Escaping New York in a disaster

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - This is no ordinary Sunday stroll. This urban trek up Manhattan's Riverside Drive includes the tools to survive -- 40-pound bags filled with gear.  Cassandra Sampson is resident of the Upper East Side. She joined the NYC Preppers organization because she says anything can happen at any time.

Jason Charles is a New York firefighter and the organizer of this volunteer group, which he says is all about getting people ready for emergencies and disasters.  The evacuation plan is to get across the Hudson River over the George Washington Bridge and away from the 8.5 million people who live in New York.  Interest in the group tripled after terror attacks at the end of 2015 -- the shooting in San Bernardino and the events in Paris. Some people wonder: what if something happens on a larger scale?

The growth in the prepper community is also driving growth in the bunker sales industry.

Atlas Survival Shelters says business is booming.

"Every time there is a terrorism attack the phone starts ringing and people start buying bunkers," owner Ron Hubbard says.