Survivalism 101

[Clan DireWolf]

Surviving in the City

This article is from Christopher Parrett's book, "The LDS Preparedness Manual" which is posted for free downloading to any and all at http://www.abysmal.com/LDS/Preparedness/ The author also has a web site at www.anothervoiceofwarning.org The article has been around since Y2K days and is still relevant.


Introduction
While we all want to do our best to prepare for a coming crisis, and many of us realize the city is perhaps the worst place to live, very few people are really prepared to pack up the old Winnebago and head for the hills. Most Americans, whether they're aware or not, are going to stay in the cities.


This is not a hasty decision for most people. Most of us depend on the city for our livelihood, and we can be better prepared by continuing to live in the city, earn a good income, and make preparations for exiting the city at the appropriate time or by staying in the city and living off existing supplies.


This special report explains some of the most critical dangers of living in a city and presents some solutions to surviving them. If you are one of the people who has decided to stay in the city, you'll benefit greatly from this information.

Cities are artificial
Every city is an artificial construct. Cities formed as people came together to conduct business, participate in social interaction, and benefit from efficiencies in public services (such as schools, sewers, water, etc.) and a common defense. Yet cities cannot survive alone. They need resources from the country; most notably, food, water and electricity. While electricity and water can sometimes be created or found within city limits, the acreage requirements of food dictate that no city could possibly feed its own people.

Read that last phrase carefully: No city can feed its own people. Not one. Cities are, by their very nature, dependent on the importation of food. The advent of just-in-time delivery systems to our grocery stores means that most cities would run out of food within a week if supplies were for some reason disrupted.

Remember, cities are not self-sufficient. Although they may seem to be in 2005, they have for a long time been entirely dependent on the American farmer for their support, something almost all Americans take for granted (except the farmer, of course.)

Risks in the City
The city presents some serious risks during a crisis. The four most serious ones are:
1. the collapse of social order (riots),
2. the failure of the water treatment and delivery systems,
3. the depletion of food supplies and
4. the failure of the power grid.

While not every situation will appear in every city, every situation will most certainly appear in some cities. Will that include yours? We’ll tackle these one at a time:

1. The Collapse of Social Order
“Social order” is a delicate thing, and it exists as a psychological barrier that could easily collapse under the right conditions. We all saw this during the L. A. Riots following the Rodney King trial verdict as citizens of L. A. set fire to their own town, yanked people from vehicles and beat them literally to death, and even fired guns at firemen attempting to save their buildings! More recently we were all witness to the looting, violence and total breakdown of society following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

What allowed this to happen? Simple: the simultaneous melting away of the psychological barrier of “order.” Once people realized 911 couldn’t handle the load, or was offline, that the local police were helpless or had simply abandoned their posts, “Law and Order” ceased to exist in their minds. They then conducted their lives in the way they always wanted to, but couldn’t because of the police. That is, they ran out to the local stores and just took whatever they wanted (looting). They took our their racial frustration on innocent victims who happened to be driving through the area, and they let loose on a path of destruction that only stopped when men with rifles (the National Guard) were called in to settle things down. In other words, only the threat of immediate death stopped the looting and violence. Rifles work wonders.

Imagine store owners lying prone on the roofs of their stores with AK-47's, firing at anyone who approached. This is exactly what happened in Los Angeles. But worse, imagine the lawless horde firing at the rescue copters trying to bring in supplies to the desperate masses.

The National Guard eventually got things under control. This event was isolated, however, to one city. Imagine a hundred cities experiencing the same thing. Will the National Guard be able to handle the load? Not likely. What about local police? They aren’t fools; if things look bad enough, they’ll grab their families and head for the hills, just like they did in New Orleans. No pension is worth getting killed for. A few U. S. cities could be transformed into literal war zones overnight. It would require all-out martial law and military force to have any chance whatsoever of bringing order to these streets. And the reality is that there are not enough military in the USA to secure all of the cities if this happens.

This collapse of social order is perhaps the greatest risk of staying in the city during a crisis. What, exactly, would cause this collapse of social order? Lack of three things: food, water, and money. When people run out of food, some will begin ransacking their neighborhood, searching for something to eat. (Remember that in a city, a “neighbor” does not mean the same thing as a “neighbor” in the country. They are not necessarily your friends.)

It won’t take long, then, for violence to take over in some cities. While certain regions will certainly manage to keep things under control and people will form lines at the local (depleted) Red Cross shelter, other cities will see an explosion of violence. Imagine the gang-infested regions of L. A., Chicago, New York, St. Louis & New Orleans. Do you think those people are going to stand in line and wait? They already have guns; now they finally get to use them. Pent-up racial tensions & hostilities will simply serve as justification for shooting people of the same or other color in order to get their food.

Even if the food somehow gets into the cities, lack of money (due to the government not sending out checks) could cause the same thing. Eventually, lack of money results in looting and mass theft. As the stealing balloons, it also results in a collapse of social order. Water; the same thing (but faster). The collapse of social order is also very dangerous because it doesn’t require any “actual” collapse of the power grid, telecommunications, transportation or banking. Social order is a psychological artifact. It is a frame of mind, and any global panic can quickly remove the mental barrier that right now keeps people basically “lawful.”

[Clan DireWolf]

Re: Surviving in the City

The Failure of Water Treatment and Delivery Systems
Will the water treatment facilities fail during a crisis? Many will. Some won’t. The problem lies in figuring out whether yours will. Certainly, they depend on electricity, and testing conducted on some plants has already revealed weaknesses in the system.

In one such test, the water treatment plant released a fatal dose of fluoride into the water system when tested. The computers thought they were 99 years behind in releasing minute doses of fluoride, so they made up the difference. If you happened to be downstream, drinking that water, you were dead. Fluoride, no matter what misinformed dentists tell you, is actually a fatal poison. A major crisis likely to demonstrate this fact in more than one city.

The most important question here, though, is about what will happen when the water stops flowing (or if it is flowing, but it’s not drinkable). As you are probably aware, while people can live without food for long periods of time (2-3 weeks), water is needed on a daily basis. You can go 2-3 days without it, at most, but beyond that, you'll quickly turn to dust.

That means people will do anything to get water, because to not have it means death. And guess where it’s going to be the most difficult to actually get water? You guessed it: in the cities. During the first day of the water crisis, many people still won't figure out what's going on. They’ll figure it’s a temporary breakage of a water main and the government will get it fixed within hours. As those hours stretch into the next day, these people will get very worried.

By the second day, more and more people will realize the water isn't coming. At that point, you could easily see a breakdown of social order, as described in the previous section (as you can see, these things all tend to cause each other.). People will begin their “search for water,” and the first place they’re likely to go is where they always go for liquids: the grocery store, the local Wal-Mart, the 7-11. The shelves will be cleaned out rather quickly.

Beyond that (because those liquids aren’t going to last long), you're going to see people engaged in a mass-exodus from the cities. They’ll take the gas they have left in their tanks and they'll leave the city in search of water. Some will go to “Grandma’s house” out in the country where they might at least find a pond or stream to drink from. Others will simply go on an expanded looting mission, stopping at any house they see and asking the residents (with a gun in their face, likely) if they have any water to “donate.”

As a result of all this, if water stops flowing, here are the events you can expect to see in some of the worse-off cities:
* Looting of all the grocery stores by the second or third day (remember New Orleans?)
* Minor outbreaks of violence during the looting. Shop owners, for example, may attempt to defend their shops with firearms (ala L. A. Riots)
* Mass exodus of residents from the city in search of water
* Ransacking of any houses or farms within a gas-tank radius of the city, presumably by desperate people with guns
* Mass traffic jams on the outbound highways as people run out of gas and abandon their vehicles (if bad enough, this could actually block the highways and trap people in the cities) (Remember Hurricane Rita?)
* Mass outbreak of water-borne diseases as people use streams and rivers as both a water fountain and a bathroom. People crapping upstream are going to infect the people drinking downstream. Very few have any kind of water filtration device. That last point is really critical. Once the water flow stops, disease is going to strike.

The Depletion of Food Supplies
The food supplies will likely dwindle quickly as we approach a possible crisis due to people stocking up just in case. Once the crisis actually hits, expect to see breakdowns in the transportation sector that will result in major delays in food delivery. This means food may arrive in sporadic fashion in some cities (if at all).

Once this happens, food suddenly becomes really valuable to people (even though they take it for granted today). And that means any small shipment of food that arrives will be quickly grabbed and eaten or stored. It only takes one week without food to remind people how much they actually need it, so expect the atmosphere to be that of a “near panic” if food is delayed by as little as three days. The level of panic will vary from city to city. Some cities or towns may experience very little difficulty receiving food. Others may face near-starvation circumstances.

Remember, the cities depend entirely on food shipped in from the farms and food processing companies. Also, note that if there’s a water problem as mentioned in the previous section, and the mass exodus begins, the highways may be jammed up at critical locations, causing gridlock for the trucking industry. If we're lucky, some trucks will continue to roll. If we’re not, assume that nothing gets through.

A shortage of food ultimately results in the same behavior as a shortage of water. First, people eat what’s in the pantry, then they loot the grocery stores. After that, with all local supplies depleted and no hope on the horizon, they leave the city and start ransacking nearby homes. Some will hunt in nearby forests, but most city-dwellers don’t know how to hunt. In any case, anyone with the means to leave the city will likely do so soon after their food shortage begins.

The Failure of the Power Grid
Nothing is as suddenly obvious nor has such a gigantic psychological impact as the failure of the power grid. When the electricity stops, almost everybody knows it at the same instant (unless it happens at night).

Naturally, during the first few hours of the power failure, if it occurs, people will assume it’s a temporary situation. Maybe a tree fell on some power lines, or perhaps a transformer blew up somewhere nearby. They'll sit tight and wait for the power to come back on.

What if it doesn’t? Then the city faces a severe problem. Without power, obviously, everything shuts down. Within hours, the looting begins in the more crime-ridden cities (we saw this in New York a few decades ago.). The longer the power stays off, the worse the social disorder.

The loss of power will bring the entire city to a halt. While vehicles may get around for a few more days (using whatever fuel they have left), businesses obviously won't be operating. Houses that depend on electricity for heat will quickly reach Winter temperatures, freezing many occupants to death. While those that depend on electricity for Air Conditioning will just as quickly reach Summer temperatures, resulting in death from heat stroke. Hospitals and police stations may have generators on hand, with a few days worth of fuel, but in short order, that will be depleted, too.

But the water treatment plant will almost certainly be off-line without power, causing all the events mentioned in the water section, above. Let's face it, the power is the worst thing to be without in the city. If you have power, you can survive a food shortage, perhaps even a short water shortage. But without power, all bets are off. If you have a “bug-out” vehicle stocked and ready to go (see below), this might be the time to bail.

Solutions in the City
Okay, so you're stuck in the city. You’ve made the decision to stay. You’ve read the problems above, you believe they make sense, and you’re intelligently frightened. What now? You really have two strategies. You can:
* Stay and defend your house
* Bug out (leave the city and head for the hills)

Important! This is not an either/or situation. You can begin by staying in your house and assessing the situation. You'll want to have a “bug-out” vehicle stocked and ready, just in case, if you can afford one, but you may never actually choose to bug out. You’ll have to be the ultimate judge of this. Just remember that when you bug out, you face major risks and disadvantages. Among these:

1. You're severely limited in how much you can carry -
2. You have limited range due to fuel -
3. You expose yourself to social chaos, roadblocks, random violence, etc. -
4. Your house will certainly be looted while you're gone -
5. You run the risk of mechanical breakdowns of your vehicle -
6. You must have a place to go that you know is in better shape than where you currently are.

[Clan DireWolf]

Re: Surviving in the City

In general, unless you have a specific, known safe place as your final destination, I don't advise people to bug out. Just “heading for the hills” is a very poor plan. You might not make it. But heading for Grandma’s house or some known, safe place could be a very good plan indeed, depending on whether Grandma is ready, willing and able to accept you! [This subject is covered in depth in my booklet, "Evacuation and Relocation." ]

For these reasons (and more), staying and defending your house is sometimes the only reasonable course of action, even if it seems dangerous. For the most part, looters and people looking for food are going to have plenty of easy victims, so if you show a little willingness to use force to defend your property, you’ll likely send people on to the next house.

That is, until the next house is already empty and you appear to be the last house on the block with any food and water left. If you're in a bad enough area, your neighbors may “gang up” on you and demand your supplies or your life. This is truly a worst-case scenario, and unless you literally have a house full of battle rifles and people trained to use them (and the willingness to shoot your neighbors), you’re sunk. This is why the best situation by far is to keep your neighbors informed and help them get prepared. Then you (both your member and non-member neighbors) can act as a group, defending your neighborhood and sharing the supplies you have with anyone willing to help defend you.

When you have this kind of situation going, your neighbors realize you are their lifeline. You supply them with food and water, and they will help support you because they are, in effect, supporting their own lives. The best situation is when your neighbors and other ward members have their own food and water supplies. That way, they aren’t depleting yours, and they have a strong motivation for getting together with you defend your neighborhood. (More on this below.)


Storing (and Hiding) Your Food
Storing food is just as important in the city as in the country, but hiding it is far more important. That’s because in the worst areas, marauders will be going from house to house, demanding your food or your life. If you're dumb enough to put everything you own in the obvious places, you might as well not buy it in the first place. They will find it. To count on having any amount of food left over after the marauders break in, you'll need to hide your food.

One alternative is to plan on defending your home with force. If you have enough gun-wise people in the house, and enough firearms and ammo, you can probably pull this off. But most of us aren’t nearly as experience with firearms as the gang members. A better alternative might be to plan on bringing you supplies to your ward/stake building where all of the Saints can both pool and defend their resources. This of course will depend greatly on your local Bishop and Stake President.

Back to hiding: the best way to hide your food is to bury it. You’ll need airtight containers, long-term food that won't rot and you’ll need to plan ahead. Bury your food at night so nobody will notice, and make sure you don’t leave the map on the refrigerator door! (Better to memorize it!) Try to get the ground to look normal after you're all finished. You’ll want to bury your food as early as possible because it gives the grass time to regroup over the spot. If you’re in an area that snows, you’ll have a great concealment blanket! Most food marauders won't go to the trouble to dig up food, especially if you insist you don't have any.

Best plan: Have some smaller amount of food stashed around the house, letting them find something. Better to give them something and send them on their way. The art of hiding your food is an ancient one. You've got to get creative. Use the walls, the floors, and the structure of the house.

If hiding your food is simply not an available alternative, then try not to advertise it. Keep it put away in your house or garage in as discreet a manner as possible. Don’t make a point of telling people that you have a years supply (or more). Word gets around fast that Bro. Jones has a ton of food in his garage. Boxes of food fit nicely under beds, behind furniture, in the attic, etc.. Be Creative!!

To sum up the food storage, you really have three strategies here:
* Store it all in your house and plan on defending it by force.
* Bury it in your yard in case you get overrun by looters.
* Store part of it in your house, and hide the bulk of it.
* Relocate all of it as soon as you recognize a major disaster is in progress

One of the best ways to store food for burying, although it will only last 2-3 years in high-humidity areas, is to purchase 55-gallon good-grade steel drums. You can get them from: Memphis Drum Service, 3299 Tulane, Memphis, Tennessee 38116 (901) 396-6484; (800) 960-3786) The drums are only $16.50, but shipping them is around $30 each. Once you obtain the drums, dump in your grains or other food items. If you purchase bags of food from Walton Feed, this is the perfect way to store it. Don't leave it in the bags unless you're actively eating it. [Note: Plastic barrels do not rust.]

Then sprinkle some diatomaceous earth into the drum. You'll need about two cups to treat a 55-gallon drum, and it must be mixed in well. Diatomaceous earth is made from ground up sea shells, and it kills bugs by getting into their joints. You can get some from: Perma-Guard, Inc. 115 Rio Bravo S. E. Albuquerque, New Mexico 87105 (505) 873-3061

This diatomaceous earth is food grade, and on the bag it says, “Fossil Shell Flour.” Their prices are one pound, $4.90; 2 lb., $8.05; 5 lb., 14.70, 10 lb., $18.00; 50 lb., $24.95.

Once you get these drums filled and sealed, you can then bury them in your yard. This is actually a HUGE UNDERTAKING and is a LOT more difficult than it sounds, since you’ll need to dig to a depth of around 5 or 6 feet in order to sufficiently bury these drums. You’re likely to attract a lot of attention unless you do it at night, and you’ll definitely be removing a lot of dirt that you’ll need to find some use for. Because the drums are steel, they will also deteriorate unless you line the outside with plastic (a good idea) and treat the drums with some kind of protectant or oil. (Don't use WD-40.) Even Vaseline would work well, although you would definitely need a lot to coat a 55-gallon drum.

When you’re all done, you should have your protected grains in 55-gallon drums, buried in your yard and protected against the humidity of the surrounding earth. It’s a big effort, but then again, the food inside may save your life. You’ll find it much more efficient to bury several barrels at once; side by side.

In reality it would be faster and easier to simply build a false wall in your garage and seal up your food behind the false wall. Sure, you might loose 2-3 feet of useable space in your garage, but the tradeoff is knowing everything is safe and sound.

[Clan DireWolf]

Re: Surviving in the City

Storing Extra Water
Water can be stored in exactly the same way, although you might want to bury the barrel before you actually fill it with water. Make sure you treat your storage water, rotate it or have filters on hand when you get ready to use it.

If you don’t have a yard, or it's not practical to bury your water, you’ll have to store water inside your house. This can get very tricky because water takes up a lot of space and it's very difficult to conceal. It’s best to get containers made for long-term storage, but in a pinch, you can use almost any container: soda bottles, milk jugs (although it's very difficult to rinse the milk out), and even rinsed bleach bottles (in that case, you won’t need to add bleach). But a lot of these containers will deteriorate quickly, and they may break easily. Also, consider what happens if your water may be subjected to freezing. Will your containers survive? Be sure to leave enough air space to handle the expansion.

In order to prepare yourself for the water shortage, assuming you’re going to stay in the city, stock at least six months of water at a minimum two gallons a day per person. That’s nearly 400 gallons of water if you have two people.

Of course, even with the best in-house preparations, you may find yourself depleted of water supplies. In this situation, one of your best defenses is to have a really good water filter (like the Katadyn filter) that can remove parasites and bacteria from the water. You can also treat your water in other ways (iodine, distillation, silver solution, bleach, etc.). Armed with these items, you can safely use stream or river water (or even pond water) for drinking.

WATER WELLS
By far, the best solution for obtaining long-term water supplies is to drill a well. Buy the best-quality hand-pump available (cast-iron pumps available from Lehman’s) and a good cylinder. They will last a lifetime if installed properly. With this setup, you'll have a near-unlimited supply of water.

The total cost of doing this, depending on where you live, ranges from about $4000 - $6000. Is it worth it? If you’ve got the money, I think so. However, many cities simply don’t allow the drilling of wells, so you may not be able to get one drilled even if you want to.

The deeper your well, the more expensive it gets. Most well drilling companies charge by the foot. When water is deeper, you also need a bigger pump and a more powerful cylinder, so the costs tend to really grow the deeper you go. If you can find water at 20', you’re very lucky and it might not cost you even $2000. If you have to go down to 200', it might cost you $7500, and you’re at the depth limit of hand-powered pumps anyway.

Defending Your Life and Property
Let’s talk about force. No doubt, there are plenty of nice people in this country, and I think that in small towns and rural areas, people are going to find ways to cooperate and get along. I also think, however, that some cities will suffer complete social breakdown and violence will rule. If you happen to be stuck in one of these cities, you’re going to need to use force to defend your house. The section that follows discusses what I consider to be extreme responses to violence in the most dire situations. Hopefully, you won't find yourself in these circumstances, but if you do, the information below may be valuable.

Important: Do not use your lights at night. If you are stocking propane-powered lanterns, solar-powered flashlights, or other unusual supplies, using them at night will announce to everyone within line of sight that you have more than the “usual” supplies. Expect them to come knocking in your door. [See www.EndTimesReport.com/lighting.html At most, let a fire burn in the fireplace, but in general, avoid drawing attention to your house.

Defending your house is a crucial element on your stay-in-the-city plan. Make your house your fortress, and hold drills to help other family members practice some of the more common activities such as hiding, defending, evacuating, etc. Some useful items for home defense include:
* A guard dog
* Pepper spray
* Firearms
* Smoke bombs (military-grade)
* Trip wires

Let's go over these: The guard dog is certainly a welcome addition to any family trying to defend their house. Although he probably eats a lot of food, the investment is worth if. Dogs also tend to sleep light, so let them sleep right next to the food storage areas, and make sure you sleep within earshot. If the dog barks, don't consider it an annoyance, consider it an INTRUSION.

Pepper spray is a great alternative to the firearm. It will incapacitate people and certainly give them a painful experience to remember. On the downside (potentially), it might just remind them that next time they come back for food, they better kill you first. So understand the limitations of pepper spray.

Firearms are useful for obvious reasons. In the worst-case scenario, when looting is rampant, you may have to actually shoot someone to protect yourself or your family. If you’re squeamish about pulling the trigger under these circumstances, don't plan to stay in the city. Use the “bug out” plan instead.

Smoke bombs can be useful for covering a planned escape from your house. You can purchase high-volume smoke bombs that will quickly fill up any house with an unbreathable cloud of military-grade white smoke.

Trip wires are great perimeter defenses. You can buy them from Cheaper Than Dirt (they run a few hundred dollars). They will give you early warning if someone is approaching. You can connect the tripwires to flares, shotgun shells, light sticks or other warning devices. This way, you can have an audible or visible alert, your choice.

In addition to these devices, you can make significant fortification-style improvements to your home. While none of these are very affordable, they certainly help defend your home:
* Replace glass windows with non-breakable Plexiglas
* Add steel bars to the windows
* Replace all outside door locks with heavy-duty deadbolts
* Replace all outside doors with steel doors, preferably without windows
* Remove bushes and other shrubs where people might hide
* Black out the windows entirely to avoid light escaping at night (similar to what residents of London did during the WWII bombing raids)
* Build secret hiding places for food, coins, or even people
* Create escape hatches or passageways
* Rig pepper-spray booby traps

These aren’t as absurd as they might at first sound. Many people living in rough cities already have steel bars covering their windows, and removing extra bushes and shrubs is a well-known tactic for making your home a safer place.

LIGHT
To light your home when there’s no electricity, try the following:
* Use LED flashlights and rechargeable solar-charged batteries. You can buy all these items from the Real Goods catalog
* Use propane-powered lanterns. You can find these in the camping section of your local Wal-Mart. Be sure to purchase extra mantles and store lots of propane.
* Purchase quality oil lamps from Lehman’s and stock up on oil. You can also purchase cheap kerosene lamps from the Sportsman's Guide or Wal-Mart, then simply purchase and store extra kerosene.
* Buy extra candles.
* Purchase lots of olive oil. Not only can you cook with it (and besides, it’s a lot healthier than corn or vegetable oil), olive oil also burns as a clean candle fuel. You can float a wick in a jar half-full of olive oil and light the wick. Viola, a home-made candle. Olive oil is a fantastic item for your storage anyway because even if you purchase all the grains in the world, you’ll still need cooking oil, and you obviously can’t buy powdered cooking oil. Well-stored olive oil can last for thousands of years.

STAYING WARM
Did you know that people won't steal giant logs? Although they may easily steal wood you've already chopped, most people won't have any way of stealing logs. They’re too heavy, and the vehicles won't have any gas left. For this reason, your best bet in regards to stocking fuel for your house is to stock up on UNCUT wood logs.

It takes a lot of extra research to find out how to get them (took me a few weeks of asking around), but you can find a source if you look hard enough. Or you can usually get a permit to go out and cut your own. The effort is worth it, because this will give you a ready-to-go source of heat and fuel that cannot be easily stolen.

The catch, of course, is that you'll need equipment to cut and chop the wood. A chainsaw is REALLY nice in this way, but it requires fuel. Fortunately, chain saws don’t use much fuel, so if you have a way to store as little as 50 gallons or so, you've got enough to power your chainsaw for a few years (at least!). You'll need fuel stabilizers, too, which you can buy at your local Wal-Mart. (Be sure to buy extra chains for your chainsaw, too.)

You’ll also need splitting hardware. You can buy log splitters or just buy an axe, a wedge, and a sledgehammer. Better yet, buy all four so you have a choice of what to use. And remember, wood splits much better when it’s frozen, too, so you might just wait until the cold hits in Winter to start splitting your wood. Only split a little at a time, because you don’t want to end up with a big pile of nicely-split wood sitting out in your yard. It will invite theft from people who don't have any. If you already have trees on your property, you're all set. Cut down about 4-5 cords right now, so they can start drying out, then chop them as you need them.

[Clan DireWolf]

Re: Surviving in the City

A “cord” of wood, by the way, is a volume measurement. It’s 8' x 4' x 4', or 128 cubic feet of wood (stacked). Some people that sell wood will try to rip you off, so make sure you know what you're buying. If you purchase logs, it’s better to get a price per linear foot, based on the diameter of the log. For example, you might ask for logs that are an average of 10" in diameter, and you’ll ask how much the charge per linear foot would be. Something in the range of $1 - $2 would be great.


Relations With Neighbors
I’ve already mentioned the importance of getting along with your neighbors. It really is crucial to your city-based survival plan. The best situation to be in, as mentioned before, is to have neighbors & other church members who are aware of the issue and who are getting ready for it by stocking their own food, water, and other supplies. Every neighbor & member that becomes self-reliant is one less neighbor or member you’ll have to support.


The range of neighbor situations, from best to worst, is as follows:
* Best case: your neighbor is current Recommend holder, is aware of and both temporally & Spiritually prepared for an emergency with their own supplies and training.
* Good case: your neighbor is aware of a potential crisis, and even though they don't have their own supplies, they’re willing to help defend yours as long as you share
* Bad case: your neighbor is a non-member that didn’t prepare for it, figuring they would just steal from you if things got bad. They are aware of YOUR supplies but don’t have their own.
* Worst case: your neighbor isn’t aware of anything, he is anti-mormon and he’s a violent, angry neighbor just released from prison. He is going to be caught off guard by the ensuing events and will likely attempt to use violence to get what he needs or wants.

Your decision on whether to stay in the city may depend greatly on the quality and quantity of your neighbors. If you do live in a bad neighborhood, do what you can to relocate. If you live in a good neighborhood, do the best you can to educate and inform your neighbors. This might well be the most important missionary work you ever do for your own temporal salvation!


Gun Control in the Cities
No matter how you felt or thought about gun control in the past, it’s time to face disaster-induced reality. The gun-control politicians (and the people who supported them) have placed Americans in a situation where not only can the police not protect us in a timely manner, but we cannot lawfully defend ourselves. Criminals unlawfully have firearms; citizens lawfully don't. Intentionally or otherwise, gun-control supporters have created a situation where an unfortunate number of innocent men, women and children are going to be in danger during a crisis simply because they could not obtain the tools of self-defense.

It also happens that the cities where the rioting will likely be the worst are precisely the cities where firearms are most likely to be banned from lawful ownership (and where criminals may wield near-absolute power for a while.). Perhaps when society recovers from it, we can review the fallacy in the cause / effect logic that keeps people voting for gun-control laws, but in the mean time, millions of people are going to have to resort to breaking the law in order to protect their families. And yes, you too will have to resort to breaking the law if you are to acquire a firearm in an area where guns are entirely banned from private citizens (like New York, Los Angeles, etc.).

After the disaster hits, if the rioting gets really bad, we're going to see local police begging law-abiding citizens for help. Your firearm will be a welcome addition to the force of law and order, believe me. No local cop is going to mind you having a handgun if you're manning a roadblock protecting a neighborhood of families with children. Act responsibly, tell them what you're doing, and they'll probably give you a big thanks. But if you're carrying a gun while you smash a window of the Wal-Mart and walk off with a stereo; well that's a different story. Be prepare to get shot.

See, cops don't mind private ownership nearly as much as we've all been led to believe. I know, I work with law enforcement officers in a small town, and I ask them about topics like this. When the crisis hits, they'll be more than happy to have your cooperation. We're all going to need as many law-abiding gun-toting citizens as possible in order to fend off the criminals and establish some degree of order.

One More Reason To Move Out
If you really feel you need a firearm to protect yourself and your family, your best bet may be to move to a city or state where people are a lot more accepting of firearms. You'd be surprised what a difference the locale makes. Check the gun laws in any state you're considering moving to. Obviously, “cowboy” states like Arizona, Texas and Wyoming will have fewer restrictions on firearms (and, interestingly, they have less of a problem with gun violence). States where the population is more dense (like California & New York) tend to have much greater restrictions on private ownership of firearms.

Bugging Out
Suppose it’s July 14, 2006, and you’ve changed your mind about this city thing. You happened to be right smack in the middle of one of the worst-hit cities in the country. The looting is getting worse, the power has been out for two weeks, and your water supplies are running low. You still have enough gas in your truck to make it out of town if you can get past the gangs, that is. You’ve decided to BUG OUT!

Some basic pointers:
* Don’t try to bug out in a Chevy Geo. You will likely need a big heavy 4x4 truck in order to go off-road and around stalled vehicles
* Get something that can carry at least 1000 pounds of supplies. A big 4x4 pickup will do nicely! Yes, it requires more fuel, but you can carry the fuel as cargo.
* Don’t bug out unless you can have someone ride shotgun, literally. You will need an armed passenger in case you run into not-so-nice people

WHAT TO TAKE
Ahh, the bug-out supply list. All this will fit in your truck. Here’s what you should take if you’re preparing to bug out with two people:
* Your 96 hour kits for each person in the vehicle
* 20 gallons of water
* 40 gallons of extra fuel or more (and a full gas tank)

WHERE TO GO
As mentioned earlier, if you have a designated place of refuge (Grandma’s house, a cabin in the woods, etc.), head straight for it. If not, you’re basically driving anywhere you can go, so try to head for an area that forested and near a creek or river where you can get some water.

[Clan DireWolf]

Re: Surviving in the City

Conclusion
Choosing to remain in the city is a rational choice for many people in many situations. However, as you have seen from the dangers described here, the further away you can get from the population centers in general, the better your chances of surviving.

Most people, perhaps yourself included, have a difficult time actually accepting that a major disaster is going to be as bad as described in this report. And after all, if you leave the city, sell out, quit your job, move to the country, and then nothing bad happens? You will have disrupted your life, and you may find yourself broke, jobless, and homeless. You COULD assume it will be a mild event, which I suppose is also a credible possibility. In that case, surviving in the city will be quite feasible, especially if you have neighbors that can support your efforts and you donąt live in a dangerous city with high racial tensions. However, the very nature of a major disaster means that if only one or two major infrastructure components goes down, the ripple effect will quickly create a much worse scenario. It seems there is very little room for “mild” effects unless they are miniscule. The most likely scenario at this point clearly points to massive disruptions, severe shortages in food and water, loss of power in some areas, and a breakdown of social order in certain areas where the population density is high.

But you can survive anything with good planning, an open mind, and plenty of practice. Why not start now?

[Herr Walther]

Re: Surviving in the City

Good read.

[ISC]

Re: Surviving in the City

One of my biggest fears in the city would be fires spreading from house to house or buildings. It's not even mentioned.

[Clan DireWolf]

Survivalism 101

ASSUME NO PEACE - SAFEGUARD NOW


Nancy Levant
July 10, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

It seems that things are rapidly boiling over the Iran issue. Too many meetings, weapons sales, high-level comings and goings that spark a familiarity and one that bears notice - if Iran is attacked by anyone in the world, and most especially Israel or America, American people must take heed. An attack on Iran WILL bring consequences to our country. We need to think of our children, grandchildren, and our elders. Be very assured – our “representatives” will only be concerned with their personal CoG (Continuity of Government) a$$es.

Following 9-11-01, we were gently told to stock up on a few things and to have supplies for 2 or 3 days. Almost no one paid attention to that ridiculous governmental suggestion. Today, I’m going to suggest to my countrymen to do far more than stock your kitchen shelves.

Iran is a nuclear issue that will snowball. Many Mid-Eastern countries have nuclear capabilities and we know for a fact that many sleeper cells exist inside of our nation (thanks to the welcome mat borders created by our “representatives”). We’ve had years of threats regarding the knocking out of our power grid systems and chemical, biological, and radiological attacks. Iran has promised retaliation for any attempts to take out her nuclear capabilities. Therefore, American citizens need to prepare for far more than a 2 or 3-day period of self-help.

I suggest to the citizenry that you stock a minimum 6 to 18-month supply of goods. Food, water, medicines, prescription medications, pet food, diapers, wipes, formula, etc., and I also suggest that you have an alternate, non-electrical heat and cooking source, such as a wood stove, and other fuels. I suggest that you and your families be prepared to buckle down and burrow in and to prepare for self-defense.

Consider buying big bulk items, such as 5 to 6-gallon buckets of staples - rice, beans, pastas, sugar, flour, soup mixes, powdered milk, honey, wheat, oatmeal or farina, etc.. Baking powder, salt, cooking oil, and yeast needs to also be purchased in bulk. I suggest buying fruits and vegetables freeze-dried or dehydrated in #10 cans, and buy a lot! Also stock up on multi-vitamins. I strongly suggest that you purchase good heirloom garden seeds and enough for 3 years. I suggest that you plant fruit trees and bushes – a lot of them. In other words, be prepared to live off the power grid. As unthinkable as this may seem, it is a given that power grid failures WILL occur if there is any retaliation on American soil. I doubt, however, that this will be an issue for our “representatives.”

There are many, many websites which provide help and calculations for family food storage needs, but it is easy to figure out what you would need for 6 to 12 months based upon what you now purchase in one or two weeks. By buying in large bulk, you will save literally thousands of dollars. Though the initial purchases will be expensive, you will be properly prepared. The last thing you want to do in an emergency is stand in food and water lines with your children. I also recently read that power grid failure due to radiological interference could take up to a year or more to repair. We need to be prepared to care for our children and our elderly. We need to encourage our extended families and neighbors to stock up and to make self-sufficiency a neighborhood-by-neighborhood priority. We currently live under extremely vulnerable conditions – vulnerable to the lies, deceit, and gaming of global politicians. No heat source if the power goes down, no extra food or water, no extra prescription medications, no emergency communication devices, no emergency power or light sources, and a myriad of other necessities that we now depend upon others to provide every day.

I ask American woman to spearhead the effort within your families, churches, and women’s groups and to begin, today, to buy bulk food and supplies. Below is a highly suggested list for initial purchases:

Five 5-gallon buckets of each of the following:

*
Wheat berries and a hand-crank grinder
*
White sugar
*
All-purpose flour
*
Powdered milk • Beans (any kind – main protein source)
*
Oatmeal or farina • ABC Soup Mix

Cooking Oil

*
15 gallons
*
15 cans vegetable shortening (like Crisco)

Fruits and Vegetables

*
3 to 5 cans of “Garden In A Can” (3 to 5 full years of heirloom garden seeds)
*
10 #10 cans of each: strawberries, dried banana chips, orange segments, apple flakes or apple sauce, broccoli, onions, green beans
*
Buy 15-20 cases each of canned green beans, corn, potatoes, carrots

Non-Perishables

*
15 cases of peanut butter (important protein)
*
10 #10 cans TVP (Total Vegetable Protein), Ham, Burger, Sausage, Chicken, Taco, Bacon flavors (My thought on TVP Get real meat.CDW)
*
Tang, powdered fruit drink mixes, cocoa mixes – buy cases
*
Trail mixes – buy in bulk
*
Hot sauce – buy cases
*
Non-condensed soups – buy cases
*
Canned meats – buy cases

Special Needs

*
Good weight-bearing shelving units
*
Store hundreds of pounds of extra pet food in large plastic containers like large trash cans
*
Supplies and prescription medications for the elderly
*
Store a lot of first aid items. Buy one large first-aid kit and buy triple extras of everything in the kit.
*
Buy several car first-aid kits.
*
Camping equipment and 4 or 5 extra-large tarps, bungee cords, rope, camping knives, good hatchets and shovels, rain gear, camping mattresses. A lot of stove fuel – 30 to 50 canisters.

Clothing

*
Sweat shirts and pants, jeans, waterproof shoes, extra gym shoes, extra socks, waterproof and hooded coats, work and warmth gloves for everyone and laundry detergents

Water

*
The least expensive way to store water is in 55-gallon drums made for water storage. Bottled water is far too expensive to store for the long term. Depending on family size and number of pets, you may need 10-40 drums. Begin with 6 and work up from there. There are many websites to help you learn about proper water storage.
*
Regular bleach (no additives) – 30 gallons

This seems like a lot, but when you consider a scenario where grocery stores are empty and you have no access to the money in your bank accounts, your loved ones will be far safer with such stores on hand.

There is really nothing different about buying food and supplies in bulk minus the fact that your pay larger sums up-front and very little on a weekly or monthly basis. But all totaled at the end of the year, you will have saved thousands of dollars, you will have driven far less, and you will have safeguarded your families and particularly your children.

I also strongly recommend that if you know any LDS families, ask them for advice on food storage. Most LDS (Mormon) families store food, water, and supplies, and most are very skilled in the art of food storage, storage rotation, and cooking.

My instincts tell me that things are heating up and I want American people to be as prepared as they can be in case of problems. Just think in terms of 6 months to 2 years and the basic needs of each member of your families– water, food, heat and cooking, potential medical needs, toiletry and personal needs, elderly needs, pet needs, and emergency supplies.

Make sure your guns are in proper working order and that you have the tools and necessities to keep them in proper working order. Make sure you have proper ammunition and build your storage. Remember that there is nothing as dangerous as frightened and starving people.

However, also remember that FEMA has the right to suspend all Constitutional rights and to take all your money, food stores, water stores, guns and ammunition, and your homes. Executive orders, issued by presidents, provided this “community” service for you and your family. Why would they do that – and especially during times of a catastrophic national crisis? Hmmm. Perhaps your total vulnerability to the paramilitary orders that will immediately follow crises is more to the new world point of America’s demise. A 72-hour kit?? Think, people, think! Please pass this article throughout your neighborhoods. Our vulnerability is monumental and is present and current. NOW is the time to act. Surely, by the actions of “representatives,” you can assume that there will be no peace.

Bulk food and supplies sites:

1, highly recommended site
2, www.purityfoods.com/storage
3, www.waltonfeed.com - highly recommended site

© 2007 Nancy Levant - All Rights Reserved

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Nancy Levant is a renowned writer for Constitutional governance and American culture. She is the author of The Cultural Devastation of American Women: The Strange and Frightening Decline of the American Female (and her dreadful timing).

She is an opponent of deceptive governance and politicians, global governance by deception, political feminism, the public school system, political economics based upon manufactured wars and their corporate benefactors, and the Federal Reserve System. She is also a nationwide and lively radio personality. To book an engagement with Nancy Levant, send an email request to:

E-Mail: nlevant@juno.com

[Herr Walther]

Re: ASSUME NO PEACE - SAFEGUARD NOW

"...However, also remember that FEMA has the right to suspend all Constitutional rights and to take all your money, food stores, water stores, guns and ammunition, and your homes. Executive orders, issued by presidents, provided this “community” service for you and your family. Why would they do that – and especially during times of a catastrophic national crisis? Hmmm. Perhaps your total vulnerability to the paramilitary orders that will immediately follow crises is more to the new world point of America’s demise. A 72-hour kit?? Think, people, think! Please pass this article throughout your neighborhoods. Our vulnerability is monumental and is present and current. NOW is the time to act. Surely, by the actions of “representatives,” you can assume that there will be no peace..."

And they also have the right to die by trying it.

[TC6969]

Re: ASSUME NO PEACE - SAFEGUARD NOW

Thats why I have emergency stashes all over the state.

The .GOV will NEVER get all my guns and ammo!

As long as I have a gun, a knife and a way to make fire I will never go hungry or thirsty in Florida.

I can step 50' off a major highway, disappear and live like a king while the unprepared kill each other over loaves of bread and AAA batteries.

[Clan DireWolf]

Survivalism 101

http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-pr...epper_05162012

The following article has been generously contributed by Norse Prepper.

SHTFplan Editor’s Note: While there may be three million Americans preparing for a paradigm shift which promises to change our very way of life, that leaves roughly 99% of our population that has failed to take any serious steps to insulate themselves from catastrophe. Earlier this week we asked “How Horrific Will It Be For the Non-Prepper?”, in which we detailed the disastrous consequences that await those who will get blindsided by a widespread natural or man-made disaster. Hopefully, that article will be enough to convince some “non-preppers” to start putting their well-being into their own hands by developing personal and familial preparedness and response plans for far-from-equilibrium scenarios that may strike at anytime.

As Norse Prepper points out in the article below, one of the key motivators for ramping up your personal larder, supplies and skill sets is to avoid ever putting yourself and family into a situation where you are left with no choice but to tell your loved ones that you’re, “going to get us some food and will return with it or die trying.” In a scenario like that your odds of survival diminish significantly.

If you’ve turned the corner, or been ‘awakened’ as we like to say in alternative media, then the notion that the system as we have come to know it could fall apart around us without warning can be very overwhelming at first. So, too, is the daunting task of determining what steps to take next and how to go about creating your own personal preparedness plan to shield you from whatever may befall us.

The following questions, suggestions, considerations, and topics of discussion are a primer for those who have chosen to take control of their personal safety and security, and may help to point beginning preppers in the right direction.

First Things First: Key Questions Facing The Beginning Prepper
by Norse Prepper

Inspired by the article regarding how horrific it’s going to get for the non prepper, I thought I might also submit the following article on what it is like to be a new prepper. The purpose of this article is not to tell my story, but to give perspective on how overwhelming it was for me as a beginning prepper.

With the amount of knowledge that readers at this website display, what could I possibly add?

My answer to that is perspective.

Many on this site and others have been preparing for years and are prepared. I know one of the first replies will be that you can never be fully prepared and it’s a journey more than a destination and I subscribe to that 100%. I personally will never be done prepping. One thing that I have found in my years of work is that after someone has done something for some time, it’s hard to remember what it was like in the beginning. I work in an engineering field and things that are very simple and seem like basics can be complicated and not easily understood by someone who is new in their engineering career. Hopefully this article takes you back to when you first began prepping and helps you relate to us newbies.

Think back to when you first felt the tugging of something in the back of your mind leading you to do more research and eventually coming to the conclusion that you must become a prepper. It may have been as blunt as a Katrina event, or possibly it was just little things here and there that eventually and gradually led you to where you are at today. Regardless of the journey, I believe it to be important to remember your roots and by doing so you will be more armed to help other people to come in to the light of what is going on in the world around us and help them get more prepared.

How I was first awoken from my state of unpreparedness was when I watched the End of America video produced by Porter Stansberry. What I saw scared the heck out of me and after watching what he had to say and showing the facts of our economic system, I went from being a SHTF ostrich with my head in the sand, to fearful that time is running out for our country as we know it. Even after seeing the End of America video, I still wasn’t aware of what it was to be a prepper. I focused more on investing in silver and things like that to hedge against the coming hyperinflation. It wasn’t until about six months ago that I came across the term prepper and dug in to see what this movement was about and frankly, I found it extremely overwhelming.

Below is my top ten list of the thousand questions that came flooding in to my head upon my awakening as well as what I am doing to answer these questions. I believe these are all questions that every new prepper should answer as fast as possible and take steps to prepare for immediately.

What am I preparing for?

I needed to identify what it is that I’m going to try to protect myself from. If I was going to prepare for a one week loss of power in a winter storm then there isn’t much to prepare for. If I am preparing for a global collapse of the financial system or EMP that would send us back to the early 1800’s I’ve got some work to do. At a minimum I would suggest that new preppers start with a plan for being self reliant for 3 months. By the time you are prepared for this, you will have learned much and can then set out on whatever your phase II duration will be. I live in a northern climate with harsh winters so my phase I goal is to be prepared for six months. Personally, I am still in this stage of prepping, but phase II will be for preparing for a multi-year grid down scenario.


Am I going to bug in or bug out?

I agree with the opinion that bugging out should only be considered if you have somewhere to go. Heading out to the woods is not an option unless you are trained in surviving under these conditions. I’ve got a wife and three kids, heading to the woods is not an option for me. If you are going to bug out, it needs to be earlier in the collapse rather than later or you will find yourself stuck at a road block. Read the book One Second After for a detailed description of what happens to refugees attempting to flee to already starving communities. Personally, I have chosen to bug-in. It is where my preps are located as well as familiar neighbors.

Can I defend my family, property and preps?

Let’s face it, when the SHTF, my preps will be viewed as “their” preps to the golden hoard. Is a stranger more likely to watch their children starve or are they more likely to tell their wife “I’m going to get us some food and will return with it or die trying.” The prepared need to ask a different question. When they arrive at my doorstep, what will I do? Will I give them some of my preps as charity? Every meal I give out gets me closer to the time when I will be telling our family, as I head out the door, “I’m going to get us some food and will return with it or die trying.” This is a huge decision to make because we need to have resolve in our minds what we are going to do when this day comes. In a SHTF situation there can be no indecisiveness. I won’t go in to any detail on how to defend yourself as there are novels of information on this subject. I believe a defense plan is more important than a food plan because if you can’t defend it you might as well not have it.

[Clan DireWolf]

Re: First Things First: Key Questions Facing The Beginning Prepper

Do I have enough to feed my family until order is restored?

That is assuming order will be restored. Personally, if it gets as bad as it can, I do believe eventually a new nation or nations will form and there will again be public services. I had to figure out what my comfort level is for the amount of time that I will need to eat from my preps, supplemented by gardens, hunting, fishing…etc.

How will I heat my home?

Since my plan is to bug-in in a northern climate, I need to figure out how I will heat my home. I live in suburbia and it scares me to see that relatively few people have wood burning…anything. I have a fireplace in my house and will secure enough firewood this summer to heat my house for two winters. All of my neighbors depend on electrical or natural gas for heat. I personally have seen the temperature in my location get to -60 degrees below zero with a wind chill of over 100 below. Many in my surrounding area will die of exposure unless they can be in my living room. I honestly don’t know the answer to the question of what will I do when people in my area are freezing and there is smoke coming out of my chimney. Anyone who has driven past a house burning wood in the winter knows it is fairly impossible to not alert people to a nearby source of heat. To me, this poses one of my greatest threats. Suggestions here would be helpful.

How will I keep clean?

Personal hygiene will be a huge issue in a SHTF scenario. I realized quickly that I need to stock up on toothpaste, TP, laundry/dish/hand soaps, medical supplies, and everything else needed to keep sanitary conditions in an unsanitary world. I made lists of lists of all of the things I will need.[Lists and more lists]


How will I provide light and electricity?

In an EOTWAWKI situation having some rechargeable batteries to use will be a luxury that we currently take for granted. I plan on getting a stockpile of rechargeable batteries and solar equipment. I have a basement with a sump pump, when the grid goes down what will keep my basement from getting inundated with groundwater? I picked up a secondary battery powered sump pump that runs off of a deep cycle battery. Solar rechargers can be purchased to ensure that the batteries can be kept charged. How great would it be to be able to watch a movie on a laptop? With respect to light, when there is no power, it will be very dark. Children (and some adults) can get spooked easily when there is 14 hours of darkness per day in the winter. I am going to stock some solar powered garden lights. These can be placed in the light during the day and provide for a night light during the hours of darkness. Radios, flashlights and other things can be hand cranked for power. Anything that is sustainable and will produce light or energy will become extremely valuable.

How will I keep up on information and communicate with the outside world?

Obviously my TV will become useless. Who knows if there will be radio stations transmitting, and if they are, what is the source of the information? Personally I plan on eventually getting a HAM radio and learning the trade. I believe this will be the best information available as it will probably be filled with info from other preppers in the nation.

What do I have to offer others?

In a collapsed society, skills, knowledge and items for trade will pay off in a huge way. The only thing that will help me acquire supplies that I don’t have or want will be the ability to offer something to someone who has it and they find the value of my goods or services to be more than what they have. If they don’t, then they will not be willing to trade. I have personally chosen to stock up on more of the convenience things for these situations. I plan on stockpiling coffee and lighters. People will trade for a hot cup of coffee and from my perspective, coffee is a convenience. People will need to be able to start a fire for cooking or heating their homes and a source of fire will be invaluable in a SHTF scenario. Personally I won’t be bartering away guns or ammunition because the person who I just armed would also realize that if I can spare these essential items I probably have other essential items and now they have a way to get them from me.

How will I fight off boredom?

One thing that has haunted me is when the SHTF, how can I pass the time without going completely stir crazy? Obviously, there will be many chores and a lot of labor involved in daily life after a collapse, but there will also be hours upon hours of sitting in a quiet house. My kids will be involved in chores of the day, but what can I do to reduce the monotony of a grid down situation? I plan on stockpiling books on many different subjects. Fiction and nonfiction. How to’s and stories. A bow and arrow can provide hours of target practice as well as developing a survival skill. Decks of cards can provide entertainment as well as bartering potential. If you go to a casino, you can get decks of cards for 50 cents. Puzzles, board games, pads of paper and plenty of writing utensils. Anything that can hopefully make life more fun for the family to escape reality, even for a moment. Don’t forget the most important book of them all, the Bible.

How do I pay for all of this?

OK, I know I said top 10, but this question needs to be taken care of pre-SHTF where as my top 10 deal with issues post-SHTF. Most are living paycheck to paycheck, so how can preps be paid for when we are in survival mode? My plan is to sell off anything that I don’t feel is necessary. Have a garage sale and go to garage sales – you would be amazed at what you will find. I recently found three oil lamps for 50 cents each! Sell things on Ebay and Craigslist. Get a second job and dedicate all income from it to preps. Don’t worry, if the SHTF doesn’t happen and you are prepped, you can always go back and replace these items, but get prepared first. I would rather have a stocked supply room than shares of Google.

What am I preparing for? Will I bug in or bug out? How will I defend myself, family and home? What will I eat? How will I heat my home? How will I keep clean? How will I produce light and electricity? How will I get information and communicate with the outside world? What skills do I have and items can I use to barter? How will I fight off boredom? These are but the tip of the iceberg of questions needing to be answered for when life as we know it comes to an end. When talking to and dealing with anyone new to prepping, please remember that they are entering a large and complex world where their decisions on what to do next could mean the difference between life and death. Help them to make a list of priorities and offer them advice on what the list should contain. This article is just a primer, but is more than what 99% of people have done to prepare themselves and their families for what is coming.

Also, please let me say thank you to Mac, the contributors and people who comment on the SHTFplan web site for helping me and my family prepare. You truly are today’s patriots. God bless.

Norse Prepper

[Clan DireWolf]

Survivalism 101

Getting Your Quarantine Plan in Place
http://rethinksurvival.com/


I recall a Doomsday Preppers episode last season where a lady had a room setup such that a sick family member or perhaps new visitor could be quarantined for days or weeks on end in the event they had a communicable disease, were suspected of having one, or you just didn’t want to take any chances.

For a long time I never worried about such a problem (as well as many other considerations such as radioactive contamination or EMP) because I felt the potential for such problems were relatively low and there were far more likely problems to prepare for. While this may still be the case, it never hurts to be more prepared for less likely threats than not, so I began to ponder how and where I would setup a quarantine room.

At first glace this may seem like an easy problem to fix. Seal off a room and be done with it. If you want to do it right–and you do–there’s a bit more to consider than that.

For starters, as with real estate, it’s all about location, location, location! I would think that the ideal location would be any adequate shelter away from your main residence; something like an RV would be great. Obviously, not everyone has that option so a place inside the house will have to do. Perhaps a master bedroom that includes an attached bathroom would be the next best choice. If that doesn’t work then really any bedroom that is generally “away” from the rest of the inhabitants may do. Maybe a basement bedroom is in order. If there’s a bathroom nearby then ensure that only the quarantined person(s) will be using that bathroom for the duration. If not, then you’ll have to supply them with plenty of buckets and supplies to catch and contain their own waste.

Remember that wherever the quarantined individual(s) are at is where they will be for WEEKS! They really need to have a bit of space to roam inside their quarantine area as you do NOT want them to be able to come into contact with any family members or anything they would consume, touch, breathe in, and so on.

You’ll also want to create a sectioned-off space where supplies and food can be left for them to retrieve. This can be accomplished by hanging a sheet of heavy-duty plastic sheeting of at least 4 mils but preferably 6 mils in thickness in front of the main entrance to their room where the occupants will be staying. The idea isn’t necessarily to completely section off that space (although I think that would be best) but to significantly reduce any chances that disease could spread into the rest of your home. You could use duct tape to seal the plastic sheeting to the ceiling and walls and perhaps something heavy (such as dumbbells) to keep the plastic sheet on the floor. You can’t completely seal this off because you’ll be bringing them food and what not on a daily basis.

You also want to consider how you’ll be bringing them food, for example. Instead of serving them food on reusable plates, use paper plates, bowls, cups, and plastic utensils instead, all of which can be easily discarded in a trash can inside the quarantine room. Maybe even provide a few snacks as well. The same can be said for anything else that enters the room. This could be clothing, wash supplies, personal hygiene supplies, etc. The point here is to ensure nothing comes back out of the room once inside.

While the best course of action is to completely avoid the quarantined person for the duration, if you feel you must care for them in person then you’re going to want to do so very carefully. The plastic sheet setup can also be used as a transitional area for you to change clothes before and after care as well as a place to wash up after exiting.

Before entering the quarantine room you’ll want to cover as much of your clothing and skin as possible. Consider something like an inexpensive one-piece painter’s suit (purchase at least a few sets) and throw in a box of shoe coverings as well. This is something you would put on right before entering the room, then remove and discard immediately upon exiting the quarantine room. And be sure to cover your hands with disposable gloves (non-latex is preferred), your mouth and nose with at minimum an N-95 mask but perhaps several N-100 masks would be better, and goggles.

Everything would be trashed in a bucket with lid upon exit with exception of the goggles. Next, you want to thoroughly scrub yourself with something. Perhaps liquid dish soap would work ok but you’re going to need a small wash station setup for this to work as I wouldn’t want to use the bathroom that any quarantined person has been using. I would certainly be applying hand sanitizer very liberally as well.

Other considerations:

Be sure to have a few buckets and trash cans in the room. These could be used to collect trash and human waste, if necessary. There should be plenty of toilet paper, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, and so on.

Include extra bed linens as they may get soiled during their stay. These linens could be cleaned after the duration if the person doesn’t show any signs of infection; otherwise, I would burn them along with any pillows used.

Any hvac vents or other potential pathways should be thoroughly covered with plastic sheeting and duct tape prior to occupancy.

Consider plenty of entertainment. Books, magazines, even a television if you’re able. There will be lots of boredom for the quarantined individual… help them out a bit.
Consider how you will thoroughly disinfect the room if the person is infected. Maybe a few cans of Lysol disinfectant spray is a good idea but I would think that plenty of fresh air and time are the best option.
Have a plan for dealing with them a few days into the ordeal. They will probably become restless and WANT to come out.

The overriding questions in your head should be: how to I minimize the possibility that myself and my family may contract whatever we’re trying to avoid? What steps must I take to do so? Does this action (or inaction) promote that end?

I’m not saying you’ll be 100% safe from whatever you’re trying to avoid by doing what I suggest. If a disease is highly communicable, who knows how easily it can spread, how long it might stay viable outside the human body, and even if you’ve already been exposed. The point is simply to give you and yours the best shot at staying safe.

[Clan DireWolf]

Survivalism 101

The Anatomy of a Breakdown

Tess Pennington
Ready Nutrition
November 2012

FAIR USE

If we can all agree on one thing, it’s that the government and disaster organizations alike grossly underestimate how dependent the majority of the population is on them during and after a disastrous event takes place. We need not look any further than the last major disasters that have occurred to find our answers: the Haitian earthquake that occurred in 2010, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2011 super tornado of Joplin, MO, and even as recently as Hurricane Sandy.

As preppers are well aware, when the needs of the population cannot be met in an allotted time frame, a phenomena occurs and the mindset shifts in people. They begin to act without thinking and respond to changes in their environment in an emotionally-based manner, thus leading to chaos, instability and a breakdown in our social paradigm.

When you take the time to understand how a breakdown behaves and how it progresses, only then can you truly prepare for it.
The Anatomy of a Breakdown

This glimpse into a systemic breakdown is based on an isolated, limited disaster or event where emergency responders have been deployed. I must emphasize that all bets are off if the event is wide spread, affecting multiple tens of millions of people simultaneously.

Phase 1: The Warning

Although disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes can come on so quickly that timely warnings are not always given, for the most part, governments typically provide adequate time to get a population ready in advance. Local governments even go as far as to err on the side of caution and sternly warn the citizens to evacuate.

For one reason or another, there will be a select group that stays behind. Some of these citizens are prepared and ready for what may come and may feel the need to stay to defend what is rightfully theirs but the majority of the population will not be ready for what they are about to endure. Those that are in this unprepared majority who choose to ride out the disaster do so because they are either unaware of how to fully prepared for disasters, have become complacent or numb to the heeds of warning from the local government and news media, or are overly confident.

This is the point in this cycle where herds of people go to the grocery stores frantically grabbing supplies. Most grocery stores will not be able to meet the demand of the people’s need for supplies, and many could go home empty handed.

Bracing for the disaster, the prepared and unprepared will be hoping for the best outcome. What many do not realize is the hardest part of this event is soon to be upon them. Within days, the descent into the breakdown will begin.

Phase 2: Shock and Awe (1-2 Days)

After the initial shock wears off of the disaster, many will have difficulty in coping and adapting to what has just occurred. As they are trying to wrap their thoughts around the severity of the disaster, their losses and what their future holds, local government leaders are scrambling for answers and trying to assess the situation.

At this point, the unprepared survivors will be expecting organizations and local government to step in to meet their immediate needs at any moment. The reality of the situation becomes more bleak when they realize that due to downed power lines or debris blocking roadways and access points, emergency organizations, emergency response and distribution trucks supplying food, water, fuel and other pertinent resources will be unable to get to the area. Once the realization hits that resources are scarce and the government leaders are incapable of helping them in a timely fashion, desperate citizens will take action into their own hands.

The breakdown has begun.