As those of us in the Deep South have been painfully reminded, the excrement can hit the oscillating blades of the cooling device very easily and with minimal warning.  The tornadoes and storms of the last few days have killed hundreds of people, destoyed countless homes and businesses, left millions without power or water, interrupted routine commerce, and created a sudden drain on the limited resources available to many communities.

Millions of people are now in need of food, clothing, shelter, water, electricity, gas, and money.  People who lost power will see the groceries in their refrigerators and freezers spoil.  They and every one fo their neighbors are going to hitting up the local Wal-Marts, Publix and Krogers, trying to buy whatever they can find.  Water supplies are going to taxed to the limit, if they are even operable.  People will need to drink water and they will need water for hygiene purposes for the next few days, until the public systems can get back on their feet.  Many folks will find themselves with just the gas in their car's tanks, with no ability to replace it and with local sources drying up quickly as it is used up by emergency relief workers.  many others will waste their limited, relatively expensive, supply of gas driving around, sight-seeing and taking pictures of the devastation.  Without power, many of the stores which provide the food, water, and gas to these communities will be unable to open.  That means, unless they resort to looting, the residents of these communities won't be able to get the necessities fo life.  Without power, your bank's ATM is going to be offline, meaning you won't be able to get cash, in order to buy gas from the guy down the street who was smart enough to stockpile a little bit.

These situations aren't just some ARFCOMer's fantasy thoughts, dancing through his brain in between episodes of "The Walking Dead" and thoughts about his Chris Costa bromance.  They are happening to our fellow members, as I type this.  Hell, I was without power for 34 hours, from 0600 Wednesday, until 1600 Thursday.  Yes, discussions about SHTF get tossed around here quite a bit.  Seemingly more often than not, they involve some zombies, the UN, the .mil or LEO's grabbing guns, or an invasion by the Red Chinese or the Mexican drug cartels.  However much those kinds of situations play into our dreams of starting a band of high school students who roam the Rocky Mountains, attacking Soviet and Cuban convoys, and screaming "Wolverines" at the top of our lungs, they aren't nearly as likely as what has transpired in the south over the last few days.

What  has happened, has happened quickly, with little or no time for preparations.  What these people had with them when it happened is what they have available to help them survive the situation.  What have you done to help yourself and your family survive, should a similiar event happen to you?  I'm not talking about the silly, "I've got a wheelbarrow full of 87 guns and 87,000 rounds of ammo." either.  I'm talking about the realistic.  Do you have enough food on hand to last 3-4 days.  Will that food go bad before your power is restored?  Do you have enough potable water for you and yours to survive a major interruption of your daily routine?  Do yuo have a generator and enough fuel to power it for several days?  If you lose power and gas, do you have an alternative way to cook your food, such as a gas or charcoal grill, or the ability to start a cooking fire in your backyard?  Do you have any cash on hand, in case you are able to buy a few things, but can't find a working ATM that has a supply of money?  What about first aid?  Do you have the ability (read as supplies AND training) to handle minor and slightly more advanced first aid needs?  Can you splint a fracture, stop bleeding, open an airway, perform CPR/Rescue Breathing?  For those with small children, they will likely be extremely frightened.  have you a way to calm thier nerves or entertain them when their Wii is inoperable?

Will this latest disaster to strike a major portion of our country affect your preparations?  Will you do anything differently?  For those of you who have had the foresight to plan ahead, has this disaster caused any of your friends and family who scoffed at your planning to reevaluate their own feelings on the issue.

Remember:  PROPER PRIOR PLANNING PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCE!

When a tornado wiped out 60% of my town in 2008 I had an Arfcomer laugh and post that
it couldn't have been a bad tornado because some of the destroyed buildings were still standing.
They are still rebuilding our schools almost 3 years later.

I feel really bad for the people affected. My prayers go out to them.
I was talking to an Arfcomer on the phone today who is without power down there right now.

People, even here on Arfcom, laugh about having preps, until they need them. Too many people
get caught up on guns and ammo when it comes to prepping. Having copies of all your important
papers, family pictures, a bit of cash, some food and water and a plan can be a big deal in
an emergency like this. A gen set doesn't hurt either.

But everyone says it will never happen to me, until it does........



ETA: Threads on prepping are much saner in the Arfcom Survival Forums rather than in GD. Lots of good info and good people
over there.

David,

What are the chances you could do a common-sense approach article to disaster preparedness for the average citizen and publish it in SWAT Magazine?  You could very easily touch on the many situations that have happened in the last few years (Katrina, Japan earthquake / tsunami, Northridge Earthquake, western wildfires, the recent tornadoes, etc.) and how they have deeply impacted the everyday lives of millions of people, with little or no warning.  In the article, you could include some thoughts on just how lives are impacted and ways to lessen the impact.  The article could give suggestions on things everyone can do to prepare in advance.  Hit on having a small bag ready for each member of the family, having several days worth of dry goods and a case or two of water in the pantry, having important documents in a central, easily accessible location, having a first aid kit and the training to use it, and other ideas.

i'm sure something has already been written previously, and honestly, with SWAT's readership, you'd likely be preaching to the choir.  But, it couldn't hurt to do a short, but comprehensive piece nowadays, especially given the number of significant natural disasters we've experienced recently.  Just a thought.

Well, I'm an employee of a competitor of SWAT so can no longer write for them.
However, I am 100% on-board with what you are saying. Actually I am trying not to do just an article
but an entire annual on this subject. It would be like our Book of the AK47/AR-15 but on prepping.
More modern than say the old American Survival Guide magazine. I'm just having a hard time
convincing the powers that be that it would sell. Course I had the same problem convincing them to
do a Book of the AK47 annual and that became our best seller.

I have written articles on this subject in the past, including after when my town was hit. I would really like
to get a good group of writers together who are tops in the respective fields and cover a lot of different
areas. I think it would be very timely and could help a lot of people.....

You know, the worst part about this most recent disaster is that many people were left with NOTHING.  It's kind of humbling when you think of all of your possessions being scattered to the four winds - including your preps.  Not that you shouldn't prep, but it's possible that you could find yourself stranded with nothing but the clothes on your back, and everything around you destroyed.  Then what?

Then you either sit down and feel sorry for yourself and wait for the Gov to help out

or

You deal with the pain and your loss and drive on the best you can. You can lose all your preps, but a proper mindset will help you get through it.

I've been in a situation once where I lost everything and was living out of my truck. You do the best you can and keep on going.
No one ever said life was always going to be easy..........


ETA If I ever have to live out of my truck again, I plan on doing it in a lil more style...

I moved to an area with tornadoes. These aren't anything that I am used to. Since you live in tornado country, I have a few questions:

How do you secure your stores/preps?

Do the funky earth houses from the 70's survive better than normal housing?

How do poured concrete and concrete block homes survive?

I would certainly buy a copy.

Me too.  I get bogged down in internet threads of every ones list. I would like a paper copy I could leave in the bathroom til I memorized it.  I have some preps, but a tornado could take them all if it was big enough. Some are on the other side of town in a self storage.

I'm from Maine........ so learning about tornadoes as I go. When I bought this farm everyone in town told us, "Oh don't worry,
a tornado has never hit this town. It's in the V of a river and tornadoes don't cross rivers and there's an ancient Indian legend
that a tornado will never hit." Yeah.........3 months later a tornado crossed the river 4 times before going through the center
of town.......so much for rivers and Indian legends...

Stores and preps? I have a very nice cellar. I have some preps there, some in an outbuilding and others here and there. You can't
prepare for everything. So you can only do the best you can with what you have. Way too many people get caught up on guns/ammo
because its their hobby or 'living off the land' because its their favorite fantasy. Too many people don't think about things like having
copies of all their important papers and records (social security card, birth certificate, vehicle titles, house deed, passport, banking
documents, important phone numbers, etc) in a safe place. This could be as simple as scanning them onto a thumbdrive(s) and putting
them in a very safe place. When my town was hit the military came in within hours and set-up roadblocks with humvees and no-one was
allowed in unless they could show proof they lived here. The water system was damaged and so everyone with city water was told
not to drink it. Place was a mess.

Having water, food, cash, fuel, a power supply and tools on hand is a start. Even if you don't have electricity to power your water pump you
can still flush your toilet (if you still have one) if you have water. Fuel can be hard to find and expensive, so have it on hand. Gen sets get stolen
when you are the only one with power, so have a way to secure it. If stores have no electricity your VISA card isn't going to do you any good, so
have some cash. If you have kids and pets, think of them as well.

here's an article I wrote after my town was hit

http://www.tacticalgunfan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=501&Itemid=65

Well, if we get some positive feedback on the topic in this thread I'll use it to try to get the green light for the project.

Let me ask you all this,

what topics would you like to see covered?

+1 for pos feedback

I'm definitely down for a copy.

Suggested topics?

spoilage resistant food (MRE's, Freeze dried, canned goods (both store bought and home canned)
water purification (iodine tablets, filters, boiling), sotrage and gathering (impromptu things like a poncho, off of leaves, buckets for rainfall)
first aid (ABC's - Airway, bleeding, conciousness, splinting a fracture, snake bites, cold and hot weather injuries)
packing a bug-out bag
alternative energy sources (solar panels / rechargers, generators, battery stockpiling)
alternative fuel source vehicles
importance of physical fitness / conditioning for survival
a list of tools that would come in handy in a disaster situation
comparisons of different generator models, flashlights (LED vs non-LED, lithium vs. alkaline battery (price, availability, lifespan, output)
a chapter on RKBA vis a vis self defense, protection of property, recent post-disaster looting and LE reactions, legislative reactions, etc.

Those are just some thoughts, I'm sure you'll figure out what needs to be included to make it a marketable product.

BTW, David, speaking of Maine, that's where my folks, ex-wife, and son live (York County).  When I posted something similiar to the OP on my Facebook status, my ex's reply was something about how we send money overseas, but don't seem to put enough money into helping our own countrymen.  Like many people, she's bought into the idea that when disaster strikes, it's up to the federal government to bail us out.  She doesn't seem to get it that it's an individual responsibility to avoid having to be the first person in line at The Superdome, looking for three hots and a cot, courtesy of FEMA.  You'd think that after growing up in Maine, she'd have seen enough epic snowstorms to know that you can't always just get in the car and drive to Shaw's or Hannaford's.

thanks for the input. Yep, we are on the same page for topics. Lots of good ideas there.

Unfortunately a good bit of the population in Maine is now pretty liberal. Pretty sad really.
The one thing I noted about people here in the Mid West is they didn't wait for anyone to come help.
They simply got to work taking care of each other. Not only did the people working at the VFW hall
provide meals (and more) to the people hit by the storm but they even provided food for the soldiers
guarding the town and a place for the Red Cross and other groups to stage. It really impressed me how
the whole place pulled together....without looting.

Here to learn.

Tornadoes are bad. Democrats are worse.

This last spat of tornadoes whipped through a large portion of the country, killing 200+ people and causing billions of dollars in damage, with thousands of people uprooted.
Democrats can cover the entire nation.  Their policies can and do cause the killing of thousands every year. (gun control disarming victims), In the long run, they can and do cause trillions of dollars in damage, and uproot people in the millions.

Bilster

Leave it to GD to take a simple thread on personal responsibility on disaster preparedness and turn it into a politics bashing thread.  Democrats suffer from tornadoes, as do Republicans, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, Socialists, Communists, and people of every political leaning.  The simple fact is, your post is not germaine to the conversation at hand, and, quite frankly, is neither necessary or welcome.

If it helps with the bosses, Michael Bane is doing a new version of Survival Guns. It is my understanding that this will be slightly expanded to reflect more situational issues and needs. Also, they can't help but notice the wednesday night lineup on the outdoor channel. There is Best Defense, Best Defense Survival, and the American Guardian episodes dealing with these subjects. It would seem that a print market could follow the television programming.

As a side note thanks for the Spetsnaz and Chinese special forces threads.

t..a..double effin g

When does the gun grabbing start?

How can anyone prepare for something so devastating.



I live in New England so it's not much of a threat up here.



Ours are mostly just snow storms people prepare for.





We were talking about this today . Is it possible to just buy an old 30 or 40 foot box trailer and bury it under ground for a shelter?



Homes just can't survive this kind of wind. Fill it with preps , water , two exits for escape .



The hell with staying in the home or basement. Insurance will put your home back up.



It's your life and families life that important.

These rust out underground if they are not prepared. There are some good threads on this in the outdoor forum. I was thinking about a using new septic box or digging a traditional root cellar.

You can't prepare for everything but you can prepare the best you can for the most likely scenarios.

These tornadoes also demonstrate why you should plan for more than bugging in. Sometimes you
HAVE to bug out.........like when your house is gone.

Myself as well.

Dave,

You're absolutely right about the Survival Forums.  I read them from tiem to time, in order to learn a few things.  I just figured that with the attention these storms have brought, it'd be a good time to remind GD that anyone's life can be tossed around and scattered to hell and back with no notice.

Oh, and if you do get the go-ahead on the SHTF preparedness project and need some help, I'd be more than happy to try my hand at writing an article.  Might I also suggest a title?  "When Disaster Strikes"  and a subtitle? "Prior planning prevents poor performance"