In this ever escalating world of extremes, it may be a good thing to seriously ask yourself if you could handle the adversities

Surviving a Catastrophy
My television viewing is really down to about three or four channels although we have many with the full package from cable.¬† Two of my favorite is the History and Discovery channels.¬† The other night I caught “After Armageddon” on one of the channels and as I watched it I couldn’t help but think this could actually happen, at any time, right here in our country.¬† The story was based around a family who lived in LA.¬† He was a paramedic with the Orange Country Fire Rescue.¬† As the story goes on a world wide pandemic breaks out and what seems to be about ninety percent of the population is wiped out.¬† The ones that are left turn to guns and violence to survive.¬† Food and water become more and more scarce and one could lose his life over a bottle of drinking water.¬† This is all I will tell you about this movie, I do recommend however if you see it in the line up, I suggest you watch it and think of what you would do if this happened here.¬† We may not have fear of an earthquake but what about hurricanes, tsunamis, pandemics or chemical or hazardous potentials from industries and rail movement?
The very next day I heard reports of the terrible earthquake in Haiti.¬† As I watch the video coming out of that devastation, the death and injuries and those that are still trapped.¬† No food, water or medical services for the multitudes that are in need, I think back to the movie I caught just the night before.¬† How would you react to such a situation should it happen here?¬† Would you know how to take care of your family?¬† How to purify water for drinking, where to find water?¬† How to build a fire without matches?¬† What to do to set up sanitary outlets to reduce the chance for disease?¬†¬†¬† Do you own a gun?¬† Do you know how to use it, do you have ammunition for it?¬† There are more questions then answers to a catastrophic situation like what we’re seeing now on the news and what was portrayed on the movie.
The videos coming out of Haiti are similar to the way people were reacting in the movie, in the beginning.¬† As more and more deaths occurred the ones that survived became more desperate and that’s when the violence started.¬† We are seeing pickup trucks turned into emergency vehicles and the injured being moved by hand pushed carts.¬† At the moment it seems people are still in shock and are eager to help one another, holding hands and forming groups, not only for comfort but for a feeling of belonging and protection.¬† The people of Haiti are in a horrible situation and we can only hope that the world community can send enough aid to handle the millions that are displaced.¬† I only hope wide spread violence does not break out spurred by desperation.¬† I think it may be wise to brush up on what we need to know and do in order to survive an event such as Haiti or a pandemic.

