Posted on 10/29/2005 10:13:52 AM PDT by Travis McGee
Thoughts On Urban Survival (Post-Collapse Life in Argentina)
My brother visited Argentina a few weeks ago. He’s been living in Spain for a few years now. Within the first week, he go sick, some kind of strong flu, even though climate isn’t that cold and he took care of himself. Without a doubt he got sick because there are lots of new viruses in my country that can’t be found in 1st world countries. The misery and famine lead us to a situation where, even though you have food, shelter and health care, most of others don’t, and therefore they get sick and spread the diseases all over the region.
What got me started on this post is the fact that I actually saw this coming, and posted on the subject here at Frugal’s, months before the new viruses spread over the country and the news started talking about this new, health emergency, which proves that talking, thinking and sharing ideas with like minded people (you guys), does help to see things coming and prepare for them with enough time. So I started thinking about several issues, what I learned (either the hard way or thanks to this forum) after all these years of living in a collapsed country that is trying to get out an economical disaster and everything that comes along with it. Though my English is limited, I hope I’m able to transmit the main ideas and concepts, giving you a better image of what you may have to deal with some day, if the economy collapses in your country. Here is what I have so far:
URBAN OR COUNTRY?
Someone once asked me how did those that live in the country fare. If they were better off than city dwellers. As always there are no simple answers. Wish I could say country good, city bad, but I can’t, because if I have to be completely honest, and I intend to be so, there are some issues that have to be analyzed, especially security. Of course that those that live in the country and have some land and animals were better prepared food-wise. No need to have several acres full of crops. A few fruit trees, some animals, such as chickens, cows and rabbits, and a small orchard was enough to be light years ahead of those in the cities. Chickens, eggs and rabbits would provide the proteins, a cow or two for milk and cheese, some vegetables and fruit plants covered the vegetable diet, and some eggs or a rabbit could be traded for flower to make bread and pasta or sugar and salt.
Of course that there are exceptions, for example, some provinces up north have desert climate, and it almost never rains. It is almost impossible to live of the land, and animals require food and water you have to buy. Those guys had it bad; no wonder the northern provinces suffer the most in my country. Those that live in cities, well they have to manage as they can. Since food prices went up about 200%-300%. People would cut expenses wherever they could so they could buy food. Some ate whatever they could; they hunted birds or ate street dogs and cats, others starved. When it comes to food, cities suck in a crisis. It is usually the lack of food or the impossibility to acquire it that starts the rioting and looting when TSHTF.
When it comes to security things get even more complicated. Forget about shooting those that mean you harm from 300 yards away with your MBR. Leave that notion to armchair commandos and 12 year old kids that pretend to be grown ups on the internet.
Some facts:
1) Those that want to harm you/steal from you don’t come with a pirate flag waving over their heads.
2) Neither do they start shooting at you 200 yards away.
3) They won’t come riding loud bikes or dressed with their orange, convict just escaped from prison jump suits, so that you can identify them the better. Nor do they all wear chains around their necks and leather jackets. If I had a dollar for each time a person that got robbed told me “They looked like NORMAL people, dressed better than we are”, honestly, I would have enough money for a nice gun. There are exceptions, but don’t expect them to dress like in the movies.
4) A man with a wife and two or three kids can’t set up a watch. I don’t care if you are SEAL, SWAT or John Freaking Rambo, no 6th sense is going to tell you that there is a guy pointing a gun at your back when you are trying to fix the water pump that just broke, or carrying a big heavy bag of dried beans you bought that morning.
The best alarm system anyone can have in a farm are dogs. But dogs can get killed and poisoned. A friend of mine had all four dogs poisoned on his farm one night, they all died. After all these years I learned that even though the person that lives out in the country is safer when it comes to small time robberies, that same person is more exposed to extremely violent home robberies. Criminals know that they are isolated and their feeling of invulnerability is boosted. When they assault a country home or farm, they will usually stay there for hours or days torturing the owners. I heard it all: women and children getting raped, people tied to the beds and tortured with electricity, beatings, burned with acetylene torches. Big cities aren’t much safer for the survivalist that decides to stay in the city. He will have to face express kidnappings, robberies, and pretty much risking getting shot for what’s in his pockets or even his clothes.
So, where to go? The concrete jungle is dangerous and so is living away from it all, on your own. The solution is to stay away from the cities but in groups, either by living in a small town-community or sub division, or if you have friends or family that think as you do, form your own small community. Some may think that having neighbors within “shouting” distance means loosing your privacy and freedom, but it’s a price that you have to pay if you want to have someone to help you if you ever need it. To those that believe that they will never need help from anyone because they will always have their rifle at hand, checking the horizon with their scope every five minutes and a first aid kit on their back packs at all times…. Grow up.
Travis McGee Note: This is the beginning of one of the most amazing essays I have read in my life, written by an architect in Argentina, who has lived through an economic and social collapse for the last five years. I consider it one of the most important things that you will read in this or any year. If you're a sheeple, don't bother. But if you see (as I do) storm clouds on America's horizon, do yourself a BIG favor and read it, and pass it to your friends, family, and loved ones.
Thoughts On Urban Survival (Post-Collapse Life in Argentina)
ping :)
Bump Marker.
Thats a good question a way to id friend or foe and form parternships
Avian flu maybe??
Bump. Finally sat down, registered, and read the first 2/3 of the first post. Just damn.
That said, I'm feeling reasonably well-prepared.
ping
Did you get pinged here? If so, sorry for the redundancy.
AMEN! And as long as they can keep being reelected (by sheeple) to their seats of power, they aren't worried about having to live like the rest of us!
The US survived and thrived up through the late 1800's under similar circumstances.
Thanks for the ping, Eaker! Mind blower, isn't it?
Thanks for posting, Trav
It's a different country today. If the ATMs, supermarkets and gas stations are not restocked every week our cities will explode.
Is there an FR survivalist ping list? Might be something that would draw some interest, lotta lessons learned from Katrina, etc!
Yup. Probably less than a week.
I read an article recently that analyzed how much food there was in the pipeline.
Seventeen pounds per person. That's it, folks! Less than a case of beans.
I think it's called "revolving supply" or something like that. Our very lives and social order depend on uninterrupted resupply of cash, food, gas etc.
True story.
A few years back, I decided to start stocking up on stuff. So I got about 6 of those plastic containers full of you name it, all those boxed fettucini things, mac and cheese, egg noodles, bullion cubes, whatever.
About a week after I started, two planes crashed into the world trade centers.
So now I'm pretty serious about having a good stock and have at least six months worth, plus seeds, water and ammo. Hope it never comes to it, cause it would get real ugly real quick.
I don't think so. I would like to join one if you start one.
BTW, I found some holes in my 'plan' during/after Katrina.
Interstate 10 here in South Alabama looked like something out of The Stand.
JIT, just in time.
Don't forget about fertlizer and insecticide for the garden.
LOL. My brother-in-law was here during Katrina and afterward we went digging into some of my 'stock'. He said, "Here's a container marked 'matches', can I open it"? I said, "not unless you're ready to use 10,000 matches", lol.
I don't think it's possible to plan on leaving in an emergency. All along the coast in Washington state, they have signs "Tsunami Route" to higher ground.
So, you get the alert that there's a tsunami coming, jump in your rig, get about a mile up the road and get stuck behind some geezer in a 63 Studebaker that just blew a rod....
Not practical. Better to plan on hunkerin down for a few days at least.
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