DC Current

Disaster preparation is an extensive and potentially expensive business. Distilled to materials alone, nearly any advice on how to stock for the unexpected tends to include lengthy material bullet lists. Comprehensive lists might look great on paper, but are they realistic compared to the limits of a typical families’ personal resources?

Let’s look at a single item as suggested in CERT UNIT 1: DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
PARTICIPANT MANUAL, 1-22: Water.

Keep in mind that a normally active person needs to drink at least 2 quarts of water each day. Hot environments and intense physical activity can double that requirement. Children, nursing mothers, and ill people will need more.
Store 1 gallon of water per person per day (2 quarts for drinking, 2 quarts for food preparation and sanitation).*
Keep at least a 3-day supply of water for each person in your household.

Seems simple enough, until one begins to do the math. Following the above guidelines a family of four would need to keep twelve gallons of water on hand at all times, making sure to replenish the supply at regular intervals. Do you have the ten or so square feet needed to spare? Can your drywall-mounted shelves withstand one hundred pounds?

What about poorer families? Those who do not have space or money to spare on day-to-day resources, let alone extra water jugs? Moreover, these same families are typically more vulnerable to disasters in general. As an alternative, single step filtration straws could offer drinking water for a lesser expenditure of space, money, and time.

All the above merely covers water, arguably the easiest necessity to acquire. I would suggest looking at all areas of disaster preparation not just from the disaster itself, but also from the standpoint of limited availability. This article lacks the necessary scope or research to back up the concerns presented, but I hope to invoke some discussion and further examination. Preparation guidelines tailored more to the limits of its target audience might be less than ideal, but they would be a vast improvement over the nothing that may result from more lofty expectations.

Zombies, zombies, zombies… look about and you will find them permeating nearly every aspect of contemporary culture. I would honestly doubt a real Zombie invasion would provide so many sightings of our favorite shambling obsessions.

With that in mind, to find Zombies being exploited for any number of topics need nothing more than a cursory search. Survival tips are no exception.

BUDK is but one of many outfitter companies caught in the Zombie invasion. While their “tips” shown here might be an obvious ploy for sales, the ideas given are not entirely nonsense – be it wilderness treks or an urban blackout. Taken with a grain of water purifying iodine of course.

1. Lifestraw Personal Water Filter – In any given disaster, water is an immediate and obvious need even the most sheltered suburbanite is aware of. Unfortunately procurement is not as forefront. Recommended storage of one gallon per day for each individual borders on impractical for many families. Purifying is the next best step, but even in the best of times it is a process the untrained would find rather enigmatic. A single step item that combines simplicity with compact storage is a great combination for busy families looking attempting preparations but unable or unwilling to devote a great deal of personal resources.
2. Stormproof Matches – Another great item that satisfies a need most know of but few know about. The article makes a point to speak of durability, but the associated longevity might prove more important when an emergency kit long forgotten is suddenly forced out of mothballs.
3. One Person Tent – Great for wilderness survival. For a family huddled around their NOAA radio, probably a nicety best left to more lavish budgets.
4. Axe – I can’t see the value in the particular item advertised, but they aren’t wrong about the need for an axe or hatchet. Any outdoor or hardware supplier will have a more practical version on hand. But do make sure to get stainless steel.
5. Bicycle – Can’t get them all right! Bicycles are fantastic, but for reasons outside the purview of disaster preparation. Sure, they’d have enormous value in a long-term situation, but bicycles won’t do anyone much good during those crucial aftermath hours.

Five tips, and three on the money? You could do worse learning how to stay alive from a writing about dead folks. Remember to take their (and my) advice in accordance with your own needs. Stay safe!

Was the ultimate conclusion of Dr. Marjorie Kruvand, and Dr. Fred B. Bryant’s case study of the CDC Zombie Apocalypse Campaign a fair assessment?

Dr. Kruvand and Dr. Bryant sought out to discover if the CDC’s now famous Zombie Apocalypse campaign produced positive results in disaster preparation. They reached a fairly straight forward conclusion: No.

Public Health Reports / November–December 2015 / Volume 130 – Page 662

Although the campaign garnered
substantial attention, this study suggests that it was not
fully capable of achieving CDC’s goals of education and
action.

With respect to the research and groundwork laid out in Dr. Kruvand and Dr. Braynt’s study, I must respectfully, but vehemently disagree. It is true that instantaneously quantifiable results did not see significant change vs. a control group. However, it is also true that a campaign established in 2011 continues to attract attention and discussion in 2018. This intangible result has even filtered its way into classrooms, now serving as the target metaphor in the very course this assignment was crafted for.

One might compare the CDC Zombies to the mascot of a sports team. He, she, or it has no short-term effect on the outcome of an individual game. Rather, the mascot serves as an emotional focal point for support efforts. In turn, those efforts may attract attention and resources in the form of greater financial influx, superior staff, and more player talent that ultimately translates to success on the scoreboard. So it is that while a single campaign alone may not have sent John Q. off to pack supplies, it can and has served as a proverbial lighting rod to education and public service alerts for the better part of seven years. Those intangible results may well be far more valuable in the long-term than a year of boosted preparedness statistics.