Disasters come in many shapes and sizes -- from natural ones such as hurricanes and earthquakes to human ones, such as cutting the wrong power line, or making a large system change that re-routes information or instructions to the wrong place. Survival depends on preparedness, and it depends on how you choose to react and save yourself and your family.

On Monday, Los Angeles suffered a widespread power loss that lasted anywhere from 90 minutes to 120 minutes, depending on location. The cause was an electrical worker who cut the wrong power lines. The power outage caused a number if information networks to collapse, although the major internet trunklines remained in operation.

Back in August 2004, large portions of the North Eastern United States (Ohio, New York, New Jersey) suffered a huge multi-hour power outage. A problem in the electrical grid was the root cause, and we hope that the power utilities are working to design a long-term solution to the issue.

Of course, the most recent natural disaster -- Hurricane Katrina -- caused all sorts of casulties to society. Just to list some major ones -- the power was knocked out, the water system stopped, major transportation routes and methods (roads and trucks/buses/cars) paralyzed, internet services disrupted, cell phone systems out, and non-functional ATM machines would not give people their money.

A third example of a major disaster would be the Tsaumi that affected the South Pacific earlier this year. Major flooding. Homes ruined. Communications wiped out. Major transportation links disrupted. Water system stopped.

These recent problems should set off warning alarms to the average citizen of Earth. People need to take responsibility for their own survival. We found out in all these cases that government intervention will be able to assist, but in the end, it is the personal survival instinct that allows people to survive.

NOW is the time to think about what you can do to survive a potential disaster in your future. Have you taken the time to think about what you can do? You may be a college student, you might be an adult, you might be a parent. Have you taken the time to plan your survival?

Some things to consider:
* Communications may be out. This means no cell phones, no telephone lines, no internet, no pay phone. How are you going to contact your family?
* Power may be out. No refrigeration for food. No microwave for frozen pizza.
* Water may be out. This means bottled water. Also have some non-drinking water to operate a toilet if one would be available.
* Food may be hard to find. Stores may be closed, or out of stock, or unable to process a sale.

Basic human survival means: air, water, food
* Do you have a store of food that you can eat without the ability to cook? Cereals, candybars, granola bars, cans of veggies and sauces, breads, things that you can mix with water are good starts
* Do you have ample supplies of drinking water? You are going to need a lot of it. Think about how many times you have something to drink a day.
* Do you know CPR? Why not?


I am not a disaster expert; my primary role in life is a network administrator. It wasn't my intention to give you all of the details concerning disaster preparation in this message -- it is my intention to get you to think about your own survival, and how you need to combat the "it won't happen to me" mentality. It can happen to you.