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I have often had discussions over the last few years on whether or not people should prepare.  There is one school of thought that the government will take care of them.  This is usually under the assumption that any disaster will be either so minor that there will be no outage of services or it will be so bad it wont matter.

Super major disasters could lead towards a mad max world, where the government would not be able to protect you and criminal enterprises would take over.  These types of disasters are also the hardest to prepare for, and generally the least likely to occur.  There are some more realistic ones that are much easier to prepare for.

In Barcelona a few years ago the truckers went on strike.  No food went into the city and after a could days there was no food.  Something about ‘just in time‘ delivery models.  More recently there are earthquakes that are making the media rounds.  A few years ago you had Katrina.  Kyrgyzstan is having a revolution, I also imagine going grocery shopping in Greece is not as fun as it once was.  None of these were so bad that a developed country would have been taken out, however there are the words of FEMA Director Craig Fugate just 2 weeks ago that come to mind.

“For everyone who could have and should have and didn’t, you’re getting in line ahead of that child, you’re getting in line ahead of that grandmother,”

If you are still undecided, perhaps this will help.  A simple “should I prepare” decision matrix.  You can see the benefits and risks associated with preparing or not preparing.

As you can see it is generally better to prepare and be wrong than to not prepare and be wrong.  The best option of course is to not prepare and be right, but you are unable to predict a disaster.  You may live in a flood area, hurricane area, earthquake zone, wildfire area, political instability, economic collapse, terrorism, rebellion/insurrection, or aliens could land and not be after cattle.  You just cant know before it happens and once a disaster hits the time for planning is a bit past.

Planning is more than just stockpiling food (and maybe weapons), it is about learning skills that would be useful.  Do you know how to make water safe?  After Katrina hit there was water everywhere but if you drank it you would get sick and possibly die.  Do you know how to safely pull your loved ones out of a pancaked building?  After an earthquake it is not uncommon to see news footage of people doing exactly that, although the degree of safety is questionable in some scenes.  You do not want to become another victim while trying to save your loved ones, friends or even strangers.

The first step to planning is to identify the likely threats that you may be faced with.  If you live in Antartica I would not plan on wild fires, but I would plan for missing supply runs, cold exposure, and power instability.  If you live on the Gulf Coast of the US I would plan for hurricanes.  In addition, I would also prepare financially.  Try eating in a little more, save a little more money.  Maybe brown bag it to work.  Then use that money to pay down some debt.  If the economy gets better you are in a position to take advantage of that, if it gets worse you are in a position that is better than the people who did not.

When you go to the grocery store and something you regularly eat is on sale, if it will keep on the shelf buy 2 instead of just 1.  Long term this will save you money and who does not like that?  Short term it lets you build a small pantry of food that you can use during short term emergencies.  Canned soups, canned vegetables and even canned meats can be a life saver.  These things also require little preparation, just heat and serve, and heating is optional …  They will stay good on a shelf for a long time.  Dont forget some bottled water too.  It may take days or weeks for water or food to be restored depending on the nature of the emergency.  If you buy just a couple extra items each time you go to the store in no time you will have the government recommended 3 days of food and water on your shelf for each person in your family.  I personally recommend at least 2 weeks of food extra, although the nearest grocery store to me is 10 miles so I may be a little biased

If you believe the current financial crisis is over and we are coming out of it, why not pay off as many debts as you can?  It would give you more leverage to get the things you want later in life, whether it is an early retirement, a larger home, or to send your children to college.  If you are right you will find that you can leave your children a greater legacy because you did not squander your earnings on $20 lunches every day.  If you are wrong you will find that you will be able to weather the bad times a little better.  Either way you win.