Surviving an utter catastrophe

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I have experienced some fairly serious and life-threatening situations over the course of my life.
I was always very calm and stony and logical and very much able to move into a zone of detached capability others found unattainable.

That depends on how much ammo you have whether each bullet is "precious". For myself, I consider firearms and sufficient ammunition to be a critical part of any survival strategy. The truth is, unless you're out of the area BEFORE the disaster strikes, you will be fighting your way out along with thousands of other people. Other desperate people. People who will have no qualms about taking your stuff if it means they have a better chance of getting out and surviving. Or you'll be holing up at home and other desperate people will eventually come for your stuff. I'll put it this way: I have enough ammunition that I'm not worried about running out. General use ammo is not something that's in short supply. It's the more specialized hunting rounds, designed to bring down big game, that I'm a bit more conservative with.

I took an outdoor survival class in college, and still have my SAS survival guide on how to survive anywhere in the world, lol. Before that class, I also read another wilderness survival guide and edible and medicinal wild plants book. (though I only checked those out of the library, I need to buy a copy of those.)

While everyone else is panicking, I'd be ordering them about. Getting them to requisition supplies, things like that. Setting up a rationing system. Organizing teams to pull people from the rubble.

And I will hope to inspire my fellow people when disaster strikes.

We may be hungry but if we wait, we'll have hope!

The situation in Haiti was complicated by centuries of poverty and a central government that functions very poorly in the best of circumstances. I probably wouldn't be in a place like Haiti. I have been in similar situations here, as in natural disasters, but nothing that happened here can even compare. I have no idea how I would handle the lack of water and heat and having to see all the devestation around me and people wanting to help but with no resources or equipment. I hope the situation in Haiti improves significantly in the years to come so this desolation doesn't occur again.

I doubt it will improve. No infrastructure, poverty, a western world that for the most part cares very little for its less fortunate human beings.....
I wish this were not the case, but i expect it is.

I would try to "get the hell out of Dodge".

Or perhaps blame UN for npot giving me enough to survive... While I try my best to be alive.

We had a major flood hit Cedar Rapids in 2008. Even though my home was not affected, it was hard for me to see what was going on with my community.

I am one of these people that when given the opportunity I like to assist as much as possible. The first days that they opened the flooded areas, I was down there mucking out houses and helping to clean things up.

I have also learned that I have a tendency to get obessesed with the situation at hand and want to be in the middle of things, sometimes inapprorpriately. I want to be a hero, or a person that people look up to for my response to the disaster. I also like to take a benevolent approach to those in need, again sometimes overdoing it.

The hardest thing for me to accept is the fact that when faced with a man-made or natural disaster, recovery takes time. Another thing that affected me after the flood very deeply, is social networks that I had before, all of a sudden had changed or ceased to exsist.

If people stayed out of my way and let me be, I would be fine.

If it were my month on call, I would likely be in Haiti right now, working on keeping communications for my team up and running, and keeping our Disaster Medical Information System functioning, so our medical providers can provide appropriate care. (I'm a commo officer and DMIS specialist on a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (Think MASH for disasters)). My team isn't first-in for a couple months, so if we go there, it would be a couple rotations of teams out from now...