As the world teeters on the brink of a nuclear confrontation with North Korea, FEMA and the U.S. Department of Energy are preparing to wargame so-called "Black Sky Hazards" that could result in a "subcontinent scale, long duration power outage, with cascading failure of all our other increasingly interdependent infrastructures." Here's how EarthEx2017 described the exercise:

Concerns have grown over the potential for severe malicious or natural “Black Sky” hazards associated with subcontinent scale, long duration power outages, with cascading failure of all our other increasingly interdependent infrastructures. This creates a grim and difficult dilemma: Restoration of any sector will only be possible with at least minimal operation of all the others. To deal with this deadlock, careful sector by sector and cross-sector resilience planning is crucial. However, such plans, to be effective, must be exercised. With the diversity and the national and global scale of the infrastructures we now depend on, this requires an unprecedented, multi-sector, national and international exercise series.

EarthEx defines "Black Sky Hazards" as a "catastrophic event that severely disrupts the normal functioning of our critical infrastructures in multiple regions for long durations." Here are a couple of examples of things EarthEx is prepping for:

Of course, large-scale natural disasters could also result in similar widespread failures of critical infrastructure.

According to former Florida Congresswoman Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, "Black Sky Events," though largely dismissed as a remote possibility by most, will occur...it's just a matter of when, not if. More from Paul Joseph Watson:

“Cars would have no fuel. Restaurants and grocery stores would be bare. Electricity could be out for months in such an event,” writes Mike Vasilinda. According to former Florida Congresswoman Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, North Korea’s saber rattling is making top brass “anxious” about potential society-changing disasters. “It’s not “if” but “when” a Black Sky event will occur,” writes Vasilinda, an alarming statement given that she discusses meeting with “members of the U.S. military, National Guard Adjutant Generals, officials from Homeland Security, Department of Energy, FEMA, NOAA, and experts from the utility, distribution and supply sectors,” at a private summit held in Washington DC.

Perhaps it's time to do a little doomsday prepping?