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Comment by nemomarx | Hacker News Reader

> We have a strong preference for sheltering in place, so we do not have a go bag or anything like that. We'd shelter in place because that's where all our preps are!

I don't totally understand this because quite a lot of disasters or threats will mean you can't shelter in place? Even if it's not your main thing to plan for how can a threat model just rule out wildfires, massive flooding, a hurricane or so on.

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He lives in Washington. His likely disasters are not ones that mean move. Maybe a wildfire - some parts of Washington get fires, but they don't get hurricanes, and most are not subject to flooding (though this depends on where you live, one block down the street might be a problem - if he lives on the top of the hill is plans should be those living near the bottom shelter at his house).

Plan for the disasters that are likely where you are. I have plans for a tornado - I shelter in my basement until it blows over, and then the next morning the police will help me get to a hotel (tornadoes are to sudden too evacuate in time, but small enough that the local hotels have extra room). I don't have plans for a hurricane because the closest I get to a hurricane is when the weather reports the minor rain we are seeing is what is left of a major hurricane a week ago.

> Washington

Virginia

I must have misunderstood. The climate is different between the twos, but a surprising amount of what I wrote happens to apply to both anyway. Even where what I wrote doesn't apply the idea still does: prepare for what happens where you are.

Prepping should be local. Here in Scotland the things I would prioritize are snowstorms (once had food delivery to supermarkets delayed for several days) and high winds (friend was without power for six days). Here we don't get true hurricanes or tornadoes, and the high winds events have been shelter in place events.

Some places in the UK might have to start worrying more about wildfires. Flooding is definitely on the rise.

(UK flooding is nearly always "you can save a lot of expensive damage with careful sandbagging" rather than "entire building swept away", though)

Worth being aware that one of the potential problems with flooding (at least in the UK) is that it often leads to waste pipes or sewers becoming blocked and/or sewage mixing with flood water. This can still make replacing the building the most economic recovery option even if it's structurally fine.

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