A week before the zombie apocalypse post , members of the CDC group responsible for preparedness of the public for natural disasters and pandemics were working on the message anticipating the 2011 hurricane season . Dave Daigle , associate director for communications , admitted that , " preparedness and public health are not the sexiest subjects . " Someone in the group remembered a tweet about zombies in connection to the nuclear disaster in Japan resulting from the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . This provided the idea for the upcoming CDC post , implemented on May 18 , 2011 along with two tweets . " The whole idea was , if you 're prepared for a zombie apocalypse , you 're prepared for pretty much anything , " said Drew RN
Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse