Survival Skill #4 Procuring Shelter (Part 4 of 10)

Just before, during, and especially after a disaster, and after you have procured water, you will need to procure shelter.  Here are some options:

• Your home.  The ideal place for many people to seek shelter is their own home (granted you want your shelter to be sufficiently protective in the event of say, a tornado.  You also want to ensure that your shelter is not in a flood zone or this will make you seek shelter elsewhere during a flooding event).
• Your alternate shelters (such as a boat, RV, cabin, second home, etc).
• Community shelters.  Before, during, and after some types of disasters, your community may set up a shelter for those who are in danger of losing or have lost the ability to remain in their own home (not a great option but better than many alternatives).  Know where these shelters are ahead of time.
• Sheltering with others.  A cost effective means to seek shelter if you can no longer stay in your home is often with others.  Neighbors, friends, family can all be alternative sources of shelter if needed (be sure to return the favor if possible).
• Squatting is not the best option—you will probably be breaking the law, incurring the wrath of the property owner, and competing with others for the same space—but it is an option if you have no other source of quick shelter.
• Camping is another source of shelter in an emergency.  Even if you aren’t a camper and the spouse thinks staying anywhere less than four stars is roughing it, everyone should own camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc).  During the Northridge earthquake I knew quite a few people who, while they didn’t normally seek out the opportunity to go camping, promptly set up their tents in their yards because they feared severe aftershocks if they stayed in their homes.
• Making your own shanty/shelter.  While this may be an extreme way to create a shelter in an emergency, this is the way many of the people in third world countries live (example here).  Basically you scavenge anything you can that can reasonably be put together to keep you out of the elements.
• “Head for the hills.”  Many people think that when TSHTF they will jump in their vehicle and go up to the mountains.  Unfortunately many other people have the same idea, doubly unfortunately, there are a number of problems with this plan (have you seen holiday traffic heading for the mountains on a Friday evening?  It will be worse than that.  Once all of these people do make it to the mountains then what will happen?).
• Live like the homeless.  For all of the problems surrounding the homeless, they have the right of it when it comes to emergency shelter.  Basically they will seek any place that will keep the rain off of them and can be found sheltering in old culvert pipes, in encampments with others they trust, in abandoned buildings and houses, in make-shift tents or shanties, in caves…you get the idea.

 Basically when you are seeking a survival shelter you want the following things:

• Shelter from the elements (keep you out of the rain, sun, cold).
• Shelter than can be secured from intruders (a much more difficult proposition than during normal times).
• Shelter that is small and can be easily heated in cold climates.
• Shelter than can retain heat/cool to some extent (not as important and not as likely but still a consideration).
• Shelter that you own (obviously the legal implications of ownership become less viable right after a major disaster).
• Shelter that can be hidden (always a good security measure).
• Shelter that can be moved, if needed.

Survival Skill #3 Procuring Food (part 3 of 10)

Right after a disaster, and right after procuring water, your next task will be procuring food.  Of course you can go days, even weeks without food but who would want to do that, especially in a high stress/high physical exertion state?  Here are some post-disaster food options:

• Food in your home which is perishable (this means you eat the things most likely to spoil first including produce, food in your refrigerator, and things in your freezer).
• Food stored in your home (assuming your home is accessible, using up the food in your pantry and the food you have stockpiled will be your next option).
• Food stored in your car BOB and your backpack BOB (ditto above, you should have some amount of food with you at all times).
• Food you raise yourself (this includes food from your garden, orchard, and any animals you raise for food...during growing season of course.  If you do garden, you may want to look into year-round type gardening skills).
• Food from the local grocery store (not usually a good or viable idea.  If you've seen the shelves of grocery stores just before and right after a disaster strikes--like a tornado or hurricane--you will know that entire stores can be cleaned out within hours).
• Food that you can catch/trap/glean (people often think that procuring wild food is as simple as walking out their door with a shotgun but this isn't always the case.  While hunting, fishing, and gleaning are options for obtaining food, consider that #1 the rest of the population in your area has the same idea, #2 animals often make themselves scarce before, during, and after a natural disaster, and #3 doing this sort of thing on private property--and many people are surrounded by private property--can be downright dangerous as the owner may not like people trespassing on his property).
• Government food stations.  Usually after a disaster, the government or other aid organizations will step in with food and water distribution programs.  While this is an option, it is also less than reliable because of the huge lines of people, the limited amount of food, the stress and often the fighting that occurs over such limited resources, and the length of time it takes to get the distribution system set up (this often happens many days, not hours, after a large-scale disaster).
• Anything else you can catch and eat (birds, roaming dogs, rats, insects...unpleasant of course but if you are truly starving, any sort of protein and fat will keep you alive).

Once you have procured food for yourself and your family after a disaster, you will need to worry about:

• Storing it.  Refrigeration will often NOT be an option so fresh food will spoil quickly.
• Cooking it.  Ditto your usual cooking methods may not be available so be sure to have multiple ways to cook food.
• Preparing it.  You will need to be able to open the cans (do you have a manual can opener?) and serve it (paper plates and plastic utensils mean you won't have to use valuable water to clean up afterwards).
• Eating it.  Make sure the food you eat isn't spoiled or contaminated as this will make you sick and weak--two states you don't want to be in after a disaster.
• Protecting it.  What do you think the hungry masses will do when they smell steak grilling over your fence?
• Ensuring everyone gets to eat...this includes your pets, your infants who need specialized food, and the ill/elderly/allergic who may have a restrictive diet and can only eat certain foods. 

Survival Skill #2 Procuring Water (Part 2 of 10)

During any disaster, one of your first priorities will be to procure water.  You can live without a lot of things in the short term--food, shelter, etc.  But you can't live long without water and often a disaster wipes out your most common water sources (city water supply, well water supply, etc).  Here are the most common sources of water you may be able to access after a disaster:

• stored bottled water
• water stored in your home (in the hot water tank, in the cistern or rain barrel, in the bathtub that you filled up ahead of time)
• water from your city water supply (if the lines have not been broken or the water rendered unfit to drink.  Note that water from your city water supply may be contaminated but still drinkable with purification).
• water from your well (again, water from your well may or may not be drinkable after a disaster if you treat it; it depends on the type of disaster.  A chemical spill or flood will render your well water supply undrinkable).
• water from local, natural water sources (lake, river, stream, spring, etc).  This water must always be treated and depending on the disaster may or may not be drinkable even with treatment (see flood and chemical spill above).
• standing water (can be found in puddles, discarded items like tires and cans; ditto the chemical warning above).
• collecting water (rain water, melting snow, making a still to collect dew).
• drinking from vegetation (tropical vines, young coconuts, the pulp of some cacti, the roots of a banana tree, etc)

Remember that all water of uncertain purity must be purified before you drink it.  Water that is biologically contaminated can usually be treated however water which has been contaminated with chemicals, gasoline, etc. should not be ingested even if treated.  More info here.

Survival Skill #1 Money (Part 1 of 10)

With a handful of basic survival skills, you will be miles ahead of the pack when TSHTF.  One of the most important survival skills you can have has to do with money.  Here are ten ways to set yourself up financially for a disaster:

1. Get out of debt ASAP (and don't generate future debt.  If you can't pay cash for something, you can't afford it).
2. Have an emergency fund (start with $1000 and add to it consistently until you could live off of said emergency fund for at least a year).
3. Live below your means (this makes both #1 and #2 easier).
4. Be able to earn money (ie: have an education, job skills, self employment skills).
5. Have passive income (this can range from investments to royalties to other ways that you make money "while you sleep").
6. Have alternatives to cash money (such as a bit of gold, silver, and items that would have value during a collapse that you could sell).
7. Protect your money (both physically such as in a safe and theoretically such as protecting it from swindlers and bad deals).
8. Insure your money (keep life, health, auto, home, disability, and other necessary insurances to protect you financially from ruin).
9. Use your money to buy/stockpile items which would be necessary during a disaster (non-perishable food, medical supplies, ammo, etc).
10. Invest some of your money in yourself (in your education, in valuable job skills, in survival skills such as a first aid class, etc).