Americans get set for disaster day

BBC News ^ | March 26, 2010 | Madeleine Morris

[ChocChipCookie]

If there was ever a major disaster in northern Virginia, Chuck Izzo's house is Greenville is where you would want to be. Tucked away in his pantry are enough tinned food and water to last for two months. In the basement an inverter hums quietly, charging batteries that could easily power most of his three-storey home's lights and appliances for nine hours. And for when that runs out, he has a wood-burning stove with a two-month supply of fuel pellets so he can cook and heat the whole house. Mr Izzo is a "prepper", one of a growing number of Americans who are preparing their homes and families to survive a major disaster they believe could arrive at any time. "We realise the frailty of infrastructure so if it fails, we're prepared to deal with a crisis like that," he explains. "It could be electricity, it could be a medical emergency. It could be something caused by a man-made disaster or a natural disaster."

[Buckeye McFrog]

When UN troops occupy this country I pray for the craftiness necessary to take at least five of them.

I once witnessed a Blue Helmet Shoot near Bad Axe, Michigan.

You should be encouraged and take heart. If they could not handle the local thugs in Rwanda they are sure as hell gonna be overwhelmed by Michigan’s Finest.

[hennie pennie]

GregB would like to be added to your ping list about prepping.

[Candor7]

Mormons have a year or two of supplies stored as a matter of practise.Its a community rule.No one calls them horders! I think they are damned smart!

[kiltie65]

Don’t those pale blue helmets the U.N. forces wear remind you of Nostradamus’ predictions...”beware the men in the blue turbans”?

[tet68]

$69 bucks in Shotgun news.
$59 if you buy twenty in a case.
Arsenal refurbished, can’t beat that.

A bunker is nice but always keep in mind...
A bunker without a berm is not much more
than a grave.

[hennie pennie]

Of course they are not hoarders. They are Mormons who actually have a storage supply that help them survive a whole variety of possible disastors.

These urban yuppie "preppers" who've accumulated a couple months supply of food, and are embarressed, lest anybody think that they are survivalists -- they are simply hoarding food, a common practice amongst a certain population of clinically OCD.

Mormonism has nothing to do with OCD, and certainly most reasonable aedults would NOT be embarressed to be referred to as a "survivalist."

[MagnoliaMS]

Please add me to your ping list. Thanks!

[Candor7]

We are good for about 6 months.

[lulu16]

You are very kind. Good Bless our pets.

[Donkey Odious]

Please add me to your ping list.....thanks!

[hennie pennie]

Interesting you mention 'half a year' --- there was an interesting posting during the winter months by someone who lives in rural Alaska.

During the cold winter, the ONLY way to get food is to have it flown in -- so you can imagine the cost of the goods.

So..... each fall they actually purchase enough food and all miscellany that they will possibly need until the Spring arrives and roads once again are passable.

I was just thinking how far along they were in comparison to the preppie preppers with their smallish stashes of food -- which of cøurse, will come in handy if TSHTF, but simply are NOT large enough to ensure survival in dire circumstances.

[ChocChipCookie]

Hey, take it easy. The more people who stock up on ANYTHING and try to become more self-reliant make it easier on everyone else. Imagine how differently Katrina would have turned out if more people had been ready to either evacuate or stay put with food and supplies. Insulting people who see a world class storm coming and want to protect their families aren’t OCD, ignorant or anything else you care to call them.

Would you prefer they do nothing and watch their children starve? Some survivalist types literally hate city dwellers and suburbanites. I hope you’re not in that category. Interestingly, I don’t see that same level of venom coming from the city people.

[Candor7]

I have enough ammo for ten years. I mean if necessary I could game up the diet in short order here.

[JDoutrider]

On the Ping list CCC!

Working on year 2 here...

[SunkenCiv]

I’m neither a survivalist, nor a hoarder, more like a packrat. :’)

Thanks hennie pennie.

[justkillingtime]

Please add me to your ping list. Thank You.

[hennie pennie]

I was commenting that in my youth people who had a two month stash of food weren't considered prepared for anything, they were called HOARDERS, which is a medical disorder.

The BBC article, which perhaps you didn't read, stated that PREPPERS ARE EMBARRESSED TO BE THOUGHT OF AS SURVIVALISTS --- that is absolutely pathetic.

Survivalists will one day be the humans who continue civilization.

DON'T you EVER tell ME what to THINK, thank you --- I have NO interest in a buncha yuppie preppers who are embarressed by serious preparations for TEOTWAWKI.

YOUR opinion is different from mine. YOU are entitled to YOUR opinion.

And you sure ain't gonna tell me that I ain't entitled to mine.

GOOD BYE.

[DuncanWaring]

How about “We have Laphroaig”?

[Noumenon]

Pass, friend!

[ChocChipCookie]

A British reporter states that preppers are embarrassed to be thought of as survivalists. That didn’t come directly from any of the preppers interviewed, did it? I know one of the men interviewed, and he doesn’t have that view at all.

My experiences online with “survivaists” have taken the same tone as yours’ for the most part. One forum had people sounding gleeful (I can’t think of any other way to describe it) at the thought of being the only ones with food and watching everyone else suffer.

It just doesn’t make sense for so-called survivalists to rip to shreds people who are on the same journey. I don’t understand the harshness and ridicule. Very short-sighted, in fact and quite unbecoming.