A few days ago I was doing the Wikipedia surfing thing and one of the articles I was reading was about Bug-out bags. This is something I’ve been (weakly) wanting to do for a while, and reading about it made me want to do so more. Plus the entire destruction of Haiti thing helped to reinforce the notion of this being a good idea. So this past weekend I ended up at a military surplus store which carried a variety of large military style Seabags (or duffel bag) and I decided that I should buy it and start building my “G.O.O.D bag” (Get Out Of Dodge). I also managed to convince my mother that she should let me upgrade/replace her aging emergency supplies. So the fun begins.
Let me explain my goals, in short I want to build an emergency supply stash that is a balance between 72 hours and the “end of the world”. To explain in a slight bit more depth, the experts say you should have at least 72 hours worth of emergency supplies (food and water) because if there is a major disaster in your area, it is a safe bet that you are going to be on your own for a while. Why? Because when the disaster strikes, everyone is off balance and news is generally hard to come by. Once the word is out, it takes time for emergency responders and supplies to be gathered. Then there is time for transit. After the emergency responders arrive and supplies are on the ground, they’ve got to get organized. Lastly, they’ve got to find your sorry ass.
So what about this “end of the world” bit? Well if the disaster is something simple like an earthquake, it is effectively localized, but what happens if a nuclear bomb went off? I don’t like to sound all doom and gloom, but it could happen. If you need a perspective go read/watch the now canceled TV show “Jericho“. Lots of nuclear bombs, all sorts of screwed up shit. If you pack for 72 hours of emergency and nothing more, you’re gonna be screwed in this case. Though to be truly, properly prepared for the end of the world, you really should move to the middle of nowhere, stock up on massive amounts of food, water, fuel and ammo, and bunker down. Since that is a little farther than most people (including myself) are willing to go on the off chance of “the worst” happening… I’m trying to strike a balance.
Right now, I’ve got an impromptu list going on the wiki. That being said, I’m going to be making this “Disaster Prep” a regular feature on the blog for a while. I’m going to share what I’m packing, why I’m packing it (does one need a Geiger counter?), how important I feel it is to pack, how I’m packing it (Ammo boxes FTW) and how much it cost me. I think the “why” and “how much” are possibly the most critical parts. There are a lot of lists out there on emergency prep supplies, not all of them explain why each component is useful (food and water are a duh). Most important to me (and most people): I don’t want to spend $5 grand on supplies that I’ll hopefully never use.
To make it easier for those interested, I’ve made a DisasterPrep Category on the blog and as with all categories, it has its own RSS feed. I’m also happy to entertain requests from anyone with questions or etc, leave a comment (Or Tweet Me), that’s what it is there for.