Be Prepared
Here is another article (this one from the Sequim Gazette) that encourages people to be prepared to take care of themselves in a disaster.
There's only so much an individual can do in a disaster. Emergency professionals - the firefighters, paramedics, police and others - will be stretched thin in a major catastrophe. Should an earthquake, tsunami or major winter storm strike it likely will be up to citizens to take care of themselves and their neighbors until help arrives … and that could be a while if the disaster is really big, experts say.We all need to work together, said Steve Vogel, fire chief of District No. 3, which covers the Sequim area. The biggest thing is we've got to get people to stop looking to government and take care of themselves, their family and their neighbors.
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"It all boils down to the old Boy Scout motto: be prepared," Tarbuck said. "The best thing is to look in on your neighbor and be able to help each other."
Emphasis added by me.
That emphasized sentence says it all. I'm going to keep posting on this subject because I think that a lot of the pain and suffering in New Orleans could have been prevented if people had been ready to take care of themselves. It may sound a little hard-hearted, but I think it needs to be said anyway.
Related posts to personal responsibility are here, here, and here.
