Interactive fiction can be fun; but that was not the whole of it. Thinking about any disaster and how prepared we are for it is difficult, but put it in the frame of a zombie uprising, and the drill is fun! Zombies make everything better!

I haven’t heard from drharper for her wrap-up, but fabricdragon has done her report here, and patgund posted his thoughts here, and now I’m gonna talk. You don’t have to listen, but it is here for your edification.

Seriously, it is not the only thing that can happen to disrupt your life. Flooding can happen in any location (true, some areas only have a flood every generation or so, but that is still flooding), there are a heck of a lot more fault lines than the San Andreas, and storms can cause major problems. Moreover, that is just what nature can throw at us.

Therefore, in writing my stories, I was thinking more along the lines of security rather than disaster preparedness. Can unauthorized personnel get to my floor, and if they do, what can I do about it? Things like that have caused me to investigate all possible exits from the building, and check where I can get back in if I have to.

Yes, there really is a morning star in my office. Yes, I really do carry a multi-tool, a pocketknife and three lighters in my purse. Yes, there is a fire extinguisher in my car. However, there was a lot missing.

I forgot to consider that the first aid kit in my office is woefully under stocked. Sure, I can handle blisters and the incidences of bloodshed caused by staples and card-stock cuts, but how old is the ibuprofen and topical antibiotic? There is an emergency kit in my car, but I have to get to the spare tire storage to get to it, and I have not checked the first aid kit in it recently. The first aid kit at the house definitely needs to be gathered in one spot, not strewn throughout two bathrooms and the kitchen. I have not checked the kitchen fire extinguisher in a while.

I have been a dilettante survivalist. At the house, we have all sorts of camping gear due to involvement with the SCA and later the BSA. I buy canned goods when they are on sale, and usually remember to rotate them. Due to the Y2K Cassandra Report, I have a couple of gallons of distilled water in the pantry, but none in the car, and rarely more than a half-liter with me.

I have tried several different routes to go home, and not many of them move faster than the interstate at rush hour, but I have not properly studied the problem. My workplace is on a peninsula, on reclaimed swampland. There is a major fault line within 250 miles, which may not be much to some people, but we are downriver of the Wolf Creek Dam. If it goes, my building is in the blue zone, with the red zone right across the street. Consider your area: are you near large, man-made bodies of water? Are you above or below the dam? What are the infrastructures in your area? Can you get where you need to go if the bridges are not sound?

In that spirit, I give you links to the Red Cross, the FEMA Planning and Recovery websites,
Homeland Security Disaster Preparedness (say what you want, but they do have a kids section), and veterinary advice for preparing with your pet’s needs in mind.

Edit: mysryael gives what I would call a professional’s overview on preparedness, especially helpful to those in CA.

Edit deux: For those closer to home, there is the Tennessee Department of Transportation website that gives the links to the interstate cameras and roadway hazard reports. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency website also has the Significant Events log, and the Citizen Emergency Quick List.