The Basic Mindset for Survival

This is the first of the articles in the series “The Psychology of Survival”. The articles will describe some of the problems to you might face during a survival or crisis situation. This article will describe the nature of a crisis and what kind of problems that you may have to overcome.

The will to survive is by many experts considered to be the single most important factor for making it through a survival situation. There are many examples of people how have survived horrible situation and hopeless situations, pain and suffering, people how have kept going and against all odds made it through. Few people have died because they have continued to fight, but many have died because they stopped trying.

Any crisis or survival situation will be a difficult situation to cope with. A crisis is a situation where urgency is important, there is a threat and action must be taken fast. A crisis presents a threat against basic values like life, health or property. A crisis also results in uncertainty; the scope of the disaster is seldom known right away. It is also often unclear what current and future consequences the event will have. These three factors make it into a difficult task of handling a crisis: for individuals but also for government agencies and the media.

Some examples of possible threats that can result in a crisis or survival situation can be found in the chapter about Risk Assessments. By familiarizing yourself with different types of Risks you will get a more realistic perspective on what effects such a situation might result in and what can be learned from previous situations. It also helps you to mentally prepare for what you could expect from these situations but also gives you a chance to plan ahead and take precautions in order to avoid or minimize the effects from such risks. However some disasters may be threats that no one has seen coming or been preparing for, these situations present much larger challenges when it’s hard for the affected people to understand what is happening and government agencies may lack both routines, training and equipment to deal with the situation.

Possible challenges
• Sleep Deprivation and Fatigue
• Loss of property or economic loss
• Personal Injuries
• Disease
• Fear and Uncertainty
• Exposure from wind, cold or heat
• Dehydration or lack of food
• Stress
• Injuries or death to friends or loved ones
• Unfamiliar threats and situations

It’s up to you
In some situation government agencies may be able to provide healthcare and other needs like shelter, water, food and security. But during a large scale disaster no government has enough resources to provide immediate help to everyone that needs it. Infrastructure like the electrical grid, water, sewage, roads, railways and airports may be damaged. This can make it hard to transport the resources and supplies needed to an affected area. It may also result in a situation with secondary effects like the outbreak of disease, no access to clean water and dangerous or damaged buildings. In these situations you must help yourself. There may be days, weeks or even months before outside assistance will be provided. During large scale disasters help is normally provided from both national government agencies like first responders, police, fire fighters, military, national guard but also from Non Governmental Organization (NGO:s) like the Red Cross. If the situation is extremely severe help may also be provide by other nations and international organization like the United Nation World Food Program (WFP).

Staying positive is extremely important and this can be very hard if suffer from exhaustion, sleep deprivation, stress, injuries, disease or if you just lost someone that you care about. If let you self become negative the risk is much bigger that you will only see problems, if you try to stay positive the chance to you will be able to find solutions for different problems is much bigger. This also makes it easier to improvise and work with the terrain. Your own knowledge, health, experience and equipment will also make it easier to find solutions.

The nature of a crisis situation makes it very likely that both government agencies and the media may misinterpret the situation when they have to make decisions based on incomplete information under time pressure when people lives and property are on stake. Even if experts and journalists have access to modern communications and training no one can get everything right during this type of situation. This is the nature of the situation and you must take this is into consideration when you receive information.
• It’s of no use to become angry or feel despair if information about help turns out to be incorrect, this must be expected. Keep your focus on the situation at hand.

Adapting to the situation
• Try to stay positive
• Do not complain, especially not if you are in a leadership position. Your reactions will affect others as well.
• Make sure that you keep busy. Work continually to improve your situation, ensure that you have the access to shelter, water and food.
• If you are in a group make sure that everyone has a task to do and that everyone is included in the work and that everyone has access to the information available about the situation.
• Don’t second guess yourself; keep the focus on the situation at hand. What can you do to minimize the consequences and improve your situation?
• Try to stay alert and calm.
• Plan your actions and take risk into account – if you injure yourself during a survival situation because you’re careless your situation might become much more difficult.
• Take care of your friends, family and the other people around you.

Be Ready
It’s impossible to be prepared for every possible threat, but by getting knowledge, skills and experience you will improve your chances to survive a crisis situation. Equipment and supplies can also make it much easier to deal with crisis situation if you have access to water, means of purifying water, food, equipment to prepare the food, a radio so that you receive messages, different sources of light, first aid and other medical supplies and so on.

A Survival Knife, Pocket Survival Kit and Get Home Bag (GHB) can provide you with equipment to deal with a crisis or survival situation in your everyday life.

Upcoming Themes during the Spring

During the spring I am planning to write a series of articles about The Psychology of Survival. This is a subject that I have only touched indirectly and would like to develop a little more. The series will have minimum three parts:
• The Basic Mindset for Survival
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• The Psychology of Evil based on the work by Philip Zimbardo and other researchers.

I am also planning to write an article about Hurricanes for the section about Natural Disasters much like the previous articles about Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis.

I will also create some pages with recommendation for other resources that can be found like forums, blogs, documentaries, movies, books and other resources. The Blog List and Book list on the side of the blog is too short for listing all the sites I would like to recommend.

If you have any comments or suggestions for future articles that you would like to see leave a comment or write me a PM on The Survivalist Boards.

ASPO TV

The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) has started a web based platform where lectures from different researchers within the Peak Oil movement can be streamed online for free called ASPO TV. On this Webpage you can view many of the experts within the field from the 2010 World Conference on Peak Oil. This is a perfect source for anyone how would like to learn more about the subject.

The speakers that are currently available for free are:
Lawrence Rice: "Energy and Security"
Jeff Rubin: "Oil and the End of Globalization"
Dr. James Schlesinger: "The Peak Oil Debate is Over"
Bianca Jagger: "Beyond Petroleum: What Are The Options?"
Ralph Nader: "Energy and Policy"
Ken Zweibel: "The Law of Energy, Technology and Scale"

The following speakers are also availble for ASPO members
Sharon Astyk: "Can We Fill The Gap?"
Dr Anthony Perl: "Can We Fill The Gap?"
Dr. Charles E. Schlumberger: "Can We Fill The Gap?"
Dr. Tad Patzek: "The Laws of Energy, Technology and Scale"

Responding to an Emerging Crisis

A crisis or survival situation may manifest either without any previous warning or after a series of warnings. If a warning is given before a crisis the warnings are often mixed with conflicting information making it very hard to estimate how serious a threat really is.

After a disaster the information that goes out to the public can contain contradicting information about how serious the incident or situation really is. This is often even more serious if the threat or situation is something that is unfamiliar. Unknown threats present large problems for first responders but also for politicians and other leaders of a community that lack the experience, routines and possibly equipment to handle the situation. Researching different kinds of potential threats can make it easier for you to understand what is going on during a crisis situation and what you can expect. It’s important that you continually try to keep yourself updated and review the situation as its changing.

Responding to an emerging crisis situation
• Try to stay updated by following the news in the media and through the radio. Write down information as it comes in, make a timeline.
• Make a check with family and friends and get an update of their situation.
• If the situation might call for an evacuation check Bug Out Bags and Vehicles. Check potential escape routes; is there any information that suggests that these routes may be blocked or inaccessible?
• Is there any other specific tools or equipment that the situation may call for in addition to the supplies that you’re Bug Out Bag contains?
• Make an inventory/check of the status for water, food, light, storage of gasoline and medical supplies. What specific needs may this threat call for? Is there anything you can do to improve these needs or minimize the consequences?
• Fill up water bottles, water containers and additional water storage if possible.
• Make some additional research about the threat, previous events and lessons learned.
• What is the weather forecast for the coming days?

A crisis or survival situation will be both stressful and frustrating. Sometimes help from outside sources may come very fast from first responders but in other situation the scale of a disaster may overwhelm a society and you may have to make do with what you have. If external help is not available you will have to manage the situation yourself. Information that goes out during a crisis is affected by the ongoing situation. Even if government agencies are planning to send help to a region damaged infrastructure or lack of resource may delay or prevent the help from arriving. Traveling with airline, bus or train may also be problematic and delays should be expected.

The importance of being Prepared
If you can can’t keep warm or get access to water a bad situation may get lethal in case of a long lasting emergency or natural disaster quite fast. If you do not have access to food, light, medical supplies and a way of receiving information like a battery powered radio your situation will be much more uncomfortable and the sense of insecurity larger than it would otherwise be. The equipment and preparations that you have made before a crisis can mean the difference between life and death. It can also prove to be the difference between having to endure a crisis under extreme hardship or with ease.

Checklist
[ ] Sleeping bags, blankets, clothing and some kind of heater?
[ ] Equipment to start a fire?
[ ] Water and equipment to collect and purify water?
[ ] Food that does not have to be stored in a refrigerator?
[ ] Some kind of stove that can be used to prepare food in case of black out?
[ ] Sources of light? Spare batteries and extra fuel?
[ ] First aid kit and basic medical supplies?
[ ] Some kind of radio that can be used in case of a black out?
[ ] An emergency toilet?

Keeping a log
It’s important that you keep a log of the information that you are receiving. When did you receive the information and from what source? Can any other source confirm this information? If you make contact with friends or family members make sure to write down the time when you made contact with them, what their situation was, what their plans are and how you can make contact with them again.

If you are in a larger group or with your family I suggest that you have a briefing every night and morning about what has taken place during the day, what new information that has become available and what the plans are for the next day.

No matter the situation it is very important that you
• Try to stay positive, alert and calm
• Don’t second guess yourself or think about what you could have done differently to avoid or divert the situation, keep the focus on the situation at hand.
• Keep planning and taking steps to reduce the consequences of the disaster. The situation will most likely continue to change and it’s important that you stay updated.
• Keep a regular update on water and supplies – what should your priority be right now?
• Make sure that everyone has a task to do and get organized. Just sitting around and waiting will not improve a bad situation. Make sure that water gets collected and purified, that food get prepared on regular times if possible, take care of hygiene and try to keep the location you’re in as clean and organized as possible.
• How one should handle a situation if there is children present can be difficult. But I would recommend that you explain the situation as best you can and explain what you are doing to make it better. If you don’t know answers don’t be afraid to say so.
• Look after your friends and family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I would like to thank all the readers and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that you have found some information here that you can take with you and get some new perspectives on prepping and survival.

So what do I wish for the coming year?
1.) That The Survivalist Boards will get a Survival Wiki. This is important since it will offer a new tool to produce survival related articles.
2.) That we will see more projects with scholars that come together and discuss systematic threats and problems to our society. Some of the projects that have been produced the last years are the movies “The End of Suburbia”, “A Crude Awaking”, “Blind Spot”, “Home”, Michael Rupert’s “Collapse”, History Channels “After Armageddon” and the latest National Geographic Documentary “2210: The Collapse” with Jared Diamond and many other researchers. Spreading knowledge is critical for finding solutions to threats we face.
3.) That Peak Oil becomes mainstream and that nations around the world will start to make serious investments into sustainable development.
4.) That we will see more movements and networks that brings people together and focus on sustainable development and crisis preparedness. The Transition Network is a new network that shows some promise.