You are at home and an EMP burst goes off

first thing i would do is take all of my backup gadgets out of the faraday cage and get them all charged up via solar panal. then try to find out whats going on with either the shortwve or scanner.

Pour all the water from the tap I could into my 5 gallon jugs before public water fails, Strap on my guns, sling my rifle. Grab all my rice, beans and other dry and canned food and ammo and put it in a centralized, defensible place setup for easy transport out of the home in case of emergency. Then setup my telescopes on the deck of my home and enjoy a VERY dark, clear night sky for the first time in the DC area. My neighborhood is filled with illegals and other misc. low lifes so I would have to be on alert 24/7 unfortunately.

I think I would walk straight to my local Tesco, load up a trolley with two months of food, and since I'd probably have no means of payment that worked (credit cards etc), I'd just walk straight out the door with the goods before the police arrived to start protecting the place.

Originally posted by frugal
. Seek shelter under a highway bridge for 72 hours incase its a nuclear event..

edit on 15-2-2011 by frugal because: spelling

How will hiding under a bridge help you if it was a Nuclear event???

Anyway there will be no room for middle class people under bridges by that stage...

Originally posted by Troofseeker
I think I would walk straight to my local Tesco, load up a trolley with two months of food, and since I'd probably have no means of payment that worked (credit cards etc), I'd just walk straight out the door with the goods before the police arrived to start protecting the place.

Yea you and 50,000 other people at the exact same time?? you really think there will be a spare trolly???

Originally posted by JDBlack
If I have guns hunt for seagull, rabbit, etc,

Two REALLY good examples of the first things i would hunt for.....

Seagull??? Really dude? Do you know how filthy those maggot packs are? Rabbit ok, but even before rabbit, there are easier and Tastier food options than SEAGULL

THis is an important question the OP brings up. This isnt the time to say to him/her "I think you need to go outside for a while!" - Our society is reliant on technology in everything we do. I know people who freak out if they cant get service on their cell for a couple minutes, imagine all of it being rendered useless! People are going to freak out.

Would HAM radios be affected by an EMP blast, I imagine they wouldn't be, with the "di pole" antennae system
Then there's ex military hardware the hand crank type linked with cabling crude i know but effective, All said and done i think i would be fairly confident of my ability to survive, Along with family and friends.

Originally posted by grindhouzer

Originally posted by JDBlack
If I have guns hunt for seagull, rabbit, etc,

Two REALLY good examples of the first things i would hunt for.....

Seagull??? Really dude? Do you know how filthy those maggot packs are? Rabbit ok, but even before rabbit, there are easier and Tastier food options than SEAGULL

i love the smell of seagulls in the morning!


lol, penguins are meatier.

break open the grog & playing cards.

I think this is the part where you need to know what happened if possible and plan to bug out or dig in till civilization catches up and repairs the damages.
So I would have to say look for explosion to see if there is danger of fallout or even if you and your family are under active threat from an invader - foreign or domestic.
Listen for sounds of gunfire, aircraft, tanks or troops heading down the road.

If you are unable to ascertain the circumstances and results of the emp and what is going on... flip a coin or pray to see if you should bug out or not.

If you planned for a bug out scenario - hope you have a few spare fuses and car parts in your bug out plans to fix your car. Gather your supplies and head out the door collecting loved ones on the way.

I would say if it was an attack scenario then you should do all of the above in less than 10 15 min and be on the road as fast as possible... to avoid lock down and martial law issues either from your Gov. or the one invading.

If you are unsure... if its an attack and a fight or flight scenario and you don't know what to do...
Sit down with your guitar and a drink and entertain yourself until they come for you... whoever they are.

reply to post by fooks


What about seal meat and its blubber ? how do you extract the blubber for heating lamps and wicks for lamps never really understood the principle behind it, We got hundreds of them around this part of the world, All they do is foul every where and eat the depleted fishing stock, I am sure a few wont be missed.

Originally posted by grindhouzer

Originally posted by Troofseeker
I think I would walk straight to my local Tesco, load up a trolley with two months of food, and since I'd probably have no means of payment that worked (credit cards etc), I'd just walk straight out the door with the goods before the police arrived to start protecting the place.

Yea you and 50,000 other people at the exact same time?? you really think there will be a spare trolly???

most people would have no idea what happened, they'd just sit at home and expect the problem to fix itself, giving you a few hours headstart

as for me... well, most motorcycles shouldn't contain any complex electronics... certainly not anything that couldn't be fixed/bypassed easily. no idea where i'd go though
but i certainly wouldn't stay in the city.

Farm a piece of land whether it's my back garden or something else and live a simple life until the city folk have stopped eating each other

Originally posted by grindhouzer

Originally posted by frugal
. Seek shelter under a highway bridge for 72 hours incase its a nuclear event..

edit on 15-2-2011 by frugal because: spelling

How will hiding under a bridge help you if it was a Nuclear event???

There will be no room for middle class people under bridges by that stage...

Well.... to find shelter and to stay out of nuclear fallout. Shower caps and ponchos should be in the bug out bag
for walking away fom the car for each family member. There is a retired nuclear physist who worked for the government lists many of these ideas on the internet. She started her own survival online merchandise supply store.
She suggests putting an EMP alarm next to your bed, and wearing a dosimeter.... driving with your radio on and if it turns off get out of the car and immediately unhook the battery cables.
You also have to worry about what will happen to the nuclear power plants when the electricity fails/ ends.
People who travel from the East coast to the Midwest through the mountains would have no problem finding vacated bridges (overhead I passes) and tunnels to take cover in. If your car stops you need to get off the road and find better shelter.

I'm at home and an EMP burst goes off?

Pack my bags and go off to China! There's plenty of lead out there. Enough to shield me from the next EMP.
But Hey! Why go to China? There's plenty of lead in Chinese toys sold here!

for less than $200 you can have electricity "mobile" at all times!!!

items needed

1 12 volt battery
2 inverter 1500 watt should be enough $99 if caught on sale..
3 4-6 survival shovels
4 car alternator/or old tractor style generator

5 running water...creek....

shovels make nice paddles for wheel to spin car alt...to supply current to battery, then the inverter, to give you AC power, and DC....I have found that DC loses less efficiency, and use lots of 12volt LED instead of old school lighting. Truck stops have lots of this ...cheap!

If your mechanically inclined at all you can use step pulleys you robbed from the belly of an old mower deck to spin up the RPM's a bit.....

Hint #1 newer car alts....don't start making power until around 1200 rpm...some as high as 2000 rpm "internal regulators"
Good reason to go with the one wire style tractor gen/alt....it gives power at all speeds..but needs a voltage regulator to keep from over charging your batts...

First I'd get on the tallest building and shout as loud as I can "I'M AN ATS MEMBER AND WE TOLD YOU SO!!!"

Then I'd get my fishing gear, ruck kit, as many cigarettes as I can. Pack them in a canoe, and go upriver to an extremely isolated area and make camp. Isolated areas are plentiful and only a day or twos hard paddling upstream in a remote forest. I wouldn't want to spend a lifetime there, but after a short while my camp would be self sufficient. I'd just ride out the storm as best as possible and surmise the situation.
Relaxed with a clear head, I would be just fine, and ahead of the game when rejoining the populace.

I have only read a small portion of the post's here so someone may have already said this but what do you people think an EMP is a prelude to???? the Ica Age that just take's some getting used to?It would be the begenning of war,not some walk in the park that all the naturalist would get off on.

What do you think would follow is a better question and what would you do about that?

reply to post by JDBlack


I start filling ever available container with water. The tub, sinks, buckets, etc. Most public water supplies maintain pressure with a water tower, so even without power there should be water available for a small amount of time.