What do you do when the SHTF?

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hamster

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Like the title says. What do you do when an unexpected event happens and we're left to fend for ourselves? It could be a huge natural disaster where help isn't able to get into your area for weeks or even months. It could be riots. Or even some sort of terrorist attack. What do you do if you're at home when SHTF? What do you do if you're out when it happens?

Living in SoCal, my SHTF event would most likely be a major earthquake. If at home, I'd try to organize my neighbors. We'd share resources, patrol our territory, and defend it if we had to.

If at work, (25 miles away), I'd try to make it home, but if the freeways were congested, or if looters were running the streets I'd be screwed. I guess I'd wait for nightfall and try to make it there in the stealth of night. Hopefully, my family would have made it home and would be defending it. This is the scenario that I have trouble with.
 
While these types of threads typically get shut down pretty quick, it is very important to create an emergency plan. One of the first things is setting up a point of contact or meeting place to let everyone know where everyone is and what their conditions are. In the scenario you gave (earthquake), there is very little warning so you are pretty much stuck where you are when it occured. Depending on the severity, expect massive power outages and phone outages (cell phones too). Even if they work, getting through will be difficult since lines typically get flooded. Designate one contact person not living in the area so everyone can check in and coordinate. Bridges and roads may be and probably will be affected as with the freeway collapse that occured during the last bad quake.

Have you discussed your idea of creating a neighborhood "blockade"? Do you have provisions already including non-perishable food, water, medical supplies, and weapons? Do you neighbors? Are you willing to share with them even if they don't have anything? As you mentioned, who knows how long until help arrives? When the big one hits, I'm sure it will be much worse than Katrina. The population is mich higher as is the population density.

For non-earthquake scenarios, things are much more predictable. In Florida, our potential disaster is hurricanes. There is always a few days warning before they hit so its much easier to prepare for. You basically get your supplies together and prepare you house as much as possible. I suggest you get those big plastic bins and keep all your supplies in them in case you need to leave in a hurry. Be sure to bring all of your important documents! If you are in flood zones, you will probably be requried to evacuate. Florida is long and narrow so evacuation can get hairy very quickly. A few hurricanes have covered the entire state and I sure as heck would not want to be in my car during the storm. Move inland as much as possible and make sure the areas you are going to are not flood zones. Even after Andrew, people were allowed to return home rather quickly once the roads got cleared up. Looters tended to hit businesses rather than homes. Unless you advertise that you have a stock pile of goodies, what benefit is there to looting homes?

Basically, the most important thing to do is plan before hand to eliminate much of the confusion that is sure to occur.
 
Prepare

Most important thing in a SHTF situation is preparation ... you need to have:

1. Source of clean potable water.
2. Source of non-perishable food.
3. Shelter.
4. Warmth.
5. Attitude

Water, no brainer ... however in a 'earthquake is coming' situation, it's probably best to have a method for purification rather than stock-piling. My choice would be a reverse osmosis pump, make sure it's got enough through-put to supply for the family at least. No harm in keeping a case of mineral water handy.

Food ... tins, packets, anything dry with a long shelf-life. MRE suck, canned food in preference.

Shelter ... anything that keeps out wind and rain. Keep a decent sized tent handy incase your house becomes structurally unsound.

Warmth ... wood burning stove, plenty of fuel ... means of ignition.

Attitude, most important, got to keep a level head, plan and think ahead. Things can take much longer to achieve..
 
1. Source of clean potable water.
2. Source of non-perishable food.
3. Shelter.
4. Warmth.
5. Attitude
Click to expand...

I'll add...
6. A sanitation plan
7. A protection plan
8. Additional Manpower (Attempting to "go it alone" is begging for failure)
9. A plan to mobilize if necessary. (Few things are worse than being fully prepped and immobile and then having events force you to abandon your location.)
 
As stated, these sort of threads do close quickly. If you are really interested in being prepared, and discussing preperations with like-minded individuals, I recommend you ask your same question here: http://www.whenshtf.com or just do some reading there since it's probably been asked before.
 
Sliding head first into home

Made it before I got tagged out.

Oh and zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie and one last brain eating zombie.
 
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