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.
When they tell you to evacuate they mean it.
Civilization is a thin veneer over savagery.
.."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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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!!
Back in 2015 my area suffered something similar. During the Great Flood, my county was cut off from all forms of travel. I-95 was shut down as were every other road coming in. For a week, no supplies were able to be brought in. The SC National Guard airlifted bottles of water and other supplies in for residents. Stores (Walmart included) had empty shelves because trucks nor trains could bring goods in. Power was out for weeks, and we re-learned how to make do without electricity. By the Grace of God we made it and we are stronger for it.
This could have been many parts of California the past 3 falls
In the first fires in the first fall, we lost electricity and that took out most of our cell phones and so called land mines. Our city and county lost power and phones at 7:45 am the first morning of that year for 3-5 days. We had family members within an hour or less of a drive and many local friends that we didn’t hear from for 3-4 days, and they didn’t hear from us for days..
Most stores closed as they had zero power to run cash registers, inside lights and refrigeration for food supplies.
The next 48 hours were pure chaos as nothing worked and zero stores were open.
Cell phones were basically out for 3-4 days, and most land lines were down or not working.
Communities with am radio stations were about the only connection most of us had in our cities/counties. Then, you had to have solar or crank batteries to listen to them after the first day.
Our refrigerated food spoiled and so did a lot of our frozen foods.
During the recent fall fires:
Our back up batteries lasted the 3+ days this time and our cell phones were kept charged. So, we could contact relatives and friends locally and across the nation. Most of the cell phone companies stayed up and running for the entire brush fire time.
Basically minimal food spoiled, this time. We had frozen a lot of water bottles and had put them on the top shelves in our frig and freezer.
Imagine what a determined force could with local support.
Plain and simple , you need to learn how to exist without electricity or communications
it’s that simple
Life existed on this planet for millennia before the iPhone and before electricity
The saddest thing in the modern world is the people waste their entire lives staring into a 2 x 4” piece of glass
it is very very sad