Preppers, People Prepared For Any Disaster
What would you do if your city found itself plunged into violent social uprisings? Would you know how to act in the face of a nuclear disaster? How would you react if a magnetic storm hit us and the whole electrical system stopped working? These questions are not a problem for a very concrete group in society : the preppers.
It is likely that many of you are unaware of the large amount of publications that exist on this subject, on how to survive the most varied disasters. On Amazon, for example, we can find up to 300 books on the most incredible disasters, with ways to deal with them.
Food, construction of bunkers, psychological preparation… These themes are all the rage but, in reality, they have been of particular interest for years. For example, National Geographic made a documentary in 2012 on preppers – a group of individuals who prepare for the onset of a disaster on a daily basis – which has worked very well.
We have seen that the fear of the arrival of a great disaster is a constant in human beings. The only peculiarity is that many have made this reality their lifestyle.
The arrival of a pandemic has meant that many people now turn into preppers overnight. And, behind that, it is a whole culture and a social movement worthy of analysis which is hidden …
And you, are you prepared for what could happen?
The prepper phenomenon is not new. Consider, for example, the anguish experienced worldwide between 1947 and 1991 with the Cold War. The end of the fear of a possible nuclear disaster then led to other types of concerns with the transition to the new millennium.
We could say that this transition from the wake of the Cold War to the era of modernity was made with the effect of the year 2000 or Y2K. It was at this point that another much more sophisticated group began to emerge.
It has now been two decades that preppers have evolved in numbers and rely on new technologies, forums and internet groups to exchange information. During this period, many events have occurred and this list of people prepared for any disaster has continued to grow.
Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, fear of climate change and, arguably the most striking of all: the current pandemic. Living with the idea that other disasters can occur can make us think that this form of existence goes hand in hand with constant anxiety.
But this is not the case. In fact, the simple fact of knowing how to act in the face of the most adverse situations gives them calm and a feeling of security.
How are the preppers?
The preppers lead apparently a normale.Ils life study, they work, they have their family, their passions … Nevertheless, many of them have one thing in common: they have gone through a more or less complex experience that the makes think.
Having experienced a natural disaster or having experienced a power outage for hours or days made them think of a way to be more prepared if it happened again. That’s when they go online and find out about the term preppers, and all that is behind it.
And it’s a bit like discovering a new religion, taking a master’s degree in survival, immersing yourself in a new way of seeing and understanding the world. Let’s analyze this.
The preppers, rational people and far removed from the theories complotistes
It is possible that upon hearing about these people preparing for disaster, we immediately imagine the classic conspiratorial loner. Quite the contrary:
- The preppers are men and women between 25 and 45 years who appreciate culture, social events and live in urban areas.
- They don’t believe in conspiracy theories.
- It is forbidden to talk about politics in groups and on prepper forums .
- They are aware of the shortcomings of our system in the face of a possible disaster, whether health, environmental or any other type.
Bradley Garrett, social geographer at University College Dublin and author of the book Bunker: Building for End Times estimates that worldwide there are around 20 million preppers. And the number continues to increase.
A desire for security in an era marked by uncertainty
This group is well aware of one fact: no one knows 100% how to act in the face of a certain disaster. Of course, we don’t know what kind of events climate change can bring.
We also don’t know if the future will bring us another kind of virus or if the disappearance of the bees will drift, as many people say, into a disaster of epic proportions. The preppers looking to prepare for every possible way, at any event.
This allows them to reduce their uncertainty. Even if we don’t know what can happen to us, developing basic action strategies can be of great help. For example, this group of our society already had masks to protect itself from a viral agent in the event of a pandemic.
How are preppers prepared?
Some do have a bunker. However, a good portion of them, as we have reported, live in urban areas. They cannot therefore necessarily have a construction of this kind, at least in such proportions. In general, they are prepared as follows:
- They announce their preparation on the forums, under the label: ready for 4-6 weeks. This indicates the amount of food stored and the duration.
- They know which foods to choose to meet all the basic nutritional needs.
- Many grow their own vegetables.
- They are constantly exchanging information.
- A good part of the preppers are people who have studied: medicine, engineering, physics …
- They prepare themselves psychologically for adversity.
- They learn new skills : water purification techniques, preparing electrical devices without having access to an electrical network, basic medical care, etc.
To conclude, beyond the astonishment that this subject may arouse in us, we must underline an obvious fact: disasters are part of our closest reality. Being prepared doesn’t mean being overly alarmist, it’s part of the norm. The problem, of course, would be to turn this worry into a form of life.
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