I think preppers have it right. The biggest threats in my area are catastrophic earthquake and tsunami and fires. There is no way to plan for all contingencies. I could plan to survive the earthquake, but could lose everything to a wildfire before the big one happens. I have a 20 KW generator that could keep us comfortable for a long time if we did not have power. However, if my house is destroyed by the earthquake, the generator will be useless to us. Thinking of getting a solar generator now. Instead of surviving an earthquake and living comfortably, I have to think tent/sleeping bags and food and water for 6 months.
This gal received a Pulitzer for her article on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This is my reality and what I have to look forward to.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
Here's a paragraph that summarizes what will happen:
osspac estimates that in the I-5 corridor it will take between one and three months after the earthquake to restore electricity, a month to a year to restore drinking water and sewer service, six months to a year to restore major highways, and eighteen months to restore health-care facilities. On the coast, those numbers go up. Whoever chooses or has no choice but to stay there will spend three to six months without electricity, one to three years without drinking water and sewage systems, and three or more years without hospitals. Those estimates do not apply to the tsunami-inundation zone, which will remain all but uninhabitable for years.
The fires were really terrible last summer in California. I don't know what will prevent a repeat of last summer this year. Unfortunately, there were a lot of arson fires in addition to large fires that a power company was blamed for. The fires cut our summer short
Instead of playing on water like this
We had days like this where the smoke was so heavy, we had to quit.
We drove miles on the lake to escape the smoke, but instead of clearing up, the smoke got heavier and thicker. We had driven to the site of a new arson fire on the lake. One big fire was getting so close to our summer camp, we had to make an emergency trip (9 hr round trip) to evacuate our camp. We were fortunate that we did not have to evacuate. Ash covered everything, and there were big chunks of burnt stuff everywhere.
A cousin lost his home in the Paradise fire, and I have other friends who lost their homes. California fires and earthquakes are really disastrous things. If cutting power for a time will lessen the threat of a major fire like the Camp Fire, then they better cut the power.
