- CELENTE SURVIVES CHILE EARTHQUAKE: NEO-SURVIVALISM TREND
IN ACTION
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- KINGSTON, NY, 4 MARCH 2010
- Among the Top Trends we had forecast for 2010 was "Neo-Survivalism."
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- With so many once-dependable "Systems" taking
a battering and breaking down and with the certainty that there will
never be a return to "normal" The Trends Research Institute
foresaw the need for new types of survivalist thinking designed to cope
with future emergencies.
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- Our Winter 2010 Trends Journal® provided
practical guidelines and escape strategies applicable to a gamut of crises
from economic meltdowns to terrorist attacks. (See Top Trends: Breaking
Point 2010. "Neo-Survivalism" Click here.) The
8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on February 27th put those
theoretical guidelines and strategies to an acid test.
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- Institute Director Gerald Celente and colleague Gary
Abatelli, on the last leg of a South American fact-finding mission, arrived
in Santiago, Chile on Thursday, February 25th. Shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday,
though in a 14th floor room with all windows closed, they were awakened
by the wild howling of the innumerable dogs that roam Santiago's streets.
In retrospect, it was a wake-up-call a harbinger of the mega-quake
that would strike minutes later. The 5-star Crown Plaza Hotel lurched
and rocked. Within the room the TV toppled, lamps crashed, drawers shot
out of their bureaus.
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- Both close-combat black belts, Celente and Abatelli's
decades of physical and psychological training would serve them well.
Aware of Chile's long history of quakes, at the first tremor, Celente
bolted from bed, put on his pants, slipped on his shoes, grabbed his jacket
and ran for the stairwell. The two had just one thought in
mind: get out of the hotel before it collapsed. Nothing else
counted. Personal possessions (passports, wallets, money, watches) became
instant non-essentials. When it comes to life and death, the only things
to leave behind are everything.
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- During 90 seconds of violent quakes, they put into practice
years of "wobble board" training: the art of maintaining balance
while continuing to move forward no matter what is being thrown at you.
Flying down 14 stories of convulsing, pitching stairs, in just minutes
(Celente reckons no more than three), they were first to reach the bottom.
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- Astonishingly, except for the hysterical cries of Madre
de Dios coming from an escapee from a few floors above them, the stairwell
was totally empty! They would later learn, from interviews with hotel
guests, that the majority froze in panic. Some called the front desk for
instructions, others waited for tour guides to direct them, a few huddled
under desks, found refuge in bathtubs, or sought shelter in doorways.
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- Trend Institute lesson #1: We put our motto, "Think
for yourself," into action. Luckily, though seriously damaged, the
hotel stood. Had it collapsed, those within it who were waiting to follow
orders from tour guides or hotel personnel would have perished. When survival
is at stake physical, fiscal or psychological the only leader
to follow is yourself.
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- Trend Institute lesson #2: Prepare for the worst. If
the worst doesn't happen, nothing is lost. But if the worst happens and
no preparations have been made everything is lost.
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- The life-threatening element of the quake was past, but
not the threat to life. In the few minutes it took Celente
and Abatelli to make it downstairs, out into the street and back to the
hotel lobby entrance, wolf-packs of screaming young men materialized, seemingly
out of nowhere, even though it was 4 AM. Rampaging through the streets,
they bowled over and mugged anyone unlucky enough to get in their path.
Police were nowhere to be seen.
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- Out of harm's way for the moment, the next priority for
Celente and Abatelli was finding a way out of Chile. The devastation was
vast and the airport shut down. It was obvious that any sort of cleanup,
to say nothing of repair and a restoration of services, would be slow to
come.
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- Phase two of the Neo Survival Guide, as outlined in the Trends
Journal®, now came into play: "Communal spirit intelligently
deployed is the core value of 'Neo-Survivalism.'"
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- Abatelli's laptop was working and an email was fired
off to John Perkins, their Attackproof.com close-combat mentor
back in NY. Immediately, Perkins sent out an SOS to his worldwide
list of martial arts practitioners. Within hours, advice was streaming
in through a far-flung web of primary then secondary and tertiary sources.
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- There were names and phone numbers of high-level Embassy
officials; personal contacts in Chile and Argentina ready to help with
funds and lodging. Access to the AttackProof.com network assured them
that they would not have to weather the crisis alone. Among the
dozens of suggestions, one held the promise of immediate escape: hire
a car and driver to take them to Mendoza, Argentina, a ten hour drive from
Santiago. From there they could fly to Buenos Aires and in fact were actually
able despite other unforeseen complications to catch their
scheduled flight back to New York.
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- Trendpost: The "Neo-Survivalism" principles
carefully developed by The Trends Research Institute had been put into
action and passed a crucial test. While the odds of being caught
up in another major earthquake may be remote, analogous crises are not
only possible, but probable in the near future.
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- We foresaw "Neo Survivalism" as a Top
Trend for 2010, because in these critical times a range of socioeconomic
calamities and geopolitical upheavals will require individual and collective
responses beyond any government's ability to address. Terror attacks,
economic meltdowns, crime waves, food shortages, infrastructure-disrupting
cyber attacks, extended power outages and wars are all possibilities that
the "on-trend" should be preparing for.
- ©MMX Trends Research Institute®
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