Posted on 07/14/2011 9:06:55 PM PDT by Kartographer
Even if you are fortunate enough to have a retreat out in the country getting to your safe haven maybe impossible during upheaval. Roads blocked by wrecked and fuelless vehicles will stop most bugouters in their tracks. Maybe you were born lucky and can make it out safely before the balloon bursts, then what? People in rural areas, will start shooting if threatened by mobs of refugees fleeing the city. Don’t expect to be welcomed with arms outstretched. Most country folks don’t trust outsiders; you will likely be greeted with a load of buckshot and not the cup of fresh coffee and meaningful conversation you hoped for.
(Excerpt) Read more at survive2thrive.net ...
I wanna bring my weapons and gunsmithing to your ‘holler’. Sound like my kind of folks fer shur!
These people will suffer the consequences of their inaction. Preppers are a tiny minority of the population.
For some great information and discussion of this topic, go visit survivalblog.com
Giardia is a type of Protozoa. There are other protozoans, some of which are worse. They are not viruses.
No filters I am aware of will "filter out" all viruses, which are much too small to be affected by filters, though some may be able to deal with some types.
Many filters have chemical components that will inactivate or "kill" many if not always all viruses.
Not really. By far the most abundant source of meat in an urban environment is humans.
bfl
I thought humans wouldn't really make for much of a diet, too much fat and not enough nourishment.
Good example trumandogz Post #6.
Sorry, no room at the inn.
I’ve only been here 9 years but at least they call me “that New York City boy” and not “that derned feriner.” As soon as folks realized that I left NY in NY (except for my accent) and learned that I planned on dieing here, things warmed up. Still, I know my place.
You aren’t paying attention to the subject under discussion in the article. It is survival.
In survival mode, a high-fat diet is a very good thing. More calories per pound and per unit volume.
Anywho, in a true urban survival crisis of the type he mentions, the survivors will be thinning down remarkably quickly.
I thought the author’s notion of rebounding animal populations in the city was hilarious. While no doubt true on a long time span (as in multiple years), it will be of absolutely no value in surviving the critical first few months.
Let us assume a large city cut off from outside assistance. (In a scenario with outside assistance, its quality and quantity becomes the relevant factor. All others disappear in the rounding errors.)
Stocks of food in restaurants, warehouses, stores, etc. will last only a few days. A very few people such as the author may have personal stocks that will last them a few weeks or months. All animals that don’t do a very good job of hiding will be eaten within the first two weeks (making their population boom something that occurs only after essentially all humans in the city have died and animals colonize the city from surrounding areas.)
Cannibalism will start probably in two to three weeks and continue until only the toughest, smartest and meanest are still alive. Even they will soon die unless outside aid becomes available. Especially as massive epidemics will be raging throughout this period.
This whole subject is covered in remarkable and highly unpleasant detail in SM Stirling’s “Dies the Fire” series.
My husband said that we couldn’t defend ourselves against a hoard but I said we could use the backhoe to dig a wide ditch and put sharpened bamboo on the bottom.
Our plus is that we live in the desert and they would already have to be prepared to get here. They’d have to have gas, water and food because there is very little natural vegetation to eat and no water to be had.
I can’t imagine trying to tough out even a moderate collapse in the city. A few reasons:
1. Water
2. Water
3. Water
4. Sewage
5. Electricity
6. Masses of feral humanity without the above.
With clear fields of fire, you’d only have to pick off a couple at distance and they’d move to greener pastures. Remember, they will NOT be interested in gaining territory, only goods and women.
I love backhoes and windy rural roads that are sort of cliffy on one side and straight up on the other.
The disease from lack of sanitation and lack of clean water will be the big second wave killer, even before starvation.
Leave the bodies in the road as a message.
Tannerite. Have it strategically placed about and shoot it when bad people are hassling.
Yeah, but the damn coyotes keep carrying them off! ;-)
Water and sanitation are absolutely key. You can live on canned stuff or even raw oatmeal. But dealing with human excrement and other filth, including dead bodies, and clean drinking water, are the two vital of vitals. That and hordes of feral humanimals.
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