Crisis Thinking: Critical Perceptions

 

[ Warning: Graphic Content ]

NOTICE: All pictures are used under presumptive use, and downloaded from their respective internet sites and/or forums for non-commercial use. Copyrights retained by the original submitter / owner.

 

SYNOPSIS:

The world has just ended for the people in your neighborhood. Everything around you has collapsed,,,, and modern utilities are a thing of the past.

Early that morning a massive under-sea earthquake comes to life without any warning. The shock waves create a tsunami wave approaching heights of 2000 feet--travelling at an astounding speed of 600 MPH. It's bigger than the Empire State Building.

The Warning Alerts were transmitted at 10:45am while you are at work. The first thing that you thought of, was to call your wife on the cell-phone. The line is busy--you cannot get through.

You don't hesitate, and quickly jump into your car heading for home, and planning on stopping at the school to pick up your two children. It only takes you three minutes to realize that everybody else in the city is doing exactly the same thing, and the roads are already gridlocked--traffic is at a standstill.

Panicked you try the cell-phone again for the thousand time, but it's still busy. You cannot reach your wife. It's then that you notice the fuel gauge is hovering near a quarter of a tank. You were running late for work this morning, and intending to top-off the gas tank after work.

The skies are filled with many helicopters as the elites and rich flee the city into the high mountains. You wished that you could commandeer one of those birds, and bring your family to safety. But you are stuck in standstill traffic.

Ten minutes later you abandon the car and start running towards the head of the line--hoping to convince somebody to help you get home. In your mind you are formulating a sneaky plan to steal a car from whoever is still mobile. There's nothing in the world that will stop you from getting to your kids and home--even if you have to hurt somebody in the process.

FAST FORWARD:

It's been 48-hours since the massive tsunami wave swept through the area. Every building that you knew, has now been knocked down and carried away by the wave. Blotted dead bodies float with the rippling currents. You watch in amazement as your own car floats by, bobbing against a mini-van full of small children--all of whom are drowned. The sight brings instant fear to your mind, as you try to imagine what has become of your own kids. Quickly you push that thought way back into the furthest recesses of your mind. It's not something that you can deal with right now; you have only one single purpose; to get home and take care of your family, and get them all into a safe area.

But first--you have to, somehow, get off this concrete parking garage that has saved you from the tsunami wave. Looking down eight stores into the swirling black waters, you understand the force that nature sent against you, and realize that like the other thirty people sharing the roof with you, there's not one single thing that you can do for yourself, much less your own family. You are stuck here until the waters recede, or the government can rescue you from the only standing structure in the area. For a moment you consider jumping into the water and swimming from building to building until you reach dry ground...

ONE WEEK LATER:

You try to eat the MRE that the soldier has handed you, but the appetite just isn't there. The noise inside the church is almost deafening, as other survivors are informed of the loss of their loved-ones. It's a scene that has been played-out many times over the past week. Nobody has told you anything, you're in the dark, but deep down inside of you, the thought that your entire family has perished is something that you have to force out of your thought patterns.

Reports of wide spread destruction flood in; entire communities and towns have been obliterated--wiped off the map. The people in the affected areas no longer exist--among them your parents, and most of your family have went missing. Your mind replays the events about the last time that you spoke with your mother, the firm handshake of your father as he walked you and the family to the car. Your brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and close friends are all gone. Some might have survived, but you don't know that for sure.

Millions of people have been drowned or crushed. FEMA and the Red Cross are the only thing keeping you alive. Help has flooded-in from the mid-western areas, but it doesn't belay the fact that most of your immediate family is dead--and deep down you fear that you family will be among those listed as dead.

****

Think this is fantasy? Look at the pictures below to be reminded of the events during the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunamis that struck Japan.

  

  

If you think, for one minute that this couldn't happen in the USA; then look at the picture below and see for yourself exactly where the tectonic plates bump-up against Americas coastline.

 

Even those people living thousands of miles away from these plates, or the coast, will feel the results of an event such as this. The tsunami might not reach very far inland, but the long-term ramifications are almost as severe.

• Ground transportation comes to a screeching halt.
• Domestic oil production wiped out.
• Massive ecological disaster due to oil and chemical spills.
• Ground water contamination.
• Fuel prices immediately skyrocket.
• Fresh vegetable production disrupted, or stopped altogether.
• Meat animal production stopped or disrupted.
• Maritime transportation systems destroyed.
• Fishing industry wiped out.
• Consumer Commodities see immediate price spike.
• Global stock indexes plunge to record lows.
• Unemployment skyrockets.
• Martial Law declared within disaster zones.
• Wireless Telephone & Internet Services affected.
• Dams and Reservoirs destroyed or affected.
• Rivers and streams expand flooding further inland.
• Stench of death in affected areas.
• Massive numbers of people perish during the event.

Then again; you might have friends or family living in the affected areas…

 

 

Survival Keys:

• Establish and practice a Family Communications Plan.
• Know every route in and out of your area, like the back of your hand.
• Keep and maintain a “Ready Bag” in the family cars.
• Don’t stockpile all of your emergency food at home—spread it out.
• Keep batteries fully charged (and in the cars) for Hand-Held radios, and teach every family member how to use it.
• Provide you school-age children with a small “Go Bag” to be stored in the school lockers.
• Know before-hand who will get the kids from school—maintain radio communications with the spouse.
• Understand that it might be necessary to save your own life FIRST, before you can help anyone else.
• Don’t rely upon cell-phones during an emergency—they will FAIL YOU when you need it the most.
• Don’t count on getting Advance Warning from the Emergency Broadcast System—it has failed before!

Even if you are the sole surviving member of your entire family, it must be stressed that during events such as this; your inner-strength will be severely tested. There is now way for anybody on this planet to know what they will do, or be able to do, when faced with the loss of family members.

But it certainly helps to have a plan, and that leads to attaining the right survival mindset. I promise that if you practice these things enough times; during an emergency, your body's instinct will guide you through the steps that will be required.

You may not always make the right choices, but in the finality of things, your decisions will be based on the survival plans that you have established and practiced. Your ass will follow your mind when the time comes…

WordPress Tags: Crisis,Critical,Graphic,Content,NOTICE,pictures,Copyrights,owner,SYNOPSIS,world,earthquake,life,Empire,State,wife,cell,children,everybody,roads,traffic,tank,birds,somebody,kids,FAST,FORWARD,area,amazement,purpose,stores,nature,roof,government,moment,WEEK,LATER,soldier,appetite,noise,church,times,Nobody,Reports,destruction,events,handshake,father,friends,Some,Millions,FEMA,Cross,Help,fact,Think,fantasy,Look,Tsunamis,Japan,plates,Americas,coastline,results,event,Ground,transportation,Domestic,production,Massive,disaster,chemical,contamination,Fuel,skyrocket,Fresh,Meat,Maritime,industry,Consumer,Commodities,Global,Unemployment,Martial,Internet,Services,Stench,death,numbers,Survival,Establish,Communications,Plan,Keep,Ready,emergency,food,Hand,Held,member,Provide,radio,spouse,Understand,FAIL,Advance,Broadcast,System,strength,planet,mindset,instinct,steps,plans,Perceptions,forums,feet,mountains,areas,ramifications,systems,indexes,skyrockets,Reservoirs,Rivers,batteries,members,decisions,tsunami,waters,cars