Home > 1. Location, location, location!
The surest way to avoid the consequences of a global disaster is simple: don't be there when it happens. That might sound obvious, but ensuring that you live, work and play in safe areas is critical for your long-term survival.
"Location" also means "situation". For example, being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, alone with some strangers in an isolated house, without any transport available to get out, surely counts as a bad 'location'.
“Don’t do stupid things, with stupid people, at stupid places, at stupid times, with stupid gear.” Or in summary: "Don't put yourself in trouble".
Do you currently reside in a city at risk of earthquakes and tsunamis, in a suburb near an old but still active giant factory producing dangerous chemicals, in a politically unstable nation crippled by corruption and violence? Your place of residence is the primary element that will condition your long-term survival, by far.
House: is yours equipped with fire and intruder alarms, as well as lockable doors and windows? Are you prepared to stay indoors for several weeks, or even months, during a lockdown?
Suburb: where you in Tolbiac, Paris, on 20 October 1915?
City: where you in Pompeii on 24 October 79? In Bhopal on 3 December 1984? In Beirut on 4 August 2020?
Region: where you in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, on 26 April 1986?
Country: where you in Ukraine in February 2022?
World: how many passports, residence permits, no-visa-entry rights do you currently have?
Of course, it is difficult to anticipate the arrival of natural or man-made disasters before moving to a safer suburb or city due to family, study or work commitments. Let alone migrate to another country. However, there is nothing more crucial for your everyday and your long-term survival than residing is a secure environment. Again, an obvious truism, but not often mentioned as the first goal of a survival strategy.
Many jobs are dumb, dirty, dreadfully paid, and dangerous, sometimes all at once. Such as diving for corals, working on a farm, or joining a forestry crew. Other occupations are maybe glamorous but still hazardous: be a fire fighter, police officer, or parachuting instructor at your own risk. On the other hand, not many accountants get killed in firefights. Actually, a lot of them end up retiring alive and in good health.
Think twice when jumping into a fun activity. Friday night drinks in the red-light district with a bunch of strangers you just met, or staying home watching Netflix? Hiking the Kilimanjaro in shorts and sandals, or going for a swim in your local pool under the watchful eyes of a lifeguard? Going downhill at full speed without a helmet on an old bike without brakes, or playing tennis? We are free to choose, but accidents happen. A lot. Mostly to stupid people.