What are You Prepping For? – A List of Possible Disasters

What Should I Be Prepping For?

There’s an infinite number of situations that a person could prepare for, but the fact is, it’s infinitely impossible to prepare for them all. The best course of action for most preppers is to first, prepare for personal or localized disasters that are likely in your area. Once you have that covered, you can expand to cover larger more devastating disasters.

Below I have compiled a list of possible disasters. The following disasters may or may not affect you in your area, but you can use this list to prioritize the ones that may.

First, Distinguish the Reach of a Disaster

Reach Description
Personal These are events that cause you or your family some type of distress, possibly requiring you to use backup funds or short-term preps or stay in an alternate location. Typical events such as these would be a loss of a job or house fire.
Local Your block, subdivision, apartment, school, or area where you work gets disrupted in some way. Power goes out to your neighborhood, your city is flooded, an ice storm in your county. This could mean your city, county, or state.
Regional Typical examples would be California wildfires, Midwestern floods, hurricanes, or earthquakes. Multiple states could be affected but it is larger than just your city/state.
National US financial crisis, pandemics, or anything that can potentially affect the entire country from functioning effectively.
Global Typically, not likely and something you would see in the movies. But worth mentioning.

List of Possible Disasters

Some of these may seem far-fetched and probably are but, they are all worth mentioning. They may have happened to someone somewhere and as always, never say never.

A New Evil charismatic leader (Hitler/Stalin/Mao style)
A New Messiah
A new Persian Empire
Active shooter at public venue/business
Active shooter at school/college campus
Addictive Entertainment
Advanced Technology disaster
Agenda 21
Airplane crash
Anarchy
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Armageddon
Atmospheric River storm/severe flooding
Automotive accident
Avalanche
Bank closure/failure/mandated bank holiday
Bath Salt drug zombies
Becoming a refugee
Becoming lost in the megalopolis
Becoming lost in the wilderness
Bee Colony Collapse Disorder (fungi/pesticide/parasites) crop pollination failures
Biblical flood
Biblical plagues
Biological war/attack
Blackhole appearance
Blackout
Boat wreck/shipwreck
Brownout
Celestial object impact/near miss
Central US major tectonic/volcanic activity
Chemical war/attack
Civil war
Civilian disarmament
Cloning of dangerous plants/animals
Cloning of humans
Communication restrictions
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)
Corporate/industrial flight from the US
Crimewave
Criminal Coup of the government
Crop failures
Dam failure/collapse
Dangerous wildlife confrontation
Dark matter/anti-matter incident
Declining drinking water aquifer levels
Destruction/loss of the middle class
A DHS take over
Draconian police powers/actions
Drinking water aquifer contamination/poisoning
Drought
Dustbowl
Earth Core Cooling
Earth orbit shift
Earthquake
Economic-system collapse
Electro-Magnetic Pulse attack (EMP attack)
Electro-Magnetic Pulse from coronal mass ejection or other solar activity
Encroachment of drinking water aquifers by seawater
Environmental disaster
Epidemic
Ethnic war
Evidence of extraterrestrials
The exodus of important skill holders from the US
The exodus of the wealthy/rich from the US
Extraterrestrial biological contamination
Federal police force w/broad powers circumventing civilian protections
Firestorm
Flash flood
Flash mob violence/criminal event
Food shortages/price increases
Forest fire/wildfire
Fuel shortages/price increases
Fungal infections of food staples crops
Gamma-ray burst from neutron star collision
Global cooling/Ice Age
Global nuclear war
Global warming
Gold/PM recall
Gold/PM restrictions
Government Tyranny
Grand Alignment induced tectonic activity
Great Lakes drainage event due to tectonic activity
Ground surface tilt from tectonics/magma movement
Gulf Stream shutdown/subsidence
Hail
Hazmat incident
Heatwave
Home gardening restrictions
Home invasion
Hostage situation
Hostile extraterrestrials
House/apartment/building fire
Hurricane
Ice Storm
Infrastructure collapse/failures
Invasion of the US
Invasive plant and animal species
Kidnapped
Landslide/mudslide
Limited nuclear war/attack
Local major accident (aircraft/auto/rail/building)
Local major crime
Local/regional gun grab
Lockdown at school/college campus
Lockdown at work/business
Loss of job
Magnetic pole shift
Major conventional war
Major economic depression
Major nuclear power plant incident
Major Tax Rate increase
Martial Law
Massive solar flare
Massive tectonic activity
Massive/rapid increase in the poverty level/numbers
Maunder Minimum low sunspot cycle triggered an ice age
Medical emergency
Mega Quake (New Madrid seismic zone)
Mega Tsunami
Mega Volcano (Yellowstone Caldera)
Methane Hydrate release
Mississippi River bed change
National bankruptcy/default
Nationwide/global economic breakdown
Nemesis induced Oort Cloud meteorite rain
New World Order (NWO)
The new, more restrictive assault weapons ban
Out of control bio-genetics/bio-technology
Out of control Nano-technology/robotics
Overpopulation
Ozone layer depletion
Pandemic/Syndemic pandemic
Peaceful extraterrestrials
Peak oil
Personal financial breakdown
Personal impact crimes
Personal/family catastrophic illness
Political unrest/backlash
Racial war
Rain forest deforestation
Rampant inflation
Rapid Population Decline
Refugees
Regional climate change
Released/escaped dangerous zoo/circus animals
Religious war
Resource war
Rogue Military Activity
Rotational pole shift
Runaway GM food plant failure/cross-contamination
Safe-deposit box (non-bank) restrictions/closures
Sand/dust storms
Sea level drop
Sea level rise
Seceding of one or more states from the US
Second, coming
Sentient computer(s) take over
Severe Lightning
Sheriffs lose arrest rights/authority
Shipwrecked/marooned
Shortages of goods and services for a variety of reasons
Sinkholes
Slow rise flood
Snow Storm/Blizzard
Social break down
Solar radiation increase/decrease
State bankruptcy/default
Strikes/boycotts/embargoes/price controls
Sub-atomic particle research accident
The sudden regional major population shift
Super-storm
Suspension/unconstitutional rewrite of the US constitution
Terrorism of all types
The Anti-Christ
Tornado
Total gun ban/confiscation
Train wreck
Travel restrictions
Tsunami
UN Small Arms Treaty
UN/One World Government
US civilian coup
US military coup
US revolution
Utility failures
Vehicle breakdown/stranded
Volcano
Water shortages
Water system contamination/poisoning
Wealth redistribution (by currency exchange/tax rates)
Weapons restrictions
Weather Modification attack
Widespread civil unrest/riots
World Population dramatic increase
Zombies and other supernatural dangers

Download Printable PDF List of Possible SHTF Disasters

Here is a link to download this list. Download it and prioritize what is likely in your area, then prepare. Download List of Disasters