3 days from Anarchy

Bleh....most of that is total bullcrap.  

I find it funny that they used the tornado in Joplin....I was there in the immediate aftermath.  People helped people....and I promise you that if there would have been any looting or signs of "anarchy" in the aftermath it would have been squelched before you could blink an eye.

Maybe some of our big cities would fall into chaos is the event of a major disaster.....but even that is not likely.  We are an enormous country, with vast resources....a hit in one place doesn't leave others scrambling for resources, it leaves them scrambling to help.  Have a little more faith in the people of our society.  I deal with them every day.....we're in good hands.

As for the chaos that may befall a big city spreading out into the suburbs and countryside......yeah, sure.  For about 3 hours.  A bunch of folks with torches and pea shooters coming out to rampage the most heavily armed society of decent people known to man.....good luck.

This reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie, "There is iron in your words". 

LB your words have lifted my spirit, for that I thank you.

Did you just say that Han Solo was marrying Jeremy Piven?

You guys all make great points, but aside from Katrina we as a nation haven't really had any prolonged disasters where things broke down for an extended period of time.

When I think of my planning I generally think of Katrina like events and plan to have a 30 day supply while I wait for things to come back together.

Isolated events like a hurricane or terrorist attack would not cause widespread chaos.  However a super bug that sweeps across the nation.

That's the scenario that is really scary.

If you hadn't, I was gonna.

Made me look twice to see that it really was Lefty

What is it that you believe that could happen where you live? I have a really hard time envisioning any scenario where, within a week, I would not be able to get assistance if needed from friends, family, or public emergency services.

The Huskers could go on a 5 game losing streak.  That would be a worse case scenario and most certainly result in complete societal collapse around here. 

OK seriously though probably the most likely scenario here would be a bad blizzard/ice storm that would knock out power for an extended period of time.

Honestly though even the storm would likely be limited in scope and only require a few days to get things going again.  I more plan for the things that I can't foresee happening and have as a general rule given myself the scope of "preparing" to be able to function solo for 30 days.  I'm not a crazy prepper planning for the end of days and surviving for 10 years "off the grid", I'm more a practical prepper planning for a multi-week interruption in the matrix.

I agree with this, even with an EF3 tornado hitting my workplace in April (less than 5 miles from my house)... if you survive the disaster, help is about 5 minutes away. At least around here.

If you live in an area where you're going to be the last to get service restored, I can see that. When we lived in rural NJ we lost power fairly frequently. And with a well and septic you do need to prepare a bit. Literally the week we moved in we got hit by lightening, blew out all the new appliances, etc. Big lesson in rural life.

In the city my prepping consists of two full pantries (we could probably live on pasta and tuna fish for a week), a case of water, extra batteries for flashlights, and a full liquor cabinet and wine rack. Plus all our camping stuff would be handy.

Where we live I'm not that concerned about natural disasters. As I've mentioned before I think no matter where you live it's irresponsible not to have enough water and food to last a week if the supply chain all of a sudden goes kaput.

My biggest concern is our national debt, what happens if interest rates go up 3 or 4 points?

Out here in earthquake country.....   My wife took a CERT class and they advised to be prepared to be self reliant for up to two weeks.  I can see that happening if the infrastructure/transportation corridor takes a huge hit

We (well, she) have put together what we hope are adequate supplies.  I take daily medicine and wrangled an extra 30 day supply that I will rotate every 1 or 2 months

I spend a considerable amount of time most days in the neighborhoods at the greatest risk of coming apart in some kind of large scale disaster.  The biggest problem will be fighting our way INTO those neighborhoods to help the good people there who could become victims of violence or need help/rescue. 

It's an abolutely ridiculous notion to think that a large criminal element will spill out and that anarchy will reign. They just don't have the resources to make that happen.....again, pea shooters and torches (with barely any ammo for the pea shooters or fuel for the torches), not to mention the lack of transportation to get anywhere beyond their own neighborhoods. You can't point to a single disaster in this country where that has happened...our society, as a whole has, in fact, become more civil during those times, and rushed in to help......no matter how much credit you want to give it.

My take away from this is not the fear of total anarchy but the ability to be self sufficient for a week or so in order to not strain relief efforts nor put my life (or my families) in their hands.  I think it is just good sense to stock adequate food and water, etc. to be able to ride out the initial stages of a natural or man-made disaster.

We have a type I diabetic child that is insulin dependent and we try to keep excess medical supplies on hand because things of this nature probably wouldn't be on the first trucks to arrive.

I think that's good, and I agree.....but you'll also be counted on to help those who didn't prepare or can't help themselves.....THAT'S what prevents anarchy and societal breakdown.