The creator of the things worked in emergency preparedness in a past life. One thing that really struck her was how the community resilience and infrastructure already in place made a huge difference. During the Spanish Influenza pandemic boy scouts delivered food in Australia and kept numerous quarantined households alive. On the other side places where there are brittlenesses, bigotries and fears things can get worse. We saw that in Hurricane Katrina where organic communities of support that sprang up were violently dismantled because of existing fears and bigotries and people with cerebral palsy and in diabetic shock were turned away from refuges because they were perceived to be drunk (and even if they were drunk is that cause to throw them out into the wilds?). The infrastructure, the communities we have before an emergency strikes can make a huge difference in how we respond to that which breaks all normal structures.
Perhaps a little serious for this Monday morning, but the communities we make, the adequate resourcing, love, acceptance and understanding of the communities we make makes a huge difference.
I also decided that if we can have an imagination powered disaster like zombies we can have an imagination powered cure too! ^_^
Emergency Planning with Bunson Hoppydew Webcomic Transcript
Narrator: What's your pandemic plan?
Bunson Hoppydew: Wash my hands and support my community
Narrator: What's your bushfire plan?
Bunson: Flee early or take effective shelter and support my community
Narrator: What's your blackout plan?
Bunson: Torch, blankets, eat ice cream* and support my community
* in case of cold weather, replace eat ice cream with snuggle in bed
Narrator: What's your zombie plan?
Bunson: Find a hug transmitted cure and support my community.