In an article in the Washington Post, Shankar Vedantam 
writes of a sociological study of isolation. The number of friends who people feel they can turn to with problems has declined from 3 to 2.
In the article, Lynn Smith-Lovin said, "That image of people on roofs after Katrina resonates with me, because those people did not know someone with a car." Smith-Lovin is a Duke University sociologist who co-authored the study. Modern life has changed dramatically since "Leave It To Beaver" went off the air—the pace is fast and we are scattered all over the place, a challenge to traditional relationship webs.
Ann Handley offers some hope, on the other hand. "Are social ties really fraying?" she wonders on her blog. "Or are they just shifting, and reweaving themselves in a different pattern?" Handley optimistically sees the blogosphere as a resource for people, as much as any acting class or church picnic.
Yup, we're here for you. Guided By History, a glass of warm milk ...
There are many ways to prepare for disasters, as we write here all the time. But what these methods do, ultimately, is build community and networks of resources—people coming together to overcome isolation and loss. If you still want more details and resources for human outreach, as part of your preparedness kit, go here or here and follow the many links. Team up!
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