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Julie Fredrickson, an American entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, clearly remembers when she decided to become “ready”, someone who is prepared for the worst.
It was the end of October 2012 and Hurricane Sandy had just hit New York. “Suddenly, a great flash of light appeared in the sky, a strange, very bright green light, and then the entire lower Manhattan fell into total darkness.”
She fumbled in the darkness of her apartment in a high-rise apartment in New York, feeling completely cut off from the outside world and very scared.
“I suddenly learned that I don’t even have the most basic things. I don’t have enough drinking water. I don’t have a radio to listen to emergency broadcasts. I don’t want to experience that feeling ever again.”
Now Julie is more prepared. When the outbreak of the new corona virus occurs, she knows what to do: withdraw from New York City to her hometown of Colorado. She is always ready to have an “escape kit” with emergency supplies, and she and her husband are even considering whether to build an underground bunker or shelter themselves.
But as a woman in her 30s, Julie is not your typical coach. The preparers have an escape route, medical supplies, enough food for several weeks, and even an underground bunker that can withstand chemical attacks, emergency supplies, and enough food.
Julie likes to live in the city and enjoy the comfort of the city, the restaurants and the theaters, which is the opposite of the lone survivor. Most people think of survivors, believe that they live on the margins of society, and suspect the intervention of any government or other people.
John Ramey, who runs the online coaching community in North America, said the stereotype of survival has changed in the last 5 to 10 years.
“The setup community is no longer the type of old school conspiracy theorists or outcasts. Most of the trainers are now serious and rational people, and the number is increasing, and they have become mainstream.
To be correct, the community of preparers is diversified. Lamy said the oldest online community she organizes is people ages 25-35, followed by people ages 35-45. Men and women are equally divided. Live in the city instead of the country.
Lamy said one of the reasons for the diversification and integration of survival is the increasing frequency of natural disasters in recent years and the growing mistrust in the ability of US infrastructure and national institutions to cope with disasters.
In this new corona epidemic, medical institutions in the United States and other parts of the world did not have enough personal protective equipment, which is an obvious example.
Lamy said that governments, private institutions and commercial companies have not prepared enough stocks, so they are caught off guard when the accident hits.
He said that the new coronavirus epidemic is different from natural disasters, highlighting the fragility of human society.
“As preparers, we eliminate the loose links in the system, be it the power grid or the water supply, and we have control over insufficient resources in the system.”
He estimated that 5 to 15 million people in the United States alone now follow the philosophy of survival. Bradley Garrett, author of “Bunker: Building for End Times” and a social geographer at University College Dublin (Bradley Garrett), believes this number is fairly reliable and estimates that there are 20 million people around the world. Preparer.
Garrett said, “In this uncertain age, people have an insatiable desire for self-reliance. No matter what culture or political position, there are many such people.”
He said that those who follow the survival philosophy focus on learning survival skills, such as water purification technology, basic medical care and how to power their homes without the public grid.
Following this trend, survival has also become a great business opportunity. Garrett has visited some of the largest self-sufficient communities in the world, including a formerly self-sufficient military camp.
He said: “I have seen the fanciest bunker there, and they told me that you can live in the underground bunker for 5 years without any external contact or supply.”
But Julie is a little disgusted with those “high-level trainers” and said that this has lost the essence of survival and has become a game for the rich class.
She blamed this qualitative change on Silicon Valley’s tech elites, who can afford luxurious underground bunkers and have fuel-filled helicopters ready to escape at any moment. “They have money and they have an overactive imagination.”
“We’ve all read a lot of science fiction stories. People in the tech industry always think ahead of time about what’s going to happen in the future.” But Julie’s survival principle also includes helping others.
She believes that if you are fully prepared, grow your own food, and master basic survival skills, you don’t really need to spend a lot of money.
Lamy also agrees with this view, saying that most trainers belong to this category, rather than high-level ethnic groups. Preparing food for two weeks in your own home is the most basic requirement, because most people’s first choice is to shelter at home.
Lamy said that taking care of people’s basic survival needs should be one of the main functions of government, and it is also where taxpayers’ money should be used.
“The global infectious disease pandemic is a problem that many experts have talked about for many years. It should not be considered an emergency, but the results show that the governments of several countries are very poorly prepared for this.”