How to be the Best by Preparing for the Worst

A Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse 

As students we’re all so caught up in our busy schedule that sometimes its hard to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You’re prepared for your finance exam at 2pm, an interview with EY tomorrow, and a strategy presentation next week but what about a potential disaster? 

Here in California the chances of something like a devastating earthquake occurring are really not all that slim. Even though we are a culture that feeds off negative media, most of us choose to believe that these tragic events will never happen to us. That’s why I’m here to give you some tips on why and how you should prepare for a possible disaster.

Why Are We Preparing?

I too was living in this world of oblivion even after hurricane Sandy devastated my hometown. I thought, we went through this hard time so surely it won’t happen to us again. My father on the other hand started to take preparation plans for a future disaster to a whole new level. I don’t know if it was Sandy, his new addiction to the “Walking Dead”, or the book he read on the 1859 solar flare that inspired him, but it was quite interesting to see his new passion play out. For Christmas my father asked for freeze dried food, empty canisters for water, and flash lights. My first thought was wow he has really gone insane, and then I remembered what it was like during the time after Sandy struck. People began to raid grocery stores as there was no electricity or security stopping them. A majority of people had evacuated their homes, leaving robbers and pirates (yes pirates) to invade homes as they pleased. Gas station lines were 3 hours long. Someone even stole a small gasoline tank outside of our home that we were using to keep our small generator going. Long story short, in the event of a serious disaster it is amazing how quickly people will revert to primitive-like acts of survival. Because we can’t always predict when these events are going to occur it is best to always be prepared.

I’m not saying that a zombie apocalypse is happening anytime soon but there is still a lot to prepare for. A little preparation could go a long way and despite you probably thinking that I’m insane by now there are even government-sponsored websites to give you some tips on how. “Ready.gov” has lots of resources on how to prepare for earthquakes, snowstorms, as well as space weather (solar flares have the potential to temporarily shut down electrical grids). I bet you didn’t know there is even an official National Preparedness Month.

These days we rely on technology for everything: getting to work in the morning, managing our bank accounts, even deciding what to cook for dinner. This leaves us more susceptible when disaster strikes as everything we do relies on the technology that can become temporarily unavailable. During the 1859 solar flare the telegraph systems worldwide shutdown, there has yet to be a solar flare as strong as that but the possibility for it to occur again is still there. A solar flare, much smaller is scale, happened in 2005 only disrupting GPS signals for about 5 minutes. This may not seem like much but in certain situations it could still have a drastic effect, like a plane landing that is relying on those GPS signals (Bell).

What Are We Preparing For? 

Not all events to be prepared for have to do with natural disasters, although they are the most probable. Here is a short list of what apocalypses the media has portrayed, not all of them are too realistic but hey we are preparing for the worst:

•       Plagues
•       Natural Disasters
•       Technology Failures
•       Zombie Attacks
•       Robot Uprising
•       Nuclear Wars

(Anders) 

How Do We Prepare?

Although every disaster scenario is different there are some simple things you can do to be generally prepared for these events:

1.  Have enough food and water stored to last each individual for at least one week— Surprisingly at least one gallon of water per person per day is required. I recommend this website for more information and access to emergency supplies.
2.  Always keep your car tank at least half full—This will ensure that you have enough gas to evacuate if necessary and help disperse enough gas to the community, as gas at each station will be limited.
3. Have extra battery—This is especially important for your phone via a car charger or a portable battery source.
4. Have a first aid kit—The kit should include a backup of any necessary personal medication.
5. Make backup copies of important digital data/ information—After the storm it was a huge hassle for us to get new forms of official documents that were damaged.
6. Have an out-of-area emergency contact—If you need to leave an area it will be nice to know that you have resources and a place to stay.  
7. Get a generator—If you’re willing to make a big investment it can be a game-changer. All of our neighbors instantly became our best friends after we were the sole family on the block with one.       

(Breslin)

The good news is that we are not alone in our preparations. The scientific world is conducting lots of research to prepare us for possible disaster. Physicists, philosophers, biologists, economists, computer scientists, and mathematicians are now studying all things apocalypse at The Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University founded in 2005. These experts recognize that with the rapid development of technology such as nuclear weapons and even artificial intelligence, the 21^st century brings new threats (McBain).

When my father started all of these apocalyptic preparations I felt as though he wanted it to happen so that he could be the hero and prove all of the skeptics wrong. This brings back the idea that as humans we tend to assume that bad things won’t happen to us. The reality is that the world is widely unpredictable. This uncertainty is why I believe, along with many other experts, that these simple preparations are worth the investment towards your future. After all, as business students we know high-risk investments can lead to high returns.

Courtesy of Extremely-sharp.com

Work Cited

Anders, Charlie Jane. "10 Types of Apocalypses and What They Mean." Web log post. Http://io9.gizmodo.com/. N.p., 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Bell, Trudy E., and Tony Phillips, Dr. "A Super Solar Flare." NASA Science. N.p., 6 May 2008. Web. 06 Feb. 2016. <http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/>.

Breslin, Sean. "10 Disaster Preps." Weather.com. International Education, 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 6 Feb. 2016. <https://weather.com/safety/news/10-disaster-preps#/11>.

McBain, Sophie. "Apocalypse Soon: Meet The Scientists Preparing For the End Times." New Republic. N.p., 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 6 Feb. 2016. <https://newrepublic.com/article/119697/scientists-preparing-apocalypse>.

"Mylar Food Storage Bags." USA Emergency Supply. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016. <https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/>.

"Ready.gov." Ready.gov. Department of Homeland Security, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2016. <http://www.ready.gov/>.