Posted on 04/10/2012 6:53:21 PM PDT by Kartographer
Is it a coincidence that all of my nightmares occur in big cities? While it may be a personality glitch, I find that considering the dangers you face in the event of an emergency while living in a city, my nightmares may be justified. If you live in a city – buckle up. As a prepper you will have to work extra hard to make your emergency plan viable. And while I make no judgments on city dwellers, I must say – MOVE! For your own safety – MOVE! Move, move, move, move, move. Okay. I think I got it all out.
Now I understand that not everyone can just pick up and move because some lady on the internet says so. So if you are in the situation where you must stay in the city here are a few things you MUST have in your emergency preparedness plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...
Preppers’ PING!
I just want to reiterate that when the event happens, not if, but when, you have to remember that many large urban areas have limited access to food, because the urban dwellers make it impossible to profit.
Any of the ones that are present will have no more than 72 hours of stock for NORMAL sales, not a life or death rush on Spaghettios.
You absolutely do not want to be anywhere near one of these stores or any store. You will see the worst of humanity come out and if you think that the emergency services are going to keep order, you are fooling yourself. Like I have said before, the first firefighter shot will guarantee no fires put out. Once cops start getting shot, they too will go home or hunker down somewhere. The NG probably will not muster in the company and battalion strengths needed to carry out relief and in the urban areas, the armories may even come under attack by enterprising armed gangs.
You should have multiple paths out of the city. Highways will be choked with cars and tempers will flare.
Make friends with hunters who have land and think the way you do. They are already predisposed to self sufficiency anyway and you may have a place to cache supplies.
“Once cops start getting shot, they too will go home or hunker down somewhere. “
Actually, the cops have families, and they may not even wait until one of their own gets shot. Similar to New Orleans, with the school buses - yea, lots of buses, and lots of people needing rides. But guess what, the drivers have higher priorities than carting around total strangers. In that case, the thing to do would have been to fly in drivers from Tennessee and other states far away from the hurricane, and give them a map.
I’m in an ideal spot. A tiny town more than 10 miles from the interstate with no connecting roads passing through.
You don’t come here by accident.
I had to be in downtown Chicago the other day for a business meeting. I drove my Durango. There’s construction in the Loop right where the Eisenhower expressway begins. I had to drive about ten blocks to reach it.
It was the middle of the afternoon and nothing extraordinary was happening. It took me 45 minutes to move that ten blocks. I keep a Go bag in my truck, just in case.
I offer this just to say that if you’re caught in a major city when the SHTF don’t be under any illusions that you’ll be able to jump in your truck and drive out. Cities will be death traps for folks who,try to do so.
Depends what happens. Populated areas are far more likely to receive any kind of help if there’s some sort of civilization remaining.
I can also see people in less populated areas being forced to relocate to management areas in some circumstances.
Likewise I can see hoarders being searched and excess food confiscated regardless of where you are.
I’ve given a couple of urban FReepers my address and phone number with a promise of a safe place to stay in the short term in the event of it all going to crap.
Real hoarders cache.
Real self-defenders do the same.
God bless you for that offer. I pray they won’t need it but thankful that you’ll be their “beacon”, if need be.
And unless you paid cash the govt knows you have it.
That was very decent of you.
Urban people are most at risk and there’s strength in numbers. A little sacrifice in the beginning can become a great asset down the line.
Figured that one out years ago, but it’s always good to be reminded in case I get lazy.
I have a former coworker who traveled a lot for work, easily three weeks a month away from home (Chicago was a common stop, we had a major office there). He would FedEx his 72 hour bag to the hotel ahead of wherever he was traveling as you really can’t carry one on a plane. His bag would be waiting in his hotel room when he got there and he would keep it in his rental car.
All ammo, bought in cash.
All guns, private sales.
All food, extra in case.
All windows & doors, 2X4s in plenty.
Every time you go to Wal-Mart, buy another box of .22.
Amen, brother.
I enjoy your prepper posts! If SHTF and there is no power, there will be no traffic lights. That will make cities a big trap that people can’t get away from in a vehicle. After the food runs out in a few days there will be roving gangs spreading out to steal in the suburbs and beyond.
That is very true.
I reminded my college kid of this just today. Whether know-it-all kid acts on it quickly enough...
Yeah, I do see some problems with this article. Keeping a truck ? Yeah, it’s a good idea when things calm down, but with a few caveats:
When “things calm down” and there are no more cars on the road, it’s because there is no fuel either.
A truck is large, and difficult to hide. A small truck is no better than a station wagon - It’s open (Or easy to get opened) and the more capable it is, the larger it is.
They can make a lot of noise. When it’s quiet, just about any car can be heard for miles and miles.
It’s another desirable item that you’ll have to defend.
In the city, it’s all about foot traffic. Even a bicycle is an object that needs defending. Learn to dress in layers - look and act like a mentally unstable bum. Carry as much ammo and weapons as you can. And to get your family out of town, you may need multiple trips. (stage your supplies, and stage them very close. Make it from one building to another for one day. Have supplies there. Next day, another building. Glacial movements.)
Learn how to dress the women in your family as convincing boys. Learn, yourself, how to change race. Learn a foreign language with enough fluency to get through a block or two.
Stop and listen. Stop for days if you have to. Be patient. Moving about the urban (Or even suburban) landscape is glacial. In my area, there are Bilco doors to get into basements. A lot of these aren’t locked. Camp out during the day, move at night. Stay quiet.
I could go on and on.. But urban survival, or exodus, is not covered in this article.
I also wonder whether people who think they’re going to live by hunting might have a nasty shock in store when hunters from the cities realize there’s no tags and the only limit is what they can carry off. Literally millions would be heading out to where the game is, probably in organized foraging parties. Could current game populations withstand that kind of pressure for any length of time? That’s the bitch about being out in the country. What do you do when 500 armed hungries descend on your farm? (My guess is you die.)
Ping to read tomorrow.......
You will have to worry about your immediate neighbors as much as roving gangs.
My Sister-in-law was in Los Angeles during the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said people were grabbing things of the grocery shelves and trying to get out of town fast. Cars were overturned, no one paid any attention to stoplights. It was a mad house.
I remember the first power outage (1965)for NYC. Nothing happened. No looting. no crime.
12 years later under Jimmy Carter, during that power outage there was massive looting.
Same for the last power outage there. Massive looting.
So what happened since 1965?
I'm not saying don't prep at all. Of course, natural disasters and the like happen. In addition if you are in regular fear of urban rats you probably live in the wrong place regardless of exremental fans and whatnot. Having a few days or even weeks supply of essentials is reasonable but these people who live their lives preparing for doomsday seem to be missing the point of living, but to each his own.
Most folks better plan on holding up in your home.
“bugging out” is a tough proposition.
If you think you’re going to drive out, you better have a big head start, and a clear destination.
If you think you’re going to backpack out, you better get an idea of how far you can carry 50 lbs. and where you thing you might make camp.
Ya, don’t talk to me about being stuck in a downtown metro area.
Get out early, because only the most aggressive “animals” will survive 30 days.
When Burger King closes and the entitlement class can’t get lunch, they’ll be coming to your house for dinner.
In case you haven’t noticed, the POTUS is trying his hardest to collapse the economy and start a race war. When that happens you will need weaponry to defend your home or you will lose it, quite possibly along with your life.
For many different reasons. Whatever you realistically believe is a potential threat/disaster that could occur you will have to deal with. A lot of people are boy scouts when it comes to life.
Right now this country is very polarized, and more so on purpose by the Kenya-resident. It is Makers vs Takers simply put. The taking is increasing and they are to the point they demand it and expect it and believe they are morally entitled to it. The other side is greedy, they are not. What’s theirs has been taken/kept from them.
At the same time government continues to be a bigger brother everyday and the constitution is an obstacle and a joke to these people. Both sides have totally opposite ideas of governing the country and there is no middle ground on most of the issues.
We have a 16.5 trillion dollar national debt that’s increased 45% the last 3 1/2 years. The country is slated to go down the tubes.
I keep telling people just driving somewhere is not going to be as easy as they think.
They will be ambushed on the roads. Country folks and small town people aren’t going to let strangers in to their areas to create havoc or form a bunch of tent cities that will start begging locals for supplies.
They will be ambushed on roads, there will be roadblocks and checkpoints, and there is a chance that they will need YOUR supplies and vehicle and relieve you of them.
It’s not a panacea that way either. bullets go through typical car doors and windows real easy.
Half are too stupid to know where to go. They will go down to city hall and tear those people apart, if they don’t get mowed down.
They will do what they always do, take each other out. It won’t change all of a sudden that they will stop attacking each other, if anything they will escalate attacking each other.
It has been my experience that when someone's view of another makes them look more like a cartoon character than a live, flesh and blood person, their view probably IS of a cartoon character.
As goofy as it sounds, you would be amazed at the number of secular people who really believe all those folks go to church every Sunday in the hope of sitting on a cloud, plucking a harp after they die.
Seems to me that the key is to GOOD BEFORE TSHTF. Leaving too soon may incur needless cost and inconvenience. Leave too late and you will be trapped. The proper time to bug out is hard to gauge, so I’m looking for warning signs. However, that only works for things like financial collapse, pandemics or civil unrest. Natural disasters may be predictable (hurricanes, snow storms, etc.) while others may not (tsunami, EMP, etc.) Terrorist attacks will come without warning. All we can do is hope that we get SOME warning.
Saw a statistic on “Doomsday preppers” last night that said that 75% of Americans think they could evacuate their homes in less than an hour. I think that is too optomistic. If you are leaving with the clothes on your back, a bugout bag, a pistol, a rifle and/or a shotgun plus ammo - maybe. Proper loading to include food and water, first aid and tools is going to take longer.
Most people could evacuate in less than an hour. However they wouldn’t have many supplies and probably a half tank of gas.
Unless there is a cat 5 hurricane or an invasion I’m staying in my house.
I posted this here a while back on the same theme.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2843624/posts
Some good comments on bugging in and hiding in the thread.
Why prep for one reason it’s much easier explaining why I prep than explaining to my children and loved ones why I didn’t.
Secondly in those two hundred years name a time that we had a government that was so hostile to such a large potion of it’s population? The only time I can think of was during the Civil War and I can’t imagine that you could find very many Southerners from that time who didn’t wish they had been able to put back something for what was coming.
One last thing it’s only been in the last fifty years or so that prep wasn’t seen as the ‘norm’. I remember my Grandmother’s pantry and root cellar and my Grandfather’s garden. We now live in a time where there is only three days worth of food readily available at our local outlets. That means if something happens and the trucks don’t roll there well be a lot of hungry people.
You might like to read:
Just In Time: When the Trucks Stop, America Will Stop
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2867265/posts
Lastly something to think about:
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.
Underestimation can be fatal.”
Something interesting just came to me the other day. Every Spring I do my ammo reloading. The boxes I use are 50 rounds. The cost to me is less than $20 per 50 round box. The retail cost is between $50 and $75 per 50 round box, depending on sales, etc. Imagine during SHTF what the cost per box might become after supplies, especially ammo, cease.
This dovetails with the city issue in that cities will no doubt experience supply issues right off the bat. If something like ammo can go from $50 a box to perhaps many times that due to being in short supply, imagine what all kind of things might cost once the supply chain is a trickle. Cities will be hit the worst as they simply try to feed themselves much less supply non life giving items like food.
“non life giving items like food.”
Should be, “non life giving items other than food.”
I'll take you are referring to the ones on the more extreme end of the spectrum. There are many, many more like myself who are 'preppers' w/o the fortress in the woods preparing for more likely disasters and situations. If nothing else, Katrina showed that people are not as robust anymore in urban areas. At least my supplies will give me some buffer should things start down hill and my situational awareness allow me and my family to get out of harms way when the entitlement mob runs out of things to burn downtown and moves to the suburbs.
I have spoken to many of the local constabulary and to a man...this is what they say they will happen in extreme circumstances such as we are prepping for.
Being in a city can be nice when things go wrong. Infrastructure tends to have more redundancy in densely populated areas. When we had a big freeze a couple of years ago that caused the gas company to turn off a few neighborhoods there’s tons of stores to buy electric heaters in. A couple of years before that my neighborhood had a long blackout (well long for us, 18 hours) but it was just 2 square miles or so that were effected, the 2 nearest grocery stores were fine, nearby restaurants were fine. The S doesn’t tend to HTF nearly as hard in cities.
If we get there, we'll be alright. It won't be easy, but we'll survive, not because of my guns, but because there will be 25 people or so there whom I can trust with my life. We won't be wolves, but we won't be prey either.
True, but government is also going to find nobody home at my address if it gets to that point. They’ll have other things to worry about than some 30 something and his family trying to stay out of their way as much as I hope they stay out of mine.
Because it has in the past, at least locally. I think part of the major problem is because modern society has had it so easy combined with suburbanization/urbanization. No electricity? Panic. Even 80 years ago, there was a much larger rural society.
Even in the stable US, there's been the 1930's depression, the Long Depression in the late 1800's, the Indian Wars, the Civil War and Bleeding Kansas before that, the frontier, occasional riots, and Hurricane Katrina (and massive looting in N.O.)
Why are we here in the US today? In a lot of cases, it's because of SHTF happening in the lands of the ancestors.
Do I expect doomsday? No. Do I expect trouble? At some point. My big concern for the cause. Energy.
Over my dead body. Literally. See my tagline.
Start shooting.
(My guess is you die.)
Yup. But not the first to do so. Nor second or third or 20th.
That is the most likely scenario in my view.
An economic collapse that will make diesel fuel, fuel oil, coal, etc. far too expensive or rare for any trucks or trains to roll, any electrical gas or coal fired electrical generating plants to run which also means no water or city controlled sewage disposal. The food supply chain is broken. The lights go out, the sewers back up and fresh water is no longer coming from the tap.
Think about how delicate the whole system is to survive a "burp" in the flow of essential fuels.
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