Posted on 02/10/2020 4:52:20 AM PST by BenLurkin
This summer's bushfires were not just devastating events in themselves. More broadly, they highlighted the immense vulnerability of the systems which make our contemporary lives possible.
The fires cut road access, which meant towns ran out of fuel and fell low on food. Power to towns was cut and mobile phone services stopped working. So too did the ATMs and EFTPOS services the economy needs to keep running.
In a modern, wealthy nation such as Australia, how could this happen?
In a human sense, social systems range from the small, such as a family, to large organizations or the national or global population.
The systems I mentioned just now are "complex" systems. This means they are connected to other systems in many ways. It also means a change in one part of the system, such as a bushfire in a landscape, can set off unpredicted changes in connected systems—be they political, technological, economic or social.
All complex systems have three things in common: they need a constant supply of energy to maintain their functioning they are interconnected across a range of scales, from the personal and local to the global and beyond they are fragile when they have no "redundancy," or Plan B.
To better understand a complex system collapse, let's examine what happened in Victoria's East Gippsland region, particularly the coastal town of Mallacoota, during the recent fires.
This case demonstrates how one trigger (in this case, a bushfire) may start a cascade of events, but the intrinsic fragility of the system enables total collapse.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.phys.org ...
ping
Does Australia have “Preppers” or “Survivalists”? I think it is probable albeit, perhaps, under a different descriptor. It would be informative to see how they came through this calamity.
FYI: This is why I am utterly opposed to banning the ability to pay cash and do have a small horde of metal. Liquid assets are GOOD in the recovery times.
It’s a good reminder, that even if you have food stored and a source of water, fire will negatively impact many plans.
Ping
I thought the article was about California.
“No food, no fuel, no phones ...”
Sounds like the opening to Gilligan’s Island.
Prepper ping.
Bushfires are not much of an issue for our country as a whole but in certain areas, being prepped for fire is a good idea.
Course, with the way this country is going politically, it is probably a good idea to make contingency plans before the elections in Nov.
If vote fraud keeps the President from being re-elected, I don’t see that it’s going to be pretty. IOW, we’re screwed if a dem is in office. If Trump wins a second term, I don’t expect the left to react any better then than they did when Trump won last time.
Yep. When I read this, I immediately thought “welcome to the party.”
A good example of normalcy bias and folks are jolted out it.
When they tell you to evacuate they mean it.
Civilization is a thin veneer over savagery.
Life is a bit harder than ordering,paying, and having delivered to you, food, clothes, merchandise from your phone.
.."The fires cut road access, which meant towns ran out of fuel and fell low on food.
Power to towns was cut and mobile phone services stopped working.
So too did the ATMs and EFTPOS services the economy needs to keep running.
In a modern, wealthy nation such as Australia, how could this happen?"
"The systems I mentioned just now are "complex" systems.
This means they are connected to other systems in many ways.
It also means a change in one part of the system, such as a bushfire in a landscape,
can set off unpredicted changes in connected systems—be they political, technological, economic or social."
"All complex systems have three things in common: they need a constant
supply of energy to maintain their functioning they are interconnected across a range of scales,
from the personal and local to the global and beyond
they are fragile when they have no "redundancy," or Plan B. "
(Emphasis mine)
Prepping is a life-style of logical action, rather than emotional reaction.
HT to Ben Lurkin and Metmom !
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Yup. I experienced the savagery during the L.A. riots in 92. Things can change in a minute. Be armed at ALL times.
It started out as a three alarm fire . . a three alarm fire.
So, the “smart people” at Phys.org get a clue and then prove they live in a bubble by calling it “news.” Wow! They is jist so smart!!
Been prepping since 2013; ready for (almost) anything, in the south central PA, or anywhere.
Many people don't understand that if there is no internet, you can't buy fuel. After an ice storm near here there were stations with both power and fuel, but they couldn't pump it because there was no internet.
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