Preparing After Disaster

About a week ago, Anchorage, Alaska was hit with one of the biggest earthquakes I can remember in the 37 years I’ve lived there. Thankfully, there were no fatalities or even major injuries that I know of. However, roads and buildings weren’t so lucky. One of our major highways dropped up to 30ft in some places, bridges and overpasses collapsed and some older homes and buildings were completely destroyed. Power was knocked out all across the city and gas had to be shut off in certain areas because lines had been compromised.

In most cases, power was restored remarkably quickly and folks began to clean up the mess and mayhem the earthquake caused. But they also went into prep mode. Some gas stations were tapped bone-dry of fuel. Grocery stores had their bottled water supply cleaned out along with canned goods being picked bare. Generators sold out over the weekend. Everyone stocked up on basic necessities and survival gear. However, this was AFTER the quake and power, water and gas had already been restored. Had water been shut off or power out for many days, every one on these people would have been in dire straits.

To me, this seems roughly equivalent to going out and buying new locks for the barn after the horse has escaped. Unfortunately, this is common human behavior. We wait until disaster strikes, or at least a close call, before we prepare. It’s like calling a practice AFTER the big game. At that point, it is too late. You can’t run lifeboat drills after you’ve hit the iceberg.

This doesn’t just apply to life-or-death and survival situations. We do it in our everyday routines as we wait until problems shake up our lives before we prepare. Fortunately for most of us Alaskans, we got off easy in this scenario. But many times in our life, our health, our work and our relationships, the damage is already done before people finally equip themselves and do the work required. Don’t wait for disaster to strike before you finally begin to prepare.

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