[Revi]

I as struck by how far they fell and how fast. They went from having everything to having nothing in a single night. No gas, electricity, no cellphones, no heat and no security in a lot of places. It shows how fragile the veneer of civilization really is. We have a system that is not resilient at all. A lot of people here in Maine said that they would have been better off, but I remember the ice storm of 1998. A lot of people had no electricity for 3 weeks or a month. That was no picnic. I can't imagine how bad it is down in NY/NJ right now.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'I')'ve heard reports that some of the closed gas stations in the area hit by Sandy did have backup electrical generators to power them up when the grid goes down---but the big generators they use to power up a whole gas station run on diesel----and the urban gas stations didn't have much diesel and quickly ran out.

[autonomous]

I experienced first hand how fragile and illusory the infrastructure is during the northeast blackout of 2003. It was a real eye-opener for me, being stranded many miles from home and suddenly finding myself having to forage for food, water and shelter. Afterwards I essentially "went Amish" and replaced everything necessary for survival with non-electrical equivalents. I acquired a "mortgage-free" settlement, constructed a cabin and equipped it with a number of well-made antique items and re-learned the survival skills of my ancestors. My settlement is located in an area with abundant food that grows wild, and very few seem to know how to make use of it. Take acorns for example, they were one of the staple foods of my ancestors. I learned how to store and process acorns among other foods that grow without any tillage, and there is an abundance of these foods growing naturally on my property and in the woods nearby.

After seeing the same infrastructure collapse scenario play out again and again, leaving bewildered zombies in the wake, I feel that I have made some good choices. While I feel the pain of these people, I think it is sad that they have not as of yet learned much of anything from these events.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'N')o gas lines for me, I have enough on hand to make it here in 3 1/2 hrs. See ya suckers.....

[vision-master]

It's in the family...... Me, papa and the brother built it from whole cedar logs. Cut em down in the winter and hauled em out with an old F-head jeep...

It's an out building at the brothers place. lsol




See that gas stove? It's from the 1930's, just installed it last Month - they don't make stuff like that anymore, well maybe Wolf.......... ?

Me in the if TSHTF vehicle........ lsol

[cephalotus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'I')'ll take my heated seats, sirius radio, cabin comfort any day over a bicycle?

A. You live close to work......

B. You have some kind of desk job with hot showers at work........

C. Your cheap. lsol

[IanC]

The other aspect that has struck me is just how densely populated much of the world has become. It's all well and good to make a cabin, chop down some trees, plant a big garden.... if you have the means to do so.

Hurricane Sandy showed us that there are millions of people living so close together that "self-sufficiency" for them is impossible. These people have the same "right" to a dignified life as those who happen to have a couple acres. In fact, those who have the acreage have it because many people live in dense urban environments.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the whole country needs to "prep" in a major way. Downshift, prioritize. Clearly we won't be able to provide for everyone's every need all of the time in the Era of Depletion.

[Revi]

This also shows how vulnerable big cities are to disruptions in supply of essentials like gas and electricity. I think the NY area will make itself more resilient now. This happened in the one part of the country where a lot of people don't even have cars, but it was still a disaster. Imagine a place like LA with no gas for a couple of weeks. It would be pandemonium. This tells me that finding a place that could weather a shock like this is crucial, if you want your family to make it through what's coming.

[sparky]

.
This also show how stupid and shortsighted the majors are
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/ ... 9Z20121109

The gist of the article is that smaller operators were getting ready ,
meanwhile the majors sat on their butts and didn't lift a finger to paliate the expected problems
They were managing the crisis by the power of positive thinking

simply having a power point to feed ther distribution board from a small generator would get the pumps and the cash register running without having an electrician ripping up the wiring
( be prepared , have some cash handy , ATM are not working usually in a power blackout )

There is plenty of countries who have an irregular power grid , everybody bear it or get a generator , forget cooking or heating , lights ,radio and the fridge are the criticals
running for a few hours a day ,

[Rod_Cloutier]

The most disturbing thing I saw on TV about this disaster was a middle aged woman ranting about her problems to a news crew.

Her cell phone had died and she had no way to recharge it. Her husband had spent the last of their money to buy her a shotgun and ammunition to protect the family home and the kids. The news woman tried to reassure her, that the authorities were going to provide 'two cops on every corner', and it was safe for her to leave her house and evacuate as requested. She was flabbergasted at this- people are going though my garbage for food scraps already!

If this was me I would have made very different choices. The cell phone dying would be a non-issue. When there is no power, no clean water, and people going through my garbage cans for food scraps, its time to leave. instead of the shotgun and ammunition, the last of my money would be spent on transportation and renting an apartment somewhere else that's safe until the situation back home improved. I would then have security, heat, clean water, access to food ect. If things did not improve back home; the apartment would be a good starting point to rebuild and start over from; with security, heat, water and access to food.

The worst part was, she was told to evacuate but chose to stay. Panic stricken- when will help arrive to take care of me? Total denial in the face of disaster. I felt very sorry for her.

[rangerone314]

I find this whole thing fascinating, in a bad way, like watching a python devour a pig or a deer.

Its like a damned Third World country, the incompetence and helplessness. All of this, on top of the fact that we spend almost as much money as the rest of the entire planet put together on military and we aren't able to handle a crisis effecting about 1/7th of the country.

I'd hate to see the country handle a real crisis now, like an massive EMP attack or such.