By Yetnayet Aberra & Saheli S. R. Datta

oon after 9/11, most New Yorkers took color-coded alerts the way citizens in the 1950s reacted to nuclear bomb drills. Now, with the switches between yellow and orange becoming a routine, some preparation experts and survivalists are worried that people might be breathing easier than they should. "I highly doubt that the majority of New Yorkers are as prepared as they thought they should have been after 9/11. Now they're relaxed and they're not prepared," says Alan Poland, a security expert, with the Homeland Protective Group Inc.

The American Red Cross warns "Americans remain stagnant when it comes to readiness activities." According to the Red Cross 60 percent of Americans are careless about disaster preparation. But some New Yorkers feel that there is only so much that you can prepare for.

Frances Shery, a Queens resident is one of them. "I don't worry about fear,” says Shery. “If you worry about fear you are not going to live right, so I don't put that in mind.” Organizations

like the Red Cross and government agencies like Federal Emergency Management Agency recommend specific precautions, like knowing how to turn off electricity, gas or water if required, plan escape routes, or choose a person living outside the disaster area to relay messages to family. But some New Yorkers say that there is only so much that you can prepare for. “It’s not rather what I can do but rather, it's more like, what they [the authorities] expect me to do, because I know that there is nothing that I can do at that time," says Mika Inoue.

But leaving preparation in the hands of the government is precisely what the government doesn't want people to do. Emergency units of fire departments, Red Cross, and hospitals are often at the scene of disasters. While they want to help anyone their goal is to prepare New Yorkers beforehand. A handful of New Yorkers stopped on the street said they had bottled water, canned food, flashlights, and phones. “We always prepare, like my wife Josephine always has something in a closet,” says Albert Colon. But many didn't know if they had three days worth of supplies, or how they would contact and meet family members.

Most didn't have a fire extinguisher, and several were unsure about when they had last checked their smoke alarm. Many people feel more threatened by attackers, claustrophobic conditions and family members getting hurt than national threats. “Any kind of disaster if it happened, like, where she (his fiancée) worked and I didn’t know, for me that would be the worst, just not knowing if she was there or not,” says Matt Frawley.

New Yorkers like Bledstein said they are more secure in United States than they would be in any other parts of the world. “I don’t feel personally threatened, I think I’m

pretty secure personally in America compared to other parts of the world," said Mike Heany. However, statistics show New York is the benchmark for its ‘quality of life,’ but is less safe than some cities like Zurich, Geneva, Australia and Vancouver.