Selling Sno-Cones at the Beach

franks and beans, aisle 4

We had a spirited debate on Tuesday night about the nation's preparedness for a bird flu pandemic (general consensus: nope) and then on Wednesday, the local paper had a piece (in the lifestyles section) about whether or not certain in-the-know scientists around here were stockpiling for the possibility.

Scarily, many of them ARE. That really puts a new spin on the probability for me. So yesterday, B and I were musing aloud about what would it take to stockpile enough food and basic goods to survive in this apartment for 6 to 8 weeks. It depends somewhat on your assumptions: do you assume that basic infrastructure will still exist and be maintained - such as clean running water, gas and electricity, etc.? Because eating strictly out of cans without using water is a lot different than being able to cook, and having to stockpile that much water is a really big deal.

I suppose that using a baseline such as 1500-2000 calories per day per person would be generous, and then you'd just have to supplement with vitamins.

Other considerations - no mail, in or out. Hence no bill paying. Telephone (if the infrastructure didn't go down) would be ok, you'd hope for internet. Otherwise, lots of board games, card playing, books.

The thing about infrastructure is that if it really were a pandemic, people would be sick and dying and not going to work, including the key jobs of maintaining infrastructure. If the folks who run the water treatment plant don't show up, what happens when something goes wrong and there's no one to fix it? Ditto with the electrical infrastructure - even more of an issue, I'd think, because so many people work all day every day maintaining the system. Neighborhoods could be down for days waiting for a crew. It would be hard to get replacement parts if the nation's delivery workforce was reduced even by a few percent.

Wow. It's really interesting to think about the ripple effect. I think I'll stop thinking about it RIGHT NOW.

Posted by otto0114 at April 7, 2006 09:18 AM