The shambling hordes of undead near the house nestled in the forest. With a small group trapped inside and slowly turning against one another, the zombies continue their relentless assault to breach the home and feast on the humans within.
Such is the setting for George Romero’s classic zombie film, Night of the Living Dead. By today’s standards, the film is a little…dated, but it does show how a poorly prepared group of survivors can be almost as much of a hindrance as the thing they survived.
The CDC took a cue, and used the zed heads to get people thinking about preparedness in general. “Get a Kit!” the poster shouts, “Be Prepared!” we all hear these mantras, maybe we’ve even repeated these mantras to our kids or our families.
There’s some logic here. What we think of as “zombies” might not ever happen (chances are slim to nil), but we can learn a lot about a biological outbreak and how to prepare for events like natural disasters.
Fresh Water
As it turns out, one of the fundamentals that the CDC recommends teaching your kids is the importance of stored, fresh water. One of the first scenarios described in the CDC handbook talks about zombies overrunning city facilities and contaminating the water supply. With tap water now undrinkable, children are taught the importance of having a good filter, and/or a supply of bottled water available.
Maps
Natural disaster reports can inform you of the possibility of the future destruction of your home or place of business. During hurricane Katrina, citizens were directed to meet at the Superdome, which held a large group of people that banded together. This is why it is important for you to establish a zone for your family to meet up with others.
Find a hall nearby, a church where you can gather, any structure that is sturdy and where a group of you can gather. Plot these places out ahead of time, and keep a map close at hand to refer back to if roads are blocked during a disaster.
Medical Supplies
If you are taking medication that you need in order to survive, you should keep at least a 7 day supply on you at all times. In a natural disaster like hurricane Sandy, disaster relief workers were sent out to check parts of New York, looking for people who needed feed or medication. With no power, and blocked streets, medications could not be shipped in or out of New York, so things had to be delivered by hand.
Remember that it is possible to stockpile alternatives such as Fish Mox and other fish antibiotics for certain situations, but these won’t protect against everything.
In addition, bandages and disinfectants will be crucial to staving off infection in a time when doctors are not readily available. A basic med kit is a good start, but consider alternatives depending on your needs (like medical tubing, sterile needles and other equipment).
Staying Informed
Get to know your major sources for news and information. You might not hear early reports on the news, but if you follow weather from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, you can hear about some natural hazards before they occur. You can also refer to FEMA’s database of natural disasters, which lists what to prepare for and how long the disaster might last.
Start a Conversation
The interesting thing about the CDC taking zombies seriously is that it got a lot of people to stand up and say, “cool, I’d put this in my prepper bag.” The most important thing you can do to stay prepared is to keep the conversation going.
Take up gardening and try more practical approaches to surviving that benefit your family at present. If there is one thing the zombie apocalypse can teach us, it’s that long-term survival is something few of us are prepared for, so teach skills that help live day-to-day.
LB, good information thanks for posting it. We can all learn
Hi, LB! Nice post.
While I truly enjoy this piece you have written and the wisdom shared, there is one comment I must take up; I’m afraid I’m going to get a little long-winded on you here, and I’m afraid I find it necessary.
Quote: During hurricane Katrina, citizens were directed to meet at the Superdome, which held a large group of people that banded together. This is why it is important for you to establish a zone for your family to meet up with others. End quote.
I am not convinced that meeting up with a large group of people is wise – not if they are strangers, and not if you don’t already have a good feel for their character, a rapport built, and an understanding of who brings what to the table. Who has which skills when you need them? Your comment brings up a great case in point, IMHO.
Hurricane Katrina WAS NOT the nemesis of New Orleans; it was the levee breach, which had been anticipated by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Geology Departments (I worked for one of them) of the major universities in the area for DECADES. They knew a breach was possible, perhaps even inevitable, when the big one hit. The Big One for New Orleans was not Katrina; it was the waters that flowed from the swollen Mississippi River on top of a deluge of rain from the hurricane bands, which soaked the earth, thus, the inevitable happened.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast took the direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. The big difference? Mississippi has had a plan since 1969 when Camille also devastated the coast, and they were trained. Mississippians simply kicked ‘er into high gear and went to work. That’s what we do. The majority of the residents of N’awlins are entitlement people with a mindset you cannot begin to fathom; you have to see it to believe it. I volunteered for the world’s largest disaster relief organization for many years, serving these people.
What happened in N’awlins is a combination of poor gooberment management (that Mayor and Governor are GONE!), and the way the people think. This City is all about the party. The majority of them totally ignored a MANDATORY evac order (which came too late – well after asking nicely that people leave the city, which, of course, they ignored) and the gooberment was not equipped to enforce it, nor did they ask for help from outside in time to put the mandatory evac order into motion. Opening the Dome was a “last-minute” plan, although the City of N’awlins did have a contract agreement with the operators of the Dome. As I understand things, the owners of the Dome have vowed not to let that happen again, and, who can blame them?
What happened at the Dome to those people would take volumes to fill, but, none of it was good. There was no place to go but a seat in the dome for most of them (the floor space was quickly filled up). You could not leave your “stuff”, however limited it might have been, because it would be gone before you returned. Women had to go to restrooms in “herds”, because rapes did take place. Gang warfare broke out (you’d be amazed at how many gangs there are in N’awlins). Water ran out. Food ran out. The sewage system was overwhelmed. There was no place to wash clothes or take showers. You couldn’t leave, because there was nothing but contaminated water all around, with fireants, alligators, and poisonous snakes floating through it. Now imagine being a parent with children in this situation; no wonder stress ran high.
All the while, the publicly-owned school busses that were supposed to take these people out (the ones who claimed to have no money to get out on their own, and that may well have been true) sat and flooded, while Mississippi’s governor Barber was already on the MS coast, the disaster relief services from Mississippi people were on the coast, and cleanup was in full swing. There’s the difference. MS takes it on the chin a lot for things we may or may not deserve, may or may not be true, but this I know: we take care of our own, and we don’t wait for the calvary, ‘cuz it ain’t never comin’. My kind of people!
O.K., I’ll put the soapbox away now. I apologize in advance if my bone of contention is showing. :)
BTW, love that movie! Makes me chuckle, every time! And THANK YOU for a thought-provoking article.
LB, WOW what a great rebuttal. I do agree with you in that if I don’t know someone I don’t think a TWAWKI will be the time to get to know them. Having a place to meet up with family is a good idea if you all aren’t together. Thought provoking to say the least. Many today are all about what can you do for me instead of taking care of our own families as it was in the past, we need to get back to that mindset.
oops I meant HerbalGerbil, sorry about that