History
Zombie Squad was created in St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 2003. After watching the British horror movie 28 Days Later, a group of friends began discussing how they would prepare for a zombie epidemic, and how they would have handled the challenges faced by the characters in the film. This was the initial inspiration for Zombie Squad.
The stated goal of the organization is to present disaster preparedness in a manner which allows for serious exploration of multiple worst-case scenarios, while still maintaining a sense of humor and remaining grounded in non-disaster life. Zombie Squad combines a large online presence via its forums with community service and charity event participation to spread its message.
Zombie Squad has members all over North America and members in countries all over the world, including the United States, Canada, UK and South America among others. The success may be due in part to the synergy between two phenomena that have emerged in the new millennium: A resurgence of zombies in pop culture, with hit video games (the Resident Evil franchise, Dead Rising, Left 4 Dead, Stubbs the Zombie, The House of the Dead etc.) and films (28 Days Later, the Resident Evil series, the Dawn of the Dead remake, Shaun of the Dead, Land of the Dead, etc.) combined with a renewed interest in disaster preparedness in the wake of natural disasters (2004 Tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina) and high profile terrorist attacks (failed millennium plots, 9/11, 3/11, and the 2005 London bombings).
Zombie Squad's strict organizational refusal to adopt any one ideological stance has also helped to create a community which is open to people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Despite Zombie Squad's tongue-in-cheek nature, the members of the organization bring a surprising amount of experience ranging from civilian American Red Cross disaster response volunteers and amateur radio emergency communications enthusiasts to professionally trained paramedics, firefighters and military personnel.
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