THE TIME IS NOW TO PLAN FOR AN EMERGENCY EVENT
How worried are you of a terrorist attack from al Qaeda?
Three scenarios could describe a two part whammy that terrorists could use to stage an attack in America.
- One scenario: a first attack that disables communications. Thus, in responding to a first attack, the Police Department would not be able to communicate with each other or with other services. Also, terrorists could do something to overwhelm police and first responders and prevent the emergency system from responding to a real target. This would cause confusion, panic, and chaos.
- The second scenario: a first attack would be set off in a place big enough to draw attention away from the real target, which would be their second attack. With most resources being used to deal with the first attack, departments could be spread too thin to adequately handle the second attack.
- The third scenario: a first attack would be a cyber attack, followed by a physical attack after communications and transportation systems are knocked out.
Are you prepared to handle these three scenarios if any one of them were carried out in your area? Are you at all concerned about how you would personally deal with it as a family? If so, what plans have you made to cope with the reality of it?
Al Qaeda is known for multiple location attacks so any one or all of these scenarios could happen, and likely will. What do you expect will happen in your community if a financial institution is attacked (perhaps your own bank or its main branch offices)? What if your community’s communications or transportation infrastructure is attacked? How will it affect you and what problems would it cause you? Have you considered how you would respond to these problems?
The enemy knows that the only way to take down a powerful nation like ours is to strike our strength and make them our weakness — such would be the case with our transportation and financial institutions.
In addition, have you looked at weaknesses in your own household? How could you alleviate the repercussions of such a risk? One scenario might be your banking institution. Would you be able to access your money or would you have to rely on backup cash-on-hand to keep you going for a few days.
Personally, I had such a situation happen to me, when money in my bank account was unavailable for three days. All the funds I had was the money in my wallet. The problem originated in my bank’s main office in South Carolina. A bad ice storm had made it impossible for the main office to update the various branches of the bank. My bank’s branch was one that could not update. Since my account balance could not be verified, the bank would not allow me to write checks or use a debit card until the balance could be verified.
Another situation happened a few years ago when I did not have access to the money in my account. I had just used a Visa debit card to purchase groceries and the process worked fine. However, only minutes later, when I tried to make a MasterCard debit for a prescription pickup, the process wouldn’t work. I was told a vehicle had hit a main electronic trunk that verifies insurance coverages and processes debit cards. Without verifying my insurance coverage and use of a debit card, I had to pay with a check for the full price of my prescription. Days later I took back my recent and they refunded the difference in cost for the prescription coverage.
Bad weather can keep you from getting out of the house to restock your supplies. Also, a trucking strike or delivery problems could interfere with restocking store shelves and make food and supplies scarce. There are several situations where something critical might happen to prevent you from getting what you need: such as some emergency supplies, food, water, medication, or whatever else you need until the situation changes. Can you handle things by yourself in those situations?
If terrorists attack or there’s an emergency, do your children know your plans? Do they know where to meet up with each other afterwards?
You need to discuss your plans with all family members and possibly neighbors so everyone knows what to do. Planning ahead helps the family avoid chaos, panic, and hysteria.
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