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    Preparing to Survive: Being ready for when disaster strikes
    Preparing to Survive: Being ready for when disaster strikes
    Preparing to Survive: Being ready for when disaster strikes
    Ebook401 pages2 hours

    Preparing to Survive: Being ready for when disaster strikes

    By Chris McNab

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    About this ebook

    What are you going to do if the water supply stops? Or if there’s no food on sale any more? If there’s no electricity? Or if law and order breaks down? Will you manage? Would you make the right decisions? Are you ready for this? SAS And Elite Forces Guide: Preparing To Survive teaches you all the skills and offers you all the tips and information you may need if things really go wrong. Preppers are people who have decided to take their safety into their own hands in learning to live off the land, digging the own wells, providing their own power and defending themselves. In the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina their numbers are growing and there is increasing media coverage of this phenomenon. SAS And Elite Forces Guide: Preparing To Survive begins with the possible catastrophe scenarios such as environmental disasters, wars and terrorism. Chapter by chapter, the book looks at the areas you need to prepare: your home, what you need if you have to take flight, pre-preparing food for a crisis, finding clean water, maintaining your health, defending yourself, and creating power supplies. With tips and techniques from survival experts, this book shows you what to do not only in the moments and hours after disaster has struck, but also in the weeks, months and years that follow. With more than 300 easy-to-follow artworks and handy pull-out lists of key information, SAS And Elite Forces Guide: Preparing To Survive is the definitive long term survival guide for when help isn’t on its way. If disaster strikes, you’ll be ready.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAmber Books Ltd
    Release dateJul 12, 2019
    ISBN9781909160408
    Preparing to Survive: Being ready for when disaster strikes
    Author

    Chris McNab

    CHRIS McNAB is a writer and editor who specialises in military history and technology. He is an author of many internationally bestselling books on weapons and warfare, including titles in the Battle Story series on Verdun and Cambrai, as well as The World War I Story (all The History Press) i, as well as The Great Book of Guns; How to Survive Anything, Anywhere; The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War; Modern Military Uniforms; The SAS Mental Endurance Handbook; and Special Forces Survival Guide.

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      Book preview

      Preparing to Survive - Chris McNab

      No matter how protected our lives might appear in modern society, threats from man-made and natural disasters remain very real. Preparation is the key to surviving them, should they occur.

      1

      Catastrophe can strike when you least expect it to, whether it be a flood, tsunami, hurricane, tornado or pandemic.

      Facing Catastrophe

      The morgues were packed almost to the ceiling with bodies stacked one on top of another. The morticians worked day and night. You could never turn around without seeing a big red truck loaded with caskets for the train station so bodies could be sent home. We didn’t have the time to treat them. We didn’t take temperatures; we didn’t even have time to take blood pressure. We would give them a little hot whisky toddy; that’s about all we had time to do.

      These chilling memories come from one Josie Brown, a US Navy nurse who worked at the Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois, in 1918. She was not describing a battlefield hospital of World War I – for that conflict had just drawn to a close. Instead, she was witnessing the effects of one of the most lethal pandemics ever to hit humankind – the Spanish Flu of 1918–19. In these two terrible years, possibly 6 per cent of the world’s entire population died (up to 100 million people, depending on estimates), and 30 per cent succumbed to infection. (The pattern in individual countries could be much worse – in Western Samoa 90 per cent of the population was infected.) Coming on the heels of a global conflict that had already killed more than 15 million people, Spanish Flu was an unparalleled trauma.

      The Spanish Flu pandemic of those years is a stark reminder that humanity, even today, is vulnerable to sudden catastrophe. A quick glance through history tells us, in sobering fashion, that disaster – local, regional, national and, less commonly, global – is a fairly regular visitor, whether it’s earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, war or disease. Yet even in the most dreadful calamities, fatalities tend to affect a minority of the population. This is a cause for hope – humankind as a whole has proved impressively resilient, not least because of our large brain capacity and problem-solving abilities. But for those who do survive the 30-second shake of an earthquake, or who isolate themselves from a diseased population, the challenges to wellbeing and long-term survival can be profound.

      To illustrate, let’s stick with the example of a pandemic. One of the benefits of modern science is that we now understand the transmission mechanisms of viral and bacterial illnesses, even if we can’t cure them. Essentially, reductions in human-to-human contact are one of the primary ways, in the short to medium term, to lessen the impact of the disease. In the long term, we have to wait for natural immunity to develop in the human community, or for an emergency vaccination programme to be rolled out. Meanwhile, for the duration of the pandemic, society as we know it either ceases to exist or functions at a level well below that of normal. This does not simply mean severely reduced social interaction, but a fundamental reduction in all the facilities that keep health, hygiene and infrastructure functioning. The US Department of Homeland Security has made detailed studies of predicted effects for future major pandemics. The following list is worth quoting in full, not least because the effects detailed are relevant to almost any type of disaster:

      Dramatic worker absenteeism (40 per cent or more) will occur at all levels due to illness, family member care, death, childcare, and ‘worried well’ (otherwise healthy people who avoid the workplace for fear of exposure).

      Pandemic disease spread will be rapid and unpredictable, likely precluding shifting personnel, resources, and emergency operations centres to ‘safe’ areas.

      Movement restrictions and/or quarantines will disrupt the supply chains and municipal services.

      Social distancing requirements will affect business operations, especially when public contact is unavoidable (e.g., retail food) or workers share a common workspace (e.g., plants).

      Business closures and furloughs for prolonged periods may cause extensive financial harm or even ruin, increasing demand for social and welfare support.

      Lost income and competition for remaining skilled workers and scarce supplies and materials will dramatically affect business response and recovery.

      Reduced worker availability among first responders may result in greater risk of social and security disruptions.

      Disruptions and failures at essential businesses will cause localized economic and social challenges and may affect other businesses in the sector, region, and, perhaps, the nation.

      (Source:www.pandemicflu.gov)

      Coping with a Pandemic

      Pandemics are arguably the greatest threat faced by mankind. Simple precautions – such as wearing surgical face masks – can go a long way to preventing airborne transference of the disease. Yet by far the best countermeasures are isolating yourself from crowds, and washing hands frequently.

      Home Stores

      The supplies you keep in your home can be life-savers in the event of a disaster. They range from obvious items such as food and water, through to basic practical tools like flashlights, candles and radios.

      This catalogue of problems would come on top of the mortality and injuries sustained during and following the disaster. It takes only a little imagination to get some inkling of what the situation could be like. First, imagine that you have a power cut – the national electricity grid has gone down. Without back-up supply, that means no artificial light, heat, cooking, cooling or freezing facilities; no powered alarm system and no mains-supplied television, radio or communication systems.

      A breakdown in fuel distributions means that deliveries of goods to stores are sporadic or cease altogether, so whatever food you have in the cupboards is effectively all you have unless you can find emergency sources. Once that food is used, you have either to find more or begin to starve. Water plants might close down, resulting in a lack of drinking water and the ability to keep clean, both of which carry serious health consequences. Because society is in crisis, law enforcement is stretched to breaking point, so you will have to take temporary responsibility for protecting yourself and your family against others. Against this backdrop, you also have to take care of your own and your family’s health, possibly without the aid of professional medical help.

      In short, in a disaster you will have to survive without all the social and infrastructural support you rely on every day. That is the theme of this book.

      Natural Disasters

      Coping with natural disaster is, unfortunately, part of the human condition, and it is worth spending time getting to understand the threats that we face. The planet we live on is a turbulent, living entity, governed by shifting tectonic plates, an often-violent atmosphere and many other natural phenomena. Consequently, natural disasters are frequent visitors, more so in some parts of the world than others.

      Tornadoes

      The severity of these disasters is dictated by numerous variables, but the most important is the size of the affected region. Tornadoes, for example, are the planet’s most extreme weather phenomenon, delivering wind speeds of up to 480km/h (300mph) and flattening houses, uprooting entire trees, flinging cars about like toys and turning even the smallest objects into lethal projectiles. Yet individually, even the largest tornadoes rarely ever exceed 3.2km (2 miles) across at the base (typically, US tornadoes are an average of 150m/492ft wide at ground level); therefore, the damage they inflict is largely confined to the track they cut across the ground, and the duration of their travel – anywhere from a few kilometres to more than 300km (188 miles).

      For those caught directly in the path of a tornado, the effects can be devastating, their homes and livelihoods, the work of years, decades even, obliterated in seconds. Yet, by being a localized phenomenon, tornadoes tend to have a limited societal impact. The major infrastructure of an affected area still tends to function; although electricity supplies are often interrupted, they are usually restored within 48 hours, and building reconstruction can begin in a matter of days.

      Greater problems come, however, when the extent of the disaster widens. This can happen in the case of a ‘tornado outbreak’, when multiple tornadoes develop from a single storm system. During 25–28 April 2011, the Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern United States were hit by no less than 359 confirmed tornadoes, the worst-affected states being Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia. A total of 364 people were killed, and the physical damage reached $11 billion. A federal state of emergency was declared, with residents of tornado-struck areas having to cope with power outages for up to a week (although most had power back within a couple of days) plus contaminated water supplies and local shortages of food and other supplies.

      Anatomy of a Tornado

      Tornadoes are one of the most destructive natural phenomena on the face of planet. Here we see the characteristic tornado funnel shape, the wind made visible by the ingress of water vapour and dust.

      Hurricanes

      The devastation caused by even multiple tornadoes tends to pale in comparison to that delivered by a hurricane. Hurricane winds are not as fast as those of tornadoes, but they can still reach up to 252km/h (157mph) at their most extreme. More importantly, an individual hurricane is typically in the region of 30–65km (19–40 miles) across, and sometimes can even be several hundred kilometres wide.

      Hurricanes not only deliver crushing winds, but also huge volumes of rain and devastating storm surges – significant rises in sea level that can result in massive flooding across coastal districts. Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge, which inundated large areas of Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, reached more than 8m (25ft) in height, and thereby washed out large areas of both states’ coastlines.

      Hurricane Formation

      The powerful destructive winds of a hurricane rotate around a central ‘eye’, which has the lowest atmospheric pressure of the storm system. While conditions within the eye are typically calm and relatively benign, the outer storm winds can hit prolonged speeds of up to and beyond 241km/h (150mph).

      Flood Protection

      Flood protection is a fairly basic process. Sandbags are a critical line of defence; when the sand becomes wet, it provides a waterproof barrier around doors and windows. Other apertures, such as ventilation ducts, can be sealed with plastic and tape.

      In fact, Katrina is a salutary illustration of how even the most developed of nations can struggle to cope with the enormity of a major natural disaster. Some 1836 people were killed and $81 billion of damage was inflicted. The great city of New Orleans was virtually destroyed – 80 per cent of the city was under water – and more than one million people were displaced from the Southeastern United States. Hundreds of people found themselves clinging to life for days without adequate food or water supplies, in a declining security situation that necessitated the mass deployment of the US National Guard. (Looting became a serious problem, although reports of violence were subsequently found to be somewhat exaggerated.) Some areas did not have their essential utilities restored for weeks after the disaster.

      Hurricane Katrina was actually far from the most devastating hurricane in history. In the United States, that grim accolade goes to the Galveston hurricane of 8 September 1900, which slammed into the Texas coast and resulted in the deaths of 8000 people. But it is in South and Southeast Asia that hurricanes have had their most lethal results, not least because of the poor housing, poverty and health issues that already affect many regions.

      The Bhola Cyclone (cyclone is another word for hurricane) hit East Pakistan (modern Bangladesh) and West Bengal in India on 12 November 1970. Up to 500,000 people died either during the storm or from the appaling after-effects of disease, starvation and dehydration. Most of the region’s crops were destroyed, and drinking water was contaminated by seawater, making this one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history.

      Know Your Enemies

      As the examples above illustrate, nature is a mighty force once unleashed, and many of its victims are relatively powerless. Yet humans can and do endure the worst that nature can throw at them. Those who come out best tend to be those who have prepared in advance for disaster, and preparation begins with knowledge.

      This book is essentially about preparation – preparing yourself, your family and your home for what should happen if the world around you suddenly plunges into chaos. While natural disasters are inevitably arbitrary by nature, the fact remains that modern science has provided us with a deep insight into the natural world. As the old adage advises, forewarned is forearmed, so anyone interested in survivalism should have a detailed knowledge of the natural dangers in their locality, region and country – and, of course, in world at large. Only by fully understanding the threats, is it possible to make the precise preparations needed to survive them.

      Seasonal Extremes

      Start by looking at the natural seasonal extremes of weather in your part of the world. Every year, millions of people are caught out by unusually intense summer heat and exceptional snowfall and sub-zero temperatures, despite the fact that such conditions occur regularly. At the time of writing (February 2012), for example, more than 300 people across Europe have been killed by a sudden precipitous drop in winter temperatures, as low as -35°C (-31°F) in parts of Russia and Ukraine. In Serbia, 11,000 villagers in mountainous areas have been trapped by blizzards and heavy snowfall. Similarly, in December 2010 the Eastern United States was locked under the icy grip of a powerful blizzard. New York received 51cm (20in) of snow, shutting down the city’s major airports, subway and most roads, and New Jersey’s problems were so great that a state of emergency was declared.

      Snow Storm

      Snow storms imperil millions of people every year throughout the developed world. Part of the problem is that many countries do not have predictable seasonal extremes, meaning that the inhabitants of those countries are not prepared when such conditions do occur.

      The important point about these natural events is that while they are unusual, they are not unprecedented. In 1888, exactly the same areas affected by the 2010 blizzard were hit by up to 127cm (50in) of snowfall in an appaling winter storm. A total of 400 people died, and major urban areas of the Eastern Seaboard came to a virtual standstill. The message is clear – such events are rare, but repeated.

      Do Your Research

      History is something the survivalist can never ignore. Take time to find out all about the most extreme weather conditions that have visited your community in the last 200 years, and base your preparations on the expectation that similar events could happen again. The type of data you should gather includes the following:

      Seasonal extremes of temperature.

      Areas with a proven or historical susceptibility to flooding.

      Parts of your region worst affected by adverse climatic conditions, e.g. roads regularly impassable in winter, or rivers likely to burst their banks under heavy rainfall.

      Common extreme weather phenomena in your region, e.g. drought, tornadoes and blizzards.

      History of disaster response in your region, including its effectiveness and measures that have been put in place in recent years.

      Drought

      Drought is a threat for many countries over the coming decades. Some specialists see water shortages as the world’s greatest security issue.

      The locations of any dangerous geological features, such as tectonic fault lines and volcanoes.

      By gathering as many facts as you can about the natural history of your region, you can build up a threat profile and act accordingly. In addition to books and the Internet, your local library or historical society should be able to assist in your research. Draw on first-hand accounts from survivors of disaster; even if they were written in very different times, they will still provide you with useful clues about the types of challenges they faced. Also, ask relevant local government bodies for copies of any emergency-response policies in place, to see if there are convincing measures to cope with any of the kinds of disasters you have found in your historical research. If not, approach influential officials and make determined requests that the authorities improve their disaster preparations. Make this campaign as public as possible by using the media – no official wants his or her name to go down in history as the person who ignored the available warnings.

      Tornado Facts: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

      • They may strike quickly, with little or no warning.

      • They may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel.

      • The average tornado moves southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.

      • The average forward speed of a tornado is 30mph [48km/h], but may vary from stationary to 70mph [112.6km/h].

      • Tornadoes can accompany tropical storms and hurricanes as they move onto land.

      • Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water.

      • Tornadoes are most frequently reported east of the Rocky Mountains during spring and summer months.

      • Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through May; in the northern states, it is late spring through early summer.

      • Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m., but can occur at any time.

      (For further information, see: www.fema.gov)

      Weather Effects

      In addition to historical research, you should also find out more about the science of the specific threats that confront you. By understanding how, say, hurricanes do their damage or volcanic ash clouds affect health, you can make informed decisions in adverse situations. The quality of those decisions could make the difference between life and death, so don’t feel that a

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