What if you had to move out of your home later today, with almost no notice? What would you do? Would you be ready, or would you be completely dependent on others to provide for even your most basic needs?
The sad truth is that in the event of a local or regional emergency or disaster, most of the people in most communities have no plan except a vague idea that the authorities will provide for them. Even though we have seen time and again after earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, and floods that the authorities will very quickly be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of other people all requiring emergency help at the same time.
The government's idea of assistance is to shelter people en masse - in halls, churches, stadiums, and even in makeshift tent camps. If that's your thing, then great. But with large numbers of people can come all manner of problems.
Water and food are obvious ones - do you really want to stand in line for hours for whatever is available? Worse still, when crowds start to panic and the rules go out of the window, are you prepared for the jostling, fighting, thieving and looting that people can descend into?
Sanitation is another biggie. If you've ever been to a big music festival and queued to use the facilities then you might shudder at the memory of an hour waiting in line only to find a horror story in the stall, and nothing to clean it all up with. When the ratio of people to stalls is well over a hundred to one, even if cleaning staff do drop by a couple of times per day to freshen things up, the facilities can't help but get ugly fast. But you're not bothered by a bit of mess. No, you're more concerned about how all of that waste is disposed of and that it isn't contaminating the living areas or drinking water.
If only you could have more control over all of these things. If only you had been a bit more prepared...
Sure, there might be hardened public buildings or even dedicated public shelters near to you that you and your family can take advantage of. They might even be adequately resourced and not get overwhelmed by the sheer number of people turning up seeking shelter and provisions.
Some people are choosing another way, however.
Just like you might want to use your own vehicle to head for safety in the direction that you choose, instead of waiting for a bus or truck to take you to wherever someone else thinks that you should be going...
Just like you might want to be able to take your own belongings and equipment, instead of being told that you can only bring one bag as there is no room for more...
So you might just choose to do things your own way. Your own plans.
Well, you don’t have to be Maslow to know that in order to survive, you must have your basic needs met. If you are going to do things on your own there has to be food to eat, water to drink, something to use for shelter from the elements, and warmth to keep you from exposure when you aren’t moving about (so especially at night). Those are the very bare basics and will keep you ticking along nicely for a little while- but there is other survival equipment that you need to have if you’re going to survive longer than a few days and you aren’t prepared to be a total wild man or woman of the woods.
Even if you only intend to be out there for a short while, you want to plan for long-term survival. I’ll just let that sink in. Many of the things that you are going to prepare and/or do will be designed to get you one step closer to this goal. But often each step is a shorter-term measure that will keep you well while you create or execute your longer term solution. So what you’ll need for the short term at least is a tent for shelter. This will keep you well in the short-term, until you either return to your original dwelling after the crisis is over, or you are able to transition into a more permanent dwelling. For this you could either plan to build a lean-to or you might have some other sort of primitive building you can build and use as your base camp.
If you use a tent for your initial survival needs, you can buy these in single person, multi-person and even family-sized tents. If you have any young children or nervous family members, using the bigger family tent where you will all be much closer together will usually help make them feel much safer. You’re also going to need multi-season sleeping bags for each member of the family or at least survival blankets to keep warm in case of cold weather while you are out there.
For food on camp, you can’t take Twinkies and chicken nuggets – you’ll want to take a good selection of survival foods. You can easily find these already preselected and prepackaged and they will have many years of shelf life ahead of them so they’ll be good for you to start buying right now. You definitely do not want to leave it to the last minute to purchase your survival food, especially when you can buy it now and it will be good for years to come. Then, depending on just how much prepackaged survival food you pack into your backpack – and don’t forget that every member, no matter how small, should have their own backpack, even the dog – you’ll need to be prepared to use your expertise to live on food you can find or even grow on the land around your camp site.
You always must have water, and enough of it to drink, cook with, and wash with. Drinking water is your priority, but hygiene comes a close second. You’ll also need sufficient water storage containers and you’ll also need a way to purify water if you use water from a stream or a lake. You’ll need to have at least a basic first aid kit ready so that you can render first aid or even take care of your more extensive and elaborate medical needs if necessary.
Of course, having some means to start a fire is a basic necessity too. You can use a fire for warmth and comfort, to ward off wild animals and insects if needed, and it’ll be your primary means to cook food and heat water. Many campers use waterproof matches for lighting fires, and carry some dry tinder and kindling in containers or bags so that getting fires lit is never a problem. Some survivalists use lighters, but those do eventually run out of butane, so you’ll more commonly find survivalists with some type of flint and steel that they’ll use to strike up sparks.
You can take tinder with you, but depending on the season you can often also find things that you can use for tinder on the land around your camp site. Some people also take a lightweight, foldable stove to cook on that helps keep pots and pans level and stable. Whether you choose to use a campfire or a portable stove, you’re always going to need something to cook your food in, so always make sure you have a cook set or set of mess tins. Look for ones specifically made for camping that have all-metal parts and not plastic which will melt if placed in or near a fire.
Hygiene supplies are a must if you are camping away from home for longer than one night – as well as toiletries. You’ll also want a folding shovel or equivalent tool to be able to dig with – not just to dig yourself a latrine pit but also to dig a fire pit or food waste pit. You’ll need a knife, preferably a multi-tool as well as a knife, plus a tool that you can use to clear away any obstructive brush from around your camp site or to cut up wood for your fire.
Make sure that if you have flashlights, you take spare batteries and preferably a means to recharge them from sunlight or heat. You’ll find that a lantern is very useful as it can illuminate areas much better than a torch, and you’ll find an am/fm radio will help you to listen in to the latest breaking news and stay abreast of the emergency situation you're reacting to. You can often get these radios with a frequency scanner so that you can stay on top of what’s going on with the emergency responders. You’ll want at least one safety whistle so that you can signal for help in emergencies, not just to outsiders but also between yourselves.
You’ll also want a tool to help you navigate. A compass is probably going to be more useful in the long run than a GPS. You’ll obviously need some maps of your surrounding environment, and it helps greatly if you pre-mark your map with any important sites of interest to either visit or avoid.
For finding your way around, a compass will work, and there are also navigation watches, too. Your smart GPS device is great but in emergencies GPS is often turned off or limited by the military in order to deny it to enemies. Also, whichever disaster has caused you to bug out to your survival camp might also have taken down the GPS network or the power grid. So if it is up great, but always have a backup method of finding your way around ready to go.
Watching out for the safety of yourself and family is something you’ll want to prepare for as well. Be prepared to defend your family by having at least a gun and ammunition with you. You may also come to rely on these and other weapons for hunting in order to replenish your food stores. Know how to use these weapons competently before you have to rely on them for survival. You don't want to be learning how to shoot when you are hungry and low on ammunition.
This may seem like a lot to take in all at once, but it pretty soon becomes second nature once you get the hang of it. Why not have a pretend bug out weekend trip where you give all of your equipment and skills a trial run so that you know what do to in the event of a real emergency? You’ll feel much better heading out for real if you know what works, what to do, and what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are.
Are you ready to bug out today?
Why not make a list of the things you need to do so that you get closer to making it a reality.
