Long Term Survival Shelters

My shelter woould be McDonalds....roof ...heat included...and they would leave chicken nuggets behind....made in the shade.......

"Although many believe being in the middle of nowhere is safer I believe being in or near to a city is better. When everyone scarpers or dies off the survivors with have access to unlimited supplies of everything. "

Umm, not to burst your bubble or anything but ....what do you think the people IN those cities might be doing? You think they are going to just politely die off in a timely fashion, while leaving good, useful supplies lying around waiting for you to pick them up? A standard city has a week's supply of most usable goods for its population AT BEST. Food, medicine, tools, consumables like fuel, and other things which CAN be used up, WILL be used up long before you come rolling in to scoop up the "loot". What you WILL have is a lot of scavengers (human and animal) to fight off, a ton of debris and useless power dependant items (tv's, stereos, etc.), and a thriving community of diseases in the living and the dead all around you. Not the place I would want to visit, on the off-chance of finding something I 'can't live without'. - Celticwarrior, Michigan

I would of thought the simple answer to the question of long term survival shelter would be a fairly simple one .We at the moment have the luxury of calling them houses in any long term survival situation you would have to be able to provide everything a house does at the moment maybe with added security but still houses.Perhaps some ideas can be gained by looking at history people have been living in built structures for a long while.

In my opinion a vehichle of any sorts is not a good idea should all h%^&ll break loose. I am in the belief that on foot and within a days hike is the best remedy. This is easier for me as I live in the mountains of BC.
I have a few different places to "Bug out" too I would say this is a good idea for anyone. If your means and route to get to your place is blocked then what do you do.

We have wild horses in this area and I took it upon myself to place some hay bales ($4 from local farmer) in the areas I have as my "Bug Out" sites. Beyond attracting and befriending a horse this will also attract other large animals that will be off great benfit to you.

There is a TV series called "Survivor Man" excellent knowledge from this guy Les Shroud (sp?) I would highly recommend seeing his stuff. This guy and his wife actually went for a year in the northern Ontario region and with nothing but what he could make. A test of living back 500 years ago

Great post and always a good thing to think about.

Dependant on where you live, either a city, town, village or hamlet, in a severe weather orientated area, then I would say the best place is the very home you live in.

Ideally, you want a fortified house with a few acres of land in a rural less populated area that is quite a long way away from the nearest large town or city. Your choice should be dependant on weather or other natural disaster prone activities. Again Ideally, you want to be less dependant on utilities and be more self-sufficient, not only in energy needs, but in water and food production.

If you can acomplish the above well before TSHTF then you are well on your way to having a long-term survival shelter.

www.survivorman.ca...
Great knowledge here
Enjoy

Originally posted by salchanra

Originally posted by Amaxium
reply to post by salchanra

 

water procurement methods and purification without tablets or filters man-made
Just for starters

on the water procurement and purification. Ive havent given that much thought, but something I should look into. Aside from boiling and running through charcoal nothing pops in my head, any links on stuff you have found usefull?

2 things I know of that are near zero energy required.

Slow sand filter:

Slow Sand filter - was used in the UK

SODIS:

SODIS - water disinfecting thru solar UV radiation

There are other like Sublimated USP iodine and Chlorinating water
with bleach but those are finite exhaustible matierials only good for
portable bugout on foot water purification.

If you are allergic to shellfish, don't use the iodine.

Just my 2 cents...

Long term survival is going to depend on exactly what SitX is... My recommendation would be to be prepared for any number of contingencies. One cannot assume that you will be able to simply run off into the night carrying a yurt, teepee, concrete canvas shelter etc... One shoudl also not assume that you will have easy access to your hideaway - assuming that you will need to travel to get there. What is the roads are patrolled? Blocked? What about fuel? What if your BO Shelter has been compromised or is already being occupied? What if it has been destroyed?

The point I'm trying to make is that everyone always has this "one thing" that they are relying on when the SHTF but what if that no longer proves to be practical - do you curl up and die?

I am prepared to SIP (Shelter in Place) or BO (Bug out) - whichever I choose to do I am adeuquately prrepared as I understand the challenges inherent in each.

Let's look at some considerations...

Climate: If you are in a cold climate and do not have the luxury of an insulated shelter the most viable alternative would be an earthen structure as the geo-mass will hold and trap heat better than anything. The same could conceivably be said of hot weather climates. There are different ways to achieve geo-mass; mounds of soil, large rocks, etc... But one must first understand the principles governing the safe use of geo-mass for sheltering purposes.

Access to Resources: Water? Food? Hunting vs. gathering vs. farming? Wood for fires? Additional resources for building such as rocks, bricks, wood, lumber etc...?

Accessibility: Easy to find vs. hidden? How hidden or how easy to find? For whom? Accesible only by foot, by vehicle, by boat or some other means? High ground vs. low ground (A climate consideration as well).

I could go on and on and on and on - but I pray you get the point. If not, it is this - you will need to be prepared for a multitude of situations and be adaptable to each in order to effectively survive. If shelter were your only consideration, why not just wait for FEMA to round you up and throw you in a camp - you'll get 3 squares, water and shelter - for free! The point is that the type of shelter, it's location and countless other contingenicies are dependent upon your short-term and longer range goals.

Another poster recommended field manuals... I reccomend the US Army Survival Manual FM 21-76 and the SAS Survival Guide by John Wiseman. Both are available in pocket size for portability. I have also completed a number of survival courses taught by guides and retired military personnel and have engaged in about a dozen "Survival outings" sort of like Survivorman before that show even existed. There is no better prepapration than knowledge and practice.

Originally posted by WatchRider
This is wisdom, but better is to bugger off to the back of beyond with your team to dig-in.
THEN return to the cities after a year or so to reap the benefits

Well keep in mind those left alive in the city at that point are the
toughest, meanest, sneakiest bastards in the city.

I plan to bugout and never come back EVER unless full order
and a non-NWO government takes charge.

My choice for shelter is like you say "dig-in".

If we get Volcanic ,or more likely, Nuclear Winter it is going to be so cold
you will run out of firewood in most places, and the fallout will be on all
the wood and when you burn it then you will breath it and die.

I have a fallout shelter in my backyard, but it will only be a used in
a suprise attack as I live just north of a major city and do not want
to stick around for my own personal Mad Max movie.

So my plan is to get 3 feet of dirt between me and the outside world
with 2 or 3 good small vents, and bundle up with no fire.

Also a fire makes a smoke plume that can be seen for a long ways
unless you have some way to difuse the smoke.

Cold camp, out of sight and out of mind.

I may cook food at night, but a lot of my rations saved up do not
require cooking.

I plan to model mine on a mix of WW2 bunker, and underground home.

Security and stealth as the primary concerns and it will be made
with 3 feet or more of dirt to protect against fallout.

I am going to cover it with leaves until plants can overgrow it.

Tree sap or mud to keep the leaves from blowing away.

I have supplies cached at a few locations away from the city and
small caches along the route out.

My scenarios of concern:

1) Pakistan and India go nuclear
2) Israel almost gets over run and resorts to Nukes.
3) Israel bombs Iran nuke sites and que WW3.
4) The US keeps edging the missile shield all around Russia
and they resort to what their top general has threatened.

Russian general claims they have gone to preemptive strike policy

Yamantau - Bunker for 60,000+ in Russia

Good Luck to you all !



[edit on 5-1-2009 by Ex_MislTech]

Teepee was widely used in 17th and 18th centuries. Now it is used by nomads. I consider teepee to be the best shelter considering the cost, time and durability factors. Though durability need not be considered for teepee construction in picnic and tours, I have heard of teepees which lasted for 14 months when made with quality cloth and poles. Only some simple cuts, stitches and knots are involved in construction. Find easy ways on how to make a teepee

bury a sleeper cab under sand bags for a secure place to sleep and use an old minivan for storage and a dry place to hang during the day. camouflage everything. bury an old freezer to cool your food and use solar panels to supply 12v to your batteries so you can use your power inverter to run your microwave and other things?

most important things are hand tools, and really important is a good chainsaw and a 22 with a few thousand rounds of different style bullets.

the rest is learning to stay hidden and to learn survival

oops wrong thread sorry

1) Have friends
2) Appropriate a local school building with those friends
3) Fortify the school
4) Recruit others to the cause

I'm a big fan of schools as SHTF bases. They usually have decent security construction, fencing, open area around buildings, etc. (and of course, cafeterias and food storage). Some even have a decent infirmary.