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Large-Scale Disaster: A Sobering Problem – Requiring A Different Approach

April 15, 2020

Large-Scale Disaster: A Sobering Problem – Requiring A Different Approach 

Most survival strategies and related tactics today draw upon the methods that worked in much smaller disasters and will likely work to some extent today in similar small-scale disasters. However, large-scale (continental-sized disasters) are quite different in many ways.

Q1 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

Prepaing For A Large-Scale Disaster

Some people assume that all disasters are created equal and that one-size fits-all when it comes to survival strategies and disaster preparedness and response, however that is not the case by any stretch in a large-scale disaster. And when this assumption is proffered to others, it ensures that there will be many more causalities than need be.

As if this writing, FEMA is still proffering a “72-hour” disaster survival kit:  http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit

I guess the million-dollar question is; what do these people do in a large-scale disaster after their 3-days-worth of food, water and toilet paper are exhausted?

Even the psychological impact of a local disaster is quite different from that of a continental or global scale disaster. In local or regional (small scale) disasters (tornado, hurricane), survivors know that help will be coming and that affects morale and how most survivors react; there is order and cooperation.

But in the case of a global, national or ’continental scale’ event, such as Covid-19, many survivors will within a few weeks realize that nobody is coming to the rescue, because everyone is suddenly thrust into the same desperate situation. This later situation is a game-changer and will certainly create a level of desperation seldom seen.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

When Clean Water Isn’t Available, Make it So – With a Sawyer

August 14, 2018

When Clean Water Isn’t Available, Make it So – With a Sawyer

As you well know, many surface water sources must be treated before drinking because they are repositories for bacteria, viruses, and a slew of parasites both microscopic and/or larger.

I have written several articles for Ready Nutrition about water purification methods, as well as methods for water storage. What we’re doing here is “cutting to the chase” to let you know about a product that will do more than just do in a pinch: it will suffice for a long, long time and work quickly and almost effortlessly.

The Sawyer Mini Water Filtration System is a compact, portable, three-part “system” that you can stick into a cargo pocket of your pants or shorts with ease. It can be put together and placed over a drinking vessel such as a water bottle, or you can hook up the straw that comes with it and drink directly through the filter itself. It can also be hooked up to a Camelbak water pouch. It comes with a pouch of its own that you can fill up with water and then squeeze through the filter into a bottle or other drinking vessel.

The Sawyer was invented a few years back through experimentation with kidney dialysis equipment, and they came up with a filter that uses a 0.1-micron filter that circulates the water to be filtered through fibrous micro-tubes, for a central collection of filtered water.  It works on protozoans such as giardia, bacteria such as E.coli, cholera, and salmonella, and also on more “difficult” organisms such as Cryptosporidium. Want the “kicker” for this thing?

It filters up to 100,000 gallons. 

If you drank 2 gallons a day, in 100 years, you would drink about 74,000 gallons. Pretty good, huh? The whole thing weighs less than 2 ounces. Now, JJ’s tips here are simple when you use this thing.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

After the End of the World: Restarting Civilization

June 21, 2018

As I revised my existing material and notes into the articles that this series became, my ideas advanced from a library that one person could accumulate into a bigger project. This final article will primarily discuss this bigger project: restarting civilization.

With this final article of this series I want to weave together the threads of the previous articles into a plan that, if fully executed, could prepare humankind to restore our technological civilization should a civilization-destroying disaster occur.

I’m going to cover the following points.

  1. Define the problem – disaster
  2. What has been accomplished to date
  3. Propose a solution
  4. Find the information and tools necessary to restore a destroyed civilization
  5. Save the information and tools necessary to restore a destroyed civilization
  6. Survive the disastrous event
  7. Use the saved technology to rebuild civilization

Define the Problem

Disasters can happen anytime, anywhere and many occur without warning. Unless you prepare ahead of time you run the risk of property loss, injury or death of yourself or a loved one. The immediate danger inherit in some disasters, such as weather, can be over in a matter of minutes or a few days. Other disasters can result in The End of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) (also known as Doomsday). For those disasters that have the potential to cause the collapse of civilization a plan must be in place to restore civilization. Preserving the scientific, medical and technological knowledge is the mission of this series of articles.

Survive the TEOTWAWKI Event

Surviving a major disaster breaks down into basically four time periods depending on the scope of the disaster. Items 1 and 2 below apply to all disasters. Items 3 and 4 apply to a TEOTWAWKI (The End of The World As We Know It) disaster.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

You Are Either A Prepper Or A Future Victim

September 26, 2017

You Are Either A Prepper Or A Future Victim

The recent disasters around the world have shown most people are ill prepared for sudden disruptions to normal life. Just as there was a lack of imagination that allowed 9/11 to happen, the population suffers from a lack of imagination that allows them to suffer from sudden occurrences. Survival favors the prepared mind.

Simply having supplies piled up in preparation for some occurrence is not enough to insure your survival. There are several other things you must keep in mind and balance out among your preparations.

You must imagine the potential catastrophic possibilities
You must prepare yourself mentally to deal with whatever happens
You must have knowledge of how best to employ your resources
You need to use your imagination to think outside the box
You must be able to improvise, adapt and overcome obstacles
You must have a flexible plan to guide you

Many people have spewed hateful rhetoric at preppers over the years and today some are finding themselves in dire circumstances as infrastructure and supplies are cut off for an indefinite period of time. Those unprepared individuals have few options and now rely on the actions of others to insure their survival.

As many in the Caribbean can now attest to, having to wait for help to come from hundreds or even thousands of miles away is slow and stressful to those who wait. They do not know when help will arrive and what resources will be available when they arrive. It could take years for many locations to return to some type of normalcy and this is at a time when help is available and forthcoming. What happens when that help is not available following an event?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why and how to wargame your emergency/disaster plans

September 24, 2017

Why and how to wargame your emergency/disaster plans

I spent a lot of years in the military and have worked with many different agencies and countries in that time. One thing I found universally true is the more effective and higher-level a groups (Delta, Special Forces, Navy SEALS, S.A.S, etc, the more they wargame their scenarios and specific missions.

These practice run-throughs (drills, exercises, dress rehearsals) includes everything from being generally prepared for possible missions to building mock-up buildings and neighborhoods and using all available intel to make things as realistic as possible. I’m not saying that you need to be prepared for emergencies to that level (this is their job), but I think you do need to use dress rehearsals to flush out vulnerabilities and deficiencies in your plan(s), and the more realistic you make these rehearsals, the better.

According to a 2015 FEMA report, 60% of Americans aren’t practicing for disasters. Pretty much every part of your emergency plan (your family emergency communications plan, bug out route plan, using a ham radio, dealing with medical emergencies, surviving in the woods, dealing with a power outage at home, and many, many other topics, require hands-on training as well as just walking through the plan you currently have so you can update it and try again. The danger is that if you don’t actually walk through the process in a semi-realistic fashion, you won’t realize you’re not prepared until it’s too late. As they say, “Don’t practice until you get it right; practice until you can’t get it wrong.”

Discovering your abilities and shortcomings

One of the biggest mistakes that preppers or others that try to prepare for emergencies or survival situations (and don’t want to call themselves preppers) make is about what they put in their bug out bag.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Preserving And Creating ‘Wealth’

May 18, 2016

Preserving And Creating ‘Wealth’

Avoiding loss of one’s ‘wealth’ from whatever crises may befall you and/or your family seems paramount to helping avoid or at least mitigate the negative consequences that accompany emergencies and disasters, or even the general decline of civilisation. With currency devaluation, government overreach, civil unrest, bank bail-in legislation, labour strife, market corrections, negative interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, economic decline (perhaps even collapse), it seems almost impossible to protect one’s wealth completely without even worrying about everyday calamities that can place financial stress upon an individual and/or family. The following suggestions seem the most likely way to prepare for an uncertain world, and avoid some of the more dire consequences of increasing volatility and possible confiscation by the-powers-that-be (a concern that must be considered as governments become increasingly insolvent).

It also seems prudent to reduce dependency on complex systems that are prone to disruptions over which you have no control, such as distant supply chains or infrastructure frailties–that is why I believe at the base of your thinking should be a desire for yourself/family/community to become more resilient and self-sufficient. (Note: I have included links to articles found on The Survivalist Blog only to keep the discussion ‘in-house’; and, the information that follows is not meant to be investment ‘advice’ but one person’s thoughts on how to prioritise ‘investments’.)

A common question that arises when contemplating emergency/disaster planning is where to start?

First, focus on yourself and basic survival gear.

Skills and knowledge you acquire are the most difficult to be taken from you. First Aid courses. Fitness/healthcare-oriented activities. Hunting courses. Archery/gun use. Gardening/food production knowledge. Survival training. ‘Handyman’ skills. Building a ‘survival’ library. Activities, training, and literature that can help you and your family cope with unexpected crises are perhaps the wisest ‘investment’ and can’t be confiscated by the-powers-that-be. These should likely be a priority.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Beginners Guide To Selecting, Stockpiling And Defending A Survival Retreat Part One

October 1, 2015

The Beginners Guide To Selecting, Stockpiling And Defending A Survival Retreat Part One

In order to survive a catastrophe of monumental proportions you will have to have a place to get to where you can ride out the storm in safety. If it is near a city, or a sizable town, or any closer than ten miles from a major well-traveled artery such as an Interstate highway, and a major waterway such as the Mississippi River the chances of it being taken over by someone other than yourself is likely.

It should be no more than three hours of driving to from where you live. It must be large enough to grow your own food, and steps should have been taken well before the disaster occurs as to what to do to get it livable and defensible. The first and most important thing to do is to make the purchase or at least be in the process of purchasing the land. A deed in hand is better regardless of what happens later than to be a squatter on land that belongs to someone else.

Put it in the name of a gun club or some such entity to account for the occasional gunfire that may be heard by a passerby. Choose your retreat carefully, you’ll need an adequate water supply on the land, and if it is a sizable stream or artesian water source that would be best of all worlds. You’ll also need an adequate wood supply if it looks like the stay there will be longer than a few months.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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