Thanks. I didn’t know there was a follow-on book. I’ll have to get it, too.
After reading One Second After, I’m not sure there’s much prep anybody could do to be ready for a disaster of this magnitude. If you have enough money to lay up everything you’ll need for a one- to two-year starvation period (food, water, fuel, ammunition, medicines), then you’ll be a juicy target for the starving hordes and roaming gangs.
I like the way the townspeople came up with rules for either staying on your own or pooling your sustenance with the community. If you do decide to go it on your own, how can you fend off the roaming gangs?
Forstchen did an excellent job thinking through human nature in such a disaster and it left me thinking most preppers are not really aware of how desperate people will be.
Also, a bug-out cabin will be pretty useless when an EMP attack happens and all transportation immediately stops dead in its tracks. Any stores you laid in at the cabin will be quickly raided by others.
I agree. Prepping for short term disasters (earthquake, etc) is fine. We have solar panels, some food, water and the like. But for EMP and such long term disasters, there is no way to prepare unless you have lots of money. You’d have to find some rural area with access to water, lots of land, build a walled compound, recruit many families with varied talents ( medical, electrical, farming, etc), have plenty of livestock and greenhouses and whatever. Plus, as you point out, you’d need advance notice of the disaster so all could meet at the appointed place. In cases other than EMP, this magical compound cannot be more than one tank of gas from everyone’s residence.
Building this compound is not high on my list. I’d rather the government do its job, which it isn’t.