THERESA'S THOUGHTS ON HOW & WHY TO PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES
FROM EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY
I have never been able to pretend that emergencies won't happen to me and have never felt that being prepared for them is silly. When I was really young, I remember driving to visit family and going through Zenia, Ohio, the day after it had been flattened by a tornado. There was one house standing, and everything else seemed to be rubble. When I was older, I was in a tornado myself. It took me almost a decade of Summers after that not to be frightened by every storm. I refused to buy a house that did not have a basement for a tornado shelter. I keep supplies to fall back on in case the worst happens.
To me, emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency are intertwined. The more self-sufficient we are, the less we have to worry about losing vital resources in an emergency. They are two steps along a continuum.
SOME GOALS ALONG THE CONTINUUM:
REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE:
PREPARE FOR THE EFFECTS (Emergency Preparedness):
ADDRESS THE CAUSE (become more self-reliant):
CREATE SELF-SUFFICIENT COMMUNITIES:
I have never been able to pretend that emergencies won't happen to me and have never felt that being prepared for them is silly. When I was really young, I remember driving to visit family and going through Zenia, Ohio, the day after it had been flattened by a tornado. There was one house standing, and everything else seemed to be rubble. When I was older, I was in a tornado myself. It took me almost a decade of Summers after that not to be frightened by every storm. I refused to buy a house that did not have a basement for a tornado shelter. I keep supplies to fall back on in case the worst happens.
To me, emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency are intertwined. The more self-sufficient we are, the less we have to worry about losing vital resources in an emergency. They are two steps along a continuum.
SOME GOALS ALONG THE CONTINUUM:
REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE:
- on fossil fuels
- on technology and infrastructure that we don’t understand or can’t control ourselves
PREPARE FOR THE EFFECTS (Emergency Preparedness):
- Determine what the most likely emergency situations are in your area (for us, that would be tornadoes and winter storms)
- Gather supplies to be prepared for short term emergencies that cause a shut off of utilities (electricity, gas, water)
- Prepare stay at home supply kits and evacuation kits
ADDRESS THE CAUSE (become more self-reliant):
- create & live a lifestyle that reduces our dependence on utilities
- prepare for the long term effects of Peak Oil (when fossil fuels become scarce)
- relearn homesteading and self-sufficiency skills
CREATE SELF-SUFFICIENT COMMUNITIES:
- prepare together with communities/villages- only a group of people working together will able to be truly self-sufficient
- create local economies that are more resilient