Family Survival Guide 2 Family Survival Guide Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Why Prep? ................................................................................................................................................. 6 The First 5 Minutes Of A Crisis ...................................................................................................................... 7 Terrorist Lockdown ....................................................................................................................................... 8 What It Is .................................................................................................................................................. 8 What To Do In The First Five Minutes....................................................................................................... 8 Suggested Supplies & Preps ...................................................................................................................... 9 What’s Coming .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Winter Storm .............................................................................................................................................. 10 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 10 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 10 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 11 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 11 Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) ...................................................................................................................... 12 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 12 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 12 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 12 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 13 Volcano ....................................................................................................................................................... 14 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 14 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 14 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 14 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 14 Blackout/Power Outage .............................................................................................................................. 12 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 12 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 12 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 12 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 13 Martial Law ................................................................................................................................................. 14 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 14 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 14 3 Family Survival Guide Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 14 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 15 Riot, Flash Mob, or Demonstration ............................................................................................................ 16 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 16 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 16 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 16 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 17 Water Contamination ................................................................................................................................. 18 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 18 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 18 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 18 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Tropical Storm/Hurricane ........................................................................................................................... 19 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 19 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 19 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 19 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Tornado ....................................................................................................................................................... 20 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 20 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 20 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 20 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 20 Severe Thunderstorm (Lightning, Hail, Wind) ............................................................................................ 21 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 21 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 21 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 21 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 21 Pandemic Disease Outbreak ....................................................................................................................... 22 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 22 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 22 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 22 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 22 4 Family Survival Guide Financial Collapse........................................................................................................................................ 23 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 23 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 23 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 23 Nuclear Disaster .......................................................................................................................................... 24 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 24 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 24 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 24 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 24 Earthquake .................................................................................................................................................. 25 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 25 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 25 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 25 Fire (Wildfire, House Fire) ........................................................................................................................... 26 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 26 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 26 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 26 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Flood ........................................................................................................................................................... 27 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 27 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 27 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 27 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Food Shortage (Supply Interruption) .......................................................................................................... 28 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 28 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 28 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 28 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 28 Chemical Spill (Truck, Train Or Nearby Plant) ............................................................................................. 29 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 29 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 29 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 29 5 Family Survival Guide What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 29 Looting ........................................................................................................................................................ 30 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 30 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 30 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 30 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 31 Forced Evacuation....................................................................................................................................... 32 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 32 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 32 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 32 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Stranded (Vehicle Breakdown/Lost) ........................................................................................................... 33 What It Is ................................................................................................................................................. 33 What To Do In The First Five Minutes..................................................................................................... 33 Suggested Supplies & Preps .................................................................................................................... 33 What’s Coming ........................................................................................................................................ 33 6 Family Survival Guide Introduction When you think of “prepping” or “preppers”, do crazy images of bunkers, tin foil hats, and insane armories pop into your mind? Although certain parts of the prepping (aka self-reliance) community has that element, there are millions of other people, just like you and me who should be classified as preppers. In reality, prepping simply means making plans and preparations to care of yourself and your family in the event of a disaster. Similar to a business continuity plan for companies and institutions, prepping is a “business continuity plan” for you and your family. Why Prep? The government preps, big and small businesses prep, yet most families couldn’t survive longer than 2 days without outside assistance. Think about it. What if a big storm, like were to hit your area? How would you and your family fare without power? Do you have at least 1.5 gallons of water a day per person? How would you cook your food? If you get your water from a well how would you get it without electricity? Does this effect your ability to flush your toilets? We are not talking about a zombie apocalypse, or some unlikely Solar Flare/EMP thing which knocks out the power to the entire world. We are simply talking about a storm. My guess is that most Americans could not last without some form of outside assistance, or a trip to the supermarket for 2 days. How about the people effected by the Don Pedro Dam collapse in Northern California in 2017? Or the wildfires which happen every year across the country? What would you do if you got the warning alert to evacuate and only had 1 hour to pack up. What would you bring? Where would you go? Prepping is not just for those tinfoil hat wearing crazies (no offence if your reading this). It’s about giving you peace of mind that you and your family will be OK. It doesn’t matter what the emergency is, or what caused it, providing for you and your family simply makes sense. Why wait until a catastrophic event until you think about how you will protect your family? 7 Family Survival Guide The First 5 Minutes Of A Crisis If you’re like me, you worry. You worry about a LOT of things. A lot of people out there worry about all the dangers we all seem to face in this world. Those problems, those threats, sometimes seem overwhelming... but there is some good news. The good news is that you don’t have to be some kind of “doomsday prepper,” or spend a ton of time and money, to be prepared for ANY threat. The fact is, the first five minutes of any crisis is the most critical period of any emergency. That’s because the decisions you make during those first five minutes are what have the most effect on your chances of survival. If you have the right gear, and you read this guide, you will have everything you need to be prepared for those first five minutes. I’ve packed this little guide with a ton of “do this now” checklists that tell you EXACTLY what you should be doing during the first five minutes of any disaster. You don’t have to train like a prepper to survive each threat. You don’t have to go live in a faraway mountain survival retreat. You don’t have to let it affect your life much at all, really. You just need this guide, the checklists I’m going to provide you with, and a high-level overview of the threats you’ll face. 8 Family Survival Guide Terrorist Lockdown What It Is During a lockdown, the authorities take total control of the streets. Citizens must remain indoors wherever they happen to be. They can’t go out for milk or bread and the stores wouldn’t be open if they did. The populace in a lockdown is at the mercy of whatever the authorities dictate. The entire city of Boston was locked down when the authorities sought one of the two Boston Marathon bombers. The suspect was believed to be heavily armed and very dangerous. Citizens were ordered to stay in their homes while militarized police with assault weapons and armored vehicles patrolled the city searching for the fugitive. There were reports of police pointing their weapons at civilians watching from windows. This was one of the most powerful examples of a terrorist lockdown ever to occur in the United States. If you think it can’t happen to you, think again. Terrorist attacks are not a question of if, but a question of when. There have been major attacks in the United States before, and there will be another attack in your lifetime (and possibly several). Our enemies have made it very clear that they intend to visit as much destruction on us as they can, by whatever means necessary. If a terrorist attack occurs in your city, a lockdown is likely to occur, even if suspects are not at large, as the authorities attempt to reestablish order. Free movement is, for those in charge, chaos. They lock down the area in an attempt to reduce variables and assert control. That control is area-wide. It is no guarantee of safety for your individual family. If you are not prepared for a terrorist lockdown, you face three main threats: 1. The terrorist suspects could come to your home if it is not secured. 2. You could catch a stray bullet or be fired on mistakenly by the authorities 3. You could be caught without enough supplies and your family could go hungry or thirsty while the lockdown is under way. What To Do In The First Five Minutes Lock your doors and secure your home, drawing all shades and window blinds. Stay away from the windows and do not silhouette yourself in them. Secure family members in the center of the house, where the most number of walls exists to absorb bullets (which will pass through at least one exterior and interior wall. Stay quiet so you can listen for the sounds of intrusion. Monitor the radio and the news to stay up on the latest developments until the lockdown passes. Check your property when the lockdown ends. (The Boston Bomber who caused the lockdown in that city was found hiding in a man’s boat in his back yard by the owner himself, after the lockdown was lifted.) 9 Family Survival Guide Suggested Supplies & Preps Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a lockdown: Guns and ammo (because if you want to be armed in a crisis, you won’t be able to buy a gun or ammo to put in it when the lockdown happens) Long-term storable food and water Batteries, Flashlights, and Lanterns A portable AM/FM and/or emergency band radio Install secure locks/quick release burglary bars on doors and windows What’s Coming Either the lockdown will be lifted and life will return to some semblance of normalcy, or the lockdown will drag on (in which case what we’re dealing with is martial law). Living under martial law presents its own challenges. 10 Family Survival Guide Winter Storm What It Is A winter storm is a crippling weather event that dumps snow, ice, or just sheer cold on an area, making travel difficult or even life- threatening. A blizzard can snow you in to your home or your place of work, and a cold snap can make going outside very dangerous, especially for children and older people. We usually live our lives as if we’re immune to the weather. We complain about winter storms and shoveling snow, but we never really think of the weather as something that can seriously interfere with our lives. That’s when accidents happen. Every winter, there are horror stories about people who get stranded in their cars. A couple of winters back, a man stranded in his car in a major snow storm near Buffalo, NY, died of exposure while waiting for help to arrive. In another horrifying scenario, a man left his family with their stranded car and struggled through the snow to get help. He never came back. Winter storms are not just dangerous to travelers. An ice storm can knock out power and leave you helpless as your home continues to get colder. If your heating source depends on electricity, losing power during a blizzard or ice-storm can be life threatening even if you never leave your home. If you’re not prepared for a winter storm, you could find yourself stranded and in danger of dying from exposure. If you are home when you get snowed in, you could still suffer or even die from the cold if you lose power and have no heat. If you don’t have enough to eat to sustain you for a few days, the storm will hit and leave you going hungry because you can’t go out to get more. (That’s why, before major snowstorms, the grocery stores always get cleaned out for milk, bread, and beer.) What To Do In The First Five Minutes If you are safe indoors, assess the risk of travel and the likelihood you will get where you might want to go. If it’s too dangerous, STAY PUT. If you are trapped in your car, DO NOT run the engine when the tailpipe is covered in snow. You will die of carbon monoxide poisoning. If you are in your vehicle and stranded, DO NOT LEAVE THE CAR. Help will come eventually when the roadway is cleared. Stay with your vehicle to be found. If you are weathering the storm with someone, remember that shared body heat helps everyone. It’s better for two people to huddle under one blanket than for them to sit with two blankets separately. Section of a part of your vehicle or room with plastic sheeting or reflective 11 Family Survival Guide emergency “space” blankets to create a smaller space needed to heat. Listen to the radio or the news, if you have power, and stay abreast of the breaking news so you can assess the status of the weather and the cleanup for the snow or ice Suggested Supplies & Preps Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a winter weather event: Blankets (Emergency “space blankets” are ideal) Emergency food, water, boots, gloves, and (for your car) flares Hand warmers and fire-starting supplies Flashlights and batteries (ice storms often cause power outages) Shovels (you would be surprised how many people don’t have them!) Emergency AM/FM radio What’s Coming It will take time to clear the snow and restore power and normal transportation. Ride out the storm and wait for these incremental steps. If you live on a side street, it’s going to take longer to clear that than if you live on a major highway or arterial. Remember that this is also true if you are stranded in your car. If you are stuck on a major roadway, help will come to you a lot faster than if you are stuck on a side road. In most cases, beating a snow storm is a simple matter of staying warm and staying fed and hydrated while waiting for the snow to storm to pass and the roads to be cleared. In most cases, this takes a few days at most, but in very serious events, it can take a week or more 12 Family Survival Guide Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) What It Is An electromagnetic pulse is caused by the detonation of a nuclear device at high altitude over the target area. An EMP can also be caused by a solar storm. The electromagnetic pulse generated by such an attack or event can destroy electrical power infrastructure and electronic devices, knocking out the power for hundreds of miles. An EMP attack is not like one of those television shows or novels where all electricity everywhere stops working. Some electronic devices will be destroyed, but others will not. Power will be out in some areas but may remain on in others. Some experts say vehicles won’t be affected, while others say they could be. Small electronic devices not switched on and not connected to the power grid may not be affected. It’s very likely that widespread power outages that take a long time to repair will result from an EMP. Many of the modern devices we take for granted, including Internet access, will be unavailable. The wireless phone network will almost certainly be rendered inoperable. If you’re not prepared for an EMP attack, you could find yourself without access to electrical power or electrical devices in a world that is falling apart around you. The sudden loss of modern life as we know it is sure to generate riots, looting, and other societal problems. What To Do In The First Five Minutes If you have advance warning that an EMP is coming, such as from a solar flare, unplug all your electronic devices (cell phones; tablets, etc.), and shield the ones you can by putting them inside a microwave oven, which is a good, quick substitute Faraday Cage Make sure family and friends are located centrally where you can protect them. While you can, make arrangements to bring them home, because civil unrest is very unlikely. Lock your doors and secure your home. Be watchful for looters. Keep an eye out for fires. EMP may cause certain support infrastructure to collapse, causing small fires to develop that go unchecked and become bigger fires. During a widespread power grid outage, the danger of runaway fire is very real. If you have a functioning portable AM/FM radio, listen to the news and stay abreast of what is happening. Suggested Supplies & Preps Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for an EMP attack: Batteries, flashlights, candles, and other power outage items Faraday bags that insulate electronics from EMP Backup electronic devices stored in Faraday bags Firearms and ammo (for self-defense against looting) 13 Family Survival Guide Cooking supplies that do not require electrical power, including food, and storable water What’s Coming It will take time to restore electrical infrastructure and electric power after an EMP. During that time, martial law might be put into effect. Chaos may well reign on the streets. You must be prepared for an extended period of civil unrest during which you protect your home and your family from looters and other threats before order is restored. 14 Family Survival Guide Volcano What It Is A volcanic eruption is one in which a large volume of ash is ejected into the atmosphere from an active volcano. There may also be flows of lava in the nearby area, but in survival terms, it’s the ash that is the major threat. In May of 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, creating a column of ash that was fifteen miles high and which came down across eleven different US states. Fifty- seven people were killed and billions of dollars of damage was done as the choking ash coated the countryside. No doubt the residents living near Mount St. Helens never thought they would be subjected to a volcanic eruption, but these can and do happen. There are maybe 169 active volcanoes in the United States alone, although many of these are in Alaska (where there are eruptions almost every year). And those geysers in Yellowstone? They may indicate future eruptions. A volcanic blast could produce falling rocks the size of automobiles and hundreds of cubic miles of ash and pumice that will rain down on the countryside, laying waste to it, choking and clogging anyone caught underneath it. If you’re not prepared for a volcanic eruption, you could find yourself choking and blind in a cloud of volcanic ash... or entombed in a vehicle that is coated in the stuff. What To Do In The First Five Minutes If you have advance notice that an eruption is happening, get out of the area if you can do so safely. Take shelter from the blast. Close the windows of your home. Your car is not sufficient shelter. Get indoors if you can. If you see the ash cloud descending, tie a cloth or bandanna over your mouth and nose, and protect your eyes if you can. Suggested Supplies & Preps Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a volcanic eruption: Emergency food and water Candles, flashlights, and batteries Tarps Emergency AM/FM radio A shovel or entrenching tool Goggles and face masks/respirators What’s Coming When Mount St. Helens erupted, the area directly affected by the blast was devastated. Be prepared for a long recover effort followed by considerable disaster-relief efforts to restore life to “normal” in those areas saturated by the ash. 12 Family Survival Guide Blackout/Power Outage What It Is A widespread blackout or power outage is just that: It is a loss of electrical power as the electrical grid fails over a large area. Our power grid is held together with duct tape and hope. There have already been terrorist attacks on electrical substations in the United States. These have not made nearly the news they should have. But as we saw during the Northeast Blackout of 2003, it doesn’t have to be a terrorist attack that knocks out electrical power to huge portions of the United States. In 2003, power was out for two days to a lot of the affected area, and it took nearly a week to get everybody’s power back on. The blackout has been blamed on a software issue at a control room in Ohio, which triggered a “race condition” that overwhelmed the power grid. A manageable local blackout instead became a massive, cascade failure of the grid across multiple states. If you are not prepared for a power outage, you and your family could find yourself in the dark without support services and without adequate food or water. Worse, widespread civil unrest could develop during a sustained blackout, support services could become unavailable, and looting and wilding crimes could run rampant as law enforcement and emergency services struggle to keep up with demand. What To Do In The First Five Minutes Secure your home and make sure you and your family are safe. If some family members are not yet with you, make whatever arrangements you can to see them safely home. Lock your doors, hunker down, and prepare to wait out the blackout. Stay home and off the streets. Monitor conditions outside as best you can, but don’t expose yourself. Duct-tape your freezer and refrigerator shut in an attempt to keep them as insulated as possible while reminding you not to open them. Your freezer can keep food from spoiling for several hours during a blackout as long as you aren’t opening it and exposing it to warmer air. Fill your bathtub and other receptacles with clean drinking water. In an extended blackout, there will be no power to run water treatment, which means water may become unsafe to drink. You need as much drinking water on hand as possible if the blackout persists. Formulate a plan for what you will do for food, water, and light if the blackout persists. Suggested Supplies & Preps Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a blackout or power outage: Emergency food and water Candles, flashlights, lanterns, and batteries Emergency portable AM/FM radio A means of boiling/treating water Firearms and ammo (to fend off looters) 13 Family Survival Guide What’s Coming The longer a blackout persists, the worse conditions outside will get. Civil unrest could devolve into martial law or, worse, complete chaos. In most cases, though, the blackout, and the dangers associated with it, will last for a couple of days before power is restored and life returns to normal. 14 Family Survival Guide Martial Law What It Is Martial law is the imposition of military authority to control an area. The rights of citizens are suspended and armed troops control the streets, often imposing curfews and otherwise constraining the movement of the populace. There’s a lot of speculation about what martial law would actually look like. There’s really no clear-cut answer to it. There are 800,000 law enforcement officers in the United States. During an emergency, it’s not uncommon for law enforcement personnel to leave their posts in droves. They have families to protect too. To restore order, the government may well send in the military, who are trained to deal with all other forces as hostiles, not as citizens being served and protected. In the United States, martial law usually indicates that control has been lost and someone in a political position of power is trying to do damage control and protect their career. What they then do is impose martial law and curfews until they can restore order. There are cases where this may even be the correct thing to do, from a practical standpoint. Martial law is the quickest way and the least painful way to get from a time of chaos to a time of order. Different martial laws scenarios are more or less intense, too. Locking down a city because of a terrorist attack, and imposing temporary martial law to quell a race riot, are different things and will have different durations. If you are not prepared to cope with martial law, you could find yourself on the wrong end of that “law,” herded into a government camp or otherwise detained. You could even end up shot dead by the very military that is supposed to be protecting you, because they can’t tell the difference between you and a rioter or terrorist. What To Do In The First Five Minutes Get off the street. If you’re not home, go there. Lock your doors and secure your home, drawing all shades and window blinds. Stay away from the windows and do not silhouette yourself in them. Focusing on keeping the household quiet and still. You don’t want to attract attention. The authorities will focus on areas where their attention is needed most urgently. If you must go out, play the part of the “gray man” and be as unobtrusive and non-confrontational as possible. Avoid checkpoints and soldiers enforcing martial law at all costs, especially if a riot occurs. You can’t afford to get caught in a demonstration or be confused for one of the enemy. Suggested Supplies & Preps Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for martial law: Guns and ammo, including “sacrifice guns” to turn over if the authorities come to confiscate personal arms Long-term storable food and water Batteries, Flashlights, and Lanterns 15 Family Survival Guide A portable AM/FM and/or emergency band radio Any supplies that will prevent you from having to leave the house and take to the streets. What’s Coming Either the martial law will be lifted and life will return to some semblance of normalcy, or it will drag on. Living under martial law for extended periods of time can be extremely challenging. 16 Family Survival Guide Riot, Flash Mob, or Demonstration What It Is A riot or flash mob is any group demonstration, protest, or act of violence that takes place as a mass of people. A riot represents the worst- case scenario for social order. When a group of people become violent, they engage in behavior they might never consider engaging in individually. During rioting in England, one of the minor actors in the “Harry Potter” series was caught on video breaking the law as part of the mob. From all accounts, he simply got carried away. He’s a good example of how some people will lose their minds during a mass demonstration or riot, becoming criminals from within the safety of a crowd’s anonymity. Any political protest or gathering has the potential to turn violent. Riots also break out during emergencies when the normal rule of law breaks down and emergency services/law enforcement personnel are overwhelmed with calls. If you get caught up in a riot