Surviving Disaster: Pandemic

Last Tuesday's episode of Surviving Disaster focused on two related disasters, a nerve gas attack and a pandemic outbreak. You can catch this episode on the Surviving Disaster website, and I highly recommend that you actually watch the show instead of just reading my notes as there is so much covered that I'm sure I did not get all of the small details. Here's the high points of the episode:

Chemical Attack

• The US government says that a biological/chemical attack in the US is highly likely within the next four years. Something along the lines of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 is what they see as a very likely possibility.
• Schools, football stadiums, amusement parks, and other places where a large number of people gather are likely targets for such an attack.
• Often times these are suicide attacks where a person takes a canister of nerve gas into a crowded area and opens the container. You can't see or smell most nerve gas agents and a droplet of the poison can kill a person in minutes.
• A nerve agent affects any part of your body that relies on muscle control such as the heart and lungs. With your nerves paralyzed, your heart and lungs will stop working.
• In the scenario, the people on the subway noticed a problem when people on the subway car in front of them began keeling over.
• When the subway stops (in this scenario the nerve gas killed the conductor and the subway stopped), pull the emergency release lever to open the doors and escape.
• Walk in the direction that the train was traveling even though the infected car is in front of you. With the gas, there is a good chance that the nerve gas has left a trail of the vaporized agent behind the train so you don't want to be walking through this.
• Hold your breath as you walk along the escape route out of the subway tunnel and pass by the car where the gas was released.
• Take off your outer layer of clothing, this will remove about 90% of the toxins that you have been exposed to. Remember not to pull your shirt over your head or this will get the toxin into your mouth, nose, and eyes. Leave your bags and anything else you were carrying behind as well.
• Look for an exit sign or a blue light so that you can escape from the tunnel. Both the subway stopping and the alarm from opening the exit door will alert the central subway office that there is a problem. They will also be able to monitor the tunnels which have video surveillance equipment.
• Get outside into the air as quickly as possible as this will diffuse much the toxins that are on you.
• Tell someone to call 911 and also tell them to alert responders that there was a nerve gas attack and where specifically the incident occurred. You don't want responders walking into this type of deadly situation without warning.
• While waiting for help, take all of your clothes off and wash down with soap and water. In this scenario, the people went into a nearby laundromat and washed off with soap and water. Repeat this process.
• Wait for medical help to arrive. They will probably put you through a similar decon process. A professional decon process includes stage #1--clothes drop, stage #2--wash down with soap and detergent, stage #3--monitoring for residual symptoms.

Virus Attack (Pandemic flu)

• One person could be infected with a deadly virus and spread it to others, eventually causing hundreds of thousands to die. This person is called Patient 0 in a global pandemic.
• In this scenario, a person on the subway is infected with a pandemic flu virus. He is unaware he has the virus as it takes a few days for symptoms to show up but you can be contagious even before you have symptoms.
• The virus is spread from person to person. The man infects four people on the subway, they each infect four people; you can see how the virus can spread exponentially.
• During a pandemic, the government will tell people to shelter in their homes. Schools, public events, and other places where people gather will be shut down. National Guard and law enforcement will do what is termed "aggressive control of contacts" by patrolling the streets and ensuring that people are not out and about.
• The group in the scenario were now in survival mode. Their first task was to go to the stores and stock up on food and supplies. Everyone else was doing this too so food and supplies quickly ran out. Stores often have enough stock for only a day or two as they rely on just-in-time delivery of goods.
• When you go out to stock up, realize that people will be in a panic, supplies will quickly disappear, and this also puts you in contact with many people which could expose you to the virus.
• Viruses spread by touch transmission (the virus can last for 24 to 48 hours on items such as paper, cloth, etc), droplets from infected people that are discharged when they talk, cough, or sneeze, and by air dried droplets which float in the air.
• In this situation, it is important to wash your hands often and try not to touch too many things (in the scenario they wiped down the grocery cart handle with bleach before using it).
• The average man needs 1800 calories a day. A three month supply of food can be achieved by buying 20 pounds of rice (carbs), three gallons of canola oil (fats), and 100 6-ounce cans of tuna fish (protein). Also at the store you want to grab whatever other food you can (flour-based items and oatmeal are good), flashlights and batteries, duct tape, sheet plastic, garbage bags, and rain ponchos.
• Don't talk to people when you are out as this can expose you to the virus.
• In the hardware section, pick up N95 masks. These masks block 95% of particles and can be used when caring for the sick or going out in public.
• When people are in a panic, they will try to take what you have. The group was confronted in the store parking lot by two men who wanted their food. Each of the four took a side of the asset (their cart of food) to defend, while one pushed the cart. The others used empty carts to keep six feet between them and the looters. It was noted that these probably were not hardened criminals and if you resist and fight back, they will go away and look for easier targets.
• Note that you could be sheltered at your home for three months or until a vaccine for the virus is developed.
• Before you bring anything into the house (food, supplies, etc) leave it outside, in the back yard, in the sunlight for a couple of hours. The sunlight will kill any virus on the items.
• Wash your hands often with soap, including under the nails and between the fingers, for about 30 seconds. Don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth as this is the easiest way to introduce the virus into your system.
• Once inside, don't go out again or talk to anyone as this could cause you to become infected. In the scenario, one guy was talking to the neighbor outside so he needed to be quarantined in a sick room for up to six days to see if he had any symptoms of being ill. He will not be able to leave this room and infect others in the house until it is determined if he has or does not have the virus; this will take up to six days.
• To make a sick room/negative pressure isolation room, put a fan in the window pointing out. Cover doors and windows with plastic and duct tape. For the door to the room that people must come in and out of, hang plastic in layers which will help contain the virus.
• A couple of days later the guy was coughing, had a fever, and body aches. One person who was least likely to get sick (she did not have any chronic medical conditions and had had a flu shot which offers some immunity) was the only one assigned to care for him.
• She only went into the room to give the ill person water and food and offer ibuprofen to control pain. Each time she went into the room, she needed to wear long pants, a long sleeved shirt, shoes, a shower cap, a plastic poncho, a mask, and gloves to protect herself.
• In six weeks, three million people could die from the pandemic; after ten weeks, there could be 10 million dead.
• Only six companies in the world can make the vaccine and it can take from four to six months to develop, test, and produce a vaccine.
• Soon the guy in the isolation room died. Morgues, ice rinks, and refrigerated storage will be used to store the dead. Since the people did not want to risk infecting themselves by leaving their home, they wrapped the body in plastic and buried him six feet deep in the back yard as far away from the house as possible.
• Eventually the power went out, there was no garbage service, and all other service began to stop as more and more people who perform these services as their regular job became ill. At this point in the video I particularly like the "looters will be shot" and "neighborhood is patrolled" signs spray painted around the neighborhood.
• After three months the group needed more food. Since grocery stores were long ago emptied, they took information from the phone book of locations of restaurants and food distribution warehouses to check for food.
• Before they left to search for food, they made pepper spray from cayenne pepper mixed with rubbing alcohol and put in a small spray bottle.
• One person guarded the house while the rest of the team went in search of food.
• They used a long bar to pry the padlock off a warehouse door. To show you are not looting, it was suggested you leave a note with the items you took and contact information so you can settle up later.
• Leaving the warehouse the group was attacked by a dog. One guy ran (note, don't run from a dog, you won't outrun it) and was attacked by the dog. He wrapped a sweater around his arm to protect himself and sprayed the dog with the pepper spray.
• At this point there will not be any police force to protect you and there will be a lot of looting and violence by hungry, desperate people.
• If you are home, looters will assume you have supplies and may use deadly force to take it from you.
• The group reinforced their position from the outside in.
• Outside, wrap glasses in a shirt and smash them. Use the broken glass to put along all outside window ledges so that if someone tries to break in at night, they will cut themselves and probably make noise.
• In the house, cover the windows with black plastic so people can't see inside. Put heavy bookcases in front of the windows with plates on the case. If people try to break in, you will hear the plates falling (this will be your 'perimeter alarm').
• Reinforce the doors with wood (like a small door) wedged between the door and the stairs. This will make it hard to break down but easy for you to remove if you need to leave.
• Fill bags, pillow cases, and other things with dirt from the yard to improvise bullet-proofing. Stack the filled bags about midway down the staircase to make a bunker. This will be your defensive position if people try to come into your house. Stack the bags about four feet high and as thick as possible.
• The group was cooking dinner and heard some plates break which alerted them that people were trying to get into their house. They all got into their bunker where firearms had been stored. The looters were shooting at them and they listened to how many shots had been fired. After about 15 rounds had been fired, you can assume that the looters will need to stop and reload. This is your opportunity to shoot back. An armed, aggressive response will deter most looters.
• The pandemic flu will go in a wave. At the crest of the wave, the most people will be sick then the number of cases will decline as people recover from the flu and thus develop an immunity to it and as vaccines become available.

Again, as I always say, this is an excellent way to learn some survival skills from the comfort of your own home. Watch the video then plan accordingly for your own survival needs should this kind of situation ever happen to you.

Surviving Disaster: Avalanche

It took me a while to catch up with this episode of Surviving Disaster (apparently the show is available online for a week after original broadcast then taken down for a month then put up after the month is over). Here's the high points from the Surviving Disaster-Avalanche show which can be found here:

• Scenario: a group of friends head out to the mountains to go skiing and snowboarding in the out-of-bounds area.
• There are 500 winter resorts in North America which are visited by 60 million people annually.
• If you choose to ski in out-of-bounds areas always carry an avalanche beacon, probe, and snow shovel and ALWAYS tell someone where you intend to be skiing.
• In the winter back country there are a number of dangers including: white outs, blizzards, high temperature fluctuations, wildlife, and avalanche.
• If you find yourself in a white-out, stop immediately and gather your group together. Always stay together as a group because you have a better chance of survival this way. Don't try to travel during a white-out as you will become lost immediately.
• During a blizzard or white out, remember that rescue teams will not be able to be out looking for you until the weather improves.
• During the white-out, one of the group was injured because he boarded off the side of a cliff.
• First priority, check the victim's condition. Have the victim move his feet and squeeze your hands to check for spinal injuries. Don't move a person with neck or back injuries unless absolutely necessary.
• The victim had an open leg fracture. Normally don't try to realign an open fracture if there is the possibility of rescue soon. If you won't be rescued for a while you will need to try to realign the fracture to prevent the bone for drying out an infection from setting in. Stop the bleeding with direct pressure on a cloth put above the break--don't touch the exposed bone. Have people hold the victim down while one person slowly pulls the ankle in an effort to realign the bone. If you hit resistance, don't continue as this could sever nerves or an artery. Use ski poles and straps from backpacks to immobilize the leg by tying the leg above and below the break to the ski poles.
• Use a snowboard as a sled to transport the patient. Drag the patient head first on the sled down the hill. One person will lead the group looking for crevasses, two people will drag the patient by the sleeves of his jacket and a third will keep hold of the back of the sled with a rope to control speed
• Try to make it to the tree line as this will provide better shelter from the wind.
• Wind chill, cold temperatures, and wet clothes all increase the chance of hypothermia.
• Before nightfall you will need to find shelter. In this case the group didn't make it to the tree line and needed to build a snow cave. You will be 50 degrees warmer in a snow cave than out in the elements.
• To build a snow cave, look for a major accumulation of snow that is downwind. Dig an entrance hole up into the snow then shovel out the snow from the cave leaving a dome-shaped ceiling to prevent collapse. Use the snow you removed to create a sleep shelf above the entrance hole. Work fast but do not sweat when making the cave or you could become hypothermic. Rotate people working on the cave every two minutes.
• Once the cave is built, get everyone into the cave. Have everyone stay on the sleep shelf where the warm air will stay; cooler air will drop down and out the entrance hole.
• The injured person has the greatest risk of hypothermia as he is not moving. If he is shivering, that's good, if he isn't shivering, that's not good.
• Put the victim on the sleep shelf and elevate his leg on packs. Have him count backwards from 100 to check his mental acuity. Check his clothing, if they are wet remove them. If his clothes are dry, wrap his sleeves together to conserve heat. Try to feed him.
• Make the victim a "hot water bottle" by having someone urinate into a bottle then put the bottle next to his groin, armpit, or under his neck.
• Never give a hypothermic person alcohol as this exacerbates the problem.
• Keep the group attentive over night by giving each a job (one watch the patient, one keep entrance clear, etc) then switch jobs every hour.
• If the weather has improved by morning, the group will need to go for help. The chance of rescue decreases by 1/3 each day.
• Leave the slowest person behind with the patient and the rest of the group should go for help. It will take 10 times longer to find help if you are bringing along the injured person.
• It was noted that in a survival situation, you want to take the emotion out of your decisions in order to make wise choices. It was also noted that in most survival situations, you are responsible for yourself and often you can't wait for people to come and rescue you.
• The chance of avalanche is greater the first 24 to 48 hours after a heavy snowfall.
• Use the urine from the bottle to mark a circle around the cave, this will be a good signal for helicopter rescuers to see.
• When the group got to the treeline, they took off their skis and snowboards. Snowshoes are the best way to travel over deep snow. They made snowshoes by gathering branches and tying them onto their boots with bungee cords and ties; one bungee cord was wrapped around the back of the ankle and tied on to the ties that were holding the branches to their boots to keep the "snow shoe" in place.
• When the group was walking, they came upon an animal carcass. You can eat the brains and bone marrow for protein and use the fat to help start a fire.
• The group next came upon a bear. Grizzly bears have a round face and hump on its back, black bears have no hump and pointy ears. You can play dead if a grizzly bear attacks ansd it will leave you alone but not with a black bear which will "tear you apart out of curiosity". Never run from a bear or it will chase you. Try to act submissive with a grizzly bear, don't look it in the eye, and back away slowly from the bear as a group.
• One person ran from the bear, the bear chased him, he dropped to the ground and played dead, and the rest of the group scarred the bear away by making a lot of noise.
• To cross an open area, take off the snow shoes and put on skis/snowboards. Turn on your avalanche beacon, tighten backpacks, and zip your coat up to the top (if you are caught in an avalanche, you don't want cold snow inside your jacket).
• Note that open areas with steep grades and heavy snow are prime avalanche locations.
• The group should cross the open area one at a time. The person crossing should try to stay near trees and rock outcroppings while the rest of the group should watch him cross (this way they can see where to start searching for him if he is caught in an avalanche).
• You will hear a "whoof" sound when snow is adjusting or settling before an avalanche.
• If you see an avalanche coming, try to ski to the side of it, not in front of it. If you get caught in the avalanche, cup your hands over your nose and mouth to create an air pocket that will give you air to breathe while you are waiting for rescue.
• Once buried, more than 3/4 of avalanche victims die of suffocation. You have a 90% chance of survival if found within 15 minutes of of being buried in an avalanche. Most of the time, you cannot dig yourself out of an avalanche so you should relax and conserve oxygen if you can't free yourself.
• In this scenario, two people were buried by the avalanche. The rest of the group searched for them starting where they were last seen. The group used their avalanche beacon to search for the people who were buried by making a zigzag pattern through the avalanche field since beacons only have a range of 20 yards. Once the beacon caught the signal, follow the signal to the beacon location then use a probe to find the exact location of the buried person.
• Once the person is found, turn off their beacon so it won't interfere with finding the second person. Don't worry about the first person's injuries until the second person is found.
• The second beacon was found three feet down so the group went down the hill three feet and dug in to find the victim (this takes less effort than digging down). Unfortunately, the beacon was found attached to the backpack of the victim which was ripped off during the avalanche.
• Always wear your avalanche beacon on your person, not your gear!
• When you see a rescue helicopter, signal them until they see you.
• Set up a landing zone for the helicopter by clearing an area about 40' by 60'. Make sure the area is flat and has been cleared of large debris.
• Rescue dogs were used to find the other person. Dogs can find people buried in six to 13 feet of snow and are much better at searching large areas than people.
• Once the victims were loaded into the helicopter, directions were given to find the others who had been left behind.

This is good information for people who enjoy winter back country activities. I highly recommend watching the video.

Surviving Disaster: Earthquake

In the most recent episode of Surviving Disaster, earthquake survival was the topic. You can catch the episode here (which I highly recommend as my notes are just the high points, there is more to learn from from watching the entire video). Here's my notes from this episode:

• The scenario is an 8.0 earthquake along the New Madrid fault line in the Midwest. This is one of the most dangerous fault lines in the US. A major earthquake along this fault line would be felt in 20 states and kill thousands. Scientist say there is a 95% chance of a major earthquake along this fault line in the next 30 years.
• Earthquake survival is difficult to prepare for because they strike without warning, unlike a flood or hurricane in which you usually has advanced notice.
• Once you feel an earthquake, drop, cover, and hold. Don't stand in a doorway, along a wall, or run outside. Get under a heavy table or near a large piece of furniture and hang on to the thing you are bracing yourself against. If the table moves, you move with it.
• Being under or next to a heavy piece of furniture will help create a 'void space' if the ceiling or walls collapse, giving you enough space to survive in the void created between the furniture and the collapsed debris.
• When the shaking stops, wait for a minute to get your bearings. You will probably be disoriented, even in your own home. Cover your mouth and nose with a piece of fabric (clothing, towel) because there will be a lot of dust and debris in the air.
• Look for light and carefully move towards it to exit your home/building. Be careful moving debris out of your way as it could be supporting something that could fall on you. Don't try to force your way through anything load bearing. Listen for shifting as you move through the rubble.
• It was mentioned quite a few times throughout the video that during a major disaster like an earthquake, fire and law enforcement personnel will be overwhelmed and rescuing individuals will be very low on their priority list (plus you probably won't be able to call for help anyway as communications will be down). So you will be responsible for your own rescue.
• Aftershocks are a big concern after a major earthquake. Even smaller aftershocks can bring down buildings so you need to get out in an open area as quickly as possible.
• After you exit your home, make sure everyone is accounted for. If someone is missing, you will need to rescue them (see above about rescue help not coming for quite a while).
• Before beginning a rescue operation, shut off the gas at the outside meter (they used bricks to grip the knob as a wrench was not available) and turn off the electricity at the main breaker box.
• Fire is a major threat after an earthquake. The combination of live electrical wires and broken gas lines is a major cause of fire. On a side note, they said that more people died in fires after the San Francisco earthquake than from the quake itself.
• To search a house for any victims that didn't make it out: break into search teams of two people. Find something to write with (pen, mustard, paint, etc). The teams should search the house in opposite directions and meet in the middle. Move carefully and methodically around the house, keeping a clear path between you and the exit. Watch where you are walking so you don't get stuck in the debris.
• Listen for voices or tapping to help locate victims. It is better to tap if you are stuck than yell as it uses less energy.
• In each room that you go into, draw a diagonal line on the door (if you get stuck in the room, this will alert rescuers to your location).
• Search each room looking at all four walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Look into void spaces and under things.
• When you leave the room, make another diagonal line on the door to form an X. In the bottom section of the X place the number of victims found in the room (or "O" if you found no victims). This is reminiscent of the signs you saw on doors where houses were searched after Hurricane Katrina.
• As the teams were searching the house, they noticed a hot spot in a wall where a fire was starting. In a major disaster, the fire department will be overwhelmed so you should try to extinguish the fire if possible so it doesn't burn the house down and kill trapped survivors and so it doesn't grow and consume the entire neighborhood.
• Use something like a broom handle to break through the drywall that is on fire. Start breaking the wall about a foot above where the fire is coming through the wall. Be careful when you open the wall as fire could shoot out. Wrap a natural fabric around your hands (not synthetic fabric as it will melt onto you) and pull out pieces of drywall.
• If water isn't available, get it from the hot water tank. Turn off the valve that allows water into the hot water tank. Turn on a hot water faucet in the house to create pressure, then open the drain valve on the hot water tank and drain the water into buckets. Be careful, the water will be hot. Pour buckets of water on the fire until it is completely out.
• When you find a survivor, gather all search teams together for the rescue.
• Carefully remove debris from on top of the victim. Gather 2x4s from walls (again, not load bearing) and a car jack in order to create a cribbing and shoring system to lift up heavier walls and debris. Make a lever to lift the wall a bit then slide the jack under it (with 2x4s on both the top and bottom of the jack to distribute the weight). As you lift up the wall, place stacks of 2x4s under the wall to catch the weight of the wall should it fall.
• An untrained person should never rescue a trapped person if there are any other alternatives. In this case, there were no other alternatives. One rescue crawled under the fallen wall which was being lifted up with cribbing, shoring, and the jack. Another rescuer pulled the first rescuer by his feet after he got a hold of the victim.
• When the victim had been rescued, everyone left the house. It was noted that you should not re-enter a damaged building until it has been certified as stable by an engineer.
• You will probably need to camp outside for a few days after an earthquake. Pick a spot such as in a park that is away from buildings, trees, and anything else that can fall on you during an aftershock.
• As you are traveling away from your home, watch out for downed power lines, sinkholes, and landslides.
• In the scenario, there was an aftershock and one person from the group fell into a newly opened sinkhole that was about 20 feet deep.
• The group placed plywood from destroyed homes around the perimeter of the sinkhole so that it would distribute their weight and they could get a closer look into the hole. Cars were placed a distance from the sinkhole with their lights on to illuminate the area and a rear view mirror was used to reflect the light from the car into the sinkhole to view the victim.
• The group was warned that the sinkhole can expand rapidly so being right around a sink hole was a dangerous place to be.
• When looking at the victim in the hole, the leader ascertained the victim's condition--airway, breathing, back/neck injuries, other injuries. You should never move someone with serious back or neck injuries, instead go for help. If there does not seem to be back or neck injuries, you will want to rescue the person.
• The group picked up a swing set from the park to create an A-frame over the sinkhole. Garden hoses were used to tie down each leg of the swing and stabilize it by tying the legs to car bumpers. You want to use an A-frame for below ground rescues so you do not disturb the sides of the sinkhole which could cause it to collapse even more.
• Another hose was tied like a harness around the rescuer, the hose was tossed over the top of the A-frame and the rescuer was lowered in the hole. Three people lowered down the rescuer and one person acted as a 'spotter' to watch the situation and give orders to the rescuers.
• When the rescuer got to the bottom of the hole, he stabilized the victim's injured leg and put the victim into the hoist to be lifted out of the hole.
• When the person was out of the hole, her injured leg was stabilized with a couple of rods and belts placed above and below the break. It was noted that the rescuers should not try to realign the leg but should get the victim to medical treatment as soon as possible.
• People should not drive after an earthquake unless it is an emergency because there will be downed power lines, sinkholes, etc. In this case, getting the victim to medical care constituted an emergency so two people took the victim in a car to look for medical care.
• It was stated that locations of emergency triage centers and other services will be announced on local radio.
• When driving, avoid bridges, overpasses, underpasses, and freeway on/off ramps as these may be down or damaged.
• As the group was driving, there was another aftershock and live power lines fell on the car. Don't get out of the car when there are live power lines on or around it or you will be electrocuted. Stay in the car until help arrives. If someone comes by tell them to stay away from the area because if they touch the car, they will be electrocuted. You should, however, ask them to call for help for you.
• If help is not coming, you will need to get out of the car. Open the car door, toss a rubber floor mat about three feet from the vehicle, and jump from the car with both feet together and arms crossed landing on the car mat. If you fall back against the car or in any way touch the car you will be electrocuted.
• Once on the car mat, keep your feet together and shuffle away from the car. About 20' around the car could be electrified from the live lines. You don't want to move your arms or feet away from each other because it could create space for the electricity to arc.
• The person who jumped out of the car got into another car and used it to push the car with the victim and other rescuer away from the power lines and electrified area.

Another informative show that again, everyone should watch just so that they will have basic knowledge about what to do during this type of disaster.

Surviving Disaster: Nuclear Attack

This week's episode of Surviving Disaster was about how to survive a nuclear attack. I always find this series fascinating and informative and I think EVERYONE should watch these shows as they offer more basic, practical information about the things to think about during various types of disasters than you would get simply from reading about it. That said, even though you read this blog post, you should really head over to Spike TV online and actually watch these shows. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (and video is probably worth more than that). Here's what I learned from this week's show:

• This show follows two groups of people. The first group is located a mile from where the nuclear bomb detonates, about a mile from the city center. The second group is located about three miles from the area the bomb detonates, in the suburbs.
• The 10 kilo ton nuclear bomb is driven into the city in the back of a van. When it detonates, it will leave a crater about the size of 75 football fields.
• When the blast happens, turn away from the blast, don't look into the light, and get down on the ground, preferably in a ditch.
• If you are driving when the blast occurs, pull over, get out of the car, and get down on the ground, again, preferably in a ditch, and turn away from the blast.
• If you are near the blast area, as soon as you get on the ground, lay on your stomach, cross your legs. put your hands behind your head, and open your mouth so the pressure will not break your ear drums. At this point you will be waiting for the blast wave which will feel like a freight train roaring over you.
• If you are further from ground zero, get out of your car and position yourself against something heavy and thick like a concrete wall. Get low and tight against the wall and again, open your mouth so your ear drums won't be blown.
• The thermal pulse from the blast will cause a heatwave and a light that is like looking into the sun. Don't look at the light!
• Everything within a quarter mile of ground zero will be incinerated.
• Within a mile of the blast there will be fires and lethal debris falling.
• Cover any exposed flesh if possible to prevent radiation burns.
• After the blast wave, you will have 20 minutes to escape before nuclear fall out occurs and radioactive particles start falling to the ground.
• After the blast wave, stay down until the initial debris caused by the blast have stopped falling.
• Most injuries caused by this type of event are cuts, lacerations, burns, and broken bones.
• Cover cuts, burns, and lacerations if possible so that radiation will not enter your body at these sites and get into your blood stream.
• You will need to either find shelter quickly or be able to drive away from the fall out plume. It was pointed out here that with only 20 minutes to do this, you will probably have the leave the severely injured behind in order to protect yourself, which is really against our nature, however is necessary for survival.
• As soon as this type of blast occurs, satellites will pick this up and inform NORAD which will inform the Pentagon at which time specially trained teams will be dispatched to the scene.
• At this point it was clearly stated that in many of these types of disasters, law and EMS will be overwhelmed and they won't be able to come save you so plan to be on your own for a while. You are responsible for your life, the government isn't. The government will provide help but it will take time to get where the help is needed.
• If you are one mile from ground zero you won't have time to escape the area before the fallout begins so you will need to seek shelter immediately.
• When looking for shelter, stay away from walls which may crumble and watch out for sink holes, live wires on the ground, fires, etc.
• In the suburbs there will be less damage and the roads may be passable; you can drive away from the fallout if you act quickly.
• A nuclear explosion causes an electromagnetic pulse which toasts anything electronic (car electrical systems, computers, cell phones, airliners, TVs, etc) within a three mile radius.
• If you are in the suburbs and can drive away from the fallout zone, you will need to get a car. In this show, they had to steal a car.
• To find a car to steal in order to save your life, you will want to find one that wasn't in use during the blast as its electrical system may still be working.
• This is where you need to watch the video as they showed how to break a window to get into the car, hot to hot wire the car, how to use a jack handle to break the steering wheel lock, and how to get under the car to engage the transmission since without a key the gear shift lever will also be locked.
• Stealing a car and hot wiring a car are ILLEGAL which is probably why they showed basically how to do this but not in great verbal or video detail. It is a good idea to know how to do this, it is a bad idea to use this knowledge for anything but a life and death situation.
• To drive out of the path of the fallout, first find out which direction the wind is blowing. Look up on top of buildings at the flags to see which way the winds are blowing since the fallout plume will travel with the wind.
• The shortest path to drive out of the fallout zone is to drive perpendicular to the direction of the wind (ie: if the wind is blowing north, drive west or east).
• To treat flash blindness, cover the person's eyes with a scarf or towel for a while.
• When driving, put the air condition on recirc to prevent outside air from being circulated through your car.
• If you see fall out begin, you better be inside a building.
• An ideal building for sheltering is a concrete building with a basement. Wood frame houses and buildings only block 30% to 60% of the fallout, concrete is much better. Concrete basements with no windows can block out up to 90% of the radiation.
• Before going into the building use a pen or lipstick to write on the outside of the building how many survivors are inside, it will make it easier for rescuers to find you.
• Before going into the building, take off all outer layers of clothes that could have been contaminated. Then use water to rinse off exposed hair and skin (a rag or newspaper works best for this). One group changed out of their clothes and into janitors uniforms they found in a supply closet.
• Get a flashlight then find shelter in a basement that has no windows and thick walls.
• Use tape to cover around doors, windows, outlets, and any other place that air can come in (it won't be air tight but will block out most radioactive contamination).
• If the building you are in has no basement, climb as high as possible in the building; be sure to leave two floors above you to protect from fallout on the roof. Look for an inner office with no windows and reinforce the walls with desks, books, boxes, file cabinets, etc. in order to make thick "walls" to shelter behind. Make the walls a couple of inches taller than the tallest person in your group. Make an L-shaped entrance into the room from the doorway as gamma rays don't turn corners very well.
• Stay in your shelter and wait for rescue, don't go outside wandering around.
• Gather all of the food and water you can find and put it into your shelter room.
• In 24 hours, rescuers will be in the streets looking for survivors, in 48 hours, rescuers will be searching buildings for survivors. In 72 hours, government resources will be deployed.
• While in your shelter, you should stabilize broken bones, and keep clean bandages on wounds.
• Signs of radiation sickness include nausea, vomiting, and swelling. Try to keep a sterile environment if someone is sick from radiation but you will need to seek medical attention to treat such an illness. Radiation sickness is not transferred person to person.
• When you hear helicopters overhead, you will need to signal them so they can find you. One person from the group was sent to signal the helicopter. To leave the shelter you need to be covered completely. They used a towel with holes cut out for the eyes as a head shield. Over the eyes, they stapled a plastic covering. A rubber band around the neck was used to secure the head covering.
• For a signal, they opened a cold compress then put the contents into a small garbage can and added water. Newspaper is soaked in this solution then rolled up tight. On the roof, the newspaper was lit on fire as a smoke flare. The person who was signalling ran outside on the roof of the building (easier to see the signal from the air and ground), lit the smoke signal, then ran back inside. You want to be outside for as short a time as possible.
• When the guy came back from the roof they formed a decon line. Person number one had him to take off his clothes, person two washed him off with water, and person three gave him clean clothes.
• After three days, the fall out looses 90% of its potency. In this scenario, the group close to the city had to leave the shelter to seek medical treatment. They waited for a few days until the fallout stopped and were careful not to walk through piles of radioactive dust.

The show ended with the rescuers finding the suburban group and with the urban group walking out to find a medical tent. Overall, another great show and definitely worth watching!

Surviving Disaster: Mall Shooting

Again, I wasn't able to catch the broadcast of the latest Surviving Disaster episode, but thanks to the internet, I was able to watch the full episode here. Here's the scenario: terrorist have taken over a small town shopping mall. They have positioned themselves above the courtyard and are shooting everyone they see. Here's the high points of the episode:

• Malls, schools, and other places where people gather such as these are considered "soft targets" by terrorists. There are lots of people, mostly women and children, who are unarmed which makes for easy targets.
• Smaller rural or suburban malls also have little security and are a ways away from the nearest SWAT team.
• When the shooting starts, immediately get down and get behind something that can cover you (ie: stop a bullet).
• In many terrorist scenarios, the shooter's mission is to kill, there is no reasoning with them.
• You need to get out of the "kill zone" as quickly as possible. Spread out, don't play dead, and don't pile up with other people which makes for a large, neatly packaged target.
• People's stress response is to fight, flight, or freeze. Don't freeze, get moving.
• Use hand signals to communicate with others.
• After about ten seconds in the kill zone, you will usually have a chance to escape when they are reloading.
• Move from cover to cover to escape the kill zone. If you must cross an open area, wait for a lull in the firing.
• You may have a greater opportunity to escape if you go into a store since all stores in a mall are required to have a fire exit in the back. The nearest doors and other obvious escape routes may have been chained closed.
• Once in the store, head towards the back and find the exit to the hallway which runs behind the stores. Be sure to move pallets in front of the door to the store you just exited or create other quick obstacles.
• Note that fire escape doors may be chained closed to keep people in and the police out by the terrorists.
• Call 911 as soon as you are able to and provide as much description as possible: how many shooters, types of weapons, descriptions of the shooters, if they are wearing body armor, etc.
• Don't wait for mall security to come and save you; they are easily overwhelmed in these types of situations.
• If you can't leave through the fire escape, go back into the store and use the computer to print out maps of the mall from the mall's website.
• Take cover in the store until you have a plan of escape. A good escape route (in this scenario) is the freight elevator near the food court which leads down to the loading dock area. This is usually a large area that is difficult to contain and will probably be where SWAT enters.
• In the video, local police were first on the scene but were pushed back by IEDs that were set near the entrance.
• About ten minutes into the scenario, the terrorist have killed most of the people and are now entering the "cleaning phase" where they go from store to store searching for survivors to kill.
• At this point, the group was in the store and the power went out. This is usually police protocol to make it more difficult for the terrorists to move around the facility but it is good for survivors who can hide in the darkened stores ("if they can see you, they can kill you").
• Immediately find weapons such as scissors, box cutters, metal bars taken from display racks, etc. The group also found a camcorder which had zoom and night vision which can be used like a periscope to look around corners without exposing yourself.
• If you are trapped in a store with the gunman coming, you will need to ambush the shooter. Find weapons, outlined above, and a metal suitcase which you can fill with phone books which can be used as a shield.
• The group needs to work as a team to ambush the shooter. One person takes the suitcase and rushes the shooter in order to "pancake" him, while another team member uses a bar to swing low at him and another uses a metal bar to swing high at him. When the shooter is down, the fourth person bashes his head with whatever object will do the job.
• To ambush the shooter, the team gets into "ambush" position and waits until he is in the middle of the strike zone before springing on him. Ambush position is basically surrounding the person so there is no one target for him to aim at and no escape when the group converges on him.
• Once the shooter has been taken out, take his weapons, magazines, body armor, any information he is carrying, etc.
• Two of the group takes the weapons and magazines and also cuts the body armor at the shoulder straps (which will make two pieces of body armor to serve as chest shields) and they duct tape these to their bodies.
• At this point in the video, the group is given a quick lesson on AK 47 use including: keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot, keep the weapon pointed up until you are ready to use it, how to seat the magazine, how to position the stock into your shoulder before firing, and how to rack the weapon to remove any bullets that may jam.
• When heading towards your escape route, the group needs to move like a small military unit. Move single file, about a foot from the wall, with one person with a firearm covering 9-3 up and down in the front and one person covering 3 to 9 up and down in the back.
• The people in the middle of the line should help scan for shooters.
• Don't walk too close to the wall as bullets often ricochet and travel down walls.
• In this case, the group needed to move past a choke point (ie escalator) which was being guarded by a sniper. Their only option was to take the sniper out.
• Make a silencer for your firearm so as not to alert the rest of the terrorists to where you are and that you have a firearm. Duct tape a piece of clothing over the barrel of your firearm in order to silence your shot.
• At this point, the person who was going to take out the shooter (with a head shot since he was wearing body armor) was giving some basic shooting information--stock into shoulder, use a stationary object to stabilize the firearm that you are holding, get your sites on the target, breathe a couple of times then squeeze the trigger when you are at the bottom of your exhale.
• The group then ran up the stairs and, like with the previous gunman, they took his weapons, body armor, etc. They also taped down the transmit button on the gunman's radio to make a "hot mic" (this would make it so the terrorists could not communicate with each other).
• Next the group of terrorists figured out what was happening and went after the group of survivors. They divided into teams of an equal number and took turns covering each other with fire as each group moved from cover to cover towards their destination (ie: one group would shoot at the terrorists while the other group moved then the other group would shoot while the other group caught up with them).
• If you don't have much ammo, slow your rate of fire.
• One person was shot so they drug him into a store. Use a hand or shirt to provide direct pressure over the wound. A tampon was pressed into the wound to help stop the bleeding.
• A "drag line" was made with belts to help the team drag the injured guy. Loop a belt into the last hole then put it under one arm. Do the same thing with another belt and put it under the other arm. Put the third belt through the other two belts and fasten it. Use this to drag the injured person along the floor.
• The group then used tables in the food court to set up a defensive position. While some were firing, others found a garbage cart with wheels to put the injured person in. Another found a fire extinguisher and they used a belt to keep the extinguisher spraying thus creating a smoke screen to allow them to escape to the elevator with each person taking a corner of the garbage cart in a diamond formation.
• When the group got to the elevator, they kept their weapons trained on the elevator door in case more terrorists were coming up in the elevator.
• In the elevator they got down low and continued firing at the terrorists who were coming towards them until the doors closed.
• When the elevator was going down, they put all of their weapons on the floor because SWAT would more than likely be waiting when the doors opened and if they see people with weapons they will shoot, not knowing if they were the terrorists or not.
• When the elevator doors opened, the group kept their hands in the air and followed all instructions given by the SWAT team. The group is treated as terrorists until it can be ascertained that they are the victims.
• Do everything the SWAT team says, always keep your hands visible, don't make any sudden moves, and don't run towards the officers as this will be seen as an aggressive action.
• At the end of the video, the group gets caught in the cross fire between SWAT and the terrorists; they crawled (not stood up and ran) out of the danger zone and followed one of the SWAT officers to safety.

Another good show full of great information. While most people will never be caught in such a situation, and those that do may find the scenario unfolding differently, just having this type of basic information is a very good way to become more prepared since usually after an active shooter situation all you get are sound bites on the news, not facts and explanation on how to best survive such an event.

Since training and muscle memory and all of the other vital skills necessary to survive such a situation require more than just watching a video, consider other ways to train to respond to such an event, including paintball (it's not the same as getting shot at but you will become more adept at a number of useful skills such as reading your environment, identifying "enemies" who are hiding from you, traveling silently, etc), taking a firearms course or two, and participating in practical shooting leagues and events which will increase your firearms skills dramatically.

Surviving Disaster: Lost at Sea

Unfortunately I was not able to watch last Tuesday's 'Surviving Disaster' show, fortunately, full episodes of this show are available to watch online at www.spike.com/show/33200 which I did today. Here's some lessons learned from the "Lost at Sea" episode:

• There are 12 million watercraft in the US.
• Weather conditions can change in a moment when you are out to sea (the scenario is a group of people miles from shore on a deep sea fishing trip when the weather turns bad).
• If you are out to sea and the weather takes a turn for the worse, try to out-run the storm and head back to port.
• In a storm at sea, tie everything down and get everyone inside the cabin if possible.
• If you can't outrun the storm, ride straight into the storm and straight into the waves (don't let the waves hit on the side of the boat or it will capsize the vessel).
• When you are turning the boat to face the wave, time the turn so the wave doesn't hit you on the side of the boat.
• Throttle up to power over the wave but let off the throttle at the top of the wave.
• Conserve fuel; when you run out of fuel, you will be at the mercy of the waves and the boat will probably capsize.
• Call in a Mayday via VHF radio channel 16.
• When you call in a Mayday, say "Mayday" three times, the name of your vessel, the number of people on board, and your approximate location, followed again by the name of the boat.
• Have everyone get their life jackets on.
• Cinch everything down and batten down all windows and hatches.
• Each person should have a flashlight (they will be hard to find when the power goes out if this event is happening at night).
• When you are out of fuel and power, prep the life raft because the boat will probably capsize soon.
• You need to get off of the boat before it capsizes or else you will be drug down into the water with the boat.
• Gather everything that could be used to survive on the life raft (use plastic bags to haul stuff and be sure to close the bag with air in it so that it will float if it lands in the water).
• Stuff to take includes: first aid kit, sheets, blankets, water, food, mirror, flares, etc.
• Every vessel should have a life raft. Most life rafts will automatically inflate when they hit the water.
• In the scenario, one person was knocked unconscious before the group could escape the boat was it was about to capsize. The boat did capsize and the group needed to find an air pocket in which to breathe.
• If you are in a capsized boat, take off your life jacket and tie it to a rope. Send two swimmers with the rope out of the boat and to the life raft. The swimmers should tug the rope to let the others know the are at the life raft (and they should also put their life jackets back on).
• The rest of the group should follow the rope out being sure to close the unconscious persons nose and mouth so they won't inhale water.
• Put the unconscious person in the life raft first.
• Lash anything that is buoyant to the life raft to add buoyancy to the raft.
• Use the flashlight to look around the area and make sure everything that is useful is in or tied to the life raft.
• If it is raining during the storm use bags, buckets, and coolers to collect rain water for drinking.
• Keep the lantern protected from sea water.
• It's a good idea to have an emergency beacon on the life raft.
• Use a sea anchor to keep the life raft as close to the position you gave with the Mayday signal. The anchor will keep the life raft from drifting too far too fast.
• Control exposure by using sheets and blankets for a canopy over the people in the raft.
• If the raft will not hold all of the people, they need to take turns (30 minutes each to avoid hypothermia) floating in the water, hanging onto the raft.
• Keep the raft as dry as possible inside.
• Don't drink water for the first 24 hours. People can go three days without water so this is a way to conserve water and make it last longer.
• Don't try to paddle the raft unless you are near shore. Paddling in the open ocean is a waste of energy.
• Never drink sea water.
• Make a solar still to collect water. Take a bucket, get some clothing wet in the ocean and put the clothes in the bottom of the bucket. Put a cup or bowl on top of the clothes and run a tube from the cup out of the bucket. Cover the bucket with plastic and put something like a rock in the middle of the plastic to make a cone shape that points towards the cup. You should get a few ounces of water in a couple of hours and up to a pint in 24 hours through condensation.
• The will to live is the key to survival. Assume that the Coast Guard is looking for you if you sent out a Mayday.
• The raft may drift 50 miles per day.
• For food, try fishing. Use dental floss and a safety pin for a hook and line. They used bloody bandages from the injured person as bait.
• In this scenario, the person outside the boat was attacked by a shark. For shark bite, put the person in the raft and apply direct pressure to the wound.
• Blood in the water will bring more sharks.
• Because the raft won't hold all of the people, when there are sharks in the area, two people should be in the water, back to back, and with fins/mask/snorkel so that they can watch the entire area for sharks.
• Use sticks or other long sharp items to fight off the sharks; hit their eyes, nose, face, and gills where they are most sensitive. Remember you are fighting for your life and fight accordingly. Usually they will go away if you are too difficult a target.
• When sharks are present, trade off people quicker than every 30 minutes as fighting them off is hard work.
• When the helicopter finally finds you, you will probably hear it first. Each person should scan a sector looking up and down and left to right.
• When the helicopter is spotted, use a mirror, flares, or other device to signal the crew and don't stop until you are sure they see you.

Once again, a good show. While the show can't cover every possible scenario, there are a number of good lessons provided that you could realistically use in the event of this or another survival event.

Surviving Disaster: Home Invasion

This week's Surviving Disaster episode is about home invasion/kidnapping. Here's what I learned:

• There are 8,000 home invasions daily in North America. Targets are often selected at random.
• The odds of your family become the victim of a kidnapping/home invasion are increasing.

Burglary scenario:

• When you hear unexplained noise in your home, don't ignore it, you need to respond.
• When it comes to your safety, it is always better to over react.
• Call 911 first if you are going to confront an intruder. Use your home phone if possible so the address will show up on the dispatcher's screen.
• Wrap a pillow or jacket around your arm for a shield and bring something to attack the intruder with.
• If using a bat, you can jab with it but its hard to swing at someone with it in confined spaces.
• If more than one person is at home you need to confront the intruder as a team.
• Usually an intruder is a burglar, give him some money and he will probably go away. Try not to force the burglar into a more desperate situation.
• If the burglar grabs you and holds a knife to your throat; push the knife and elbow above your head and drop down giving the police a clear shot (the cops should be at your door by now because you called them earlier).

Planned Invasion scenario:

• If the phone line is cut and you hear a loud crash you are probably facing an intruder who has been stalking you.
• If you can escape, don't confront the intruders. If you can't run because there are people watching the outside, stay inside.
• With multiple armed intruders, cut off the power at the fuse box to distract them. Call 911 via cell if possible. If the cell is jammed you won't be able to call.
• Usually entry is made by the armed intruders in a way to shock and scare the home owners.
• Set up a defensive perimeter in the room. Try to have two people grab one intruder holding the gun away from the group and pressing on the carotid artery in a choke hold until the intruder passes out.
• With multiple armed intruders you may be overwhelmed and taken hostage.
• Experienced kidnappers will use brutal force and shock to gain control of the situation. In this situation, be passive and non-threatening, act weaker than you are.
• The basic planned kidnapping scenario is: stalking, entry, control, event, kill hostages, escape.
• In the control phase you will be held hostage until the kidnappers get what they came for. At this stage gather intel...names, plans, what do they want, etc.
• They may use the women and children they are holding to control the men. They may also separate people as a form of control.
• Zip ties are usually used to handcuff the victims. Put palms together, palms down, and flex your chest to keep the zip ties loose enough to escape from later.
• Try to figure out why you are being held hostage (ie: senior bank officials, or other high value targets are often what the intruders want (called human keys) as they can be used to access to banks or other targets).
• Usually high value targets are stalked for weeks to determine their habits and schedules (in other words, always pay attention to your surroundings, vary your routine, and watch for people who are watching you).
• Plan your escape. Ask to use the bathroom if possible, and find something to cut your way out of the zip ties.
• Loosen zip ties by using a shim to bypass the teeth on the zip ties. Once this works, tighten up the zip ties and hide the nail/razor/etc when you go back to the group.
• Plan: use car remote for diversion with panic button, take off zip ties, barricade yourself in the room you are in, then escape through the window. The floor will creak less if you walk by the wall. Even if your family is still held hostage if you must escape and call the police.
• Use a PLF--parachute landing fall (keep legs together, don't land straight down, arc like a banana, roll out of landing covering head) when jumping from the second floor.
• Don't let your guard down, a well organized crew may have counter surveillance outside.
• If your escape attempt fails, they will make an attempt to reassert their control usually through violence. Note, if they kill a hostage and they take off their masks, it is a good bet they don't plan to leave any witnesses.
• You must always keep your emotions in check and continue to plan your escape.
• The human key will be taken from the group while the other captives will be left at the house.
• Watch the kidnappers to see how they are communicating (ie: text messages every 15 minutes). Note that if a message is missed this may signal that the operation is complete or aborted. This may also be a signal for the kidnappers holding the people at the home to kill the hostages and cover their tracks.
• If you are the human key and you are tied up and put in the trunk in order to transport you to a second location, try to get free using sharp edges, the jack, or other item to cut yourself free from the duct tape.
• Rip out the wires attached to the brakes and tail lights to signal police.
• Most newer cars also have a car latch release (older car trunk latches can be released manually), when the car slows or stops, get out and run for help.
• If you are being pursued on foot, get rid of highly visible clothing (white, red), and run unpredictably to make yourself a difficult target to be shot at. Put time, distance, and a natural barrier between you at your pursuer. Run to a crowded area.
• If you are the human key and are being driven at gun point to another location and you are driving, drift towards other drivers or blow through a stop sign to attract attention.
• If the police stop your car, hand the officer the wrong an ATM card when asked for your license, act like you ave been drinking so the officer will ask you to step out of the car, you can then quickly tell the officer what happened.
• You may have to make a decision--either stall so the text message can be sent or alert the police in which case the message won't be sent and your friends may be killed.
• Back at the house, if the text message isn't received, the captive group will need to ambush and escape because they may have no other options.
• Make a friction saw with your shoe laces--looped over both boots and around the duct tape on your hands then pedal your feet back and forth to generate friction to cut through your bindings.
• Make an L shaped ambush, one will distract the person while the other attacks. Look for something that one person can use to distract the kidnapper (a fire extinguisher for example) and something that the person who will attack can use to hammer away at the kidnapper's head and eyes (a sharp shoe for example). You will need to incapacitate the kidnapper in order to make your escape.

Again, another good show full of useful tips. While each situation will be different, the more information you can gather (ie: by watching this show, reading, and practicing) the more likely you will be to have the skills and information to survive such a scenario.

Surviving Disaster: Hurricane

The Surviving Disaster show has caught my attention. This is one show that I make a point of watching each week, mostly because it is long on details and short on personal drama which I more or less detest in "reality" type shows. Here's what I learned about surviving a hurricane from tonight's show:

• Even if you don't live in a hurricane-prone area it is possible that you will vacation in such a spot so it's good to know how to survive a hurricane.
• If your area is under mandatory evacuation, get out. Don't try to stay and tough it out.
• Within many miles of the coast, you will be in storm surge area. The storm surge (a giant wall of water) always hits before the hurricane makes land fall.
• Take your BOB, rope, change of shoes, rain gear, food, water, flashlights, etc.
• Hopefully you will be evacuating in a four wheel drive vehicle.
• Most people die in hurricanes from drowning, often during the storm surge.
• Evacuation means get as far away from the coast as possible and to higher ground.
• Remember not to drive too fast when evacuating, the water on the roads can cause hydroplaning...let off the gas but don't stomp on the brakes or you will spin out.
• Beware of other crazy drivers who are also trying to evacuate. Panicked people can cause problems during the evacuations.
• Police and other first responders may not be on duty as they may be taking care of their families therefore there could be disorder and chaos.
• Listen to the radio to get updates on the direction the storm is traveling.
• If the roads are too jammed to use to evacuate, go off road.
• To go off road, gear down and speed up a bit. Remember, stopping takes a lot longer and you can't make tight turns.
• If the car ends up out of commission, you will need to evacuate on foot.
• Run to higher ground and find shelter before the storm surge hits.
• If you must cross a river to get to higher ground, use a zip line swift water crossing technique. Send the best swimmer across with the line to the other side and secure the line to a stump, etc. The line will be horizontal but heading downstream so the current can help carry you across. Use a truckers hitch knot to tighten up the line, you want it as tight as possible so it doesn't dunk you in the middle of the river. Put your belt over the line and double wrap it around your hands to zip down the line, face down stream during the crossing and keep your feet up.
• If someone falls in the river don't go in after them. You can use a branch or rope to try to get the person to shore.
• Once the hurricane makes landfall, seek shelter to avoid water and lethal debris.
• Move from cover to cover (ie: tree to tree) when looking for shelter. Hold your bag over your head to protect it from flying things. Keep low when you are running. Crawl on elbows and knees if you are in high winds and have no cover.
• If you are cut by flying debris and it hits an artery, keep direct pressure on and right above the wound. To stop the bleeding, use towels, t shirts, or gauze tightly over the wound. Knot a strip of fabric tightly around the cloth covering the wound. You can also put direct pressure on the artery that is feeding the wound. As a last resort, use a tourniquet above the wound. Don't take off the tourniquet until a doctor can take care of it (blood clots formed by the would could be allowed back into the artery causing stroke or heart attack).
• If you need to break into a shelter such as a locked home, use a hatchet like device to break the lock and a breaker bar to pry it open. You may also need to kick it open using a donkey kick with the back of your heel. Once inside, use the hatchet head under the door to keep the door closed.
• Stay away from windows that aren't boarded up.
• When the eye gets over you it will become calm. Use this time to fortify your position. Shut off the electricity and the gas. Put plywood or shutters over the exterior windows.
• The best place to be during a hurricane is a small room in the center of the house, at the lowest level of the house, that doesn't have windows. Barricade the door.
• Once the eye has passed, you will be hit with the eyewall--heavy wind, rains, and flooding.
• If the room you are in begins flooding, get to the highest level of the house, usually the attic (do this only as a last resort).
• In hurricanes, most people die from drowning, either from the storm surge during the hurricane or flooding afterwards.
• Use what you can (an ax is best but other items will work) to break through the roof where there is a weak spot (ie: where the plywood comes together at a seam, where there is water coming in, or where you see daylight). Watch out for nails when you come through the roof so you won't get injured.
• Just as many people die after a hurricane as during a hurricane.
• Watch out for displaced animals (dogs, alligators, snakes, etc).
• Your best bet is to stay on the roof, and out of flood waters.
• If you do jump in the water and an alligator gets you, grab the alligator's arm and twist as hard as you can so it will release its bite and you can swim away from it.
• To treat an alligator bite, dress the wound lightly, you don't want to pack the bacteria from the alligator's mouth in the wound.
• You need 1 gallon of buoyancy to float 8 pounds of weight. Pick up things that are floating to make a raft (doors, etc). Empty storage bins make good floats. Suitcases will work too. Use electrical cord stripped from the attic to tie things together to make the raft.
• The wider the raft is, the less likely it is to tip over.
• Get everyone on the raft and paddle through the water following any routes that you know (ie: follow the streets instead of going over trees).
• Your best bet is to get to a casualty collection point at a hospital, school, or other Red Cross shelter.

Overall, again a good show. Full of useful tips and other things I wouldn't have thought of (twist an alligators arm? I didn't even think of them as having arms!).

Surviving Disaster: Surviving a Building Fire

I like the show Surviving Disaster. Today's episode is about surviving a fire. Here's what I learned:

• Each year over 15,000 7+ story buildings catch fire causing death and injury.
• Treat every fire alarm like it's the real deal.
• Listen to designated building fire marshals who provide guidance during an evacuation.
• Use a cell phone to call 911, don't assume someone else has already called.
• Get your running shoes on if you have them (especially women who usually wear heels).
• Use an evacuation stairwell not glass and carpet stairs or elevators; these are reinforced and have a pressurized fan system.
• Close fire doors as you go through them.
• Don't create panic. Calmly exit via the evacuation stairs but don't run.
• Head down the stairs but if you hear an explosion below you or see fire, head up the stairs.
• Move as a unit through the crowd.
• Touch doors to see if they are hot, if so, keep climbing, If not, go in.
• If one stairwell is unusable, find the second evacuation stairwell. Look for the evacuation plan near the stairwell or elevator. Use your cell phone to take a picture of the floor plan to help you navigate through the building.
• Smoke kills. Get away from smoke as quickly as possible.
• Gather supplies: water, supplies to signal rescuers, stuff to help mark route (sharpie pens, post it notes), flashlights, and put the supplies in bags.
• Take off metal stuff (belt buckles, jewelry) that can burn you if they get hot.
• Use ties to cover your mouth and nose, cover up with clothing as much as possible.
• Organize your evacuation group--point man (look for problems), navigator (lead the group), communicator (text or call someone on the outside to tell them where you are), rear security (stick a post it direction of travel)
• Touch doors with the back of your hand to see if it is safe to go through (the back of the hand is more sensitive and you don't want to burn your palm--you will need your hands to carry stuff. Slowly open door to see if it is safe. Close the door behind you.
• If sprinkler heads are not working, try to activate them.
• Stop at the bathroom. Soak your clothes and hair with water. Get ties and cloth wet to cover nose and mouth. Fill up water bottles.
• Break through a wall to escape smoke and flame if necessary. Break through the wall with a chair or other heavy item (make sure you do this between the studs). Continue breaking through walls per your floor map that you took the picture of on your cell phone to get to your desired location.
• ~~This is where my cable cut out for about five minutes...right as they were breaking through the walls until the guy got burned in the flash over~~ I'll need to watch this part on Spike TV (www.spike.com) online which will air the full episode.
• If someone is burned check their airway, cut the fabric away from the wound, pour water on the wound to cool it off, put gauze between fingers and toes so they don't fuse together, then cover the wound with gauze.
• Leave the person behind while the group goes to escape the fire and seek help. Text the person's position to outside help.
• Use fire extinguishers to clear the way as you move through the fire along your route.
• If you can't exit through the stairwell, get to a window. Smash through the window in order to get to a lower level where you can be rescued.
• Make a rope with Ethernet cable (blue, red, and grey not black which is electrical cable) usually found under the floor). Twist six strands together which will hold 600 pounds. Knot the ends.
• Anchor the Ethernet cable rope to a desk. Anchor the desk in a doorway. Improvise a harness "Swiss seat" with twisted printer cables.
• Signal rescuers from your window. Tie a flashlight to a rope and spin the rope to make a large signal.
• Use the blotter from the desk as a chafe guard so the rope won't get frayed going over the window then lower the first person out the window. Other team members can do a one leg wrap of the rope to descend. There is a third "German" technique to rappel without a harness.
• To jump into a rescue airbag, jump into a sitting position and land this way in the bag.
• Tell someone you are out of the building such as the on scene commander so they won't go in looking for you.

That's it. Good show. Even though it doesn't cover every conceivable situation, it is excellent general information.

Surviving Disaster

Like usual, I have the TV on in the background while I am working and a show called "Surviving Disaster" just came on Spike TV. The show teaches you how to survive a variety of disasters. Today's show is on surviving a plane hijacking. Here's what I learned:

• pay attention at the airport for suspicious people (note they don't necessarily look like Arabs).
• check out your surroundings as you enter the plane.
• stay sober and alert when you fly.
• a crucial time for a hijacking is when the pilot is being handed his meal and the cockpit door is open.
• don't seem threatening to the hijackers (ie: making eye contact, talking to them, etc).
• you need to take action. Since 9/11 it has become clear that hijackers will probably crash the plane and kill everyone so taking the hijackers down is the course of action.
• hijackers may have a "sleeper" embedded with the passengers who will jump in to protect the hijackers when a lone individual tries to attack them.
• first priority, find out what their intentions are.
• coordinate an attack with people in your immediate area (in a not obvious way).
• communicate with simple hand gestures instead of vocally.
• gather items that can be used as a weapon (hot coffee, a pen or keys, laptop, etc).
• establish a diversion (ie: an alarm from your cell phone set from a few minutes later tossed forward from where you are sitting).
• work as a team to take down the hijackers.
• stay low and use the seats to block your from the attackers line of sight.
• attack using 150% effort, go for the throat.
• a "war cry" is an effective way to start the attack.
• make a shield out of a jacket or seat cushion to block blows from the hijacker's weapons.
• utilize prisoner handling techniques to constrain the hijackers that you have taken down.
• keep 100% control over the prisoners. Restrain them with belts, ties, etc. then hog tie them. Gag them, cover their eyes, and make them totally unable to communicate with their comrades.
• use cell phones to alert people to what is happening (media, Air Force, etc).
• you need to get control of the plane from the hijacker in the cockpit.
• if you ram the cockpit door with a very heavy cart you may be able to break into the cockpit.
• make a plan to get into the cockpit then take immediate control of the hijacker and assign one of your team to take control of the plane and pull it out of the dive that the hijacker probably put it into when he realized you were attempting to break into the cockpit.
• comment from the spouse about mid show: isn't this showing hijackers both how to ram their way into the cockpit and what to look for in a response from the passengers?
• after the hijacker is incapacitated take control of the plane.
• put on the headset and dial in 121.5 which is the emergency radio frequency to use to contact air traffic control and other pilots.
• establish that you are not a terrorist and provide information about your flight and the situation. Follow all directions from the controllers/fighters that have been scrambled to shoot down your plane so that they will know you are the good guys and not the terrorists.
• engage the autopilot.
• if the pilots are still alive try to revive them to help land the plane.
• use combat medical skills to care for the injured pilots.
• research how to treat a sucking chest wound (too much detail to explain here).
• focus and listen to everything you are being told by the pilot that ground control has found to help guide you to land the plane.
• have the flight attendants prepare the passengers for a crash landing.
• secure anything and everything that could injure people during a crash (baggage, laptops, etc).
• some airports have the technology to automatically land large aircraft but most don't.
• immediately get all passengers off of the aircraft after an emergency landing.

Summary: This show rocks. Two thumbs up. I could tolerate about one and a half shows of the Colony because most "survivor reality" shows make me want to gag due to the overacting of the participants in furious bids for more airtime. This is a very good "how to" show which skips all of the theatrics and gives point by point information about how to survive dangerous situations. Of course it can't cover every contingency but even an hour's worth of specific information about what could happen is quite valuable. I will definitely make it a priority to watch this show in the future which airs at 10pm on Tuesdays on Spike TV.