Of all the natural disasters in the world tornadoes is the disaster that generates the highest wind speeds. A tornado is rotating storm that has a more destructive force than a hurricane but it affects a much smaller geographical area, it’s uncommon that a tornado is more than one kilometer wide.
The magnitude of a Tornado is often measured in the Fujita Scale ranging from 0 to 5. These are often referred to as an F0, F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 with an F0 being the weakest Tornado causing only minor damage, an F5 the most powerful causing massive damage. There is also an updated version of this scale called the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
An F5 tornado can destroy even relatively strong buildings, deform a skyscraper, and pull asphalt from the roads and move vehicles and farm equipment with a weight of several tons over long distances. The damage potential is in short extreme. But much like a Tsunami a tornado can totally devastate an area only to leave structure only short distances away intact. The majority of all tornadoes take place in the Great Plain Area in the United States.
Timeline
1925 The Tri State Tornado caused massive devastation when it travelled 350 kilometers through three states; bringing destruction to over 20 cities resulting in the deaths of almost 700 people.
1974 The Super Outbreak was an event when almost 150 tornadoes was record in just two days. Over people 300 died in from the tornadoes.
1989 The Daulatpur-Saturia Tornado in Bangladesh is the Deadliest tornado in history. The Tornado hit slums and other vulnerable areas killing around 1.300 people, injuring around 12.000 and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
1999 Its relatively rare that a Tornado hits a city but The Oklahoma City Tornado is one example of such an event. The tornado produced the highest wind speeds that have ever been recorded reaching almost 500km/h. The tornado killed over 30 people and destroyed several thousand homes.
2011 The Tornado that hit Joplin was one of the worst in US history. The tornado resulted in around 160 dead and injured almost 1.000 people. The tornado caused severe damage to building an even hit the St John Regional Medical Center causing damage to the structure and the loss of power.
Survival and Preparedness
A tornado can cause massive direct damage killing individuals and destroying buildings. A tornado can also result in severe secondary damage from Fire. Vital infrastructure can also be destroyed or damaged limiting the access to water, the power grid and electronic communications.
If you are confronted with a tornado immediately seek cover in the most solid protection you can find or try to avoid its path. Even if relatively few people die in tornadoes every year compared to other Natural Disasters the economical damage is enormous. Having the right insurance and an emergency budget is an important addition to other disaster preparedness efforts like having water, food, medical supplies, light and other necessities available.
Your Home
Mobile homes are especially vulnerable since they can’t withstand the enormous power of a tornado. Unventilated structures can explode from the differences in air pressure that a tornado generates. Those how live in mobile homes and other light structures are very vulnerable to tornadoes since they can easily destroy these structures. For those how live in mobile homes cars often provide a better shelter since they have a lower center of gravity and are often better designed to withstand an impact if they roll over.
Cellars and Safe Rooms
The destructive power of a tornado can often destroy building and homes. In order to survive a tornado one of the most common tactics is to seek cover underground in cellars. Another form of tactic is to build a safe room within the structure. A safe room is part of the building with a strong roof and solid walls often made by concrete or steel with a strong steel door. There are many companies that also can retrofit older buildings that were not originally built with a safe room.
Early Warnings
It’s possible to detect tornadoes using radar; from these readings it’s possible to warn people in affected areas. These warnings are often transmitted using radio. If you live in an area where tornadoes often strike being able to get this type of Early Warning can mean the difference between life and death. Many that die in tornadoes has simply been unable to receive these Early Warnings. Following the weather reports is also an important tool to get warning regarding storm and weather condition that can generate Tornadoes. Some areas also have sirens to provide warnings. Learn what how the Early Warning system in your area operates.
The visibility of a tornado can vary; during heavy rains or at very dry locations they can be hard to spot. The sound of a tornado is often very high if you are close to storm, but they can be hard to hear over long distances.
Conclusion
Tornadoes present a very destructive event for anyone that lives in an area where Tornadoes are common. Having a place to seek cover and knowing where shelter can be found is critical in order to avoid the potential damage from a Tornado. Learn how Early Warnings are given in your area and make sure that you can receive them.
Also see
Hurricanes
Earthquakes
Tsunami
Volcanoes
Surviving Fires and Fire Safety
Showing posts with label Emergency Preparedness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emergency Preparedness. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Urban Bug Out Bags
More and more people live in cities; today around half of the world’s population live in cities. Within the Survivalist and Prepper community a rural setting is often described as the ideal location for dealing with a Crisis or survival Situation. But for many an Urban setting is the situation that they will have to cope with during a disaster and this article will discuss some of the aspects when building a Bug Out Bag for an Urban environment.
Many modern large cities often don’t produce all the gods that the inhabitants use and the local area around the cities are not sufficient for producing basic goods like food for the inhabitants and it must be imported from other regions or countries. But this is not a unique situation for cities; many rural settings today the inhabitants are also heavily dependent on gods to be transported large distances like medication, tools, food, electronics, fuel and other necessities. However, large cities often have other advantages like
• More specialized medical care available
• More specialized skills and professions
• More resources to deal with emergencies
• More work opportunities
An Urban environment can present different challenges than one would encounter in a wilderness setting. For this reason an Urban setting may require another set of skills, knowledge and equipment in order to deal with emergencies, disasters and survival situations. The high population density of a city can result in a large amount of wounded and killed people if natural or man-made disaster would take place. Some examples of this are the chemical release in Bhopal, India, Hurricane Katrina and The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
How Far May You Have To Go?
If you are building a Bug Out Bag for an Urban setting I would recommend that you try to build a kit and plan to deal with three types of potential Situations:
1.) An Evacuation from the City
This is a relatively uncommon type of disaster but can become necessary in scenarios like a Hurricane or a large scale disaster in a chemical or nuclear plant. In this case the kit should supply you with the basic equipment and supplies to accomplish this task.
2.) An Evacuation from your Home to another location within the City
Relatively few disasters require entire cities to be evacuated. A more common form of event is that smaller areas within cities may have to be evacuated; a typical example is fires in buildings that can completely destroy a house or smaller area. In this case you will not have to leave the city but simply find alternative housing like a motel, hotel or a room at a friend or family member.
3.) As a Tool for Search and Rescue
If a disaster would take place you do not personally have to be among the wounded and directly affected but other might be like friends, family members or complete strangers. In this case it’s good if your Bug Out Bag can provide some tools for these tasks.
The Personal Aspect of Preparedness
The Bug Out Bag is only a small part of being prepared for an Evacuation. Your personal Knowledge, Health and Physical Fitness and Skills and Experience is also critical aspects. Having a Bug Out Plan for what to do is also an important aspect.
Knowledge
Know your terrain and setting is very important. Where can you find hospitals, police departments, fire departments, hostels and hotels? What areas are normally dafe to travel? Are there areas where it is not safe to travel? What areas are mostly affected by crime and other problems? What risks and hazards do you face in your setting? A Risk Assessment can be a tool for structuring and thinking about threats from a more organized perspective. What type of climate and seasonal variation do you face? What kind of landmarks can be seen in and where are they located? What types of transportation is available like trains, air-ports, ports, subways and highways?
Health and Physical Fitness
An emergency may prove to be a difficult situation to deal with physically. In a worst case scenario you may have to travel long or short distances by foot carrying the equipment that you plan on taking with you, you may have to run in order to get away from threats or lift heavy object like wounded people or debris.
Your Physical Fitness may most importantly increase your health and let you live without diseases like diabetes or heart disease. Working out on a regular basis also reduces stress and increases your feeling of wellbeing. Find an activity that fits you and try to work out at least three times per week. Also make sure to visit a doctor for regular health checks and a dentist to fix any problems you may have with your teeth. Immunization may also reduce the chance that you may contract infections like hepatitis, cholera or tetanus in the aftermath of a disaster.
Skills and Experience
The wilderness presents other type of challenges compared to city. You still have the same basic needs like shelter, water and food but the means to provide these needs will most likely be very different. First Aid is a skill that is useful in order to deal with everything from small cuts to traffic accidents or large scale disaster, this like all other skills must be practiced on regular basis if you want to be able to use them properly when it really matters, having a first aid kit in your pack that you don’t know how to use is not enough. If you live in a city where several languages are spoken I would recommend that you consider learning the most common ones as best you can. All cities have their own special traditions and customs, street smart and having a deeper understanding of the environment where you live is also connected to experience and is not just simply about knowledge.
Basic Equipment and Every Day Carry
Most people carry at least some equipment on their person. When you build your Bug Out Bag you should take this in consideration so that the equipment you carry on your person complements the equipment that you choose to get for your BOB.
Cell Phone
A Cell Phone can be a valuable tool for communication in an Urban Setting. A Smartphone like the iPhone can be an even more useful tool that can help you get access to e-mail, the internet, find your position with a GPS and store digital copies of important documents. If you keep important documents on your phone remember to protect the information using a password and consider encryption of sensitive files. A Cell Phone can be an invaluable tool but during large scale disasters it’s not uncommon that the grid gets overloaded and it can become very difficult or even impossible to reach others. The runtime of Smartphone’s is often relatively low so it can be a good idea to include an extra battery and charger in your BOB. Other alternatives can be a solar charger like the Solio Classic.
Wallet
In your wallet you carry many of the tools necessary for everyday life like Cash (Bills and Coins), a Credit or Debit Card, ID Card, Driver License, Permits, Passport, Immunization Card, Medical Insurance Card etc. There are also special tool kits that you can add to your wallet like credit card sized tools from Victorinox and Tool Logic. If you live in an area where robbery is common it can be good not to carry all your cash in one location and even get a fake wallet with an old id-card and some small bills and coins. There are also concealed solutions like money belts and ankle wallets that may be worth considering.
Survival Knives
A knife is a tool that can be invaluable in many situations. In cities the legal aspect is very important. What types of knives that is allowed varies from country to country and sometimes also between regions or states. What types of knives is legal to carry in your setting and where it is legal to carry? This is important aspects that you should take into consideration when picking a knife for your Bug Out Bag and Every Day Carry (EDC). Personally I would recommend a Swiss Army Knife or Multi-Tool for EDC since they have many uses both for emergencies but also in other situations. If the legal restrictions where you live are very strict you might consider getting a strap cuter like the Gerber Strap Cutter or Benchmade Houdini or carrying a compact scissor.
Clothing
Your clothing provides your shield against the elements and it’s important that your clothing can withstand the temperatures and climate where you live. I recommend that you choose footwear that is comfortable, have some resistance to water and that you can run in for medium distances if you would have to. For Every Day Carry base layers, t-shirts and socks made from merino wool can give you clothing that provides performance even if they get wet. Many companies that make shell clothing also make functional clothing with a design more suitable for Urban use if want to get functional clothing for Every Day use. Do not only pick your clothing for function, blending in your environment is also an important aspect. Being dresses as a hiker in an urban setting may look a little odd.
Setup 1: Example of an Urban Bug Out Bag
Total Weight Backpack: 7,578kg (16,7 pounds)
Total Weight ankle Wallet: 0,053kg
Backpack 1,87kg
[ ] Kifaru X-Ray 1870g
Shelter and Clothing 0,34kg
[ ] Surviva Jak 60g
[ ] TurtleSkin Search Gloves 280g
Light 0,101kg
[ ] Sunwayman M10A Flashlight (52g+23g) 75g
[ ] 2 Extra AAA Batteries (23g+23g) 46g
Fire 0,139kg
[ ] Zippo Blue Lighter 80g
[ ] Zippo Lighter Pouch 59g
Survival Knife 0,15kg
[ ] Fällkniven Police Rescue Knife (PRK) 150g
Pocket Survival Kit 0,12kg
[ ] ESEE Izula Gear Wallet E&E 120g
Water 3,2kg
[ ] Camelback 3 Liter Water Bladder (3000g+201g) 3201g
[ ] Katadyn Mini Water Purification Filter 210g
Food 0,684kg
[ ] Mainstay 3600 Emergency Food Ration 684g
Navigation and Communication 0,337kg
[ ] City Map or Topographical Map 100g
[ ] Cammenga Tritium Wrist Compass 37g
[ ] Icom IC-R6 Radio Scanner 200g
First Aid and Hygiene 0,435kg
[ ] Lifesystems Event First Aid Kit 293g
[ ] OHSO Travel Toothbrush 49g
[ ] 2 Charmin To Go – Travel Toilet Tissue (28g+28g) 56g
[ ] Sea To Summit Wilderness Wash Hand Sanitizer 40ml 37g
Other 0,202kg
[ ] Cash
[ ] Cell Phone Charger or Extra Battery
[ ] Rite-In-The-Rain Notebook 4” x 6” 90g
[ ] Fisher Trekker Space Pen 112g
Ankle Wallet 0.053kg
[ ] Tatonka Skin Secret Pocket 40g
[ ] Cash
[ ] Extra ID or Extra Credit Card 5g
[ ] BCB Button Compass 4g
[ ] ESEE Escape and Evasion Ceramic Razor 4g
Summary Setup 1
The first setup is an example built upon a medium sized backpack from Kifaru. The bag contains a Surviva Jak, a jacket made by the same type of material as an Emergency Blanket and a pair of protective gloves. The setup contains a compact flashlight from Sunwayman that uses a single AA battery, two extra batteries, a Zippo storm lighter and a fixed blade rescue knife from Fällkniven. The setup also contains a three liter water bladder from Camelbak, a small water purification filter, some emergency rations from Mainstay and a radio scanner from I-Com. A City Map or Topographical Map and a wrist compass with tritium lights provide some tools for navigation.
As a backup if you would lose your pack the setup also contains a small wallet that can be worn under your trousers. This small wallet can be filled with some extra cash, an id-card or passport, a button compass and a small blade.
Setup 2 – Two Bags Bug Out System
Backpack Total Weight: 6,334kg (13,9 pounds)
Rolling Bag Weight: 5,35kg (11,8 ponds) + A change of Clothing and a Hygiene Kit
Bag 1: Backpack 1,9kg
[ ] Arcteryx Arrakis 40 1900g
Shelter and Clothing 0,512kg
[ ] Merino Wool Buff 54g
[ ] Montane Featherlite Velo H20 Jacket 150g
[ ] Montane Atomic DT Pants 200g
[ ] Adventure Medical Kits SOL Emergency Bivvy 108g
Light 0,97kg
[ ] Fenix TK-60 D-Cell Flashlight (407g+140g+140g+140g+140g) 967g
Fire 0,014kg
[ ] BIC Lighter 14g
Survival Knives 0,257kg
[ ] Leatherman Charge ALX Black Multi Tool 235g
[ ] Fällkniven U-4 Wolf Tooth Folding Knife 22g
Pocket Survival Kit 0,17kg
[ ] BCB Combat Survival Kit 170g
Water 1,399kg
[ ] Klean Kanteen 1200ml (199g+1200g) 1399g
Food 0,668kg
[ ] Mainstay 2400 468g
[ ] 4 Honey Stinger Energy Bar (50g+50g+50g+50g) 200g
First Aid 0,202kg
[ ] BCB Lifesaver 1 First Aid Kit 202g
Navigation and Documents 0,222kg
[ ] City Map / Topographical Map 100g
[ ] Recta DP 6 Compass 55g
[ ] Sangean DT-120 Radio (56g+11,5g) 67,5g
[ ] Passport
[ ] Immunization Card
[ ] Medical Insurance Card
[ ] Cash
Bag 2: Rolling Bag 4,03kg
[ ] Maxpedition Rolling Carry-On Luggage 4030g
Change of Clothing
[ ] Base Layer
[ ] Underwear
[ ] Socks
[ ] Pants
[ ] Shirt
Sleeping 1,32kg
[ ] Haglöfs LIM 50 Sleeping Bag 460g
[ ] Exped Down Mat 7 860g
Hygiene
[ ] Tooth Brush
[ ] Tooth Paste
[ ] Dental Floss
[ ] Soap and Shampoo
[ ] Comb
[ ] Razor
[ ] Shaving Cream
[ ] Skin Care Lotion
[ ] Sun Block
[ ] Wet Wipes
[ ] Painkillers and Anti-Diarrheal Tablets
[ ] Travel Towel
[ ] Special Personal Needs; Medication, Extra Pair of Glasses etc.
Summary Setup 2
The second Setup is an example where the most critical Survival Equipment is carried in an Backpack while a secondary bags contains a change of clothing, a thin sleeping bag that can be used for low temperatures outside or indoors and an inflatable sleeping mattress that makes it relatively comfortable to sleep even on a hard and cold surface.
The Backpack contains some ultra light shell clothing that makes it easy to avoid getting wet if you have to walk outside in hard weather, a Powerful D-Cell Flashlight excellent for Search and Rescue or Signaling, a Multi Tool in combination with a very compact folding knife. The Rolling Bag could also be used to include other personal equipment like a Laptop, charger and other equipment that most people are likely to take with them if they would have to leave their home.
Conclusion
These setups are just examples intended to give you some inspiration when building your own kit, the kit YOU build must make sense for your personal setting, climate and situation. There are thousands of products on the market to choose from; find products that perform the tasks that you need them to perform and fit your budget. One Size Does Not Fit All. Own The Process.
Also see:
Building The Right Bug Out Bag For You
The Bug Out Plan
Get Home Bags (GHB)
Pocket Survival Kits
Every Day Carry (EDC)
Many modern large cities often don’t produce all the gods that the inhabitants use and the local area around the cities are not sufficient for producing basic goods like food for the inhabitants and it must be imported from other regions or countries. But this is not a unique situation for cities; many rural settings today the inhabitants are also heavily dependent on gods to be transported large distances like medication, tools, food, electronics, fuel and other necessities. However, large cities often have other advantages like
• More specialized medical care available
• More specialized skills and professions
• More resources to deal with emergencies
• More work opportunities
An Urban environment can present different challenges than one would encounter in a wilderness setting. For this reason an Urban setting may require another set of skills, knowledge and equipment in order to deal with emergencies, disasters and survival situations. The high population density of a city can result in a large amount of wounded and killed people if natural or man-made disaster would take place. Some examples of this are the chemical release in Bhopal, India, Hurricane Katrina and The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
How Far May You Have To Go?
If you are building a Bug Out Bag for an Urban setting I would recommend that you try to build a kit and plan to deal with three types of potential Situations:
1.) An Evacuation from the City
This is a relatively uncommon type of disaster but can become necessary in scenarios like a Hurricane or a large scale disaster in a chemical or nuclear plant. In this case the kit should supply you with the basic equipment and supplies to accomplish this task.
2.) An Evacuation from your Home to another location within the City
Relatively few disasters require entire cities to be evacuated. A more common form of event is that smaller areas within cities may have to be evacuated; a typical example is fires in buildings that can completely destroy a house or smaller area. In this case you will not have to leave the city but simply find alternative housing like a motel, hotel or a room at a friend or family member.
3.) As a Tool for Search and Rescue
If a disaster would take place you do not personally have to be among the wounded and directly affected but other might be like friends, family members or complete strangers. In this case it’s good if your Bug Out Bag can provide some tools for these tasks.
The Personal Aspect of Preparedness
The Bug Out Bag is only a small part of being prepared for an Evacuation. Your personal Knowledge, Health and Physical Fitness and Skills and Experience is also critical aspects. Having a Bug Out Plan for what to do is also an important aspect.
Knowledge
Know your terrain and setting is very important. Where can you find hospitals, police departments, fire departments, hostels and hotels? What areas are normally dafe to travel? Are there areas where it is not safe to travel? What areas are mostly affected by crime and other problems? What risks and hazards do you face in your setting? A Risk Assessment can be a tool for structuring and thinking about threats from a more organized perspective. What type of climate and seasonal variation do you face? What kind of landmarks can be seen in and where are they located? What types of transportation is available like trains, air-ports, ports, subways and highways?
Health and Physical Fitness
An emergency may prove to be a difficult situation to deal with physically. In a worst case scenario you may have to travel long or short distances by foot carrying the equipment that you plan on taking with you, you may have to run in order to get away from threats or lift heavy object like wounded people or debris.
Your Physical Fitness may most importantly increase your health and let you live without diseases like diabetes or heart disease. Working out on a regular basis also reduces stress and increases your feeling of wellbeing. Find an activity that fits you and try to work out at least three times per week. Also make sure to visit a doctor for regular health checks and a dentist to fix any problems you may have with your teeth. Immunization may also reduce the chance that you may contract infections like hepatitis, cholera or tetanus in the aftermath of a disaster.
Skills and Experience
The wilderness presents other type of challenges compared to city. You still have the same basic needs like shelter, water and food but the means to provide these needs will most likely be very different. First Aid is a skill that is useful in order to deal with everything from small cuts to traffic accidents or large scale disaster, this like all other skills must be practiced on regular basis if you want to be able to use them properly when it really matters, having a first aid kit in your pack that you don’t know how to use is not enough. If you live in a city where several languages are spoken I would recommend that you consider learning the most common ones as best you can. All cities have their own special traditions and customs, street smart and having a deeper understanding of the environment where you live is also connected to experience and is not just simply about knowledge.
Basic Equipment and Every Day Carry
Most people carry at least some equipment on their person. When you build your Bug Out Bag you should take this in consideration so that the equipment you carry on your person complements the equipment that you choose to get for your BOB.
Cell Phone
A Cell Phone can be a valuable tool for communication in an Urban Setting. A Smartphone like the iPhone can be an even more useful tool that can help you get access to e-mail, the internet, find your position with a GPS and store digital copies of important documents. If you keep important documents on your phone remember to protect the information using a password and consider encryption of sensitive files. A Cell Phone can be an invaluable tool but during large scale disasters it’s not uncommon that the grid gets overloaded and it can become very difficult or even impossible to reach others. The runtime of Smartphone’s is often relatively low so it can be a good idea to include an extra battery and charger in your BOB. Other alternatives can be a solar charger like the Solio Classic.
Wallet
In your wallet you carry many of the tools necessary for everyday life like Cash (Bills and Coins), a Credit or Debit Card, ID Card, Driver License, Permits, Passport, Immunization Card, Medical Insurance Card etc. There are also special tool kits that you can add to your wallet like credit card sized tools from Victorinox and Tool Logic. If you live in an area where robbery is common it can be good not to carry all your cash in one location and even get a fake wallet with an old id-card and some small bills and coins. There are also concealed solutions like money belts and ankle wallets that may be worth considering.
Survival Knives
A knife is a tool that can be invaluable in many situations. In cities the legal aspect is very important. What types of knives that is allowed varies from country to country and sometimes also between regions or states. What types of knives is legal to carry in your setting and where it is legal to carry? This is important aspects that you should take into consideration when picking a knife for your Bug Out Bag and Every Day Carry (EDC). Personally I would recommend a Swiss Army Knife or Multi-Tool for EDC since they have many uses both for emergencies but also in other situations. If the legal restrictions where you live are very strict you might consider getting a strap cuter like the Gerber Strap Cutter or Benchmade Houdini or carrying a compact scissor.
Clothing
Your clothing provides your shield against the elements and it’s important that your clothing can withstand the temperatures and climate where you live. I recommend that you choose footwear that is comfortable, have some resistance to water and that you can run in for medium distances if you would have to. For Every Day Carry base layers, t-shirts and socks made from merino wool can give you clothing that provides performance even if they get wet. Many companies that make shell clothing also make functional clothing with a design more suitable for Urban use if want to get functional clothing for Every Day use. Do not only pick your clothing for function, blending in your environment is also an important aspect. Being dresses as a hiker in an urban setting may look a little odd.
Setup 1: Example of an Urban Bug Out Bag
Total Weight Backpack: 7,578kg (16,7 pounds)
Total Weight ankle Wallet: 0,053kg
Backpack 1,87kg
[ ] Kifaru X-Ray 1870g
Shelter and Clothing 0,34kg
[ ] Surviva Jak 60g
[ ] TurtleSkin Search Gloves 280g
Light 0,101kg
[ ] Sunwayman M10A Flashlight (52g+23g) 75g
[ ] 2 Extra AAA Batteries (23g+23g) 46g
Fire 0,139kg
[ ] Zippo Blue Lighter 80g
[ ] Zippo Lighter Pouch 59g
Survival Knife 0,15kg
[ ] Fällkniven Police Rescue Knife (PRK) 150g
Pocket Survival Kit 0,12kg
[ ] ESEE Izula Gear Wallet E&E 120g
Water 3,2kg
[ ] Camelback 3 Liter Water Bladder (3000g+201g) 3201g
[ ] Katadyn Mini Water Purification Filter 210g
Food 0,684kg
[ ] Mainstay 3600 Emergency Food Ration 684g
Navigation and Communication 0,337kg
[ ] City Map or Topographical Map 100g
[ ] Cammenga Tritium Wrist Compass 37g
[ ] Icom IC-R6 Radio Scanner 200g
First Aid and Hygiene 0,435kg
[ ] Lifesystems Event First Aid Kit 293g
[ ] OHSO Travel Toothbrush 49g
[ ] 2 Charmin To Go – Travel Toilet Tissue (28g+28g) 56g
[ ] Sea To Summit Wilderness Wash Hand Sanitizer 40ml 37g
Other 0,202kg
[ ] Cash
[ ] Cell Phone Charger or Extra Battery
[ ] Rite-In-The-Rain Notebook 4” x 6” 90g
[ ] Fisher Trekker Space Pen 112g
Ankle Wallet 0.053kg
[ ] Tatonka Skin Secret Pocket 40g
[ ] Cash
[ ] Extra ID or Extra Credit Card 5g
[ ] BCB Button Compass 4g
[ ] ESEE Escape and Evasion Ceramic Razor 4g
Summary Setup 1
The first setup is an example built upon a medium sized backpack from Kifaru. The bag contains a Surviva Jak, a jacket made by the same type of material as an Emergency Blanket and a pair of protective gloves. The setup contains a compact flashlight from Sunwayman that uses a single AA battery, two extra batteries, a Zippo storm lighter and a fixed blade rescue knife from Fällkniven. The setup also contains a three liter water bladder from Camelbak, a small water purification filter, some emergency rations from Mainstay and a radio scanner from I-Com. A City Map or Topographical Map and a wrist compass with tritium lights provide some tools for navigation.
As a backup if you would lose your pack the setup also contains a small wallet that can be worn under your trousers. This small wallet can be filled with some extra cash, an id-card or passport, a button compass and a small blade.
Setup 2 – Two Bags Bug Out System
Backpack Total Weight: 6,334kg (13,9 pounds)
Rolling Bag Weight: 5,35kg (11,8 ponds) + A change of Clothing and a Hygiene Kit
Bag 1: Backpack 1,9kg
[ ] Arcteryx Arrakis 40 1900g
Shelter and Clothing 0,512kg
[ ] Merino Wool Buff 54g
[ ] Montane Featherlite Velo H20 Jacket 150g
[ ] Montane Atomic DT Pants 200g
[ ] Adventure Medical Kits SOL Emergency Bivvy 108g
Light 0,97kg
[ ] Fenix TK-60 D-Cell Flashlight (407g+140g+140g+140g+140g) 967g
Fire 0,014kg
[ ] BIC Lighter 14g
Survival Knives 0,257kg
[ ] Leatherman Charge ALX Black Multi Tool 235g
[ ] Fällkniven U-4 Wolf Tooth Folding Knife 22g
Pocket Survival Kit 0,17kg
[ ] BCB Combat Survival Kit 170g
Water 1,399kg
[ ] Klean Kanteen 1200ml (199g+1200g) 1399g
Food 0,668kg
[ ] Mainstay 2400 468g
[ ] 4 Honey Stinger Energy Bar (50g+50g+50g+50g) 200g
First Aid 0,202kg
[ ] BCB Lifesaver 1 First Aid Kit 202g
Navigation and Documents 0,222kg
[ ] City Map / Topographical Map 100g
[ ] Recta DP 6 Compass 55g
[ ] Sangean DT-120 Radio (56g+11,5g) 67,5g
[ ] Passport
[ ] Immunization Card
[ ] Medical Insurance Card
[ ] Cash
Bag 2: Rolling Bag 4,03kg
[ ] Maxpedition Rolling Carry-On Luggage 4030g
Change of Clothing
[ ] Base Layer
[ ] Underwear
[ ] Socks
[ ] Pants
[ ] Shirt
Sleeping 1,32kg
[ ] Haglöfs LIM 50 Sleeping Bag 460g
[ ] Exped Down Mat 7 860g
Hygiene
[ ] Tooth Brush
[ ] Tooth Paste
[ ] Dental Floss
[ ] Soap and Shampoo
[ ] Comb
[ ] Razor
[ ] Shaving Cream
[ ] Skin Care Lotion
[ ] Sun Block
[ ] Wet Wipes
[ ] Painkillers and Anti-Diarrheal Tablets
[ ] Travel Towel
[ ] Special Personal Needs; Medication, Extra Pair of Glasses etc.
Summary Setup 2
The second Setup is an example where the most critical Survival Equipment is carried in an Backpack while a secondary bags contains a change of clothing, a thin sleeping bag that can be used for low temperatures outside or indoors and an inflatable sleeping mattress that makes it relatively comfortable to sleep even on a hard and cold surface.
The Backpack contains some ultra light shell clothing that makes it easy to avoid getting wet if you have to walk outside in hard weather, a Powerful D-Cell Flashlight excellent for Search and Rescue or Signaling, a Multi Tool in combination with a very compact folding knife. The Rolling Bag could also be used to include other personal equipment like a Laptop, charger and other equipment that most people are likely to take with them if they would have to leave their home.
Conclusion
These setups are just examples intended to give you some inspiration when building your own kit, the kit YOU build must make sense for your personal setting, climate and situation. There are thousands of products on the market to choose from; find products that perform the tasks that you need them to perform and fit your budget. One Size Does Not Fit All. Own The Process.
Also see:
Building The Right Bug Out Bag For You
The Bug Out Plan
Get Home Bags (GHB)
Pocket Survival Kits
Every Day Carry (EDC)
Monday, July 4, 2011
The Bug In Plan
Having a Plan is a vital part of being prepared for Emergency and Survival Situations. Two main strategies dominate the survival strategies within the Prepper and Survivalist Movement: Bug In and Bug Out. Bugging In or Bug In refers to strategy of having the capacity to deal with disruptions in the society, survival or crisis situations in the Home. Bugging Out or Bug Out refers to the strategy of having the option to evacuate if a situation would call for this approach.
First of all: No Plan is likely to survive its first encounter with reality. A Bug In Plan can help you to deal with emergencies by providing useful information, procedures for how to deal with different types of problems and critical information like maps, phone numbers etc. This is a suggestion for a framework that you can use when you make your own plan, but this is not a one-size fits all solution for making a Bug In Plan. You may face several types of problems that are unique for your setting and situation. The Plan that you make must be made for you and by you. Own the Process.
Facing an Emergency
Natural Disasters or Man Made Disasters can result in situations when one’s life, health or property is at stake. A Disaster can cause severe problems for transportation, electricity, electronic communications, the access to gas, heating and other systems that most people rely on an everyday basis and take for granted. Most modern appliances like phones, computers, lights, heating, refrigeration, air condition and even water pumps can cease to function in this type of scenarios. Bugging In refers to the tactic of minimizing the impact that such an event may have for you. Many situations do not have to result in a life or death situation if you simply have a plan and the means to deal with them.
A disaster rarely disrupts all functions in a society even if this is a possibility. Functions are often brought back relatively fast after a disaster, power companies can often be able to make repairs relatively quick etc. But some natural disasters like the 2006 Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, The Haiti Earthquake and the recent Japanese Tsunami are event that have affected and will continue to affect entire regions for long periods of time. Disasters can also have a long lasting impact on local areas. In most crisis and survival situations life may completely or partly keep on going as normal – school, work and other activities may continue even if massive damage has been dealt to a community. The magnitude of disasters is not only total devastation or normality; therefore I suggest that you try to have a sliding scale approach in your Bug In Plan.
Normality
During your everyday life you can often get Early Warnings for potential disasters like hurricanes by following the news and your local weather prognosis. How much time you should spend on following the events around the world is a matter of personal preferences; you can just make a quick check every morning and having a weather application for your Smartphone or computer; or you can spend basically an unlimited amount of time checking multiple international, regional and local news media. Another potential important source of information is your local or national crisis management agency like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
[ ] Check the Weather Forecast and News Every Morning
Increased Preparedness
Some types of disasters like storms, Hurricanes and Blizzards may be foreseen before they actually take place. In these cases an Early Warning may be given by authorities or other sources that may allow for Preparations to be made. In these types of situations it is however very common that people ignore or downplay the threat; it’s hard for people to really perceive a hurricane as a threat if the warning is given several days before it hits when the sun is shining and the weather is great.
[ ] Follow the Development of the Situation
[ ] Make a timeline for what information that you have received, at what time and from what source.
[ ] Inform Friends and Family about the ongoing Situation
[ ] What you know about this type of Situation or Threat? Make some basic research to learn more about how this type of situation and what you can do to minimize the potential impact.
[ ] Check if there are any plans made by local, regional or national crisis management agencies for how to deal with this type of situation.
Alert
At some situations it can become clear that a situation will become a real problem and that it will affect you. In this case you should make all the preparations that you can to minimize the impact.
[ ] Continue to Follow the Development
[ ] Continue to make a timeline for the ongoing development
[ ] Check in with friends and family. How are they are planning to deal with the situation? Do they require any help or is there anything they can do to help you?
[ ] Make Preparations to minimize the potential Consequences
[ ] Check Supplies and your Inventory. Is there and field where you should increase your capability?
Bug In
A few types of scenarios may make it necessary to stay indoors in the Home. A catastrophic pandemic, massive civil unrest, a blizzard or a chemical or radioactive release may make require this approach for short or long periods of time. This represents the most extreme action required; most situations are not likely to require such drastic actions.
Part 1: The Risk Assessment
I suggest that as the first part of your Bug In Plan should be your Risk Assessment. A Risk Assessment is an attempt to find and classify Risks in a systematical manner by trying to judge the potential Consequences and how Likely a certain risk is.
This Assessment will give you an idea of potential threats that you may face, how likely they are and what consequences they might have. From this perspective you can start to action in order to minimize the potential impact of the Risks and acquire knowledge, skills and equipment that may allow you to cope with them in a better way. There are always Risks that may not be possible to foresee, but making an Assessment can help you to avoid some of the threats that you may face. Your setting will affect your vulnerability to these Risks; your type of housing, how high your Home is located above sea level, insulation etc. Dependencies on gas or district heating are other examples of factors that can make you vulnerable to certain types of Risks.
After you have made you’re Risk Assessment its time that you ask yourself what kind of capacity that you want to have in order to deal with different kind of emergencies or disasters. Some questions that can be relevant:
• How long do you think that you may have to be able to cope without external assistance?
• What kind of Skills and Knowledge may help you to overcome these events?
• What type of Equipment and Gear can be useful to deal with these threats?
• What kind of solutions is most effective for your specific setting and situation?
• How much of your time and income are you willing to invest in being prepared?
Part 2: The Group
In the second part of the Plan I suggest that you gather information about the members of your household, friends and other people that are important to you. This information can help you to get in contact with them and make you aware of potential medical needs they may have during an emergency or how you should contact if anything would happen to them.
• Home Phone Number and Fax Number
• Home Address and Type of Housing
• Mobile Phone Number
• E-mail Address
• Work Address and Occupation
• Work Phone Number
• Date of Birth
• Special Medical Needs
• Blood Group
• Immunizations
• Known allergies
• Physical Description; Length, Weight, Hair, Eyes etc, a photograph can also be useful.
• Skills and Education
• Access to Specific Equipment
• What type of driver licenses does the person have and what vehicles can they operate?
• How should you contact if anything would happen to them? Write down the name of the persons and contact information like Phone Number, E-mail and Address.
Part 3: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
How will you maintain your every day needs like Water, Food, Cooking, Trash Disposal, Hygiene and Sanitation, Light, Communications, Emergency Power during the types of Risks that you have identified? I suggest that you create Standard Operating Procedures, or in other words standardized solutions for how to deal with different types of needs. Here you can include predures for anything from where and how you can gather and purify water, how you will prepare food without electricity or gather information about an ongoing event.
Examples of SOP:s for a Bug In Plan
• Monitoring an ongoing Crisis
Create a Timeline: What has Happened? When Did You receive This Information? From what Source did you receive This Information? Multiple sources: The Media, Radio, TV, FEMA, Local Crisis Management Agencies etc.
• Communications with Friends and Family
Cell Phone, Social Networks, CB or HAM Radio, Landline etc
• CBRN Management and Preparedness
Closing Ventilation, Closing Doors and Windows. Using towels and or tape to seal cracks around doors or windows.
• Collecting and Purifying Water
Extra Water Containers, Water BOB, Water Purification Filter, Water Purification Tablets, How much bleach to use in order to disinfect water etc
• Emergency Toilets and Hygiene – Routines
Same people using the same toilets, where to put waste, hand sanitation, routines for how often to clean facilities etc.
• Loss of Electrical Power
Eat food that need refrigeration first, Light Sources, How to receive news (Battery powered radio or other alternative solutions) etc
• Fire Safety
Fire Escapes / Fire Drills / Evacuation, Fire Alarms, Where can extinguishers be founds etc
• Staying Warm
Heaters, Warm Clothing, Extra Blankets, Sleeping Bags etc
Part 4: Getting Home
Disasters may strike at any time; most people spend much of their time either at work, school or some other type of daytime activity. If disaster strikes and you are far away from home it can be good to make preparations that may help you to get back home. This Plan should not only be for you but also for other family members. If you have children, elderly or disabled members in the household how where will they be picked up and how can they be transported? I also suggest that you make some meeting points, one primary and one secondary.
Communications
Communications is another critical aspect. How would you communicate? Phones or Cell phones is normally the easiest way of communications since most people often carry their Cell Phones with them at all times. Social Networks, E-Mail, CB-Radio or Ham-Radio could be other alternatives forms of communication.
Get Home Bag
A Get Home Bag (GHB) is a tool designed to provide you with the tools you may need to deal with everyday problems, emergencies and situation when you have to make back home during a disaster. A Get Home Bag may be the bag that you carry with you at all times with some additional equipment to cope with an emergency or a specific bag that you keep at your work place on in your vehicle. Having a GHB can be a great resource, but in a worst case scenario you may have to make do with the items that you carry on your person; this is equipment is often referred to as and Every Day Carry (EDC).
Distance from Home
If you and your family members live close to your work place, school or other types of day activities getting everyone back home do not have to be a very complicated process. But if you work a long distance from Home, or possibly work in another area or town during the weeks this may be a more difficult process. How much efforts you must put into this type of preparedness depends on your own situation.
Transportation and The Routes Back Home
Getting back home during an ongoing Crisis Situation can be a very easy matter if you work very close to your home, but there are also people how commute long distances and may find them far away from home if disaster would strike. Your Every Day Life must govern your own plans and efforts. I suggest that you take the following steps when you make your plan for getting back home after an emergency.
• Start with marking potential routes on Maps from your work place back to you Home; using markers with different colors can make the routes easy to view and follow. Online tools like Google Maps can also be used to establish routes.
• Try to have both a Primary means of transportation like Vehicles available and a plan for a secondary means of transport like using public transports, bikes or walking.
• Add information about the Route. Where can you find potential shelters, access to water, gas stations, hospitals, hotels, motels, hostels, hazards, repair shops, do you have any stashes on the way etc.
• Try to identify Potential Choke Points like bridges, tunnels etc and potential ways around them.
• Identify key infrastructure on the routes that can possibly be affected by events. Bridges could possibly be damaged or collapse from an Earthquake and Tunnels or roads be flood by a dam break etc
Part 5: Budget
Having an Emergency is also a vital part of your Bug In Plan. A Disaster can cause direct economical los to your Home and other belongings; it may result in injury, destroy businesses and put people out of work. All these type of events require that you have some forms of emergency funds that can be used to cover expenses like rent, fuel, food, medical bills etc. Having the proper form of medical Insurances, Insurances for your Home that cover Natural Disasters etc may also be critical.
Reducing your Loans and Debt are also actions that give you a more solid financial situation if you have to deal with an emergency. This budget may also be of great use for other situations like a job loss, unexpected expenses or home repairs.
I also suggest that you try to keep a medium amount of cash at hand so that you can pay for your needs if you are dependent on a credit or debit card in case of black out. Make sure that you have a safe place to store your cash, other valuables and important documents to prevent theft or the loss of these from hazards like fire. A safe can be a good alternative if you can afford it, a Bank safety deposit box can be another alternative or complement.
Part 6: Inventory
Having an Inventory of your supplies makes it easy to know what you have available during a Crisis Situation and this can also help you to plan and organize your preparedness efforts. There are many ways of organizing your inventory; one way can be to organize it into different categories like:
[ ] Water and Food
[ ] Cooking
[ ] Warmth – Blankets, Sleeping Bags, Warm Clothing
[ ] Alternative form of Heating source: Wood Stove, Heat-Pal, Kerosene Heater, Candles,
[ ] Medical Supplies and First Aid
[ ] Light
[ ] Equipment to Start a Fire
[ ] Fire Safety
[ ] Cash, Important Documents, Family Photos etc
[ ] Tools
[ ] Equipment for Repairs
[ ] Emergency Sanitation and Hygiene
[ ] Energy – Generator, Extension Cords, Spare Parts and Fuel, Solar Chargers for batteries etc
For more suggestion on what kind of supplies that can be useful to have during an Emergency check out the article: Equipment for Your Home – Checklist.
Part 7: The Transportation and Logistics Plan
A Disaster can temporarily disrupt the access to fuel and other types of transportation so it can be vital to have a Plan for how to deal with your day to day transportation needs and if there would be a need to transport a wounded friend or family member to a hospital.
I suggest that you both have a Primary and Secondary means of transportations in your Bug In Plan, a primary mean can be vehicles or trucks; examples of secondary means can be motor cycles, bikes, walking or public transport. Also make sure that you know what types of public means of transport that is available in your area like subways, trains, buses, airports and make sure that you have phone numbers and contact information to these companies.
Vehicles
• Primary means of Transportation – Cars, Truck etc
• Secondary Means of Transportation – Public Transport, Bikes, Motorcycles, Walking etc
Fuel is one of the things that often becomes scares after a disaster and is used as fuel for vehicles, generators and heating. I suggest that you try to keep at least the equivalent of full tank of gas for your Vehicle Available. Fuel is flammable and must be stored safely; make sure to check your local recommendations and rules for storage. Fuel and Gasoline must also be rotated on a regular basis, since it deteriorates over time, even stabilizers can increase the shelf life of fuel. Diesel generally has a longer shelf life than gasoline and a lower flammability. Having some Spare Parts and Tools for Repairs available can also be a good idea.
Part 8: Appendix
In the appendix of the Plan you can gather important information like
• Map – City Maps, Road Map, Topographical Maps, Sea Charts etc.
• Telephone numbers and addresses to hospitals, your house doctor, Police Department, Fire Departments, CERT, The Red Cross, FEMA, local Non Governmental Organizations (NGO:s), The Red Cross, Insurance Companies, Power Companies, Gas Companies etc.
• Contact Information to Alternative Forms of transportation; Airports, Trains, Boats, Subways etc. Phone Numbers, Websites and Addresses to companies.
• Phone Numbers and Contact Information to friends, people at work, contacts etc. Write down information like phone numbers, e-mail address, birthday, home address and what they do for a living and if they have any specific type of skills.
• Articles, Books and other type of reference materials.
Specific Needs
Many people can have special needs like a Wheelchair for getting around, Glasses, Insulin for diabetes, Heart medication or hearing aids. Make sure that your plan Include this specific needs.
Also see:
Bug In - An Introduction
Risk Assessments
Equipment For Your Home – Checklist
Get Home Bags (GHB)
First of all: No Plan is likely to survive its first encounter with reality. A Bug In Plan can help you to deal with emergencies by providing useful information, procedures for how to deal with different types of problems and critical information like maps, phone numbers etc. This is a suggestion for a framework that you can use when you make your own plan, but this is not a one-size fits all solution for making a Bug In Plan. You may face several types of problems that are unique for your setting and situation. The Plan that you make must be made for you and by you. Own the Process.
Facing an Emergency
Natural Disasters or Man Made Disasters can result in situations when one’s life, health or property is at stake. A Disaster can cause severe problems for transportation, electricity, electronic communications, the access to gas, heating and other systems that most people rely on an everyday basis and take for granted. Most modern appliances like phones, computers, lights, heating, refrigeration, air condition and even water pumps can cease to function in this type of scenarios. Bugging In refers to the tactic of minimizing the impact that such an event may have for you. Many situations do not have to result in a life or death situation if you simply have a plan and the means to deal with them.
A disaster rarely disrupts all functions in a society even if this is a possibility. Functions are often brought back relatively fast after a disaster, power companies can often be able to make repairs relatively quick etc. But some natural disasters like the 2006 Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, The Haiti Earthquake and the recent Japanese Tsunami are event that have affected and will continue to affect entire regions for long periods of time. Disasters can also have a long lasting impact on local areas. In most crisis and survival situations life may completely or partly keep on going as normal – school, work and other activities may continue even if massive damage has been dealt to a community. The magnitude of disasters is not only total devastation or normality; therefore I suggest that you try to have a sliding scale approach in your Bug In Plan.
Normality
During your everyday life you can often get Early Warnings for potential disasters like hurricanes by following the news and your local weather prognosis. How much time you should spend on following the events around the world is a matter of personal preferences; you can just make a quick check every morning and having a weather application for your Smartphone or computer; or you can spend basically an unlimited amount of time checking multiple international, regional and local news media. Another potential important source of information is your local or national crisis management agency like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
[ ] Check the Weather Forecast and News Every Morning
Increased Preparedness
Some types of disasters like storms, Hurricanes and Blizzards may be foreseen before they actually take place. In these cases an Early Warning may be given by authorities or other sources that may allow for Preparations to be made. In these types of situations it is however very common that people ignore or downplay the threat; it’s hard for people to really perceive a hurricane as a threat if the warning is given several days before it hits when the sun is shining and the weather is great.
[ ] Follow the Development of the Situation
[ ] Make a timeline for what information that you have received, at what time and from what source.
[ ] Inform Friends and Family about the ongoing Situation
[ ] What you know about this type of Situation or Threat? Make some basic research to learn more about how this type of situation and what you can do to minimize the potential impact.
[ ] Check if there are any plans made by local, regional or national crisis management agencies for how to deal with this type of situation.
Alert
At some situations it can become clear that a situation will become a real problem and that it will affect you. In this case you should make all the preparations that you can to minimize the impact.
[ ] Continue to Follow the Development
[ ] Continue to make a timeline for the ongoing development
[ ] Check in with friends and family. How are they are planning to deal with the situation? Do they require any help or is there anything they can do to help you?
[ ] Make Preparations to minimize the potential Consequences
[ ] Check Supplies and your Inventory. Is there and field where you should increase your capability?
Bug In
A few types of scenarios may make it necessary to stay indoors in the Home. A catastrophic pandemic, massive civil unrest, a blizzard or a chemical or radioactive release may make require this approach for short or long periods of time. This represents the most extreme action required; most situations are not likely to require such drastic actions.
Part 1: The Risk Assessment
I suggest that as the first part of your Bug In Plan should be your Risk Assessment. A Risk Assessment is an attempt to find and classify Risks in a systematical manner by trying to judge the potential Consequences and how Likely a certain risk is.
This Assessment will give you an idea of potential threats that you may face, how likely they are and what consequences they might have. From this perspective you can start to action in order to minimize the potential impact of the Risks and acquire knowledge, skills and equipment that may allow you to cope with them in a better way. There are always Risks that may not be possible to foresee, but making an Assessment can help you to avoid some of the threats that you may face. Your setting will affect your vulnerability to these Risks; your type of housing, how high your Home is located above sea level, insulation etc. Dependencies on gas or district heating are other examples of factors that can make you vulnerable to certain types of Risks.
After you have made you’re Risk Assessment its time that you ask yourself what kind of capacity that you want to have in order to deal with different kind of emergencies or disasters. Some questions that can be relevant:
• How long do you think that you may have to be able to cope without external assistance?
• What kind of Skills and Knowledge may help you to overcome these events?
• What type of Equipment and Gear can be useful to deal with these threats?
• What kind of solutions is most effective for your specific setting and situation?
• How much of your time and income are you willing to invest in being prepared?
Part 2: The Group
In the second part of the Plan I suggest that you gather information about the members of your household, friends and other people that are important to you. This information can help you to get in contact with them and make you aware of potential medical needs they may have during an emergency or how you should contact if anything would happen to them.
• Home Phone Number and Fax Number
• Home Address and Type of Housing
• Mobile Phone Number
• E-mail Address
• Work Address and Occupation
• Work Phone Number
• Date of Birth
• Special Medical Needs
• Blood Group
• Immunizations
• Known allergies
• Physical Description; Length, Weight, Hair, Eyes etc, a photograph can also be useful.
• Skills and Education
• Access to Specific Equipment
• What type of driver licenses does the person have and what vehicles can they operate?
• How should you contact if anything would happen to them? Write down the name of the persons and contact information like Phone Number, E-mail and Address.
Part 3: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
How will you maintain your every day needs like Water, Food, Cooking, Trash Disposal, Hygiene and Sanitation, Light, Communications, Emergency Power during the types of Risks that you have identified? I suggest that you create Standard Operating Procedures, or in other words standardized solutions for how to deal with different types of needs. Here you can include predures for anything from where and how you can gather and purify water, how you will prepare food without electricity or gather information about an ongoing event.
Examples of SOP:s for a Bug In Plan
• Monitoring an ongoing Crisis
Create a Timeline: What has Happened? When Did You receive This Information? From what Source did you receive This Information? Multiple sources: The Media, Radio, TV, FEMA, Local Crisis Management Agencies etc.
• Communications with Friends and Family
Cell Phone, Social Networks, CB or HAM Radio, Landline etc
• CBRN Management and Preparedness
Closing Ventilation, Closing Doors and Windows. Using towels and or tape to seal cracks around doors or windows.
• Collecting and Purifying Water
Extra Water Containers, Water BOB, Water Purification Filter, Water Purification Tablets, How much bleach to use in order to disinfect water etc
• Emergency Toilets and Hygiene – Routines
Same people using the same toilets, where to put waste, hand sanitation, routines for how often to clean facilities etc.
• Loss of Electrical Power
Eat food that need refrigeration first, Light Sources, How to receive news (Battery powered radio or other alternative solutions) etc
• Fire Safety
Fire Escapes / Fire Drills / Evacuation, Fire Alarms, Where can extinguishers be founds etc
• Staying Warm
Heaters, Warm Clothing, Extra Blankets, Sleeping Bags etc
Part 4: Getting Home
Disasters may strike at any time; most people spend much of their time either at work, school or some other type of daytime activity. If disaster strikes and you are far away from home it can be good to make preparations that may help you to get back home. This Plan should not only be for you but also for other family members. If you have children, elderly or disabled members in the household how where will they be picked up and how can they be transported? I also suggest that you make some meeting points, one primary and one secondary.
Communications
Communications is another critical aspect. How would you communicate? Phones or Cell phones is normally the easiest way of communications since most people often carry their Cell Phones with them at all times. Social Networks, E-Mail, CB-Radio or Ham-Radio could be other alternatives forms of communication.
Get Home Bag
A Get Home Bag (GHB) is a tool designed to provide you with the tools you may need to deal with everyday problems, emergencies and situation when you have to make back home during a disaster. A Get Home Bag may be the bag that you carry with you at all times with some additional equipment to cope with an emergency or a specific bag that you keep at your work place on in your vehicle. Having a GHB can be a great resource, but in a worst case scenario you may have to make do with the items that you carry on your person; this is equipment is often referred to as and Every Day Carry (EDC).
Distance from Home
If you and your family members live close to your work place, school or other types of day activities getting everyone back home do not have to be a very complicated process. But if you work a long distance from Home, or possibly work in another area or town during the weeks this may be a more difficult process. How much efforts you must put into this type of preparedness depends on your own situation.
Transportation and The Routes Back Home
Getting back home during an ongoing Crisis Situation can be a very easy matter if you work very close to your home, but there are also people how commute long distances and may find them far away from home if disaster would strike. Your Every Day Life must govern your own plans and efforts. I suggest that you take the following steps when you make your plan for getting back home after an emergency.
• Start with marking potential routes on Maps from your work place back to you Home; using markers with different colors can make the routes easy to view and follow. Online tools like Google Maps can also be used to establish routes.
• Try to have both a Primary means of transportation like Vehicles available and a plan for a secondary means of transport like using public transports, bikes or walking.
• Add information about the Route. Where can you find potential shelters, access to water, gas stations, hospitals, hotels, motels, hostels, hazards, repair shops, do you have any stashes on the way etc.
• Try to identify Potential Choke Points like bridges, tunnels etc and potential ways around them.
• Identify key infrastructure on the routes that can possibly be affected by events. Bridges could possibly be damaged or collapse from an Earthquake and Tunnels or roads be flood by a dam break etc
Part 5: Budget
Having an Emergency is also a vital part of your Bug In Plan. A Disaster can cause direct economical los to your Home and other belongings; it may result in injury, destroy businesses and put people out of work. All these type of events require that you have some forms of emergency funds that can be used to cover expenses like rent, fuel, food, medical bills etc. Having the proper form of medical Insurances, Insurances for your Home that cover Natural Disasters etc may also be critical.
Reducing your Loans and Debt are also actions that give you a more solid financial situation if you have to deal with an emergency. This budget may also be of great use for other situations like a job loss, unexpected expenses or home repairs.
I also suggest that you try to keep a medium amount of cash at hand so that you can pay for your needs if you are dependent on a credit or debit card in case of black out. Make sure that you have a safe place to store your cash, other valuables and important documents to prevent theft or the loss of these from hazards like fire. A safe can be a good alternative if you can afford it, a Bank safety deposit box can be another alternative or complement.
Part 6: Inventory
Having an Inventory of your supplies makes it easy to know what you have available during a Crisis Situation and this can also help you to plan and organize your preparedness efforts. There are many ways of organizing your inventory; one way can be to organize it into different categories like:
[ ] Water and Food
[ ] Cooking
[ ] Warmth – Blankets, Sleeping Bags, Warm Clothing
[ ] Alternative form of Heating source: Wood Stove, Heat-Pal, Kerosene Heater, Candles,
[ ] Medical Supplies and First Aid
[ ] Light
[ ] Equipment to Start a Fire
[ ] Fire Safety
[ ] Cash, Important Documents, Family Photos etc
[ ] Tools
[ ] Equipment for Repairs
[ ] Emergency Sanitation and Hygiene
[ ] Energy – Generator, Extension Cords, Spare Parts and Fuel, Solar Chargers for batteries etc
For more suggestion on what kind of supplies that can be useful to have during an Emergency check out the article: Equipment for Your Home – Checklist.
Part 7: The Transportation and Logistics Plan
A Disaster can temporarily disrupt the access to fuel and other types of transportation so it can be vital to have a Plan for how to deal with your day to day transportation needs and if there would be a need to transport a wounded friend or family member to a hospital.
I suggest that you both have a Primary and Secondary means of transportations in your Bug In Plan, a primary mean can be vehicles or trucks; examples of secondary means can be motor cycles, bikes, walking or public transport. Also make sure that you know what types of public means of transport that is available in your area like subways, trains, buses, airports and make sure that you have phone numbers and contact information to these companies.
Vehicles
• Primary means of Transportation – Cars, Truck etc
• Secondary Means of Transportation – Public Transport, Bikes, Motorcycles, Walking etc
Fuel is one of the things that often becomes scares after a disaster and is used as fuel for vehicles, generators and heating. I suggest that you try to keep at least the equivalent of full tank of gas for your Vehicle Available. Fuel is flammable and must be stored safely; make sure to check your local recommendations and rules for storage. Fuel and Gasoline must also be rotated on a regular basis, since it deteriorates over time, even stabilizers can increase the shelf life of fuel. Diesel generally has a longer shelf life than gasoline and a lower flammability. Having some Spare Parts and Tools for Repairs available can also be a good idea.
Part 8: Appendix
In the appendix of the Plan you can gather important information like
• Map – City Maps, Road Map, Topographical Maps, Sea Charts etc.
• Telephone numbers and addresses to hospitals, your house doctor, Police Department, Fire Departments, CERT, The Red Cross, FEMA, local Non Governmental Organizations (NGO:s), The Red Cross, Insurance Companies, Power Companies, Gas Companies etc.
• Contact Information to Alternative Forms of transportation; Airports, Trains, Boats, Subways etc. Phone Numbers, Websites and Addresses to companies.
• Phone Numbers and Contact Information to friends, people at work, contacts etc. Write down information like phone numbers, e-mail address, birthday, home address and what they do for a living and if they have any specific type of skills.
• Articles, Books and other type of reference materials.
Specific Needs
Many people can have special needs like a Wheelchair for getting around, Glasses, Insulin for diabetes, Heart medication or hearing aids. Make sure that your plan Include this specific needs.
Also see:
Bug In - An Introduction
Risk Assessments
Equipment For Your Home – Checklist
Get Home Bags (GHB)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Eleven Tips for Survival and Crisis Preparedness
There are many Top 10 lists on various blogs and forums concerning how one does best prepare for Emergencies and Survival Situations so here is another list from Sibi Totique and The Free Online Survival Guide with an Additional Tip.
1.) Review Your Own Situation
Many discuss Survival and Crisis Preparedness without taking the situation of those how are trying to prepare for an Emergency into consideration. Every person has specific limitations and possibilities that preparedness efforts must be adjusted to.
• What Kind Of Climate Do You Live In?
• What Are The Risks You Face in Your Everyday Life?
• What Kind of Terrain Do You Live In?
• Do You Live In a House Or Apartment?
• Do you live in a Urban, Suburban or Rural Setting?
• How much Time and Money do you want to put into Preparedness?
You can also make a more comprehensive analysis by your own situation by making a Risk Assessment.
2.) Health and Physical Fitness
In many countries overweight, diabetes and cardiac disease are major problems. Having good health and good physical fitness is not only a resource that may mean the difference between life and death in a survival situation – most importantly it will improve your quality of life, reduce stress and may prevent disease or illness.
3.) Emergency Budget and Financial Stability
Every person has a specific economic situation. Finding a balance between your income and expenses is an important part of Crisis Preparedness. Natural Disasters can result in economic loses but also every day events like job losses, accidents or a fire can be devastating without proper insurance and some extra funds available. I suggest that you approach this subject from multiple perspectives
• Try to cut down on Expenses
• Start to make Savings every month, even small savings is better than no savings at all
• Keep learning more about your Jo/ Carrier or find an alternative form of income
• Make sure that you are properly Insured
4.) Skills and Experience
In a real survival situation the skills and experience that you have is you’re most important tool to deal with a situation. Having theoretical knowledge about a subject is good, but actually knowing how to put this knowledge into practice is even more important.
5.) Enhance Your Everyday Security
Most threats that people face are not extraordinary situation like natural disasters and man-made disasters. These disasters often get the most attention in the Media but are not necessarily the threats that actually cause the most harm. Threats like fire in buildings, traffic accidents, falling in the bathtub and unsafe electrical appliances are examples of threats that people face every day. Examples of steps to reduce this type of threats:
• Get Fire Alarms for Every Floor Of Your Home
• Get a Fire Extinguisher and Learn How To Use It
• Always wear a seatbelt and take it easy while in traffic
• If you ride a bike get a Helmet
• Systematically try to reduce threats in your everyday environment.
Being ready for major threats is important – But don’t forget about the little ones that may not be as interesting as the big ones.
6.) Every Day Carry
Emergencies and Survival Situations often happens when we expects it the least. Having some basic items on your person can help you to deal with this type of events. Examples of Items that can be useful:
• A Cell Phone
• Some Cash and a Credit card
• A wrist Watch
• Compact Flashlight or other Light Source.
• A Folding Knife, Swiss Army Knife or Multi-Tool, remember to follow your own legal restrictions.
• A Pocket Survival Kit
7.) CPR and First Aid
There are many emergencies that can result in bodily harm. Having the knowledge and skills to handle this type of situations can mean the difference between life and death for you, your family or family. First Aid and CPR are skills that have to be practiced with regular intervals if you will be able to use them effectively. The Red Cross and Other Organizations often offer this type of course for free or for a small fee.
8.) Water and Food Storage
In today’s society is fairly seldom that we see events that result in a disruption in the access to food or water, many people just have food for one or couple of days in their home and most supermarkets receive their supplies on a just in time basis. When situations occur that disrupts the access to food and water this can often result in big problems for people living in a community, this can often be the case after natural disasters like Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Hurricanes or Ice Storms. Having some basic Food Supplies that can be stored in Room Temperature, Some Water Stored and some means of Water Purification can save a family allot of trouble during an Emergency.
9.) Basic Equipment for Your Home
Many people may lack any form of equipment that may be useful during an emergency. A First Aid Kit, some Basic Medications, a simple flashlight, some means to start a Fire, a small camping stove to Prepare Food and a battery powered Radio so that you can receive messages from Government Agencies may save you allot of trouble if you would ever need it. I suggest that you try to get some basic supplies and items to cover the most important fields and then expand gradually. You do not have to have multiple high quality products for each fields, a few basic items will do in most situations. Crisis Preparedness does not have to be very expensive.
10.) Get Home Bag (GHB) or Bug Out Bag (BOB)
Your Everyday Carry provides some basic tools that you can have on an Everyday Basis but some people may feel that they want more comprehensive solutions for an Emergency or Evacuation Scenario. For this people a Get Home Bag or Bug Out Bag may be an interesting alternative. Exactly what type of kit that you should put together must be based on your own situation and needs.
11.) Own the Process
You have just read ten shorts tips for anyone how is looking to become more prepared for an Emergency. This tips may be useful for some readers, other readers may already have a capacity that far exceeds the steps suggested.
The Blogs is intended to give the readers inspiration and advice so that you can find individual solutions that fits you, it is not a One Size Fits All Blueprint for every situation and person. The most critical aspect of the process is that you reach the point when you feel that what you are doing is based on your individual needs, your own assessment and your own situation. Always get second opinions and more than one take on different subjects. Forums like the Survivalist Boards can be a good source for information and feedback on ideas concerning Survival and Crisis Preparedness. For more suggestion about where you can find additional information check out the article Survival Related Blogs and Webpages.
1.) Review Your Own Situation
Many discuss Survival and Crisis Preparedness without taking the situation of those how are trying to prepare for an Emergency into consideration. Every person has specific limitations and possibilities that preparedness efforts must be adjusted to.
• What Kind Of Climate Do You Live In?
• What Are The Risks You Face in Your Everyday Life?
• What Kind of Terrain Do You Live In?
• Do You Live In a House Or Apartment?
• Do you live in a Urban, Suburban or Rural Setting?
• How much Time and Money do you want to put into Preparedness?
You can also make a more comprehensive analysis by your own situation by making a Risk Assessment.
2.) Health and Physical Fitness
In many countries overweight, diabetes and cardiac disease are major problems. Having good health and good physical fitness is not only a resource that may mean the difference between life and death in a survival situation – most importantly it will improve your quality of life, reduce stress and may prevent disease or illness.
3.) Emergency Budget and Financial Stability
Every person has a specific economic situation. Finding a balance between your income and expenses is an important part of Crisis Preparedness. Natural Disasters can result in economic loses but also every day events like job losses, accidents or a fire can be devastating without proper insurance and some extra funds available. I suggest that you approach this subject from multiple perspectives
• Try to cut down on Expenses
• Start to make Savings every month, even small savings is better than no savings at all
• Keep learning more about your Jo/ Carrier or find an alternative form of income
• Make sure that you are properly Insured
4.) Skills and Experience
In a real survival situation the skills and experience that you have is you’re most important tool to deal with a situation. Having theoretical knowledge about a subject is good, but actually knowing how to put this knowledge into practice is even more important.
5.) Enhance Your Everyday Security
Most threats that people face are not extraordinary situation like natural disasters and man-made disasters. These disasters often get the most attention in the Media but are not necessarily the threats that actually cause the most harm. Threats like fire in buildings, traffic accidents, falling in the bathtub and unsafe electrical appliances are examples of threats that people face every day. Examples of steps to reduce this type of threats:
• Get Fire Alarms for Every Floor Of Your Home
• Get a Fire Extinguisher and Learn How To Use It
• Always wear a seatbelt and take it easy while in traffic
• If you ride a bike get a Helmet
• Systematically try to reduce threats in your everyday environment.
Being ready for major threats is important – But don’t forget about the little ones that may not be as interesting as the big ones.
6.) Every Day Carry
Emergencies and Survival Situations often happens when we expects it the least. Having some basic items on your person can help you to deal with this type of events. Examples of Items that can be useful:
• A Cell Phone
• Some Cash and a Credit card
• A wrist Watch
• Compact Flashlight or other Light Source.
• A Folding Knife, Swiss Army Knife or Multi-Tool, remember to follow your own legal restrictions.
• A Pocket Survival Kit
7.) CPR and First Aid
There are many emergencies that can result in bodily harm. Having the knowledge and skills to handle this type of situations can mean the difference between life and death for you, your family or family. First Aid and CPR are skills that have to be practiced with regular intervals if you will be able to use them effectively. The Red Cross and Other Organizations often offer this type of course for free or for a small fee.
8.) Water and Food Storage
In today’s society is fairly seldom that we see events that result in a disruption in the access to food or water, many people just have food for one or couple of days in their home and most supermarkets receive their supplies on a just in time basis. When situations occur that disrupts the access to food and water this can often result in big problems for people living in a community, this can often be the case after natural disasters like Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Hurricanes or Ice Storms. Having some basic Food Supplies that can be stored in Room Temperature, Some Water Stored and some means of Water Purification can save a family allot of trouble during an Emergency.
9.) Basic Equipment for Your Home
Many people may lack any form of equipment that may be useful during an emergency. A First Aid Kit, some Basic Medications, a simple flashlight, some means to start a Fire, a small camping stove to Prepare Food and a battery powered Radio so that you can receive messages from Government Agencies may save you allot of trouble if you would ever need it. I suggest that you try to get some basic supplies and items to cover the most important fields and then expand gradually. You do not have to have multiple high quality products for each fields, a few basic items will do in most situations. Crisis Preparedness does not have to be very expensive.
10.) Get Home Bag (GHB) or Bug Out Bag (BOB)
Your Everyday Carry provides some basic tools that you can have on an Everyday Basis but some people may feel that they want more comprehensive solutions for an Emergency or Evacuation Scenario. For this people a Get Home Bag or Bug Out Bag may be an interesting alternative. Exactly what type of kit that you should put together must be based on your own situation and needs.
11.) Own the Process
You have just read ten shorts tips for anyone how is looking to become more prepared for an Emergency. This tips may be useful for some readers, other readers may already have a capacity that far exceeds the steps suggested.
The Blogs is intended to give the readers inspiration and advice so that you can find individual solutions that fits you, it is not a One Size Fits All Blueprint for every situation and person. The most critical aspect of the process is that you reach the point when you feel that what you are doing is based on your individual needs, your own assessment and your own situation. Always get second opinions and more than one take on different subjects. Forums like the Survivalist Boards can be a good source for information and feedback on ideas concerning Survival and Crisis Preparedness. For more suggestion about where you can find additional information check out the article Survival Related Blogs and Webpages.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Natural Disasters - Hurricanes
There are many names for tropical costal storms. In the US they are known as Hurricanes, in other places as Typhoons, Tropical Depressions and Cyclones. These are all the same name for the same event, but the name varies between different regions. A Hurricane is a powerful storm that starts in the Tropics and may the travel from where they gain there in energy in form of heat. Hurricanes contain an incredible amount of energy. A hurricane can generate 100-400 times more energy than the worldwide production of electricity. This energy is comparable to the energy released from small nuclear weapons. This gives Hurricanes a capacity to inflict an enormous amount of damage.
A Hurricane gathers energy from the warmth of the ocean water and can continue to gather energy until it reaches a coastline. When a Hurricane reaches a coastline it can no longer draw energy from the warm water of the ocean and will lose its momentum and energy. Its however possible to travel over land and then travel over an area of sea and start to regain its force once again. Hurricanes are most frequent from July to October in the North Atlantic but have occurred from May to December as well, this is from the need of warm water in the ocean from witch a Hurricane can draw its energy.
A Hurricane rotates around the center of storm which is normally referred to as the Eye. When the strong Hurricane winds rotate the build up a mass of water in the center of the storm that can reach a height of several meters, when the hurricane hits a coastal area it’s not a normal wave but a enormous mountain of water in addition to high waves that can flood large areas. The wind and water from the Hurricane can cause massive damage to housing, infrastructure and communications; it can take a region several years to rebuild the damaged infrastructure. A hurricane can destroy businesses, workplaces and lead to severe economical consequences in addition to direct loses for individuals in form of housing and other belongings. The Strength of Hurricanes is often measured in the Saffir-Simpson Scale ranging from 1-5 where 1 is a relatively weak hurricane and 5 represents and catastrophic hurricane.
Timeline
1780 The Hurricane San Calixto killed around 20.000-24.000 people in the Caribbean.
1900 the low lying community Galveston in Texas was hit by a Category 4 Hurricane that destroyed most of the wood and brick buildings in the community. Many escaped but for those how where 6000 among those how where unable leave died in the disaster. After the disaster the community was isolated when the bridges to the main land were destroyed and there was little access to water, food and medical supplies.
1969 over 70cm of rainfall during less than eight hours from Hurricane Camille caused mudflows that killed 150 people and destroyed over a hundred homes, farmland and infrastructure in Virginia.
1970 The Bhola Cyclone hit Bangladesh, flooding much of the country killing somewhere between 300.000-700.000 people. This is one the deadliest natural disasters in modern time. The Cyclone also caused massive damage to infrastructure destroying almost half a million homes.
1982 The Hurricane Iwa hits the Hawaiian Island Kauai causing widespread damage and killing one person.
1989 April 12th the Hurricane Hugo killed somewhere between 50-60 people and destroyed around 100.000 homes and resulting in billions of dollars worth of damage.
1991 A massive Cyclone hit Bangladesh killing 130.000-150.000 people and leaving up to 10 million people homeless.
1992 The Category 4 Hurricane Andrew destroyed 30.000 homes and damaged a 100.000 more. In Dade County the hurricane destroyed almost all of the 10.000 mobile homes in area and caused around 25-30 billion dollar worth of damage in total.
1992 Hurricane Iniki hit the Hawaiian Island of Kauai devastating the local economy and killing two.
1997 Hurricane Pauline released an massive amount of rain over Acapulco resulting in debris flows and flood that killed 230 People.
1998 Hurricane Mitch brings massive damage to Central America, The Caribbean and Southern Florida killing 11.000 people, causing massive damage to housing, infrastructure and communications.
1999 The Category 5 Cyclone Orissa hit India killing around 10.000 and leaving several millions homeless.
2005 Hurricane Katrina killed over 1800 people and leaving several hundred still missing. A large area was affected but the most devastation took place in New Orleans where the barriers protecting the city failed resulting a severe flooding of the city. Many towns at the coastline in Missisippi also suffered massive damage to housing and infrastructure. Around 2 million people were displaced and many have been unable to return to their homes even today.
Early Warning
With modern satellites it’s possible to see how hurricanes form and how they progress. This means that it’s possible to issue early warning when hurricanes form so that people may get out of the destructive path of the storm. This is however a complicated process for several reasons. One reason is that it is hard to predict exactly how much energy a hurricane will gather when travels over the sea and how much energy it will have when it hits a coastal line. The other major problem is that it is hard to predict exactly where a hurricane will hit and predict its exact path. These two factors mean that there will always be some uncertainty both when it comes to the exact strength a hurricane will have and when or where it will hit. It may be weaker or stronger than anticipated and may change direction and hit an area that was not predicted.
Survival and Preparedness
Insurance and Emergency Budget
A Hurricane can easily destroy house, infrastructure, vehicles, businesses, farmland and many more economical and personal values. I suggest that you try to reduce your vulnerability by reviewing the setting of your home and the strength of structure – what can be done to minimize the impact if the worst would happen and how what are the likely consequences for you? If you have comprehensive food storage and other preparations for disasters they may prove to be of little use if your house will be flooded during a worst case scenario – your setting is very important.
The other step is to make sure that you have the proper Insurance so in order to minimize the economical consequences if your home would be affected. Some personal belongings and values may never be replaced but this can help to minimize the impact of such an event. During large scale hurricanes it’s common that insurance companies can go bankrupt so getting coverage may still be a hard and long process. Having an Emergency Budget may also prove to be crucial in this types of events; a hurricane can destroy businesses and livelihoods leaving individuals with no or little income. Even if property is insured it may take a long time before you see any compensation and you may have to make until then so having savings may become very important.
Setting
If you live in an area that may be affected by hurricanes your setting is one of the most critical aspects of preparedness. Having a house close to the shoreline is a setting with a beautiful view but can be devastating if a hurricane hits. Remember that a hurricane can bring a mountain of water several meters high that can flood large areas, having a house on the low lands can be devastating if a hurricane hits. Some areas may be located under sea level and protected by barriers, these areas are especially vulnerable if a hurricane breaches these barriers. The indirect effect of enormous rainfall can also cause landslides in regions located a quite long distance from the coast. Areas like canyons and hills with loose soils are especially vulnerable.
The other important aspect of your setting is the building that you live in. Hurricane winds can cause massive damage to structures. Light structures and especially mobile homes are very vulnerable and a hurricane can cause almost total damage if areas with these types of housing are affected. Roofs is one of the most crucial parts of a structure, if hurricane winds can tear a roof from a building the rest of structures will be severely weekend and vulnerable to winds. You may find some advice for guidelines in your local building codes.
Evacuation
Evacuating a large city or region is a complicated process. To evacuate an entire community normally takes from 30-72 hours. Normally the most vulnerable are those that are old, disabled or those how lack the access to vehicles or resources to get out of the area on their own. During large scale evacuations its common the highways get stuck with heavy traffic and that the progress of the traffic can be very slow. In 1999 a massive gridlock occurred when a hurricane warning was given in North Carolina, the hurricane did not however hit the area, but changed direction and hit North Carolina instead. Had the Hurricane hit North Carolina many could have been killed trying to escape.
Your Vehicles is one of the most critical aspects during an evacuation. Regularly check your tiers, check your breaks and maintain your vehicle in order to make sure that it will work properly if you would need it. Also try to
• Keep your tank as full as possible
• Store some extra Gasoline in cans
• Keep Bug Out Bags and the most Important belonging easy accessible
• Stay Updated
• Find the plan for Hurricane Evacuation from your local agencies.
• Make a Plan for Your Family
• Make a review of your situation before the beginning of every Hurricane Season
Gas Stations can easily be overwhelmed during evacuations if everyone tries to get access to gas at the same time, try to keep your vehicles tank as full as possible at all times and store some extra gasoline in metal containers in your home if possible. Gas can’t be stored for an unlimited period of time so make sure that you rotate it regularly. For advice concerning equipping vehicles for emergencies see the article Travelling With Vehicles During Crisis and Survival Situations.
Home Preparedness
A hurricane can also cause indirect consequences for people how are not directly affected by damaging infrastructure and communication. You find yourself without electricity and running water for and its common that supermarkets sells out their stock of supplies, water and generator quickly if a hurricane is about to hit. A hurricane can also result in other dangers like the spread of disease.
Having a basic food storage, the ability to prepare food, water, the means of sterilizing or filter water, light, medical supplies, emergency sanitation and a generator can spare you much trouble in such a scenario. For more suggestions on Home Preparedness see the articles Get The Ability To Cope With A Crisis and Equipment For Your Home – Checklist.
Analysis
The less resources people have the harder they are generally hit by all types of natural disasters. This is a result from multiple factors like the ability to construct strong buildings, that poor people often live in most vulnerable areas, they may lack the resources to evacuate and the resources to cope with the disaster. In rich countries its relatively few people that die in hurricanes compared to the situation in poor countries with a high population density like Bangladesh. The economical loses in rich countries tend to be very high even if the number of dead often is quite low in compared to countries with less resources. Hurricanes also present an increasing challenge from both the urbanization process that concentrate more and more people into cities and the continuing increase in world population. Today around half of the world population lives in coastal areas. Hurricanes present a large threat to the people living in areas that may be affected by hurricanes and it’s important to plan and prepare for this type of scenario if you may be affected.
A Hurricane gathers energy from the warmth of the ocean water and can continue to gather energy until it reaches a coastline. When a Hurricane reaches a coastline it can no longer draw energy from the warm water of the ocean and will lose its momentum and energy. Its however possible to travel over land and then travel over an area of sea and start to regain its force once again. Hurricanes are most frequent from July to October in the North Atlantic but have occurred from May to December as well, this is from the need of warm water in the ocean from witch a Hurricane can draw its energy.
A Hurricane rotates around the center of storm which is normally referred to as the Eye. When the strong Hurricane winds rotate the build up a mass of water in the center of the storm that can reach a height of several meters, when the hurricane hits a coastal area it’s not a normal wave but a enormous mountain of water in addition to high waves that can flood large areas. The wind and water from the Hurricane can cause massive damage to housing, infrastructure and communications; it can take a region several years to rebuild the damaged infrastructure. A hurricane can destroy businesses, workplaces and lead to severe economical consequences in addition to direct loses for individuals in form of housing and other belongings. The Strength of Hurricanes is often measured in the Saffir-Simpson Scale ranging from 1-5 where 1 is a relatively weak hurricane and 5 represents and catastrophic hurricane.
Timeline
1780 The Hurricane San Calixto killed around 20.000-24.000 people in the Caribbean.
1900 the low lying community Galveston in Texas was hit by a Category 4 Hurricane that destroyed most of the wood and brick buildings in the community. Many escaped but for those how where 6000 among those how where unable leave died in the disaster. After the disaster the community was isolated when the bridges to the main land were destroyed and there was little access to water, food and medical supplies.
1969 over 70cm of rainfall during less than eight hours from Hurricane Camille caused mudflows that killed 150 people and destroyed over a hundred homes, farmland and infrastructure in Virginia.
1970 The Bhola Cyclone hit Bangladesh, flooding much of the country killing somewhere between 300.000-700.000 people. This is one the deadliest natural disasters in modern time. The Cyclone also caused massive damage to infrastructure destroying almost half a million homes.
1982 The Hurricane Iwa hits the Hawaiian Island Kauai causing widespread damage and killing one person.
1989 April 12th the Hurricane Hugo killed somewhere between 50-60 people and destroyed around 100.000 homes and resulting in billions of dollars worth of damage.
1991 A massive Cyclone hit Bangladesh killing 130.000-150.000 people and leaving up to 10 million people homeless.
1992 The Category 4 Hurricane Andrew destroyed 30.000 homes and damaged a 100.000 more. In Dade County the hurricane destroyed almost all of the 10.000 mobile homes in area and caused around 25-30 billion dollar worth of damage in total.
1992 Hurricane Iniki hit the Hawaiian Island of Kauai devastating the local economy and killing two.
1997 Hurricane Pauline released an massive amount of rain over Acapulco resulting in debris flows and flood that killed 230 People.
1998 Hurricane Mitch brings massive damage to Central America, The Caribbean and Southern Florida killing 11.000 people, causing massive damage to housing, infrastructure and communications.
1999 The Category 5 Cyclone Orissa hit India killing around 10.000 and leaving several millions homeless.
2005 Hurricane Katrina killed over 1800 people and leaving several hundred still missing. A large area was affected but the most devastation took place in New Orleans where the barriers protecting the city failed resulting a severe flooding of the city. Many towns at the coastline in Missisippi also suffered massive damage to housing and infrastructure. Around 2 million people were displaced and many have been unable to return to their homes even today.
Early Warning
With modern satellites it’s possible to see how hurricanes form and how they progress. This means that it’s possible to issue early warning when hurricanes form so that people may get out of the destructive path of the storm. This is however a complicated process for several reasons. One reason is that it is hard to predict exactly how much energy a hurricane will gather when travels over the sea and how much energy it will have when it hits a coastal line. The other major problem is that it is hard to predict exactly where a hurricane will hit and predict its exact path. These two factors mean that there will always be some uncertainty both when it comes to the exact strength a hurricane will have and when or where it will hit. It may be weaker or stronger than anticipated and may change direction and hit an area that was not predicted.
Survival and Preparedness
Insurance and Emergency Budget
A Hurricane can easily destroy house, infrastructure, vehicles, businesses, farmland and many more economical and personal values. I suggest that you try to reduce your vulnerability by reviewing the setting of your home and the strength of structure – what can be done to minimize the impact if the worst would happen and how what are the likely consequences for you? If you have comprehensive food storage and other preparations for disasters they may prove to be of little use if your house will be flooded during a worst case scenario – your setting is very important.
The other step is to make sure that you have the proper Insurance so in order to minimize the economical consequences if your home would be affected. Some personal belongings and values may never be replaced but this can help to minimize the impact of such an event. During large scale hurricanes it’s common that insurance companies can go bankrupt so getting coverage may still be a hard and long process. Having an Emergency Budget may also prove to be crucial in this types of events; a hurricane can destroy businesses and livelihoods leaving individuals with no or little income. Even if property is insured it may take a long time before you see any compensation and you may have to make until then so having savings may become very important.
Setting
If you live in an area that may be affected by hurricanes your setting is one of the most critical aspects of preparedness. Having a house close to the shoreline is a setting with a beautiful view but can be devastating if a hurricane hits. Remember that a hurricane can bring a mountain of water several meters high that can flood large areas, having a house on the low lands can be devastating if a hurricane hits. Some areas may be located under sea level and protected by barriers, these areas are especially vulnerable if a hurricane breaches these barriers. The indirect effect of enormous rainfall can also cause landslides in regions located a quite long distance from the coast. Areas like canyons and hills with loose soils are especially vulnerable.
The other important aspect of your setting is the building that you live in. Hurricane winds can cause massive damage to structures. Light structures and especially mobile homes are very vulnerable and a hurricane can cause almost total damage if areas with these types of housing are affected. Roofs is one of the most crucial parts of a structure, if hurricane winds can tear a roof from a building the rest of structures will be severely weekend and vulnerable to winds. You may find some advice for guidelines in your local building codes.
Evacuation
Evacuating a large city or region is a complicated process. To evacuate an entire community normally takes from 30-72 hours. Normally the most vulnerable are those that are old, disabled or those how lack the access to vehicles or resources to get out of the area on their own. During large scale evacuations its common the highways get stuck with heavy traffic and that the progress of the traffic can be very slow. In 1999 a massive gridlock occurred when a hurricane warning was given in North Carolina, the hurricane did not however hit the area, but changed direction and hit North Carolina instead. Had the Hurricane hit North Carolina many could have been killed trying to escape.
Your Vehicles is one of the most critical aspects during an evacuation. Regularly check your tiers, check your breaks and maintain your vehicle in order to make sure that it will work properly if you would need it. Also try to
• Keep your tank as full as possible
• Store some extra Gasoline in cans
• Keep Bug Out Bags and the most Important belonging easy accessible
• Stay Updated
• Find the plan for Hurricane Evacuation from your local agencies.
• Make a Plan for Your Family
• Make a review of your situation before the beginning of every Hurricane Season
Gas Stations can easily be overwhelmed during evacuations if everyone tries to get access to gas at the same time, try to keep your vehicles tank as full as possible at all times and store some extra gasoline in metal containers in your home if possible. Gas can’t be stored for an unlimited period of time so make sure that you rotate it regularly. For advice concerning equipping vehicles for emergencies see the article Travelling With Vehicles During Crisis and Survival Situations.
Home Preparedness
A hurricane can also cause indirect consequences for people how are not directly affected by damaging infrastructure and communication. You find yourself without electricity and running water for and its common that supermarkets sells out their stock of supplies, water and generator quickly if a hurricane is about to hit. A hurricane can also result in other dangers like the spread of disease.
Having a basic food storage, the ability to prepare food, water, the means of sterilizing or filter water, light, medical supplies, emergency sanitation and a generator can spare you much trouble in such a scenario. For more suggestions on Home Preparedness see the articles Get The Ability To Cope With A Crisis and Equipment For Your Home – Checklist.
Analysis
The less resources people have the harder they are generally hit by all types of natural disasters. This is a result from multiple factors like the ability to construct strong buildings, that poor people often live in most vulnerable areas, they may lack the resources to evacuate and the resources to cope with the disaster. In rich countries its relatively few people that die in hurricanes compared to the situation in poor countries with a high population density like Bangladesh. The economical loses in rich countries tend to be very high even if the number of dead often is quite low in compared to countries with less resources. Hurricanes also present an increasing challenge from both the urbanization process that concentrate more and more people into cities and the continuing increase in world population. Today around half of the world population lives in coastal areas. Hurricanes present a large threat to the people living in areas that may be affected by hurricanes and it’s important to plan and prepare for this type of scenario if you may be affected.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Natural Disasters – Volcanoes
One of the most visually impressive natural disasters is volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions can send burning lava, ashes and fire through the air. Some of the dangers from a volcano are Pyroclastic bombs. A volcano can send balls of molten lava for great distances that can kill people suddenly far away from a volcanic eruption. They can be hurled over 10 miles from a volcano, killing people and starting fire to buildings. The heat from a volcano can cause snow and ice on a volcano to melt very fast and create a landslide of water, mud, rock and volcanic ash, this is often called lahars. A volcano sometime created a cloud of hot gases and pulverized volcanic rock that can travel at very high speeds down from a volcano destroying everything that it affects, this is often called pyroclastic clouds. This is one of the major dangers from a volcano and is a danger that it very hard to escape if you still find yourself in proximity to a volcano in case of an eruption. The gas that’s emitted from a volcano can both be irritating but can reach a concentration so high that it can be lethal. In some cases a major volcanic eruptions can cause devastating tsunamis that can kill people far away from the eruption. Ashes from volcanoes can severely damage infrastructure and block roads, airports, rivers and railways.
Timeline
79 The volcano Vesuvius in Italy had a devastating eruption. The two roman cities Pompeii and Herculaeum was destroyed and it is estimated that as many as 25.000 may have died in the eruption. Pyroclastic flows, lava and volcanic ashes destroyed the towns. Some of the skeletons found in Herculaeum have been found buried with the former inhabitants frozen in positions from their everyday work. This is one of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history.
1792 Unzen in Japan had a devastating eruption that resulted in a tsunami killing more than 15.000 people. This is one of the worst disasters in Japanese history.
1821 A devastating eruption took place on Iceland. The eruption covered over 500 square kilometers with lava and enormous amounts of gases and volcanic ash affected large parts of northern Europe. A large number of cattle died and famine followed. Around 20% of the Islands 50.000 inhabitants died from the following famine. A previous large eruption had taken place 1612.
1883 The Volcanic eruption on Krakatau in Indonesia resulted in the deaths of 35.000 to over a 100.000 people from both the direct effects and a devastating tsunami that was created by the explosive eruption that could be heard for over 3.000 km away. The Tsunami devastated many islands and coastal areas, none of the around 3.000 people living on the Island Sebesi survived.
1902 Mont Pelee in the Caribbean had a devastating eruption. The eruption caused a pyroclastic cloud that totally destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre and it was first sad that only two persons in the city that had around 30.000 inhabitants survived. Many wounded died later from the burns contracted by the pyroclastic cloud.
1980 Mount St Helens in the state of Washington had a devastating eruption that released as much energy as a 24 megaton nuclear weapon. The volcano lost 400m in height from the eruption that killed 62 people, two of them volcanologists. There was also extensive damage to the infrastructure in the area and road was blocked from the volcanic ashes released from the eruption. The area surrounding the volcano had been evacuated, a action that seriously reduced the loss of human lives.
1982 a volcanic eruptions at El Chichon in Mexico created a pyroclastic cloud that traveled downwards from all sides of the volcano and destroyed a number of villages, killing around 2000 people.
1985 the Nevado Del Ruiz volcanic eruption resulted in around 24.000 dead in Colombia. The Volcano melted ice and snow that resulted in devastating lahars that hit the areas and valleys surrounding the volcano. The lahars almost completely destroyed the city of Armero and more than half of the population was killed. A similar outbreak in the same location had taken place in 1895.
1986 in Cameron, Africa 1700 died after the volcanic activity at the Lake Nyos released high amounts of Gas. A high number of life stock died as well but there was no physical destruction like usually is associated with volcanic eruptions.
1991 The Japanese Volcano Unzen had another eruption that resulted in around 40 deaths.
1993 Galeras in Colombia had a sudden small eruption that resulted in the deaths of 6 scientists and 3 tourists.
2002 Mount Nyiragongo in Zaire, Africa had a eruption that sent lava flows through the city Goma. 45 died and over 100.000 homeless became homeless.
2010 A large volcanic eruption from a volcano under the glacier Eyjafjallajokull on Iceland has created a large cloud of volcanic ash that has resulted in severe problems for air traffic in large parts of Europe.
Risk and Survival
Volcanic eruptions is unpredictable events that can take place after thousands of years giving residents that surround them a sense of false security. If you live near a volcano I suggest you should take actions to understand the different kinds of risks that you may be facing. What history does the volcano have and what has these events resulted in? How are warnings given from local government agencies? Most volcanoes in the world are monitored by experts so eruptions can often be foreseen and the areas evacuated.
It’s very hard to shield from the devastating effects that a volcano can create so it is very important that you leave the area if you are in the proximity of a volcano when a warning about coming eruptions is given. It is common that people instead move to the area in order to see the visual effects of the eruption and thereby putting themselves in harm’s way. Volcanologists may often provide information that saves others but they are a group that especially find themselves at risks and deaths are common. Always takes warning serious and don’t wait to evacuate.
· During an evacuation scenario a Bug Out Bag or Get Home Bag can be useful tools to help you deal with this type of situation.
Timeline
79 The volcano Vesuvius in Italy had a devastating eruption. The two roman cities Pompeii and Herculaeum was destroyed and it is estimated that as many as 25.000 may have died in the eruption. Pyroclastic flows, lava and volcanic ashes destroyed the towns. Some of the skeletons found in Herculaeum have been found buried with the former inhabitants frozen in positions from their everyday work. This is one of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history.
1792 Unzen in Japan had a devastating eruption that resulted in a tsunami killing more than 15.000 people. This is one of the worst disasters in Japanese history.
1821 A devastating eruption took place on Iceland. The eruption covered over 500 square kilometers with lava and enormous amounts of gases and volcanic ash affected large parts of northern Europe. A large number of cattle died and famine followed. Around 20% of the Islands 50.000 inhabitants died from the following famine. A previous large eruption had taken place 1612.
1883 The Volcanic eruption on Krakatau in Indonesia resulted in the deaths of 35.000 to over a 100.000 people from both the direct effects and a devastating tsunami that was created by the explosive eruption that could be heard for over 3.000 km away. The Tsunami devastated many islands and coastal areas, none of the around 3.000 people living on the Island Sebesi survived.
1902 Mont Pelee in the Caribbean had a devastating eruption. The eruption caused a pyroclastic cloud that totally destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre and it was first sad that only two persons in the city that had around 30.000 inhabitants survived. Many wounded died later from the burns contracted by the pyroclastic cloud.
1980 Mount St Helens in the state of Washington had a devastating eruption that released as much energy as a 24 megaton nuclear weapon. The volcano lost 400m in height from the eruption that killed 62 people, two of them volcanologists. There was also extensive damage to the infrastructure in the area and road was blocked from the volcanic ashes released from the eruption. The area surrounding the volcano had been evacuated, a action that seriously reduced the loss of human lives.
1982 a volcanic eruptions at El Chichon in Mexico created a pyroclastic cloud that traveled downwards from all sides of the volcano and destroyed a number of villages, killing around 2000 people.
1985 the Nevado Del Ruiz volcanic eruption resulted in around 24.000 dead in Colombia. The Volcano melted ice and snow that resulted in devastating lahars that hit the areas and valleys surrounding the volcano. The lahars almost completely destroyed the city of Armero and more than half of the population was killed. A similar outbreak in the same location had taken place in 1895.
1986 in Cameron, Africa 1700 died after the volcanic activity at the Lake Nyos released high amounts of Gas. A high number of life stock died as well but there was no physical destruction like usually is associated with volcanic eruptions.
1991 The Japanese Volcano Unzen had another eruption that resulted in around 40 deaths.
1993 Galeras in Colombia had a sudden small eruption that resulted in the deaths of 6 scientists and 3 tourists.
2002 Mount Nyiragongo in Zaire, Africa had a eruption that sent lava flows through the city Goma. 45 died and over 100.000 homeless became homeless.
2010 A large volcanic eruption from a volcano under the glacier Eyjafjallajokull on Iceland has created a large cloud of volcanic ash that has resulted in severe problems for air traffic in large parts of Europe.
Risk and Survival
Volcanic eruptions is unpredictable events that can take place after thousands of years giving residents that surround them a sense of false security. If you live near a volcano I suggest you should take actions to understand the different kinds of risks that you may be facing. What history does the volcano have and what has these events resulted in? How are warnings given from local government agencies? Most volcanoes in the world are monitored by experts so eruptions can often be foreseen and the areas evacuated.
It’s very hard to shield from the devastating effects that a volcano can create so it is very important that you leave the area if you are in the proximity of a volcano when a warning about coming eruptions is given. It is common that people instead move to the area in order to see the visual effects of the eruption and thereby putting themselves in harm’s way. Volcanologists may often provide information that saves others but they are a group that especially find themselves at risks and deaths are common. Always takes warning serious and don’t wait to evacuate.
· During an evacuation scenario a Bug Out Bag or Get Home Bag can be useful tools to help you deal with this type of situation.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Natural Disasters - Tsunami
Tsunamis are enormous waves that can devastate coastlines and cause massive damage to both infrastructure and humans. Around 200 tsunamis were recorded from 1900-2000. The most common cause of a Tsunami is an earthquake under the sea. But all earthquakes do not result in tsunamis. Tsunamis can also be created by other sources than earthquakes like volcanic eruptions, landslides and impacts by space objects like asteroids. The water above the earthquake absorbs the energy and creating a tsunami. On the open ocean a tsunami wave is often not higher than a few meter, but when it reaches more shallow water of a coastline the wave can reach a height over ten meters. A Tsunami travels very fast over the open ocean, so the time before it strikes coastlines after an earthquake takes place can be short. A tsunami wave is not a short big wave but a very long wave that can cause devastation for up to half an hour before it goes away. The effects of Tsunamis are increased since a very high part of the human population in the world lives near coastlines. It’s also very common that people from other countries visit warm countries as tourists and spend their time near the beaches and coastlines.
Timeline and Historical Examples
During the 1755 Lisbon earthquake the city was not only affected by a devastating earthquake, tsunami waves also added to the destruction. Many from the city fled to the beaches only to be struck by these waves.
1883 There was an enormous volcanic eruptions on the island Krakatoa. The Eruption almost destroyed the entire island and the debris from the eruption created tsunami waves that killed many people far from the eruption. Over 30.000 are believed to have died from the eruption and the tsunami waves.
1896 A powerful earthquake took place outside the coast of Japan. The earthquake created a powerful Tsunami that killed around 25.000-30.000 people, destroyed around 10.000 homes and left many wounded.
1958 an earthquakes created a powerful tsunami that reached an enormous height in Lituya Bay, Alaska. A combination of factors resulted in the wave reaching a height of 520m in the bay.
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake caused a tsunami that killed people in a number of place including Chile, Japan and Hawaii. 2000-6000 died and there was damage for hundreds of millions of dollars. Around 60 of the deaths were in Hawaii.
1964 the powerful earthquake on Good Friday resulted in Tsunami waves in Alaska that killed around 130 people, most of them for the tsunami waves. The tsunami also caused damage for millions of dollar in Canada.
1995 a Tsunami hit Japan resulting in around 6000 dead. The Tsunami was caused by an earthquake measuring 6,8 on the Richter Scale.
1998 an earthquake outside of Papua New Guinea caused an tsunami that killed around 2200, Many villages was destroyed and around 10.000 became homeless.
The 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean was caused by an earthquake with and magnitude of 9,1. The earthquake that caused the tsunami was the one of most powerful earthquake that’s ever been recorded. 13 countries were hit by the tsunami. Over 200.000 were killed as a direct effect, around two million became homeless and there was massive damage to infrastructure and the fishing industry. The exact number of dead will never be known, many of the dead may never be found as they were washed out into the ocean.
Survival and Preparedness
Some regions encounter tsunamis relatively often and have very well functioning systems for early warning. The Pacific Tsunami Warning System that is located on Hawaii is one example. If you live in an area where tsunamis are common make sure that you know how the warning systems operate. In some places high walls have been constructed to protect densely populated cities near the coat lines. A typical sign of tsunamis is that the water level in the ocean suddenly withdraws below normal low water levels. This is a typical warning sign and must be taken seriously at once. If a tsunami is about to hit you must get to the highest most stable ground that you find immediately.
During many of the historical tsunamis the damage caused has been relatively low compared to other natural disasters, but the 2004 event in the Indian Ocean was a drastic exception. In this case the damage caused was enormous and it took some time before the extent of the damage became clear for the people in charge of different national and international crisis management agencies.
The location of your home is a very important part if you live in an area that can be affected by a Tsunami. If your house is likely to be affected in case of a major tsunami, where do you seek cover and how will you get there? A house near the ocean may have a very nice view but the danger from possible tsunamis and hurricanes should be taken into account. These plans should be a part of your personal Risk Assessment.
Even if you are not directly affected by an Tsunami it can still cause disruptions to communications, transport and infrastructure. Having some basic items as your Every Day Carry or a Get Home Bag may provide you with the basic needs that you might need, light and some First Aid Supplies.
Timeline and Historical Examples
During the 1755 Lisbon earthquake the city was not only affected by a devastating earthquake, tsunami waves also added to the destruction. Many from the city fled to the beaches only to be struck by these waves.
1883 There was an enormous volcanic eruptions on the island Krakatoa. The Eruption almost destroyed the entire island and the debris from the eruption created tsunami waves that killed many people far from the eruption. Over 30.000 are believed to have died from the eruption and the tsunami waves.
1896 A powerful earthquake took place outside the coast of Japan. The earthquake created a powerful Tsunami that killed around 25.000-30.000 people, destroyed around 10.000 homes and left many wounded.
1958 an earthquakes created a powerful tsunami that reached an enormous height in Lituya Bay, Alaska. A combination of factors resulted in the wave reaching a height of 520m in the bay.
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake caused a tsunami that killed people in a number of place including Chile, Japan and Hawaii. 2000-6000 died and there was damage for hundreds of millions of dollars. Around 60 of the deaths were in Hawaii.
1964 the powerful earthquake on Good Friday resulted in Tsunami waves in Alaska that killed around 130 people, most of them for the tsunami waves. The tsunami also caused damage for millions of dollar in Canada.
1995 a Tsunami hit Japan resulting in around 6000 dead. The Tsunami was caused by an earthquake measuring 6,8 on the Richter Scale.
1998 an earthquake outside of Papua New Guinea caused an tsunami that killed around 2200, Many villages was destroyed and around 10.000 became homeless.
The 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean was caused by an earthquake with and magnitude of 9,1. The earthquake that caused the tsunami was the one of most powerful earthquake that’s ever been recorded. 13 countries were hit by the tsunami. Over 200.000 were killed as a direct effect, around two million became homeless and there was massive damage to infrastructure and the fishing industry. The exact number of dead will never be known, many of the dead may never be found as they were washed out into the ocean.
Survival and Preparedness
Some regions encounter tsunamis relatively often and have very well functioning systems for early warning. The Pacific Tsunami Warning System that is located on Hawaii is one example. If you live in an area where tsunamis are common make sure that you know how the warning systems operate. In some places high walls have been constructed to protect densely populated cities near the coat lines. A typical sign of tsunamis is that the water level in the ocean suddenly withdraws below normal low water levels. This is a typical warning sign and must be taken seriously at once. If a tsunami is about to hit you must get to the highest most stable ground that you find immediately.
During many of the historical tsunamis the damage caused has been relatively low compared to other natural disasters, but the 2004 event in the Indian Ocean was a drastic exception. In this case the damage caused was enormous and it took some time before the extent of the damage became clear for the people in charge of different national and international crisis management agencies.
The location of your home is a very important part if you live in an area that can be affected by a Tsunami. If your house is likely to be affected in case of a major tsunami, where do you seek cover and how will you get there? A house near the ocean may have a very nice view but the danger from possible tsunamis and hurricanes should be taken into account. These plans should be a part of your personal Risk Assessment.
Even if you are not directly affected by an Tsunami it can still cause disruptions to communications, transport and infrastructure. Having some basic items as your Every Day Carry or a Get Home Bag may provide you with the basic needs that you might need, light and some First Aid Supplies.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Natural Disasters - Earthquakes
Different types of Natural Disasters results in the death of thousands of people every year. This will be the first in a series of posts that will cover some of the Natural Disasters and the effects they have. In order to create a broader understanding of the risks involved a timeline with some historical examples will be presented. Among these natural disasters few can cause as much death and devastations as earthquakes. One very problematic aspect of earthquakes is that they are events that can occur only on a few times over many years. When they takes place they can have an enormously destructive effect and with no or little warning.
Earthquakes are normally generated because of earth movement along fault lines. The area surrounding The San Andreas Fault Line that passes through California is an especially high risk area in the United States. The cause for earthquakes has only recently been discovered and today the high risk areas for earthquakes are known. The forces from an earthquake can destroy building and infrastructure like roads, bridges, the electrical grid, sanitation and water supply. This can cause secondary effects like fires and outbreak of epidemics like cholera. The collapse of building and falling items is the most common cause of death resulting from an earthquake, around 90% of all deaths result from this.
Earthquakes
There are some common scales that are used to measure the effect of earthquakes: The Richter Scale is one of the most well know. The Richter Scale is logarithmic, the difference between a level 4 and level 5 is ten times in strength, the difference between 4 and 6 is a hundred times in strength and the difference between 4 and 7 is a thousand to give some examples. The Movement Magnitude Scale is a more modern scale used to the magnitude of earthquake. The Mercalli Scale of Earthquake Intensity is a scale with the twelve steps that describes the destructive force of an earthquake where I on the scale normally aren’t felt by people and where XII equals almost total destruction. The epicenter of an earthquake is the geographical point where an earthquake is centered.
Timeline
1755 An earthquake occurred on the first of November, “All Saints day” in Lisbon, Portugal. Many of the people in the city were in the churches when the earthquake hit. The churches were not built to withstand an earthquake and collapsed. Many of the building were destroyed and a devastating fire that lasted for days followed. Many fled to the shore for safety but were hit by tsunami waves created by the earthquake. Additional earthquakes would follow that further worsened the situation and laid many towns to waste. It’s believed that somewhere between 10.000-100.000 people lost their lives in this disaster.
1906 on April the 18th a devastating earthquake hit San Francisco. The earthquake rated 7,8 on the Richter scale. The devastating fire followed that lasted for three day, fighting the fire was also hard because of the lack of water. Over 3.000 died and around 250.000 people in San Francisco became homeless as a result.
1923 The Great Kantō earthquake hit Japan. 100.000-150.000 died from the devastating earthquake. The disaster took place during lunchtime; many used fire to prepare food a factor that worsened the fires that broke out. Around 2 million became homeless.
1964 One of the most powerful earthquakes in modern took place in Alaska on “Good Friday” March 27. Only around 100 people died from the earthquake in the low populated region.
1970 The worst natural disaster in the history of Peru too place in Nevados Huascaran. The earthquake triggered a massive landslide and 60.000-75.000 died as a result. Over one million people also became homeless.
1976 One of the worst earthquakes in history took place in Tangsan, China. Around 250.000 died and around 150.000 were injured. A combination of unsafe buildings and soil condition worsened the effect of the quake and left many of the survivors homeless.
1976 a devastating earthquake hit Guatemala. Around 22.000-23.000 died, over 70.000 was injured and thousands were left homeless after the earthquake that hit during the early morning when many were still asleep in their homes.
1976 just under 10.000 died from an earthquake in the Philippines
1978 a massive earthquake took place in Iran. The city Tabas was affected the worst, 75% of the people living in the city died leaving only around 4000 alive. Almost all of the healthcare personal and doctors died in the city adding to the desperate situation. Around 25.000 died in total.
1985 around 10.000-15.000 died from an earthquake that affected Mexico City. Mexico City is particular vulnerable to earthquakes because of the ground that the city rests on that easily can move during earthquakes.
1988 over 25.000 died from an earthquake in Armenia, then a part of the Soviet Union. The earthquake took place during the winter and many died from a result of the severe cold when their housing was destroyed. The city of Spitak was almost completely destroyed.
1990 Iran was affected by a powerful earthquake that resulted in 40.000-50.000 dead, around 60.000 wounded and many thousands homeless.
1993 just under 10.000 died from an earthquake in Marashtra, India
1995 around 6.500 died from an earthquake in Japan, most of them from the city Kobe. Around 200.000 buildings were destroyed along with major damage to the infrastructure. The poor district in Nagata Ward held many of the casualties from the earthquake, a combination of unsafe buildings and flammable chemicals used in for manufacturing of shoes worsened the situation in this area.
1999 a powerful earthquake hit Izmit in Turkey. Poorly constructed buildings and poverty worsened the effect of the earthquake that killed somewhere around 15.000, injured over 40.000 and left over 600.000 homeless.
1999 around 3500 people died from an earthquake in Nantou, Taiwan
2001 around 20.000 died from an earthquake in Gujarat, India during the 51st celebration of India’s Republic Day. Over 150.000 were injured and around half a million became homeless.
2003 a major earthquake affected Bam in Iran. The earthquake resulted in over 25.000 dead and around 30.000 injured. The effect was worsened because it took place during the night when many were sleeping. The United States offered assistance to Iran that was finally accepted, this was quite controversial because of the tension between Iran and the US after 9/11 2001.
2005 a major earthquake took place in the Pakistan part of Kashmir that left around 80.000 dead. India and Pakistan managed to cooperate despite the tensed situation between the countries over Kashmir and India helped to provided disaster relief.
2010 On the 12th of January a devastating earthquake took place in Haiti that may have been the deadliest earthquake in history. The death toll is now estimated to be around 200.000-300.000 people, with an additional 300.000 injured and over one million homeless. Haiti had long series of problem with poverty, internal conflict and unsafe building that worsened the effect of the earthquake.
Survival and Preparedness
The time when an earthquake takes place in critical, during night people are much more vulnerable when people are sleeping in their beds and vulnerable to collapsing buildings and falling items. If you live in a risk area for earthquakes the location where you live and the building where you live is critical for your security. Housing that’s not earthquake resistant may literally become a deathtrap. In general housing in low income and poor areas are affected the worst since they often can have a lack of maintenance and less secure building codes. The slums in urban areas or low income countries are classic examples. High Income Countries are often much less affected than low income countries that both have a more vulnerable infrastructure and less resources to manage a disaster. Aftershocks after a first earthquake can cause already damaged building to collapse.
Other secondary effects can be that law enforcement can’t control the situation in an area; plundering, looting and general lawlessness can follow. Normally countries from all around the world will send Search And Rescue Teams (SART) to an affected area, but this is almost like sending an ambulance from oversea. Most of the victims trapped under collapsed buildings will be dead before the SART will arrive. So even they can save some individuals this is a very costly operation that often don’t give big results. The local resources are often the resources that can make the biggest difference. After a few day international organizations like the UN, aid agencies from different nations and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO:s) will start to arrive. These organization will do what they can to help but if you ever find yourself in the aftermath of a major earthquake you must understand there may be a long time before help arrives and that the needs will be greater than any can master in short period of time.
· Make sure that there is no heavy items that can fall down and cause damage, especially over or around your bed.
· The access to water and sanitation may be limited and the risk of epidemics is high – especially for cholera. Having some water stored, an emergency toilet, hand disinfection, water purification filter, water purification tablets, bleach and a first aid kit can make a big difference.
· For search and rescue after a disaster items like flashlights, headlights, heavy duty leather work gloves, protective footwear, helmet and so on can be good items to have. If you would like to be a resource after a earthquake or other disaster I recommend that you join a CERT team, some kind of first responder unit or the Red Cross so that you can get some professional training. A fire extinguisher and fireproof blanket are effective items in cases where earthquakes results in fire.
· In some cases warning of coming earthquakes can be given by government agencies. If you receive a warning take some extra action, fill up some extra water containers and check your equipment. Taking down items for shelves like books and hanging items can also be a good idea.
· During some cases it may become necessary to evacuate and affected area, a Bug Out Bag or Get Home Bag can be useful tools to help you deal with this type of scenario.
Earthquakes are normally generated because of earth movement along fault lines. The area surrounding The San Andreas Fault Line that passes through California is an especially high risk area in the United States. The cause for earthquakes has only recently been discovered and today the high risk areas for earthquakes are known. The forces from an earthquake can destroy building and infrastructure like roads, bridges, the electrical grid, sanitation and water supply. This can cause secondary effects like fires and outbreak of epidemics like cholera. The collapse of building and falling items is the most common cause of death resulting from an earthquake, around 90% of all deaths result from this.
Earthquakes
There are some common scales that are used to measure the effect of earthquakes: The Richter Scale is one of the most well know. The Richter Scale is logarithmic, the difference between a level 4 and level 5 is ten times in strength, the difference between 4 and 6 is a hundred times in strength and the difference between 4 and 7 is a thousand to give some examples. The Movement Magnitude Scale is a more modern scale used to the magnitude of earthquake. The Mercalli Scale of Earthquake Intensity is a scale with the twelve steps that describes the destructive force of an earthquake where I on the scale normally aren’t felt by people and where XII equals almost total destruction. The epicenter of an earthquake is the geographical point where an earthquake is centered.
Timeline
1755 An earthquake occurred on the first of November, “All Saints day” in Lisbon, Portugal. Many of the people in the city were in the churches when the earthquake hit. The churches were not built to withstand an earthquake and collapsed. Many of the building were destroyed and a devastating fire that lasted for days followed. Many fled to the shore for safety but were hit by tsunami waves created by the earthquake. Additional earthquakes would follow that further worsened the situation and laid many towns to waste. It’s believed that somewhere between 10.000-100.000 people lost their lives in this disaster.
1906 on April the 18th a devastating earthquake hit San Francisco. The earthquake rated 7,8 on the Richter scale. The devastating fire followed that lasted for three day, fighting the fire was also hard because of the lack of water. Over 3.000 died and around 250.000 people in San Francisco became homeless as a result.
1923 The Great Kantō earthquake hit Japan. 100.000-150.000 died from the devastating earthquake. The disaster took place during lunchtime; many used fire to prepare food a factor that worsened the fires that broke out. Around 2 million became homeless.
1964 One of the most powerful earthquakes in modern took place in Alaska on “Good Friday” March 27. Only around 100 people died from the earthquake in the low populated region.
1970 The worst natural disaster in the history of Peru too place in Nevados Huascaran. The earthquake triggered a massive landslide and 60.000-75.000 died as a result. Over one million people also became homeless.
1976 One of the worst earthquakes in history took place in Tangsan, China. Around 250.000 died and around 150.000 were injured. A combination of unsafe buildings and soil condition worsened the effect of the quake and left many of the survivors homeless.
1976 a devastating earthquake hit Guatemala. Around 22.000-23.000 died, over 70.000 was injured and thousands were left homeless after the earthquake that hit during the early morning when many were still asleep in their homes.
1976 just under 10.000 died from an earthquake in the Philippines
1978 a massive earthquake took place in Iran. The city Tabas was affected the worst, 75% of the people living in the city died leaving only around 4000 alive. Almost all of the healthcare personal and doctors died in the city adding to the desperate situation. Around 25.000 died in total.
1985 around 10.000-15.000 died from an earthquake that affected Mexico City. Mexico City is particular vulnerable to earthquakes because of the ground that the city rests on that easily can move during earthquakes.
1988 over 25.000 died from an earthquake in Armenia, then a part of the Soviet Union. The earthquake took place during the winter and many died from a result of the severe cold when their housing was destroyed. The city of Spitak was almost completely destroyed.
1990 Iran was affected by a powerful earthquake that resulted in 40.000-50.000 dead, around 60.000 wounded and many thousands homeless.
1993 just under 10.000 died from an earthquake in Marashtra, India
1995 around 6.500 died from an earthquake in Japan, most of them from the city Kobe. Around 200.000 buildings were destroyed along with major damage to the infrastructure. The poor district in Nagata Ward held many of the casualties from the earthquake, a combination of unsafe buildings and flammable chemicals used in for manufacturing of shoes worsened the situation in this area.
1999 a powerful earthquake hit Izmit in Turkey. Poorly constructed buildings and poverty worsened the effect of the earthquake that killed somewhere around 15.000, injured over 40.000 and left over 600.000 homeless.
1999 around 3500 people died from an earthquake in Nantou, Taiwan
2001 around 20.000 died from an earthquake in Gujarat, India during the 51st celebration of India’s Republic Day. Over 150.000 were injured and around half a million became homeless.
2003 a major earthquake affected Bam in Iran. The earthquake resulted in over 25.000 dead and around 30.000 injured. The effect was worsened because it took place during the night when many were sleeping. The United States offered assistance to Iran that was finally accepted, this was quite controversial because of the tension between Iran and the US after 9/11 2001.
2005 a major earthquake took place in the Pakistan part of Kashmir that left around 80.000 dead. India and Pakistan managed to cooperate despite the tensed situation between the countries over Kashmir and India helped to provided disaster relief.
2010 On the 12th of January a devastating earthquake took place in Haiti that may have been the deadliest earthquake in history. The death toll is now estimated to be around 200.000-300.000 people, with an additional 300.000 injured and over one million homeless. Haiti had long series of problem with poverty, internal conflict and unsafe building that worsened the effect of the earthquake.
Survival and Preparedness
The time when an earthquake takes place in critical, during night people are much more vulnerable when people are sleeping in their beds and vulnerable to collapsing buildings and falling items. If you live in a risk area for earthquakes the location where you live and the building where you live is critical for your security. Housing that’s not earthquake resistant may literally become a deathtrap. In general housing in low income and poor areas are affected the worst since they often can have a lack of maintenance and less secure building codes. The slums in urban areas or low income countries are classic examples. High Income Countries are often much less affected than low income countries that both have a more vulnerable infrastructure and less resources to manage a disaster. Aftershocks after a first earthquake can cause already damaged building to collapse.
Other secondary effects can be that law enforcement can’t control the situation in an area; plundering, looting and general lawlessness can follow. Normally countries from all around the world will send Search And Rescue Teams (SART) to an affected area, but this is almost like sending an ambulance from oversea. Most of the victims trapped under collapsed buildings will be dead before the SART will arrive. So even they can save some individuals this is a very costly operation that often don’t give big results. The local resources are often the resources that can make the biggest difference. After a few day international organizations like the UN, aid agencies from different nations and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO:s) will start to arrive. These organization will do what they can to help but if you ever find yourself in the aftermath of a major earthquake you must understand there may be a long time before help arrives and that the needs will be greater than any can master in short period of time.
· Make sure that there is no heavy items that can fall down and cause damage, especially over or around your bed.
· The access to water and sanitation may be limited and the risk of epidemics is high – especially for cholera. Having some water stored, an emergency toilet, hand disinfection, water purification filter, water purification tablets, bleach and a first aid kit can make a big difference.
· For search and rescue after a disaster items like flashlights, headlights, heavy duty leather work gloves, protective footwear, helmet and so on can be good items to have. If you would like to be a resource after a earthquake or other disaster I recommend that you join a CERT team, some kind of first responder unit or the Red Cross so that you can get some professional training. A fire extinguisher and fireproof blanket are effective items in cases where earthquakes results in fire.
· In some cases warning of coming earthquakes can be given by government agencies. If you receive a warning take some extra action, fill up some extra water containers and check your equipment. Taking down items for shelves like books and hanging items can also be a good idea.
· During some cases it may become necessary to evacuate and affected area, a Bug Out Bag or Get Home Bag can be useful tools to help you deal with this type of scenario.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Food, Starvation and Famine – Crisis Preparedness and Survival
Starvation is one of the worst killers of all disasters. The worst famine in history, the famine in China during the “Great Leap Forward” may have caused the deaths of 14-40 million people; 30-50 million is estimated to have died during the Second World War. The worst natural disasters like earthquakes historically have killed a couple of hundred thousand people, but in relation to the suffering created by famine these disasters have a relatively small effect. In this post I will try to explain some of the caucus that leads to famine, different perspectives and give some advice regarding food storage from a crisis preparedness perspective.
Timeline and Historical Events
1845-1848 The Irish Potato Famine resulted in around one million dead and around another million escaped from the Island. This is one of the worst cases in history in relation to the total size of the populations.
1846-1847 The Donner Party consisting of American emigrants got caught by a winter storm. Almost half of the party died from cold, starvation and disease. Many resorted to cannibalism.
1932-33 Joseph Stalin introduced reforms in The Soviet Union that would cost the lives of 6-8 millions from famine, mainly in the Ukraine. This disaster was not recognized by the Soviets for a long time.
1958 – 1961 China introduces a number of reforms in “The Great Leap Forward”, this would cost the lives of 14-40 million people from famine.
1972 A plane flying a rugby team crashes in the Andes. The survivors resort to cannibalism in order to survive, only 16 of the 45 persons would survive. The movie “Alive” is based on the event.
1974 Bangladesh around 1, 5 million died from famine.
1984-1985 Sudan around 250.000 people died from famine.
1992 Christopher McCandless dies from starvation after surviving over a hundred days in the Alaskan wilderness. John Krakauer has written a book about McCandless life called “Into the wild”, there has also been a movie made based on the book.
1995-1999 in North Korea somewhere between 900.000-1,5 million is estimate to have died from famine.
Poverty and Famine
Famine is often related to poverty. Around 800 million people around the world live in extreme poverty today, and an additional 1,2 billion are classified as poor. That equals to around one third of the world total population. For those living in extreme poverty there is a lack of food, clean water, sanitation, shelter, health care and security. The access to food is not only a problem in poor countries, in the United States 11% of the households had problem with getting food on the table during 2007. During 2008 5,7% of the US households had a very low food security, this means that one or more members of the family had to change their eating habits and their food intake was reduced. It’s mostly poor households where this is a problem, single parents with children and disabled is also common risk groups. For more information about food insecurity in the US you can check out USDA:s homepage.
Political Reasons for Famine and War
Famine and starvation do not get much attention in relation to the number of dead from as wars and terrorism. The causes of famine are often a combination of natural causes, civil war, poverty and political actions. Starvation takes place more often in totalitarian and non democratic states where the regimes often don’t recognize that people are starving. These countries can often be selling food to other countries and at the same time receive emergency rations for the population. Other factors that can interact and create starvation are fragile eco systems, erosion and problems with water. War reduces the land available for food production and food storage is often targeted by the different parties in the conflict. Fields are often mined to prevent them from being used for food production; this often continues to be a problem for long periods of time after a conflict comes to an end. Blockade against food aid and attacks against food transports is also common problems in contemporary civil wars. When Rome destroyed the city Carthage 143 BC it’s said that the Romans plowed salt into the field so that nothing would grow there again.
When does Famine take place? The Malthusian Perspective
Thomas Malthus was a priest and economist living from 1766 - 1834. One of Malthus most famous ideas was he’s theory that the production of food can only increase slowly step by step and that the human population increases faster than the increase in food production. This will eventually lead to a situation where the population no longer can increase because of famine and other factors. However, the population of the world has increased very much during the last 200 years. 2000 years ago at year 1 the world population was only around 200 million, 1000 years later the world population had only increased to just over 300 million. At 1800 the world population was just under 1 billion. From the 1800 an extreme increase in the world population has taken place, at 1900 the number was around 1,5 billion, 1950 more than 2,5 billion, 1975 over 4 billion, 1990 over 5 billion, 2000 over 6 billion and today the number is over 6,9 billion. Millions die from starvation every year in today’s world but the population of the world still increases rapidly, the main problem for those starving is not that there is too little food in the world, the problem is that these persons don’t have access to this food because of a combination of factors like poverty, political actions, war and other factors. The Malthusian perspective is however shared by many how believe that there might be a collision between the expanding world population and diminishing natural resources. The Peak Oil Movement, those how believe in The Limits to Growth and the Transition Network are some examples.
There are however other situations when food may also become a problem: ship wrecks and airplanes how crash in remote locations are two examples of incidents how can result in a situation when food becomes a problem. There are also other man-made situations when food often becomes a problem like in prisoner of war camps, concentration camps and refugee camps. In this type of camps it’s very hard to get the food that is received by the camps to reach those in the camp. It is very common that those in power sell food or use it for their own purposes. Food is often used to motivate people in this condition since very few will refuse to do work if the reward is an extra ration.
Home Food Storage for Crisis Preparedness
How much food one should storage depends on a lot of things; I would personally recommend that you try to store food for minimum 1-2 weeks to start with and gradually expend your food storage. There are those how recommend that one should storage a supply of food that will last a full year or even more, John Wiseman the author of the "SAS Survival Handbook" recommends one year. How much storage you think is enough is a matter of personal preferences but I suggest that you try to link your decision to a personal Risk Assessment that takes the specific risks for your situation into consideration.
What Should You Store?
My answer to this question is that you should store what you eat. Do NOT start to store food that you normally don’t eat or don’t like. The most important thing about food storage is that you learn how to rotate your food so that the food doesn’t become too old to eat. If you can’t rotate your food storage it will become a rotten investment.
The other aspect is that storing food should save money for you, not cost you additional money. Some foods like rice and pasta are much cheaper if you can buy large amount like a 10-20 kg bag instead of 20-40 small packages. If you use much crushed tomatoes, coconut milk or other canned food it’s a good idea to buy more of these, especially if you can find them cheaper during a sale. Make it a routine to check for deals at your local stores in the beginning of every week. This is where I recommend that you get started. Build up your storage gradually step by step.
The shelf life for different types of food varies highly. Un-grinded Wheat and Oats is often said to have an almost unlimited storage time if it’s stored cool and dry. If you decide to go for these kinds of staples you must get a grinder that can be used to grind these into flower that can be used to bake breads and make other foods. I recommend that you get a hand grinder that doesn’t require electricity to operate. Honey also has an extreme shelf life close to unlimited. The same goes for Salt and Sugar if they can be stored absolutely dry and cool. Salt is an extremely important addition to food and is very cheap to buy; it can also be used to conserve fish or game in a survival situation.
Canned food has different shelf life, often 3 to 5 years. The old canned food produced by the military have a very long shelf life and can often be eaten decades after they were produced if stored well even if the taste might not be the best. I have personally tried this kind of food that expired over ten years ago and did not become Ill. I do not recommend that you normally eat food with an expiration date that’s passed even if especially canned food often don’t present a problem. However during an emergency you might have to eat what’s available. If you ever unsure try to eat a little of the food first and wait for a few hours to see if you get ill. Then increase the amount, wait and see.
Cooking Oil can normally be stored for around 2 years, Olive Oil normally have a shorter shelf life than normal cooking oil. Powdered Milk can normally be stored for around 2 years, buy a little first and learn how to use it and make sure that you rotate it.
There are companies that sell food for emergency situations that can be stored over 25 years. The technique used is often to take freeze fried food, put it in cans and then replace the oxygen in the can with nitrogen to increase the shelf life even further. Mountainhouse is one company that uses this process and sells this type of products. However these solutions is ratter expensive and there is a good chance that you won’t like this food. Before you make a decision to order a large amount of food from these companies make sure to buy a smaller amount and test if you really like this food. This is not a solution that I would normally recommend but if you have the storage space, money and believes it’s a good solution go for it. However if there never is an emergency when you need it, will you use it or eat anyway? A common similar subject among survivalists is to pack food in mylarbags and then use dry ice to replace the oxygen and increase the shelf life of different types of food. Another method is to learn home-canning. This may be a good alternative for long term storage but I would still suggest that you focus on building a food storage that you constantly rotate; this takes care of the problem of shelf-life since you constantly replace your stock.
Where you store is also very important. Store your food in a place that is a dry and as cool as possible. I also recommend that you get strong air tight containers that you store your food in. If you live in a house a root cellar is an ideal place to store many types of food. A root cellar also means that you can store potatoes and onions for much longer periods of time compared to storage in a refrigerator.
Special Food Products
Vitamins pills can be a good complement to your diet, but I suggest that you try to the most of your vitamins from eating fruits and vegetables. Canned fruit and dried fruit can be a good complement to regular food storage.
Ultra High Temperature (UHT) treated milk products have a much longer storage time than regular milk products and can often be stored for months in room temperature if not opened. UHT milk products often have a special taste and cost more than regular milk.
Swedish Hard Bread from the company Wasa called “Knäckebröd” has very much fibers and a very long storage time. I recommend that you try it out and see if you like it, if you do it’s a good complement to regular bread and it’s very healthy bread.
The size of the Portions, freeze portions
I’ve written this before in other posts but it’s worth saying again: One of the most important aspects is that you learn how cook food by yourself. Learn how to make all kinds of food. And learn how to make these foods from scratch; don’t buy the premade food that you only put in a pan and it’s done. The same goes for bread, learn how to bake it from scratch, put the bread you can’t eat right away in the freezer, it will keep the bread fresh and make it last much longer.
Another aspect that I recommend that everyone tries to do is to start making much food when you cook. Then make portions and freeze the food that you can’t eat right away, this way you will always have healthy food available. Start bringing the portions with you to work or school; this will save you a lot of money instead of eating out. And learn how much you eat, don’t make to big portions. It’s estimated that up to 40% of all food in the Western Worlds get thrown away, don’t put more food on your plate than you can eat. During a crisis situation or emergency this is extremely important, you can’t afford to throw your food away.
The Crisis Situation
Things that have to be stored cold in your refrigerator and freezer will be the food that’s going to waste the first if the electrical grid stops working. Start to eat this food before it goes to waste then move on to food that doesn’t have to be stored cold. A generator can be used to keep your refrigerator and freezer working for some time and prevent it from being spoiled during shorter black outs. If the crisis lasts a long time I suggest that you start to ration your food as fast as possible to make it last longer.
Stoves and Cooking
It’s also important that you get the equipment that allows you to prepare food in a crisis situation if the electric grid goes off line. I recommend that you get some kind stove like a Multi Fuel Stove, Trangia Stove, Gas Stove, Jetboil, Wood Stove, Heat-Pal or Esbit. If you intend to use the equipment for your home there are more stationary solutions that also can be used if you’re going camping and have the access to a snowmobile or other means of transport. Primus and Soto has some gas stoves with double heaters that excellent for these situations. There are also military cooking systems for many persons that often can be bought cheap as surplus. Make sure to include fuel to your stove. The safety aspect using these stoves is extremely important, they can cause fire, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide poisoning if used indoors. Only use them outdoors or in well ventilated locations. Keep a bucket of water, a fire extinguisher or fire proof blanket handy. Especially the stoves from Trangia must be used with extreme caution; the flame from the burner is often invisible. Get solid containers made from steel, aluminum or plastic safety bottles to the Trangia Stove and other Alcohol Stoves.
A Dutch Oven is a cast iron cooking vessel with lids that can be used to cook food over an open fire. They can also be surrounded with coal and used as an Oven to bake bread. The Muurikka is another excellent solution based on a cast iron/steel wok plate that can be used over an open fire to prepare food for an entire family. Both Dutch Ovens and Muurikkas are a bit too heavy if you have to carry your equipment on your back for longer distances. There are also other types of stoves that can be used together with wood and other pieces of fuel that you may find in your local terrain. The Vargo Hexagon Titanium Stove, The Kelly Kettle and The Nomad Camp Stove are some examples.
A Barbeque grill with either gas or coal is also an excellent complement in an emergency, but most importantly an excellent way to prepare food for party’s or dinners. Pressure cookers is also a very good way to prepare food, they allow you to cook food in high temperatures under pressure and conserves both water and energy in a crisis situation. They also allow you to prepare your food in a much shorter amount of time. Solar Owens is also something that’s often recommended as for cooking during a crisis situation.
Fishing, Hunting and Edible Plants
Fishing and Hunting can be an import addition to your diet during an emergency or crisis situation. This of course depends on your location, but if you’re planning to hunt or fish as a complement I recommend that you learn how to this before a crisis takes place and learn what really works in your terrain. There is solutions for fishing that don’t require your attention all the times like nets or rigs with lines and hooks. The same goes for hunting, you must learn all the practical aspect like tracking, where pray can be found, get the equipment, learn how to butcher, transport and prepare the food.
Edible plants, berries and mushrooms are an excellent addition to your diet that can add extra vitamins, nutrition and flavor. The same thing goes for edible plants as for fishing and hunting: You must learn where you can find these and how they look like before a crisis. If you don’t learn this you risk eating something poisonous and this can have a deadly outcome. Start with studying books, then take a course or follow an expert when they go picking mushrooms, berries or edible plants. You don’t want to learn what edible and not the hard way. During starvation situation it’s common that people will start to suffer and die from vitamin deficiencies like Beriberi (Vitamin B1) and Scurvy (Vitamin C). Learning what local plants that can provide vitamins can mean the difference between life and death.
Another topic often discussed is to produce different kinds of food yourself by gardening and farming. If you have big garden or live on the country side this can be a very good complement to food storage, even if you live in apartment in the city you can grow some herbs and fruit in a small scale on a balcony. There are some experts that recommend the storage of seeds that can be used after extreme kind of crisis situations; if you’re considering this I suggest that you to start to learn this process right now. Get to know what will grow the best in your climate and soil conditions. This will require a rather large amount of time, land, knowledge, equipment and hard work. A good way to conserve fish, meat, berries, fruit and mushrooms is to dry the food. There is excellent equipment that’s used to dry food such as the electrical Evermat.
If you’re going camping or have to carry food during an evacuation I suggest that you mainly go for light weight food like freeze dried rations. Meals Ready to Eat (MRE:s) has the main advantage that they don’t have to be prepared before you eat them, but they have a high weight compared to freeze dried food. Freeze dried food can be bought in portion sized bags, all you have to is to add hot water into the bag and wait for a couple of minutes. If your hiking or camping an area with a limited supply of water MRE:s is a better alternative. I especially like the freeze dried food from DryTech, Blå Band Expedition Meal and Trekn Eat myself. Sea To Summit makes a extra aluminum long spoon that great if you want to eat straight from the bag. Powerbars or Protein bars can be a good addition as a snack during an emergency situation. A trail mix made of chocolate, nuts and raisins is also good. Dried elk, reindeer meat or beef jerky is another alternative.
Psychological and Physical Reactions to Starvation
Hunger and Famine have serious psychological and physical effects. Most people can go for up to three day without food without any serious reduction in their physical and mental capabilities. After this time the lack of food stops to be an inconvenience and starts to become an obsession. Most other considerations starts to become secondary and food occupies both thoughts and even dreams. If people are denied the access to food they can become very violent and get ready to take it from others how posses it. People may even get ready to kill in order to get to food, this have even taken place among friends during expeditions.
As people start to lose body weight they also starts to constantly feel cold. Common reactions are apathy, depression, irritation, emotional instability. When the access to food becomes scares in a society civil unrest and hunger riots are common results. When all reserves are used the body starts to break down organs. Losing around half of the body weight is not uncommon, survivors from prisoner of war camps and concentration camps have often had a weight between 30-40 kilograms. Starvation presents other dangers since it makes people more vulnerable to hypothermia and infections. Severe hunger also breaks down the normal moral that people have, prostitution in order to get food, stealing, robbery and even murder may take place.
In the early stages of this situation it is very important that you eat everything you can from the very start. Even if there is food that you don’t like or would never eat during normal circumstances. When people get hungry enough this stops becoming a problem but by then you will have loosed valuable energy and time if you can’t master the will to eat everything from the beginning. I suggest that you learn to eat everything by training at doing this now, take the food you like the least and learn to eat it. It also take time to recover from starvation, normally it takes one to two months to recover from medium levels and more than half a year from severe situations
Overweight
Overweight a big problem in most western countries; it’s a much bigger problem than people getting to little food in this part of the world. Too much food, snacks, candy, soft drinks, bier and other unhealthy food in combination with too little exercise creates this problem. Overweight can be a major problem for your personal health; overweight brings big problems both in a short and long term perspective. A common way to measure if your weight is normal is the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurment. The Body Mass Index is calculated by taking your weight in kilograms and divides it by your length (in meters) in square. Normally a BMI between 18,5 and 25 is considered a normal weight, a BMI between 25 and 30 as overweight and BMI over 30 as obese. The BMI does not measure a person’s body fat so it is not necessary a perfect indictor for health but it can give you an indicator concerning your health.
This is never an easy problem to overcome and you need to change your lifestyle in order to get rid of the problem. If you stop eating candy, sweets and starts to only drink water instead of sodas you’re well on your way. Start to exercise at least three times a week. The problem is often a result of the people around you and their habits, try to get your family, partner and friends onboard. It’s harder to make changes if your family and friends don’t change their unhealthy habits as well. Alcohol also contains many calories and if you drink too much cut down or stop completely.
Breakfast is a very important meal that shouldn’t be skipped. Make sure to eat a healthy breakfast every day and make this into a routine. Eat Lunch and Supper at regular times and make a habit of don’t skipping meals. If you want a snack in between meals eat a fruit or sandwich.
Also see:
Water during Emergency and Survival Situations
Peak Oil
The Limits to Growth
Timeline and Historical Events
1845-1848 The Irish Potato Famine resulted in around one million dead and around another million escaped from the Island. This is one of the worst cases in history in relation to the total size of the populations.
1846-1847 The Donner Party consisting of American emigrants got caught by a winter storm. Almost half of the party died from cold, starvation and disease. Many resorted to cannibalism.
1932-33 Joseph Stalin introduced reforms in The Soviet Union that would cost the lives of 6-8 millions from famine, mainly in the Ukraine. This disaster was not recognized by the Soviets for a long time.
1958 – 1961 China introduces a number of reforms in “The Great Leap Forward”, this would cost the lives of 14-40 million people from famine.
1972 A plane flying a rugby team crashes in the Andes. The survivors resort to cannibalism in order to survive, only 16 of the 45 persons would survive. The movie “Alive” is based on the event.
1974 Bangladesh around 1, 5 million died from famine.
1984-1985 Sudan around 250.000 people died from famine.
1992 Christopher McCandless dies from starvation after surviving over a hundred days in the Alaskan wilderness. John Krakauer has written a book about McCandless life called “Into the wild”, there has also been a movie made based on the book.
1995-1999 in North Korea somewhere between 900.000-1,5 million is estimate to have died from famine.
Poverty and Famine
Famine is often related to poverty. Around 800 million people around the world live in extreme poverty today, and an additional 1,2 billion are classified as poor. That equals to around one third of the world total population. For those living in extreme poverty there is a lack of food, clean water, sanitation, shelter, health care and security. The access to food is not only a problem in poor countries, in the United States 11% of the households had problem with getting food on the table during 2007. During 2008 5,7% of the US households had a very low food security, this means that one or more members of the family had to change their eating habits and their food intake was reduced. It’s mostly poor households where this is a problem, single parents with children and disabled is also common risk groups. For more information about food insecurity in the US you can check out USDA:s homepage.
Political Reasons for Famine and War
Famine and starvation do not get much attention in relation to the number of dead from as wars and terrorism. The causes of famine are often a combination of natural causes, civil war, poverty and political actions. Starvation takes place more often in totalitarian and non democratic states where the regimes often don’t recognize that people are starving. These countries can often be selling food to other countries and at the same time receive emergency rations for the population. Other factors that can interact and create starvation are fragile eco systems, erosion and problems with water. War reduces the land available for food production and food storage is often targeted by the different parties in the conflict. Fields are often mined to prevent them from being used for food production; this often continues to be a problem for long periods of time after a conflict comes to an end. Blockade against food aid and attacks against food transports is also common problems in contemporary civil wars. When Rome destroyed the city Carthage 143 BC it’s said that the Romans plowed salt into the field so that nothing would grow there again.
When does Famine take place? The Malthusian Perspective
Thomas Malthus was a priest and economist living from 1766 - 1834. One of Malthus most famous ideas was he’s theory that the production of food can only increase slowly step by step and that the human population increases faster than the increase in food production. This will eventually lead to a situation where the population no longer can increase because of famine and other factors. However, the population of the world has increased very much during the last 200 years. 2000 years ago at year 1 the world population was only around 200 million, 1000 years later the world population had only increased to just over 300 million. At 1800 the world population was just under 1 billion. From the 1800 an extreme increase in the world population has taken place, at 1900 the number was around 1,5 billion, 1950 more than 2,5 billion, 1975 over 4 billion, 1990 over 5 billion, 2000 over 6 billion and today the number is over 6,9 billion. Millions die from starvation every year in today’s world but the population of the world still increases rapidly, the main problem for those starving is not that there is too little food in the world, the problem is that these persons don’t have access to this food because of a combination of factors like poverty, political actions, war and other factors. The Malthusian perspective is however shared by many how believe that there might be a collision between the expanding world population and diminishing natural resources. The Peak Oil Movement, those how believe in The Limits to Growth and the Transition Network are some examples.
There are however other situations when food may also become a problem: ship wrecks and airplanes how crash in remote locations are two examples of incidents how can result in a situation when food becomes a problem. There are also other man-made situations when food often becomes a problem like in prisoner of war camps, concentration camps and refugee camps. In this type of camps it’s very hard to get the food that is received by the camps to reach those in the camp. It is very common that those in power sell food or use it for their own purposes. Food is often used to motivate people in this condition since very few will refuse to do work if the reward is an extra ration.
Home Food Storage for Crisis Preparedness
How much food one should storage depends on a lot of things; I would personally recommend that you try to store food for minimum 1-2 weeks to start with and gradually expend your food storage. There are those how recommend that one should storage a supply of food that will last a full year or even more, John Wiseman the author of the "SAS Survival Handbook" recommends one year. How much storage you think is enough is a matter of personal preferences but I suggest that you try to link your decision to a personal Risk Assessment that takes the specific risks for your situation into consideration.
What Should You Store?
My answer to this question is that you should store what you eat. Do NOT start to store food that you normally don’t eat or don’t like. The most important thing about food storage is that you learn how to rotate your food so that the food doesn’t become too old to eat. If you can’t rotate your food storage it will become a rotten investment.
The other aspect is that storing food should save money for you, not cost you additional money. Some foods like rice and pasta are much cheaper if you can buy large amount like a 10-20 kg bag instead of 20-40 small packages. If you use much crushed tomatoes, coconut milk or other canned food it’s a good idea to buy more of these, especially if you can find them cheaper during a sale. Make it a routine to check for deals at your local stores in the beginning of every week. This is where I recommend that you get started. Build up your storage gradually step by step.
The shelf life for different types of food varies highly. Un-grinded Wheat and Oats is often said to have an almost unlimited storage time if it’s stored cool and dry. If you decide to go for these kinds of staples you must get a grinder that can be used to grind these into flower that can be used to bake breads and make other foods. I recommend that you get a hand grinder that doesn’t require electricity to operate. Honey also has an extreme shelf life close to unlimited. The same goes for Salt and Sugar if they can be stored absolutely dry and cool. Salt is an extremely important addition to food and is very cheap to buy; it can also be used to conserve fish or game in a survival situation.
Canned food has different shelf life, often 3 to 5 years. The old canned food produced by the military have a very long shelf life and can often be eaten decades after they were produced if stored well even if the taste might not be the best. I have personally tried this kind of food that expired over ten years ago and did not become Ill. I do not recommend that you normally eat food with an expiration date that’s passed even if especially canned food often don’t present a problem. However during an emergency you might have to eat what’s available. If you ever unsure try to eat a little of the food first and wait for a few hours to see if you get ill. Then increase the amount, wait and see.
Cooking Oil can normally be stored for around 2 years, Olive Oil normally have a shorter shelf life than normal cooking oil. Powdered Milk can normally be stored for around 2 years, buy a little first and learn how to use it and make sure that you rotate it.
There are companies that sell food for emergency situations that can be stored over 25 years. The technique used is often to take freeze fried food, put it in cans and then replace the oxygen in the can with nitrogen to increase the shelf life even further. Mountainhouse is one company that uses this process and sells this type of products. However these solutions is ratter expensive and there is a good chance that you won’t like this food. Before you make a decision to order a large amount of food from these companies make sure to buy a smaller amount and test if you really like this food. This is not a solution that I would normally recommend but if you have the storage space, money and believes it’s a good solution go for it. However if there never is an emergency when you need it, will you use it or eat anyway? A common similar subject among survivalists is to pack food in mylarbags and then use dry ice to replace the oxygen and increase the shelf life of different types of food. Another method is to learn home-canning. This may be a good alternative for long term storage but I would still suggest that you focus on building a food storage that you constantly rotate; this takes care of the problem of shelf-life since you constantly replace your stock.
Where you store is also very important. Store your food in a place that is a dry and as cool as possible. I also recommend that you get strong air tight containers that you store your food in. If you live in a house a root cellar is an ideal place to store many types of food. A root cellar also means that you can store potatoes and onions for much longer periods of time compared to storage in a refrigerator.
Special Food Products
Vitamins pills can be a good complement to your diet, but I suggest that you try to the most of your vitamins from eating fruits and vegetables. Canned fruit and dried fruit can be a good complement to regular food storage.
Ultra High Temperature (UHT) treated milk products have a much longer storage time than regular milk products and can often be stored for months in room temperature if not opened. UHT milk products often have a special taste and cost more than regular milk.
Swedish Hard Bread from the company Wasa called “Knäckebröd” has very much fibers and a very long storage time. I recommend that you try it out and see if you like it, if you do it’s a good complement to regular bread and it’s very healthy bread.
The size of the Portions, freeze portions
I’ve written this before in other posts but it’s worth saying again: One of the most important aspects is that you learn how cook food by yourself. Learn how to make all kinds of food. And learn how to make these foods from scratch; don’t buy the premade food that you only put in a pan and it’s done. The same goes for bread, learn how to bake it from scratch, put the bread you can’t eat right away in the freezer, it will keep the bread fresh and make it last much longer.
Another aspect that I recommend that everyone tries to do is to start making much food when you cook. Then make portions and freeze the food that you can’t eat right away, this way you will always have healthy food available. Start bringing the portions with you to work or school; this will save you a lot of money instead of eating out. And learn how much you eat, don’t make to big portions. It’s estimated that up to 40% of all food in the Western Worlds get thrown away, don’t put more food on your plate than you can eat. During a crisis situation or emergency this is extremely important, you can’t afford to throw your food away.
The Crisis Situation
Things that have to be stored cold in your refrigerator and freezer will be the food that’s going to waste the first if the electrical grid stops working. Start to eat this food before it goes to waste then move on to food that doesn’t have to be stored cold. A generator can be used to keep your refrigerator and freezer working for some time and prevent it from being spoiled during shorter black outs. If the crisis lasts a long time I suggest that you start to ration your food as fast as possible to make it last longer.
Stoves and Cooking
It’s also important that you get the equipment that allows you to prepare food in a crisis situation if the electric grid goes off line. I recommend that you get some kind stove like a Multi Fuel Stove, Trangia Stove, Gas Stove, Jetboil, Wood Stove, Heat-Pal or Esbit. If you intend to use the equipment for your home there are more stationary solutions that also can be used if you’re going camping and have the access to a snowmobile or other means of transport. Primus and Soto has some gas stoves with double heaters that excellent for these situations. There are also military cooking systems for many persons that often can be bought cheap as surplus. Make sure to include fuel to your stove. The safety aspect using these stoves is extremely important, they can cause fire, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide poisoning if used indoors. Only use them outdoors or in well ventilated locations. Keep a bucket of water, a fire extinguisher or fire proof blanket handy. Especially the stoves from Trangia must be used with extreme caution; the flame from the burner is often invisible. Get solid containers made from steel, aluminum or plastic safety bottles to the Trangia Stove and other Alcohol Stoves.
A Dutch Oven is a cast iron cooking vessel with lids that can be used to cook food over an open fire. They can also be surrounded with coal and used as an Oven to bake bread. The Muurikka is another excellent solution based on a cast iron/steel wok plate that can be used over an open fire to prepare food for an entire family. Both Dutch Ovens and Muurikkas are a bit too heavy if you have to carry your equipment on your back for longer distances. There are also other types of stoves that can be used together with wood and other pieces of fuel that you may find in your local terrain. The Vargo Hexagon Titanium Stove, The Kelly Kettle and The Nomad Camp Stove are some examples.
A Barbeque grill with either gas or coal is also an excellent complement in an emergency, but most importantly an excellent way to prepare food for party’s or dinners. Pressure cookers is also a very good way to prepare food, they allow you to cook food in high temperatures under pressure and conserves both water and energy in a crisis situation. They also allow you to prepare your food in a much shorter amount of time. Solar Owens is also something that’s often recommended as for cooking during a crisis situation.
Fishing, Hunting and Edible Plants
Fishing and Hunting can be an import addition to your diet during an emergency or crisis situation. This of course depends on your location, but if you’re planning to hunt or fish as a complement I recommend that you learn how to this before a crisis takes place and learn what really works in your terrain. There is solutions for fishing that don’t require your attention all the times like nets or rigs with lines and hooks. The same goes for hunting, you must learn all the practical aspect like tracking, where pray can be found, get the equipment, learn how to butcher, transport and prepare the food.
Edible plants, berries and mushrooms are an excellent addition to your diet that can add extra vitamins, nutrition and flavor. The same thing goes for edible plants as for fishing and hunting: You must learn where you can find these and how they look like before a crisis. If you don’t learn this you risk eating something poisonous and this can have a deadly outcome. Start with studying books, then take a course or follow an expert when they go picking mushrooms, berries or edible plants. You don’t want to learn what edible and not the hard way. During starvation situation it’s common that people will start to suffer and die from vitamin deficiencies like Beriberi (Vitamin B1) and Scurvy (Vitamin C). Learning what local plants that can provide vitamins can mean the difference between life and death.
Another topic often discussed is to produce different kinds of food yourself by gardening and farming. If you have big garden or live on the country side this can be a very good complement to food storage, even if you live in apartment in the city you can grow some herbs and fruit in a small scale on a balcony. There are some experts that recommend the storage of seeds that can be used after extreme kind of crisis situations; if you’re considering this I suggest that you to start to learn this process right now. Get to know what will grow the best in your climate and soil conditions. This will require a rather large amount of time, land, knowledge, equipment and hard work. A good way to conserve fish, meat, berries, fruit and mushrooms is to dry the food. There is excellent equipment that’s used to dry food such as the electrical Evermat.
If you’re going camping or have to carry food during an evacuation I suggest that you mainly go for light weight food like freeze dried rations. Meals Ready to Eat (MRE:s) has the main advantage that they don’t have to be prepared before you eat them, but they have a high weight compared to freeze dried food. Freeze dried food can be bought in portion sized bags, all you have to is to add hot water into the bag and wait for a couple of minutes. If your hiking or camping an area with a limited supply of water MRE:s is a better alternative. I especially like the freeze dried food from DryTech, Blå Band Expedition Meal and Trekn Eat myself. Sea To Summit makes a extra aluminum long spoon that great if you want to eat straight from the bag. Powerbars or Protein bars can be a good addition as a snack during an emergency situation. A trail mix made of chocolate, nuts and raisins is also good. Dried elk, reindeer meat or beef jerky is another alternative.
Psychological and Physical Reactions to Starvation
Hunger and Famine have serious psychological and physical effects. Most people can go for up to three day without food without any serious reduction in their physical and mental capabilities. After this time the lack of food stops to be an inconvenience and starts to become an obsession. Most other considerations starts to become secondary and food occupies both thoughts and even dreams. If people are denied the access to food they can become very violent and get ready to take it from others how posses it. People may even get ready to kill in order to get to food, this have even taken place among friends during expeditions.
As people start to lose body weight they also starts to constantly feel cold. Common reactions are apathy, depression, irritation, emotional instability. When the access to food becomes scares in a society civil unrest and hunger riots are common results. When all reserves are used the body starts to break down organs. Losing around half of the body weight is not uncommon, survivors from prisoner of war camps and concentration camps have often had a weight between 30-40 kilograms. Starvation presents other dangers since it makes people more vulnerable to hypothermia and infections. Severe hunger also breaks down the normal moral that people have, prostitution in order to get food, stealing, robbery and even murder may take place.
In the early stages of this situation it is very important that you eat everything you can from the very start. Even if there is food that you don’t like or would never eat during normal circumstances. When people get hungry enough this stops becoming a problem but by then you will have loosed valuable energy and time if you can’t master the will to eat everything from the beginning. I suggest that you learn to eat everything by training at doing this now, take the food you like the least and learn to eat it. It also take time to recover from starvation, normally it takes one to two months to recover from medium levels and more than half a year from severe situations
Overweight
Overweight a big problem in most western countries; it’s a much bigger problem than people getting to little food in this part of the world. Too much food, snacks, candy, soft drinks, bier and other unhealthy food in combination with too little exercise creates this problem. Overweight can be a major problem for your personal health; overweight brings big problems both in a short and long term perspective. A common way to measure if your weight is normal is the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurment. The Body Mass Index is calculated by taking your weight in kilograms and divides it by your length (in meters) in square. Normally a BMI between 18,5 and 25 is considered a normal weight, a BMI between 25 and 30 as overweight and BMI over 30 as obese. The BMI does not measure a person’s body fat so it is not necessary a perfect indictor for health but it can give you an indicator concerning your health.
This is never an easy problem to overcome and you need to change your lifestyle in order to get rid of the problem. If you stop eating candy, sweets and starts to only drink water instead of sodas you’re well on your way. Start to exercise at least three times a week. The problem is often a result of the people around you and their habits, try to get your family, partner and friends onboard. It’s harder to make changes if your family and friends don’t change their unhealthy habits as well. Alcohol also contains many calories and if you drink too much cut down or stop completely.
Breakfast is a very important meal that shouldn’t be skipped. Make sure to eat a healthy breakfast every day and make this into a routine. Eat Lunch and Supper at regular times and make a habit of don’t skipping meals. If you want a snack in between meals eat a fruit or sandwich.
Also see:
Water during Emergency and Survival Situations
Peak Oil
The Limits to Growth
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