Disaster hypothetical

[Lonestar]

Let's say that there is a pandemic that is affecting your country/area. About 10% of the population is infected, this doesn't mean 10% are dead but much of that may be people knocked on their ass, the disease is fairly contagious, and as a result schools are closing and absenteeism rates are high at most places of work. Hospitals have gotten slammed and are starting to turn people away.

The supermarkets in your area have essentially been picked clean for the week or so, and who knows when food deliveries will start again. Some places have government food distribution centers, but your area doesn't(or at least not enough to reliably hand out food).

Your neighbors realize you have food(be it because you were a prepper, you started hitting the supermarket early and often at the start of the emergency, whatever), and come knocking demanding that you share with them. What do you do?

[Broomstick]

Assuming they outnumber you, you might not have a choice. The prudent thing would be to attempt to hide food, but you risk their anger if they find out you've been hiding/hoarding.

[mr friendly guy]

Not to sound like a cheat, but presumably I don't have this disease or have already gotten over it? The other thing I wanted to ask is, is air travel completely banned, or are people who have passed the incubation period or gotten over the disease allowed to fly out. Because whats to stop me flying out overseas to wait this one out assuming both the above conditions are satisfied.

Got relatives in Singapore, although I am sure I could sit in a hostel in Europe for a few weeks. The only country so far that I have travelled to requiring a visa with the Australian passport is the PRC, so I could theoretically run to a few places on short notice. In which case, split the food with the neighbours and get the hell out of dodge.

[Ralin]

It would depend a lot on exactly how many neighbors I have, how much food I have, what if anything the police are doing and how many people I have on my side. Ideally I'd want to help as much as I can without putting myself in the same boat as everyone else, so if the numbers work out to me being able to feed my neighbors and not run out for at least a week or two I'd sit down and try to work something out, since that is the right thing to do and all and I'll probably be better off with my neighbors helping me anyway. With warnings to the people that demanded food that they get forgiven for that exactly once and that this is me doing them and their families a favor.

Not sure how realistic that part of the scenario is, honestly. Most people are used to following the major laws like "Don't break into someone's home and take their stuff." Even under extreme circumstances like this I figure there would probably be some lead-up before we got to the part where my neighbors are literally banging on my door and making demands. Assuming I'm not going to be a dick about it I should have been able to head things off before people got insistent.

Not to sound like a cheat, but presumably I don't have this disease or have already gotten over it? The other thing I wanted to ask is, is air travel completely banned, or are people who have passed the incubation period or gotten over the disease allowed to fly out. Because whats to stop me flying out overseas to wait this one out assuming both the above conditions are satisfied.

Got relatives in Singapore, although I am sure I could sit in a hostel in Europe for a few weeks. The only country so far that I have travelled to requiring a visa with the Australian passport is the PRC, so I could theoretically run to a few places on short notice. In which case, split the food with the neighbours and get the hell out of dodge.

Even if leaving the country isn't an option it seems like gassing up a couple of minivans and sending people out however far they need to go to get to a distribution center for the rest of us should be a viable option unless there are literal blockades. And if there's enough government presence to enforce martial law then there should be enough government presence to get food delivered.

[mr friendly guy]

Funny thing is, looking at google maps there are 16 supermarkets within a 6 km radius of my house, most of which I am totally unaware of.

What does the OP consider local? I have at least 3 supermarkets which are walking distance from my house, and 6 km is clearly driving distance but inconvenient for walking with groceries. If the further ones aren't consider "local" then its quite doable to go to another one and maybe we will have better luck, as long as myself or the neighbours have a motor vehicle and sufficient petrol.

If we go say 10 km, I count at least 20 supermarkets using google maps. Jesus, so many supermarkets.

[Lonestar]

Not to sound like a cheat, but presumably I don't have this disease or have already gotten over it? The other thing I wanted to ask is, is air travel completely banned, or are people who have passed the incubation period or gotten over the disease allowed to fly out. Because whats to stop me flying out overseas to wait this one out assuming both the above conditions are satisfied.

Got relatives in Singapore, although I am sure I could sit in a hostel in Europe for a few weeks. The only country so far that I have travelled to requiring a visa with the Australian passport is the PRC, so I could theoretically run to a few places on short notice. In which case, split the food with the neighbours and get the hell out of dodge.

For the purposes of this, you and your cohabitants haven't been infected yet.

The Pandemic itself is global and has been traced to a going through HK airport in the recent past. Some places are less infected than your locality and some are more infected. I would keep in mind that, if you live in a first world country and you're seeing this it probably isn't the best outside of it either. Air travel may be available, but consider the likelihood of that if food deliveries have stopped in your area.

[mr friendly guy]

Well that changes my plan. I will most probably share first with the neighbours, then try and work on a cooperative to go further out and see if other areas are slightly better off. Like I said, there are easily 16 supermarkets within a 6 km radius of my house. This will be the short term.

As for air travel, since food is delivered mainly by truck AFAIK in Australia, if food delivery is affected it may not necessarily reflect air travel problems. In the mid term I would have to find some place which doesn't appear to be so affected, either because they missed it or are recovering as they got hit earlier. Isolated towns are out because of the problem with food, so it has to be a big city. Then think about getting there.

[aerius]

If the pandemic's at that stage I've almost certainly gotten the hell out of town to my backup location in the boonies. Which means sorry guys, my neighbours will be feeding the local wildlife.

[Alferd Packer]

Even if my neighbors picked me clean, I'm sure they'd ignore the several hundred pounds of dog food I'd have stockpiled, so while I'd be quite unhappy that my neighbors are dicks, I wouldn't go hungry.

[Raw Shark]

This was a mild winter, so I've still got an epic shitload of canned soup, dry rice, and dry pasta left. I'll recruit one or two of the thugs to run the door (one customer at a time only), and get Cookie Monster to run the kitchen if she isn't infected, while I manage the operation and handle the cash box and inside security. Pay the help with food, water, and shelter.

Raw Shark's Very Reasonably-Priced Soup Stand is now open for business! Today we'll be serving delicious and nutritious lentil soup, full of enough protein, carbs, and vitamins to keep you or one of your children alive for another day. What price can you place on life? Just two dollars a scoop! And as always, a scoop of rice is just one dollar. Try them together for three bucks - it's extra filling! Styrofoam coffee cups with to-go lids have run out, so bring your own container if you have invalids at home. Cash customers line up here for priority service; barter system take a number and wait for appraisal.

[Zaune]

If they ask nicely, I'm more than willing to work something out; I'd just as soon we all sat down together like adults and pooled our resources, and in any case I've been hungry in the past, and people helped me out.

If they get pushy or threatening about it, however, they're in for an unpleasant surprise. Food, bottled water and solar panels weren't all I bought when I took up doomsday prepping.

[Flagg]

Let's say that there is a pandemic that is affecting your country/area. About 10% of the population is infected, this doesn't mean 10% are dead but much of that may be people knocked on their ass, the disease is fairly contagious, and as a result schools are closing and absenteeism rates are high at most places of work. Hospitals have gotten slammed and are starting to turn people away.

The supermarkets in your area have essentially been picked clean for the week or so, and who knows when food deliveries will start again. Some places have government food distribution centers, but your area doesn't(or at least not enough to reliably hand out food).

Your neighbors realize you have food(be it because you were a prepper, you started hitting the supermarket early and often at the start of the emergency, whatever), and come knocking demanding that you share with them. What do you do?

I have a neighbor with an arsenal and I would gladly trade food for guns and ammunition. Everyone else gets fed to my dogs.

[Imperial528]

I live in a forest in a low density town surrounded by otherwise densely populated towns.

We have hundreds of deer and turkey within a 1 mile radius.

Might have to go all Mad Max on the nearby highway though.