Ask the people in New Orleans whether a bug-out bag is for power-fantasy "roleplay" or a tool for surviving a natural disaster.
Hi! I grew up middle-class in New Orleans. I don't live there any more, but I was there to have all my crap destroyed by Katrina.
My family never had a "bug-out bag". Whenever a hurricane's path looked scary, we grabbed what we absolutely positively couldn't bear to lose and threw it in the trunk of the car in the days when the weathermen were still hemming and hawing about whether it was going to hit the city. As to the rest of the city? Well, I dunno. I can bet you that most of the people who were stuck in the Superdome sure didn't have an extra bag hanging around in their car for the sole purpose of getting out; most of them didn't have a car. Nobody I knew in the city has ever mentioned having such a thing.
I mean, hurricanes, you can see coming for weeks. They're not an "oh shit instant unexpected tragedy I have to go NOW" event.
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Date: 2010-02-09 01:17 am (UTC)Hi! I grew up middle-class in New Orleans. I don't live there any more, but I was there to have all my crap destroyed by Katrina.
My family never had a "bug-out bag". Whenever a hurricane's path looked scary, we grabbed what we absolutely positively couldn't bear to lose and threw it in the trunk of the car in the days when the weathermen were still hemming and hawing about whether it was going to hit the city. As to the rest of the city? Well, I dunno. I can bet you that most of the people who were stuck in the Superdome sure didn't have an extra bag hanging around in their car for the sole purpose of getting out; most of them didn't have a car. Nobody I knew in the city has ever mentioned having such a thing.
I mean, hurricanes, you can see coming for weeks. They're not an "oh shit instant unexpected tragedy I have to go NOW" event.
Just saying.