How Well You Can Survive, When Supplies And Infrastructure Are Shut Down

The people that are preparing for some sort of chaos in their future are only doing the prudent thing considering the environment we are now living in. Those with growing piles of supplies for disasters, war or some type of collapse have made the mental leap that is required to prepare themselves for unknown eventualities that can be life altering. These people have made a plan to survive the difficult times that come and live to tell of it.

What many of these people have not contemplated is the day when the chaos is over and life begins to return to some new type of normalcy. Most people simply plan for chaos and never think about coming out of the other side at some point. While chaos can leave you in an unknown place you should have some idea what you will do when normalcy begins to return to society.

If you planned ahead you probably have a plan to provide necessities such as food and water for the duration of the chaos. Ultimately you will have a plan to provide these things in a sustainable way since you do not know how long the crisis will last. Once society begins to reestablish some sort of order you need to have some type of idea what your next move will be.

If you already have the means to produce food and water sustainably you may then want to move into excess production to trade to others as a way to get other things you need. If the local market is saturated with others like yourself there may not be a big demand for food so you need some other product to trade. These are the things you need to think about for after the chaos.

When society begins to stabilize and rebuild itself people will want many of the things they have been deprived of for the duration of the crisis. As society begins to build up there will be a need for people to produce these things either on a small scale or a large scale depending on the item. This is what your post crisis plan needs to take into account.

The ability to produce these items will require infrastructure of some type. Depending on the type of crisis you went through, many of the resources you may need to produce things will likely have been destroyed. In a worst case scenario you need to have either production equipment that survives the chaos or the ability to make new equipment yourself. This is how a production base will be reestablished in a post crisis era. Those that have this production capability will be very important persons in the community.

This production capability does not have to be a large scale proposition. It can be as simple as a floor loom and spinning wheel to make clothing, a grinder to make flour and meal, wood working tools to make furniture, metal working equipment to make tools or equipment to produce some type of fuel such as alcohol. This production capability also extends to services that people need such as medical services or transportation.

Having some type of production capability is not only good for surviving the crisis but also to have the means to improve living conditions after the worst is over. At some point you will want to once again ply a trade to generate income for your family.

Two hundred years ago many small communities were largely self sufficient. You had farmers producing food, blacksmiths working metal, individuals making cloth, coopers making barrels and wheels and mills grinding wheat and cutting lumber. The whole community worked as a self sufficient unit.

There are those today calling for people to create small groups or communities to ride out any chaos that may come in the future. The primary reason is for collective security in the event society becomes violent and uncontrollable. This same small group can provide the basis for a self sufficient community following an event.

An individual can become self sufficient to some degree but there are only so many hours in a day and many types of basic production requires many hours of work to produce a product. This means that an individual is very limited in the amount of goods he can produce in a given amount of time and thus is limited to the amount of excess production he can produce. With a community of producers, every person can work in the field they are most productive in and increase the overall supply of goods. It is for this reason that small groups will be valuable after an event as well as during.

If each of the members of this group can provide different capabilities to the group as well as production equipment, it will enhance the overall standard of living of the entire group. Maintaining a production capability during the crisis that can be ramped up once conditions have stabilized will benefit those in and around the community and greatly improve conditions in the months following.

While conditions can be violent during a crisis, the lack of resources following the crisis can extend it longer than necessary as people fight for the limited supplies. When people have the things they need they are easier to live with and infighting is greatly reduced. It is for this reason that the ability to produce following a crisis is just as important as during . Having a plan to insure production capability for necessary goods following an event can help to stabilize the situation and eventually normalization to the local area. The Marshal Plan that helped to rebuild Europe following WWII did just that.

For those that believe we are headed for difficult times, they need to think up their own type of local Marshal Plan to help rebuild following an event that could fracture the country and leave behind a third world country in its wake.

How well you can survive, amidst looting, violence and the desperation of the under- or completely unprepared, will depend on your own good sense and your ability to prepare ahead of time. Aside from stocking up on basic supplies like food and water, you don’t have to spend a fortune to prepare yourself for urban survival or bugging in, either.

First and foremost, one of the most important things to consider is self-defense for yourself and your loved ones. If an emergency crops up or a disaster strikes, law enforcement will likely be overwhelmed or possibly disbanded entirely, leaving civilians vulnerable to criminals. Those who are clearly well prepared become immediate targets of the unprepared.

To mitigate your risk of being targeted there are some very good things you can do (please note that these are basic guidelines, which can and should be adapted to the specifics of your circumstances and the emergency or disaster that has occurred):

• Identify local resources ahead of time, including water alternative water sources for if / when the taps run dry. A reliable water source and method of purification is critical not only to basic survival but also to maintaining any semblance of cleanliness and proper hygiene, which is in turn necessary to avoid the spread of infectious diseases.

• Avoid detection by boarding over the windows, keeping lights off at night (don’t underestimate the pitch black of a night without urban light pollution; your lights will stand out and draw attention to you, so keep them off) and entering or exiting your home from a discreet location or when no one is around.

• Secure your home or dwelling as well as you can, without being too obvious and drawing attention from the exterior. Additional reinforcement at doors (if not to stop then at least to slow intruders) such as door jammers or barricades, chain locks and additional bolts can all make entries and exits more secure. If it is within your means to do so, you can also use the Russian method of a double door; the front door of an entry point is a heavy, solid metal door with multiple bolts and chain locks, followed by a secondary door of heavy, solid wood with a peep hole or viewing hole, additional chain locks, bolts, etc. If you’ve ever seen a traditional Russian tenement, you know what this looks like.

• Whenever possible, try to cultivate a closer and more unified community amongst your neighbors ahead of time. If SHTF and you’re prepared but no one else on your street is, you may find yourself having to hide from or deceive the people you live alongside. Alternatively, your needy neighbors may end up targeting you in their desperation. A closer and better-developed community is especially necessary in the event of any long-term survival situation that may arise following a serious collapse or disaster.

• Maintain an unattractive appearance to your house; while many people may be inclined to erect a veritable fortress around their house, this is more apt to draw attention to your location; a house that looks guarded and well stocked is an attractive target to roaming gangs who will probably outnumber and/or outgun you eventually. By comparison, a house that doesn’t look like much, is overgrown in the yard, and has every appearance of having already been ransacked a time or two, is far less likely to attract attention.

Now, in terms of your food and water, when you’re planning on bugging in you are at something of an advantage. Bugging in has its disadvantages, too, but if you have the room for food storage, you can eat like a proverbial king while bugging in.

Compared to bugging out, when every ounce of weight in your pack matters and canned food is a heavy luxury item, if you’ve got an empty pantry to fill, canned foods offer a great, economical investment in tasty, quality food that will generally last 3 – 5 years or longer. Compare that to an MRE (Meal, Ready-to-Eat) or some astronaut food.

Also, avoid burning your dwelling down; keep a few fire extinguishers stored for use in case of an emergency and practice safe cooking rules when using fire at any time. Lighting fires inside your home or using a grill is not recommended; if you don’t have a fireplace, don’t light fires inside, period. Likewise, don’t leave anything cooking unattended and if you ever try to dispose of trash or yard debris by burning it be extremely careful.

Finally, a well-packed urban survival bag (also sometimes called a get home bag) can be invaluable in case of an emergency that strikes while you’re away from home. Packed with slightly different supplies than a standard bug out bag, an urban survival bag is designed to help you survive an emergency long enough to travel from your current location to your home or to another suitable location you intend to bug out from.

Items commonly packed in an urban survival bag include:

• A basic emergency first aid kit
• Fine particle masks (or possibly a gas mask)
• A window punch (for use escaping from a vehicle or building when glass obstructs you)
• A crowbar
• Potentially a small quantity of cash
• A pair of sturdy shoes (and possibly socks) esp. for women who wear heels regularly
• Sunglasses, a handkerchief or bandana, and;
• Some water and/or snacks for the trip home, it might be a long walk

You’ll probably also want a flashlight with spare batteries, a small, portable radio and a thermal blanket and/or warm jacket, depending on the climate you live in. You might want coins for operating a payphone, and if you rely on your cell phone for important numbers then write down those numbers in an address book and toss it in your emergency bag just in case.

For long-term urban survival following a bug in, there are several additional points to take into consideration, but to get into everything here would go beyond the scope of this article.

Suffice to say, for long-term urban survival following a crisis, emergency or other collapse, there would be concerns with trash, vermin and rodents, as well as sanitation, human waste removal, medical care, new food production, guard duties and additional security, and keeping yourself healthy.

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