Mother Nature's Lessons

[Survival Goddess]

Mother Nature Provides The Lessons For Prepping




As preppers we prepare for EMP's, economic collapse, and some even prepare for zombies but not too many give thoughts to natural disasters. Mother Nature can be just as deadly and unpredictable as the East Coast has been realizing over the last few months and these scenarios are played out over and over but yet many are caught unprepared.




A 5.8 magnitude earth quake rocked Virginia on Aug 23 and evacuated many locations in Washington and put 2 nuclear power plants offline. Hurricane Irene on Aug 29 killed 33 people, power outage to 4 million people, and caused 2 million to evacuate. Last weeks snow storm has claimed 15 lives with 2 million without power last week and as the writing of this post close to 200,000 were going on their 2nd week without power.












Don't say it can't happen where you live




I don't care where you live, it can happen to you. There is not a place in this country that is immuned to a natural disaster. It could be hurricane, flood, wildfire, tornado, snow storm, earthquake, or volcano (remember Mt. Saint Helens?)




I remember the great blizzard of 78 in Michigan. 55 people in Michigan alone died due to that storm. Many were without power for 3 weeks. Thank god my parents heated with wood, we had a huge pantry, and life really wasn't altered too much for us except for no tv etc. We had huge 55 gal drums and a creek running thru our property so we would fill these up to water the livestock and we heated over a fire outdoors to bath in. My father worked for the county and they had a generator so he would fill up containers of drinking water to bring home.




My challenge to you




The east coast has teaching lessons. Be prepared! This is the minimum you need to prepare for NOW!




*1 month food and water for each person in your family

You may think this is overwhelming but just work at it. How over wheming would it be if you are unprepared with nothing and your family is in jeopardy?




* Alternate heat source and 1 month supply for it

If you have a fireplace or wood stove have a 1 month supply cut and seasoned. If its kerosene again 1 month.




* Alternate cooking source

If you have a grill 1 month supply charcoal or gas. I strongly urge you to have a rocket stove. There are plenty of videos on to show you how to build one and I will be posting a DIY to make one.




*Bugout location with supplies

You may want to bug in but be prepared. There may be reasons that arise that you can not stay in your home. What's your plan B?




* 1 vehicle with a full tank of gas that can carry all the family along with bugout bags and some supplies

You may have to leave and you don't want a vehicle that can't carry the whole family or not have enough gas to get you to your bugout location.




Don't let this be overwhelming. Just work at it.




Be prepared, not sorry.

Survival Goddess (http://survivalgoddess.blogspot.com/)

[mollypup]

I agree that natural weather and geological events can be bad SHTF situations. Where I live the natural disaster I worry about the most are tornadoes. They've ripped through here before and caused a lot damage to a lot of homes. The power was off for several days while crews worked on getting the lines back up and power restored. Tornado season is luckily for us, during the warmer times of the year. But I do worry what to do about pets like tropical birds and fish that require warmth. Our last tropical fish died a while back and I haven't gotten another one simply because I don't need the extra worry about how to keep the water warm enough for it. But we have a parrot that needs warmth. I have a small oil-heater near her cage now for those cold nights, but I guess if the power goes off during winter someone will have to carry her inside our coats to keep her warm. It would be cruel to not keep her warm. We have a fireplace, but I was planning on doing what they do in South China and that is to wear lots of sweaters. The people in South China aren't allowed to heat their homes in winter though it still gets butt-chappin' cold. They layer lots of clothing and stay in the kitchen where the gas stove is. I haven't gone the 9 yards to buy a wood-burning stove, chop firewood (where will I find in the suburbs anyway?). I figure we'll wear wool, sleep under wool blankets, and use the fireplace if necessary. I have several cases of those fake logs that burn for several hours each just in case it gets real cold.

So, when bad natural events happen like you described above, it's not all about just keeping us, and the dogs and cats alive, but our exotic pets too. I really feel sorry for all the tropical birds people keep (I'll never get another one after this one dies), especially people who live in very cold northern climates. What are they going to do?

[JustAPrepper]

Back in 2004 we had four major hurricanes roll through the state within weeks of each other. I took direct hits from both Frances and Jeanne. During Frances I was without power for three full weeks. One week later Jeanne hit and I was without power for almost two weeks. It was no picnic but I was prepared.

[bacpacker]

We had some small tornados come thru here is April, I think killed 11 or 13 in this side of the state. That is pretty rare for around here, but goes to show me it can happen here.
When I was leading our EmComm group we had to run a disaster exercise at least once each year. A couple of those were based on flooding. One scenario was based on a earthquake causing multiple dam failures. The other scenario was a flood based on heavy snow pack in the mountians melting quickly due to rapidly rising temps and heavy rains. After doing some research with the national weather service, these are possible things that could happen in this area.
Floods, while not a long term issue, depending on the severity could well destroy the infastructure in a large area casuing a very severe short term SHTF event.

[Sniper-T]

Nature's done more to make me a prepper than any of the SHTF scenarios coming out of Zombieland. We do have blizzards and ice storms which shut down roads and knock out power at least a couple/few times a year. and when it is -40 outside, you don't want it to be -40 inside. Therefore I have a fireplace, and enough wood to burn day and night for 3 winters in stock. I'm going out on the weekend and cut another cord or two, so it can start seasoning.

Molly, there is tons of wood to be found in any city. Take a drive around to some industrial parks. Many businesses accept deliveries on pallets or skids, then just put them out to disappear. I regularly take truckloads home. typically I just use them for my outside firepit... but I cut some up to use for indoor kindling too. I know several people who completely heat their houses with scrap pallet wood.

[LUNCHBOX]

Mother Nature will probably cause most of our shtf scenarios but IMO prepping isn't about any one scenario, its about all of them. Its the same with our way of life, we prep not for any one scenario but for all of them.

[TEOTWAWKI13]

We had some small tornados come thru here is April, I think killed 11 or 13 in this side of the state. That is pretty rare for around here, but goes to show me it can happen here.
When I was leading our EmComm group we had to run a disaster exercise at least once each year. A couple of those were based on flooding. One scenario was based on a earthquake causing multiple dam failures. The other scenario was a flood based on heavy snow pack in the mountians melting quickly due to rapidly rising temps and heavy rains. After doing some research with the national weather service, these are possible things that could happen in this area.
Floods, while not a long term issue, depending on the severity could well destroy the infastructure in a large area casuing a very severe short term SHTF event.

Small??? They leveled a towns... :)
But just this morning, I heard a town in N Georgia experienced some tremors. Now I've lived in Georgia all my life, and now in Chattanooga the last 6 months, and I can count on one hand the number of earthquakes I've "experienced" in this neck of the woods. But they exist and they've been popping off a lot lately.

[Evolver]

It could be a simple as being out of work due layoff or injury that your preps will be a lifesaver for you and your family.

There isn't a much better feeling than being self reliant.

[bacpacker]

Tet you got here just in time. :)

East Tn has a record of earthquakes. Thing is I think the largest on record right in this area, say a 75-100 mile radius, is about a 4.5.

[Sniper-T]

Manitoba is one of the most geologically stable locations in the world.


Oddly enough, Manitoba experienced an Earthquake yesterday!!

:eek:

A tiny little 3.3 hit near Esterhazzy Saskatchewan, and was felt into Manitoba. Even though there is an OLD fault line in that area, they're attributing it to a local potash mine.

over 200 miles from me, even a big one wouldn't be an issue. but colour me surprised all the same!

[Patmark]

This is a great thread SG, and so very very true. I'm quite sure that everyone here is aware of the sorry state of our infrastructure here in this country, that has me quite concerned. I just don't think that it's going to take as big of a CME as people think to shut our power grid down, or take out every damn satelite flying around the Earth. If this were to happen I'm quite sure that it will set off a crisis that will escalate so fast that a whole lot of people are going to find themselves in dire straights.

I bet you guys over on the northern banks of the St. Lawrence remember 1989 quite well. That was the year if I'm remembering correctly that a very small CME turned the power off to Quebec and a very large part of upstate N.Y. for just around a month in the dead of winter. The reason this comes to mind is because my grandmother who was in her 70s was trying to keep warm with her pot belly stove up there where she lived in Massena N.Y. At that time, while it was during solar maximum, the particular part of the sun that produces the heaviest CME's wasn't even pointing toward the Earth. That's kind of a scary thought as it is pointing directly toward the Earth this time. Imagine the power going out along the entire east coast, and staying out for months.

I remember the hurricane season that Justa referred to in her post as well as that is the reason that I started prepping in the first place. I am less than 20 miles from the area that the first hurricane hit and it hit in July or August if I remember correctly and let me tell you it was friggin flying hot. At the time we were on a well so not only did we find ourselves without power we also had no water. We were totally unprepared and the only reason that we made it through those couple of weeks was because our neighbors had been through Hurricane Andrew and were prepared. They fed us, brought us water, taught us how to flush the toilets, and plugged us into their generator to keep our refrigerator and some fans running. That was when I vowed never to be caught unprepared like that again. Amazingly that year we were hit again in almost the exact spot a couple of months later, and then again in November or December. What a year that was, let me tell you.

I have learned that while having food on hand is very important the biggest mistake most people make in preparing for a natural disaster is not giving enough thought to water storage. A person can live quite awhile without food but only a week or less without enough water. The other problem is that when people get thirsty they will try to drink whatever they find and will end up killing themselves in the process. Once I realized this little fact I promptly started to prepare and store water. I know have enough water stored for everyone in my family for a month. It was easily treated and prepared for storage and cost me absolutely nothing. I gathered the jugs by simply cleaning and reusing all of the gallon water jugs that I have bought and used over the last few years and having friends and neighbors save and give me theirs instead of throwing them away. I never had to say a word about what I wanted them for and they were happy to set them aside for me. I now have 2 gallons for each person per day stored for drinking. Now that is just for drinking. I am fortunate enough to have a swimming pool here so that water can be used in an emergency for the other stuff like bathing, and toilet flushing Ect. The other thing that I have made it a point to learn how to do is to treat water and render if safe for human consumption. This is a skill that no one should be without. I will start a thread when I have a bit more time for those who have not yet taught themselves this vital skill. Most of what I have learned about it I learned from reading articles that I found by googling how to treat water for human consumption and then practicing the techniques using disgusting water from different sources right here in my back yard. Anyhow as usual I seem to have rambled off at the mouth/fingers again. :eek: Thank you for taking the time to create this thread SG, it's a great subject. I will talk to everyone soon, take care.

PM :cool: