Online talk of disaster preparedness brings business to Northwest Side surplus store
A surge in talk about disaster preparedness is showing up at the register of a Northwest Side business.
Olivia O’Banion, who manages National Outdoors and Army Surplus, says she is seeing a “definite uptick” in sales of supplies related to survival.
“(Customers) come in, like, just, ‘I want to be sure that I have canned goods and whatever I need just in case whatever happens,’” she said.
The interest is sparked by numerous discussions recently about disaster preparedness.
In September, the U. S. Pentagon unveiled its FORTRESS plan, which calls on all military bases to be prepared to sustain themselves independently for at least 90 days.
FORTRESS stands for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability.
Earlier this week, Japan launched its new National Disaster Management Agency. Additionally, the United Kingdom and European Union each introduced their own disaster preparedness plans.
In most cases, the plans include a component where citizens are advised to have enough supplies to take care of themselves for at least 72 hours.
The plans mention keeping water, flashlights, batteries and canned foods on hand. Potential scenarios these plans might be needed for include natural disasters, civil unrest and war.
“They’re concerned about the power grid going out. They’re concerned about not having the drinking water,” O’Banion said, explaining what her customers are expressing.
She said the items most often requested are MREs (meals ready to eat) and water filtration tablets.
The rush is reminiscent of the Y2K era, when people stocked up over fears that computer failures would disrupt daily life. O’Banion said the current interest feels even more intense.
Bexar County Emergency Management and the Texas Division of Emergency Management have ongoing advisories about preparedness, posted to their websites.
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