Pre-Disaster Preparedness: What You NEED To Know
With most things in life, preparing for an event is just as important as how you handle the event itself when it occurs. Readying yourself for the end of the world is no exception.
Locate a Retreat Site
The first and most important thing you’ll need in case of TEOTWAWKI is to locate a retreat site. This is a “safe zone” you will use to ride out the catastrophe and its aftermath.
For some people, especially those living in rural areas, their own home may very well be their retreat site. This is an ideal situation. But most people don’t live in a rural area. Many people live in apartment buildings in a city, or in residential subdivisions with no way to live off what little land they have. These people need to locate a retreat site with access to land, fresh water, and shelter that they can use in the event of a world-wide disaster. This retreat site should be fairly low-profile: campgrounds and tourist areas are bad ideas. If possible, look for a site far from the routes most likely to be taken by the mass of refugees as they leave the city in a panic. The last thing you want is to arrive at your retreat site to find it already in use by other people. If a suitable area is not available to you, find a friend or relative who owns property that you might be able to use if worse comes to worst. If you know someone who owns a farm, you should get in touch with that person.
Make sure that your retreat site is not too far away from your home. Expect major roadways to be choked with refugee vehicles during a disaster. A site accessible from your home via rural routes is good. Keep in mind that in some cases, you may even be unable to travel on these routes: bridges may be out; roadblocks may be set up; anything can happen. That’s why you don’t want your retreat site to be terribly far away: you may be required to complete some (or all) of your evacuation on foot.
It is recommended that you locate a retreat site with a preexisting structure, but if you can only find a tract of land without a shelter already standing, you will need to do extra preparation. If you have the money and skills, build your own shelter before a disaster happens. Even if you’re only marginally handy, it is a great idea to develop the skills required to build a structure (more on this later). If you cannot build a structure of your own, you should prepare materials to make a temporary shelter. A good wilderness survival guide can show you how to construct several types of shelters, but having some plastic tarps, pre-cut wooden poles, etc. already at your retreat site will save you precious time and energy when you need to use the site.
Stock Your Retreat Site
Once you have located a suitable retreat site, you’ll want to stock it with items that will enable you to survive. If your retreat site has a structure (either prebuilt or built by you), make sure your supplies are safely and securely locked up. You don’t want to arrive at your retreat site and find that thieves have helped themselves to your supplies! If your retreat site has no structure, you should bury your supplies. If possible, check your supplies quarterly or semi-annually to rotate expired food/water/fuel stock and to make sure that nothing is missing. Here are some recommended supplies that should be stocked at your retreat site.
• A water source. An artesian well or clean spring is recommended.
• Stored water. Five gallons per person will last for five days.
• Water purification supplies.
• Stored food. One year’s worth of food is recommended.
• Power. (Solar cells and solar chargers are recommended, as are batteries and a gasoline generator.)
• Fuel for vehicles, generators, and cooking.
• Firestarters (ferro rods work very well).
• Heritage seeds (for farming).
• Medical supplies.
• Fire extinguisher.
• Illustrated survival guides (wilderness, medical, food, trapping, etc.).
• Clothing and footwear for all weather types (military surplus is good).
• Survival equipment (hatchet, maps, compass, knife, signal flare, etc.).
• Snares and animal traps.
• Camping supplies.
• Firearm(s) and ammunition.
• Radio (a ham radio or CB radio is recommended).
• Insect repellant.
• Mess kit.
• Pet supplies.
• Sanitation items (moist towelettes, trash bags, etc.).
• Morale-boosting items (board games, books, etc.).
• Precious metals in coin form.
• A “barter larder.”
• If you think of any other items that would be a good idea to keep stored at your retreat site, by all means add them to your own list!
A “barter larder” is a term used to describe a collection of items that are readily accessible today, but will be scarce and in high demand in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Keep a collection of ferro rod firestarters, pocket knives, ponchos, flashlights, batteries, replacement parts, etc. in your retreat site to use as bartering materials (or charity!) once you start to meet other survivors after a disaster happens. Keep things that other people might need and would be willing to trade for in the aftermath of a global disaster.
Assemble Your Emergency Kit
An emergency kit (also called a bug-out bag, a go-bag, a battle box, etc.) is what allows you to make it from your home to your retreat site safely. In general, it will contain everything you need in order to survive for 72 hours. You can make your emergency kit out of a variety of containers. If you will be using a vehicle, a series of large plastic storage containers would be a good idea. Label the containers with sequential digits (1, 2, 3, etc.) and place your most vital supplies in Container 1, less-important supplies in Container 2, and so on. That way if you’re interrupted as you’re loading your emergency kit into your vehicle, you can drive away assured that you have the necessities already loaded. If you cannot evacuate by vehicle, you should use a hiking backpack with an internal or external frame. You can even use a military-surplus ALICE or MOLLE backpack.
Every 72-hour emergency kit, regardless of its container type, should contain the following items.
• Water and food for three days (that’s three gallons of water per person!).
• Hand-crank or solar-powered radio.
• Electronic items like a flashlight and a GPS.
• Extra batteries and a solar charger for electronic items.
• First-aid supplies and medications.
• A multipurpose tool, a survival knife, and a firestarter.
• Emergency blankets.
• Documents (medical info, passports, etc.).
• Infant formula and diapers (if applicable).
Depending on the size of your emergency kit, you may also want to include maps, cell phones, 2-way radios, signal whistle, N95 surgical masks, coffee filters (to strain water), towels, heavy-duty scissors, signal flares, a folding shovel, compact tent, a firearm and ammunition, weather-appropriate clothing, and anything else you feel you may need on your way to your retreat site.
Develop a Retreat Plan
A retreat site is no good if you don’t have a plan to get there. Understand your planned route to your retreat site and identify as many alternate routes as you can. Remember, high-bandwidth roads like freeways will probably be inaccessible! Be aware of problem areas like bridges or other features that can render a route useless if they’re destroyed. Develop a plan for getting to your retreat site if you don’t have access to a vehicle.
Think of family members, too — what if the kids are at school when disaster strikes? Do you have a meet-up location in place where separated family members can gather before heading to the retreat site as a group? Do you have a secondary or tertiary meet-up location in place in case the first is inaccessible? Work together with your family and iron out these details.
Learn Skills
In the aftermath of a global cataclysm, people with certain skills are going to be in high demand. A blacksmith may not have a lucrative profession today, but after TEOTWAWKI, a blacksmith will never go hungry. Learn the skills that will serve yourself and others and you will become an indispensible member of any post-disaster community. Blacksmithing, gunsmithing, animal husbandry, medical, farming, fishing, hunting, carpentry, etc. are all great places to start. Cross-train yourself in different functional areas in order to stay as versatile as possible. The more you know, the better prepared you will be to survive. If the worst happens and crops fail, you will always be in a position to trade your skills for food, ammunition, or supplies.
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