This is actually one I posted last year, but I thought it was worth a repeat in here. I am bringing this up, because as we are seeing in the news, a great many people simply have few to no survival skills. Here we are, 7 years after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, and they are getting hit yet again by another huricane. And on the news yesterday, once again people were interviewed who refused to leave their homes because they thought "things were not going to be bad". To me, this is the ultimate in stupidity, and is in fact criminal neglect, because now we are seeing Emergency Services having to go out in the storm to try and rescue these idiots. So here I am going to put out my guide for preparing for emergencies: First, everybody take a quick mental list of what you would need to survive for 5-10 days. Now take an inventory in your head, do you have everything needed? Odds are, most people do not. We will call those people "sheep". Now to me, it is suicidal to not be prepared at all times to be able to take care of yourself and your family for at least 1-2 weeks if the need ever happened. And no, I am not talking about "Survivalism" in the 1980's sense with vaults of guns burried in the event of Soviet Invasion and World War III. I am talking about the absolute basics you need to prepare for any kind of major event. And yes, there are a lot of potential threats out there that may make this needed. How needed? Well, in my life I have been through 3 major Earthquakes (1971, 1994 and 1999), 4 major Hurricanes (including Hugo, Ivan and Katrina), 2 riots, and other events from floods to fires. And we may be only a major solar flare away from loosing many things we take for granted every day. Power, fresh water, transportation, many things needed for life in the modern era. For over 2 decades now, I have kept an "emergency kit" handy at all times, in the event that it is ever needed. And it has ranged from a backpack stuffed with the bare basics, to a fully stocked and loaded RV. But it is always ready, and has saved me and my family many times over the years. And as of this time, I actually have 2 of them done up and ready to go. The second is a motorcycle towable rig, that would be my choice if I think the roads are unpassable. This is a list of the bare basics that everybody should have available. And at an absolute minimum, make it to cover all the needs of you and your family for 3-5 days (it may take that long or longer for governmental agencies to be able to step in and assist disaster relief). Water, at least 5 days worth. Food, shelf stable for 5 days. Shelter for everybody in the household (tent, trailer, RV). First aid supplies. Medication needed. Comfortable clothing and durable shoes-boots. Fuel (sterno, charcoal, propane). Battery operated equipment (lights, radio) and either lots of batteries, or rechargeable batteries and a solar recharger. Cooking supplies (barbeque, stove). Sleeping bags and ground mats. Cash. Now those are the absolute minimums, and it is really not that hard to get it all together. In fact, a lot of you may have many of these items and not even know it. And some things you can even "double-up" if needed. You can satisfy some of the food and water requirements with drinks like Ensure. These have both fluids and nutritional value, making them good choices to suppliment food stocks. I also suggest keeping at least 2-3 days of supplies along with a change of clothing in your vehicles, preferably in a backpack. This is especially important in a place like California. If an earthquake hits, you may have to cross rubble or wait a day or more for roadways to be opened again. And if anybody thinks that this does not apply to them, I encourage them to think again. There is hardly noplace in the world that does not suffer floods, storms, fires, earthquakes, or some other disaster at least every decade or so. And remember your best chance to survive is actually getting out in advance if you know things are going to get really ugly.
I don't plan to bug out. I live about 10 miles from the nearest town, which is a town of about 2K people. I live in a large log home that was actually built in 1778. With the doors boarded there is no way in and the logs are thick enough that nothing is getting through. The windows are the highest risk, even with the shutters boarded closed. That should be my target for fixing, I imagine. I have a 10K generator that runs on gas, a few diesel tractors, a few SUV's, an extremely large weapons collection, food (at least 100 fruit trees, close to 200 acres of pastures for growing, four spring-fed wells, some clean ponds, a creek, and more deer and turkeys than you could ever eat. I have backpacks for when I hunt, water purification filters (whole house and personal), and about 2 months worth of MRE's and another years worth of canned fruits and veggies that we can ourselves each harvest. For heat we have wood burning stoves x2, and pellet stoves x2. We have about 100 acres of thick woods, and I think enough fallen trees to heat the house for a hundred or more years. We don't keep a lot of cash, but we do keep a lot of gold and silver; and I am sure you can use ammo as currency when the zombie apocalypse happens. I have seen almost all of the Doomsday Prepper shows, and it's funny to see that I have more of that stuff than the real preppers do but I don't have them because I think the end of the world is coming.
Nice suggestions. I want to point out that even if people aren't willing or able to put together that whole list, acting on what is possible would still help. The one thing I saw missing from your list that I think is essential is water purification- this can be as simple as bleach (to keep at home), water purification tablets(to carry) or a water purification filter.
I actually left that off on purpose. Most people really have no knowledge or experience on how to purify water. And damned few have the proper equipment. For one, after a disaster most of the "purification" systems are not only worthless, they are deadly. Your safest solution is to have enough fluids for the immediate aftermath, then containers to get water from known safe sources. And the reason for this is simple. Most purification solutions only concentrate on biological. Specifically paramecium and amoebas. And trust me, after a disaster that is the least of your worries. This is because normally after such an event, the water is unsafe for a great many reasons. Most of those are actual contamination, either by chemicals, sewage, or bodies. And I don't care how many chemicals you put in or how much boiling you do, that water is still not going to be safe to drink. Purification systems are really only good if you are lost in a wilderness kind of situation. Making creek water safe to drink until you extricate yourself or are found. They can't pull out antifreeze, botulism poisons, or other things that entered the water a mile upstream.
I recall a couple of years ago. I want say in Galveston, where a serious storm was coming and some said they would not leave. The police realizing they could not convince these people to leave, asked them to write their social security number on their left arm so their bodies could be identified. From the the rest of the interview a lot of people took the hint
As we have seen over and over again, a lot of people will simply refuse to evacuate, no matter how bad the predictions are. We have seen that many times. Sandy, Katrina, Ivan, Floyd, Hugo, the list simply goes on and on and on. And forgive me, but I tend to have little sympathy for those that actually know a major disaster like a hurricane is on the way, and will not leave. To me, that is simply Darwinism in action. It is also hard for me to have sympathy for those that do not prepare at all. After the 1994 Earthquake, I was leaving to go to another city 40 miles away that was not hurt as bad, and my neighbor in front came and asked if I had any water. He has 2 infants, and all of their formula was the dry type (and the water had already been said to be unsafe to drink). I gave him 2 gallons, and simply shook my head that he could not even stockpile the absolute minimums to keep his children healthy. If not for the children, I probably would have told him to go stand at line in the park, where surely somebody would set up an encampment (and sure enough, by nightfall the Army Reserve had set one up).
Because your neighbor may be prepared to defend. I keep: 3 months worth of food for my family in #10 Freeze Dried cans... 25 year shelf life. (2) 55 Gallon drums of water (treated) for 5-10 year useability. Silver Coins... plenty of them. Glock 21, 12 Guage Shot Gun, .223 rifle scoped, and a 30-06 rifle scoped... with plenty of ammo Natural Gas Generator hooked to my house (4) First Aid Kits (2) Quads with night lights (1) 1970 Ford F-100 Truck long bed . It's my beach truck, but it is robust as hell and will work if an EMP were to happen when all the new cars don't. If I missed something vital, I am always up for suggestions.
A lot of "being prepared" is not only what you have, but your actual plans and what kind of emergency you are planning on. Myself, I am primarily prepared for the most likely disaster in my area, earthquakes. As such, my supplies are in the 2-3 week range. Of course, I am aware that in the event of an actual emergency, I would need no more then a 1 day supply, because my butt would then be with the Army trying to put things back together, and more then likely my wife would be there as well (or with her client since she is a nurse). I have never really seen the need for the "Doomsday Prepping", unless the person is already living in a very remote area far away from major traffic routes. To me, the main trick of survival is to simply get away from the area as fast as you can and stay away until things settle down. As for your list, silver is probably the best "form of "apocalypse currency", because of it's value. With silver coins in a complete social breakdown situation, you can buy things like bread and bullets. If your coinage is gold, good luck getting change! "Yea, I want 2 loafs of bread, a box of bullets, and those boots. Here is a $2,000 bill." Natural Gas is good, unless the situation is so bad you have no natural gas. I can pretty much live without power, and what few needs I do have can be fulfilled with small solar chargers (cell phone, batteries, etc). First aid kits are good, but you should also have training on how to use them. I have multiple "Combat Lifesaver" kits, but both my wife and myself are trained in how to use everything in them. Having a nasal-pharyngeal airway, a j-tube, or the kit to do a needle chest decompression does no good unless you are trained to use them. Vehicles are good for "getting out of dodge", as long as the roads are not all congested. I would not worry about EMP, if that happens odds (and I believe that EMP is grossly overhyped) are you are already dead if you live within 200 miles of a major city or military base (not from the nuke, but fallout, and the extreme breakdown of order and services in the immediate area). Sounds like you are already prepared, now all you need it seems is an evacuation plan. Where to go, how to get there, what to bring with you, and what you expect to find there waiting for you.
Yeah... I could do better on the medical end. I also have some nice radios (send / receive) portable. As far as evacuation, that has always been an issue in my thoughts. If I am at my Henderson, Nevada place... that is easy. There are a lot of routes out away from the bad. However, at the beach in Huntington Beach, CA... not so much. It's going to be ugly and my thought is, if I can I hunker down a try to let the event blow over. I figure we can go 3 - 4 months without issue.
Hey, you can always do like one guy in Reseda did many years ago. Build a gigantic concrete boat in your backyard, and then prepare to just sail away when zombie apocalypse or tsunami hits. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-23/local/me-471_1_years-yard-boat I actually remember that boat, it really was a local landmark.
