Yesterday afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tweeted out a link to a new blog post on their website called "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse." A great marketing idea, we must admit—someone over there has been watching The Walking Dead. The only problem is, the surge of traffic took out their whole blog. And it's still down this morning! (It's since been cross-posted here on a different area of the CDC site.) Now, the power of Twitter to destroy the will of servers is well documented. But this is actually somewhat sobering. It makes me wonder if the CDC would be ready for a real outbreak or if their server would melt the moment they posted the life-saving solutions for surviving the next ferret-flu attack. Luckily, if an apocalyptic situation does occur today (or more likely, on Saturday), the main CDC site is still available. According to those who got to the blog before it crashed, these are the CDC's guidelines for a zombie apocalypse:
  1. Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area. Besides a zombie apocalypse, this may include floods, tornadoes, or earthquakes. If you are unsure, contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information.
  2. Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case zombies invade your home . . . or your town evacuates because of a hurricane. Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away.
  3. Identify your emergency contacts. Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department, and your local zombie response team. Also identify an out-of-state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are OK.
  4. Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry, they won't stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don't have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.