Your community can be devastated by a crisis whether it is manmade or natural anything can happen to turn your city or town into a wasteland overnight. The disaster itself is bad enough but the days after can be just as overwhelming. You are isolated from the authorities because they have families and homes just like you do and they are busy trying to survive. You are on your own and you have family, friends and neighbors who may be in need of help.
Homes may be destroyed in some cases and people will have to come together to provide shelter for those without any. Resources are limited and depending on the crisis you may have to begin developing alternative food sources, and looking at other ways to provide water for yourself and others.
However, to ensure you can do all this you will need security a plan for defending against those that may be fleeing from large metropolitan areas. You can expect an exodus of people who will be homeless, hungry and desperate. They will want what you have as an individual and as a community.
First, make sure you do not have all of your emergency supplies in one place. If your home is invaded or damaged, you will lose your entire stockpile. Begin immediately caching supplies in areas you have complete access to around the clock. Imagine you come back from inspecting your property and find your home has been taken over and you do not have cached supplies anywhere. If you do have caches, you can resupply as you regroup and come up with a plan.
If anyone comes to your home or community making claims about being from the government, you have to consider the situation carefully. It would be unusual for one or even two to simply show up. Typically, a disaster relief team will be out ahead to provide emergency essentials. Lone individuals may very well be using a pretext to get into your home to evaluate it as a target.
Criminals know that food, water and medical supplies will be in short supply. Firearms and ammunition will also be a valuable commodity along with alcohol and tobacco products. Many desperate people who have cash, gold or silver will gladly pay whatever is asked to get food and other supplies for their family. The criminals will not have purchased the food and supplies they would have stolen from others to sell to desperate families.
The black-market has been a thriving business for hundreds of years, but the supplies and other items have typically been stolen from others to be sold on the underground market. This type of system is active in many depressed countries today where the government bans certain products and materials. In some cases, the supplies and materials are necessary to maintain life.
These security measures are the minimum that you must establish before or after the crisis has struck. Even friends and neighbors can become desperate enough to attempt to steal from you. However, if everyone comes together the security of the community as a whole can be improved.
It is understandable that people will want to barricade themselves inside their homes but this can be problematic on several levels. One, you may trap yourself inside during a fire or a break in where you have no escape, and secondly if your friends and neighbors are being victimized can you ignore that. Getting a siege or bunker mentality is not always the wisest move. You have to be able to move freely around your property so you can evaluate any threats and keep an eye on friends and neighbors.