Will starving masses roam or stay put?

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 843

When we look at past emergencies we can see the vast majority of people just stay put and live or die at home.

Why would PO issues cause the masses to act any different?

manu · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 26, 2006 Posts: 747

They will roam around the local area. You can't go far without water. I wonder what % of people have canteens?

Karlos4 · Tar Sands Joined: May 22, 2008 Posts: 28

In other emergencies there is always someone coming to help you with food, water and medicines. In this case, there will be nobody coming. When people realize that, they are going for the food no matter how or where. Any of us could probably kill for a bottle of water, if you have kids and know they are dying of thirst. Maybe a matter of four or five days.

biofuel13

They way I see it the zombies will move like an army would. They move into an area, taking it by force if necessary, pillage what they want/need and set up camp there until they need to move on to greener pastures. This will ripple outward from the cities further and further into the countryside.

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 843

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 843

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 843

Cashmere · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 1938

My guess is that there will be very little roaming, on the whole.

Of course, 10% of 360 million is 36 million roamers.

I don't see the zombie hordes being organized, fanning out, raping farms and farm girls.

I see massive city riots, a slow burn toward starvation.

I see the government handing out food contingent upon taking long term birth control - that's really where it has to go.

Only give a woman food if she agrees to chemical sterilization and you solve the Peak Oil problem in 1 generation.
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Massive Human Dieoff must occur as a result of Peak Oil. Many more than half will die. It will occur everywhere, including where you live. If you fail to recognize this, then your odds of living move toward the "going to die" group.

jdumars

Biofuel is likely correct. It's the only way anyone civilized knows how to exist. You do not become self-sufficient, you take resources from afar. That's how cities and virtually all other population centers do it. Self-sufficient individuals will not stand much of a chance. I, personally, am hoping to fight the odds with a good setup, adequate defensive and offensive planning, and a whole lot of luck. I guess we'll see.

This and governmental intervention are my two biggest fears. Look at what happened in Rwanda when the government started issuing machetes to the populace to "take care of their problem." Don't think it can't happen here.
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Dismantle globally, renew locally!

Dreamtwister · Fission Joined: Feb 06, 2006 Posts: 2196

hironegro · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 08, 2008 Posts: 326

The government will either ice them or giving them sufficent rations.

Hogan · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Oct 25, 2004 Posts: 1298

I wouldn't want to be trapped in Phoenix or Vegas. Where would they roam to? Shocked

abelardlindsay

You know.... people who are starving to death don't have a lot of energy to move around. The authorities will still have gas and probably set up armed checkpoints to control the movements of people into and out of areas. The distribution of food stocks will be highly politicized. After all, the person with the power to distribute food decides who gets to live and who doesn't. The mechanics of how it would operate would be akin to how terror famines operated in the old Soviet Union.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

FYI, During the Persian Famines of the late 19th century Wheat reached a price 10x higher than the salary of a typical laborer. Social unrest gripped the cities. Wish I could read the rest of this article...

http://www.jstor.org/pss/617680

hironegro · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 08, 2008 Posts: 326

Ludi