Are you ready for disaster?
Sizzling temperatures and power failures remind Adam Turner that Western civilisation is only four meals away from anarchy.
Many Melburnians lost power during last week's 40C+ heatwave and this week it's Sydney's turn. Recently in my suburb I've seen the lights go out, petrol stations shut down and supermarket freezers fail. Are we prepared for the worst?
It's an eerie feeling when the power goes during a heat wave. The aircon grinds to a halt, the fridge stops humming, the radio goes dead and there's a disturbing silence only broken by the sounds of sirens in the distance.
I've got plans in place so I can keep working if the power goes out, but it's always under the assumption that it will come back on again. Chances are that one day the lights will go out for good, at which time my Silicon Lust will be replaced by a need for the basics such as food and warmth.
The British intelligence agency MI5 has a saying; "society is only four meals away from anarchy". In other words, the security agency believes that Britain could be quickly reduced to looting and rioting in the event of a catastrophe that stops the supply of food. Could you cope if the supermarkets were empty for a few days? How about weeks or months? How about forever?
In the last decade Sydney and Melbourne have had a taste of what it's like to go without essentials such as water and gas. Any kind of disaster that took out the supply of petrol or electricity would quickly knock out the country's food supply chains.
Even the threat of a disruption would see anxious people strip everything off the supermarket shelves, like a run on a bank.
This all sounds far-fetched until you start to make a list of possible scenarios; financial collapse, union dispute, earthquake, bush fire, terrorist attack, invasion, nuclear war, toxic spill, killer virus, asteroid strike, solar flares, climate change, the list goes on.
They're all long shots but you have to admit they're all possible and, when you add them together, it starts to look like a question of when rather than if. The earth's timeline is littered with extinction events, just ask the dinosaurs.
So if you accept the fact that the food supply is vulnerable to disruption, even for a few days, what can you do? Some people are content to buy a few extra tins of soup, while others are ready to barricade themselves in the basement with freeze dried food and shotguns.
I think the appropriate response is somewhere in between.
Next time you go to the supermarket, buy yourself one of those airtight plastic tubs. Fill it with a few supplies, as if you were going on a camping trip. Tinned food, bottled water, long-life milk, candles, matches - nothing too outrageous or expensive, just enough to keep you going for a few days.
Now seal it up in the plastic tub and hide it in a cupboard in the garage. As an extra precaution, maybe keep a jerry can full of petrol and a spare gas bottle for the BBQ.
Set a reminder in your calendar to restock 12 months from now, at which time you can eat the old stuff so it doesn't go to waste. Such a simple precaution could see you safely ride out a short-term disaster, while your neighbours are stabbing each other at the supermarket over the last tin of beans on the shelf.
You might think I'm crazy, but don't come knocking on my door for help when the lights go out.
Other Blog Entries written by Adam Turner:
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 1
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Dinks-c
Feb 18, 2009 7:30 PM
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This is all basic advise that is a common occurrence in the tropics because of cyclones and flooding etc.
When I lived in Darwin we had a laundry under the house which we always set up in case of... it also contained a couple of slabs of our favourite beer. if the water went off, we drank beer, come to think of it, we ALWAYS drank beer! hic!
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