Long Term Emergency Preparation

Long term emergency situations without normal resource availability is a very difficult topic to address, sometimes even to discuss. There are as many ways to survive as there are problems you will encounter in the effort to survive. We humans are very creative, especially when our own survival is at stake. Example: Medication storage-Do you try to secure a long term supply, or do you find non commercial alternatives that you can get or store more easily? When it comes to your health, no one can make these difficult decisions for you. I will try to give you some options to help in this posting. Ultimate responsibility, including whether to take any of this seriously or not, falls entirely on you. One of the first major decisions you will need to make: Stay put or bug out? There are pros and cons to either decision. If you live in a highly populated urban environment, and have the means to leave, I recommend taking what you can and need, and getting out. During some situations, leaving may not even be an option, and you will have to dig in where you are. A major point of difference between a long term incident and a short term will be resupply versus storage, and I will point that out regularly throughout this posting.

Health: Your immune system is an integral part of survival, as are the rest of your bodies organs and systems. Malnutrition, dehydration, hypothermia and other matters are important factors that can affect survival quite suddenly. Influenza, hepatitis and your own medical issues are just as important. If a single system or organ goes into critical failure, it is a life threatening condition. Life threatening conditions during emergencies or disasters where normal resources are not available are lethal. You need to make every effort to keep yourself and your family healthy during these types of situations. Stock and maintain extra first aid equipment-not just band aids, I mean a real first aid kit. Minor infections can turn into major problems without proper treatment.

Medication Sources: Keeping a long term supply of necessary mediations on hand, such as heart medication and asthma treatments, is necessary. During a prolonged disaster, you may not gain access to resupply when you run out. Look at natural remedies now, before you need them. Find out what you can do to stay healthy and at least extend the time you can survive without your normal medications. A healthy diet and lifestyle now may very well save your life in the future.

Water Sources: If you are in a city or town, and the municipal water supply is not operational, or is not safe to drink in a long term situation, you need to find alternative resources. If you live in the country and rely on electricity to run your well pump, you may also find yourself without water as well. No matter how much water you store, eventually you will run out of water. For long term events, you will need to locate a source of fresh water in order to survive. Large stores of purification supplies is one way to help negate this in the interim, but regardless of how much you stock up, eventually you will use it up. Having supplies on hand is better than not having supplies, but you should start looking for these resources ahead of time, before you need them during an emergency. The fresher and cleaner the water supply is, the easier it will be to treat it and make it safe to drink. No matter what method you use for purification, it will use up some of your resources. Use them wisely.

Food Sources: Next to water and environmental concerns, food is the next item that will determine life or death, survivor or casualty. Once you are out of food, where can you get more? The grocery stores will not be open during a major disaster, and will probably be wiped out rather quickly once an incident occurs, whether they are open or not. Growing food is an excellent option if you are secluded, but this takes planning and supplies, and is not a ready option for sudden disasters. Do you know what naturally grows in your area that is edible? Now may be a good time to find out, and to start learning about wild plants, etc. Do you know where to find game animals? Do you know how to prepare them for food? How will you cook?

Heat Sources: Thousands of people die all over the world every year during both the summer and winter temperature peaks. Even with normal heating and air conditioning, people in less than ideal health die. Now imagine living thru these temperature extremes without any heat or air conditioning, no running water, and no medical capabilities. The ability to maintain body temperature at safe levels is critical for survival, and is directly affected by your physical condition. Keep on hand plenty of extra blankets, as well as warm outerwear for cold weather survival. For warm weather situations, try to keep water available in addition to your drinking water, so you can spray a little on yourself and keep a cool rag on your neck and head, evaporation may be the only cooling effect available. Cold weather primarily affects the organs, and warm weather primarily affects the brain, try to keep these areas properly regulated as much as possible. Maintain fire sources that last, such as flint or magnesium fire starters.

Shelter Sources: If you are staying put, you may already be in the best shelter you are going to find available. Find ways to make your current residence a place to survive for long term emergencies. There is nothing we can do that will significantly affect the temperature or the weather outside, so we have to make our own accommodations as best we are able. A well insulated shelter is the first step. Most homes, apartments or trailers are only marginally insulated at best, and very few qualify as well insulated. A well insulated shelter will maintain a fairly stable average temperature all year, without climate control and regardless of the weather conditions outside. A cave or underground structure is a prime example of this. Think about alternative shelters now, both where you are, and where you would like to be if you get out of your normal location. Make preparations both places if possible, with stored supplies. A pile of supplies at home does you no good if you end up at your secondary location with nothing.

Money: During a major long term crisis, cash will rapidly decrease in value to nearly worthless in a very short time, and credit will be totally worthless. Many people stock up on gold, silver, gems or other valuables. My point is this: Which of these can you eat, or feed your family with? I am not an economic or investment advisor, but if you are preparing for a long term emergency, I recommend using all available resources for the preparations. Even the rich die from lack of preparation. Never sell yourself short of preparation during an incident either, your preparation is just that-yours.

Fuel: The ability to make your vehicle get from one location to another requires a very hard to find commodity during emergencies. Maintain some extra fuel on hand at all times. Make sure you have stabilized it so it will still be good, modern gasoline breaks down in only a week or 2. Keep the tank as full as you can, and always maintain enough fuel to make it to your alternate location. All the planning and prepping in the world is no good if you cannot get there.

Firearms/Ammunition: During any crisis situation, does anyone ever say “Gee, I wish I didn’t have this gun!”? Can you even imagine that happening? Firearms can secure food, as well as secure your safety. A reasonable supply of the appropriate ammunition to go with the firearm is of course required to make it useful. For survival situations, I have 2 primary suggestions: a .22 caliber rifle, and a long barrel 12 gauge shotgun. It is quite easy to store and carry several hundred rounds of .22 ammunition. A small stock of bird shot and buck shot for a 12 gauge can bring home larger dinner items than the .22, as well as protect your family. Make sure to keep your ammunition dry, in a sealed container preferably. Handguns are a popular item, but their only true benefit is portability, during a survival situation they are of limited value against animals that do not walk upright. If you have more resources available than this, by all means utilize them, but these are my recommendations at a minimalist level. The more ammunition you have on hand, the longer you will have supplies before running out if the situation does not improve. That really is the objective, particularly in an urban setting, to have enough resources on hand to survive until normalcy returns. If normalcy is not going to return, you really need to find a way out of the urban jungle, and into the country where survival will still be difficult, but more reasonably accomplished.

Communication: During a major incident, standard communication methods may be diminished, or completely gone. Do not count on your cell phones, or any other communication lines, to work. You need to have plans in place prior to these incidents to reconnect with your family, both immediate and distant family planning should be in place. Make plans, and backup plans. Make plans on how to find each other if you are unable to get to the meeting locations. Make sure everyone in the family knows what these plans are, including children at school.

During a long term situation without normal available resources, amenities that are considered normal will become scarce, and then nonexistent. Simple things like bathing, toiletries and seasonings may become impossible to get. Even necessities like food and water can become impossible to get, but you have to try to get the necessities. Always remember the difference between a want, and a need, and focus all of your resources and energies on the needs only.

Your mental well being is as important during a time of distress as your physical well being. Be strong, stay focused and do not let the game of survival beat you down. If you have a family to take care of, keep them upbeat with a positive attitude. Spend some quality time together every day, you should have spare time on your hands. Be a leader, physically, mentally and spiritually. Spend time preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best.

My objective with these is not to give you all the answers to your personal survival, but to get you thinking about the future and how to better prepare yourself for it. Some planning is better than none, and lots of planning and preparation is better than that. As always, any questions or comments, feel free to contact me and I will attempt to help you as much as I can-jeffcitizen @ gmail.com, or just comment on the articles directly.

Stay alert, stay safe, stay prepared.

God Bless.


Jeff Citizen

Global Virus Pandemic?

Just a quick addition for now, due to the current H1N1 virus epidemic/pandemic situation.

1-Do everything listed in the last post.
2-Also stock up on quality vitamins, especially multivitamins, C and D, at least a 1 month supply of each per person. Start taking them now, everyone in the home. Vitamins C and D are major immune system boosters, and a healthy immune system will be the difference between getting sick, and getting really sick.
3-Monitor the situation, and stay away from problem locations. Due to the speed with which this virus is spreading, and the fact that people are contagious even before showing symptoms, plan on getting the virus unless you can stay home for the next couple months with no outside contact.

A useful place to monitor the progress of this virus is http://outbreaks.globalincidentmap.com/home.php.
For information about the virus monitor http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/.

Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay prepared. God Bless.

Jeff Citizen