At this point in time and history, it is no surprise that an economic collapse is coming for us. When the world’s largest economy is deep down in a recession, many other countries will not be late to follow the same path. The financial breakdown the world is about to face over the next few years will be an unprecedented catastrophe, especially considering that the underlying problems from previous crashes were never fixed, only mended together. A real repair would require a complete restructuration in the system, and the elites were never interested in spending time and energy while compromising profits, leaving all these troubles behind for future generations to handle.
Besides the evident economic damages, there are other alarming situations where the population will potentially have to deal with. In this video, we gathered 15 examples of threatening events that usually happen in the wake of an economic downfall, in order to indicate the importance of being prepared for what is coming next.
Number 1: Shortages in fuel
One of the first effects of an economic depression is the lack of basic resources. In such moments, gasoline and all types of fuel are likely to be rationed – if your location is privileged enough to still get any restock in fuels at all. Without gasoline, it becomes much harder to escape from a dangerous location or to reach for supplies. Without fuel, households become more vulnerable when the power goes out. If you have the chance, maybe it’s a good idea to store some fuel to avoid bigger problems in the future.
Number 2: Carjackings rise
As many people will struggle to find fuel and supplies, carjacking becomes more common. Typically, carjackers find it less complicated to approach someone in their car – because they’re usually alone and unprepared – than to break into their homes. Some of the tactics they use to attract their victims are throwing rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, or even simpler tools such as eggs and other sticky-textured substances at the windshield of a moving car to get drivers to pull over and rob them. In these cases, the safest thing to do is to keep driving as carefully as possible and do not stop until arriving in a safe location.
Number 3: Interstate Trucking Stops
With less fuel available and a massive increase in robberies, interstate trucking is compromised. When the amount of delivery trucks is significantly reduced, many stores are left with a limited supply of essential goods, possibly even running out of food and leaving people with fewer options for survival.
Number 4: Defaults in garbage disposal and urban sanitation
The limited access to gasoline, the increase in lootings, and the cut back in trucking services cause immediate consequences in trash disposal. The fact is that many of us are so used to leave the urban sanitation and garbage disposal responsibility on the government’s hands, that we forget how we have taken for granted such crucial services for the maintenance of our social space. It takes a huge effort and money for our trash to be properly discarded, let alone separated and recycled. So, during desperate times, one of the most noticeable changes in the streets is the accumulation of trash everywhere.
Number 5: Food scarcity
A disruption in food supply chains is a delicate factor during an economic collapse. It can draw a line between a contained social instability and total chaos. The majority of the big cites are not self-sustainable and rely on food shippings from many other places. But when transportation is affected, it is much harder for grocery stores to restock their shelves. In situations where the government and the food industry fail to attend the needs of the population, the threat of an aggressive response is much more real. People start to rebel and organize into groups so they can manage to steal goods more easily in order to keep their families alive. Food scarcity can be a spark to larger fires, a catalyst for an increase in social turbulence and health-related troubles.
Number 6: Water quality drops
On the other hand, if there isn’t enough available funds to ensure access to clean drinking water, it is possible for the government to authorize local water companies to use heavy chemicals, such as chlorine, to diminish the number of harmful agents that may be in the water, making the water quality considerably lower for human consumption.
Number 7: The population gets on survival mode
If nothing is done to prevent the situation to escalate this far, the population is likely to get on survival mode, using resorts that seem unimaginable right now. When we observe the tragic actions that citizens in underdeveloped and poor countries had to take in order to survive, the reality can become even more depressing, with people having to slaughter zoo animals or even eat disease-transmitting animals to fight hunger.