TEOTWAWKI

"TEOTWAWKI" - The End of the World as We Know It

As I browse and read survival/preparedness blogs I keep seeing the acronym, TEOTWAWKI. For example:

• http://eatatdixiebelles.blogspot.com/2008/10/be-prepared-why.html
• http://chilechews.blogspot.com/2008/10/be-prepared-for-medical-emergencies.html

It took a few minutes to figure it out that TEOTWAWKI means "The End of the World as We Know It". Personally I don't expect the world to end or that civilization will collapse in my lifetime. However life as we know it can be disrupted on a temporary and local scale. Examples include hurricanes, the East Coast blackout, 9-11, and so on.
When I commuted to work in New York City I traveled by the Metro North railroad. Both 9-11 and the Blackout events stopped the trains and I was stranded at my office 30 miles from home. In both cases the nature of the emergency made it dangerous or impossible for my wife to drive into the city to pick me up. Taxis were a scarce resource during these crises. So life as I knew it was seriously disrupted.
A recent example is the gasoline shortages in southern states after hurricane Ike. Your daily commute, driving kids to school, grocery shopping may all depend on having gas in your car but no gas is available.

BOTTOM LINE
Life as we know it depends on many things that we take for granted - electricity, clean water, gasoline, banks & ATMs, roads, schools, sewers, etc. For a nice list of reasonable things that can go wrong, see Be Prepared! Why... by Dixiebelle.