Well, that depends on the disaster. Gun ownership and ability is irrelevant to many disasters, while undeniably useful in some. Capable medical expertise is probably a more generally useful skill.

Let me be clear. I have been a gun owner and user for all of my adolescent and adult life, currently in possession of several firearms and trained at various times by my father, the US Army, and federal law enforcement.

In my lifetime, there have been exactly two occasions where I was glad to have my 357 with me, though thankfully, I did not have to fire. On one occasion, I did indeed discharge a firearm, using a line gun to deploy a line across a flooded stream to rescue two ladies.

On the other hand, I have lost count of the occasions on which I have rendered significant first aid (not counting scratches and boo-boos) to total strangers, friends and colleagues, or close family members.

If you want to prepare for life's more stressful scenarios, firearms training is actually pretty far down the list, but not completely irrelevant. It is probably more important to know how to change a tire or check the oil on your vehicle.

We are social critters, and therein lies our strength. We typically band together and cooperate when faced with a problem - the recent Thai cave rescue comes to mind, along with many other more mundane examples.

I will begin a recent book on the Thai Cave Rescue as soon as Mrs. Hikermor is finished with it. It is a stunning example of community cooperation, overcoming obstacles of cultural and language differences, logistical problems, and mind boggling technical obstacles to achieve success.

Dealing with the typical fire and earthquake is pretty trivial, by comparison.

While one needs reliable equipment, cooperation, communication, and social skills are much more important that the light mounted on your firearm.