Thread: "Prepping": What's the idea?

Never worry about this crap,my federal government will take care of us,thats why we pay taxes.

Originally Posted by gugi

It seems that in all those rules of prepping sometimes the most important one has been thrown out of the window at the very beginning - i.e. people expend a lot of resources to prepare for stuff that is unlikely and should be low priority while completely ignoring to prepare for less sexy, but far more likely scenarios.

Not quite sure why the reason you are prepared makes any real difference..

If you are prepared for a Killer Asteroid strike, I would think you are also prepared for a Tornado, and Blizzard, or Power Outage, basic survival is after all "basic"..

In fact the US government found out that by simply Calling it the Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide they increased their internet traffic and hoped that more people would perhaps learn the basics of survival..

CDC - Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response: Zombies

Even the stupid reality show that people in this thread are referencing has increased awareness about basic survival, it doesn't much matter if you laugh at the Fringe Wacko reasons why they are prepping and some of their dumb preps, if you are thinking about the basics then something good came from it...

So just think about this… You are responsible for the safety of people in you city or neighborhood.

The baby poop hits the fan… not a localize problem but widespread problem.

Do you leave your family, risk your life to get to your staging area?

Suppose you are able to get there, is your city/department prepared to house, feed and supply you and your force for the duration of the event? Who will protect your family? How long will you remain on duty?

I guarantee you your city and law enforcement entity is not prepared to feed and supply their own people, because it take money and dedication to maintain food, water and supplies for a security force.

So first, plan on law enforcement not answering the phone… and if you get through… not showing up. How long can you hold out at your home?

Now imagine, you are not at home and many miles away, when the spray comes your way.

Reminiscent of New Orleans after Katrina. I read/heard a large percentage of the LEO force from N.O. got out of Dodge.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Not quite sure why the reason you are prepared makes any real difference..

If you are prepared for a Killer Asteroid strike, I would think you are also prepared for a Tornado, and Blizzard, or Power Outage, basic survival is after all "basic"..

It makes huge difference. For example you are absolutely unprepared for an asteroid just barely big enough to strike near your house. If it happens to hit it when you're there, you are dead; if it hits close you may just bleed to death because you are incapacitated to reach your medical bag.
To prepare for such asteroid you need to build a bunker that withstands that type of hit, as well as a detection and notification system to give you time to react.
Think of something like the one in Russia from early 2013, perhaps with a slightly deeper penetration angle and during the night or when you're honing razors inside the house - energy of few dozen Hiroshima nuclear bombs deposited close to your house could do a lot of very serious damage very quickly.

The big stuff is simple and cheap to detect, the small stuff isn't, so there are no big government bucks spent on it - you are on your own.

Or what happens if a disaster happens while you're in a building somewhere - restaurant/movies/shopping/frinds house/etc. - do you have sufficient supplies to treat wounds of various seriousness and survive prolonged period.
Stockpiled resources at another location are only good if you can reach that location in the first place - anybody who builds a bunker and then doesn't spend 24/7 inside has vastly diminished their chances for survival.

There is a big difference between predictable and unpredictable scenarios but that distinction seems to be completely overlooked.

Sorry, I haven't read all of the thread. We have a disaster kit in our storage area near the garage. It contains food and water for 5 days, candles, batteries, a wind up radio, etc. We also have important documentation in one folder in a filing cabinet (passport, birth and marriage certificates etc) so we can grab it and go if needs be.

The biggest issues for us are bush fire and storm. We are on a mountain so if we flood there's a whole lot of other people in serious, serious trouble.

Honestly, we've never really been worried about apocalyptic-type scenarios where we'd need more than a few week's worth of supplies, items for defence, or items for shelter. If it ever came to something like that we'd be massively underprepared. But I tend to agree with Gugi - some scenarios are much more probable than others - we've prepared for the most probable ones. If the improbable ones eventuate we'll no doubt do our best to cope (I've seen Mad Max a few times so we should be good...)

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

some scenarios are much more probable than others - we've prepared for the most probable ones.

That's because you're following that rule number one and using the most important part of your body, which has seen more development over the last 200k years than any other (in fact to the detriment of many of the basic survival skills)

Just my choice of zip code beats 99% of conventional preppers in terms of scenarios I can cope with very effectively.
Of course, just like everything else it comes at a certain cost.

One Second After: William R. Forstchen, William D. Sanders, Newt Gingrich: 9780765356864: Amazon.com: Books

This is a really good read, and an eyeopener to anyone that doesn't understand survival,, It is fiction, but well written and full of many facts, much better entertainment then reading dry boring Survival Manuals / Guides...

@ChrisL, it also gives some pretty factual descriptions of what will happen within 90 days of having no power, and the issues that people with medical complications will face. Of course it is based on the US but would pertain to pretty much any modern industrialized country...

Originally Posted by gugi

It makes huge difference. For example you are absolutely unprepared for an asteroid just barely big enough to strike near your house. If it happens to hit it when you're there, you are dead; if it hits close you may just bleed to death because you are incapacitated to reach your medical bag.
To prepare for such asteroid you need to build a bunker that withstands that type of hit, as well as a detection and notification system to give you time to react.
Think of something like the one in Russia from early 2013, perhaps with a slightly deeper penetration angle and during the night or when you're honing razors inside the house - energy of few dozen Hiroshima nuclear bombs deposited close to your house could do a lot of very serious damage very quickly.

The big stuff is simple and cheap to detect, the small stuff isn't, so there are no big government bucks spent on it - you are on your own.

Or what happens if a disaster happens while you're in a building somewhere - restaurant/movies/shopping/frinds house/etc. - do you have sufficient supplies to treat wounds of various seriousness and survive prolonged period.
Stockpiled resources at another location are only good if you can reach that location in the first place - anybody who builds a bunker and then doesn't spend 24/7 inside has vastly diminished their chances for survival.

There is a big difference between predictable and unpredictable scenarios but that distinction seems to be completely overlooked.

Not really, Food is food, Water is water, and Skills are skills (Knowledge) doesn't much matter if they are being used to survive after a snowstorm, a hurricane, or the Zombie Apocalypse...
If the Nuke or Asteroid lands on your head I guess all the prepping in the world is a moot point...

Since I live in earthquake country....
There is an old blanket in the car.
There is extra tuna in the pantry.
There is some extra bottled water in the store room.

Camping kit is not as handy as it might be
but think of the first couple days after a
quake as a camping opportunity.

Regional disasters worry me a bit because to bugout
I need to go more than one tank of gas away,
over crowded, clogged and full of crazy idiots and abandoned
car full roads.

Then I need to find a place to stay there where ever there is.
A little cash might help... but a lot is a hazard in need of
protection. Weapons are not welcome in emergency housing
and shelters.

Winter -- think cold weather camping, think real hard about
this if you live in serious winter country like Wyoming, Montana,,,
like I did for a number of years.

Summer,,,, water, water, water.

Rain and floods... sanitation is difficult.

I know I can help myself for the first 48 hours
and then I will know that I should have done.