Survival

"Vision, the art of seeing things invisible." Johnathan Swift

The wake of Katrina poses these questions. Why were New Orleans residents not prepared for the inevitable? Should the wise man plan for the future by acknowledging the past?

New Zealand is an earthquake prone country and experiences about five quakes a day. Most are unfelt but now and again Mother Nature plays rock n' roll and creates havoc. Floods have been increasing in recent years and 100 year floods occur every couple of years. Inevitably power and water are lost in effected areas. Recently I made a suggestion to my local council that all homes should have rainwater tanks for emergencies, but naturally I was ignored. So I decided to provide for our own salvation seeing that officialdom couldn't see past the end of its bureaucratic nose.

Utilising existing facilities such as some old corrugated iron and perspex roofing, my gas
barbecue and spending not more than $40, I created emergency supplies and shelter that
would last the wife and me about six weeks should the local infrastructure collapse. Which
judging from Katrina, it inevitably will.

Under my barbecue I placed an old motor tyre filled with 2 litre plastic milk bottles filled
with water. Plus cans of food and plastic cups and cutlery etc. I wrapped it in an old plastic tarpaulin and sat back with a cask of wine to admire my handiwork. It occurred to me that while our cache would last a couple of days, we really needed more supplies.

I purchased an extra gas bottle and a plastic container about 3 feet long, two wide and a foot and a half high. It holds an extra 60 litres of water, plenty of dry and canned food, first aid kits, transistor radios and spare batteries. We even have a small sewing kit to repair torn clothing. Naturally we have several electric torches and boxes of candles. Several more tarpaulins, a ball of strong string and hammer and nails to build a weather proof shelter should our home be destroyed. Toilet paper and an empty bucket provide for bodily needs. Three 4 gallon water tight plastic containers hold a duvet, blankets, pillows and a boy scout ground sheet. As soon as we think of something that could be useful, bingo, it's added to our cache.

I change the water and food supplies every year upon the anniversary of my brilliant idea.
Hopefully our cache will never be needed, but if it is, we will survive. That is of course:
providing we don't run out of essential booze and cigarettes.

The cost is nominal. We have simply utilised available resources most people regard as household junk. Our cache might not look very pretty, but the end result of Katrina doesn't look over pretty either.