I am fairly new to this site and I would like to educate myself on disaster preparedness. Where should I start? How do I know what I need?
I would like to be somewhat prepared for anything. Where else can I go for the education?
Thanks,
I found The Disaster Preparedness Handbook to be a good starting point.
It covers a lot of the basic situations most of us will encounter and provides good advice. I found it especially effective for getting SWMBO on board.
Also, ready.gov has a few good points…
A good starting point is to consider the area you live in, and what disasters, natural or otherwise, may occur where you live.
Example: I was recently transferred to Georgia after living in Arizona my entire life, so instead of needing to prepare for 120 degree summers, I’m repacking for hurricanes, floods, and heavy rain. Start with realistic prepping.
Two sites that I’ve found useful.
There are Links to informational sites in “The Library” Sticky thread at the top of this Index.
Get education and training before spending money on tools.- George
This. There are other forums that are dedicated to disaster perp, and one of the young and cheek ones is Zombie Squad. Their whole premise is “if you can survive the zombies, then you can survive anything.” Don’t let the name fool you though. If you go over there ranting.about how zombies aren’t real and everyone is dumb for thinking so, then you will get a quick lesson that zombies are a metaphor and the site does a lot of charity work and disaster prep for real life disasters for an AO.
So say we all!
This.
Get a notebook and make a list of incidents that you may face in your area. Go from most likely to least likely to occur. Next to each event list how long you feel the event would last. Then list what items you might need.
As you read and learn, refer to your list. You may add or move SHTF events on your list. You’ll most likely start to see some common items that are needed for most types of events.
Without some direction and planning, it’s easy to spend a lot Of time and money and still have holes in your preps.
Only you know what you need to live day to day; prescription medications, amount of food/water, clothing/shelter (for your environment).
Chances are you probably already own a couple cans of food, packages of pasta, flash light, pocket knife, etc. Build on that, each trip to the grocery store pick a few extras and put them back. That way while you are reading/researching you are still “prepping”. Being on a gun forum I’ll assume you own a firearm. So each trip to Wally mart or the like pick up another box of ammo until you can get it by the case.
It all adds up brother, you just got to start.
This section of this site, is pretty small. There are other sites that focus on SHTF survival and preparedness. Some have more traffic and information than others.
Here are some that contain a wealth of information, including getting started:
http://www.survivalistboards.com/index.php
http://www.survivaltopics.com/
http://www.survivaltopics.com/forums/
Out of all the books I have read so far on the topic, I wish I had read this first:
How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times.
On a budget? Cody Lundin’s book is a good reference in using what you most likely already have around you.
When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes
I hope that helps… keep reading, then start buying slowly. The more you learn, the more your prepping priorities are bound to change.
I would second mercop’s advice about increasing one’s knowledge prior to spending wagonloads of cash. Knowledge and skill trumps equipment every time.
And speaking of cash, financial preps are something I would recommend. I’m a fan of the Dave Ramsey financial independance plan. Being free of consumer debt is a great thing, as well as being able to pay cash for the things you need.
When interest rates inevitably spike, it’s going to really be a bad thing for anyone with debt.
But for items on hand, I’m a big fan of performing a threat analaysis as others have mentioned, then acting on that. Have a lot of tornadoes? Then work on that, before buying your third Uzi.
Thanks for all the great advice. I’m learning.
I started with a good hard look at my needs, not just what I would need to provide for myself, but what I would need to provide for my family.
Like the others have said, only you know what those specific needs are. How many mouths to feed, any special medical conditions for any of them? Allergies to foods and drugs? What type of weather and climate?
The first step is figuring out what the questions are, only then can you hope to answer them.
Incognito
Maybe some guides , British SAS survive anywhere any climate book has some great general knowledge, understanding, and applied skills. After that food, water prep, then the defense. Lots of people focus on stock piling guns and ammo and get caught up in it. Which isnt bad but you are garunteed SOL without food and water! plus you have to admit the guns and ammo is the most entertaining part of prepping. Atleast for me!
Bug in or Bug out? I think this can have a big effect on choices as well.
+1 on both of these.
Try to avoid the mistakes that many of us have made. Always start with a plan for the most probable disasters in your AO and build from there. Start small. Remember that “prepping” isn’t just collecting a big-ass pile of stuff, you need to have the RIGHT stuff, and know how to use it, so keep researching and adapting your plan as your needs change.
Take inventory of things you currently have and fill in the gaps of what you anticipate needing. You might be surprised with how much you already own. I like to keep an inventory of items, food, and water so I don’t forget about anything. After you’ve been at it for a few years if you are anything like me an inventory can prevent you from wasting money buying unnecessary duplicate items, and can help with rotating in food-stores.
Don’t forget that skills trump stuff every time. So always keep adding to your “stockpile of skills.”
Grab a few books, even fiction books. While they often don’t give you specific lists of things to start buying, it will really get your mind going of the possibilities of a SHTF situation.
Lights Out is in my opinion one of the best. “Patriots” and “Survivors”, both written by the same author arent my favorites but they’re good books to get you thinking about things too.
There are tons of others. I didnt get started even thinking about preparing until after I read Patriots. That really got me thinking and led me to tons of other more specific sources (books, websites, etc).
As far as things to actually buy…I had a hard time really STARTING. I just started buying canned food. Anything on sale, store brand stuff, etc. Cans, nothing but cans. Eventually I had a real nice pile of cans and it just snowballed from there. Then I got more interested in all the other food items people stock and store, but it all started for me with canned goods.
Do you have a list of what you need yet?
Not an “I need 3 months of dried food, 3 months of MRE’s, a big ass generator, a shit ton of gas and two metric fuck tons of ammo split between 5.56, 9mm, 12g, and .22lr” but an actual list of the things that you use during an average week?
My wife maintains a spread sheet on google docs that has a list for 14 days for each child as well as for her and for myself.
It started out as a packing list for trips to visit family which means either a 10 or 20 hour drive depending on which side we go visit.
After the first trip with it she modified it to include snacks, toys, etc. Then she makes sure that we have all that stuff available (laundry day doesn’t count) and changes the list seasonally.
I didn’t realize how thorough her list was until a couple weeks ago when I got a phone call that my grandmother was in CCU and probably had less than 24 hours to live. I wrapped up some things at work that had to be done and drove home to wake up my wife (she works nights). I hopped in the shower, she pulled up her printed copy of the list that she keeps handy and started packing. I got out of the shower, dressed, and took over packing while she got her shower. In an hour and a half we had the car packed and all three kids picked up from both daycare and preschool and were on the interstate for a 10 hour drive. That’s with nothing prepacked and ready to go.
(two weeks later the stubborn old cuss is still kicking and I seem to have wasted my vacation time for the next 4 months)
We could have moved faster but we decided to shower knowing that we would be driving through the night. I also had to clean all my ski gear and a few guns, target stands, etc. out of the car first.
I think the first step to preparing is knowing what you’re going to prepare for. We’re incredibly prepared for emergencies that involve us getting up and going provided we will be arriving somewhere with food.
I also have a 30 day supply of food packed in a 5 gallon bucket and ready to go. All I have to do is toss that in the car with a camp stove and a pot and hope I can find water. I live in the mountains of western VA so water is abundant so I keep a couple 5 gallon collapsible water buckets handy as well.
Flooding would have to be of epic proportions to affect me so I could easily get out of the way before it becomes an issue.
Tornadoes have been known to rip through the area occasionally and Hurricanes last year caused some ferocious wind damage and downed some trees even though we’re a couple hours drive away from the ocean.
I’m going to be cutting some branches most likely to hit my house tonight or tomorrow to prevent issues there. I also have tarps pre cut to fit behind my windows to seal out water if a window breaks. Once some other things are taken care of I plan on pre cutting plywood to fit even though the chances of that being needed are one in a million.
After that it’s going to be wiring up a switch so I can transfer the fridge, freezer, and a couple sockets to a generator. Then I’m going t buy a generator…
Now that I’ve rambled for a bit I’ll bring it back in.
To start preparing in a practical way you need to:
Identify your needs.
Plan to meet them for 14 days
Plan to meet them for 30 days
Etc…
Just take it one step at a time.
I will mirror what others have already stated, start small, expand your knowledge base through education and training, assess YOUR situation and then build from there. Simple is good. Remember also that there is no turn key, one time solution, plans and equipment will change and evolve as you press forward.
Make it a part of your daily life, but do not let it rule over your life.
The only other thing I will add is this, when assessing your AO, don’t just look at the heavy hitters in your area that may present a problem, it is very easy to say that the Nuke plant 50 miles away is a major threat while overlooking more immediate threats that may literally be right in your back yard.
Curious what you have packed in that 5 gallon bucket for 30 days supply of food, living in a small house being able to have some things on hand that take up little space would be nice, along with having the capability to grab it and go if needed.