the disaster. We have a lot of lone cowboys here, but my guess is that collaboration will get us all farther. The Japanese orderliness in their recent massive disaster should be a lesson to us all.

The article notes that it's not really in our culture to be so group-oriented. Be that as it may, how can we build some sort of local community for emergencies? I recall that Blast talked about creating some sort of network with his left over Mac. Other ideas?

Da Bing

This is exactly what my presentation was about at the Popular Mechanics Home Safety and Preparedness show. By unifying my neighborhood well in advance of any issues we came through the destruction of hurricane Ike with ease and actually had a good time.

Poker nights, welcome wagons, holiday parties, block barbecues, pool parties, movie parties, or just nightly walks around the neighborhood to ask people if you can eat their weeds...these all helps build ties that will get you through tough times. Our parents and grandparents knew this, but nowdays it's become the habit of cocooning ourselves in the techno-silks of computers, tv, video games, etc...

-Blast

Blast for President!

Actually, I doubt that the lone cowboy would survive a Mad Max scenario. You can't plant, hunt, scavenge and protect yourself 24/7. Movies aren't life, something that some people haven't figured out yet.

Groups of people working together has always been the way of survival, from back in the Neanderthal days and before. Even many animals work together. It's a matter of collaborate or die.

Everyone has something to offer. If they don't know how to build a slow sand water filter, they can look for firewood. If they can't hunt, they can collect eggs and watch over the free-ranging chickens. If they can't build a decent shelter, they can watch over the young children.

There is safety in numbers, there always has been. If you've got a neighborhood group obviously working together, and a lone cowboy living up on the hill, and a group of troublemakers comes through, which one will they go after?

Sue

p.s. That brings up the thought of Homeowners Associations... *gag*... How long do you think it would take for the control-freak HOA leaders to break down and allow people to turn their manicured lawns into vegetable gardens?

Sue

You just need to be sneaky, like me.
Sidenote: At least here in Houston, the fanciest suburban neighborhood just changed their HOA deed restrictions to allow rainwater harvesting equipment and tanks in the front yards! There may be hope.

-Blast

A HOA is what you make of it. At one point we had a group move into roles on our board and their opinions obviously did not line up with the majority of the homeowners. They tried to rig the following election but homeowners got organized without the board and EVERY SEAT in the following election was won by a write in candidate.

So one year out of ten was a bit bizarre. Since then we have been good and our board has tried to do their best to compromise between the priorities of neighbors with different opinions.

I have had property in a HOA and property that was not governed by a HOA. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Dagny,
Thanks for posting the link.

There just aren't enough professional emergency responders to go around in a major event. Even if there are enough to go around they can't always get to the scene in time to be most effective.

Joplin is a good example; a huge number of emergency responders were there within hours of the event. Many of those who needed immediate assistance (think minutes instead of hours) were largely helped by friends and neighbors.