2014, Living Ready, Iola, WI, pages 96-99

Art is a former military guy and gun guru who was staying with his wife’s family in the coastal town of Dulag on the island of Leyte in the Philippines when the 2013 typhoon Yolanda hit.

Art’s narration of the trials facing the community and his family was harrowing. A nearby prison had its containments breeched and the inmates escaped, literally raping and pillaging. There were no functional firearms to be had for defense. One had to fortify and then strike out in convoys to bring in supplies. Despite the fact that the Filipinos—as Art noted—had a superior sense of community to Westerners, larger and more cohesive families and a shared religion, bandits abounded.

Art provides a tested list of tips for the ‘stranger’ caught in a disaster ‘in a strange land’. What really struck me as I read this, is how this same disaster would extrapolate to a more technology-dependent Sodom and Gomorrah society, wherever something like that might be a teetering concern…