The Reality of a "Situation X" or SHTF Incident

Hey All,

I've always been interested in survivalist topics, and SHTF scenarios. However, it seems like when these topics are talked about, its always for a huge event, like a Hurricane Katrina or upcoming major takeover or attack or something along that nature, so I've never personally found the possibility too dire.

However, the other day there was a rather sever flash thunderstorm in my area. It lasted only about 20 minutes but was pretty intense with the amount of rain and hail. Turns out in the next county over's power grid was messed up somehow and a pretty large portion of that county lost power. Today I was going to go out to eat in the area, and the entire place STILL has no power. It has only been a little over a day, and literally ALL places were closed and people we're walking around in the streets looking confused. After a little of a shock that the outage lasted this long, we turned around and on the way home went by a Target that had power a few miles away, and it was SWARMED with people, I mean packed, probably buying simple things they need like food and other items.

This was kind of a wake up call for me, as I was kind of shocked that one short storm can knock out power to several cities for over a day, and also the extent that people are unprepared to live without electricity for that long. There were lines outside stores waiting for them to open up, accidents because people don't know how to drive without traffic lights, it was honestly a little unsettling.

If something seemingly not too major can do this, what would happen if something more serious would occur? I'm not only talking big storms but other things such as the recent riots when the Lakers won...people went crazy! It just hit close to home how serious such an even t can actually turn out, and I jsut went over possible scenarios in my head, and realized if I ahd lived there, I wouldn't be much more prepared than many of those people were. Other than water, I dont have much other food or medical supplies at hand.

It's hard to take real action being a college kid living at home with little expendable money and without sounding crazy to my parents, but with the state of society these days, it was a real wake up call that preparedness and even simple stockpiling for any type event will put you ahead of the pack in terms of making it through as best you can.

The reality of it, is it's currently happening...what will you do about it?

reply to post by kyle6677


Meh. Last year my power was knocked out for two-weeks, and I live in the city.

America's ailing infrastructure is well-known, but not often talked about.

It'll cost $2.2 trillion to fix America's ailing infrastructure, according to highlights of a report being released early, just as the House of Representatives readies its first vote on President Barack Obama's call for a massive economic stimulus spending package.

The country's roads, dumps, dams, bridges, schools and rail systems need lots of that money, say the engineers, who would get a piece of the pie in working on the repairs. Government officials are already aiming billions of dollars at those physical needs as part of what at the moment is a $825 billion economic stimulus package. But the engineers say that's not enough.

Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. physical backbone for everything from schools and parks to dams and levees a D. That's the same overall grade as the last time the group gave a report, in 2005, but it really is slipping from a "high D" to a "low D," said report chairman Andrew Herrmann.

Source

i have well have been pondering the fact that something is going to happen, why aren't i preparing? preperation itself is essential for surviving in this society, but we are preparing for the expected, not the unexpected. (to a certain extent)

Originally posted by kyle6677
It's hard to take real action being a college kid living at home with little expendable money and without sounding crazy to my parents, but with the state of society these days, it was a real wake up call that preparedness and even simple stockpiling for any type event will put you ahead of the pack in terms of making it through as best you can.

Well then perhaps you need a collectivist approach.

Get your friends together and pool your resources. You could even start a Meet-Up group. Don't call it something crazy like, "GOVERNMENT SUXORS! WE ALL GOIN' 2 DIE! LOLZ!" call it something classy like, "Frontier Heritage and Preparedness".

Anyway, everyone get their $5 and pool the money. Buy a dehydrator, some canning equipment (old people know how to do this -almost universally), and maybe even a food saver.

Then buy stuff that's on sale. Meat, some canned goods, even produce. Then have a get together where you dehydrate and can. During these meetings set aside some time where you teach something. Useful things like water filtration and purification, how to seed a garden, sweat a copper pipe, plaster a wall -things that are useful when it comes to maintaining the things you have when the SHTF. Meeting places and instructors should rotate.

Avoid teaching BS things like "Rifle squad tactics". They have no use in the kind of disaster we're talking about.

In a few months time you will have some skills (or at least know the people who have the skills) plus a usable inventory in the event of a disaster.

I have experienced several hurricanes and countless tropical storms during my time in the Florida panhandle. The longest time without power that I can remember was ~10 days

If you want to counter a 2-week power outage where few or no stores are open, this is what to do:

1. Fill all your empty milk jugs with water and freeze them. Fill the normally-unused portion of your freezer with them. You can then use the jugs to cool food or other drinks, and when the ice melts you can drink it. Also get in the habit of putting leftovers into cheap serv-n-savers and freezing them. Same gig with the leftovers, you can use them to cool other food (or yourself) and then when they melt you can eat them.

2. Stock up on cheapo batteries from the store, to power flashlights and radios.

3. Get at least 3 flashlights, all of which use the same battery size (AA recommended) as well as 3 small hand-held radios that use the same size batteries as your flashlights.

4. Stock up on canned food and boxed non-perishables like crackers, etc. Do not get box-only food, get the kind that has the contents in a plastic bag inside the box. Big Lots is good for this, they have a lot of stuff at low prices, also check out your local dent-n-bent or salvage grocery type places. Canned meat, canned veggies, etc.

5. Candles. Lots and lots of candles. Also cheap lighters as well as matches. You can get a large box of cheap lighters off eBay, cheap candles, and bulk matches.

6. Don't use the blue cleaning disk things in your toilet. The water in a toilet tank is potable and can be used for bathing or cooking or even drinking. Don't clog it up with chemicals because you are too lazy to scrub the toilet. In fact, if you get in a tight spot you can go under your house and drain the water lines into buckets or pans. Remember that your water lines are usually full of water even when the tap isn't turned on.

7. The best for last: WATER. Lots and lots of water. Did I mention WATER? Yes? Good. You can get distilled water at Wal-Mart in gallon jugs for like 79 cents apiece. You want to have at least 10 to 12 gallons.

Try to make sure you have at least enough for 2 weeks, and 1 month is better. The good rule of thumb for eats and drinks is 1 can of food and 1 gallon of water per person, per day.

Be a miser, be a hoarder. Keep your pantry full.

Something we do here at home is to load up on canned goods which are on sale and put them up in the little tiny kitchen cabinets near the ceiling which are a pain in the butt to reach. Those cabinets don't get used for anything else and if you get in a tight spot, whether it is financial problems or an emergency, it is good to have a lot of canned and boxed food waiting out of sight.

Thats for the input all. I especially like "GOVERNMENT SUXORS! WE ALL GOIN' 2 DIE! LOLZ!" .

I'm definitely going to start doing what I can, and I think its a really good idea to just find likeminded people and do a little at a time. I just hope there's enough time left to learn/prepare fully

reply to post by GreenGlassDoor


Exactly right. Prepare BEFORE the event. Collect your MAG -- mutual assitance group. When I live, nobody [painting with a broad brush, but mostly true] worries about anything that might happen, just reacts when something DOES happen. Our MAG is very small.

reply to post by kyle6677


Good on you for asking the questions. Did you know that most U.S. supermarkets work off a system wherein they keep stocks based upon three days, with the trust that more will come in? What does that mean? It means that in the event that something interrupts the food supply, there is usually just 3 days worth of stuff.

Yes, seemingly simple events can be "Sit-X lite". Doesn't make it any less life-threatening.

Right now, in the southern states of the U.S., there is a heatwave, with the heat index in some places of 115 degrees F. It will kill some folks, probably, and that's such a sad thing that there isn't a framework in place to prepare for this and related events.

We're in process of setting up our house on solar. We currently have two homemade solar collectors that heat both our house hot water and our hot tub. Don't laugh -- wait until you're in your 50's and see if you don't consider a hot tub a necessity

In addition to that, we have 400W of PV panels to run various other low-watt appliances. We're going to invest about $USD 10K on more solar. Enough to run a small a/c and the fridge.

I never understood before Hurricane Paloma mashed us last November, the value of ice. Always wondered why hurricane-afflicted people clamored for it. Well, now I know. Ice is comfort. Ice is health.

A good water filter, a garden, ability to fish, bush knowledge, a year of food, stored and rotated, tools, love and a partner who sees things similar to how I do. Those are the variables (not necessarily in that order) that make me feel safe.

reply to post by Symbiote


I also live in Florida. When the last Hurricanes blew in, we were without power for 3 days. I live in an urban area, so power loss is usually a shorter time period.

It's amazing what camping out in your own house will teach you. I fortunately had a generator, so I was able to keep my freezers cold, and take baths, and flush toilets. Lucky me.

You had some excellent pointers in your post. nothing like experience. The only thing I would add, is KEEP building up suplies, not just for a few days problems, but for as long, and as much as your're able. Natural disasters are one side of the problem, man made are the other side. Probably both kinds of disasters are coming soon. get ready people.
Good luck

Reminds me of the time Hurricane Ivan hit whilst we were in Florida , the power went off for a couple of days, turns out all the repair guy had to do was flick a switch and the power for the area we were in came back on.
People need to make preparations for loss of power , The guy down the road had a generator and people loved him for it.