Knowing your critical infrastructure is the first step in your personal preparedness.
What is your Critical Infrastructure?
My critical what?! Critical infrastructure lists locations, events, structures, and services vulnerable to natural disasters or intentionally targeted events; there're essential things you can't do without, and if they were to fail for whatever reason, they would cripple your ability to take care of your needs in an emergency. Brainstorming this list will help you get to know your community better and start your planning process in the right direction.
The shortlist
Here is my sample list of critical infrastructure… these two are just for starters...those items that I consider essential locations or services that must be maintained and/or hardened. By the way, these are the two critical infrastructure systems many feel most vulnerable to fail.
Telecommunications.
Telecommunications are one of the most vital systems we have available to us. These systems allow us to get messages to our loved ones and news from the community. Telecommunications networks are also critical infrastructure in industry and commerce, as well as our ability to operate our emergency operation centers. We've become so accustomed to instant communication by using satellite and Internet features to add functionality to our processes that we need more technology to operate efficiently. Secondary communication systems easily fall out of use and out of date… many secondary communication systems I've seen recently need repair. Failure of telecommunications networks from natural disasters or intentional, targeted attacks will make the event challenging to manage successfully. Therefore, telecommunications networks lead the list of critical infrastructure you should be planning to protect. Understanding the eventuality of telecommunications failures and having a communications plan "B."
Electrical Power
It isn't easy to conceive of going without electricity for weeks, months, or perhaps longer.
Forget about charging your E.V. Think about how you'd heat your home or cook your food without electricity.
Our nation's power grid remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters and intentional targeted attacks. Our current power distribution system has no means of saving or storing energy. Also, because the electrical system operates at or near capacity most of the time, a failure in one location or plant may easily result in a cascade of failures throughout the grid. The effects of those failures will be felt almost immediately and manifest as brownouts or blackouts. The ripple effect from these events is insidious… with impact on other critical infrastructure sites such as hospitals. The failure of our electrical power grid, even for short periods, will increase demands on local responders. This cascade will continue through the community as civilians deploy alternate heating and power sources. While many of us are used to having the power go out occasionally, it isn't easy to conceive of going without electricity for weeks, months, or perhaps longer.