How Long Will an EMP Disaster Last?

An EMP can be created through everyday items, or it can even be produced through a reaction via a nuclear explosion or even produced via the sun and each EMP can be placed into Phases: E1, E2 and E3.

An EMP is a threat to our modern way of life. Why? Because everything we rely on, like hospitals, internet and transport, to name a few items, rely on electronic components to operate.

It will happen in a flash, you might know it is coming, but you will not have time to prepare for the event, that’s why you need to prepare if you have not already. Store all your electronics in a Faraday Cage and shield your larger electronics, like your vehicle and your solar panels.

Society will fall when an EMP event happens and the unprepared have started to go panic, their only thoughts will be to hoard supplies, communicate with loved ones and survive.

In the meantime, what we preppers will do is watch and wait for the chaos to die down, while reading a book via a lamp powered by our protected solar panel array and power storage units.

The important thing to remember about an Electromagnetic Pulse is that it disables the electronic components, which are usually destroyed, leaving that device useless, and in need of replacement parts before it can run again

This includes wires as they absorb the pulse charge, the longer the wire the more damage it creates to the electronic device and its components.

So today we will be looking at the question: How long does an EMP last for?

An EMP blast can last up to a minute if it’s of solar origin (CME). If it’s from a nuclear blast, then it has to go through all three E Phases, if it was a CME then anything up to a minute as a CME is always an E3. Normal life, however, would get back to normal after months or even years.

A modern vehicle might take a day, maybe more if the wiring is usable, whereas a power plant may take years to get back online.

If the sun did via a CME then minutes as it releases an E3, it can last a long time as the CME might keep bombarding the Earth for days or more adding to the first pulse.

If it was nuclear-born then the pulse can last minutes as it goes through all three E Phases, but, depending on how high above the ground it was detonated, the radius changes and we learned that with a nuclear pulse comes more problems.

The fallout of either pulse lasts anything up to years after, depending on what has been affected and what is needed to replace the components.

Nuclear Explosion vs The Sun

Both the sun and a nuclear missile can create an EMP. Both have different E Phases.

A nuclear-born EMP can have a varied range, but also comes with a high dose of nuclear radiation. The lasting effects are the repair time for electronics and the radiation in and around ground zero for the given radius

At 300 miles above a country, the radius is greatly widened. If an EMP is detonated 300 miles above the U.S., the radius could hit Washington D.C when detonated above the centre, or close to the centre of the country.

This is also followed by E Phases: E1 the initial explosion and mushroom cloud releases a pulse lasting seconds, E2 is the particles falling to the ground, the EMP here lasts seconds and E3 distorts the Earth’s magnetic field and also lasts seconds. However, the after-effects can last years.

The sun can release a Coronal Mass Ejection or what others might call a Geomagnetic Storm, depending on the severity it lasts just as long as a Nuclear EMP and has a wider range. In 1859 (Solar Cycle 10) the sun released a CME, it was recorded to be the biggest CME to date. It was named the Carrington Event. A CME can last weeks and each CME can have different ranges of time. The Sun delivers E3.

Both the sun and a nuclear missile are a problem, if a nuke is the source then radiation follows it, if the sun was the source then the bombardment of CME can last weeks.

EMP Phases And Their Pulse Durations

When a nuclear EMP is created we begin at Phase E1. This is a short phase but an intense burst. This is the part that delivers the high voltage pulse and last one to five nanosecond(s)

Phase E2 is the scattered gamma particles. We can also equate the E2 to lightning in terms of EMP production. This is the easiest to protect against. This lasts anything up to one second

Phase E3 is different to the previous phases. This is a very slow pulse lasting anything up to hundreds of seconds. This is the one that can destroy power lines and shut down power plants as a result, because we use AC current they conflict with the pulse that is a DC current. Both a nuclear EMP and the sun produce an E3

A Solar EMP does not produce Phases E1 and E2 when at ground level.

The CME will hit Earth anywhere from 15-18 hours for fast pulses or last several days if they are slow pulses. Each CME lasts several hours. Each CME can last weeks, depending on the cycle and over a day the sun can produce up to 3 CMEs a day.

So The Sun could bombard the earth with CMEs for at least a week. This means that anything not shielded from an E3 EMP will not be fixable as long as the pulses keep hitting the Earth. An CME can last as long as the sun is capable of producing the pulse during the event. As long as a continuous pulse is active there will never be any electronics as the pulse will stop any repairs to the electronics. This is also true for man-made EMPs.

When the sun creates an CME things get worse. The sun is always giving off small amounts of electromagnetic waves – that’s how we see the “The Northern Lights”.

However if the sun was to bombard the Earth’s magnetosphere with CME pulses, all we can do is move fast to shield our electronics before 18 hours are up. Why?

It can take 18 hours to 3 days for the pulse to reach Earth when a warning goes out. A CME within the sun’s corona can last up to four weeks.

While a nuclear-born EMP can keep happening as long as there are missiles to launch, that’s not to mention the radiation.

After a nuclear explosion and resulting “mushroom cloud” we also experience the results of a nuclear-born EMP, it lasts anything up to minutes, but once over there is nothing to fear from that pulse, just the radiation.

Now that we understand the different electromagnetic pulses, we should look more at the aftermath as this is also covered in the duration.

The aftermath will last as long as years, perhaps decades, depending on what was damaged by the pulse, years and decades being especially true for power plants and modern conveniences that have lots of circuits and wires, perhaps we will never recover

As long as you prepared a suitable Faraday cage and shielded electronics that are also important then you have nothing to fear from a nuclear-born EMP of any Phase, including an E2 lightning strike.

That being said, the aftermath will last years because the damage has to be assessed, working parts found and the electronics fixed.

It could take three to ten years to fix a power plant, depending on if they have working parts close by. If not then some very smart humans will have to print and build hundreds of circuit boards en masse to fill the orders.

No matter the EMP, we still need the parts to replace the damaged circuits and new wires to replace the charged ones, so those smart and skilled humans will be in demand and possibly very rich.

Just reading the research makes me want to look into shielding my everyday vehicle just to be sure.

What is Affected by an EMP, And What isn’t?

Everything with circuits and wires is affected. On a circuit board, the components melt from the high voltage pulse passing through it via any attached wires. The longer the wires, the greater the voltage pulse passing through it.

You can shield the electronics using a Faraday cage or shielding the electronics and wires in vehicles. More on that in another article.

If you can properly store circuit boards that will be in high demand after an EMP then you should survive, though, there are pros and cons to this.

A lot of vehicles are not affected by an EMP. These don’t have computers and circuits governing everything for the vehicle.

If you can find a vehicle made around the 1980s, those should not have computers governing the systems and thus be able to survive an EMP.

Though I’d just shield my bug-out vehicle, it might cost more to do, but a modern vehicle has advantages that older models don’t have.

Some electronic locks can unlock when hit with an EMP, however, this depends on what the lock is attached to. Many locks now are EMP proof, especially ones attached to safes that will protect valuables.

The small amount of gold in the fried electronic components, the precious metals in a vehicle’s catalytic converter and the re-forgeable metals of modern conveniences that can be reforged into weapons and tools.

Communications and Returning to Normal

Communication being re-established depends on you, those who prepared and the lucky.

If you stored communications devices properly and you have power then you already have communication of the electronic kind. If you have pen and paper you can send someone a message via a rider.

Government-run communications should change to emergency broadcasts and will run either a recorded message, coded communications or live broadcasts that will give some kind of update or instructions.

For full communications it will take months or years, depending on the damage and the duration of an EMP event, it could take years to get back online or it might never get back online.

It depends on how long one new circuit board takes to be manufactured by hand to repair factories to mass-produce circuit boards, however, there should be places that store circuit boards and protect them from EMPs.

Returning to normal will take a long time. Our normal is full of electronics we depend on to live, we use mobile phones, cars, the internet, computers and even medical equipment.

What will most likely happen is communications will come back online, and that will be radios and specialized military and government communications.

Next would be the production of circuit boards to repair factory equipment.

Those replacement circuit boards will most likely be done by hand and will take a long time to hand manufacturer, it could take someone a day to build just one circuit board as they have to hand draw the layout and hand-drill holes.

Final Thoughts and What You Can Do

Shielding your bug-out vehicles works and ensuring any electronic prepping supplies are in a Faraday cage. Also storing spare electronic components is a good idea.

Any solar panels will require shielding and a protection EMP shield to keep them safe. Sol-Ark is one company I found that has various EMP protection for its products.

You can build a Faraday cage out of metal wires, then ensure the cage is grounded and so on. That’s not something I will be covering here, maybe in another article.

This is why we prepare, a CME is more likely than a nuclear EMP

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Kansas State Knife Laws

Kansas is something of a pleasant surprise when it comes to knife laws. Following a significant revision of the states statutes in 2012 and 2013, Kansas now has pride of place among the freest states for citizens when it comes to the ownership and carry of knives.

Kansas is a state without any restrictions on blade length, and shows total permissibility when it comes to open or concealed carry and highly permissive regulations concerning where you can and cannot take your knife.

Perhaps the only complaint we can level against Kansas is that they have a blanket ban on throwing stars. That is definitely irritating for collectors, but should not make much difference in practical terms for those who carry a knife for work or for self-defense.

Happily, Kansas also has strongly worded preemption laws that prevent counties and cities from implementing any knife laws more restrictive than the state standard.

Even though Kansas is nearly do-as-you-please when it comes to the carry of knives, we will still dig into all the relevant statutes below.

What You Need to Know

• What Kind of Knives Can I Own?: Any kind of knife except a throwing star or shuriken.
• Can I Carry a Knife Concealed Without a Permit?: Any kind of knife, including switchblades, dirks, daggers, gravity knives, etc.
• Can I Carry a Knife Concealed With a Permit?: Any kind of knife, including switchblades, dirks, daggers, gravity knives, etc.
• Can I Carry a Knife Openly?: Any kind of knife, including switchblades, dirks, daggers, gravity knives, etc.

General Ownership

There is only one kind of knife that is forbidden from private ownership in the state of Kansas, and that is the throwing star, or shuriken.

You may not possess or carry one openly or concealed. It is unfortunate, and somewhat foolish when you stop to think about it, but that is the way it is.

On the bright side, there is much to be thankful for: aside from that single restriction Kansas is a virtual free-for-all when it comes to the types and lengths of knives you may carry.

Due to the specific way that the Kansas statutes are worded, you are only forbidden from carrying specifically named knives if they are carried with the intent to use them unlawfully against another person.

Included among those specifically named knives are daggers, dirks, straight edge razors, stilettos and any other knife of like character.

Also included is the term “dangerous knife” which, though nebulous and undefined, is not an issue for non-felons who are carrying any such knife without criminal intent, whatever they are!

It is worth noting, and is expanded upon in the included statutes at the end of this article, that throwing stars are also among the knives that are illegal to carry with unlawful intent.

The way that the Kansas statutes are worded at first glance means that one is likely to determine you should be able to carry a throwing star so long as you are not carrying it with unlawful intent.

Unfortunately, the statutes later classify a throwing star as something other than a knife.

Concealed Carry, No Permit

You can carry concealed any type of legal knife in the state of Kansas lacking a permit with no problems.

There is no talk of any bladed instrument save for throwing stars being overtly criminal depending upon its mode of carry. This is definitely a good thing for anyone living or traveling in the state of Kansas.

Concealed Carry, With Permit

Having a Kansas concealed weapons permit or any permit recognized by the state of Kansas does not grant any additional permissions regarding the carry of knives; once again you can carry anything you want to, more or less, with or without a permit so long as it is not a throwing star.

Open Carry

Just like concealed carry, open carry is a-okay in Kansas. Any kind of knife, anywhere you are legally allowed to take it, so long as it is not a throwing star.

Prohibited Places

Schools. Though the way the state statutes are worded is a little unclear in this regard, I would advise you not to carry any bladed implement onto school property or into a school building proper.

At first glance the law looks like it merely forbids any student from carrying a switchblade knife or gravity knife, potentially classified as a butterfly knife, but if there were to be an incident or someone took offense to you carrying your knife onto school grounds you can rest assured the interaction will not end happily for you.

Assessment

Is a great time to be a citizen or visitor in the great state of Kansas if you are a knife aficionado or just a person who appreciates being able to choose what you’ll carry without any hassle.

Any kind of knife goes in Kansas except throwing stars, and you can carry your knife pretty much anywhere openly or concealed with no permit needed.

Sturdy statewide preemption laws assure citizens that no locality will implement laws that undercut your right to go forth armed with the blade of your choice.

Important Kansas State Statutes

21-6301. Criminal use of weapons.

(a) Criminal use of weapons is knowingly:

(1) Selling, manufacturing, purchasing or possessing any bludgeon, sand club or metal knuckles;

(2) possessing with intent to use the same unlawfully against another, a dagger, dirk, billy, blackjack, slungshot, dangerous knife, straight-edged razor, throwing star, stiletto or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument of like character;

(3) setting a spring gun;

…

(4) possessing any device or attachment of any kind designed, used or intended for use in suppressing the report of any firearm;

(5) selling, manufacturing, purchasing or possessing a shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches in length, or any firearm designed to discharge or capable of discharging automatically more than once by a single function of the trigger, whether the person knows or has reason to know the length of the barrel or that the firearm is designed or capable of discharging automatically;

(6) possessing, manufacturing, causing to be manufactured, selling, offering for sale, lending, purchasing or giving away any cartridge which can be fired by a handgun and which has a plastic-coated bullet that has a core of less than 60% lead by weight, whether the person knows or has reason to know that the plastic-coated bullet has a core of less than 60% lead by weight;

(7) selling, giving or otherwise transferring any firearm with a barrel less than 12 inches long to any person under 18 years of age whether the person knows or has reason to know the length of the barrel;

(8) selling, giving or otherwise transferring any firearms to any person who is both addicted to and an unlawful user of a controlled substance;

(9) selling, giving or otherwise transferring any firearm to any person who is or has been a mentally ill person subject to involuntary commitment for care and treatment, as defined in K.S.A. 59-2946, and amendments thereto, or a person with an alcohol or substance abuse problem subject to involuntary commitment for care and treatment as defined in K.S.A. 59-29b46, and amendments thereto;

…

(17) possessing any firearm by a person while such person is subject to a court order that:

(A) Was issued after a hearing, of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had an opportunity to participate;

(B) restrains such person from harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner of such person or a child of such person or such intimate partner, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or the child; and

(C) (i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or

(ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or

(18) possessing any firearm by a person who, within the preceding five years, has been convicted of a misdemeanor for a domestic violence offense, or a misdemeanor under a law of another jurisdiction which is substantially the same as such misdemeanor offense.

(b) Criminal use of weapons as defined in:

(1) Subsection (a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3), (a)(7), (a)(8), (a)(9) or (a)(12) is a class A nonperson misdemeanor;

(2) subsection (a)(4), (a)(5) or (a)(6) is a severity level 9, nonperson felony;

(3) subsection (a)(10) or (a)(11) is a class B nonperson select misdemeanor;

(4) subsection (a)(13), (a)(15), (a)(16), (a)(17) or (a)(18) is a severity level 8, nonperson felony; and

(5) subsection (a)(14) is a:

(A) Class A nonperson misdemeanor except as provided in subsection (b)(5)(B);

(B) severity level 8, nonperson felony upon a second or subsequent conviction.

(c) Subsections (a)(1), (a)(2) and (a)(5) shall not apply to:

…

(l) Subsection (a)(1) shall not apply to any ordinary pocket knife which has a spring, detent or other device which creates a bias towards closure of the blade and which requires hand pressure applied to such spring, detent or device through the blade of the knife to overcome the bias towards closure to assist in the opening of the knife.

(m) As used in this section, “throwing star” means any instrument, without handles, consisting of a metal plate having three or more radiating points with one or more sharp edges and designed in the shape of a polygon, trefoil, cross, star, diamond or other geometric shape, manufactured for use as a weapon for throwing.

…

21-6302. Criminal carrying of a weapon.

(a) Criminal carrying of a weapon is knowingly carrying:

(1) Any bludgeon, sandclub, metal knuckles or throwing star;

(2) concealed on one’s person, a billy, blackjack, slungshot or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument of like character;

(3) on one’s person or in any land, water or air vehicle, with intent to use the same unlawfully, a tear gas or smoke bomb or projector or any object containing a noxious liquid, gas or substance; or

(4) any pistol, revolver or other firearm concealed on one’s person if such person is under 21 years of age, except when on such person’s land or in such person’s abode or fixed place of business; or

(5) a shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches in length or any other firearm designed to discharge or capable of discharging automatically more than once by a single function of the trigger whether the person knows or has reason to know the length of the barrel or that the firearm is designed or capable of discharging automatically.

(b) Criminal carrying of a weapon as defined in:

(1) Subsections (a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3) or (a)(4) is a class A nonperson misdemeanor; and

(2) subsection (a)(5) is a severity level 9, nonperson felony.

…

12-16,134. Knives and knife making components; regulation by municipality, limitations.

(a) A municipality shall not enact or enforce any ordinance, resolution, regulation or tax relating to the transportation, possession, carrying, sale, transfer, purchase, gift, devise, licensing, registration or use of a knife or knife making components.

(b) A municipality shall not enact or enforce any ordinance, resolution or regulation relating to the manufacture of a knife that is more restrictive than any such ordinance, resolution or regulation relating to the manufacture of any other commercial goods.

(c) Any ordinance, resolution or regulation prohibited by either subsection (a) or (b) that was adopted prior to July 1, 2014, shall be null and void.

(d) No action shall be commenced or prosecuted against any individual for a violation of any ordinance, resolution or regulation that is prohibited by either subsection (a) or (b) and which was adopted prior to July 1, 2014, if such violation occurred on or after July 1, 2013.

(e) As used in this section:

(1) ”Knife” means a cutting instrument and includes a sharpened or pointed blade.

(2) ”Municipality” has the same meaning as defined in K.S.A. 75-6102, and amendments thereto, but shall not include unified school districts, jails, as defined in K.S.A. 38-2302, and amendments thereto, or juvenile correctional facilities, as defined in K.S.A. 38-2302, and amendments thereto.

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Frostbite – How To Protect Your Fingers and Toes

Any activities undertaken in extremely cold weather, to say nothing of a legitimate survival situation in cold conditions, is one of the most grueling and serious things that any prepper might undergo.

Cold weather is sneaky and has a way of wearing you down and incapacitating you before you know you’re in real trouble. One of the most common cold weather injuries is frostbite, particularly when it happens to the extremities on the hands, feet and face.

How should you protect your fingers, toes and other body parts from frostbite?

You’ll need to make use of proper clothing and layer it correctly, keep yourself dry and from sweating too much, and limit your exposure to hostile conditions, while diligently checking on people and body parts that are at the greatest risk.

This is naturally the short answer, and since frostbite is so insidious, so common and so potentially serious you would be wise to brush up on every procedure and every trick you can use to prevent it, both for yourself and for other people who might be in your group. Keep reading to learn more.

Frostbite Symptoms and Signs

Just what is frostbite? Frostbite is a category of a cold related injury that occurs when body tissues freeze. You read that right, and I mean freezing complete with ice crystal formation and the whole nine yards.

Frostbite typically occurs in the extremities of the body, with the digits of the fingers and toes being particularly vulnerable as are the extremities of the face like the chin, nose, cheeks and ears.

There are several grades of frostbite but they all have ice crystal formation as a common feature, and when tissues begin to thaw there are usually additional complications such as compartment syndrome, blood clotting and loss of sensation or persistent pain due to nerve damage.

Frostbite generally follows a progression depending upon how deep the freezing action occurs, with first degree frostbite being only the upper and outermost layers of the skin with fourth degree frostbite being muscle and other tissues closest to the bone.

Frostbite typically sets in with numbness or a burning, prickling pain and then often leads to swelling and a reddening or splotchy redness on the affected area. More severe frostbite will lead to the skin firming up, hardening or actually blistering early on with the characteristic dried, blackened or mummified appearance setting in later.

The worst case is a frostbite will see the affected area take on a distinct blue gray color and feel very hard and sensation-less when touched.

Treating frostbite is mostly a manner of warming up the affected area but for any cases more significant than mild first degree frostbite surgery might be indicated.

In the worst cases amputation might be required to prevent sepsis, infection and further tissue death.

It should be noted that you should not warm up any area affected by frostbite until you are certain that the area can be prevented from freezing again. A “double tap” of frostbite leads to drastically worse tissue damage.

When Is Someone at Most Risk of Frostbite?

As you are probably expecting anytime you’re exposed to ferocious cold you could be at risk of frostbite.

Though it is true that exposure to even relatively cool conditions could put someone at risk of hypothermia given enough time frostbite only becomes a problem when the temperature starts dropping close to 0°Fahrenheit.

This can be further aggravated by wet or damp conditions, clothing or skin and sustained winds of any speed, with stiff, strong winds being particularly problematic.

And frostbite is not one of those problems that is out there on your survival horizon, either. When conditions are just right and cold enough frostbite can take effect in minutes, attacking exposed skin with ferocity.

What are Additional Risk Factors?

Though everyone can suffer from frostbite it will not affect everybody equally under the same conditions. Things like overall health, age, fitness (or lack thereof) and adequacy of gear and clothing will all make a difference.

Factors that can make you more vulnerable to frostbite include a lack of or inadequate cold weather clothing, poor shelter or a lack of shelter, poor circulation resulting from incidental or ongoing health conditions, lack of mobility, dehydration, malnutrition and being very young or very old.

Also, perhaps not incidentally, habitual tobacco and alcohol consumption also make people more vulnerable to frostbite.

How Can I Prevent Frostbite?

As mentioned above preventing frostbite might be simple, but it is rarely easy. One of the single, biggest dangers with frostbite is it taking hold without the victim knowing they are in real danger.

This is because the cold often numbs people to the worst of the pain and other effects, making it easier to just keep pressing on when you should be aborting and taking steps to remediate the condition.

Preventing frostbite can only be done through a combination of having adequate gear, paying attention to your condition and the condition of others and strict adherents to correct protocols regarding exposure and treatment.

Assuming you have to be out in the cold for whatever reason, your first and most important step is to properly clothe yourself for the weather.

As any experienced mountaineer, skier or other cold weather adventurer will tell you, this is best accomplished by layering your clothing and doing so in the correct order.

First, closest to your skin, you want a snug moisture wicking layer that will evacuate sweat off of your skin to allow it to evaporate.

Second, a loser, fluffier and puffier layer that will trap warm air against your body keeping you toasty in spite of the frigid air around you.

Lastly, a weatherproof moisture proof shell that will block air, snow and rain allowing you to hang on to that valuable warm air.

The extremities in particular must be protected carefully by proper clothing choices. You should clad your hands and mittens, not gloves, as gloves prevent the fingers from sharing warmth between them.

Similarly, your feet should be shod and proper snow boots that are oversized to accommodate two or even three pairs of socks and preferably a chemical or electric foot warmer.

Your face is also particularly vulnerable and you’ll need proper cold weather headgear, a large scarf or a specialized face wrap to protect your cheeks, nose and ears.

Do not discount the value of hand and foot warmers, either. Be they electric or chemical in operation they might be your best defense against frostbite so long as their energy source lasts.

They could be especially important for periods of prolonged exposure or just exposure to brutal temperatures.

But, assuming you are staying outside frostbite will eventually catch up to. This is why it is so important that you and other members in your group are well acquainted with the signs and symptoms of frostbite.

Frostbite initially comes on as a stinging, throbbing, skin crawling or dull pain. It is sometimes described as a burning sensation or prickly feeling. If this is occurring on the extremities or any exposed skin this should be a “warning bell” that frostbite is closing in.

Should these sensations cease that does not mean you are out of danger, as it might just mean that you have gone numb to the pain and frostbite is progressing!

Also keep an eye out for any tissue that feels strangely hard or firm to the touch and takes on a waxy, pale or discolored appearance. This in all likelihood means that frostbite has already taken hold.

Don’t Make These Mistakes

Screwing up your preparations can make you or someone else more vulnerable to frostbite. Take care that clothing does not become too tight or constricting as this will impair circulation and make your extremities significantly more prone to freezing. Also never wait to get out of clothing that is soaked with sweat or water.

Also, however fun and merry it might be to have a few drinks while you are out in a winter wonderland you should avoid alcohol in cold weather because it promotes more rapid heat loss.

Conclusion

Cold weather exposure presents countless hazards and survival challenges to even the most prepared people but one of the most persistent is the risk of frostbite.

Since frostbite typically attacks the extremities on the hands, feet and face you must prepare accordingly with adequate cold weather clothing and a dogged adherence to correct procedure in order to prevent it from sneaking up on you.

Make sure you’ll still be able to count to 20 on hands and feet by following the tips and this article.

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Lucid Dreaming | how to fall asleep consciously despite strong eagerness feeling ?

Hello everyone :) thanks for taking some time to read me ! First I must apologize for my english, as I'm not a native speaker, but I'll try my best to explain my current situation.

A few years ago, I've already tried lucid dreaming with a bad mindset, it failed and I ended up frustrated. But one week ago, I've decided to try again in a more mature and patient way. This time I'm focusing on the WILD technique as I feel it's better for me. I'm keeping a DJ, noting and categorizing my dreamsigns, doing RC and practicing consentration, vizualisation and meditation exercices as I'm reading LaBerge's book "Exploring the world of lucid dreaming".
This is how i generally proceed to induce a lucid dream : I go to sleep at 11pm, do a bit of breath meditation and vizualisation before sleeping. As I'm doing my vizualisation I try to focus on how I'm going to wake up approximately 4.30 hours later, and then with the help of the FILD technique enter a LD. After doing these exercises I have no problem to fall asleep, and I generally wake up as intended 4.30 hours later.

At that moment, I begin to feel a tension and nervousness (in a positive way, as I'm really eager and happy to try to LD, the same kind of feeling as a child before christmas). I sometimes also feel this kind of "happy" nervousness (but not as strong) when I'm vizualising before sleeping, but then I manage to suppress it and relax with breathing meditation. But this time, it's really strong and it's enven renforced by the feeling that I must induce the LD right now as I'm still sleepy otherwise it won't work, so no time for meditation.

Then I begin to FILD/WILD, and this is where things get complicated. first it's quite hard for me to find the balance of sleeping body and conscious mind, I feel that in order to fall asleep my mind "needs" to stop doing the conscious thing it's doing. But I must say that on this point it's getting easier and easier to improve with practice. But the MAIN problem is that my "happy" nervousness and eagerness ( I feel it in my stomach and legs) prevents me from relaxing my mind and body and thus falling asleep ! sometimes I can shut it off for a while, but it comes stronger than ever each time I feel a "sleep" sign like visions or sounds and it totally wakes me up. Despite this I keep trying to induce for 2 hours or so without any result, before finally feeling not sleepy at all and understanding there is no point keep trying for this night. Then I just give up and sleep normally for the remaining of the night.

I think this is definitely the main barrier that is preventing me from LD right now. I would be extremely grateful if any of you guys know how to suppress this counterproductive joy and eagerness, as I'm really motivated to LD and definitely want to succeed :)

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Bear Defense – How to Prepare for and Survive a Bear Attack

When it comes to large and dangerous mammals, bears are among the most plentiful, and certainly the most well-known on earth.

These omnivorous ursids are spread across the globe and are quite common in some areas, even though their numbers today come nowhere close to their historic range. Much of the time bears are altogether too happy and eager to retreat from human presence, but not always.

Whether you startled a bear feeding on a carcass, accidentally woke it up from deep sleep or had the misfortune to get between a mama bear and her cubs you are now in a life-threatening encounter.

Bears are extremely powerful physically, well-armed with crushing teeth and long, sharp claws, and the endurance to make sure the job gets done with them.

It stands to reason if you are in any place where bears are a feature you’ll want to know how to defend yourself against them, either by avoiding them, catalyzing an attack or putting the bear down if worse comes to worst.

This article will serve as your primer for bear defense skills and procedures.

Know What Kind of Bear You are Dealing With

Before we go any further, I must impress upon you that it is essential you know what kind of bear you are dealing with. Though some defensive procedures, particularly ones involving lethal or less lethal force against the bear, do not change based on the species, other countermeasures will.

A tactic that works on a brown bear may be the exact opposite of what you want to do when dealing with a black bear!

Most species of bear that we are worried about have much in common. All are large and powerful mammals, though some species, particularly brown and polar bears, grow far larger and stronger than they’re smaller black cousins.

All are carnivorous, but generally subsist on an omnivorous diet consisting of all sorts of things from berries and seeds to honey, fish and other mammals.

The good news is that bears are easy to tell apart, and this is generally a simple matter because most regions in North America are only host to one or perhaps two kinds of bear.

If you are in the eastern part of the United States, particularly greater Appalachia you’ll only be dealing with black bears. To the west and northwest, you’ll have to start contending with brown and grizzly bears, and the farthest northern reaches are host to polar bears.

Any advice that is specific to one species or another I will make sure to mention throughout this article, otherwise you can assume it applies more or less equally to all species.

Common Bears of North America

A better understanding of bears will help you to make better decisions when it comes to avoiding confrontation with them or defending yourself against an attack. North America is home to three major types of bear, listed below.

American black bear

Ranging anywhere from 90 lbs. to over 550 lbs, the American black bear is smaller and slightly sleeker than other bears on the continent and can measure 6 ft tall if it stands up on its hind legs.

Despite what their name suggests, black bears can be found in a rainbow of colors, anywhere from the eponymous glossy black to various shades of tan, khaki, brown and even reddish colors.

Every now and again you’ll see a black bear that is a silver or gray color with such rarities as blonde not being out of the question.

Though these bears are smaller than their brown and polar bear cousins, these are still stocky and powerful animals found all over the North American continent, particularly through both Appalachian and Rocky mountain ranges all the way down to the American southwest and even Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest.

Pretty much anywhere you go, there is a fair chance of encountering a black bear.

Compared to their larger brethren, black bears are far more likely to be encountered in and around human habitation and they are also active around the clock much of the time.

In the middle of the day or closing in on the witching hour you could have a black bear encounter if you aren’t careful.

These active bears are also highly curious and display excellent problem solving skills, everything from opening car doors to figuring out the latching mechanisms on dumpsters and smaller containers.

Of particular concern to explorers, campers and hikers is the fact that the black bear is an excellent climber. These bears can easily clamber up trees and seemingly scale shear surfaces, including fences. This is in keeping with the black bears highly opportunistic nature.

They are omnivores, like brown bears, but they are even more likely to eat a highly varied diet. The will eat carcasses, even going so far as to run other predators off of their kills, but will also take live prey if they think the odds are with them, including young elk, deer and even moose. They’re also well known for taking eggs out of bird nests.

Black bears are responsible for more attacks than any other bear species, but this is far more likely to indicate a greater number of contacts with humanity owing to their larger population and typical behavior in and around human habitation more than any special aggressiveness or viciousness.

And they show down with a human, a black bear is likely to sound off in an attempt to intimidate with a huffing, puffing sound or by swiping at the ground or other terrain with their claws. Black bears may make false charges.

The general prescription for dealing with a black bear that is posturing is to get loud and get big, standing close together with other people if possible. Most black bears will disengage and run for the hills when they think the odds are against them.

It is worth noting that black bears are more likely to attack humans when food motivated or starving compared to brown bears, so if you are directly attacked by a black bear you should fight back. Bear spray or a firearm are as always your best bets.

In close combat with a black bear you must fight back as they will likely kill and eat you. Don’t play dead or give up!

This brown bear is waiting on the side of the road for people to feed it. Some bears even bring in their cubs to “beg” for food, while possibly being a danger to the cars passing by or to the people foolish enough to step out from their vehicles and get close to the bear.

Brown bear, AKA grizzly bear

Weighing no less than 200 lbs., and with many examples tipping the scales at an immense 875 lbs. or more, the famous grizzly bear is a mega predator that stands well over six and a half feet tall on its hind legs.

Possessing the rough looking, coarse coat of fur that lends them their name, these bears range anywhere from a medium chestnut brown to a dark mahogany brown in color. Another noticeable physical characteristic is a large hump immediately behind the shoulders, commonly thought to be fat but what is in actuality muscle.

Speaking of muscle, these bears have plenty of it and are incredibly powerful. Hunting and gathering food at all hours prior to hibernation though not typically as active at night compared to black bears, you’ll have to be extra cautious anywhere you are where these large bears are common.

Like most bears, grizzly bears are omnivorous and eat all kinds of things from berries and fruits to nuts, flowers, mushrooms, mammals and of course delicious, delicious fish.

Compared to black bears, brown bears are far less likely to be encountered in areas of human habitation, though these intelligent mammals quickly grow accustomed to human activity, and are infamously spotted all along ingress and egress routes and national parks where human transit is common.

“Thanks” to humans feeding them regularly and the preponderance of food to be found in human refuse and at human campsites, close contact with brown bears in these specific areas is more likely than anywhere else.

As mentioned above, grizzly bears are highly curious and will thoroughly investigate all containers and campsites that they can reach, and they can reach almost anything. Though they are not climbers, these bears have been observed bending over smaller trees where food was hanged to get at it.

These bears are also highly likely to be encountered anytime humans are handling other animal remains, be it fish or mammal. Encounters of this type commonly have a bad outcome.

If you are confronted by an uncertain grizzly bear that begins making threat displays, your best bet is to stand still. though less likely to lock on to humans through food motivation compared to black bears, the prey and defense drive of a grizzly bear is strong and if you run it is likely to give chase.

Note that grizzly bears, despite their huge size and seeming clumsiness, are incredibly quick on their feet and nimble, and are capable of running uphill faster than you can run on flat land so you won’t get away from one.

Grizzly bears may false charge, but this is likely not a chance you’ll be willing to take.

In close combat with a grizzly bear, you went to ball up and protect your head and neck as best you can from the bear’s ravages then play dead. once a grizzly bear perceives you as no longer a threat, it will likely leave you alone, but you must be cautious to not give any sign of life for some time as these big boys are known to stand off and observe to make sure that perceived threats are truly dead.

Polar bear

Weighing in anywhere from a whopping 770 lbs to a titanic 1500 lbs.-plus, the bear that Coca-Cola made famous is the largest of any of them, and is also the largest predatory land mammal on Earth.

Coated in a thick, insulating layer of blubber and warm fur that ranges anywhere from a clear, yellow tinted color to a brilliant, pure white, polar bears are what is known as hyper carnivorous, meaning they subsist almost entirely on a diet of meat.

This all meat diet typically comes from seals which they hunt in abundance throughout the Arctic Circle, but it sometimes comes from people.

Happily, if you are not in the very furthest northern reaches of North America you are highly unlikely to encounter a polar bear anywhere except the zoo, but if you do encounter a polar bear you must be on guard.

These bears have a noted reputation for viciousness and aggressiveness, though this is mostly undeserved. In any confrontation or when uncertain a polar bear is likely to attempt withdrawal or escape like most bears. If a polar bear isn’t hungry or starving, it is unlikely to attack humans, but if it is, you had better watch out!

Unlike the other bears listed above, polar bears have had a historically quite limited interaction with humans and have almost no learned fear of them except in individual examples.

A hungry polar bear is bold, fast and fearless and virtually all polar bear attacks on people are fatal with victims usually being eaten.

Even more worryingly, the polar bear is a hunter that takes prey by stealth using its superb natural camouflage in its native environment to take prey unawares.

If you are attacked by a polar bear your only hope is to fight back or make good fast, certain escape, as even sheltering from these phenomenally powerful mammals is all but impossible if you aren’t in a hardened structure.

Comparatively recent attacks have shown polar bears ripping open common structures with ease, and even peeling the doors right off of vehicles.

The Basics of Bear Attacks on Humans

If you have a decided bear-phobia, I have good news for you: Bear attacks on humans are quite rare in all circumstances and across all domains.

Though naturally they are more likely to occur in areas where bears are plentiful and where close contact between bears and humans is more likely.

If you live in the middle of the desert, you really don’t need to worry about bears, but if you live in the Appalachian Mountains or the northern reaches of the Rockies and Pacific Northwest, you’ll need to keep an eye out for bear encounters, especially if you are in their territory.

Any enterprise or activity that takes you into remote country, particularly deep woods near rivers or other major sources of water, are dramatically more likely to result in close or near contact with bears.

However, even if you make it a point to avoid these places you won’t necessarily be able to go without seeing them, as greatly rebounding bear populations throughout the country are increasingly seeing these adaptable mega predators, particularly black bears, make more and more forays into human settlements.

Anyone who lives throughout the Carolinas or eastern Tennessee will happily tell you that black bears are quite the menace, even in suburban zones.

These curious creatures break into cars, forage through trash cans and dumpsters looking for food, grab a quick drink out of bird baths, and even cool off in pools, sometimes with cubs in tow.

Though this makes for supremely entertaining video on the internet, it can be troubling or even harrowing if it happens to you!

Wherever you encounter them, whatever the circumstances, the vast majority of bear attacks on humans result because of one factor more than any other: A human draws too close to a bear, or allows a bear unaware of human presence to come too close to them!

If you can keep your distance from a bear you are unlikely to have any issues.

Understanding Bear Senses for Avoidance and Deterrence

Aside from excellent strength and power, bears are also possessed of excellent senses. Hearing, vision and especially their sense of smell are all keen, well in excess of dogs.

That being said, the single best thing we can do to exploit a bear’s senses in order to prevent a close encounter is to utilize their sense of hearing.

If a bear can hear you coming, it is far, far more likely to withdraw or attempt escape than close in and investigate. You don’t want to tiptoe through the area wherever you are. Make some noise, break some brush, talk, whistle, sing out.

Professional guides and explorers operating in areas where bears are common regularly make clients where jingly, jangly bells on their person so that they will constantly make a unique noise that will let bears know something odd is coming around the turnpike.

No matter what sort of situation you are in, there is something you can do or rig up in order to make noise regularly to give bears early warning that you are moving in the area. Also, you want to act in such a way that you minimize enticing a bear’s sense of smell.

First things first, never, ever stop or set up camp near a known bear trail, near fresh bear tracks, bear droppings or any carcass that looks like it has been worked over by a bear. Or actually any carcass at all, for that matter, since it is highly likely to attract a bear.

Wherever you camp, take the old timers’ advice of bagging or containing all food and trash in a sealed vessel that will cut down on drifting odors and then hang it from a tree well, well away from your camp.

This will dramatically cut down on the chances that a bear will be following his nose right into the middle of your camp. The same goes for any used cutlery or cookware, dirty clothing, waste and so forth.

What to do when You Spot a Bear in the Wild

If you spot a bear in the wild, it is important that you don’t take your eyes off of it so that you may monitor what it is doing and which way it is heading in order to inform your follow-on decisions. Bears can blend into the background surprisingly well, so don’t lose sight of it!

With that being said, make it a point to avoid locking eyes with a bear if it is looking at you. Direct eye contact is a challenge among many mammals, and it is definitely a challenge to a bear that is unsure about its next move.

If you should spot the bear at quite a distance, just hold your position and keep an eye on it to make sure it is moving away from you or out of your path.

Generally you want to give the bear at least a half hour to move well away from your intended line of travel.

If the bear is moving obliquely in your direction or isn’t moving away, you can reroute around the bear by backtracking and then detouring giving it a wide, wide berth, making sure to make plenty of noise the entire time as mentioned above.

If the bear is moving towards you and you can’t get away from it, or you are charged you’ll have to take defensive measures. More on that in a bit.

Defending Yourself Against a Bear Attack

Sometimes despite your best efforts you might be confronted with a large, powerful and viciously angry bear quite literally bearing down on you.

Any bear attack is a life-threatening ordeal, and you must be prepared to take immediate, correct action and if necessary fight back. You have a couple of defensive options for dealing with bears, but to summarize what you should do against a given species, see below.

• Black bear: If confronted, appear as tall, large and threatening as you can. Make plenty of noise. Try to scare the bear off. If directly attacked, fight back with everything you have, do not play dead.
• Brown bear: If confronted, stand still, look small, do not make eye contact. Back away slowly if you can but do not bolt as this will trigger pursuit. If attacked, protect your head and neck and play dead. Do not move after attack stops, as bear may be observing for signs of life.
• Polar Bear: If a polar bear is closing in or an attack is underway you can only fight for your life or take shelter in a hardened structure. Playing dead and posturing is of no use.

As far as weapons go, you really only have two dependable choices to use against bears that have a high probability of stopping an attack: Bear spray and firearms.

• Bear spray: Little more than a super-sized can of super strong pepper spray, bear spray is highly preferred in most cases because of its wide area of effect and proven history of affecting a stop during an attack. Bear spray can be preemptively laid down ahead of an advancing bear to give them incentive to break off. The choice of many guides and professionals working in bear country, it nonetheless has no lethal effect whatsoever and may not deter the most motivated or enraged animals.
• Firearms: Firearms are the weapon of choice for dealing with bears, allowing a combination of excellent range, power and the ability to make quick follow-up shots compared to other ranged weapons. The rule of thumb for any firearm to be considered suitable for bear defense is that it must be capable of deep penetration and preferably pushing a projectile which will not deform very much or break up in the target animal. Less capable firearms might be enough to give bears a disincentive, but are rarely capable of inflicting lethal damage.

When considering a firing solution on a bear, you must keep in mind that even a black bear is a large, burly tough animal with plenty of muscle and sturdy bones which can impede or even stop lesser projectiles.

There are recorded cases of people attacked by bears halting an attack and even killing the bear with smaller calibers like .22LR and 9mm, but seasoned shooters and other professionals know that bigger is better in this case.

Most folks who are knowingly or willingly going into bear country desire long guns capable of firing hard, deep penetrating projectiles. 12 gauge shotguns firing slugs are extremely popular, as are .30 caliber (and up) rifles.

Rifles might be best served with a hard cast projectile that will not deform upon striking heavy bone.

The trick when shooting a bear is, as always, shot placement but getting the projectile deep enough to reach the vitals is just as dependent on bullet selection as anything else.

Another particular challenge with shooting a charging bear, aside from keeping your nerves and not crapping your pants, is in placing the shot. The skull of a bear is thick, sloping and strong and has been known to deflect gunfire, particularly smaller caliber rounds.

Don’t assume that just because you have shot the bear in the head you have inflicted a fatal injury to say nothing of an instantly fatal one. As always, when your life is on the line shoot and keep shooting for the mark until your target drops or catches fire!

Conclusion

Bears are impressive, magnificent and culturally significant animals, but no matter what kind of bear you are facing down know that you are facing one of the most powerfully capable predators on Earth.

A showdown with any bear is liable to make you lose your nerve, but you don’t need to lose your life in the exchange if you know how to handle yourself in bear territory.

Understanding the differences between bear species, their behavior, typical attack patterns and how best to shut down an attack could mean the difference between life and death.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/3HBGzYy

21 Pioneer-Era Recipes for Your Survival Cooking

Most preppers I know are fixated on food, specifically on survival food. Although not nearly as critical as water and air on the totem pole of survival necessities food is still absolutely essential to life, and even before you starve from several weeks without it your energy levels and overall well-being will diminish significantly in the meantime.

You have to keep those energy levels high by stoking your biological furnace with calories for fuel. For most of us preppers, we focus on no frills, shelf stable items that come in cans, pouches, tubs and tins, you know, survival food.

But the notion of living off premade stuff can get kind of daunting. Sometimes you just want real, homemade food. But does that really fit into a survival-centric lifestyle?

As it turns out, yes, it can. Our ancestors, pioneer people who literally forged this country and others by either taming the wilderness, or carving it away from hostile occupants didn’t have all the fancy preservatives we have today.

For them, their food was just that, food, not necessarily survival rations, and to that end they relied on simple but filling and generally nutritious fare that could go the distance. In this article we are bringing you 21 pioneer recipes from days gone by that will still fill you up, and keep you going when the chips are down.

Austere Conditions Aren’t Necessarily an Impediment for Cooking

If you or anyone in your family is responsible for daily cooking, you know what an involved process it can be. Sometimes dozens of ingredients, every conceivable kitchen gadget, multi-step recipes…

It can feel overwhelming, but there is no denying that people love the results. There is just something about fresh, home cooked food that recharges and replenishes you in equal measure, and in a way that prepared, processed food simply cannot.

Sadly, many preppers assume that proper home cooked food is going to be a thing of the past in the aftermath of a major disaster or any long-term survival scenario, particularly one resulting from a societal collapse.

Happily, this is just not true. When you get to the recipes below you will see that nutritious if simple and sometimes plain dishes can be made using a minimum of ingredients and very few pieces out of your typical kitchen arsenal.

When you consider how a pioneer’s kitchen looked compared to our own, if they had one at all, you’ll find that it is quite a bit simpler. Minimalist, even. Part of this is because they do not live in a land of plenty like we do today, but also because cooking was far less frivolous.

They focused on the basics, and though some dishes we take for granted today would be considered impossibly luxurious by their standards they still had a well-rounded menu for the most part.

So will you, if you learn and master these recipes.

Simple, Filling Fuel for Hardworking Bodies

As you peruse the recipes below you will probably notice how simple, how basic, many of them are.

If you are used to eating extremely flavorful, masterfully seasoned and definitely rich food much of it will probably taste pretty plain considering your modern palate has acclimated to the over salted too sweet American menu.

This is not to say that the below foods don’t taste good, but then they will probably take a little bit of getting used to.

Consider that these foods are not necessarily supposed to thrill and delight you, though they will do that if you are starving I can promise you. Instead, they are nutritious, simple fuel for hard-working men and women.

The dishes below are simple to prepare, made from easily sourced or versatile ingredients, calorie dense and for most of them long-lasting, able to go the distance with minimal or no additional preservation.

21 Pioneer Recipes for Survival

Beans and Rice

Beans and rice has something of a reputation bordering on meme status among preppers. A boring, plain and bland survival dish that usually serves as breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The reality is not quite so bad. Beans and rice have much to recommend them as a survival food because both are extremely long lasting, easy to transport and easy to store when dry.

Together, beans and rice are a nearly complete nutritional profile, packed with plenty of protein, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates it is more than sufficient to fuel a body in desperate need of sustenance.

And while playing beans and rice can get old pretty quickly, a little bit goes a long way and will fill you up.

The good news is that various bean and rice dishes can easily be flavored using additives like stock, spices, seasonings and other adulterating ingredients to change the flavor profile and the texture. Tossing in a few scraps of meat can make for a hearty dish that is sure to please.

beef stew

Stew

Stews are another prototypical dish enjoyed by cultures around the world, and are ideal on menus where daily ingredients are anything but certain and in a constant state of flux.

Starting off with a basis of broth or consommé, any variety of meats, vegetables and seasonings can be added to the stew pot to produce a hot, hearty meal with just a few hours’ worth of simmering.

For the busiest homes or campsites, a perpetual stew might be made. A perpetual stew is one where the broth is never allowed to diminish entirely.

As stew is ladled out to be served, additional ingredients are added, usually whatever was forged or butchered from the nearby area. Since all of the ingredients mingle together slowly over time the flavor of such a stew is often quite sublime.

and there is no need to worry about the age of ingredients or the so-called “master broth.” a stew should be kept hot at all times, and germs cannot survive high temperatures so there is nothing to worry about in that regard.

If you have plenty of fuel and a constant influx of ingredients, whatever they might happen to be, a stew is an ideal survival ration.

Bread

One of the most fundamental foods around, bread in one form or another has been with humanity for a very long time, and nourishing bodies while staving off hunger pains for the duration.

Whatever kind of bread you prefer and whatever sort of grains you have on hand, there is a type of simple bread that can be easily made using little more than an open flame.

Ovens, pans, baking sheets and the like along with various recipes, ratios and other additives can produce truly unique and delicious bread, but for creating calories that are easy to pack and long lasting bread is, was and will remain a staple.

Depending on how much time you have and what sort of ingredients, bread can be as complicated or as simple as you want.

You might have a family recipe that is entirely adequate for the purposes of survival, or maybe you want to learn one or two super simple recipes just in case. Either can do the job in a survival situation.

Jerky

Jerky is an ancient method of meat preservation that we still enjoy today, and though it got its start as a method of keeping meat from spoiling and reducing the return on investment for slaughtering an animal, jerky today is enjoyed just as often as a snack or trail food.

Despite this, jerky remains an invaluable survival ration because it is so long-lasting, stable, and nutritious.

You can buy off the shelf jerky made from whatever meat you desire or make your own just the same. Either will last for months at a time, but more important for our purposes is learning how to make jerky using rudimentary tools and processes.

The trick with jerky is drying out the meat. A dehydrator or electric oven are ideal for the purpose, as jerky should be dried very slowly using low heat so it does not cook.

It is even possible to make jerky using the drifting smoke off of a fire or nothing more than the sun’s rays if the weather is cooperative.

Pemmican

Pelican is an ancient American Indian survival food consisting of ground or powdered dried meat, liquefied fat and often additives like dried berries, nuts and seeds. Once it is finished pemmican looks very much like a modern fruit bar, only one made from meat.

Pemmican is in many ways an ideal survival ration, being extremely long lasting, super calorie dense and adaptable. You can eat pemmican out of hand, crumble it and fry it, add it to a stew or soup and more.

Made properly in using high quality ingredients it is quite tasty, and is another food that lends itself to production in austere environments.

Making this ancient ration is an involved process and requires practice, so don’t think this is something you’ll whip up easily on the first try from half remembered instructions.

This is something that I believe all preppers should learn to do, so make sure you get in that practice now while you can.

Cornbread

Cornbread is a famous and greatly loved side dish that is typical of southern fair, and I don’t know anyone who lives below the Mason-Dixon Line that doesn’t like the stuff.

Cornbread, for those who somehow don’t know by now, is bread that is made from ground cornmeal, one with a crumbly, muffin-like consistency.

easy to prepare and highly calorie dense, cornbread has been a staple at meal time in the United States for well over a couple of centuries now and its popularity is showing no signs of waning. Considering how abundantly corn grows throughout much of the country, this should be a staple dish that everyone knows how to make.

You can make cornbread a little lighter and fluffier or a little denser according to preparation, but perhaps the only thing against it is that it just doesn’t travel that well.

Cornbread is notoriously crumbly no matter how you prepare it and you are just as likely to have a sack or tin full of fine, sandy corn bits as you are a slice of delicious cornbread if you try to take it on the road. Nonetheless, it is an excellent option on your survival menu.

a bowl of cornmeal mush

Mush

Mush, actually corn mush, is a type of porridge in which cornmeal is boiled in water or milk, allowed to congeal into a semi-solid consistency and then cut or carved up into slices or hunks before being gently pan fried in oil.

Like cornbread, this is another stereotypically southern dish and some would say iconic.

Sometimes served as part of a well-rounded and calorie-dense breakfast it is usually served with syrup, jam or molasses but can be eaten by itself.

Compared to cornbread, mush travels better when packed carefully though it does not have a particular long shelf life. What it does have is a good taste and is yet another way to put your corn stores to good use.

Perhaps the best attribute of mush is that it is easy to prepare a very large batch for feeding many people and do so relatively quickly compared to baking multiple loaves of cornbread.

Pancakes

Call them flapjacks, griddle cakes or just pancakes, chances are you know them and love them. Today they are an indulgent breakfast treat but in times past they were a customary sustenance food that was easy to make quickly and consistently even if they weren’t very appealing.

Pancakes are typically made of any starch based batter and may or may not contain eggs, milk or butter. A thin batter, however it is made, is then poured on a hot, flat surface like a skillet or griddle and gently fried on a thin coating of butter or oil.

Believe it or not, pancakes have been enjoyed more or less all around the world over the years and one form or another, with the typical variations being the specific ingredients list of the batter and the shape of the pancake itself.

Thick or thin, dense or fluffy, pancakes are a crowd-pleaser and highly adaptable since you can add anything from fruit or nuts to chocolate and jams to them in order to increase variety and calorie payload.

hardtack biscuits

Hardtack

Hardtack is a notorious ration most known for being used in situations where resupply was going to be a long time coming and shelf life was absolutely everything. Charitably called a cracker or perhaps a biscuit, hardtack is made from flour and water, with salt only sometimes added.

The picture of simplicity and frugality, it has been used by explorers, sailors, soldiers and pilgrims for centuries.

Able to last for months or even years, this stuff got its name from the fact that bakers baked it hard, really hard, because any bread product would naturally soften over time with exposure to humidity and the elements.

Believe it or not, these things would be baked multiple times before shipping them out and if not rendered edible by wetting them they could easily damage teeth.

As incredible as it sounds, hardtack is still commercially available today and you can even make your own just like our forefathers did all those many years ago. It isn’t pleasant, and it isn’t very good but it will definitely keep you alive and so long as you keep it dry this stuff will keep for years.

Pinole

Pinole is a sort of cousin to cornmeal, consisting of ground, roasted maize that is subsequently mixed with a variety of other ingredients, including chia seeds, vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, agave and sometimes other spices before being used as a calorie-dense ingredient for all kinds of other foods.

Pinole can be used to make tortillas, added to breads, incorporated with cereals and even made into drinks. The most common use as a survival food is similar to corn mush where it is made into a heavy porridge.

As a nutritional supplement to your pantry it is excellent, and is high in vitamins, key nutrients like amino acids, fiber, antioxidants and plenty of protein.

It is slow to digest and very filling and is an excellent sustenance option assuming you have the time and gumption to create it. It requires quite a few ingredients and must be slowly and laboriously ground to produce in that typical fine powder form.

Vetkoek

Vetkoek, meaning literally “fat cake,” is a traditional and culturally significant fried bread from South Africa.

Looking for all the world like a traditional homemade donut without a hole in the center, these savory cakes consist of flour, salt, sugar and yeast and maybe served as a main course on their own, as a side dish or stuffed with a variety of other savory ingredients.

Yet another simple bread dish that is highly versatile and adaptable in conjunction with other foods, toppings and ingredients these fluffy, savory cakes have much in common with similar breads that are indigenous to cultures found around the world.

Cornmeal Fritters

Another corn dish on our menu, cornmeal fritters are a little more than thick discs of cornmeal batter that are subsequently deep fried until crispy. Cornmeal fritters form the basis of a variety of foodstuffs, and often contain seafood and other vegetables but may be enjoyed by themselves without any accompaniment.

Cornmeal fritters are delicious, crispy and easier to transport compared to typical cornbread or corn mush, and the fact that they are fried in oil significantly pumps up the calorie payload.

Fritters are another type of dish that have many cultural variations all around the world, and have been enjoyed for millennia.

If you want to make the most of cornmeal with little else and have oil to spare for frying in a large vessel cornmeal fritters are convenient, portable, reasonably tasty and filling.

Rusk

Rusk is nothing more than twice baked bread. You can take any bread, even cake, bake it again and what you’ll have is a biscuit that ranges somewhere from “crispy” to “molar cracking”. This is an excellent way to extend the shelf life of bread and make it easier to transport.

Despite its obvious usage as a long-lasting ration, rusk has a dizzying number of regional and cultural variations around the world.

Used as an accompaniment for coffee, a snack food, a dessert, a side dish with a main course, a religious offering and so much more, rusk is definitely adaptable and assuming you have bread on hand it doesn’t get any easier to make than this.

The next time you are baking bread, biscuits or any other dough based offering make a good use of your leftovers by baking them again and exploring the wide variety of textures and results that could result. Pretty soon you’ll be a master at making rusk!

Potato Cakes

Corn has gotten a lot of attention on this list but vegetables can be employed to make nutritious, filling and long-lasting survival rations also.

One of the best is the potato cake, made by frying in oil or baking a porridge patty or batter made from ground or finely grated potatoes. These starchy cakes are packed with calories and easily adapted for breakfast, lunch or dinner by topping them with various ingredients.

Potatoes have long been a crucial core item in many diets around the world, and they are packed with vitamins and minerals in addition to being long-storing and easy to grow.

Their suitability for use in a variety of recipes with long-lasting results makes them an A+ prepper staple. If you live in an area with soil suitable for the production of potatoes make sure you push these near the top of your list.

Frybread

Fry bread is a type of flatbread, made from wheat flour, salt, sugar and fat that is then deep fried in oil or lard. Served and eaten alone or with toppings like jam, sugar, honey or sometimes meats it can also be used as a wrapper like a burrito or taco.

Originally created by the Navajo in 1864 prior to their undertaking a long, forced, on-foot relocation under orders from the US government, frybread is associated with the American Indians but it is not a traditional staple.

Instead, being a subsistence food created for a purpose using basic ingredients given to them by the United States government.

Despite this complicated and sometimes painful history, frybread is nonetheless long lasting compared to most other fresh breads and extremely calorie dense.

it is easy to make even in field conditions using nothing more than the basic ingredients listed above and a cast iron skillet with a little bit of oil. Once mixed into a simple dough and left to rest for 30 minutes to an hour the dough will rise and can then be formed into small disks prior to frying.

Whole Fish

One popular method of preparing fresh caught fish is whole preparation, typically accompanied by skewering the fish and what is known as, hilariously, fish on a stick.

More so than most other creatures, roasting fish whole over an open fire is easily done and produces excellent results, with the scales crisping up while keeping the flesh of the fish moist for immediate eating while longer cooking over low heat can produce a dried fish similar to jerking.

Fish are plentiful and comparatively easy to catch compared to most other game, and if you are in an area with plentiful lakes, rivers and streams fishing might be an excellent supplement for your survival pantry.

Settlers, trappers and explorers what often catch fish by the bucket load before drying or cooking them wholesale after skewering several on long spits and you can do the same thing today to truly mass produce survival rations.

Pork Chops

Pork has long been a staple in many diets around the world, and you had better believe that our pioneer forbearers ate plenty of it. Pork chops, side pork, bacon, pretty much every piece of meat you could get from a pig they would eat.

Pork also takes particularly well to preservation through salting, and this made it ideal for long-term storage and lengthy journeys.

Pork chops are a classic dish that is absolutely timeless, and whether they are prepared simply by grilling or pan frying or whipped up as part of a more intricate dish, pork chops can and should remain a part of your survival diet.

Packed with calories and extremely healthy compared to other meats, you can hardly do better than a succulent pork chop for dinner.

Cured Bacon

Bacon is one of the most beloved meats in the world, or at least in America. Incredibly rich, flavorful and packed with calories cured of bacon will also last quite a long time even when it isn’t being refrigerated so long as it is kept clean and wrapped.

Bacon is greatly beloved for its ability to make basically any dish even better, no matter if it is savory or sweet, but also adored by those heading out on a long journey because it is long-keeping.

Compared to typical bacon you would buy at the grocery store, bacon that is suitable for curing is going to be cut much thicker, more akin to a ham steak or a little less in thickness.

Curing is typically accomplished using salt but sugar curing is another option if slightly less reliable than salt curing.

Even if you aren’t a bacon fan otherwise you should seriously consider looking into developing the skill set needed to cure your own. Bacon is so calorie dense it can add a significant boost to virtually any dish, including stews, beans and rice and more.

Oat and Fruit Bars

If you are like me chances are that you have a favorite sweet snack that you’ll take with you and heading out camping, on the trail or just stashing in your road bag in case you get a munchie attack I need to satisfy your sweet tooth.

There are certainly lots of options on the market, but you might be surprised to learn that you can make a sweet treat bar that will meet anything else out there, and even more surprised to learn that people have been making them for hundreds and hundreds of years if not longer!

By combining toasted oats with fruit preserves, seeds, nuts and other trail mix like options and then solidifying them inside wax paper you can create portable, long lasting meal replacement bars that taste amazing and are completely packed with nutrition.

Various cultures have been doing this around the world for a very long time, and although they might have not been using the ubiquitous bar shape the concept is the same.

You might consider the addition of Honey to help further preserve your bars while adding calories, flavor and helping the whole thing stick together.

Don’t settle for preservative written fake fruit bars from the grocery store. With just a little bit of work and experimentation your new favorite sweet treat can be yours!

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is a staple of German cuisine, and love it or hate it topping and side dish here in the states. But what you might not know about sauerkraut is that it originated as a staple that was long-lasting and easy to preserve through fermentation.

Fermentation jars used for making sauerkraut used to be a fixture in pantries throughout Europe and in the pantries of many European settlers who moved to the states.

By inserting a whole cabbage that has been cored and packed with salt into a brine solution inside the fermentation jar before sealing it the anaerobic bacteria inside would begin to ferment and subsequently preserve it.

This gives sauerkraut its distinctive flavor, but it also allowed a portion of the cabbage to be removed at any time for consumption without disrupting the process.

The equipment and skills needed to make your own sauerkraut are easily obtained, and love it or hate it, you should definitely learn to eat it as it is one of the more nutritious and longest lasting vegetable dishes available to you.

Conclusion

Survival food is not all about prepackaged, heavily preserved fake processed foodstuffs. Our pioneer ancestors had to rely on real survival food that they made themselves from a variety of wholesome and readily available ingredients.

If you are ready to save money, become more invested in your personal food chain and consume more healthful if basic meal options, this list of 21 pioneer recipes is perfect for padding your survival cookbooks.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/3CnnxBi

A Prepper’s Guide to Risk Assessment and Management

When you see the phrase risk assessment, it probably conjures up visions of stuffy analysts, lawyers and OSHA types fussing and fretting over a problem that would be easily solved if only they would get out of everyone’s way.

Chances are you aren’t in the business of risk assessment, at least professionally, but if you are reading this article I can assert with confidence that you are personally in the business of risk assessment. That’s because you are a prepper!

Prepping, by nature, is the practice of assessing risks and threats that might assail your daily life and managing them accordingly.

This is typically done by developing personal skill sets to be ready for crisis situations and also accumulating contingency supplies and equipment to help you do the work that needs to be done in order to obtain a good outcome, whatever might have befallen you and your family.

It might be funny if it has never occurred to you before that risk assessment and management is a skill set all its own, and one that is obviously worthy of development the same as self-defense skills, land navigation skills or anything else we practice as components of a prepper lifestyle.

By improving your risk assessment skills you will refine your solutions to theoretical problems, reduce wasted effort, and therefore save energy, and in the long run save both time and money.

This article will help you sharpen your pencil and your wits when it comes to risk assessment.

Get the Best Protection against the Most Likely Threats

Risk assessment might sound like a fancy commercial sector job, but it is really just a set of procedurals.

Risk assessment is predominantly about observation, about collecting and collating data accurately and then sorting it in a meaningful way so that you can take action based on what the data is telling you.

Believe it or not, you already use risk assessment skills every, single day and likely have been since you were old enough to have any memories at all.

After performing the calculus of risk assessment, we know how cautiously we should proceed if we proceed at all concerning the task at hand.

For instance, if you have the choice of two routes to take to your destination, one taking 30 minutes going by a safe, known and will traveled path and the other taking 25 minutes but one that whines through the scummy, bad part of town, which one are you likely to take?

If you are like most people, you instinctively choose the safer route because the time savings of the dodgy route is not so great and the pressure not so high that we need risk it at all.

That is risk assessment, and subsequent management actions staring back at you.

Of course, that is a comparatively easy example, and assessing risk against both known and unknown crisis events and full-blown SHTF situations sounds significantly more involved and more difficult.

Although there are certainly more moving parts and more action items you’ll have to consider, it is actually no more difficult so long as you are starting off with good data.

Just like the example of driving to your destination above, we want to prepare as well as we can against the most likely threats using the information we have at hand.

Invariably, our knowledge will be imperfect and our own perceptions may taint our assessments, but so long as you are thinking clearly it is not difficult to prepare for realistic threats to your safety and the safety of your loved ones.

Elements of Risk Assessment

One thing to keep in mind as we go forward in this exercise is that risk assessment is always relative. Put another way, the total context is everything. Certain threats that might be pressing and frequent for some people could be of less than no concern or virtually unheard of for others.

Similarly, the unique differences in individuals’ lifestyles, family and living situations, overall health and fitness, and more will tip the scales one way or the other accordingly depending on the event and question.

Risk assessment is about more than just learning how various events could happen in a vacuum and imperil you; it is about learning how these events will affect you as you are in your life and location, analyzing the interplay of those factors, and then taking steps to mitigate possible harm.

Below is a list of major lifestyle and circumstantial factors that you should assess against the context of a threat:

Activity

As always, the specific activity and your overall level of activity will influence various risk factors. Staying at home is generally safer than going out when trouble is afoot or a natural disaster is imminent, but there are risks of plenty inside your own home.

Similarly, if you lead an exciting, high adrenaline and high impact lifestyle you’ll face a different set of risk factors than if you are a sedentary shut-in.

Fitness, Health, Ability

One of the chief intangibles concerning risk in all endeavors is the fitness, health and ability of the individual.

People who are strong, fit and healthy in mind and body are more resilient and harder to kill across pretty much every domain compared to people who are weak, out of shape and sickly.

It is true that some events are so momentous and dangerous that overall fitness has very little to do with the outcome, but for most situations where you get a vote and what happens to you, personal health is a major factor.

Also consider the health and wellness of your family members and dependents. If you are taking care of people who are infirm or less able, that is going to heavily influence your decisions.

Location

Your geographic location will determine what events are more or less likely. Specifically, various natural disasters are endemic to some locations but not others, while ubiquitous events may be more likely in some places than elsewhere.

Similarly, human-caused mayhem is invariably more common and usually more destructive and densely populated areas.

A thorough assessment of your location and the various threats that are likely or even plausible will do much to restrict your management procedures to realistic situations.

Weather

The overall climate and current weather where you are is a risk factor unto itself one way or another. Exposure, especially to cold weather, is a reliable killer in every kind of survival scenario.

Similarly, being out in the hottest temperatures during the daytime and most especially if you are forced to be active is a great way to get heat stroke.

No matter what you are doing and no matter what other threats you are facing weather will always be a factor and potentially a major threat unto itself.

Other Conditions

Understanding specific conditions attendant with the situation goes a long way towards risk management.

For instance, you might be driving to flee from an ongoing event. Are you driving on a paved road or a winding dirt road going around the mountainside? Is the surface slick or dry

Conditions are another variable that can have far reaching and difficult to predict consequences. Even something like sustained high temperatures during a heat wave may precipitate an explosive outburst of rioting and looting if societal factors are already at a boiling point. Look for unseen connections and expect the unexpected.

Specific Threat

Specific threats are often times the most distressing and obvious risks we will have to assess and prepare against. This could be anything from a declared tornado warning in your immediate area to a stalker that has been harassing you or a loved one.

A violent mob of people or an oncoming, powerful blizzard could likewise be a specific threat that requires equally specific action to counter.

In short, you want to know yourself, know your family, know the terrain, know the overall situation and any additional variables that will impact your calculus. Once you have all of that in hand, you have everything you need to formulate a reasonable and a likely effective response.

Should You Prepare for Unlikely Threats?

In certain prepping circles, much is made of extreme or so-called “doomsday” prepping. This is prepping for events that are so incredibly destructive that they border on fantasy, things that have a one in a billion chance of occurring.

Some folks espouse an ideology that asserts one cannot call themselves truly prepared if they are not prepared for the worst that might be thrown at them, or in a similar vein, preparing for such an event makes you prepared for every lesser event that might occur.

Even if you have never heard of such events discussed in a serious context you are doubtless already familiar with them.

These are things like cataclysmic super-volcanoes, massive asteroid strikes, a legitimate nuclear exchange between superpowers, disintegrating bursts of cosmic radiation and so on.

You might also throw in half fantastical notions like zombie uprisings into the mix.

Frankly, you can make a good argument for preparing for the unexpected, but at some point you have to ask yourself what it is you hope to survive.

Common natural and man-made disasters are incredibly destructive and all inspiring to behold, but apocalyptic events are just that, apocalyptic, and chances are few if any people in the affected area will survive.

Your chances of survival might boil down to luck or providence as much as anything.

This is not to say we shouldn’t get ready for such an event, but I would caution current and new preppers to be wary of getting sucked in to such fantastical notions.

In short, you can make an excellent argument that investing time, money and effort into mitigating the risks of a one in a million or one in a billion occurrence is wasteful when you are far more likely to be waylaid by more mundane events.

Getting ready and covering your bases with basic skills and acquisitions is usually enough to prepare you for surviving the aftermath of an apocalyptic event assuming of course you do survive.

Begin With the Most Common Threats

In the section below you’ll find a variety of both natural disasters and man-made crises that you might have to deal with.

Depending on where you live, your lifestyle and other specifics about your circumstances these events may be significant and endemic threats or so rare as to hardly be worth worrying about.

Similarly, there are events that might be entirely relevant to your life that aren’t featured on this list. That’s okay.

Consider the following entries as archetypal examples for how you should assess your life for vulnerabilities and then act accordingly.

Natural Disasters

Flooding

Ounce for sodden ounce, flooding is probably the most common and widespread natural disaster that occurs around the world globally. Flooding is especially insidious because any place that it can rain it can flood if conditions are right.

Flooding causes widespread devastation by destroying structures, inundating what remains and spreading contagion far and wide. Moving water is an extremely powerful force and can easily sweep away vehicles and drown people.

Flooding is always a concern, but is especially worth worrying over if you live in a low-lying area, coastal region or anywhere near a river or large lake.

These areas are especially prone to devastating flooding, and once every century or two, you’ll have a major flood event that can completely change the landscape.

There is very little you can do to protect yourself against flooding except get away before the water’s rise too high.

With enough warning, proper preparation and quick action it is possible to erect flood resistant dams made out of sandbags, dirt or even fillable aqua-dams that could potentially save your property when everything else around it is underwater.

However, if you live on high ground or in an area that is typically dry you’ll have less to worry about from flooding.

The best thing you can do to prepare for a flood event if you live in a vulnerable area is to have a plan of egress to high ground near your home and away from the area so that you can seek shelter no matter where you happen to be when the water starts to rise.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are among the most powerful storms in nature, and can severely affect entire regions with punishing winds, absolutely biblical amounts of rainfall, destructive storm surge and all of the attendant effects that occur when society is flipped completely upside down.

The most powerful hurricanes that have struck densely populated regions are nothing short of legendary in their destructive effect, and you never know if your number is going to come up year to year when hurricane season draws close.

Generally, only people living on coastal regions have much to fear from hurricanes, though these monster storms are capable of making life difficult and even sowing surprising destruction many dozens or hundreds of miles inland.

To make matters worse, hurricanes are capable of spawning tornadoes, often in many multiples, which are disasters under themselves.

Except in the rarest of situations if you live a couple of hundred miles away from the coast, you won’t have much to fear from hurricanes except potentially for flooding.

The worst effects occur when the hurricanes are still strong immediately after coming ashore after building up strength out on the open ocean. If you do live near the coast, however, you must have a bulletproof plan for sheltering in place if evacuation is not going to be your constant policy.

Tornadoes

Tornadoes are another extraordinarily powerful storm, and ones capable of generating the fastest sustained winds out of any storm on Earth.

Tornadoes are dramatic and can emerge from suitable storm systems rapidly with little warning and there are more than capable of carving entire towns off of the map.

Depending on the intensity of the tornado, they can inflict substantial damage to sturdy structures or completely flatten anything less than a hardened building while carrying away loaded train cars. These are serious events!

Tornadoes can occur anywhere on Earth but are most likely to take place in the United States, specifically a series of Midwestern states known as Tornado Alley. Just because you don’t live in this area doesn’t mean you are free from tornado risk, however.

Preparing for a tornado is a matter of obtaining suitable shelter as rapidly as possible. Depending on the construction of your home, this might not be in or near your domicile.

Mobile homes, vehicles and flimsy structures offer no protection at all, while the best protection comes from an underground shelter in the form of a basement or dedicated tornado shelter.

Most towns and cities, especially those in tornado prone areas, designate specific rooms in most structures or even entire buildings as tornado shelters, those being structures capable of withstanding even the strongest known storm events.

A good readiness plan is a matter of knowing at all times where your nearest shelter point is in tornado season, and taking steps to alleviate specific vulnerability in your home if it is not capable of withstanding high winds.

Blizzards

A blizzard is a sustained period of substantial snowfall, typically accompanied by extremely low temperatures and often high winds as well.

Although not as spectacular as some of the other more destructive natural disasters on this list, blizzards are nonetheless extremely costly in terms of money and lives year in and year out, and create many second and third order problems as they bring entire sectors of society to a grinding halt.

If you cannot get out of your home or travel safely, you cannot obtain supplies or provisions, get medical attention if required and a host of other errands or tasks that are required for day-to-day living.

Preparing for blizzards means considerable contingency planning and the accumulation of substantial amounts of supplies, particularly those required for heating of your home.

As you might imagine, blizzards are more common in the colder regions far from the equator, but it is not out of the question that they might occur in more temperate zones.

Every once in a blue moon blizzards can even occur in places where you might least expect them as residents of Texas will tell you.

Blizzards that occur in unusual or statistically improbable areas are oftentimes worse than the others as the residents are completely unprepared for the event and entire towns and cities unable to cope with a host of problems, everything from ice covered roads to frozen and burst pipes.

These events are mercifully quite rare far from cold regions, thankfully, but if you live in one of these chillier climates you must be prepared for blizzard conditions on a yearly basis.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are another event that is difficult to prepare for and it nearly impossible to detect before it occurs.

Earthquakes occur all the time pretty much everywhere, but most of them are so weak that they are imperceptible to human senses.

More potent earthquakes may register as anything from a slight tremor that rattles dishes in your cabinets all the way up to positively cataclysmic rolling, cracking and shaking of the very ground beneath your feet.

Powerful earthquakes are incredibly destructive and disruptive, shattering streets, toppling buildings, severing sewer and water lines and sending power poles tumbling and crackling to the ground.

Though these monster quakes can technically occur anywhere they are far more likely to occur near and affect areas close to major fault lines.

If you live around one of these fault lines, near volcano ranges or then a couple of hundred miles of either you should be prepared for a major earthquake event.

Although there is not much you can do to protect yourself at the instant except get beneath something sturdy that will hopefully shield you from falling debris, a family emergency plan is a must for dealing with the aftermath.

Tsunamis

A tsunami is a massive series of waves caused by the enormous displacement of water, typically occurring and originating from the open ocean as the result of an undersea earthquake, landslide, volcanic event or occasionally man caused activity like the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

When a tsunami rushes ashore it bulldozes absolutely everything in its path through the sheer might of moving water and is among the deadliest and most destructive natural disasters on Earth.

Tsunamis may sometimes be detected ahead of time as a result of earthquake monitoring or other sensors, but they are just as likely to occur with virtually no warning.

Being caught in the open or on the ground floor of a flimsy building near the shore is a veritable death sentence when a tsunami occurs.

If you live on a coastal area or spend much time on the coast you must be prepared for an immediate response to a tsunami warning, particularly if you’re in the most vulnerable and tsunami prone areas.

However, if you live more than a few miles from the shore chances are you have very little to fear if anything from tsunamis, although folks who live on or near the largest lakes must still be cautious because massive displacements of nearby hills or mountains into the lake, if applicable, could trigger a small-scale tsunami near the shore.

Man-Caused Disasters and Events

Rioting

Rioting is an unpredictable, chaotic and ever-increasing threat as we go into the 21st century. Mob mentality gives way to danger and widespread destruction in the form of looting, arson assault, murder and occasionally kidnapping.

Rioting can be difficult to pin down or predict, as anywhere you have large groups of people you potentially have the makings of a riot, but there are guidelines that may be useful.

First, rioting most typically occurs in densely populated areas. Times of civil unrest, political turmoil or classist violence founded on any number of factors may lead to riotous behavior, behavior which can then be fomented and even directed by individual, organizational or state scale actors.

Areas develop a reputation as riot prone based on the response of law enforcement to initial incidents as well as sustained political or social activism whipping people into a frenzy for one cause or another.

These factors are not difficult to detect, and if you live in any area that is prone to writing you must be ready to react at a moment’s notice and get clear of a violent crowd before it turns into a full-blown mob.

Similarly, wherever you happen to be, if you should come upon a large group of unruly people you must get around or away from them as quickly as possible. In general, smaller, rural communities that are mostly homogeneous, culturally, are far less likely to endure rioting.

House Fire

House fires are among the most common and most destructive disasters that could befall anyone, and are particularly threatening because they strike and destroy what is most precious to you and when you are most vulnerable. Any structure can burn, and a burning structure will destroy everything and everyone within it.

House fires can occur anywhere and at any time in any season, but they are more likely to occur in a home that is poorly maintained, has old and antiquated wiring or anytime that sources of intense heat or open flame are being employed in the home.

If you have a gas or traditional fireplace, smoke, or do any cooking in your home the chances of a house fire are dramatically increased.

This is one event that every, single person must work hard to mitigate and manage.

Family fire drills, a comprehensive fire response plan including the installation and maintenance of fire extinguishers and fire suppression or mitigation measures in and around the home are absolutely essential in order to prevent a house fire.

Terror Attack

For as long as humans have been on earth, they have been attacking each other for the purposes of sowing fear in order to further political and cultural objectives.

Unfortunately we are not exempt from this phenomenon in the 21st century. Enemies both from within and without may use terror tactics to get what they want, or just to strike back at the people or groups that they have perceived as wronging them.

Typically occurring in the worst possible places at the worst possible times, terror attacks are a deadly facet of modern life.

Typically occurring in populated areas in places packed with virtually defenseless civilians, there is a non-zero chance that these can occur in smaller, out of the way settlements or less crowded venues.

A terror attack may be a combination of any direct action tactic, including gunfire, explosives, chemical weapons, vehicle mowdown attacks, hijackings and more.

Avoiding a terror attack is mostly a function of managing risk by avoiding the most likely targets when direct action from a specific threat is most likely and taking immediate action to get out of the hot zone should one occur at your location or nearby.

If you live in a major city you’ll have to be on your toes, but people living in less populated areas usually have less to fear.

Economic Crisis

An economic crisis is not very flashy, but no less deadly or disruptive than any other man-made catastrophe.

When the economy grinds to a squealing halt, or hyperinflation makes your money worthless as anything except kindling, the entire nation will be plunged into a vicious cycle of want and lack that will result in mass waves of homelessness, dispossession and violence.

No matter where you live, no matter what your lifestyle, no matter what you do for a living an economic crisis has the potential to plunge you and your family into turmoil.

Truly preparing for an economic crisis requires more than just saving. You’ll need to get ready for such times by saving up money and liquid assets, of course, but also by accumulating survival necessities for sustainment living, things like food, water and so forth.

This more than most other major disasters on this list is one that is disproportionately likely to affect all of us, regardless of lifestyle and other factors. Underestimate an economic crisis at your own peril!

Industrial Accident

Industrial accidents can take many forms, and none of them are good though some are capable of far reaching consequences.

An industrial accident could be anything from an explosion to the inadvertent release of dangerous, even deadly, chemicals into the air or water supplies.

Major historical events have killed hundreds upon hundreds and sickened or crippled countless thousands more around the world.

Obviously, if you live near any industrial site responsible for the handling or refining of chemicals, or one that uses dangerous chemicals in manufacturing processes, you’ll need to be on your toes.

Even so, prevailing winds, above ground water features and groundwater sources might mean that contamination could go significantly farther than the immediate area around the site of the accident.

Luckily, if you live in North America and much of Europe precautions will be in place for alerting local populaces about significant accidents but you’ll still need to be prepared to either shelter in place or evacuate as appropriate depending on the type and severity of the accident.

If you don’t live anywhere near industrial sites you won’t have much to worry about, although the odd tanker truck crash or train derailment could still contaminate your area with the same chemicals.

Conclusion

Risk assessment is an essential part of prepping, and only by the proper assessment and attendant management of risk can we make the best use of our time, efforts and investments to reduce the chances of a bad outcome when dangerous conditions exist as a result of disaster, be it man-made or natural.

Risk assessment is not difficult to learn but practicing it continually and accurately takes practice. Use this article as your guide and take whatever steps are necessary to fortify your life against the unexpected.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/3wPUODQ