PowerSwitch

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -over.html

Residents claim they are the 'forgotten victims' of Sandy
Also say that lack of power and law enforcement means more looting and violent crime
Those in stricken areas stockpiling weapons like kitchen knives, machetes, and bats to protect themselves.
Coney Island residents say they are forced to 'scavenge for food like animals'

Just a few days without power and society starts to disintergrate. Imagine a nationwide collapse without the prospect of a return to normality within a week or so?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... black.html

Stunning pictures of New York without power. Surely this is a vision of our longer term future, when cities become depopulated shells as the energy inputs gradually drop over the coming decades.

What might happen in the US in a crisis and what might happen in various different European countries are different things. In Greece and Spain there may be military coups. In the UK there'd probably be a mixture of riots/looting and "blitz spirit". In the US there would probably be a bloodbath, due to the mind-boggling amount of firearms and other weapons in circulation, plus a culture where it is reasonably normal to actually use those weapons, even when civilisation is not collapsing.

UndercoverElephant wrote:What might happen in the US in a crisis and what might happen in various different European countries are different things. In Greece and Spain there may be military coups. In the UK there'd probably be a mixture of riots/looting and "blitz spirit". In the US there would probably be a bloodbath, due to the mind-boggling amount of firearms and other weapons in circulation, plus a culture where it is reasonably normal to actually use those weapons, even when civilisation is not collapsing.

Yes

A major crisis is a major crisis and there will always be suffering when one occurs. However, the nature of the suffering that ensues, its demographic distribution and how the people collectively and/or individually respond to it are very largely functions of the underlying culture that predates the crisis.

Unsurprisingly, in a culture of "F--k-you-Jack, I'm all-right" and "it's every man for himself", the concerns we see expressed with regards to a potential breakdown of societal supply chains tend to take the form of concerns about an extreme expression of those cultural patterns that already exist. Those concerns are quite possibly justifiable as well given such an underlying culture. Such a culture, though, does not inevitably have to exist and does not, in fact, exist in many parts of the world.

We reap what we sow.

Or maybe no.

I can't think of a instance where a gun toting criminal has opened fire on innocent civilians when they have been openly carrying guns as well. Criminals such as might quickly resort to gang thievery already have guns - it is the fact that their potential victims also have guns that keeps the peace.

France has a huge number of weapons in private hands as does Switzerland and Serbia. Rwandans however had to resort to machetes. How many victims wished for an AK to defend themselves there?

As for the 'Blitz Spirit' - it was just a myth. The blackouts were full of crime and black market was awash with goods stolen from bombed out houses.

After a week major cities would suffer orgies of looting exactly along the lines of the recent London riots and the not so recent Liverpool Police strike riots.

In the countryside and villages most people would pull together although I'm sure there would be some causing trouble.

I find it amazing that with several days notice of possibly the largest storm ever recorded approaching your house those householders hadn't stockpiled any food reserves in a safe place! Nor had they safely stored any dry, warm clothes!

Seems like they weren't given any "Civil Defence" advise either. If they were it wasn't mentioned on our TV News programs.

Indeed. However, I sometimes (well, quite often actually) wonder how well prepared the population around me would be if there was a breach in the Lincolnshire sea defences. (Or the Thames Barrier.)

kenneal - lagger wrote:I find it amazing that with several days notice of possibly the largest storm ever recorded approaching your house those householders hadn't stockpiled any food reserves in a safe place! Nor had they safely stored any dry, warm clothes!

Seems like they weren't given any "Civil Defence" advise either. If they were it wasn't mentioned on our TV News programs.

Quite a few stories of Sandy over on Survival blog.

Why TF did they bother showering and washing clothes? This is someone who is a supposed survivalist!! And the woman running her genny for 24 hrs???? How stupid are some people?

They also ran out of food, yet they read survivalblog?

They're Americans, they suffer from the same do as I say, not as I do problem as most people.