How does one go about helping friends/family prepare if they are not really willing to prepare themselves to the level that one'd expect from the members of this forum? What simple advices can you give them? I guess one of the major problems is that some of them just won't listen
That is a hard nut to crack. You are never going to get through to everyone. I have the same issues with my family and friends. The only advise I can offer is to start small and focus them first on being prepared for those things that have the highest possibility of happening to them. Maybe that is simple as having a working fire extinguishers in the home or getting out of debt or what do you do when we loose power during a winter storm or just never letting the car's tank get below half. Don't discuss the SHTF/End of World situations now - they just are not ready. Some will never be. One other point - you say they won't listen. It might be that you need to first listen to them and try to understand why they don't think they need to be prepared. Then you may find an opening of discussion.
Start with food. Breech the subject with something like: " Man, if y'all got that three days worth of food and water like the feds recommend, you better think again. Better make it a week or two. We've been buying some extra canned goods when they're on sale, we eat them anyway."
That is a good point that I'll try to keep in mind. A lot of times though, they have said... "oh there'll always be a away.. people have survived disasters throughout history" Then when I tell them "of course. but, the question is, will YOU survive?" they get angry because I think they don't want to accept the fact And I really say that in the nicest way possible. yeah.. some will never come around.
It would depend somewhat on their mindset and also on your relationship to them. One good point for broaching the subject was already mentioned. Most folks who refuse to prepair figure the gov is also totaly forthcoming so look up the FEMA web site and look at their info, then you can point out that the feds are recomending the absolute min of 3 day supply then remind them that in New Orleans it was closer to a week before most got help so that might be a better minimum 'besides it avoids some of those annoying rushes to the store for a can of soup' or some such. Few folks who have not seen the reasons for themselves are going to jump right into trying to prepair for TEOTWAWKI and that may not be the best way to start anyway. Try to get them into the idea of having some candles and flashlights for power outages, a first aid kit, blanket and such (a basic BOB without the buzzwords) in the car along with a spare tire and jumper cables. If you cant talk them into prepairing on their own ahead of time but are determined to do what you can for them then depending on the relationship there would be a couple things you could do if you wanted to. One would be to give them a top notch easy to follow survival guide like 'Naked into The Wilderness' by John and Geri McPhearson that dosnt require a lot of tools and tells them how to get by off the land. They probably wont read them ahead of time but they would likely try to do a crash coarse if needed and improve their chances some. You could also try to get them into hunting and camping since if they have the equiptment for these activities then they are already ahead of the game for some basic preps. The other thing you might be able to do if these folks are super close to you and youu are determened would be to arrange to store some things there. Depending on how they would take it you could let them know to use it if they needed to, or that it was some supplies for emergencies in case yours were unacessable, or however would work best. Then get a few weeks of food, some kind of firearm and some ammo, just a baisc kit for say a month or so and maybe a couple of BOBs. 'Store' that stuff there then if its needed hopefuly they either know whats there or you can contact them to let them know to 'go open the stored boxes'. The best bet I could see though would be just to try to come at it first from more of an angle of preps for minor things like being snowed in for a couple days or power outages and such and try to teach them some of the needed skills in fun ways like camping and hunting or target shooting trips that are less threatening. If they dont see the potential for the need they wont get into prepairing but haveing even basic camping and hunting gear and skills and a weeks worth of canned goods in the house and say 5 gallons of bottled water will put them miles ahead of at least 75-80% of the population.
Talk to them about .Gv reactions to Katrina. I don't know where you live but you could find a regional disaster that would apply.. Snow, T-Storms Floods, Tornadoes etc. Get them thinking about how to be COMFORTABLE for the 3 -5 days without power. Show them the .Gov websites that are telling every american to have a 72 plan in place. Take a look at the .Govs Warnings of Avian Flu preparedness. This site is actually quite shocking in what it tells us... At any rate, Start small and then build on it from there. http://www.pandemicflu.gov/ Take close notice of the Individual and community tabs on the gov site... Then look at your states plan.
Thanks for the advice. I'll have to have a talk w/ my parents melbo, I've never seen that website. It sure will be helpful.
Talk them into buying just a couple of extra cans of food each time they go to the grocery store, it's easy to get started. If they do that every time, they will end up with a pantry full. It beats starving.
