When disaster strikes

A couple of blogger got to talking about armageddon and our current economic depression. Some call it a recession but let's call it what it really is. A recession is when your neighbor looses his job. A depression is when you loose your job. Should the whole world implode there won't be much any of us can do about it. So let's look at the things we can prepare for and plan accordingly. I'm no survivalist ready to go out and hunt game for dinner but that doesn't mean I don't keep my own existance somewhere in the back of my mind. I think I could survive for at least a week or two in at least modest comfort with the basics of food shelter heat and light. Many things my sister taught me when she had a small farm years ago.

The biggest concern I would have would be for that 9.0 earthquake they've predicted for how many years. It really wouldn't be a matter of what resources are on hand for most but how they deal with the emotional issues. I seem to recall the Nisqually quake some years back. I was in full moon gear just ten miles from the epicenter on a job. It felt like sommeone lifted the place three feet off the ground and dropped it then shook it back and forth like they were using it to sift flour. A coworker at the time suggested we stand in a doorway for protection. We did and waited out the shaking. My attitude at the time was what I usually feel. Got all my arms and legs and other body parts intact so all is okay. I guess any day you're still breathing without injury is a good day in my business. Then of course you have the people who go around yelling like chicken littles that the end is near and they have to jump on the phone just to tie up the lines asking their neighbors what they were doing "when it hit". And all of this brings me to a rather interesting story or should I say actual event. Let me preface this. These are things we hear about while taking our annual recertification classes. It makes us think and evaluate our own abilities. The event below:

Four miners are trapped in a coal mine that had a cave in. Only one of the men has a wristwatch. They calculate that they will only have 12 hours of air to breath for the four of them. The man with the watch thinks to himself and comes up with a plan but doesn't tell the others. When the other guys ask what time it is the guy with the watch starts shaving time and tells them less time has passed than actually did. As the hours pass he continues with his trick. The rescuers finally reach the trapped miners several hours later. One of the miners is dead. Care to guess?..............The guy with the watch.

It should also be noted that more people are killed trying to rescue others than those that need rescued. Think about that the next time the fire department or search and rescue goes by.