Sydney Readies for Disaster

[M.Dancer]

Residents of Australia's biggest city, Sydney, have been urged to pack a survival kit to prepare for a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

The local authority wants people to put together an emergency "Go-Bag", including maps, food and a radio.

Officials have denied the campaign is a government attempt to create fear and enhance national security credentials ahead of elections due later this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6902143.stm

Given that a natural disaster is more likely than a terrorist attack, why do opponents deride such prudent measures?

In our own household we generally always have a case of water, candles, propane and canned food to last a minimum of 48 hours. .....to add to that we got a wind up radio. I think being prepared is a civic responsibility and in our nation, things like ice storms and winter black outs are real dangers.

[ScottSA]

Residents of Australia's biggest city, Sydney, have been urged to pack a survival kit to prepare for a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

The local authority wants people to put together an emergency "Go-Bag", including maps, food and a radio.

Officials have denied the campaign is a government attempt to create fear and enhance national security credentials ahead of elections due later this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6902143.stm

Given that a natural disaster is more likely than a terrorist attack, why do opponents deride such prudent measures?

In our own household we generally always have a case of water, candles, propane and canned food to last a minimum of 48 hours. .....to add to that we got a wind up radio. I think being prepared is a civic responsibility and in our nation, things like ice storms and winter black outs are real dangers.

Are fertilizer trucks with triggers natural disasters too?

[M.Dancer]

Are fertilizer trucks with triggers natural disasters too?

depends. Are you driving?

[betsy]

In our own household we generally always have a case of water, candles, propane and canned food to last a minimum of 48 hours. .....to add to that we got a wind up radio. I think being prepared is a civic responsibility and in our nation, things like ice storms and winter black outs are real dangers.

What is a wind up radio? Where can you get it?

[Rue]

In our own household we generally always have a case of water, candles, propane and canned food to last a minimum of 48 hours. .....to add to that we got a wind up radio. I think being prepared is a civic responsibility and in our nation, things like ice storms and winter black outs are real dangers.

What is a wind up radio? Where can you get it?

You can get them at Canada Tire or almost any camping place. They have a crank. You simply wind the crank to give it energy.

Look we all definitely should store water and food, candles, and things in the event of an emergency. Of course.

But get real. The above is the kind of hysteria no different then in the 1950's when children were taught to "duck and cover" under their desks in the event of a nuclear bomb attack from the Russian commie bastards.

People in the 1950's built bomb shelters and waited for the BIG ONE.

I think it is important governments plan for terrorist attacks of course. But I also question the sanity of filling people with uneccesary fear.

There is actually a dumb US government web site teaching kids how to prepare for terrorism. To me today's average kid would read it and say if their government is that stupid and writes such dumb web sites they have no chance at survival.

There has to be common sense.

Having lived in Israel where terrorism is a daily fact, people have learned there are many things they must do and be on guard for - but it is very practical - for example if one sees somebody leave a bag for any reason - you go up to that person and say, do not leave your bag alone. You see a lot of tourists being scolded by Israelis for doing that.

The average Israeli sitting in an open air cafe has one eye open for anyone who looks like they are wearing too many clothes or looking unusually nervous. Its not hysteria or paranoia, just this sort of

general awareness they have been taught when ever they are in a public place.

But Israelis don't live in fear. They don't let this stuff get too extreme. They moderate the practical awareness with this cold hard understanding that no terrorist attack can be prevented evenw ith the best planning and so you must go on as positive as you can and not do this preventative stuff out of fear.

British when they were getting bomb attacks fom the IRA in London, learned to be practically aware but they certainly didn't allow it to change their lives or have them hide at home.

So I say yah, you should have water and non electric things and food supplies because you never know when there could be a weather catastrophe not just a terrorist attack, but no don't get so nut case you start building retreats and stock piling weapons/

The reality is, if there is an attack, there is only so much that can be done to prepare for it.

The other point is, if you get too extreme about preparation, its just as bad as having none. If you get tooo extreme with the preparations, you are in fact buying into this faith belief that the terrorism HAS to happen instead of using some of that energy to try find other ways to prevent it from happening.

If you become so paralyzed with fear it dominates your daily life, terrorists have already defeated you.

I mean its like picking up a medical book and reading the never ending list of diseases and then saying hmmm, I better not leave my home again because of all the diseases I could get just breathing the air.

Look I know when you go to a restaurant people could be sneezing in the food I eat, or have dirty hands and pick their nose and then touch my food, etc. but its a risk I sometimes am willing to take. Everyone has to take some sort of risk.

Although if I were you people, I would think twice about those street hot dogs.

Edited July 20, 2007 by Rue

[M.Dancer]

In our own household we generally always have a case of water, candles, propane and canned food to last a minimum of 48 hours. .....to add to that we got a wind up radio. I think being prepared is a civic responsibility and in our nation, things like ice storms and winter black outs are real dangers.

What is a wind up radio? Where can you get it?

You can get them at Canada Tire or almost any camping place. They have a crank. You simply wind the crank to give it energy.

But get real. The above is the kind of hysteria no different then in the 1950's when children were taught to "duck and cover" under their desks in the event of a nuclear bomb attack from the Russian commie bastards.

.....you can also get them at Radio shack or what ever it's called now...Future Shop.....etc

......But what the residents of Sydney are being asked to do is nothing more than to be able to take care of themselves for a few days in case of a disaster which could be natural or man made. This is prudent. Here in Canada the gov't quietly launched a post katrina campaign to get Canadains.....

http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/index_e.asp

........to think about disater preparedness. Given that in the east we have had massive ice storms which cut off power to hundres of thousands...and in the winter having no power is a life threatening scenario....and in the wast floods......we all must assume personal responsibility for our welfare.

[canadoattitude]

some HUGE disaster is going to happen in the next few decades. sydney, tokyo, san francisco, the yellowstone crater.

eventually something will go down and many people will suffer and ask why they weren't warned but in fact ehy were.

hubris. regretably

[ScottSA]

some HUGE disaster is going to happen in the next few decades. sydney, tokyo, san francisco, the yellowstone crater.

eventually something will go down and many people will suffer and ask why they weren't warned but in fact ehy were.

hubris. regretably

I see the English language is already in a state of disaster. Is this practice of not capitalizing the words at the beginnings of sentences a new fad or just a resurgence of bad 60s writing?

[jazzer]

some HUGE disaster is going to happen in the next few decades. sydney, tokyo, san francisco, the yellowstone crater.

eventually something will go down and many people will suffer and ask why they weren't warned but in fact ehy were.

hubris. regretably

You sound like one of those psychics. Sure, something may go down, but most of us have bought into the fear factor, thanks to Dubya et al.

[betsy]

some HUGE disaster is going to happen in the next few decades. sydney, tokyo, san francisco, the yellowstone crater.

eventually something will go down and many people will suffer and ask why they weren't warned but in fact ehy were.

hubris. regretably

You sound like one of those psychics. Sure, something may go down, but most of us have bought into the fear factor, thanks to Dubya et al.

If that prediction was made a decade ago he would've got something right.

Something did come down. Clinton's pants!

Edited July 24, 2007 by betsy

[canadoattitude]

some HUGE disaster is going to happen in the next few decades. sydney, tokyo, san francisco, the yellowstone crater.

eventually something will go down and many people will suffer and ask why they weren't warned but in fact ehy were.

hubris. regretably

I see the English language is already in a state of disaster. Is this practice of not capitalizing the words at the beginnings of sentences a new fad or just a resurgence of bad 60s writing?

ha ha, you should be a comedian. you've got a natural gift.

[ScottSA]

I see the English language is already in a state of disaster. Is this practice of not capitalizing the words at the beginnings of sentences a new fad or just a resurgence of bad 60s writing?

ha ha, you should be a comedian. you've got a natural gift.

Actually I'm quite serious. I find it very distracting.

[M.Dancer]

Don't mind him. The well of his literary depth is quite shallow but his disdain for things over his head is quite deep. Most likely thinks ee cummings was a 60s poet.......

(and i imagine

(and i imagine

never mind Joe agreeably cheerfully remarked when

surrounded by fat stupid animals

the Jewess shrieked

the messiah tumbled successfully into the world

the animals continued eating. And i imagine she, and

heard them slobber and

in the darkness)

stood sharp angels with faces like Jim Europe