Z is for Zombies

I have a friend that graduated from UVM a few years ago and now works for FEMA in St. Albans. She came down to Burlington recently for a visit, and over some cocktails it came up that I was in "That Zombie Class" at UVM. This sparked her telling me about a big coin or plaque-type thingy that her office received from FEMA headquarters. Apparently, FEMA offices receive coin/plaque type things to display for every disaster that they have a matrix for and/or are prepared to handle - something like that.

So this coin - it's gold and very pretty, she says, and around the edge of the coin there are little symbols for all of the disasters that your office is prepared for and can handle. There is a wave for a tsunami, a flame for forest fires, something for a disease, something shakey for an earthquake and so on.... at the bottom of this coin, there is a little head, with crazy hair and an open mouth. I tried to find a picture of it to add to this post, but failed. Anyways - she sees this little figure and asks her boss what it's for. With a straight face he replies, "Oh! Zombies."

"What."

"Zombies - a zombie apocalypse. We're ready for it."

"What."

"Yeah - we have a matrix for it, you haven't seen it?"

Pause. "Seen the zombie apocalypse matrix? No. No, I haven't."

"Oh, you gotta check it out, it's over near blah blah blah..."

So my friend goes to check it out - and yes, it's real. You will all be very pleased to find out that FEMA in St. Albans, VT is ready to go regarding a zombie apocalypse. Fear not, friends!

She told me that I could find it online and things, and I've since sent her a message asking where, because I couldn't find the actual document. But through various Google searches including some combination of 'FEMA,' 'Zombie apocalypse matrix,' 'CDC,' and so on I found out that CDC has come out with zombie apocalypse preparation documents! Some of you may already know this, but I think it's really neat, so I thought I'd share it.

CDC created a graphic novella about preparing for the zombie apocalypse, you can check out a PDF of it here. It's pretty clearly a ploy to get younger audiences interested disaster preparedness, and isn't really about skills for a zombie apocalypse, but rather what to do in case some kind of major disaster strikes. At the end of the novella there is a list of what any good disaster preparedness kit should have - and weaponry for killing/beheading zombies definitely was not on the list. Extra blankets and cash made it though. I know that I won't have any room to carry an extra blanket when I'm wandering around post-zombie apocalypse, my hands will be too full with all my weapons.

I have a sneaking suspicion that when (if?) the zombie apocalypse does take place, things won't go quite so smoothly for Todd and Julie of Suburbia, USA. One can only hope that the CDC gets a vaccine as quickly as it did in this CDC-produced novella, and doesn't end up abandoned or blown up like in our favorite TV show, The Walking Dead.

Spurring from the success of the zombie novella they've created graphic buttons and slogans and things with sayings like "If you're prepared for a zombie apocalypse, then you're ready for any emergency."

My FEMA friend said that the zombie apocalypse disaster matrix at her office is a similar thing - not really exact steps to take should an outbreak of a zombie virus occur, but rather general steps/guidelines to handling any kind of shocking unforeseen disaster.

I thought that using a zombie apocalypse scenarios in this way was really interesting. Definitely a good way to get a kid's attention (or mine) regarding disaster preparedness. In my opinion, it sort of paints a zombie apocalypse as something that couldn't really happen, which could be true. Or some unknown disease in Africa could slowly be turning into a zombie virus as you read this post....