Posts Tagged disaster plans
Complicated survivalist plans
When talking to survivalist, it becomes clear that some of them have no idea as to what they would do if a long term disaster set in. For the sake of argument, lets say that some kind of new virus came out of the Amazon. Loggers are cutting in areas that mankind has not seen in 10,000 years. While moving the logs, a worker is exposed to some kind of virus. He goes about his daily routine for a few days, walking around town, going to the local stores, spreads the virus. And just like with the swine flu, in a matter or days its spread all over the world.
When the Swine Flu broke out in early 2009, the US government refused to close the borders – citing that companies would lose too money.
The virus moves from city to city and country to country with nothing to stop it. People become sick, die, social services breaks down, the trucks stop rolling, supplies and food shipments stop to the local grocery stores, panic buying sets in, and in a matter of days the shelves are empty.
From there, certain groups of survivalist plan on grabbing their bug out bag, and head to the nearest national forest where they and their families will live in safety and seclusion. That is, until some kind of dysentery sets in and members of the group needs medical attention.
For those of us that take our survivalist mindset a little more serious, we have secured provisions, and have tested plans in place for such a situation.
While testing a Berkey water filter at the camp – which included filtering water from a creek for 3 days – a lot was learned and the plans will be changed to reflect what I learned.
Here is the video about the 3 day Royal Berkey water filter test.
Someone on youtube posted the following comment to the video:
Reverse osmosis is much much better. I would use a reverse osmosis system with a permeate pump.
The problem is, reverse osmosis with a permeate pump requires electricity. In a total break down of social services – which means no electricity, no running water, no natural gas,,,,, no nothing, exactly “how” is a reverse osmosis with a permeate pump system “supposed” to work?
From here, I’am pretty sure someone is saying – setup some solar panels with a battery bank, or a wind generator, or make some bio-diesel to run a diesel engine so that the alternator can be run, then take that DC voltage from the alternator and run it through an inverter to power the water pump,,,,,.
The problem is – all of that needs to be setup “before” a disaster happens. The more moving parts something has, the more likely it is to break, and last but not least – keep it simple.
How much more simple do you want a gravity flow system? Pour the water into the holding tank, and it flows through the filter. The only moving part is the spigot that you get the water out of.
I dont know what planet some survivalist live on, but in my world, supplies do not just magically appear out of nowhere. If you need a solar panel, its not just going to appear out of nowhere as a gift from the solar panel GOD. If you need a water filter, its not going to magically appear as a gift from the water filter GOD.
Here are the facts:
Your plans need to be laid out and tested before hand.
From those test, corrections need to be made.
The corrections then need to be tested.
Keep the plans simple.
Keep the plans realistic.
Simple Plans: Why makes things more complicated then they need to be? If someone ask you what time it is, do you hand them instructions on how to build a watch? Why even thing about using a complicated water filter system, when you can use a simple gravity flow system?
Realistic Plans: Over the years I have seen people talk about everything from bugging out to a national forest that is a 14 – 18 hour drive – under normal situations. Exactly “how” they were going to get fuel for the drive, exactly “where” they were going, exact plans on food and other supplies,,,,, had never been thought out, much less tested.
Post your comments in this forum thread about simple and complicated survival plans.
Trip to the camp
A couple of weeks ago my family and I made a trip to the camp. The wisteria was blooming, the weather perfect, and life was good. As we were packing up to go to the camp, I took the time to load up some survival stuff and “make a haul.”
Over the counter pain killers – instead of buying a few packages, my wife was able to get a couple of boxes which contain 250 doses of advil and tylenol. So that gives the family 500 doses.
Water Filter – the Royal Berkey was loaded up and brought to the camp. The Royal Berkey is made out of stainless, so the rodents will not be able to chew any holes in it.
How about a video on the Royal Berkey just for the fun of it.
While we were at the camp messing around, I decided to take some mental notes, so here goes.
The fruit trees -need pruning and are starting to bloom. Over the past couple of years I have neglected pruning the peach trees, but I’am going to have to fix that problem next fall.
We need more eating utensils – Why do we have so few metal forks and spoons? It seems that all we have up there are plastic ware. So I’am going to have to keep an eye out for metal forks and spoons going on sale, or check some of the local garage sales.
Wood stockpile – is getting a little low. I’ll probably have to buy a cord of wood this summer. Instead of cutting the firewood myself, it would probably be easier just to buy it. After you figure in gas and time going to the woods, wear on the chainsaw,,,, it seems that the prices would equal out.
Written disaster plans
Flooding from Hurricane Ike
While planning for a disaster, an important consideration should be to write your plans down, make copies and then send those copies to your friends and family members. The plans should include destination during the evacuations, contact phone number, routes you plan on taking during the evacuation and backup phone numbers – plus your usual stuff.
Destinations: This is your predefined “bug out location”. If you have to evacuate, where are you going? This should be planned out ahead of time, driven, and this information shared with your friends and family members.
Contact phone numbers: Pick a family member or friend that is several hundred miles from your location. Contact them and see if they will agree to be the messenger service. Before, during and after a disaster there is a good chance that phone lines will be overloaded. Use someone outside the area to relay messages between the affected parties.
Evacuation plans
Every family unit should have some kind of evacuation plan in place. These plans should include, but are not limited to:
Road Maps – detailed maps of your area, including all the way to the destination. Know where the construction zones are and ways to avoid those areas.
Supplies for the trip – this includes food, water, bedding, reading material, cell phone charger, cell phone, cash money, and any other special needs items.
Communications – if there is more then one car or truck in the unit, a way to communicate with the driver of that other vehicle without the need of a cell phone. An example of this is a 9 – 20 mile range hand held radio.
A place to go – most people that evacuate have no idea where they are going. Have a destination and make sure there is a place to stay once the unit reaches the destination.
Knowing when to leave – Some people wait too long, or wait too late. Its important to understand how serious the situation is and take action when needed.
Where would you go?
If you and your family had to evacuate, where would yall go? Part of the answer also depends on the situation, needs of the family members and type of disaster.
Shelter in place or leave? There are many factors should help determine where there is a real need to evacuate, or whether the family unit can shelter in place.
Lets take the example of a hurricane. In September of 2008 Hurricane Ike made landfall in the Galveston, Texas area. The storm surge 100 miles to the east drove 10 feet of water 20 miles inland. The only cities there were protected from the surge were the ones that had a barrier built around them. One of the things that saved Groves, Texas from flooding was the barrier around Port Arthur. Bridge City on the other hand received several feet of water. Out of the hundreds of houses in Bridge city, only around a dozen did not receive some kind of damage from flood waters.
Even though Hurricane Ike made landfall 100 miles to the west of the Beaumont, Bridge City, Port Arthur and Orange area, if a family lived just above sea level there was a real need to evacuate.
Sometimes an evacuation means just moving to higher ground, sometimes it means leaving to area and traveling over 100 miles. But anytime a family unit leaves their house, there is the question of where are they going to go?
Plans for 2009
As I look back 0n 2008, I also look forward to 2009.
Over the past few months I have not been my usual self. Korey (my son) got a deer this hunting season, and so far that is all we have gotten is that one deer. Tomorrow is the last day of regular deer season, in 2 weeks there is a youth weekend. Hopefully between tomorrow and the youth weekend Korey or I will be able to get another deer. This will fill our freezer for the coming year.
January – my wife and I planted a bed of onions. I bought the onion sprouts 2 weeks ago but have not felt like planting them. The onions were a mix of 10-15Y and some smaller green onions for salads and baked potatoes.
10-15Y are a large onion developed by Texas A&M. When the bulb is ready to be harvested, it will be about the size of a baseball. These onions have a sweet taste and are good for putting on hamburgers.
February – Potatoes go in the ground around February 14th. My wife and I already have to seed potatoes in the shed.
This is also one of the months that I like to go camping.
Plant a couple of apple and peach trees.