How to prepare for a disaster
We all know that old saying "Hope for the best but prepare for the worst", yet some of us (and I am talking about preppers here) are actually living by this motto. Just being prepared for a disaster doesn't make you a pessimist, by all means. It's better to be realistic and learn from the past events in our
(recent) history (think Katrina); this is just stating the obvious, one must adapt or perish, Darwin taught us that.
You should learn the basics of survival and also don't expect the government to take care of you, forget about the nanny state and deal with what will happen in a real life scenario: in a wide-spread emergency situation, you and your family can't rely on help from outside, it's all up to you when SHTF. While serving in the military, I learned this simple fact : "There's trained and untrained, which one are you?"'.

The first question that comes to mind is "Are you prepared" ? Just think about some of the worst case scenarios and answer the following :
- What can you say about your house safety? I am talking here about your security systems such as lights, smoke detectors, solid locks etc.
-What did you do for your personal(and your family) safety? Do you know how to defend yourself? Are you keeping yourself and your family members physically fit?
-Do you own guns for protecting your property and your family members? A concealed carry permit is a must have, protect your Second Amendment rights by using them. And if you own guns, you must learn how to use them, owning a weapon is just the first step.
-What about your financial safety? Do you have emergency funds available? And by available, I mean cash, the money in the bank are not yours (see Cyprus). Have you ever considered investing in gold/silver coins (real money)?
-Are you prepared in case of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, forest fires, earthquakes?

You can dramatically increase your chances of survival if disaster strikes just by contemplating these issues in a sincere and lucid manner; in order to deal with a problem, you must first acknowledge/realize its existence, the rest just flows naturally.
You must always have a plan already made and practiced (think drills) in order to handle the potential situations mentioned above. You must be able to survive in your own home for an extended period of time (stock weapons, ammo, non-perishable food, water, medicine) in case of a society collapse scenario/power grid failure/your scenario is as good as mine. In any wide-spread disaster situation, a breakdown in law enforcement is very plausible, it already happened in the past.
Also, in case of an imminent disaster, you must be able to evacuate your residence as soon as possible and as safely as possible. You must have provisions and tools available (emergency kits) and to be ready for an emergency evacuation in case of a pending disaster (hurricane/tornado/tsunami).
Sometimes, an evacuation order may be issued without warning, so you must be prepared for leaving your home on a short notice.
Think ahead and always have a secondary location available for bugging out, like a far-away relative or a friend. The emergency items must be stored in your vehicles, for example first aid kits, extra clothing

and essential survival items. Keep your fuel tanks topped up at any time and you can also consider storing fuel in canisters.