Preparing for the worst (Part 1)

Every student learns the magic number 3. Whether you’re an F-15 fighter pilot or a single mom, in a car accident or taking a walk in the park, the number 3 will keep you alive. The Rule of 3 states that you cannot survive:

• 3 SECONDS WITHOUT SPIRIT AND HOPE
• 3 MINUTES WITHOUT AIR
• 3 HOURS WITHOUT SHELTER IN EXTREME CONDITIONS 3 DAYS WITHOUT WATER
• 3 WEEKS WITHOUT FOOD
• 3 MONTHS WITHOUT COMPANIONSHIP OR LOVE
  -The Survivors Club

Now that that "Hurricane" Irene has passed, I think it's time to talk about preparing for bad situations. I got a bunch of questions during that time, so I figure it would be good to put that info out there for everyone. I don't know about most of you, but I've been preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse* for quite some time now. Most of you probably aren't ready for something on that level.

At all.

In fact, most of you probably aren't ready for anything that alters your day-to-day routine or removes certain normally used structure from your lives.

The best survivors understand that normal is just a fleeting state of mind. Indeed normalcy may seem steady and constant, but it’s really just the intermission between the chaos and messiness of life. Survivors accept that life probably won’t ever return to the way it used to be. So they let go, adapt, and embrace the “new normal.”
-The Survivors Club

The first thing to remember is that you CANNOT plan for every eventuality. It's impossible, and trying to do so will leave you unable to do anything, because you'll have too much to deal with. I recommend that you become familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. For a disaster, you need the bottom 2, self-esteem, and problem solving & creativity. We'll get back to this in a moment.

The next step is to build up your level of preparedness from small problems to large. Don't try to plan for a hurricane if you can't tighten the screws on a chair. Amazingly, you'll find that all the things needed for a light emergency are also useful in big one. My first idea for preparing for small problems is to get:

• A hammer
• A Screwdriver and/or a Leatherman
• A flashlight (get more than one, and put one in your car) and spare batteries
• A small, battery powered AM/FM radio.
• First aid materials. At a minimum, be able to deal with small cuts, large wounds, and pain. Tampons can plug small bullet wounds.

For non-prolonged problems and disasters, those items will tide you over until help or emergency services can be obtained.

The next step is to prepare for prolonged problems and disasters. Take the things that you can't do yourself and try to mitigate the effects of what happens when they are gone.

• Can you make electricity? That's what the flashlight is for (maybe you need a generator).
• Have a cow to slaughter? Might want to get a few days worth of food. Technically, if there is a chance of power loss, refrigeration will be lost, so get food that doesn't need it, and requires little to no preparation. A fridge can keep stuff cool for a day after losing power, but only if you don't open it.
• Do you have a well? Get a gallon of water per-day per-person to tide you over. I recommend gallon bottles, and use that to fill a smaller container, rather than but a bunch of bottles, which drives up the cost, or the giant 3-gallon bottles which become hard to move.

Next, prepare for the specific disaster, especially if you know it is coming. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to understand what dangers are there, especially if you know what disaster is coming. For example:

• Wind related? Beware of flying debris and branches that will break windows.
• Water related? Flooding. Evacuate to high ground early.
• Earthquake? Get under a table (Avoid the doorway).
• Fire. You can go the fire-extinguisher route for a kitchen fire , but you're probably better off just getting out of there for forest blazes. Also, regularly clear brush around your house.

Also, as much as the Zombie Survival Guide may seem like a joke, it is actually a very informative book on disaster preparedness and survival, even if you ignore the zombie part.

Another small point is to think of what you need to do in order to be mobile. Occasionally, a disaster will force you to move. Figure out what you will definitely need, what you can actually move, and what may be available on the other end. Don't bring 8 gallons of water if you're moving to somewhere with running water. That's partially why I advocated gallon bottles, and not the huge 3 gallon ones. Also, you probably use sensible footwear (not Army shoes and golf shoes, Andrea).

Lastly, mitigate the chances of problems should a disaster arise. If you have a family, at least make sure basic ideas of the plans are understood. If there is potential for danger, you should at least be aware of it so your brain isn't completely shocked should something go wrong. For example, you know what I do every time I get on a plane? Locate the nearest exit, and listen to the damn flight attendant. You may think they are there for just drinks and peanuts, but they actually do a lot:

When you board a plane, you’re probably accustomed to some friendly banter from the flight attendants. They welcome you, ask where you’re from, and make idle talk about the weather. It may seem like empty chatter, and you may wonder how they can stand saying “Hi, how are you?” to three hundred travelers. But this is serious business. They’re not just being friendly; they’re profiling you. For starters, they’re checking to see whether you’re fit for flying or whether you’re under the influence. They’re also looking for suspicious behavior including clues of terrorist activity. One of their other main objectives is to identify ABPs. In the parlance of flight safety, that means “able-bodied passenger.” In an emergency, ABPs are the ones they call upon for help. Flight attendants are trained to identify ABPs as they board and to keep track of where they are on the plane. ABPs are typically solo travelers. They’re alert, healthy, and physically fit. They’re often wearing clothing that suggests some kind of military, law enforcement, or firefighter training. They’re likely to be in the top 10 percent on John Leach’s 10–80–10 scale.

She’s crunched the numbers on who gets out alive and who doesn’t. When I ask her the bottom line—who survives?—her answer is blunt: “Young, slender men.” Agility and strength make the biggest difference when you’re trying to wriggle through airplane wreckage or slip through a twenty-inch-wide emergency exit.

For instance, most passengers believe you can survive an hour without an oxygen mask after a plane decompresses at high altitude. In fact, you’ve got only a few seconds. They also believe you’ve got thirty minutes to flee a burning plane. In reality, as you’re about to see, you’ve got only ninety seconds... That’s all. Ninety. Any longer and a fire could burn through the aluminum skin of the plane and the cabin temperature will soar to more than two thousand degrees. Soon after, a flashover fire will consume everything. In just ninety seconds, the cabin turns into an inferno. That’s less than the time it probably took to read this page.

You should never drink a beer or a martini before getting on a plane. You should never pop a sleeping pill before flying. You shouldn’t nap or listen to your iPod when you’re rolling down the runway. And you definitely shouldn’t wait for the thud of landing to wake up.
-The Survivors Club

In Part 2, there will be more on situational awareness, and I'll discuss one of the hardest things to be prepared for.

*Just as a quick disclaimer, you can look at the idea of "Zombie Apocalypse" to mean some type of catastrophic, world-altering disaster, in which most infrastructure breaks down. It's easier to think of a "zombie," than it is to imagine that your fellow human has entered a state of survival such that they would be willing to kill you without remorse.