7 Assumptions That Can Get You Killed When STHF

Source: https://www.askaprepper.com/

One thing that is absolutely certain during any kind of unexpected SHTF disaster is that it will be unpredictable.

This is precisely why making unfounded assumptions in your personal response to a disaster can ultimately be what gets you killed due to poor judgment. Surviving a major disaster will require you to think clearly and decisively, with every decision you make being a deliberate one.

When you start making too many assumptions, you’ll start making less deliberate decisions that are not clearly thought through, and it won’t take long for your luck to run out.

This holds true regardless of whether it’s a natural disaster, societal unrest, economic collapse, an EMP attack, enemy invasion, and so on.

Regardless of what the specific scenario is, here are seven assumptions that can get you killed in an SHTF disaster:

Taking a Chance With Clean Water

Just because water is clean and clear looking does not mean that it is safe to drink. You must confirm that every source of water you have is safe to drink.

If you drink water out of an unopened bottle of water or out of your personal filtered water, then you know it’s safe to drink.

If you collect water from a natural source outside or drink it out of a running sink in an abandoned building, however, you can’t verify that the water is safe no matter how clear it is. And as the old saying does, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Invest in water purification and filtration methods, such as a family water filter and water purification tablets, and make it a rule that you will always filter or purify the water from an untested source before you drink it.

Being too Friendly With Other Survivors

It can be very tempting to willingly give up some of your food, water, or other provisions to those you see in need. But if you feed people once, you may find yourself feeding them again and again after.

And once you deny feeding them any further, they may turn violent in an attempt to get more out of you. It will be even worse if they inform other people that you’re ‘generous.’

In desperate times, once normal people will do desperate things to try and stay alive. This is true because most people are very ill-prepared for a major disaster scenario.

Adopting a Lone Wolf Mentality

At the same time, taking the direct opposite approach as the above and adopting a lone wolf mentality is another true recipe for disaster. This is true regardless of whether you’re surviving alone as an individual or alone with your family.

Related: Are you a Community Member or a Lone Wolf Survivalist?

To put it simply, you can’t possibly do everything on your own and there will be certain necessities that you need to fall back on other people for. This is why forming a community of survivors who band together and share their talents and resources is so important.

For example, if you sustain a serious medical injury in a disaster and can’t get to a hospital (and assuming you don’t have any significant medical or first aid experience yourself), you’ll be out of luck unless you have someone else in your group who has experience in the medical industry and can help.

At the same time, it’s important to avoid making another critical assumption in this regard…

Underestimating What Keeps Communities Together

The most important factor that will keep a community together following a major disaster is having shared values. Simply working together to share resources and skills with one another will not be enough.

This is why you should form or take part in a community of like-minded people in your area before a disaster strikes.

Make sure that everyone shares the same goals in preparing for a disaster, has a plan for assembling after a disaster strikes, gets along well, and shares the same values of working together and treating each other as members of the same clan.

Ignoring Small Injuries

Here’s another critical rule to follow: in any survival situation, every kind of open wound of injury needs to be treated with the utmost attention. Small cuts and scrapes are easy to ignore, but you shouldn’t.

All it takes is for a tiny cut on your finger or a scrape on your knee for an infection to set in.

Remember, the ability to address infections promptly can be a determining factor in your survival. As you assemble your survival kit, prioritize acquiring a supply of antibiotics, and educate yourself on their proper usage to enhance your resilience in the face of unforeseen health risks.

Believing the Government Will Come Save You

This is the assumption that far too many people will make following a major disaster. Unfortunately, no one is going to come save you.

There will be far too few police officers and emergency first responders to come to your personal aid, hospitals will become flooded with patients, and things will get a whole lot worse if the military gets involved and shuts everything down as if martial law were declared.

That’s because in martial law, the authorities will start confiscating and rationing provision.

Again, this is why becoming part of a community of like-minded people before the disaster strikes is so important. The government and the authorities will not come to your aid, but your fellow members in your survival group might.

Believing Bugging Out of the Danger Zone Will Always Save you

To be clear, there are certain circumstances where bugging out will unfortunately be the only option.

You may be ordered to evacuate by the authorities, or death may be a near certainty if you stay such as in the case of a cataclysm natural disaster or in the case of literal combat breaking out in your town.

And if you are forced to bug out, it’s important to have somewhere to turn to and a plan for getting there, whether that’s the home of a friend or relative outside of town or a designated bug out location.

Just don’t have the mindset that when disaster strikes, you must bug out. That’s because bugging out is likely to be more dangerous than bugging in.

The roads will become clogged with endless traffic of other people trying to escape, meaning your progress to getting to ‘safety’ is likely to be painstakingly slow. Furthermore, you’ll be left exposed out in the open for raiders and looters who will attack anyone who appears vulnerable.

That’s also not to mention that bugging out means abandoning the stockpile of provisions you have left back home.

In short, bug in or bug out depending on what your circumstances are. Just don’t think that evacuating your area is a must regardless of what kind of disaster strikes.

The above assumptions will be among the most commonly made by those who are not prepared for when disaster strikes. Simply avoiding these assumptions alone will increase your chances of survival following the onset of a catastrophe.