Disaster threat a reminder of community ties

It Seems To Me Column by Katie Chaffee, News Reporter

Maybe nothing much will happen when the clock strikes midnight this New Year's Eve.

Or there will be spotty problems and little annoyances. Almost certainly, phone lines will be jammed as everyone tries to call everyone else to see how things are in their town, state or country.

Ten months ago, when the countdown began, there were scary stories everywhere, telling us to prepare for the worst. These were countered by information meant to reassure us - most of that from governmental bodies and financial institutions.

More recently, comforting stories have appeared quoting everyone from political leaders to rock stars saying they don't expect anything extraordinary on the first day of the new millennium.

Now there are 51 days left until we find out who is right.

I've been thinking about this situation, wondering why it occurred at all and what, if anything, we should learn from this hype. I think it's time we examined our personal state of emergency preparedness.

Like about half the people I know, I have toyed with the idea of writing a book.

A few years ago, I was reading an interpretation of Nostradamus' prophecies. The author made a good case for an impending collision between earth and some sort of giant celestial body.

This would make a good story, I thought. Apparently, so did several movie producers.

I set out to research this possibility, although it seemed pretty farfetched. After hours on the Internet at NASA's comet site and reading a whole stack of fairly scientific books on the subject, I became aware that this scenario is not at all impossible.

I also found out that no one really knows what the results of such an impact would be because of the complexity of the effects.

Nearly all agreed, however, the results would not be good.

Most painted a gruesome picture of huge tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, swiftly falling temperatures, and universal darkness. Fuel and food supply lines would be cut. Government would collapse. Emergency services such as police and fire would evaporate. And that was the "best case" scenario.

Most people are not in a position to move into a bunker with a 2-year supply of food and water. And the idea of actually preparing to face such a cataclysm does not bear thinking about.

But there is plenty of room between the Y2K non-disaster and the "end of the world as we know it" for occurrences ranging from the merely inconvenient to life threatening.

How prepared are we for an interruption in the supply line? What if the grocery and gas trucks can't roll? If the electricity goes off for a few days or even weeks? If communications go down?

My gut feeling is that we are not well prepared. Most Americans have not experienced any sort of social collapse and would not know how to handle one.

I had a dream a few years ago when I was scaring myself to death with research on comet impacts. I dreamed the end had come and our worst fears were being realized.

In order to survive, my family and I had to throw in our lot with the other people who live on my street, some of whom I hardly know. Was this some sort of message suggesting cooperation?

The Hopi Indians think so. From their enclave in the Southwest, they are sending out a warning to all who will listen. Hopi elders say the age-old prophecy of their people is coming to pass. Great changes are upon us and those who cannot cooperate and who are not prepared will not survive.

If prophecy is not your thing, perhaps practicality will drive you in the direction of better preparedness for an unforeseen emergency.

We relish the perks of civilization, the nearness and bounty of the grocery stores, and our ability to pluck what we need from the air with very little effort. But these benefits could turn into liabilities in a big hurry. Now might be the time to look around and take some simple steps to improve the level of personal and governmental preparedness.

A trip to the bookstore can provide you with some sound advice. A good place to start is "Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook" by James Stevens (Gold Leaf Press, $19.95).

Stevens has directions, suppliers and check lists that can help you prepare for emergencies lasting from 72 hours to a year.

Michael Hyatt's book, "The Y2K Personal Survival Guide" (Regnery Publishing Inc., $27.50) recommends others, including books on how to grow and preserve your own food and the "American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook" (Little, Brown and Company, $17.95). Hyatt also lists many suppliers and hosts of web sites you can access for information.

It is apparent from reading issues of the River Falls Journal dating from the 1880s that folks in our community depended on neighbors for everything: food, shelter, clothing and even entertainment.

Today the structure of our society tends to pull communities apart. We work and play miles away in the Twin Cities. The Internet and television have made us world citizens.

Let's not wait for a disaster to unite us. We can start to recover some of that closeness and "community connectedness" today.

Imagine for a minute that the people you see around you are those who could share your struggle for survival. Who, although you may not have noticed, are sharing it right now.