There’s no denying that dealing with a disaster is very stressful.  During the Covid 19 pandemic, while people were forced to stay at home and maintain social distancing, the occurrences of suicide, domestic violence and cruelty to animals has spiked. And, as potential crisis’s go, the Covid 19 pandemic and its effects on our way of life is fairly mild.  There are far worse scenarios that could and will eventually happen.  In a blink of an eye, your whole world can change.  Those things that you have normally taken for granted can rapidly disappear.  The local grocery store could run out of stock or close completely. The neighboring gas stations will be next to close along with every other business.  The bottom line is that during a disaster, people will be scrambling to grab whatever they can to ensure their own survival and they will not be reporting in for work. That means that the infrastructure could rapidly be affected.  The power could go out and your city water supply could stop. Emergency services personnel that have reported for work will be overtaxed and services will seem nonexistent.  The supplies that you have stored will be all that you are going to get, until the area recovers, and there’s no telling how long that could take.  Added to this is the fact that those who have not prepared can become desperate.  Once the stores are closed, they will soon start going from house to house to take what they need (or want).

When your survival and the survival of your family is at stake tensions will run high.  At least, you can take some comfort in the fact that you have prepared for such a scenario.  But, a total change in one’s life taxes the mental stability of even the strongest of individuals.  Depression is quick to set in and many will even disassociate themselves and deny the existence of the emergency.  This bears much reflection.  Your disaster preparedness efforts should include some steps to offset the stress levels associated with emergency situations.

Comfort:  Planning and preparing for your basic needs such as food, water, and shelter will ensure that you will maintain a certain comfort level.  Granted, the comfort level will be nowhere near that of normal conditions, but it will be at the highest possible level for the circumstances.  Not having to worry about where your next meal will come from, how you will stay warm or where you will sleep will effectively reduce your stress levels. 

Focus:  Focusing on the problem at hand and its structured solutions will stave off a great deal of stress and depression. Making a preparedness and mitigation plan and implementing your plans, when needed, will keep you focused in the right direction.

 Leadership: If you are the leader of your group, you should take control and delegate certain jobs and responsibilities to other members of your group.  This will help them focus and occupy them with specific duties.

Security:  Fear is a certain cause of stress.  Fear associated with disaster will always be present but having prepared and following your plan will give you confidence and serve to alleviate much of that fear.  Added to this is the fear of the unknown.  In the aftermath of a disaster, we can expect certain threats to our safety.  You should take steps to prepare a plan for your security.  With a plan in place, you and your family can enjoy the maximum amount of safety available.

Entertainment:  Do not underestimate the need for entertainment.  Even with sufficient amounts of food and water, and a secure shelter, it will be necessary to have some diversions.   Having a few games or other types of entertainment available will help you and your group enjoy a certain amount of normalcy in the aftermath of a disaster.  This will effectively divert you from dwelling on your situation.  Learn more about entertainment...

Quality Supplies:  During a disaster and in its aftermath, you will be forced to depend on your disaster preparedness supplies. You will not be able to replace those items that cannot endure constant use.  If it breaks, you will be without. Therefore, you should resist the temptation to buy “cheap” supplies.  Your life may depend on them.  You should keep this philosophy in mind when storing food as well.  Be sure to have a wide variety of tasty, high quality foods in your food stores. Eating MREs or rice and beans for more than a day or two in a row can get pretty depressing.  Good food is comfort food!