Artiz, calling someone who votes for a liberal candidate mentally unstable is trolling and discussion of politics. Please consider this an official warning to desist from doing that on these boards.

There are lots of places on the internet where you can bash on the political viewpoint you don't like. This isn't one of them.

Here in the Greater Seattle-Tacoma area the threats are:

1. Earthquakes, specifically the Great Quake (magnitude 10 subduction zone quake off shore) and resulting tsunami that has been predicted to hit the PNW from Vancouver, BC down through central Oregon in the next 35 years.

2. Volcanoes, we have a super volcano beneath Washington's three known major mountains, Mt. Rainier (which is the one that counts for me), Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. We know of the activity of St. Helens and the building dome signalling another eruption. But it is the constant mini-tremors off of Mt. Rainier that has me concerned.

3. Floods, specifically the Howard Hanson Dam on the Green River. While I live on a ridgeline above the Kent Valley and the Green River my access to Auburn city services means that I have to come down Lea Hill and across the Green River. Also my work is in Renton, downstream and on the flood plain. The dam is seeping and was damaged by a major landslide. The Army Corps of Engineers injected grout mix into the dam as a stop-gap measure but they say that only reduced the risk of dam failure from 33% to 25%. We will get 12 hours warning of the dam giving away and flooding the valley. If this happens during a serious winter storm (the likely scenario) then it will be a major PITA for everyone.

4. Crime including civil unrest following any of the above scenarios. I'm a cop and so it is my job to be the point of the spear when the SHTF. This leaves my family vulnerable since I'm not there to take care of them. This isn't just the lack of dad in the home, this means the family car is gone, the major skill holder when it comes to urban and outdoor survival is gone as well.

5. Lack of preps due to financial constraints. This is temporary but still an issue I face while there are major risks to face this winter such as the dam giving way. Most of my food preps are depleted due to having to rely on them during this family financial crisis we've been in. Also my back-up fuel supplies are depleted. So if services/utilities are disrupted then we have problems.

My AO: Central Indiana, Moderate Sized City

My Biggest worries:

Severe, sudden onset winter storms. Every once in awhile we have a severe blizzard that really blindsides the community here. Road service is as good here as anywhere but it still usually takes some time to get everything back on track, and I haven't even been living here that long-I haven't seen a really brutal blizzard yet. Also, in a heavy snowstorm, we are usually without power for at least a few days every winter, sometimes consecutively.

Tornados. They have a lot of potential to destroy infastructure and they occur as regular as clockwork in this part of the country. Again major power outages are likely (I am acutely aware of this as I answer for the people that turn your power on) with the additional problem of impassible roads, making delivery of goods to stores a problem. While blizzards would be unlikely to contribute to rioting (You'd have to be very pissed to riot in a snowstorm) a tornado and a couple of impassible highways might make rioting a distant possibility.

Street Crime. While we aren't Indy or even Columbus for that matter, Bloomington does have a modest amount of street crime. The Hill and some parts of West side Bloomington are well known as the trouble areas, but my experience has been that it can happen anywhere-even in the so called 'nice' sections of town. I had a good friend get held up with an SKS for $7 after he gave a guy a ride to Cascades Park, like 20 feet away from the Buddist temple. From my daily reading of the police blotter, it seems burglary and petty theft are much more common than strong arming or home invasion.

Depression Woes: Ironically we haven't been hit that hard by the recession. There are a LOT of students here, most of the population, and they keep injecting foreign money into our economy so our service sector that exists mostly to cater to them is still alive. I don't know how long that is going to last, but it has been a blessing in the short term at least. When all that money dries up, well...we might become a ghost town. I'm prepared for that in that my job is not student dependent, but everything will probably get smaller and meaner regardless.

Civil Unrest: I consider this the least likely of the scenarios I am actively prepping for. This is actually a fantastically cohesive community and I encounter far more goodwill than malice here. I hope that is true everywhere, but it has not been my experience. In any case, the only real conflict is that of any major college town, townies vs students. I like to think that wouldn't explode into violence, but the problem I see is that in a disaster, college students tend to all be very dependent on the infrastructure just to function. People that are helpless without pizza delivery and debit cards make poor neighbors. Its an outside shot, but I can't just dismiss the possibility.

1. Got an annual nazi march comming up in december... Due to a nazi being killed here by an immigrant about a decade ago.

So, anarchists and other leftwingers running around in the bushes with motorcycle helmets on and pipe bombs in their pockets, riot police trying to find them whilst still protecting the march, real honest-to-god nazis marching down our street with drums, uniforms, and torches....

2. Living at somewhat of a chokepoint out of a major city.

Depending on the disaster, 25-100% of the million+ population will try to get out of dodge by passing through my area. Not ideal, I know...
There's only one main route out, and one alternative (which unfortunately is also well known).


---This thread just made me realize, I have to move! And the apple trees are finally at their prime....

Live slightly south of Stockholm, Sweden.

1. Got an annual nazi march comming up in december... Due to a nazi being killed here by an immigrant about a decade ago.

So, anarchists and other leftwingers running around in the bushes with motorcycle helmets on and pipe bombs in their pockets, riot police trying to find them whilst still protecting the march, real honest-to-god nazis marching down our street with drums, uniforms, and torches....

2. Living at somewhat of a chokepoint out of a major city.

3. Predictably cold weather every winter. Well prepped for that though, and so are most of the neighbours...

Depending on the disaster, 25-100% of the million+ population will try to get out of dodge by passing through my area. Not ideal, I know...
There's only one main route out, and one alternative (which unfortunately is also well known).


---This thread just made me realize, I have to move! And the apple trees are finally at their prime....

Manchester, UK
Main Dangers:
Flooding: Manchester is on the wet side of the pennines, and like the rest of the UK, flooding is a risk. My house is about 20' up from a drainage canal, so I've got height if it ever overflows, but some of the city is low lying, and I can see tensions over supply disruption.
Crime: Burglery is endemic to student houses in manchester, and a Burglery was conducted on the (empty) house next door to me a week before I moved in. I live at the bottom of a cul de sac, and away from the main student area's, but it's still a high risk, and we're parionoid in my house about windows and doors.
Muggings and such are also bad in some of the neighbourhoods near me, but mine is ok. Although I was informed by a local boy recently, three people were shot in the bookies, but it's ok, only one of them died.
Manchester was formerly known to the tabloids as gunchester, and although it's quieter, guns are still about in the hands of criminals and gangs.
Racial Tensions: Manchester is a very ethnically diverse city, but it tends to be quite ghettoized, apart from student housing, which has it's own neiughbourhood (fallowfield), and also mixes in with Rusholme (of curry mile fame) and moss side. If something such as an Isreal Iran war, India vs Pakistan or Tamil massacre were to occour, I could see some civil unrest getting quiet unpleasent.

i live in an upper class neighborhood out side a very very economy depressed "city" (technically not a city anymore)

IMO there is a real possibility of riots if something bad happens

Not really in any sort of order, but as I think of them...

1. Tornadoes. This is tornado alley and there are stretches of road where it would take more than a couple of minutes to find suitable shelter.

2. Bad drivers. I don't even think they're inebriated, but the lack of turn signals and lots of lane drifters, make-up appliers and general lack of consideration really piss me off. I regularly witness people just running red lights (at least once every couple of days).

3. Gangs. In some parts of where I live, they're pretty concentrated, and thankfully we don't live too close, but still close enough to make me keep my guard up just in case.

4. Personal hygiene. Swear to God, if I catch one more person walking out of a fast-food/work/gym bathroom after a #2 without even looking at the sink...

5. Lack of awareness. This also sort of goes with the bad drivers aspect, but after gently broaching the preparedness topic with a few people with no motivation to learn or understand, talking with peers about current events they had no knowledge about or care to learn for, seeing women walk alone downtown at night (talking on a cellphone/rummaging through purses and in heels, no less) gives me the . <-That's a helluva run-on sentence, but oh well. This isn't really a danger to me exactly, rather they're a potential danger to themselves.

6. Terror attacks. There's a major base nearby.

Around here the mane problem is the weather in winter. Last year we had a stretch of 87 days below freezing. Backup heating and power are must haves.
We are a farming area so if you haven't been here for at least 15 years your a newb.

Wise County, Texas

1) Wind and Tornadoes. It can blow up a 50-60 mph windstorm in no time and for no good reason. Lost the roof off my barn one night just because the wind got to howling around here. Tornadoes are self-explanatory.

2) Brush fires. Until this past August, we were in a serious drought. The whole country was burning down.

3) Heat. 100+ is an everyday norm in summer and sometimes late spring/early fall too.

4) Lightning. My house has lost 2 transformers, a well pressure switch and capacitor, an entire satellite system and an entire phone system in 5 years due the house or power pole being hit.

5) Coyotes. They've been getting more agressive in general. I've been seeing them closer to the house recently.

6) Skunks. Major carrier of rabies here.

7) Snakes, Spiders, Scorpions. Copperheads are frequently encountered around my 'hood. Where I work, rattlesnakes are frakking everywhere. Scorpions have been a problem inside the house this year. Black Widows like my pump house and barn.

Living in the suburbs of Memphis, TN. here is my threat assessment:

1. Crime: Crime is TERRIBLE in this city. We are always in the top 3 for homicides. I live in a "nice" neighborhood in the suburbs and B&E's, car jackings, and armed robbery's are not terribly uncommon here. Certainly more common than I am comfortable with. I try to keep the house and surrounding area well lit, and I NEVER answer the door unarmed. I realize it sounds paranoid, but I am constantly bombarded by (both news and anecdotal) stories of people being robbed, raped, or worse after opening the front door without checking to see who it was first. The area around my office is very well known for its very high crime rate and high rate of drug use. I do not travel around the area of the office after dark unless absolutely necessary. I also try to make sure I am the last one out and escort anyone who is leaving after dark.

2. Civil unrest/racial tension: This has to be the most racist city I have ever seen. It would not suprise me to see some sort of significant civil unrest or riots. I think it would really only take a mistake by the police or other local government agency to light the fuse on a bomb that has been sitting dormant for years. The racism here is universal, everybody hates someone. Which is pretty sad when you consider the great history of my city, and the role it played in the civil rights movement.

3. New Madrid, 1811-1812, Redux: This will happen at some point. It is really a matter of time. Memphis would become a nightmare overnight. The only way to flee would either be to the south towards Mississippi, which would be dangerous enough given the proximity of the river. Or you could head east towards Nashville and hope to beat the rush. Ideally I owuld prefer to bug in in that situation, but I do not think this place will be inhabitable after a large quake.

Oh yes, and living in a city in China thats population is estimated at 19million crazy drivers that just dont care.

In my piece of Southern IL:

Wildlife
While coyotes and feral dogs are both quite common, the bigger threats come from deer (both in car collisions, and the odd doe attacking hikers during the spring), assorted rabid critters (possums, raccoons, skunks), venomous snakes (rattlers, copperheads, water moccasins).

Angry Drunks and Druggies
While crime isn't a huge threat around here, drunks and meth-heads do get bored, and opt to find people on back roads and beat them to a quivering pulp with startling regularity (considering how little crime I really hear of otherwise). Of course, this is often the result of . . .

Meth Labs
I don't doubt that this is a huge problem everywhere else, I just hear a lot about labs being busted around here.

Weather
Ice storms, extreme cold, extreme heat, flooding, tornadoes, violent thunderstorms, and other things that kill the power and make it hard to get to work.

New Madrid
Like many of you, I'm not far from it, and should it start-a-shaking we'll all be in heap big trouble.

Tucson, AZ

Wildlife
Coyotes. Before reading that thread on the folk singer that was attacked in Canada I rarely assumed Coyotes to be a threat, this has changed. I live outside city limits, but still in the city. Still enough open desert around that we get literal packs (2-12) coyotes come waltzing through the neighborhood every so often.

We make sure the pets stay inside, and leave em alone. Were a very live and let live sorta folk, but I CCW just in case.

Stray Dogs. Bigger problem then the 'yotes, but for the most part I've been lucky, boots and a stick work wonders. Though after my Mom got jacked up punching the shit outa one (it attacked our cat...) she's getting a can of OC as soon as I hit the states, and so will me and the wife.

Crime

Drug related crime is relatively high due to that wonderfully easy to make Meth. Our proximity to Mexico also makes us a fairly big movement corridor. While I haven't had to many issues with drug related crimes (and those I've been apart of were not violent, usually contractors trying to bring Pot on base) it's pretty common. We just moved into the house, but bars, security door, door jam armor, better lighting are all on my to do list.

Coyotes the two legged variety. This fools can be a serious problem, their usually armed, drugged up and have a "mission" to accomplish. They usually are moving people through the deserts, sometimes drugs. But when you figure it costs 80k USD for them to smuggle a "Exotic" across the border (Arab, African, ect ect - this comes straight from Border Patrol) don't expect any mercy if they stumble upon you driving around in your 4x4 in the desert at night. Every year CBP finds dead hunters out in the middle of nowhere with gunshot wounds.

Never travel alone if you can help it, never, ever go "joy" riding alone unless you have a buddy who is willing to come get you ASAP. I'm serious, these guys really don't play around, while their not wearing leather chaps and hockey masks their a damn sight closer to a Raider then anything else I've seen in the US.

Drunk Drivers Tucson has a large population of Military and Students, both groups that stereotypically like to drink, and you always get the dumb asses that think their cool to drive after. My house sits on a corner, and I've already watched people flying down that road doing 50 and taking corners way faster then common sense would dictate is a good idea.

Solution. Big ass rocks, or maybe a couple of Saguaros. Both of those will stop a car dead, might be a bit on the pricey side but if it keeps some dumbass from crashing through my front window then it more then paid for it's self.

That's all right, I didn't remember the rule about politics. To be honest this is the first forum I am a member of in which politics isn't allowed. Please accept my apologizes.

Barton/Lexa, Arkansas
Same here. Just a rual farm area. But we had our share of:
1. Weather
2. Disease
3. Flooding
4. Crime
5. Arson
6. Fires
7. Wildlife
8. Drug Zombies
9. Car Accidents
10. Wild Dogs
11. Meth Labs

Farm drivers. They're all about seventeen and can barely see over the dashboard of the huge rota-flay-o-matic they're caning around blind corners at forty. They take a couple of bystanders out each year. Somehow they never seem to do time.

Boy racers. Same kids, in their rice-mobiles, drunk and showing off. They generally wipe themselves (and their girlfriends) out but sometimes take folks with 'em. It's rare that there's not new "police accident" tape over a bit of destroyed hedgerow.

Yeah, I have a downer on drivers, can you guess that I bike?

Weird weather - specifically flash precip, thunderstorms or rare snow. We get so little snow that everyone panics and the - oh hey, I'm obsessing - idiot drivers are sliding all over the place. Nobody has snow chains because you'd use them twice a year max, and nobody takes a snow day. Once the commuters get off the commuter routes into the country lanes, hilarity ensues.

Plague. I work at a hospital. Most of what I do is backroom computer stuff, and when I deal with machines in patient areas I use remote-control tools. The engineers who attend broken stuff, they get about three times as sick as regular humans. No way.

Crime is low, arson is trivial, we don't get wildfires unless it's a crazy-dry summer (yay climate change, expect more). There's some theft of agricultural kit but that's not a danger. Damn, anyone would think I'm in the English countryside. Cucumber sandwich?

I also meant to add Fear, etc., Flesh Eating Bacteria, Unemployment, Poverty, Flash Floods, Tornadoes, Severe Thunderstorms, and Drought.

For me and my family our major risks would be....

• Car accidents : Some people around here drive like shit and in the past three years I've been hit twice. I was hit from behind by one person that wasn't paying attention (minor fender bender) and one time I got (seriously) hit by a drunk driver traveling at 90 MPH who wasn't even supposed to be in the country, who didn't have a drivers license and who took off from the scene (that one ruptured the C6 disc in my neck and caused me months of pain and physical therapy and three cortizone shots - the drunk driver was eventually arrested by police after the wreck because some people who saw the MVA followed him from the scene, but he was allowed to bond out, he disappeared and because there are a million Mexican guys with his name nothing will probably ever happen to him).
• Flooding : I live in the DFW area right near a lake, so.....Flooding would be one of the worst major disasters I can think of. All it would take would be a really, really good rain and we'd be screwed and have at least several inches to a foot or so of water in my house.
• House fire : I try to reduce the risk of this by unplugging appliances, being conscientious almost to the point of paranoia about leaving the stove on, making sure all my smoke detectors work and by having several fire extinguishers in each location of the house (two story 4 bedroom house)
• Minor crime : The neighborhood I'm living in now was nice when we first moved in, but because of lowered housing costs and government housing programs the neighborhood seems to be changing and because of that there are a lot of thefts from open garages and from vehicle burglaries.
• Major Crime : Not much of that happens in this particular city right now, especially compared with some communities (although there have been several murders and armed robberies the past two years - nothing like that in the years before that), but because of the aforementioned shift in the neighborhood major crimes like armed robbery, home invasions and murders in moderate numbers shouldn't be too far behind.
  Tornado's : Several of them land each year in locations around us, but we haven't had one here in this particular city so far. Eventually our luck may run out (I don't have a storm shelter or a basement either and the last thing that I want to happen is to have my home and possessions I worked hard for for to be carried off by the four winds and to end up in the Land of Oz without a pair of red shoes).

CRIME: Juniata park PA , need i say more?
gangs
drug dealers and the traffic they bring
nightly gunfire ( you know, to mix it up with the sound of firecrackers and ambulances)
choke point alleys, easily blocked one way streets, fences and barbed wire obstacles everywhere
324? murders here last year, and we're almost there this year...
unemployment related crime and looting ( theft from and of vehicles is 500x the national average in this neighborhood.)
aggressive ( drunk drug mugging ) homeless
nothing like armed strangers getting high on your doorstep nightly
fire...because it spreads from row-home to row-home rather quick in these parts. ( one fire takes out half a block....) and it seems like a crack house is always going up nearby.
race related issues ( black panthers at my voting booth?)
civil unrest is the disaster i'm most prepping for, as it's likely to happen again before an earthquake typhoon asteroid strike kinda thing. those would be easier to deal with.

all of that will be magnified by a simple incident like losing power or gas for more than a day or two.

Sierra Vista, AZ

I'm close enough that I can pretty much give a +1 to Sckitzo's post. I'm less worried about the drivers, living out of town and off the highway a little bit.

Another concern down here:

Drought. Not that we have all that much water to start with... Could lead to trouble with wildfire, but somehow that doesn't seem to worry people much down here, that I've seen.

And there's no shortage of stinging/biting wildlife.

I don't how I forgot about this
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/conten ... 05lab.html

Yeah, an infectious disease biolab

Who's bright idea was it to have a bio-lab where Hurricanes hit?

Not much where I am. In a town of 1300, 25Km of open prairie farmland from any city.

Weather in summer and winter can get dangerous.

Crime is almost nonexistent, I dont tend to lock car or house.

Power loss happens and frequently due to steel induction furnaces in the city but almost never a loss for more than a few seconds. Had many more long term blackouts in the city.

Transport accidents are about the biggest danger i can think of as my house is under a half mile from the Trans Canada highway and a major freight rail line. I get home from work at about 2AM and often walk the dog to settle down. About a month ago I was about 6 blocks from home when a train that was about half its length through town slammed on the brakes. I was nearly home at a dead run and ready to toss everyone in the car and get out of dodge when the thing stopped with no sign of derailment. Still not sure what happened as it started back up before i got the mile to the front of the train. This got me thinking and changed a few of my plans.

Yeah my family is in a freakisly safe place.

TMM

Sorry about that.