Chapter 2: Preparation

I know the first chapter was a bit deep and required you to think and you really were not prepared for that. Will you be prepared for a real situation or will you panic? I bet what you wanted was to read the guide and see what we had to say about what stuff you needed and what stuff to carry. Well were not exactly like that we are here to help you with your survival experience and help you make it through it. Now with that in mind here we go again with a little exercise to help you think about your house, work and school that your children attend.
Before you can prepare, you must determine what you are preparing to survive and how each disaster threatens you, your safety and survival. From this you can determine some basic items that you will need to carry with you. These items can be either in a small kit for you personally, a 72HOUR KIT for those everyday tasks that you might come across. Should the situation be more sever and the basic items are not enough we will show you the home kit that can be used when the power goes out or put into a car for a BUG OUT kit and the cache that is ready for long term survival. We will cover the kits later in more detail.
This initial exercise isn't tough; it only takes a few minutes of thought. We suggest you jot notes while you work. Go through the exercise a couple of times for the areas that are important to you because each area will be a little different to prepare for and may require some stuff that can be an asset to another. But first, it's important to realize that you cannot prepare for everything -- only the army tries to do that, and we've yet to meet anyone with their resources. There are a lot of scenarios to prepare for and a lot time to prepare for them but what would you do the next day if something happened? Would you be like the Boy Scout and be prepared? We suggest you prepare only for those potential disasters that are likely to occur within the next five years and within 25 miles of your home, school, or work. There are hints for things to do to help you should something small happen on a day to day basis and there are steps to take to prepare for major events. Sure, you may wait seven years for the next earthquake, but remember the survivalist’s creed: BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.
What's going to happen to you and your family tomorrow, next year or the next five years? If we knew we would tell you so that you could be ready. So since we don’t know what will happen you'll have to extrapolate, evaluate trends, read the newspaper, and conduct your own research. At the very least, take a few minutes and consider your location. Pull out a map and look what's within a two-mile, five-mile 10-mile and 25-mile radius of your home, school and place of work. While you have the map out also look at where you work and live and look at where your family is during the day. The question is if something happened could you get them together? Put on your pessimist hat and consider what might go wrong that could directly impact you. You will have to decide if that's something you want to prepare for. (See questions one and two, below). For example, if you live a "safe" distance outside of a flood plain, your house might still get flooded in the 100-year flood, should you prepare for it? We would, but it's your call. It's your ass on the line, so you have to decide. That nuclear plant 20 miles away has an excellent safety record. Should a nuclear disaster be on your list? Again, you make the call. Are you worried about a meteorite crashing into your house? Well, it has happened, but it's probably not worth preparing for. Finally, if you've been afraid of something since you were a child -- whether it's a raging fire or nuclear war -- prepare for it. At the very least, you'll sleep better at nights knowing you have done all you can.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. What natural disasters or extreme conditions am I (we) l likely to face in the next five years?
Make a list and rank them in order of most to least likely to impact you. You can review our list of possible natural disasters if you need to.
Your list might look like this:
· Heavy thunder storms
· Severe winter weather
· Nearby flash flooding
· Lose of job
· Hospitalization


2. What other disasters or emergency situations might I face? Add to your list the man-made or other disasters that you might face in the next five years (again, you can refer to our list (if necessary).
Let's say you have added these categories:
· Toxic material emission/spill (from a train derailment)
· Riot or other civil disorder
· Nuclear plant problems
· Terrorism

3. What are the ramifications of each item on my list?
Here is our list of possible disasters. We have broken them down into some basic categories. There might even be some that are not on our list that could be on yours. Think nothing can happen to you?




Natural Disasters
Weather-related
· Hurricanes
· Tornadoes
· Heavy thunder storms
· Flash flooding
· Flooding
· Mud/rock slides
· High winds
· Hail
· Severe winter weather
· Avalanche
· Extreme high heat
· Drought
· Wildfire
Non Weather-related
· Earthquake
· Volcano eruption
· Tidal wave/Tsunami
Man-made Disasters
· War (conventional, biological, chemical or nuclear)
· Toxic material emission/spill (from a train or nearby plant)
· Riot or other civil disorder
· Nuclear plant melt down or other nuclear disaster
· Terrorism
· Fire
· Government action against you
· Stock market crash
· Sever depression
Other
· Plague or disease outbreak
· Comet strike or giant meteor
· Alien invasion (I am not going further with this one)
Personal Emergencies
· Kidnapping
· Mugging, robbery or other criminal attack
· Random acts of violence against yourself or a family member
· Unemployment/financial disaster
· Death in family
· Home destroyed by fire
Now that you have read our list did we leave something out? Send us your suggestions and we'll add them (all calamities must apply or potentially apply to a significant portion of the population to be included on this list). Now, write down our list and add things that you have thought of to the list and create a second column (bet those of you using a word processor are wishing we'd told you this before, huh?). Put the ramifications of each disaster in the second column. What do we mean by ramification? How the disaster or emergency situation could affect you. Think this one through very carefully, as everyone's situation is different. Play the “What if” game. You know the one. It is “What if we won the lottery?” “What would you do with the money?” Well here you are saying What if this happened and beside it you will write what you will do. Again think this through carefully because, families with children have different concerns than those without or singles. We again would like for you to remember that these can occur anytime so think about it.




Finally, note if the ramifications could require evacuation (our next topic).
To keep using our example results in a table like this:

Potential Disaster
Ramifications

Thunder storm with electrical outage for 2 (average) to 48 hours (severe)
· Food spoilage possible
· Lack of air conditioning/furnace
· Damage to house or car from nearby trees
· Possible local flooding (see below)
· Local transportation impaired by fallen trees, wires
· Lightning damage/fire potential
Severe winter weather
· Electrical outage for 4 (average) to 72 hours (severe) would affect furnace operation
· Exposure problems
· Frozen pipes
· Disruption of travel, transportation
· Self or family members possibly stranded away from home
· Possible food shortages and empty shelves at local markets
Nearby flash flooding
· Local transportation disrupted
· Danger while traveling in car or by foot
· Possible loss of some utilities
Nearby train derailment
· Possible leak or spill of chemicals
· Short-term exposure problem
· Long-term cancer concerns
· Evacuation may be necessary
Riot or other civil disorder
· Disruption of commute (i.e. Los Angeles)
· Stranded in car or office while family is at home and/or school
· Danger of riot spreading to my neighborhood
· Danger of local kids/low lives taking advantage of situation
· Attack or threat to personal safety
· Looting and rampaging by otherwise lawful citizens
· Fire with potentially no response by authorities
· Police are overwhelmed, cannot protect law-abiding citizens
Nuclear plant problems
· Reactor vessel damage could result in release of radioactive chemicals to atmosphere
· Evacuation necessary
Terrorism
· Threat to safety at work and during business travel
· Disruption of commerce, travel
· Less personal freedom, privacy as a result of government reaction to terrorism


Once you've created a chart like the one above, you know what situations you are most likely to face and can prepare your survival plan. You then have to ask some questions and then plan out what to do. Remember this though this is only a guide and not meant to be followed to the last detail as a step by step guide. Every situation has different aspects and what you thought might happen and didn’t. You may have to change a few things around a bit but it is a guide that will help you because you have put thought to you plans you are at least thinking and are ahead of the game as compared to that of someone that has not planed.
Now that you have gone through the list and add to it for your unique situation try it one more time but this time be somewhere else, like work or maybe on the road to your house. What would you do if one of the things on your list occurred while you were traveling to or from work or your home? What would you do? Where would you go? How would you get there?