Don't Fear the Reaper! (Or Actually, Do, and Be Prepared for Anything.)

Good afternoon, Queen City!

While I know I am constantly throwing information out on this blog to help Charlotte (and hopefully the rest of the world) become more prepared to deal with realistic emergencies, I did want to showcase today a nifty campaign launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A while back, while looking for ways to grab the attention of the masses regarding our oh-so-glamorous topic of emergency preparedness, the CDC in its infinite creative wisdom released the preparedness campaign to end all preparedness campaigns: a zombie apocalypse novella. 

While the actual likelihood of a zombie apocalypse is a topic of fair debate (I still somehow can't get into The Walking Dead), this campaign was so effective that rumor has it the CDC's server actually couldn't handle all the traffic. In the 36-page graphic novella, Todd, Julie, and Max must survive a zombie apocalypse, during which they are trapped in their home for almost a week and then must evacuate and navigate to the closest shelter. This brings up a lot of issues with relevance to disaster preparedness, regardless of the proximity of a zombie population. If you are trapped in your home for a week, do you have food and water set aside for you and your pets? Do you have a battery-operated radio in your home to be able to find out where your local shelters may be or if there are any official advisories for your area?

Somehow, even with this being a fairly common distributed material in the emergency preparedness community, I only just now sat down and read the novella, and I will say, it's quite worth the read. Not only does it remind the reader of what might be needed should any disaster (natural, man-made, or zombie) arise, but it's also pretty downright entertaining. 

Click here to read a PDF version of the novella!

And, because life with music is always better than life without, here's some more Blue Oyster Cult to make your workday a little nicer. And as the CDC points out with their zombie apocalypse allegory, maybe you should fear the reaper. Or at any rate, at least fear the reaper enough to get by for a few days on your own.

Stay safe, Charlotte, and enjoy the particularly on-point moustache game in this music video.