Disaster preparedness is, unfortunately, a part of life where people seem to exist at the extremes more than not. Being prepared for a disaster is a basic responsibility for everybody. No matter how good the infrastructure is in your community, it's possible that something can happen to make things go terribly wrong. Some of the myths about disaster preparedness, it seems, cause otherwise sensible people to forgo having even a simple survival kit.

It's important to remember that you don't have to be a survivalist to understand the value of having good survival gear. When you're thinking about survival situations, make sure you don't concentrate on the most far-fetched scenarios. Imagine, for example, that the city sewer system went out, causing backflow into the taps and you lost clean water. Imagine what would happen if a substation or two caught on fire, depriving your neighborhood of electricity for an extended period. Imagine a bad storm that ends up cutting you off from being able to go to the grocery store for a couple of days. These are survival situations that just about everyone will face at least once in their lifetime.

For these situations, there are short-term survival kits that you can purchase and keep stashed in a closet or somewhere else. These sometimes contain food, water purification equipment, first-aid gear, portable heaters and other equipment that will help you survive in the event that you are affected by one of the same kinds of disasters that affect thousands of people every year.

It's only sensible to want to have some recourse in the event of a disaster. Make sure you at least have some basic supplies available. Even losing the power for an extended period can be incredibly disruptive. It's not a problem at all if you have a survival kit available.