The prepared visitors of my website, the ones that know all this stuff already may ask; what’s the point now, it’s already too late to start preparing. It is indeed, but knowing how to react when the SHTF could give some people a survival chance. The more people know what to do to save themselves, the fewer people will be banging your door asking for help. Everyone needs to understand a sad fact, in today’s America, more than 70% of the people don’t know how to boil an egg, unless they watch a video about it first. What will happen to them when the internet will not work anymore?
This article aims to give those who are too lazy to prep or are convinced nothing bad will ever happen a fighting chance. When you’re faced with a disaster, be it natural or man-made, you’re going to need to respond quickly.
EVALUATE THE SITUATION
Hopefully, you’ve gotten wind of the situation early enough and are checking the news, interwebs, or social media to learn more about exactly what has happened or what is going to happen. Through your evaluation of the situation, you’ll need to determine if you should hunker down or haul ass for the hills. You can determine this by evaluating the disaster scenario you’re facing and the potential threats it poses.
For example, if it’s a hurricane and you drive a tiny Smart Car, you won’t want to get caught in those winds, so you’ll want to hunker down. If you live in the city and a bomb goes off downtown, you’ll need to get away from potential fallout, collapsing buildings, and civil unrest. Basically, you will need to decide whether it’s safe to stay home, or you need to leave for a safer location, on a case-by-case basis. The answer will vary from scenario to scenario.
Remember this, if you have nowhere to go (like a cabin in the hills or a friend’s house in a rural area), and the only place you can run to is in the woods, and you have no survival skills, you might be better off staying in your house. If you leave your home for the woods with no shelter and no skills, your reason better is a good one. You will be putting yourself and your family in danger.
What To Expect
In an urban environment, there will be many first responders and emergency personnel to lend a hand. You won’t have to do it alone, and many strangers may be by your side to form a temporary survival group.
Cell towers will be overloaded and useless for calls, texting, and the internet. The streets will be chaos, don’t risk them unless you have no choice.
If you’re at home and out of danger, barricade the entrance and bunker down. Keep the lights off and stay away from windows.
If you must escape
These are general guidelines and must be taken with a grain of salt. There are a million variables and every situation has unique aspects that will direct your actual decisions. If the city is full of riots or a dirty bomb has gone off, your situation will be different than if a hurricane has hit.
Generally speaking, however, this is what you can expect in a large-scale emergency in an urban environment, such as the one that occurred on 9/11.
In either case, your goal is to:
a. get to emergency responders that can safely take care of your injuries or get you out of harm’s way, or
b. get the hell out of dodge as quickly and as far as possible. You should give it all you have to get to safety before night falls.
1. In the first hour, you (or your group) will be on your own. Do not expect any help, first responders are still deploying and things will be too hectic to depend on getting help. This is why you read these articles. This is your D-Day, it’s time to practice what you know.
2. The lucky ones who are on the outskirts or near areas where emergency personnel deploy should be relatively safe after three hours. Even on foot with chaos all around you could make it a good couple of miles away from ground zero.
3. The first 12 hours will still be chaos, but there will be a method to the madness where emergency responders have set up. They will be pockets of sanity amid the disaster.
4. The first 24 hours will see things calming down and shifting gears to locate victims as quickly as possible. Priority will be given to the most injured and the uninjured will be left to fend for themselves and give some direction as to where to go for additional help.
5. Unless you are trapped in a building or under rubble, within 72 hours things will have calmed down enough to almost seem like nothing has happened. Cell towers may still be damaged or overloaded and seeking emergency help such as at a hospital will still be about impossible, but you should be able to locate friends and family or find a vehicle that can take you far enough away without much trouble.
Also Read:
My Ultimate Guide to Building a Natural Medicine Cabinet
Discover Herbal and Natural Therapies For Diabetes After The SHTF When The Pharmacies Won’t Be An Option
GETTING YOUR SUPPLIES QUICKLY
If you’re bugging out, you need to leave your house within five minutes of receiving news of the disaster. If you wait any longer, you may be stuck. The panic and chaos outside will be unbelievable. Delegate a family member to fill up a bag, sack, pillowcase, or whatever you have, with enough food and water to sustain each member of the household for three days.
Or simply tell them to empty the cupboards into the bag. If any of your family members have prescription medicines, tell them to grab them. Have someone else grab anything and everything that can start a fire (matches, lighters, road flares). You grab anything you can use to protect you and yours (knives, guns, bats, crowbar) and a first aid kit. Where are you going?
Grab items essential for the area you are headed (coats, boots, gloves, hats) and any keys you may need. The ideal place to run is a location at least 15 miles outside city limits, which is near a natural water source and has natural food sources (fish, game, vegetation). Again, if you have no survival skills, you’re better off going to a friend/relative outside the city or staying put. Your escape route should not rely on major highways as this is where EVERYONE will go and they will most definitely be jammed up. You should rely on rural routes, surface streets, and off-road routes. Basically, any road that will keep you from interacting with large groups of people.
Hunkering down in your home is the wiser decision for those with no outdoors/survival skills or friends or relatives who live in a rural area. In most all disasters, water will be your greatest commodity. Keeping this in mind, as soon as you learn of an impending disaster, fill every container in your home with water, including your bathtubs and sinks. In almost every disaster, civil unrest and looting are all but guaranteed. Protect your home by fortifying all first-floor windows and doors quickly.
If you don’t have boards or sheets of plywood, break any wooden furniture and screw them to your window frames with 3-4 inch wood screws. Barricade all entry points, like your front and back doors, as sturdily as you possibly can. You will only be able to rely on what food and water you have on hand. Let’s hope the pantry was freshly stocked when the time comes.
There is no way of knowing how long you will be hunkered down. Depending on the scope of the disaster, food, water, and medicine will eventually run out and you will need to leave and go scavenging.
Become A Medic
When things go wrong and you or a family member becomes injured, can you perform basic first aid?
You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to be useful when someone is hurt. Understanding simply how to clean and bind a wound may be all it takes to save someone’s life.
Cleaning A Wound
Immediately flush the wound as soon as you can. Infections can be deadly, and without properly clearing the wound of potential bacteria or pathogens, things could go from bad to worse.
Using antiseptics or hard chemicals is not suitable and could make things worse. However, milder solutions such as a saline solution of saltwater work well. Additionally, diluted, mild soap in warm water works too, then flush with sterile water.
Carefully cleaning the wound does not always mean the chance of infection is gone. Check back to make sure there is no odd coloring around the wound and, depending on the situation, re-cleaning the wound later may help.
Puncture wounds will need more advanced medical care asap, including shots. You could have internal bleeding and not even know.
Wrapping A Wound
Binding a wound looks entirely different depending on where it is located on the body. Extremities are usually easier to wrap, but nearly any wound on the body can be properly covered.
If proper bandages are not available to you, strips off shirts or pants can work just as well. Do not bind a bandage too tightly, which may constrict circulation as well as excessively impede movement.
Once you’ve wrapped a wound, check back on it often and change the bandage multiple times a day. It is also important that the wound gets fresh air for a couple of minutes as well.
Bandages can be used to support sprains or even broken bones. Having a supply of bandages or makeshift bandages, such as a t-shirt, on hand at all times is important to remember.
RULES OF SURVIVAL
Keep your distance from people you don’t know. There will be people who would rather take what you have than provide for themselves. These people may have weapons and will be a danger to you and your family. If someone is at your door, asking to come in, and you don’t know them, stay away at all costs. Don’t fall for their trickery. They may claim injury or hungry children. Stay your ground and remember that you are in the same situation. You are no better off than the person outside your door. Also realize, if they were in such a great need of help, they would move on and not waste time banging on your door.
Always have a weapon. For the reason stated above, you will need a weapon handy at all times. Hopefully, you are practicing your God-given right to keep and bear arms. Otherwise, you will need to use whatever is at hand, or you can fabricate, to protect yourself. Kitchen knives, baseball bats, screwdrivers, even if you have to grab a rolling pin and go old school angry housewife to defend you and yours, then that’s what you do. There are a lot of people out there willing to hurt or kill you just to take your stuff. Now put those miscreants in this disaster scenario. They’ll kill you for a can of ravioli. With no hesitation.
You will need to scavenge. If you’re hunkering down in your home, and the situation lasts long enough, you will run out of resources. Running out of food may only take a few days; depending on the number of people in your home versus the amount of food. Before this happens, you will have to leave the relative safety of your home, and find resources. Remember, we humans can only last approximately three weeks without food and three days without water. When scavenging, try not to go alone. If you’re the only able-bodied person in the group, and there are no choices, well then…Godspeed. Go to buildings you are familiar with first.
Never walk blindly into a building without doing a little scouting first. Hang back, observe for a while. Find out, from a distance, if anyone is going into or coming out of the said structure. Approach the building from cover and try to look through windows to see if it’s occupied or even worth entering. It may be cleaned out or destroyed inside. If you find items, take essentials and non-perishables. If you’re desperate for sustenance and wary of the location, don’t pick and choose; take everything you can carry. You and your family can sort out the good from the bad when you get home.
Try your best to keep your cool. Things will get worse before they get better. During these types of scenarios, people have reported a feeling of impending doom. Anxiety, tension, depression, and myriad other negative emotions could overcome you, causing a variety of reactions and decisions that could get you killed. You need to push all those feelings down, way down. You have a family to look after. Or, at the very least, yourself to keep alive. Your mission is to survive. You will succeed.
Remember the rule of three. You can survive three minutes without air, three hours in extreme weather without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Always remember, the rule of three, will dictate your priorities. If you are approaching any of these limits, you need to act quickly.
Let’s say you’ll still be caught off guard, but you’ll at least have some time to make some preparations before the disaster comes to you.
Good luck and God bless.
Ending this article, I highly recommend this book to everyone. 300 pages, color, paperback. The Lost Book of Remedies is helping Americans achieve medical self-sufficiency even in the darkest times using the time-tested methods of our grandparents (not unapproved human trials)without spending lots of money on toxic drugs and without side effects. A great asset when doctors and hospitals won’t be available any more given the current situation. You may not be Claude Davis, but you can make use of his procedures and techniques to increase your chances of survival!
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