Contigency Planning in the Wake of NO

Where I live, it's pretty safe. Fairly landlocked, middle of nowhere sort of place. Farms and all that. But watching the news in disbelief, I'm not going to make believe that things are going to stay that way forever.

Call me paranoid, call me whatever, I don't care. I need to start preparing. You should too, just in case. It's pretty clear that in the event of any major threat or disaster, the only person you have to rely on if yourself. Quite possibly your animals as well, depending on sizes and species. Basically, my theory is that if you're not totally screwed by whatever catastrophe occurs, the follow up and exodus might just screw you anyways.

Remember kiddies, as bad as Katrina was, the human element is only making it worse.

And thus this thread came into being. I am seriously re-evaluating my original plan of "run away and hide". While escpaing to the more remote parts of my nation is not bad in and of itself, I realized it was impractical. If someone nuked the closest large city to me, the roads would be packed and I'd prettymuch be stuck walking.

So, what to do?

Whatever else happens, I know my first concern is getting and staying armed. Why? All the food in the world won't help me if my next door neighbor caves my head in with a bat, will it? For someone going to school, this presents a problem, in that my cashflow is nearly nil and gun ownership tends to be expensive.

Second issue is supplies. I need a small enough stockpile of supplies that I can carry it, but big enough to last me at least a week. This includes food, water, hygeine and medical supplies. Dysentery is not terribly condusive to survival. Me, I'd personally like to hunker down, but I know that it's not always possible.

Third is construction materials. Universally delicious, they provide a means to fortify, repair, hold off or otherwise make things more bearable. They qualify as the least expensive in daily life and most available. Also, they draw a lot less attention that crates of ammunition.

As you can see, my plan is woefully incomplete. So, I encourage help. Hell, I encourage others to post their own plans and recommendations.

DE