A recent survey reported on American’s beliefs about
preparation and disaster preparedness.
The major finding of the survey, conducted by Kelton
Research, showed that 85% of Americans do not feel prepared for a catastrophe.
They were asked questions about why they feel they need to prepare, what
catastrophes they might face, how to best prepare and what they would do if
they thought the world was going to end.
Check out some of the findings below:
Do Americans feel the
need to prepare?
Do you need to prepare more?
Interestingly, Americans were split on whether they needed further preparations
for a potential catastrophe. 49% said they were “as prepared as I need to be.”
51% said they needed more preparations.
Do you think a
catastrophe will occur?
One of the interesting findings from the survey was that the majority of
Americans believe that a major catastrophe will occur within in the next 20
years.
Beliefs about 2012
Almost ⅓ of respondents (27%) believe that a catastrophic event is likely to
occur on Dec. 21, 2012. 73% responded that a major event on that date is
unlikely.
Are Americans
actually prepared?
How prepared are you compared to those
around you?
When asked how prepared they feel compared to their neighbors, half (53%) said
they were “about as prepared” as those around them. Nearly ¼ (23%) said they
were “more prepared” and another ¼ (24%) said they were “less prepared” than
the rest of the country.
How long could you
last?
Nearly 40% of people say they would only last two weeks based on their current
supplies.
How fast could you
evacuate?
The majority of Americans (49%) said they would need 15 – 60 minutes to prepare
if they were required to leave their home. Only 8% said they would be ready to
leave their home with all the things they needed in order to survive in “less
than a minute.”
Would you share your
supplies?
The majority of Americans said they were willing to share their preparation
supplies or food storage. 76% of respondents said they would share resources
with their immediate family. 42% said they would share with neighbors. 24% even
said they would share with neighbors that they didn’t know that well. Only 3%
of respondents said they wouldn’t share their resources with anyone.
Reasons to prepare
Natural Disasters
The majority of Americans feel that a significant natural disaster will occur
within the next 25 years. 64% said they believed a significant earthquake would
hit. 63% said a significant hurricane and 29% said that a pandemic, such as a
super-virus would occur.
Nearly 3 out of every 4 people (71%) believe that disaster
in our lifetime will be an act of God, not man.
Man-made disasters
With that being said, 55% of Americans believe that a terrorist attack could
occur within the next 25 years. 51% believe that a financial collapse could
occur while 14% fear a nuclear fallout.
Why are you not
prepared?
When asked what were the major reasons that they were not prepared for a
potential catastrophe, 40% of Americans said they “couldn’t afford to buy or
stock up on certain supplies.” More than ¼ (27%) said they didn’t know what
they should be doing in order to prepare.
About ¼ of respondents (24%) said they didn’t need to
prepare because they “didn’t think any catastrophes will happen.”
How to prepare
Money vs resources
59% said they believed that “saving for retirement,” such as donating to a
401(k), was smarter than stocking up on resources or building a bomb shelter.
41% said they preferred stocking up on resources.
Food & Water
A large chunk of Americans (45%), have stocked up on canned or non-perishable
food items. Around the same amount, 43%, have also collected drinking
water. Only 21% grow their own food, such as fruits and vegetables.
Escape plans
More than ⅓ (34%) of Americans make efforts to keep a full tank of gas in their
car in order to escape. 33% of Americans have a go-bag or 72-hour kit. 20% have
an family escape plan.
Other plans
A little more than ¼ (26%) of Americans own at least one gun. Almost the same
amount, 24% plan on having extra cash on hand. 9 % of Americans have built a
bomb shelter.
Do nothing
Nearly ¼ (25%) of Americans say they have never made any preparation efforts.
Click on this link:
to see the full results, you can find them here.
Article posted from TheReadyStore.com
