Much time, money and effort is spent by preppers (myself included) planning for “the big one.” Some massive event which could occur on a local, national or global scale which would require us to go into full survival mode. The short list of catastrophic events which are usually taken into consideration go something like this: EMP, solar flares, polar shift, economic collapse and the resulting hyperinflation, super volcano eruption, peak oil crisis and nuclear war. All of these events would have such a profound impact on a society they would almost certainly require living off of stored resources and readjusting to new and possibly much more austere lifestyle. While it might be relevant and advisable to prep for the aforementioned events what’s your plan should you get stuck in traffic for 10 hours in a winter storm with your low gas light on? What if that weekend trip to a cabin in the woods turns into a days long ordeal with your car stuck in a snow drift or just broken down on some remote logging road? A massive storm blows through your area while you are at work knocking out power to everything within a 50 mile radius including your office building, gas stations and even ATMs. Traffic on the highway is practically a parking lot and you have no cash in your wallet or barely any gas in your car because you were going to fill up after work. Now what? Did I mention that you had no cell phone service because the towers were down as well? Consider the following real life situations.
Car Carrier Crash Shuts Down Part Of I-70 After Winter Storm
While crews tried to clear the accident, it left many other drivers at a complete standstill for hours. Stuck in traffic for around four hours, dozens of trucks waited for the accident to clear as eastbound lanes remained closed.
Snowbound ASU Student Survives 10 Days on Candy, Melted Snow
What Weinberg did not know is that she ventured out onto an unpaved forest road that is nearly impossible to navigate in the winter. Her car became stuck, so she sat there for days and days with nothing more than candy and a bottle of water.
Coconino County Lt. Jim Coffey told FoxNews.com that Weinberg ate a Snickers candy bar and a bag of M&M’s candies throughout the next 10 days.
Snow gridlock traps commuters for up to 13 hours
Denise Borders spent nearly 13 grueling hours on the Parkway – “just sitting for hours. Literally. Sitting, not moving” – without food, without a bathroom, without sleep. There were trees down and people whose cars got stuck trying to turn around and get off the parkway, Borders said. But for most of the drivers on the road, the snow was less of a problem than the complete gridlock that enveloped them.
Eastern US storms kill 13, cut power to millions
In some Virginia suburbs of Washington, emergency 911 call centers were out of service; residents were told to call local police and fire departments. Huge trees fell across streets in Washington, leaving cars crunched up next to them, and onto the fairway at the AT&T National golf tournament in Maryland. Cell phone and Internet service was spotty, gas stations shut down and residents were urged to conserve water until sewage plants returned to power.
The lesson here should be clear, as a prepper you should strive to maintain a rounded approach which ensures that you are prepared to face multiple situations, not just world ending scenarios. This is includes events which might seem rather benign but could have dangerous and life threatening implications. Being a prepper means being prepared at all times no matter where you are at. The following are some tips for staying prepared for everyday (and certainly more plausible) life altering events.
1- Keep an emergency supply of cash with you. You might be in situation where the power grid could be down or the ATMs are out of money, having a few hundred dollars of cash on hand for these circumstances is never a bad thing.
2- Keep a roll of quarters and a written list of important telephone numbers. Quick, recite the 5 phone numbers of your closest friends. What’s that, you don’t know them because they are stored in your cell phone? Exactly. There are still pay phones out there and in a worst case scenario if you need to place a call to someone that’s what the quarters are for, and the list is so you actually know what number to call. Remember 911 might be unreliable or not working at all.
3- Always have a get home bag. A get home bag is similar to a bugout bag in that the concept remains the same, it’s a bag that could sustain you for a day or two if you needed to live out of it. In this instance a get home bag should be something well constructed (leave that 10 year old Jansport in the closet), comfortable and not too heavy. Think about if you need to walk home and home is 15 miles away. A get home bag could also sustain you in a situation where you were stuck and needed to wait for rescue. Just like a bugout bag some of the essentials in a get home bag are as follows: food, water, first aid kit, warm clothes, hygiene products, signaling device (whistle/mirror) and the list goes on and on. For a more comprehensive list of what should be in a get home bag check out this article on The Art of Manliness.
4- Be prepared to walk. While a pair of Cole Haans or Milanoos with 4 inch heels might look great with your business suit, they certainly won’t lend themselves to walking over uneven terrain (or even a parking lot) for any great distance whatsoever. Keep a pair of fresh socks and well broken in running shoes or boots in the trunk of your car. Your feet are arguably your most important asset. You could be in the best shape in the world and have a quarter sized blister reduce you to a wailing infant.
5- Coordinate in advance with your loved ones. Talk about the situations which I listed above and how you would react to them. Make a plan for your possible courses of action if you were not able to communicate or get home. This will reduce a fair amount of anxiety if you are caught in a bad situation because if you already know what your loved one will be doing, you can focus on yourself and put maximum effort assessing your own courses of action.
6- Study and actually take the time to drive primary and alternate routes to and from your workplace. If you are caught in a bad situation and know that route A is blocked you should be familiar with route B and C and be able to navigate them without the use of a GPS. In addition you should know which route would be most accommodating if you ended up walking.
By planning in advance for everyday situations which are more probable than your average global nuclear catastrophe, you will set yourself up for success and be prepared to react which will greatly minimize your risk of becoming an unfortunate statistic. Do not get tunnel vision while prepping, so focused on preparing for TEOTWAWKI that you overlook the small details. That could be a tragic and deadly mistake.
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