See:

So, a week or so after the Philippines were hit by Typhoon Yolanda Haiyan, the world powers are beginning the process of bringing relief to the beleaguered islands of the Philippines and the Filipinos whose homes were destroyed. But they have had to wait a week.

A week is, no doubt for them, an extremely long time…But really, when one considers the scope of the relief effort, and the distances involved, it is really a remarkably fast response time. Tons of food, and bottled water. Thousands of troops. Logistics…Finding a place to send the supplies….. Bringing in soldiers to move the food, water and shelter…… Providing security (and food and shelter) for those folks and the supplies that they are bringing and distributing. (Hungry people with hungry children aren’t terribly logical or law abiding….. The veneer of civilization and society is very thin at the best of times..When things get pear-shaped, it may disappear entirely).

Now, if your home is gone, wiped out by the storm,  just plain isn’t there anymore…that is one thing….But this is a perfect example of what I preach so often: HAVE SOME FOOD AND A SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER AVAILABLE FOR EMERGENCIES!. I’d bet that most of the folks who are demanding food and water had the ability to store some food and water (or a water filter)  in their homes, and most of those homes, while possibly damaged, are not destroyed. Had there been food and water stored there, most of it would have survived.

How handy would some canned food, (and a can opener) and a water filter be for those folks right now? Even the poorest person could save 1 can a month and have a decent stash of food after a year…after 2, or 3 years they would have enough under their bed or in a closet to keep them going, if not happy for a long time.

Now, again, if your home isn’t there anymore then things are different. But that is NOT the case for most.

Most are near starving and dehydrated because they chose not to plan ahead and their normal distribution systems have broken down or just don’t exist anymore.

Think things will be much different in the US? See also:Katrina.

Plan ahead a bit. be the Ant rather than the Grasshopper. Yes, if something very bad happens in the US or in nearly any first or second world country, aid will come. But plan to survive until it does. It may well take a while to get there. Say…a week or two.

2 thoughts on “See:

  1. Sound advice, but I think some of the trouble in this particular situation that even those that had things stored, had everything wiped out/washed away. It would help a lot of them I'm sure but this is one of those events and geographical locations where everything that did go wrong could go wrong.

    Pending everything washes away/burns to the foundation however most of us in the United States can do exactly what you have stated.

  2. And that was my point. Unless your home has literally blown away, or been washed away (and that is a very small percentage of homes in the Philippines)then there is no excuse for not having SOMETHING.

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