The recent release of the movie ‘World War Z’ has catalyzed a lot of conversation about potential catastrophic disasters; namely long-term large-scale disasters, where everyone everywhere is engulfed in the same situation. It’s a scary fact that only a small minority of people who have a keen understanding of world history realize the relevance of what is depicted in this block-buster movie. If we look back in history, much of what was once science fiction, has now become science fact. And in any cursory survey of historical large-scale disasters, there is certainly no shortage of real-events, which provide important lessons for everyone alive today, one of which is that they do happen!
When you speak of large-scale disasters to most people, the most common responses are things like; ‘Oh that won’t happen in our lifetime’, or ‘that can’t happen here’, or ‘our government won’t let that happen’, and similar un-informed responses, all of which stem from an acute ignorance of actual world and U.S. history.
It’s amazing to me that when you talk to most people on the street, they have a poor understanding or recollection of history and past world events at best. In fact, when I recently questioned more than a dozen different people about the death rates attributed to the Flu-Pandemic of 1918, only one person was even aware that such a pandemic even took place. This was shocking to me considering that; somewhere between 50-million to 100-million people died from that event, which at that time represented between 3% and 5% of the total world population.
Even fewer people realize that disasters are occurring with greater frequency, even though some of the calculated increases comes as the result of better reporting technologies. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Americans need to improve their situational awareness by a considerable margin as soon as possible.
During the 1918 Flu Pandemic makeshift flu camps were
setup in a desperate attempt to help cope with the magnitude of cases from the pandemic, while corpses were being stacked-up in the streets of America and countries around the world. The world population today is about 6.5-billion people, which is more than 3-times the number of people on the planet back in 1918 (1.8-billion). And this new high-level of population density coupled with the speed of worldwide personal transportation presents some very serious problems when it comes to amplifying the transmission rates and potential mutation rates of any new strain of deadly virus.
In fact, during the 1918 Pandemic, which came in two waves, the first wave was more in line with a typical flu epidemic. However it is believed that the initial strain of flu virus mutated within specific populations of people who hadn’t been previously ill in areas where the populations were under stresses related to social strife and warfare, and this led to the spread of a deadly second wave during the Pandemic. Looking around the world today, we have numerous areas of large-scale famine and warfare, which are affecting large populations of people; a perfect incubator for any potent flu strain looking for an opportunity to mutate. In the case of Fukushima, we have all of the key factors needed to support virus mutation and transmission (high population density, extreme social stress, deaths, etc.) plus the added ingredient of radiation.
The following link provides more information about this important historical event; pay close attention to the section titled; ‘The deadly second wave’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic.
One reality these days is that, people are over-worked because they are overtaxed by a government that for the most part cares less and less about Americans and more about lining their own pockets (there are a few patriots, but they are the minority). Most people are working so hard to just keep-up, they rarely have time to pay attention to the world around them, and when they do, they rely largely on mainstream media, who avoid topics like ‘disaster preparation’ as if it were the plague itself. Of course their motives are too easy to understand… it’s all about money and control. Most Americans get their information from the mainstream media, which are large corporations that are owned by even larger conglomerates, all of which are ultimately controlled by extremely wealthy elitists. These same conglomerates own many corporations that are the largest providers of products and services into America and elsewhere, and they don’t want anything to disrupt that cash flow. So they need Americans to keep working hard providing and making all these products services, as well as being good consumers and using their hard earned pay to buy what has been produced. Basically, it’s the old ‘Company-Store’ revenue model used in early America, where you’re offered hope, but rarely get ahead.
If people actually started focusing on the realities around them, and truly understood the scale and frequency of the potential risks, there could be a shift in how American consumers used their discretionary time and cash, and such a shift may not be in the best interests of these goliath corporations and the elitists who own them.
Therefore, the media is provided with guidelines as to which stories will be covered and which stories won’t get coverage by the owners and directors of these corporate giants who don’t want to ‘rock the boat’ with a story about the realities of disaster preparedness. And when they do mention ‘Preppers’, they usually do so with great disdain, labeling Preppers as gun nuts or crazy conspiracy-theory types. More about the media here: http://williamesimpson.com/behavior-modification-the-science-media-companies-use-to-alter-our-psychology
Both FEMA and DHS have faced some public embarrassment as a result of their recent failures during Katina and Sandy, where in most cases they provided too little, too late. What’s incredible is that FEMA still only recommends 72 hours worth of food, water and supplies, when it was clear that in these recent natural disasters those quantities were clearly inadequate. Isn’t it about time they learn from past experiences?
Americans need to hear the truth, and if some people can’t handle the truth, it’s far better that they come to grips with their fears now during the good times as opposed to being faced with those same fears and a lack of preparedness during a large-scale natural or man-caused disaster.
Large corporations and conglomerates need to wake up now, because if they don’t take prudent actions to inform their employees about proper disaster preparedness they may lose most or all of their workforce due to a disaster thereby diminishing the chances for any meaningful post-disaster recovery, not mention profits.
Truth be known, the mantra should be; ‘It can happen to me’! Get educated now so you can prepare yourself, your family and help inform your friends. Just keep in mind that the media and large corporations and ‘their’ government seem to care less and less about ‘We The People’.
We cannot depend on the government to help us in the event of a large-scale, long-term disaster; they will be in the same pickle with us.
Get prepared now! Don’t end up a victim in the next large-scale disaster! More on Large-Scale Disasters and possible solutions can be found here: http://williamesimpson.com/large-scale-disaster
Cheers! Capt. Bill
Capt. William E. Simpson – USMM
http://www.WilliameSimpson.com
Twitter: @NauticalPrepper
SOURCE : http://www.survivalbased.com/survival-blog/2205/the-inconvenient-truth-about-disaster-preparedness/
