New to Survival: Bug out or Stay in City?

Hello! I am a bit new to survival... Just wondering (and hoping) I could run a few things by... My city is a virtual death trap; should I stay or should I go? If I can survive longer than the amount of time that other people would take to *die*, should I stay in the city? Because Bugging Out would not work well... there is nowhere much to go. My house is within walking distance of the hills surrounding the city; I could pop up there in about 10 minutes and disappear into the bush... but do I want to stay in the city and stick it out?

I say deathtrap because where I live is in a city (a SMALL city) of about 100,000 people. In the summer it gets up to 40ºC, in the winter -30ºC. We rarely get rain; fire is a very large danger though. There is a river and some small streams as water sources, most of which are hard to access (the streams, not the river). There are very few farms nearby, the majority being about an hour-long drive away (about 80 km) to the east. Most of the soil in town is poor, but I have a large garden with good soil, as do my neighbors. Thus, the majority of our food is imported from other places (in general, 500km to 2500km away). We are at little risk for earthquakes and volcanoes (excepting giant ones...), and are high enough to avoid almost any tsunami (a 1km tall mountain range is in between me and the ocean).......

So, this is my question: What should I do in the case of Situation X? I mean, I know it is so variable, but in general I am thinking of staying... this is why: If there is no electricity, the water pumps would not work and thus people would have to go get water from the river or one of the streams (which are grooooooss). In the summer, without AC people would need lots of water; in the winter they'd need cold-weather gear and the strength and tools to hack through a few feet of ice, or find snow to melt all the while not freezing.

As I see it, the river and stream can become very quickly contaminated and people will fall ill if they do not know how to purify the water (rather unlikely if the power is off....) and with no medicine that = BAD.

So, I say three days no power and people start dying from dehydration/illness and then an outbreak of disease is VERY likely...... Those that do know how to purify would then be looking for food rather swiftly (if they hadn't stocked up...), perhaps going from house to house?

The food supply here in town I'd say would last about a week if everyone was eating; if there was a decrease in the population as mentioned above, the supply is indeterminate. But either way, it will run out eventually... maybe a few months, maybe a year.

I, on the other hand, have two über green thumbs and am able to grow plants alarmingly well (I don't mean to brag...) and if the Sit-X happened, should I stay put or bug out?

If you could go through situation per situation, I'd REALLY apreciate it. Or, some information and ideas would be GREAT!!!

Thanks very much!!

(edit to change title)


[edit on 13-4-2009 by Cariaddi]

Stay in the city ,
unless you are trained and prepared,in real life the wilderness will kill you.

Recently, I've been thinking that the best approach is to be ready to fly out of the country to some very remote place. One would have to have a very well thought out plan and, of course, money set aside to accomplish the plan.

The key would be to have the above "ultimate bug out" planned and prepared so that you can leave on very little notice and obviously your timing would have to be right on. You would have to develop some trigger scenarios that would prompt you into action well before SitX unfolds into chaos.

If I prepare well and have triggers predetermined and can react to those triggers within 24 hours (react, meaning head to the airport with bug out bag pre-packed), then the strategy would be to fly to some very distant and very remote place on the globe.

One of the main problems would be leaving family behind, which I am not willing to do these days.

I'm sure there are stories of people getting out of the way of WWII just in the nick of time. I'm sure that if you researched this topic well enough, you could find true accounts of people who flew out of the USA during the Cuban missile crisis and then came back when it was resolved and calmed down.

Anyway, my current thinking on this survival topic of whether to bug out to the local hills or shelter in place is neither. I would want to be prepared for the Ultimate Bug Out... a couple of long airline trips away.

Granted there is the possibility and in some cases probability that all air travel will be shut down. They tested this during the 9/11 "crisis". The next false flag op will probably include a total ban on air travel. Once again, your only solution to this, if you agree with the Ultimate Bug Out strategy is to somehow know when to leave... just prior to the air travel ban. Making that decision will be very, very difficult.

All I can do now is save my money and formulate the who, what, where, why, and how of the Ultimate Bug Out. The "where" would be so remote that a worldwide nuclear conflagration would not affect the place. So, that leaves only a very few places on Earth to bug out to, but I believe they do exist.

reply to post by all2human


Thank you, advice taken ^.^ Because that is pretty much all it is around here- forest or deaserty-forest or habitation..... and habitation is where the water is.

reply to post by switching yard


oopsies should have squished this and the above one together.... Unfortunately I don't have that much money >.< But interesting to think about......... round here would go up in smoke pretty quick~

The food supply in most cities will only last for a matter of days if nothing is being brought in. So if you plan to stay in the city, you really should make ample preperations.

But I don't necessarily recommend leaving either, unless you have some place to go, and know the terrain well enough to survive in that place you would head off to.

In the end, you really will have to judge for yourself each day based on the dymanics of any sit-x event.

One tip, distill dirty water for drinking. You will need to boil it to do so, though you could set up a condensation trap too, but that takes a long time to get a fari amount of clean water.

I would say it depends on what kind of scenario you'll have to deal with. If it's something small that will only last for a week or two I would stay put in your residence unless that was impossible. If it was a scenario where society collapsed I would get out of the city, at least for awhile. Without first responders like firefighters the city could burn. If you don't think you could survive in surrounding areas, then start learning how to. Contact your state conservation department and local wildlife offices and get as much knowledge of your area as you can. Hit the library and check out books on local flora and fauna. Even if you're in a desert climate there are ways of finding and obtaining water.

Cities in a complete breakdown to me would be among the most dangerous environments to try to survive in. Far too many elements to deal with such as fire, people, dog packs, and disease from the dead. Going into the wild or rural areas can be just as dangerous if you don't know anything about it. Even with knowledge there are still unseen circumstances that come up. All in all the best thing you can do is obtain as much knowledge of the areas you choose to survive in. The rest is all luck and instincts.

This is something that concerns me as well. I live in perhaps the number one target in the world, New York City. There is no wilderness here unless you drive about 2-3 to the north or west, and even then, it’s really nothing more than suburbia.

To get into actual forests and the like, it would be more of a 5 hour drive. So from my perspective, wilderness training is of little utility.

Depending on the type of situation, my contingencies are limited. I'm trying to convince my wife to get pistol licenses so that we would have protection, but that is a tough sell on her.

If there is a nuke, I'm pretty much done. I don't think there would be any chance of survivability from that type of SitX for me as I work in lower Manhattan.

If its biological, and I don't get infected, my plan is simply to make a run for it to a house my parents own in west Florida. I'm not sure what the protocol would be for evac and quarantine however, and that could put a big dent in my bug out plan.

Tsunami, I'm done. I live near the beach and lower Manhattan is at about sea level.

Pole Shift/solar storm, I am not sure what the effects would be, or if it would even be possible to drive from NY to Fla under those circumstances. I know my truck would need to fuel up at least twice once I leave NYC, and I don't know if it will be possible.

Thus, from my perspective, if I survive the first minutes and hours of SitX, my best survival tool would be a gun. To protect my family from others who failed to stock up, and possibly to be able to go out to re-supply.

The obvious answer for me would be to move now to a more survivable location, but my career isn't really portable and I need to be in New York to make a living.

Hummmm.... Both finemanm and Simon_Boudreaux have good points... I do not think my city would be a target, but then, it'd be easy enough for an accident to occur....

Flooding in my area is not too big a problem; lower houses might see problems. Another concern of mine that I just realized today was the pulp mill- what noxious chemicals are stored there that if the wind would blow towards my house that could cause damage... even when it *vents* supposed non-toxic gasses it still stinks......

As for a gun, that is NOT an option for me... simply because a) I don't have access to one b) don't know how to use one, and c) I'd rather use a bo or my body as I have some amount of karate training... not that good long range defense though >.<

Hummmm I have to say I have gone to the library; I have determined that without supplementing my food source by agriculture, there is not much by way of food (except salmon... but they are not a resource to be counted upon Situation X. There are some plants that come out in the spring that are edible around here... but they only last for about two weeks and they they're done, and there is only one place that I know of that still has them (hasn't been developed....) and there the natives might not take kindly. Plus it's over an hours drive away (uh oh...)


Well, I can definatly see this - Cities in a complete breakdown - as demonstrated by the lack of accessible water (no rain, only streams or rivers, maybe snow (probably comtaminated from salt) or the occasional water tank...)~

Ummm I think the City here would be... good in the long run, not so much in the short term. Probably would go up in smoke if it hits in the summer within a few days.... As for dogs, yeah, that'd be a GIANT issue. Would a chain-link fence keep a pack out do you think? Any dog-deterring plants you know of? (and cats, for that matter...)~

And no, I do not think I have the skills to survive 100% upon the wilderness... I need a little civilization (aka food and stove and tent and sleeping bag and map and compass... ) :O


Much appreciated!! Ideas well received!

There was a thread that may help.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Hope it helps

hummmm much appreciated... raises some questions though... do people REALLY get so desperate as to attack? Would I be incorrect to think people here might all perish in a month or two, or would there be people who would survive? How crazy would they get?

>.