A coworker was criticizing the slow Federal response, so I told him acouple of facts, such as which levee broke, that there were plenty of plans in place, and that the government officials at the city and state level HAD to implement them. He tried to brush it off, so I explained how survival has to start with the individual, and the city and state would come along in 24-36 hours and the Federal help would start arriving in 72 hours. I also pointed out how the Feds have been telling people since 2003 to have a 72 hour kit, and several articles had profiled the worst case scenario. He's an intelligent guy, so I didn't have to work hard for it to sink in.
I now have two coworkers with a couple of gear lists to buy and the understanding that they must be prepared to hold out for 3 or more days in a bad situation, and that people cannot depend exclusively upon the government.
This one was easy, since both of them wanted to prevent needless suffering and death, instead of wanting to pin all responsibility on the government. People are absolutely starved for even the most basic of leadership.