How long would you be able to survive if something happened?
How prepared are you for the most likely situations in your area?
Would you be able to keep you and your family safe/fed or successfully evacuate them if something were to occur or is your idea of 'preparation' a case of Ramen Noodles and 10,000 rounds for each of your guns?
There are a lot of blogs out there that specialize in survivalism and living off the grid, some of which I have linked on the side, so repeating that information would be redundant and unneccessary. I'm just going to ask some questions for various scenarious that most people don't think about but need to.
Do you have a SHTF/'Bug Out' bag for you and your family? Kim Du Toit published a basic list that he put together for his family some time ago. The DHS has pages upon pages of recomendations. Everyone knows the basics. Food. Water. 1st Aid kit. Toiletries.
What about your pets? Do you have enough food/water for them? Carriers? Enough room in your vehicle for them? If not, do you have a backup plan for their care or do you dump them?
The same goes for livestock. Do you have a plan for their care or a way for them to escape if needed or are they on their own?
Where are you going to go and how are you going to get there? Can everything fit in the vehicle you're planning on using? Are you going to use more than one? If so, how will you remain in communication w/ the other driver? CB, Cellphone, Walkie-Talkie?
What route(s) are you going to use? What if that one's blocked? Then that one? Do you have a backup for your planned safe-spot?
Those are some things to think about for a quick getaway but what about long term staying power if that isn't an option? There's a big difference between what one would need in an urban environment compared to a rural one.
How reliant is your residence on the grid? Is there a way for you to maintain a tolerable environment (whether heating or cooling) without utility provided gas/electricity? For how long?
Do you have a reliable source for potable water? A place to store it for dry times?
Where are you going to get food from after your surplus runs out? Scavenging, farming/gardening, hunting/trapping? Do you have the tools/skills to do it enough to feed you and your family? How are you going to prepare it?
What are you going to do w/ your waste products/trash?
I don't think everyone should relive Y2K, spending their kid's college funds to buy years worth of freeze-dried foods, generators, 2-ply toilet paper and grandfather clocks. I think we're going to pull out of latest fiasco but, as an acquaitance of mine astutely stated, "The day AFTER the power goes out is not the time to start to start making plans".
So what have you done?
4 comments:
I did the whole "grab and go kit" years ago which I was fairly impressed with. But I'm not really sure where I would bug-out to.
I'm already out in the middle of nowhere.
I have woodstoves with piles of firewood and a nice clean river with plenty of fat trout in it. Plenty of fresh water and all the wildlife that brings right in my back yard.
I think I'll just start a garden and call it good.
Being that I live in a small, studio apartment with minimal non-living-area storage, not very long.
I've got a few days worth of dry food (e.g. cereal, granola bars, etc.), a few days worth of canned vegetables, beans, etc., and a few days worth of water. Of course, there's the whole bunch of ammo and some basic camping supplies (e.g. sleeping bag, water filter, etc.). A small Honda generator and some gas rounds things off a bit.
Not much, but it's ok.
My basic plan is to bug-in as best I can, but in the event that I must leave, I'd probably head up to the observatory (I do astronomical research and have a combination to the gate). It's isolated in the local National Forest, on a small, curvy mountain dirt road with minimal signage, and has a hefty fence and vehicle gate. Not many people know it's there.
It's a locked, windowless, multi-story building made entirely out of steel. There's a catwalk 20ft off the ground that is accessible only through a steel, bolted-from-the-inside door on the upper level. It has a loading dock (with a steel shutter), hoist, and platform to move heavy things to the upper levels. The entrance door is locked from the inside and has a narrow window slit (so one can't climb in or reach the inside knob, yet one can see out) and a second, interior door that can also be secured.
Basically, without heavy equipment or metal-cutting tools (e.g. a torch), one can't get in without the key.
If things aren't so bad, there's the dormitory (kinda like a rustic alpine ski lodge) about 50 feet away that's a lot more comfortable than the observatory dome itself. The whole facility has a 10,000 gallon water tank, two generators with on-site fuel storage, and is on a totally separate power grid than nearby Tucson.
There's also a substantial reserve of liquid nitrogen and tanks of nitrogen gas. While not as effective as pouring boiling oil like in medieval castle defense, it can help fend off looters.
For someone like me, who can't afford an isolated place of my own, it's about as good as I can get.
Only problem is that there's only one road to get there, and it's a narrow, two-lane mountain road that requires that I cross most of Tucson to get to. Hopefully everyone else would be going to the interstate rather than up the mountain road...
Myself, the girlfriend, her son, and his girlfriend would be OK for about two weeks; the gf and I alone, probably 5 weeks. That's with what we have on-hand as our "Earthquake Kit", and we're LOTS better prepared than most people. Living in the L.A. area means we'd probably hunker down and sit it out for a week or so before we decided to leave. We have a couple of places we could go to, but getting there would most likely be NO fun, depending on what happened to "Crash The System".
Too many different scenarios of "what might happen", so I've determined to hunker down at home. Make plans to "go somewhere" AFTER the "something" happens, based on what has happened.
I can't say that I'm totally self-sufficient, but I've been building up food and water supplies for awhile (gotta remember to fill those barrels). I don't have 10,000 rounds for each of my guns, but I do have sufficient to defend myself & family.
B Woodman
III-per
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