If And When A Real Disaster Hits Home

When the food, water or economic system breaks down, there is a danger of civil unrest and contamination. Living through an emergency scenario is 50 percent psychology, and 50 percent methodology and gear. You must not only feed your body, but also protect your supplies and self from others who did not prepare. You might even need to hunt small game or fish to eat, plant vegetables, or search for food and water. You should partner with trusted people a good distance from your location in case you must quickly vacate your area. A small organized group of people increases your chances to survive a long term disaster. Plan what you will do in the event of each particular emergency situation that could unfold in an instance. Do not advertise to people that you are stocked and prepared for a disaster, this will create a problem for you. If traveling on foot, avoid other people, they will want what you have, they might shoot you from a distance.

How could this be? If and when a real disaster hits home, many people will elect to not go to work and stay home to protect their families... believe it or not! All production comes to a screeching halt. No truckers, no police, no medications, no gas, no everything, empty grocery stores, etc., then opportunists, looters, and beggars hit the streets. Everybody not prepared will become your best friend or best enemy in a matter of days.

Although you cannot determine how long a particular disaster may last, you can anticipate who is included in your plan when a disaster is expected to last several weeks or longer. Long term, your chance of survival increases with a small group of people organized to implement your survival and self-protection plan, if you have one.

Determine who is included in your plan, how you will contact the individuals and when and where you will gather, and who is responsible to provide what skills, materials and supplies. Ideally, the gathering place should provide 30 to 360 days of food and water for each person and other supplies depending on the type of disaster. The supplies available should be as much as possible as described below. Begin to gather your supplies and prepare or modify your designated shelter area to accommodate your plan as soon as possible. Or at least, start thinking about it now.

Many people think that they can simply drive away from the threat or BUG-OUT. In some disasters, it could be possible. But most likely, bugging out will only make your chances of survival or comfort even worse. Too many anxious people all on the road at the same time is a disaster itself. For miles and miles, hotels will be filled or closed, food will be scarce or none, and gas stations will be closed or empty. After you run away, returning will be difficult or even impossible. So be prepared and plan to BUNKER-IN and protect your supplies unless you have no other option and must BUG-OUT.

Although the worst of disasters may only last a few months or so, a good food and water supply will be needed until a normal food supply system can be correctly and completely established near you. You are on your own (YOYO).

14 Known Types Of Possible Disasters

Hurricanes bring wind, many times in excess of 155 mph, rain, and floods, and leave a path of destruction that may take years to overcome. A hurricane could leave you without water, food, shelter, and power for several days or weeks, grocery stores might be sold out of all of their essential foods. Every business providing emergency essentials could be sold out or even destroyed. You may need shelter, food, water, extra clothing, bedding, tents, and medicines for weeks, months or even longer.

Tornados are nature's most violent storm and indiscriminately strike without warning. A tornado appears as a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damaged paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. You may need food, water, extra clothing, bedding, tents, and medicines for weeks, months or even longer.

Earthquakes strike suddenly without warning, putting your disaster preparedness plan to the test. Earthquakes can be violent, and strike at any time of the day or night. If an earthquake occurs in a populated area, it may cause many deaths and injuries and extensive property damage. Although there are no guarantees of safety during an earthquake, you can prepare to survive an earthquake and the terrible after effects.

Power Outages can have many causes - hurricane, tornado, fire, winter storm, brown out, flood, wind damage, earthquake, power plant failure, terrorist or cyber-attack, or a nuclear or electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack . Whatever the cause, a local power outage is easier to get through when you are prepared. The refrigerator will no longer work and the food inside will quickly spoil. If the power is out for less than 2 hours, the food in your refrigerator and freezer are generally safe to consume. While the power is out, keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to keep food cold as long as possible. Additionally, power outage may affect water purification systems, and they may not be functioning properly. Safe water for drinking, cooking, and personal hygiene includes bottled, boiled, or treated water. Given that the refrigerator is where most people keep the bulk of their food, it makes sense to have a backup food supply in case the power goes out for an extended period of time. An extended or global power outage for weeks or months or even longer could quickly cripple this country. So, preparing for a long term power outage is always a good idea.

Severe Winter Storms with heavy snowfall and extreme cold can immobilize an entire region. Severe winter storms can result in flooding, storm surge, closed highways, blocked roads, downed power lines and hypothermia and empty grocery stores. Make sure you are prepared for such disasters with emergency plans, survival food kits, warm clothing, warm bedding, and fuel powered or alternative heat sources.

Unemployment Or Declining Economy is something none of us want to go through or would expect. The term itself conjures up feelings of despair, helplessness, and fear. Are you prepared with an unemployment preparedness plan? The economic events of the recent past have made everyone feel less secure. Things that were once reliable now seem unsure. Although you may feel powerless to control everything in your life, one thing you can control is making sure your emergency food stock is plentiful in the event an economic downturn affecting your family in the form of job loss or unexpected unemployment. What would you do if you could not buy or afford to buy food for a month or even longer? How long would you be able to survive? Your personal unemployment preparedness plan should include emergency food or food kits with enough survival food for your family to survive until your personal financial crisis has ended.

Terrorist Attacks such as the September 11, 2001 attack and the subsequent anthrax incidents raised concerns about the security of America's food and water supply. Deliberate contamination of the nation's food or water supply is a real possibility and the economic and psychological implications of an attack on the food or water supply are sobering. Some foods are more susceptible to deliberate contamination than others, but there is no practical way one can eliminate the possibility of being affected. A good food and water supply will be needed until a normal food supply system can be correctly and completely established near you. Also a concern is a terrorist cyber-attack on our vulnerable power grid affecting a county, state, or even the entire country.

Pandemics such as COVID are defined as an epidemic of infectious disease that can spread through human populations across a large region, for instance a continent, or even worldwide. Throughout history there have been a number of pandemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis. More recent pandemics include COVID, the HIV pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Clean water and emergency kits stocked with enough food for weeks, months or even longer can limit exposure. Fewer trips out into public could literally spare you from being infected. Air handler turned off, all vents, doors and windows taped off with plastic and duct tape may be necessary depending on the severity of the pandemic. You might need plywood on vulnerable intruder entrances or other entrances to insure that nobody uninvited enters your shelter area. When indoor water access is needed, reserve water can be drained from a water pressure tank, hot water heater, and existing water in pipes, but will require water purification to drink the water. After a few weeks or months, the threat of danger from others will subside as the infected population will begin to die. After a few months or so longer, the infected population will be dead and the survivors should be able to go outside and begin to rebuild.

Biological Or Chemical Attacks or the effects of a dirty bomb explosion are one of the most difficult disasters to overcome. Although the affected area may be measured in miles, the area will be permanently destroyed with deadly air born chemicals. This disaster is a short term 100% bunker-in disaster. Your supplies will need to include tape and plastic to seal off all doors and windows in your shelter and you must remain inside for an extended period of time. A biological or chemical mask and suit will be needed to roam outside your shelter area. You can expect the remaining population to be out of control.

Nuclear Explosions can be intentional or accidental, but nonetheless another most difficult disaster to overcome. The explosion will cause instant death to thousands or millions in an instance. The aftermath will bring layers of ash that will cover the ground and surface and kill most plant and animal life that is not protected. The air and outside surfaces will be poisoned. To make matters worse, the sun will not shine through the darkened skies that could last for months or years. Without sunshine, plants and animals cannot survive and seeds will not grow. This disaster is a long term 100% bunker-in disaster. You can expect the remaining population to be out of control.

Nuclear Power Plant Explosion or melt down would be as devastating as a nuclear explosion as in the case of Japan.

FDA approved IOSAT Potassium Iodide Tablet works by saturating the thyroid with stable iodine so it will block the thyroid's absorption of cancer-causing iodine released from a nuclear reactor or nuclear bomb. The IOSAT Potassium Iodide Tablets includes 14 130-mg tablets.

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack represents one of the greatest threats imaginable-to the United States and the world. An EMP occurs when a nuclear device is detonated high in the atmosphere - a phenomenon of which American and America's enemies are well aware. The electromagnetic discharge can permanently disable the electrical systems that run nearly all civilian and military infrastructures. A massive EMP attack on the United States would produce almost unimaginable devastation. Communications would collapse, transportation would halt, and electrical power would simply be non-existent. Not even a global humanitarian effort would be enough to keep hundreds of millions of Americans from death by starvation, exposure, or lack of medicine. Nor would the catastrophe stop at U.S. borders. Most of Canada would be devastated, too, as its infrastructure is integrated with the U.S. power grid. Without the American economic engine, the world economy would quickly collapse. Much of the world's intellectual brain power (half of it is in the United States) would be lost as well. Earth would most likely recede into the "new" Dark Ages.

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) or a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields from the sun released into space. The sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima there is about one CME every five days. A coronal mass ejection releases huge quantities of matter and electromagnetic radiation into space above the sun's surface and farther into the planet system, or beyond (interplanetary CME or ICME). When the ejection is directed towards the earth and reaches it as an interplanetary CME (ICME), the shock wave of the traveling mass of solar energetic particles causes a geomagnetic storm that could disrupt the earth's magnetosphere.

Coronal mass ejections, along with solar flares of other origin, can disrupt radio transmissions and cause damage to satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting power outages.

The coronal mass ejection that occurred on September 1, 1859, referred to as the Carrington Event or the solar storm of 1859, took down parts of the recently created US telegraph network, started fires and shocked some telegraph operators. Today our country is comprised of hundreds of thousands of miles of electrical wiring and components such as radios, computers, cell phones, automotive computers, etc., that if instantly fried would immediately change the way we live for a very long time. No electric and no trucking can only spell disaster. Everything today is powered by some source of electric or electricity, you should plan for no food, no water, and no help for up to a year or more.

Near Earth Objects (NEOs) such as asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites have made contact with earth many times in the history of the earth when their orbits brought them into the inner solar system. These objects, collectively known as NEOs, still pose a danger to earth today. Depending on the size of the impacting object, such a collision can cause massive damage on local to global scales. There is no doubt that sometime in the future, earth will suffer another cosmic impact; the only question is "when?" There is strong scientific evidence that cosmic collisions have played a major role in the mass extinctions documented in earth's fossil record. That such cosmic collisions can still occur today was demonstrated graphically in 1994 when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and 21 fragments, some as large as 2 km in diameter, crashed into the atmosphere of Jupiter. If these fragments had hit earth instead, we would have suffered global catastrophes of the kind that inspire science fiction movies. The dangers posed by these intruders in the inner solar system are now the subject of serious scientific investigation.