3 Aspects of Emergency Prep

I feel there are three aspects of preparation for any catastrophic situation: before, during, and post.

BEFORE PREP:

This type of preparation regards all the stuff you need to HAVE in order to survive: food, first aid, water, clothes, etc.[This includes basic skills, you'll want to practice those before you actually have to use them] If you haven't done the Before Prep then your chances of survival are minimal. 

DURING PREP:

This goes for anything that you'll need to KNOW in order to survive DURING the disaster. For example, what to do during an earthquake. Or what to do if you find yourself in the path of a tornado. Or war, or, worst case scenario, the apocalypse. This prep revolves around how to make it through the disaster. If you don't KNOW what to do then all the before prep that you did - all the food, water, and emergency supplies - are useless because in order to need that stuff you have to survive and make it through to the other side of any bad situation. The best way to prep for this is to KNOW what you need to do in order to survive any type of emergency situation, especially ones that are likely to happen in your area. 

POST PREP:

Most people nowadays have heard the term "post-apocalypse", but just in case you haven't [and live under a rock] it literally means "after the apocalypse." It's everything that comes after the disaster, whatever it may be, has occurred and those still alive are left to survive a world that has been drastically changed. This is where you need SKILLS in order to continue to survive (assuming you have done all the BEFORE prep work). These are the things you need to be able to DO. What this include? Basic survival skills. Think of the Boy Scouts (their motto being "Always be prepared") and their merit badges. Though some hold little weight when it comes to survival many of these skills involve emergency preparedness, first aid, knot tying, life saving, CPR, etc. If we master these skills now, we'll be better off to survive, and even thrive after a major disaster.

I don't know if any one category is more important than the other and in a way each is dependent on the others, but the one thing all of them have in common is Prep. You have to prepare NOW for the things that could be coming tomorrow.