Survivalist: The first three days of a catastrophe. What would you do?

I dont think I would be prepared, but I know enough to survive without society.

my question is what does one do, if a huge disaster occurs, and they dont trust something like FEMA, were do you go for help I mean you will pretty much have to go with them to anyplace they take you, then who knows how long you could be contained there.

Would it be wise to hide from such agencies, and try to survive on your own, then maybe get an outside look at what they are doing? and go for help if it is really legitimate?

Lets look again at the scenario... You actually SAW the mushroom cloud and there WAS an EMP that affected all your equipment.

Even if it was only a single detonation in the US, Martial Law would be immediately declared and the troops would be out in short order. You aint going no where in a car unless it's very close by. Forget about it.

The very first thing a smart person would do is check the wind direction. I noticed not one of you mentioned that so you are all dead by now. Fallout IS going to be a serious problem. Which way the wind is blowing determines how much time I have. I can be packed with all I need in an hour, less if I must. The next thing I would do is bug out... hoist the sails and get far away fast. I have a destination but I am not sharing it, sorry. I can sail there and get in deep until it is safe to pop my head up for a peek. Everything I need to survive is on the boat and if it gets destroyed in the strike I know where I can find others.

I do not know if it was an isolated strike or if all hell has broken loose and they finally screwed the pooch. If it is all out nuclear annihilation then getting as far away from targeted territory (the entire US of A) is crucial. If it is an isolated strike or terror bomb things are still very bad. Martial law. Revocation of rights that would make the Patriot Act seem like a boy scout pledge. Civil unrest. Food and medical shortages. Radiation woes. Disease outbreaks. Travel bans. Forced relocation. Don't even think about drinking any surface water down wind of the fall out. A pool full of water is just another radiation bath for your gut.

If you think Katrina was a mess, that would be small time compared to the aftermath of a nuclear strike on US soil. Remember during Katrina, the police were abandoning their posts and looting. The national guard and hired paramilitary groups were shooting people. Private citizens were shooting people and outlying towns were refusing access to survivors at gunpoint. Hospitals were non functional. The government abandoned the people and still are for many. FEMA still hasn't gotten their act together and many still have received no assistance. Looting, rape, murder will be a serious problem just like it was in Katrina.

Having a generator will just attract attention and what do you need one for anyway? You want to turn on the lights in your house so everyone can see that you have what they need? They will steal it from you and if you're lucky, leave you alive. If you have ever seen real civil unrest you will know that people get ugly. Civilized behavior goes out the window when survival is at stake and your good neighbor Bob is just as likely to stomp on you as the next guy if his survival counts on it.

Remember... you saw a mushroom cloud from your front porch... either pull out the lawn chair and sip some scotch while waiting to die.... Or get very serious about survival. Robbing the gas station for cigarettes is the type of foolish behavior that marks you as a victim and soon to be one of the body count.

Originally posted by acura_el2000
I dont think I would be prepared, but I know enough to survive without society.

my question is what does one do, if a huge disaster occurs, and they dont trust something like FEMA, were do you go for help I mean you will pretty much have to go with them to anyplace they take you, then who knows how long you could be contained there.

Would it be wise to hide from such agencies, and try to survive on your own, then maybe get an outside look at what they are doing? and go for help if it is really legitimate?

The best thing you can do is prepare, prepare, prepare. Prepare for as many variables as you can, you should seek out all the other survivalist threads on this forum, there is some good information in them. Also there are some good websites you can search for. As Terapin said a major concern in a nuclear engagement is Radiation but your preperations should encompass many possibilities of disaster. And remember even the best laid plans can go awry so be prepared to think on your feet.

The only person you can trust when it comes to life and death is you.

Your senerio reminded me of a quote

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Revelation 6.15f

Preparation does not just mean storing food and water. How have you prepared your self physically and mentally? What useful training and experience do you have? How many of you have emergency medicine skills? Not just first aid, but serious training. What would you do if someone in your care, or even yourself was seriously injured and no help from outside was forthcoming? Do you know what wild plants and animals are both safe to eat and nourishing. Do you know how to forage enough to get by on. Do you have tracking skills? Can you hunt, kill, and prepare wild game and do so while staying concealed? I know lots of guys who go out hunting with their buddies from time to time, stay in a cozy cabin or tent with plenty of provisions to keep them full until the finally manage to catch a deer. Do you have what it takes to hunt for survival on a regular basis? Can you hunt without a gun? How many languages do you speak? Are you skilled in personal combat if it should come to that?

There is so much more to being prepared than simply stocking up on items. The most important thing to stock up.. is your brain.

DAY 1
Grab the family and head down to the fully stocked safe room. Seal the door go to the faraday protected cabinet in the corner of said safe room and pull out the individually faraday protected items. AM FM radio, 10 meter ham, D C AA 9 volt and AAA batteries. Geiger counter Deep cell battery's for Safe Cell portable NBC positive pressure emergency air filtration system.

DAY 2
Hook up the ham and try to communicate with distant family members. Get out the hand crank charger for deep cell batteries but hope I don't have to because ime lazy.

DAY 3
do a check with Geiger and go out if safe then make the decision then if we bug out or hucker down. longer.

Am I the only one that seems to think that beer and cigarettes are a necessity?

Good job Terapin where do you get all your info from?

Originally posted by 322bones
Day 2, if the waters out drain the central heating to avoid burst pipes,i have been told the sewers can create a blow back and flood your home with raw sewage if they are left untended so some supply's will go to the attic.

is this true?

Information on US civil defense plans and response is readily available and what happened during Katrina has been widely published. I have seen first hand civil unrest overseas and have some understanding how unruly things can get.

As for personal preparation. well since childhood I seem to have inadvertently acquired several useful skills, without any specific thought for planning on future disaster. I am a certified EMT (Emergency Medical Technician... The guys who drive ambulances.) Although I never wanted to do that for a living I knew it would come in very handy. It has proved very useful as I have set broken bones, dealt with severe burns, lacerations, infections, insect poisons, and even had to resort to suturing a wound when it was the only option far from civilization. I also have advanced lifesaving and water rescue training as well as training in chemical and radiological accidents. I have traveled extensively and often in very remote areas. I have sailed everything from small sunfish to 115' tall ships (at the helm) and have also built ocean crossing sail boats. I have learned how to navigate without relying on a compass when necessary. I can track quite well (humans included) and have put it to the test when I found myself in a survival situation deep in the Amazon. I speak three languages fluently and do fairly well in several others. I am currently studying Mandarin, Chinese. I have been to every US State except North Dakota (is there anything worth seeing in ND?), walked from Massachusetts to Canada, Hiked much of the Apalachiian Trail, camped out in places as diverse as Death Valley, to Alaska, to the Amazon, as well as several other locations overseas. All of this is outside my professional work and simply done on my personal time. I happen to enjoy getting out and about and seem to prefer remote areas.

Certain skills can be very useful in regular life, and also carry over to basic human survival. Knowing how to keep safe and healthy, fill your belly, and sleep in a warm shelter is just common sense. Having the skills to build useful items is both marketable and a benefit to survival. Anyone can fill the basement up with nonperishable goods and water but once that runs out you need to have the ability to fend for yourself.

Beer.... Yumm but I don't think I'd be lugging a keg around when the fit hits the shan. Smoking is for losers. If you want to feed the corporate nicotine peddlers at the cost of your health I have no sympathy for you. Homo Sapiens evolved as long distance runners so they could hunt and kill game on foot. I'll be at camp with a full belly while you will still be wheezing on the trail.

Regarding Sewer blowback. Yes, there are situations where sewage blowback can occur, but it all depends on how your local town system is set up.

[edit on 3-12-2006 by Terapin]

When the nuke goes off close enough for you to see it, you better get the heck away from civilization. Also lets say it is a nuclear disaster, when one city gets nuked in anger, there is an excellent chance that every major city, and military installation in the northern hemisphere will also be hit by up to 5 1-megaton devices. You better be at least 75 miles away from a 1-megaton bomb, or the gamma radiation will fry you.

So in this scenario, i would grab every weapon, rifle, pistol, shotgun, and 1000's of rounds of ammo, and tent and sleeping bag, and canned food item and bottled water that would fit in my vehicle and run for my life. If i ran out of gas i'd find a new vehicle, or get some gas somewhere. Getting away from other people and cities is a must in this scenario. All else is 2nd place. If you can leave town in less than an hour you will have the best chance.

Lets say it is an isolated case, and one nuke goes off, and it happens to be in the town next to you.... Still RUN!!!!!

If i'm in New Mexico, which I am, and a Nuke goes off in any city on earth, I am going to ditch civilization for at least 2-weeks, or until I think the situation is sorted out to the point that there will be no reprisal.

In case of global nuclear war, everyone on the planet is in BIG trouble, but you can survive, and surviving this situation is crucial for the Human race, and maybe, those who did survive could make a better human race, one that doesn't make WMD's and one that attempts to live in balance with nature.

In this extreme scenario, the Northern hemisphere will be bathed in radiaton within a week or so, so you need to get to south america or africa as soon as possible. You will have the best chances of survival there, and it might be safe to return to the northern hemisphere within O say 50-100 years.

Get far away from ground zero as possible( if you even survived)
bring a knife, an axe and saw, sheet of clear tarp, compound bow and arrows( if you run out you can carve your own arrows), enough warm clothes for an army, my wits, water bottles or canteen. thats all you need.Go to a resource rich area such as a forest or steppe. stay away from civilization forever. Pistols and rifles are the last thing I would worry about.
If there was a nuclear war, we are screwed no matter what we do. same goes for bio weapons war. the only way you would survive a nuclear blast is if you were 200 to 300 miles away from ground zero, or you had prior knowledge that it was going to happen in which case you went to a fallout shelter.

Well, since my wife was raised a mormon and taught the skills of surviving in this type of scenario I think I would take it easy for a few days. You know take the dog for a walk, that is if I was up wind of the atomic explosion. If I was down wind I would take the dog and the wife into our nifty makeshift bomb shelter, i.e. basement and wait out the apocolypse. I'm paranoid and have plenty of guns and ammunition and I'm sure that 48 hour pack would come in handy.

I like this topic, even though I as yet have not prepared a "survival kit" or rations I am constantly thinking about it and checking on the net what I really do need. I know I should have done it yesterday for who knows whats around the corner, right? anyway this is what I currently think I would do -

DAY 1 - as soon as saw the mushroom cloud in the distance, and as you state theres no electricity, I'd get my wife to firstly fill every single container/ bathtub, bucket ect with water, then get the first aid kit close at hand and start packing one box with the longest lasting foods we have in the house in case we gotta load the truck up quickly and leave.

Me, I run to the neighbours in my street as I know some of them hunt and quickly organise my own little militia in our street to protect our families and to quicly organise a "ram raid" of the local supermarket as soon as possible with about 3 of us, all armed and all ready to shoot anyone else trying to get in our way. dont care who the hell they are, its every man for himself. Get as many supplies as the truck can carry and with as little casualties as possible rush home and store the food/supplies. If we can to this 2 or 3 times in the first day before supplies run out that'd be good. even raiding local farms for vegetables/wheat/potatoes.

DAY 2 - Hopefully have organised my small street of about 18-20 homes with barricades at each end, all ammuniton and weapons organised and early this morning organise a daring raid at the local gunstore for more ammo and weapons if necessary. Have a couple blokes stay behind and protect our homes and families, and have an audit of what evryone has for the benfit of all in our street.

DAY 3 - I know of two different places both about 45 mins drive away in opposing directions in the hills where I could get natural spring water. Maybe collect as many containers that a group of 4 in two trucks can carry and head of to get as much clean water as we can while we can. Not sure what else really to do other than to barricade our little street and hold tight for now. Maybe even try and slowly increase our little safety corridor to the next street and hopefully the rest of the estate in time, without dramas if possible.

Dont know if this is the right thing to do, I reckon you should at the same time as this happens stock up on food/water as well as workout your immediate security needs.

What do you guys think?

Originally posted by Melbourne_Militia
Me, I run to the neighbours in my street as I know some of them hunt and quickly organise my own little militia in our street to protect our families and to quicly organise a "ram raid" of the local supermarket as soon as possible with about 3 of us, all armed and all ready to shoot anyone else trying to get in our way. dont care who the hell they are, its every man for himself. Get as many supplies as the truck can carry and with as little casualties as possible rush home and store the food/supplies. If we can to this 2 or 3 times in the first day before supplies run out that'd be good. even raiding local farms for vegetables/wheat/potatoes.

The problem with that is like you said every man for himself. I dought your neighbors will be willing to follow your leadership in such a situation, they may have in mind the same thing you do but with there leadership. People are funny that way.

DAY 2 - Hopefully have organised my small street of about 18-20 homes with barricades at each end, all ammuniton and weapons organised and early this morning organise a daring raid at the local gunstore for more ammo and weapons if necessary. Have a couple blokes stay behind and protect our homes and families, and have an audit of what evryone has for the benfit of all in our street.

again everybody else has that in mind to, so compotition will be fierce. Barricades are IMO a bad thing. It points a big sign at your street saying hay ive got supplies that ime guarding come and take them. Best bet on that would be to keep a low profile. if you dont drew attention to yoerself nobody will know your there to come and try to take your stuff.

DAY 3 - I know of two different places both about 45 mins drive away in opposing directions in the hills where I could get natural spring water. Maybe collect as many containers that a group of 4 in two trucks can carry and head of to get as much clean water as we can while we can. Not sure what else really to do other than to barricade our little street and hold tight for now. Maybe even try and slowly increase our little safety corridor to the next street and hopefully the rest of the estate in time, without dramas if possible.

The whole spring thing is a lucky break for you, but youy may want to figure out how long it will take on foot because the odds of the roads being blocked are high.

Dont know if this is the right thing to do, I reckon you should at the same time as this happens stock up on food/water as well as workout your immediate security needs.

What do you guys think?

I personally thing you should get your kits made and reley on your self. If you hooked on the neighborhood thing have it set up ahead of time. Remember human nature tells us to protect our own.

Remember that if there is a nuclear explosion, and there are survivors such as yourself, then there will also be government and military survivors as well. Arming your neighborhood for the purpose of mass looting will only bring the heat down upon your head and you will get shot by the military for organizing a mob of criminals. It would be far wiser to keep a low profile than to become a warlord.

If you haven't prepared beforehand, then you can either become a mob, or hope for outside help. If you're lucky, perhaps you can sneak away before trouble starts. Mobs break down quickly as there is no organized structure. No established leader and chain of command. No discipline. What happens when someone in the mob doesn't like your ideas and decides to take all you have and kick you out. Maybe they will keep your wife for entertainment while you get run out of town. Mobs are ugly at best, and if you have ever witnessed one first hand like I have, then you would want nothing to do with them. As I said earlier, your good neighbor Bob will jump on you if he feels like his survival is at stake.

I, like most people, have no plan, no supplies and no prearranged meeting places with family or friends. I can almost say with absolute certainty that the events described by the poster would never unfold that way for me.

I live in scotland far away from any primary targets i can think of for a nuclear strike, i would most probably be able to gather a much wider stream of information before it was time to do get properly into action. (but for the sake fo this discussion i will play along and say i see the mushroom cloud etc)

DAY 1
As soon as i found out, i would try to get all the food i have in my house and load it up into my car along with basic shelter - tools etc you get the idea, fill up a few days supply of water just enough for my immediate needs. Now i need a place to go. it would depend on the wind direction. I cant really go east, because their aint much land that side of me and the only possible target is to the east. Im left with North South or West.

The roads to the south would be jammed, so for the furthering of this post i will go north west towards the highlands.

DAY 2
if im lucky i will have arrived at my destination and now and have some sort of an idea of what the hell is going on courtesy fo my car radio. Now its time to try and get some rest and make a plan.

DAY 3
would have to be dedicated to trying to get some fresh food and water from the surroundings presuming that i can do teh things i think i can then their is a a good chance i can survive long enough to find out if its worth the effort trying ot survive or if its time to go commit suicide..

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Reading that back its actualy quite obvious that i have never given it any thought. It must be a good idea for everyone to think about thsi some more but it is asking a bit much for your average joe to stockpile what some of the members on this forum have.

Again live in a little english town with every1 over the age of 50 so nearenuf dead ne ways, tdbe cool to see how the gov handle it thou, like to see tony get right pissed of