Is it possible to stay put when you're near London?

[Rachel_K]

Apologies if this is not the correct forum.

I want to start preparing for a disaster but I keep getting stuck at the very start - should we stay or run? I would really appreciate your thoughts.

We live in Sutton, S London, in what would otherwise be a pretty well-placed community I think. The community spirit is high and I know we have several different tradesmen (and their tools) amongst our neighbours. We have allotments and a park across the road and wetlands at the end of the road, all mostly enclosed. Across the main road is a carbon neutral housing development and the local school and community centre have lots of solar panels, so I hope there is some good knowledge locally as well as equipment. There is a river behind the park which would be bad if the problem was flooding but otherwise useful (although there is a sewage treatment works about 3km away so I assume it would get pretty nasty if that wasn't working). If we weren't near London, I would absolutely want to dig in here and try and build a community here for the long term. But London is London and it scares me.

Just me and I would be gone at the first sign of trouble but I have a 4 and a 2 year old to think about. How long do you think it would be reasonable to expect to be able to stay here safely? I think we would have to move at some point (and no chance of relocating before a disaster, unfortunately) but when would that be? A week? A month after everything went off? How long until the hungry hordes come knocking? We're only 8 miles from the centre of London as the crow flies, but obviously there are lots of very built up areas much closer to us. Could I rely on the fact that most people have never heard of where we are, even people within a couple of miles? I don't think people would think "ahh Hackbridge, they have allotments, let's go there!", but how many people would find us by chance? I want to prep but I keep getting stuck at this. Should I be buying food for 6 months or should I be concentrating on plans to leave?

Thanks for any advice.