Mr Edwards, showing off a water storage bag, believes that an 'inevitable catastrophe' is on its way and New Yorkers are not ready. -- PHOTOS: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSENEW YORK - HE'S got two blackbelts, makes his own knives, hides emergency food and keeps a radiation detector handy. But there's no such thing as over-prepared in Aton Edwards's world.
The 47-year-old survivalist from New York believes an 'inevitable catastrophe' is on the way.
It could be anything from flooding to terrorism or even nuclear war, and New Yorkers are not ready, he says.
'You're going to be effectively on your own. You're going to have to be your own government,' he warned a group of more than 60 people at a recent session of his Global Meltdown Survival Clinic.
With recession adding to the nervousness gripping New York since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Mr Edwards finds more people are tuning in to his message.
'We're small, non-profit and we can't meet the demand that we have right now,' he said. 'With the economic situation the way it is we're getting everyone - a complete cross-section.'
A massively built man born in the Bronx, Mr Edwards is every bit the hip New Yorker.
At his meltdown clinic students were as diverse as the city: a Vietnam war veteran, hippies, and professionals such as Doug Mailly, a doctor who compared preparing for disaster to the 'psychology of preparing a will.'
They listened carefully. Many took notes.
Then they checked the survival gear: the tiny NukAlert detector, water filters, stoves, a hand-cranked radio, anti-fallout coats, an entrenching tool.
'If you're not ready, then it's all on you,' Mr Edwards said.
Most survivalists would recommend fleeing New York altogether.
The city has always been Hollywood's favourite setting for catastrophes, from 'King Kong' to modern epics such as 'The Day After Tomorrow' - and Sept 11, 2001 brought those terrors to life.
Indeed, Mr Edwards, who wears heavy boots and all black, predicted during a February 2001 radio show that the World Trade Centre was a target, even suggesting the use of airliners as weapons.
The moment the second plane hit the Twin Towers, he was watching from his Brooklyn balcony with his son.
'It was a profound experience. I have to say I was not shocked. I just thought, 'that's it'. And I have the terrible feeling that we're going to be seeing something similar very soon.'
The son of a serviceman in the US strategic command, Mr Edwards was acquainted from an early age with special forces types and a sense of global peril.
Keeping up with him as he talks - and imagining putting his advice into action - can be hard work.
He suggests storing up to 30 days' worth of food, plus water in barrels, and even micro-gardening within apartments.
An escape plan from the city is a must, as is an impermeable suit able temporarily to block toxic or radioactive fallout.
He reveals that he keeps caches of food around New York and owns a military cart that he could use to haul gear in an evacuation.
Even his wristwatch is ready for catastrophe: it is wrapped into a homemade leather pouch also holding compass, notebook, pen and wallet.
'In this discipline you want to maximize efficiency, even space,' he said.
'This is the jewelry of the future.' The training session got spooky when talk turned to the danger the unprepared would pose during chaos to those who had followed Mr Edwards' instructions.
'Don't minimise this,' he warned. 'If you've got food and others don't, that's a real bad situation. The aromas - that's the worst thing you can do.
It's like saying 'come and get it'. They will.'
Helene Jnane, a petite 50-year-old attorney attending the clinic, admitted to being hopelessly unready.
Asked what her immediate security fears were, she looked around at the dilapidated room where the clinic was being held and said: 'To be frank, this kind of place, you know, down here in a basement. What if there's a fire?' -- AFP
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