We can only depend on ourselves when crisis strikes.

 WE ARE OUR BEST FIRST RESPONDERS

BASIC PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IS REQUIRED

The last week should serve as a notice to all that in reality we are responsible for providing basic necessities for ourselves in time of crisis. That does not mean that the value of neighbors and community should be ignored, but in the end no one can provide the basic necessities better than ourselves. When disaster strikes it may make all the difference between serious loss or or just a minor inconvenience.

Some basic foresight can make most natural disasters mangable for the vast majority of the population. Of course if your house is flattened by a tornado or other direct damage we have little ability to remedy such a loss.

We can and should all be preppers to some extent. We dont need 2 years of food or 100's of gallons of gasoline or other extreme preparations, but in today's world a small generator capable of running your refrigerator and freezer is a basic necessity, it should take preference to vacations and expensive dinners. Also enough fuel for a couple of days and the knowledge of how to use it. All small engines should be run on non ethanol fuel, it will ensure that it works when you need it.

We should all have several weeks of canned food on hand, enough to survive without going to a store. It does not take that much, and of course depends on the size of your family. Water, several gallons of drinking water on hand at the very least, small generators will not run the well pump.

A grill or other device with the fuel to heat water and cook is something that everyone should have.

While these are the basics, if we just imagine the loss of electric which will happen to all of us at some time, we should be able to make a list of things we will need to have on hand. 

Winter is an especially bad time to lose electric, most heating systems will not run without electric and electric heat will be unavailable unless you have a large generator. Running a generator is very expensive, but you can run it on and off to save fuel. My brother in S. Carolina just had his electric off for 9 days, it cost him $40 a day for basic electric with a mid sized generator. 

We can all expect a loss of electric sometime in the future, a little preparation can keep such events an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe.