Any plan the city (county, state, et al.) has will nearly certainly fail (as several folks have said) mainly because it assumes too much about what resources will Stay available and they wait way too long to declare it, even if the Idea is good to start with. The lists of items for a backpack or car trunk or ~ready-box are very good. As long as you are Thinking in the mode of being prepared, your odds are automatically improved. Doing something like these is even better. Note that such things will be quite helpful in ~lesser problem situations as well. Just be sure to refill any supplies asap after using them.
Do think about the odds of bad stuff happening ahead of going out Anywhere. Most of the time, the odds are pretty reasonable (or you shouldn't be going there ... !), but if you Think about it in advance, you're already better prepared than most. If you're having an especially bad feeling about a situation or circumstance, stop and reconsider. It's Very cheap to explain later compared to not being around to have the option, or being hurt badly enough that you Can't worry about it. My intuition (particularly in the absence of sufficient information to evaluate things ~properly) has saved my butt on enough occasions that I take it seriously. That nagging doubt in your head Matters!
Good luck to all, ---- Rattler
My limited experience with Disasters
On 11 Sept. 2001, I was a few miles from the Pentagon and directly across the street from the main FBI building ... Since I had been working in DC for almost six years at that point and was all too aware that it was a major target (if not The primary target for far too many nut-cases), I had worked out several escape routes and Always tried to keep the ~minimum stuff to survive a few days in my backpack, I had no real problem.
As soon as it was clear what had happened in NYC, I put on my pack and sent email to my family reassuring them that I was ok and on my way out. Then I hit the streets (on foot) to one of our other offices (a mile+ away north and not near anything likely as a target). I had tried every route I could imagine as at all practical over the first few months in town and picked the least used streets and alleys. The only traffic I saw was the Marshalls and FBI taking John Ashcroft out in convoy using a route that overlapped mine for a few blocks.
Once I got to the other office, I suggested that the people who hadn't left yet (who had cars and/or motorcycles) wait until things calmed down in a few more hours, rather than go and sit in traffic wasting gas they couldn't expect to replace inside DC just now ...
Several of them looked at me and commented that they had thought I was crazy (in 1999) to refuse a prestigious posting in the Main Justice Building just because it was a likelier target. Now they wondered how I had ~known~. I told them that I Hadn't Known anything would happen; I just looked at the odds (as I percieved them, not taking anyone else's word for them) and decided I wanted Not to increase them by risking being trapped inside a substantially higher-priority target.
My backpack generally has a basic medical kit (neosporin, stainless steel scissors and knife blade, lighter, etc.) with extra pain-killers and bandages, a toothbrush, small toothpaste tube, a hotel-sized shampoo bottle (which is perfectly good emergency hand soap as well) and some food and water as a minimum. If things look particularly iffy, I increase the survival-level supplies and include more change and cash in my pockets.
This has been habit since I was in high school, partly because I had a LONG commute (45 miles, one-way, an almost three-hour bus ride!) to my school, and also because I have been known to just decide to go somewhere on the spur of the moment, as far as 1500 miles from home on one or two occasions.
And people wonder why I need a backpack instead of a purse. Add a bunch of different-sized ziplock-type bags and a couple permanent markers.
And for me, a lighted magnifying glass and reading glasses. Should probably have my last glasses prescription in there too. If I know I'm going away, the glucometer kit.
I still think I could get us all out of Dodge adequately in 2-3 hrs. Less luxuriantly if needs be. Our pantry bursts, we have lots of things to pack things in, and I tend to store things in tidy packets anyway. Ya never know... Oh, and fans.
Comment & Basic Suggestions
Do think about the odds of bad stuff happening ahead of going out Anywhere. Most of the time, the odds are pretty reasonable (or you shouldn't be going there ... !), but if you Think about it in advance, you're already better prepared than most. If you're having an especially bad feeling about a situation or circumstance, stop and reconsider. It's Very cheap to explain later compared to not being around to have the option, or being hurt badly enough that you Can't worry about it. My intuition (particularly in the absence of sufficient information to evaluate things ~properly) has saved my butt on enough occasions that I take it seriously. That nagging doubt in your head Matters!
Good luck to all,
---- Rattler
My limited experience with Disasters
On 11 Sept. 2001, I was a few miles from the Pentagon and directly across the street from the main FBI building ... Since I had been working in DC for almost six years at that point and was all too aware that it was a major target (if not The primary target for far too many nut-cases), I had worked out several escape routes and Always tried to keep the ~minimum stuff to survive a few days in my backpack, I had no real problem.
As soon as it was clear what had happened in NYC, I put on my pack and sent email to my family reassuring them that I was ok and on my way out. Then I hit the streets (on foot) to one of our other offices (a mile+ away north and not near anything likely as a target). I had tried every route I could imagine as at all practical over the first few months in town and picked the least used streets and alleys. The only traffic I saw was the Marshalls and FBI taking John Ashcroft out in convoy using a route that overlapped mine for a few blocks.
Once I got to the other office, I suggested that the people who hadn't left yet (who had cars and/or motorcycles) wait until things calmed down in a few more hours, rather than go and sit in traffic wasting gas they couldn't expect to replace inside DC just now ...
Several of them looked at me and commented that they had thought I was crazy (in 1999) to refuse a prestigious posting in the Main Justice Building just because it was a likelier target. Now they wondered how I had ~known~. I told them that I Hadn't Known anything would happen; I just looked at the odds (as I percieved them, not taking anyone else's word for them) and decided I wanted Not to increase them by risking being trapped inside a substantially higher-priority target.
My backpack generally has a basic medical kit (neosporin, stainless steel scissors and knife blade, lighter, etc.) with extra pain-killers and bandages, a toothbrush, small toothpaste tube, a hotel-sized shampoo bottle (which is perfectly good emergency hand soap as well) and some food and water as a minimum. If things look particularly iffy, I increase the survival-level supplies and include more change and cash in my pockets.
This has been habit since I was in high school, partly because I had a LONG commute (45 miles, one-way, an almost three-hour bus ride!) to my school, and also because I have been known to just decide to go somewhere on the spur of the moment, as far as 1500 miles from home on one or two occasions.
Re: Comment & Basic Suggestions
And for me, a lighted magnifying glass and reading glasses. Should probably have my last glasses prescription in there too. If I know I'm going away, the glucometer kit.
I still think I could get us all out of Dodge adequately in 2-3 hrs. Less luxuriantly if needs be. Our pantry bursts, we have lots of things to pack things in, and I tend to store things in tidy packets anyway. Ya never know... Oh, and fans.