"Your Supplies Probably Won’t Be Stolen in a Disaster" by jefftk

"Your Supplies Probably Won’t Be Stolen in a Disaster" by jefftk

From LessWrong (Curated & Popular) by LessWrong

April 24, 2026 · 4 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the misconceptions about societal breakdown during disasters and highlights the supportive behaviors of communities in such situations.

When I write about things like storing food or medication in case of disaster, one common response I get is that it doesn't matter: society will break down, and people who are stronger than you will take your stuff. This seemed plausible at first, but it's actually way off. Looking at past disasters, people mostly fall somewhere on a "kind and supportive" to "keep to themselves" spectrum. When there is looting it's typically directed at stores, not homes, and violence is mostly...

People in this episode

Guest: jefftk

Topics covered

  • disaster preparedness
  • societal behavior
  • looting
  • community support
  • food storage

Keywords

  • disaster
  • society
  • looting
  • food storage
  • community
  • support
  • preparedness

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