Being Prepared in the Eye of Disaster

It was just 8.27.12 due to Hurricane Isaac’s coming across Florida to Mississippi & Louisiana that I blogged about being prepared for a natural disaster.  Now, we have Sandy.  I was in NYC on business and experienced Sandy head on.  Fortunately, my location in the city protected me from damage & power outages.  I can’t say the same for people just 5 blocks below me.  While in the hotel restaurant for breakfast, the only place to eat the day after, I sat next to a family who had walked up from the bottom of the island.  Not having electricity, they searched for the first available place for food.  They weren’t the only ones in the hotel restaurant that day not staying at the hotel but dinning with us.

Knowing the hurricane might hit NYC, I had stocked my room with non-perishable food & water & kept my computer & phone charged just in case we lost power.  Forgotten were the flashlight, cards for boredom  and an exit strategy. I never imagined Mayor Bloomberg would shut down the subway & busses, then need to close tunnels & bridges in & out of the city, basically locking down the entire Manhattan island.  Nor did I think or imagine the airports would flood & be closed indefinitely.  My flight out was Thursday.

So back to the Disaster Preparedness blog I wrote in August.  I did the research to find current information for that blog.  I posted the government’s very nice disaster preparedness site that offers all kinds of lists, ideas & links to help you prepare yourself & your family just in case.  So why did I keep my business trip with Hurricane Sandy coming?  Why did I not have everything I would need if my experience would have been worse?  The repeated theme here is “I thought”, “I didn’t think” & “I didn’t imagine”.

We have all been there.  We think the media is over-dramatizing the situation for ratings.  We think it won’t hit our area.  We think we’ll be taken care of by those agencies that arrive after a disaster.  We think that it won’t happen to us.

I’m fortunate that nothing terrible happened to me or my friends & family living in the area.  Yes, some dealt with the inconvenience of loosing power for several days, but nothing compared to others affected by Sandy.

So I link you back to that Styled & Organized Living article titled, “Organized Crisis”  because it can happen to you or someone you know.  You should be prepared or at least know where to go.

Share your Hurricane Sandy experience at the Styled & Organized Living Facebook page.