Many people believe survival food storage is only needed for a post-apocalyptic world – something major like nuclear attack, biological warfare, hurricanes, earthquakes, or whatever fears 2012 carry. But there are many not quite so dramatic scenarios which can cause severe outages for just 72 hours to a few weeks. It won’t be the end of the world, but it is enough time to dehydrate, become malnourished, and raise the casualty counts.

In a disaster FEMA or other government aid will definitely not arrive for at least 72 hours. Those three days can be critical. It takes that long to assess the disaster and the size of the population in danger.

Do not count on any of these aids. If they arrive that’s great. But you most likely will be relying on yourself to get through whatever safely. Therefore, possess, if nothing else, a 72 hour water and food supply for every member of the family, including the pets. This small effort can make a huge difference in your family’s chance of survival.

River floods, damage to infrastructure (roadsfood survival kits , bridges, and sewers), brown-outs, and etc. can affect electricity, water supply, food, and medical. Have enough survival food for least 72 hours to one month. Figure one gallon of water per person per day. And try for 2000 calories per person per day.

Less drastic but just as damaging is job loss. Sudden unemployment for whatever reason (lay-off, firing, illness, and even unplanned pregnancy) carries a long uphill struggle, the full extent of which can last up to a year or more, depending on your preparation.

Imagine losing precious job hunting time to take a non-impressive job to literally put food on the table, not to speak of toiletries and other basic needs. Storage of one to two months of food and such will be an important bill to not have. Consider storing grooming needs. In this case your survival depends on your ability to gain employment – so look your best.

Your job hunt will then be slightly less desperate. Depression and suffering make it harder to have the confidence to job hunt. So, even if you already have a tight budget attempt to build this small nest egg. You will thank yourself later.

The above scenarios are more likely to occur than a full blown apocalypse. However, there is always a potential for dire destruction — meteors, earthquakes, world wide famine or floods. And so on. So if you want to prepare for the inevitable you must think long term (years, decades) of survival. The only survivors will be the well prepared people. The rest of the world will die. At least this is the way you must think.

Prioritize your needs no matter what level of crisis: water, food, medical, shelter. You must not think like a 21st century technology person. Think like a cave man. And most importantly depend on yourself.

I was surprised to find out that almost two-thirds of the population are not prepared for an emergency, let alone a disaster. And I was among this two-thirds. This struck a nervous chord. I am not just passionate on changing this for myself but others as well. The human population is at risk if these statistics remain the same.