Hurricane Sandy, and the Superstorm that followed, is a perfect example of why we prep, and why we continue our mission to bring preparedness and preparedness related topics to the unprepared public.
For the over a week, experts warned the public about this storm; in fact, they went out of their way to tell the public how deadly and damaging this storm could become. Sadly, most of their predictions came true; even sadder, are the many lives that were needlessly lost as a result of this storm.
Over the coming weeks, we will likely see even more people die; many of them due to the fact that they failed to take even the most basic of preparedness precautions.
Some areas of the East Coast could be without power and access to food, water, and supplies for a week, maybe longer. Complicating the situation are the millions of people who failed to take these warnings seriously, and now find themselves stuck with limited supplies, no power, and no real timeline on when things will return to normal.
An Epidemic of Unprepared People
If you watched the twitter feeds over the last couple of days, it was pretty pathetic how unprepared most people in this country actually are. Even though they had almost a week to prepare, we read accounts from thousands of people talking about how they “should probably hit the grocery store” just minutes before the storm made landfall.
By that time it was too late. Not only was the storm wreaking havoc on the East Coast, but most of the areas grocery stores had been completely sold out for over 24 – 48 hours. Across the East Coast the scene looked strikingly similar; thousands upon thousands of empty grocery shelves, and millions of people who needlessly put their lives in jeopardy.
Preparedness is a serious topic: a life or death topic. Rushing to the grocery store is not a plan – at least not one that’s going to keep you alive when the Shit Hits the Fan. When something like this happens, the last place you should be is at a grocery store.
Preparedness – It’s actually pretty simple.
Without over complicating things, Preparedness is something that almost anyone can do. Your overall preparedness level, and how far you decide to take it, really depends on you. But at the very least, every person should take the following steps to ensure their survival during a time of crisis.
- THE BASICS: You need to have at least two weeks’ worth of food, water, and emergency supplies on hand at all times. This means stocking up now, not when the danger is looking you right in the face.
- Evacuation Planning: You need to have an evacuation plan, and you need to start putting it in place as soon as it looks like you might be affected. If the disaster misses you, well, chalk it up as a mini vacation. If it hits, and you didn’t leave, you might be chalking it up as a permanent vacation. The choice is yours.
- Emergency Go Bag: You need a bugout bag filled with everything you and your family needs to survive a disaster, and it needs to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
- PREPARE NOW: You need to take preparedness seriously. Despite the Mainstream Medias attempt to make preppers look like a bunch of whackos, the moment something like this happens, those wackos are usually the first ones their unprepared friends and family are calling for help. Stop caring about what others have to say, and start caring about the health and safety of your family.
100% agreed. People think that we are crazy, but when things like that happen (and they happen) they come to us seeking for help and resources. Here in Brazil we do not have tornados or earthquakes, but we prepare anyway, thats the right and smart thing to do.
Greetings from Brazil.
Having had to deal with multiple hurricanes here on the gulf coast, we are always prepared and preach it to everyone who will listen. I’m sorry to see people suffering, but really?!? You were told to prep, you didn’t; you were told to evacuate, you didn’t, you were told to have a plan, you didn’t and now?!? Good luck!
The old saying ‘youtag can lead a horse to water but you cant make them think to drink.’ Comes to mind.
People have looked at me like I’m crazy but damned if they don’t call me before hurricane Sandy asking “hey do you have any extra C or D batteries cause everywhere is all sold out?” HAH! I did have myself a mini vacation during the hurricane and it was fantastic knowing that me and my family were as secure and ready as possible. Thanks Off Grid Survival. Keep spreading the word. You literally save lives by it.
I would like to remind people we already said we told you.
The it misery is about to be compounded by tress facts.
1 next weeks elections
2 thanks giving is coming up.
3 black Friday is coming.
4 Christmas is coming.
Lots of folks lost everything they had. How about a charity drive for them? This storms damage hits at the wrong time for anyone.
Another example of the ignorance of NYC
Thanks for this article. It might actually convince my wife to get on the prepping bandwagon. She agrees in theory, but hasn’t committed to taking any real action and thinks we’re “already ready”. But the fact is our household is ready for nothing more serious than about a week of snow days. It’s hard to prep when you have to drag your spouse along.
Amen.
I had a moment of pride tonight when a friend of ours out on the west coast asked my husband how we weathered the storm, and my husband smiled and said, we did great cause my wife is a prepper. I’ve been trying for years to get my husband to understand just why it is so important to prep, and because of this storm, he now gets it fully.
I stopped keeping gas on hand, It was a pain and the smell plus it did not feel safe to have the two 7 gal cans hanging around. now that I see the problems back east, I will be rethinking this. to all the east cost be safe you are in my prayers,you will get threw this.
Go propane 20lb tank goes as far as 10 gal gas. It’s also more stabile and doesn’t get stale after a year.
lowes sells propane generators for same price as gas justdon’t stock as many
I use a 6.5k diesel generator and keep a 55gal drum filled at all times. I love diesel for the power, sound, low consumption compared to gas. The fuel is easy and safer to store.
truth plainly displayed yet some horses will never drink the water and will die from either dehydration or lead poisoning.
I watched a woman on t.v. last night saying she had gone through her batteries and was now relying on candles. WT*? Did she leave her flashlights burning ALL night? She then proceeded to say she could NOT find her bathroom in the dark. What?? Could not find her own bathroom in her own house? That is really pathetic.
Many people have homes that are intact, yet have NO water, very little food and little to no supplies. They had a more than a WEEK to prepare. And they did nothing? They are now b*tching and expect FEMA and the Red Cross to take care of them. PATHETIC.
I was having this very conversation with a family member today. We live in inland CT, and escaped relatively unscathed compared to the people only 25 miles away on the coast, many of whom lost everything. She simply could not fathom this happening to us, it’s always going to be some other “poor soul” that goes through it. So when I bought up basic prepping, it simply did not register. In fact, she was telling me how wonderful it is that FEMA takes care of people by handing out food and water in these situations. The message I got from her was that we don’t need to take care of ourselves, that’s what government is there for. You simply cannot get through to some people. The lights are on but nobody’s home. I hate to say it, especially about family, but they get what they deserve.
It’s simply not real to most of the population. During and immediately after the storm, Twitter and Google filled up with people making jokes, fake pictures of the storm, and open plans to go looting – as reports of people dying were coming out with the same hash tags that those people were using, so you know they saw it. Some businesses were rolling out Sandy special sales as well.
Until it happens personally to them, they emotionally regard it just like sitcoms and political speeches – just media for them to consume. It’s entertainment or opportunity, not a warning of the future.
I so agree with everything here that has been wrote.
As a society we are addicted to comfort and convenience and we are slowly suffocating in that comfort zone. The mindset that people have about the Government/FEMA riding in a white horse to take care of them, really??? I agree they had plenty of time to get better prepared or evacuate, they chose neither. Hurricane Sandy has just reminded us of the responsibility we have to ourselves and family to be prepared for the unexpected.
The Disney movie WALL-E comes to mind when reading your post. Addicted to comfort and convenience and suffocating in that comfort zone.
I totally agree. I have been considering what I need to do to prepare myself and my family for a disaster such as this and the hurricane as brought this to my mind again. There are many good Survival Schools around…I am considering Sigma III Survival School
Thank you. This is the very reason I started prepping. I live in a far more hurricane prone area of the country than NY/NJ and what happened up there will sooner rather than later happen here. Enjoy you site, lots of useful info, Thanks again.
NYC is the greatest example of a society of necesity. People like to have a scape goat…where’s FEMA, where’s the Government, where’s the military, where’s the Red Cross….those people that are pointing a finger at those agencies and other that should be helping, remember that you have three fingers pointing back at you. Austerity is good for the soul.
The is why I’m such a big advocate of preparing for man made and natural disasters. If we all prepare for these event, our lost will drastically be reduced.
It’s not bad to prepare early, it is better to prepared than to be panic in the end. If you go to the grocery store some of the people use to do panic buying which is for me is not advisable. Better buy only things that you need, enough only of what you need and enough for your stocks, beacause when you panic buy you did’t even know that you are already buying goods that are about to expire which is a waste of money. So just relax while preparing and be mentally and emotionally prepared.