Disaster survival movies
 

The deluge in New Orleans has got me thinking about putting together a disaster recovery kit. I want to start by renting movies about people surviving disasters. So, what can movies teach me about surviving a disaster? What ones should I see?

you mean real documentaries about disasters ?

or hollywood movies kinda thing etc?

If you're even in an atomic bomb attack, you should duck and cover. Really.

http://www.archive.org/details/DuckandC1951

(Free download of 1950s movies and other old movies. Interesting stuff.)

Stu: anything.

Dawn Of The Dead is my favorite disaster survival film.

Red Dawn! They need to do a re-make of this, but it's a great film in my opinion.

I think every disaster recovery kit has to have at least one rocket launcher.

Hmm, there are so many. Just a few off the top of my head:

Earthquake
Dante's Peak
The Day after Tomorrow
28 Days Later
Hard Rain
Supervolcano

The one thing you can learn from the movies, that I think is also accurate in reality, is that the survivors tend to be aware and informed about their environment and it's dangers. In the case of the movies, there's always an expert around for exposition on important environmental clues. But in real life, these clues tend to be ignored or dismissed. Adding this information to your disaster survival kit would be a key element.

Something along the lines of how do you spot a <disaster>, what should you do if you're in a <disaster>, where should you go ..., what are the local terrain, conditions, and resources like, what are the vital things to start attending to, etc.

Dylan, I picture myself like the smart guy who Sarah Polley gets the hots for.

But like that smart guy, I probably would end up getting bitten just before I have a chance to escape.

One of the cable networks - I think it was VH1? - did a great satirical program on the "rules for disaster movies." I wish I could remember them all, but the only one which comes to mind is "greedy people get killed."

Sorry man, in that movie, you are "one armed zombie #3".
Heh heh heh...

I love epic, world scale disaster movies.
Others:
Deep Impact
Armageddon
Twister
There were two volcano movies that came out around 5 years ago, forget the names.
The Core (name?)

how about independence day.

Dante's Peak and Volcano.

Towering Inferno is another.