I live in San Diego County and last week we experienced a power outage that lasted from about 3:30pm Thursday, until about 1:30am the Friday morning. As far as 'disasters' or 'emergencies' go, it was lightweight. I mean, it certainly was no Katrina. But the factors around this particular experience got me thinking about how prepared -- or not -- we are as Americans, for any real emergency.
The fact that this power outage -- which was supposedly caused by one Arizona Public Service worker who was trying to fix the main power line into Southern California -- affected the entire southern corner of the United States at the same time was horrifying to me. That this could even happen is mind boggling. First the power went out. Then the cell phones went down, though we could still text locally. When I got in my car to drive around to find ice, I realized that all the FM radio stations were silent, the hissing of dead air space gave me the eerie feeling I was about to live out some weird doomsday movie plot. But the real horror was that this is 2011, in America, and this was actually happening. Thank God we had a scanner so I could at least hear what the police were saying and try to glean some information from them. The fact that this could even happen in today's America is unfathomable, and now every nutjob in the world knows that all it takes is one guy to bring down the power for an entire section of the United States of America. Nice thought, huh? Imagine the chaos that could be whipped up by cutting off huge swathes of power across the country at the same time? Folks like to pontificate about the importance of 'Homeland Security' but nobody wants to actually pay for infrastructure upgrades that the President has been talking about for his entire administration. This is the perfect example of 'homeland insecurity' and why investing in our infrastructure is absolutely critical. Congress needs to stop acting like a bunch of spoiled, thumb-sucking whiners who are pouting because their candidate didn't win, and approve spending aimed at improving infrastructure immediately. They are in their jobs to do what's best for this country and investing in infrastructure is what's best for this country. It doesn't matter what side of the aisle you sit on, it's in everyone's best interest.
The other thing that got me thinking was how unprepared we are as American citizens to handle anything other than the most cursory of 'emergencies.' How far we've come from being able to be a country where we help our neighbors and communities when an emergency or unusual situation occurs. For example, when I heard the police on the scanner talking about this lasting until late Friday, I went looking for ice, just in case. My first stop was the nearest 7-11, where although they were out of ice, the staff were trying to help every customer. They'd set up with one staff outside taking customer orders, then he would go inside and see if he had your items, tally them up and you would pay him and he'd bring the groceries out to you. I didn't get anything there because I only wanted ice, so I headed to my local community grocer up the road. Imagine pulling up to your local grocery store in a time of need and seeing that they are closed simply because the power is out. Your lights are off and you close down? Really, you're that inept and unprepared?! The staff were sitting together on the other side of the locked glass doors looking like they were about to meet their maker, and when I yelled in through the door crack and said I had cash and did they have any more ice, they just gave me an snotty look and pointed to their "Closed" sign. I then drove to the local food co-op down the street and they too had closed up and taken off. I thought I'd buy some of their deli for dinner since it was all easily perishable and I'd be helping them by buying food that surely would spoil quickly, and they'd help me by providing me with a quick, easy dinner option. But no, they abandoned their community too in time of need despite their 'we're so community-oriented' preaching. The only business within considerable driving distance that helped the community was a multinational corporation, 7-11. Local businesses ran away at the drop of a hat, nice huh?
I started thinking, "What the hell is going on with these local businesses? Isn't an emergency the exact time that local business and community should come together and help one another out?" I mean, I lived through the New York City blackout in the summer of 1977 and I distinctly remember going to local bars with my friends to ride out the blackout with other folks from our neighborhood. If you ran out of cash they started a tally for you. The local supermarkets knew their food would spoil so they not only were open for business, some were giving away free produce and other perishable food that was just going to go bad anyway. Mind you, I wasn't expecting a free handout yesterday, but a little local neighborhood business help would have been nice for the many people living in my area.
Some people tried to excuse the local shops, saying that they had to close because we've come so far from a cash-based society, and that we are so overly dependent on electronic check out methods and credit card scanners that the stores 'couldn't' do business even if they wanted to. I call BS on that. Over in the San Diego neighborhood of North Park, friends reported that their local shops remained open late into the night, running credit cards with good old fashioned manual credit card machines, remember those?! They'd use the manual machine and record the transaction in a book so they could be sure all accounts went through the next day. How difficult is that (that was a rhetorical question because the answer is 'not very')? And why couldn't more stores do the same thing last night? It was appalling how deserted it felt knowing nearly all the businesses closed up and took off on us.
So I ask, are we -- as a country -- equipped to deal with a real emergency? One that might last for several days? I don't think we are and we need to so something about it. Now, not when we need it, that will be too late. What I learned from listening to the scanner the other day is this -- local government departments (police, fire, medical, etc.) have enough to deal with during an emergency situation, they require investment and financial support to ensure that in times of need, rare though we hope they are, we are all prepared and well-looked after. And we -- the citizens of this country -- need to come together, as communities and local businesses, and figure out a plan of action that will help to keep folks connected and ensure that people who need supplies and services can have access to what they need during an emergency. Businesses need to be prepared to run manual credit cards -- yeah, just like in the olden days -- and to stand with the communities that patronize their shops on a daily basis. We need a plan. Like, now. So talk to your local businesses and Chambers of Commerce and work out a viable plan in case of emergency. Because I can tell you firsthand, when you're driving around desperate for something to get you through a crisis and all your local shops have closed up and left town, it's not a good feeling.