The undead are coming. Their hoarse moans and reeking corpses are utterly overwhelming. Thanks to pop culture, many who know this scene have even considered survival plans: find a water filter and hit the road – should the undead rise. But, a zombie apocalypse represents a very real global risk – a pandemic that could bring humanity to its knees.

In considering how rapidly medical technology continues to advance, it can be easy to believe that humankind could survive a pandemic, zombie or otherwise. After all, we have found cures for some of the most deadly diseases known to humankind, among them being smallpox, measles, and polio. But there are also known cures for yellow fever, which killed an estimated 29,000 to 60,000 people in 2013, malaria, which killed 438,000 people in 2015, and cholera, which continues to kill between 28,000 and 142,000 people every year. Clearly, simply finding a cure does not eradicate a disease.

It may seem beneficial then that one of the most powerful technologies in controlling a pandemic isn’t a treatment device, it is our instantaneous communication network. In any instance of global disaster, communication is crucial for immediate and appropriate response. It is through long-range communication outlets – the Internet, social media, cellular networks, radio, television – that all relevant information about a disease may be transmitted, potentially preventing behaviors that would spread it.

Advancements in communication over the Internet – particularly video – would also help transmit vital training information for treatment, or in crafting a cure, should one be found. Medical professionals can also now collaborate, and build off of existing, continually-updated research. International collaboration and supranational collaboration can also rapidly be conducted during a time in which leadership is pivotal.

And yet, we are still not advanced enough. The International Telecommunications Union has estimated that by the end of 2016, 53 percent of the world population will not be using the Internet. Estimates place Asia and the Pacific, and Arab States, at 58 percent without Internet, whereas in Africa this number rises to 75. There is vague hope, however, that 95 percent of the global population now lies within coverage of cell service, and 84 percent within data services – meaning bridging the digital divide could be a crucial step in lessening the impact of a pandemic, or in lessening the impacts of pandemics that many of these nations experience.

Disease and pandemic are so threatening and pervasive because viruses are so rapidly spread, and because they can mutate as quickly as cures are found. The Plague of Justinian, an outbreak of bubonic plague through the Byzantine Empire, killed an estimated 100 million people in one year. The Black Death killed 50 million in four years. The Spanish Flu is estimated to have killed between 20 and 50 million in two years. And while our death rates, response times, and communication levels have improved, 284,000 people still died of Swine Flu in 2009. Zika has spread to 72 countries and territories in the past eight years. Ebola has killed 11,323 people since November 7 2015. True, the WHO has worked tirelessly to combat these diseases, with a record timing in vaccinating 7.7 million people against yellow fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by September 2016, and Ebola having been declared as eradicated from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Republic of Guinea. But with the rapidly growing population of 7.4 billion, a particularly aggressive strain, such as that of the zombie apocalypse, becomes more dangerous.

However, in examining the zombie virus, or in entertaining the idea of one that is spread just as quickly, we encounter something never seen before by humans. The disease went global and turned most of the population into walkers in three and a half months in The Walking Dead. The T-Virus killed almost the entire human population in three years in Resident Evil. White Walkers can raise an army of the undead in seconds in Game of Thrones.

And our modern world is also not ideal for surviving a pandemic. Historically, trading ports have been most susceptible to pandemics. As globalization continues to allow interconnectedness between nations, it also hinders self-sustaining capacities, which would be crucial in starving out a pandemic. In a 2014 article published by National Geographic, it was found that 16 percent of the global population, across 66 countries, are dependent on imports to feed their masses. More shocking was the estimate that, due to demand and climate change exhausting farmland to the point of uselessness, estimates say this number could rise to 50 percent by 2050. In an estimate of which countries could potentially feed themselves self-sufficiently, Canada, Australia, Russia, India, Argentina, Burma, Thailand, and the U.S. were among the small amount.

A zombie apocalypse may be far-fetched, but it is not unrealistic in terms of what it represents. But, if this was to be actualized, video games and movies about pandemics would definitely be much less fun.

By Alexa Battler

Please note that opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views and values of The Blank Page.