Preparedness is suddenly in fashion again

[cjsmith]

This morning my friends list had a bit of a theme: people cannot depend on "official" help.

"Katrina, in addition to stripping my hometown of life, unmasked the pretenses of government as savior."

"...every town and every household has to be ready to look after itself. Because by the time the "official" help arrives -- if it does arrive -- it's going to be too late." (One of the comments on this entry says to go check out your local CERT [Community Emergency Response Team]. "Official help" often gets things under control in a matter of days; CERT is meant to deal with things before that.)

There are also several entries mentioning how our government (Federal) has failed New Orleans. No matter what they do from this moment on, that assessment will still stand in the eyes of some.

What can we learn from this? I figure the first thing we can learn is the very thing everyone is observing: official help isn't enough. We can complain about that, we can think about whether it can be changed, but for now, it's like gravity: if you can see that it's true you better take it into account as a fact. We as individuals and as communities need to be ready.

I'm no preparedness guru, but I do have the basic supplies for the obvious disaster scenario where I live. It's not only for my own sake, although it certainly is that. If I'm in good shape the Red Cross can go help someone else instead of helping me, I might be able to help a neighbor, I can volunteer somewhere, or maybe I can just get the hell out of the way. I could do even more if I were better trained and equipped; I need to think hard about that.

Someone else on my friends list (I apologize: I can't find the link in order to provide proper attribution) said that if Katrina has any silver lining it might be this. People are planning more, and that might save lives in the future.

Preparedness is suddenly fashionable again.

The challenge, of course, will be to follow through.

Comments

[airporter.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking I like your general response much better; become informed, determine the level of risk you're willing to accept, then prepare accordingly.

Now to get motivated myself.

Creating a risk for people to respond to engenders far too much paranoia for my comfort. I stayed home on Y2K eve. Not because I was afraid the universe was about to end - I've enough programming skills and common sense to recognize that liability issues alone required organizations to test their preparedness long before the event. Even small companies spent inordinate amounts of time and money assessing risk, when they had reasonably simple solutions available. Lawyers had a heyday, furthering the fears where ever possible.

No, I stayed home, not due to technology, but to what I could hear outside my doors. People, stressed and driven to paranoia by over-hyping of the actual problem, creating havoc. There were lootings and beatings in my neighbourhood, BEFORE MIDNIGHT. I say well done to those whose job it was to inform the public.

enhydrasf posted about the squirrel reporter cartoon; while I find it somewhat offensive, it's also funny in the manner it ridicules the media and looters.

There are times when I think freedom of speech, as presented in the popular media, is a foolish, foolish ideal.

The brainstorming and arguing over a potential solution can be fun, I agree. When the hysteria and paranoia are offset by rational, informed decision making.

I know, I'm asking a lot.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

There were lootings and beatings in my neighbourhood, BEFORE MIDNIGHT.

Ouch. That's REALLY sad.

The brainstorming and arguing over a potential solution can be fun, I agree. When the hysteria and paranoia are offset by rational, informed decision making.

The challenge for each of us is to hit that sometimes-narrow zone between "enough worry to get off one's ass" and "hysteria". Sadly, with some people those two aren't spaced apart -- they overlap.