The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation - Bertrand Russell
Or so I heard.
Well, the interesting thing about being in a region that has suffered a minor disaster (your milage may vary on whether or not it is classifiable as "minor"), is watching how people react in the face of problems.
We had things well prepared for, although we have been able to do some better assessing of what else needs to be done. We had some bottled water standing by, although could do with water tanks. Our on-site sewage plant is fine, although is reliant on having electricity. Perhaps with solar panels being installed soon, I can work out a way to disconnect the panels from the grid-connect inverter if local power ever gets cut, and get an inverter for the house, albeit needing one capable of handling 3kW, and a battery bank (which is the pricey thing, especially if you're not using it. A generator would be very useful, I guess - but finding one that's reliable and good for continuous use will cost. We had plenty of food, although could do with more things like powered milk. I haven't had to get the small, gas stove out yet - that was an option. I ended up getting a decent radio yesterday - receives AM, FM, shortwave, will recharge batteries (when running from some power source), has several power options. Having a transmitter would be nice, I should get some reasonable power UHF transceivers.
Being up in the hills is nice, we have been well insulated from any problems... Although it was interesting telling my new manager (long story, will fill in at some stage) that No, We Are Evacuating - everything will likely be alright, however it's not the time to risk getting caught out. Especially when waters don't need to rise up much to leave you under a metre of flooding.
As it was people further down river, etc., from where we are have been hit, although nowhere as bad as things could be.
That hasn't stopped people panic-buying food and other items. Seeing photos of supermarkets that have rows of shelves empty, particularly of perishables and food that needs cooking. Eggs are good, but don't last long out of a fridge (particularly if you buy a lot of them), and need cooking if you're to avoid salmonella. I have also heard about people going overboard in buying things that they wouldn't actually use. And I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few cases of cholera reported in the next week or so - really, when there is sewage overflow into flooding waters, you don't want to go swimming... Mosquito-borne diseases are expected to rise...
There have been a few good things coming out of what's happened - people seem to cope with problems, volunteering to help, taking what's happening in their collective stride. It does raise the question, at least to a pessimist, on how bad things could get before such collective cooperation started falling apart... And, is the help that people are giving each other a social artifact (dependent on the society), or is it universal of humans... There is plenty of communication, those in charge are still seen to be in charge. Strangely enough, too, countries that we would be rushing to help in times of their crises because of the infrastructure problems they have, have offered to help...