Security

Yes we all have debates on how high up the list of priorities security should be.

I will take the liberty to say that in a large scale natural disaster that it might be kind of low at first. For at least the first few days it should hardly be a problem at all as many unprepared people are in shock and have a few things around the house to tide them over in the way of food and water.

In smaller scale disasters that are not war or riots it may never occur to may to do more in the way of security. For instance if a hurricane knocks out the power the main security issue is looters. Where as you might not have access to food or good water because of storm damage. 

That is where I believe Israel is quite different.

Being so highly contested on both nationalistic and religious grounds the Holy Land has often been concerned with security. Today without any disaster or unusual detrimental conditions there are violent crimes committed almost daily. This ranges from something like, rocks (not stones actual large rocks) being thrown at vehicles to stabbings and murder etc. 

Most people could say that similar crimes happen to them in their own area. Why are these specifically dangerous? 

The answer is the motive behind them.

If someone gets mugged in the park at night or stabbed in an ally it is normally because he was a specific target for murder or he was robbed. When somebody is killed at a gas station or carjacked the usual motive of the criminal is money.

The exception to this is mass shootings done by crazy and/or vengeful people.

Here these crimes are done mostly for nationalistic and religious reasons. Not to say that there aren't thieves, there are, but I have not trouble walking around Jerusalem at 3:00 am.  That being said I would not walk in certain villages and neighborhoods at 12:00 pm because of my religion and theirs.

In a grid down event or natural disaster these tensions would spark in different areas around the state. The attackers would not be there to loot, steal or even rape, but to kill. Here security is less an issue of protection your stuff and more an issue of protecting you and your family. 

So what do we do?

You have to appreciate the different ways that the state of Israel has improved security.
Many houses here have super reinforced windows. This is either bars on the outside or heavy shutters. Some even have both.

  

                                       A cat sleeps on window bars that appear even on third or fourth story apartments.

Some dislike the bars because they are sealed and one can not get out of a window in an emergency. I have come to understand that the majority of times one would need to exit a window would be in a fire. Since 99% of homes constructed here are composed entirely of concrete a house fire is rare and when it occurs almost never spreads to other rooms. 

                                        Heavy blinds that appear on many glass doors and some windows. 

No person can enter a window with these upgrades  with out anything short of a sledge hammer. No one could get in quickly without explosives. This gives the parties inside a lot of time to react.

All new houses and apartments in the state are required by law to have a built in safe room. This has a thick metal door and a metal window sort of like a hatch. The walls are reinforced to protect occupants from missile attacks like the too frequent gaza qsams.

In the event of a riot or war one can lower their shutters and enter a safe room to protect their home. Obviously when it is possible to leave such an dangerous are that should be the first option.
Nevertheless having a preventative measure like this is really nice. You can also lower them is you do leave to maybe protect your stuff.

Nest post will have more security measures.