I think that public officials may be ready to deal with disaster. Well at least there is a plan in place in the city of St. Louis. The storms of 2006 showed me how little prepared individuals are. Folks don't have emergency plans. Many still do not have a clue as to what they will do the next time the "lights go out".

I've got questions for everyone who reads this thread. Does your employer have an emergency plan? Do you have an emergency plan in place for you and your family? Have you updated your contact information with your child's school? What will you do if you loose your wallet? You see disasters aren't just floods, fire or earthquake. Praxair proved that. Non of us can afford to wait until something happens anymore.

As much as we talk about it and hear about it, I'm still not prepared! A friend of mine was a first responder in New Orleans for Katrina and he told me about how when they were doing rescues they could see bubbles coming up from the water as a result of people not turning their gas off. Well, now they're stuck on their roof/in the attic and can't do that. What a fire hazard! It just made it more risky for them and the rescue people. So he asked me if I knew how to turn off my gas at my house in case of emergency--had that conversation well over a year ago and still don't know where my gas shut off is! Yikes! Thanks to an intern, though, my workplace does have an emergency plan in place.