Imagine that society suffers a collapse of gigantic proportions. A cataclysm. What would be the best place in the world to survive this apocalyptic event?
New Zealand, based on the findings of a new study that assessed the ability of the world’s countries to weather a series of disastrous events, including extreme heat, flooding and a viral pandemic even worse than COVID-19 (anyone? Did you say zombie apocalypse? :)).
The Top5
This country in Oceania was identified as the “most resistant to future threats”, followed by Iceland, the United Kingdom, the Australian island of Tasmania and Ireland.
The key? Being surrounded by water seems to be a good quality to survive a global collapse, as it could protect borders from mass migration from other disaster-stricken nations.
The study was conducted by Nick King and Aled Jones of the Anglia Ruskin University Institute for Global Sustainability. The experts examined the self-sufficiency of the countries, their energy and manufacturing infrastructure, as well as their “carrying capacity”, the amount of land they have available for agriculture and the population in general. They also considered their level of isolation, or their distance from other large populations that may be subject to disastrous ‘displacement events’.
New Zealand emerged as the best choice because it has the greatest capacity to produce geothermal and hydroelectric power, abundant agricultural land and low population.
The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that governments are not prepared for a disaster that struck relatively suddenly, but humanity still has time to prepare and make a difference in future social collapse (which could survive in months or years).
Referencia: An Analysis of the Potential for the Formation of ‘Nodes of Persisting Complexity’ Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8161; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158161
Received: 18 June 2021 / Revised: 15 July 2021 / Accepted: 19 July 2021 / Published: 21 July 2021
