Are We At Risk From A Global Pandemic?

[Ystranc]

The lost and witless wanderers are often the worst, they turn up in my yard while I'm preparing my dinner expecting me to drop everything and tow their car out of a ditch or give them directions. There is very little cell phone coverage here and it seems that most people's brains cannot function without a 4G signal. They treat having no cell signal as an emergency in its own right.

 

[lonewolf]

tell me about it! we've just had family visitors down from Hampshire and they haven't a clue about the countryside, not only are they wandering across farmers fields which are knee high in mud at this time of year, they let their dog chase sheep and even walked around the back of the farmyard where there was a couple of dead sheep(wild animal attack we think) ......that sure made them stop and think!! they are going home tomorrow, thank goodness and good riddance.

 

[The Boogie Man]

Number 1 on the list for a serious SHTF situation for me. Studying the Black Death really made an impact on me, and how such a pestilence can destroy and alter societies. Using the same studies and projected numbers, and impact on infrastructure, an outbreak of the same magnitude by whatever organism would have the potential to collapse our civilisation. Given our modern transport systems the pathogen could be pan global in days if not hours. The reason Medieval society did not regress was down to the level and dispersion of technology. It was common knowledge how to carry out those tasks that made life possible. People knew how to spin, weave, make leather, forge etc, and the level of agriculture was met by Man & Beast power. Already possessed with this knowledge Medieval society although severely damaged by the Plague recovered quickly.
Consider our modern Technologically advanced society, the energy and infrastructure is maintained by a small select group of people as compared to the overall population. Who would maintain these facilities, power stations, pumping stations with 60-90% of the population dead? it's a terrifying thought! and very possible according to many scientists. When you look back through history the BIG ONES have always come from Mother nature. And as we exploit those tropical areas of Earth we are coming across more and more. Current attention is on the H1N1 series of "bird Flu" virus because it has a relation to the infamous "Spanish Flu" of 1918.

 

[lonewolf]

in the past when societies collapsed the survivors were able to access their daily needs by their own labours because their technology was so simple and basic, its not so these days, take away the internet, mobile phones, deliveries to the shops, electricity, mains services and the like- which would happen in a large pandemic without people to maintain them, most of the population will be unable to survive without these things.
the mortality rate during the black death was 40% of the population but the population was only 6 million back then, it fell to around 2 million post plague, a similar occurrence with our 10 times larger population- 80% of which are housed in huge urban cities, and our rapid transport systems, would result in much higher mortality and a collapse of civilisation as we know it.