back cover front cover · the entire city of boston was locked down when the authorities sought one...

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Table of Contents

The First 5 Minutes Of A Crisis ................................................ 3 Terrorist Lockdown .................................................................. 4 Winter Storm ............................................................................ 6 EMP Attack .............................................................................. 8 Volcano .................................................................................. 10 Blackout/Power Outage ......................................................... 11 Martial Law ............................................................................. 13 Riot, Flash Mob, or Demonstration ........................................ 15 Water Contamination ............................................................. 17 Tropical Storm/Hurricane ....................................................... 19 Tornado .................................................................................. 21 Severe Thunderstorm (Lightning, Hail, Wind) ........................ 23 Pandemic Disease Outbreak ................................................. 24 Financial Collapse .................................................................. 26 Nuclear Disaster .................................................................... 28 Earthquake ............................................................................. 30 Fire (Wilfire, House Fire) ........................................................ 31 Flood ...................................................................................... 33 Food Shortage (Supply Interruption) ...................................... 35 Chemical SPill (Train Or Nearby Plant) ................................. 36 Looting ................................................................................... 37 Forced Evacuation ................................................................. 39 Stranded (Vehicle Breakdown/Lost) ...................................... 40 Conclusion ............................................................................. 41

The First 5 Minutes Of A Crisis

If you’re like me, you worry. You worry about a LOT of things.

A lot of people out there worry about all the dangers we all seem to face in this world. Those problems, those threats, sometimes seem overwhelming... but there is some good news.

The good news is that you don’t have to be some kind of “doomsday prepper,” or spend a ton of time and money, to be prepared for ANY threat. The fact is, the first five minutes of any crisis is the most critical period of any emergency. That’s because the decisions you make during those first five minutes are what have the most effect on your chances of survival.

If you have the right gear, and you can read a book (this one), you have everything you need to be prepared for those first five minutes. That’s what this book will give you.

I’ve packed this little guide with a ton of “do this now” checklists that tell you EXACTLY what you should be doing during the first five minutes of any disaster. You don’t have to train like a prepper to survive each threat. You don’t have to go live in a faraway mountain survival retreat. You don’t have to let it affect your life much at all, really. You just need this guide, the checklists I’m going

to provide you with, and a high-level overview of the threats you’ll face.

All right, are you ready? Then let’s get started.

Terrorist Lockdown

What It Is — During a lockdown, the authorities take total control of the streets. Citizens must remain indoors wherever they happen to be. They can’t go out for milk or bread and the stores wouldn’t be open if they did. The populace in a lockdown is at the mercy of whatever the authorities dictate.

The entire city of Boston was locked down when the authorities sought one of the two Boston Marathon bombers. The suspect was believed to be heavily armed and very dangerous. Citizens were ordered to stay in their homes while militarized police with assault weapons and armored vehicles patrolled the city searching for the fugitive. There were reports of police pointing their weapons at civilians watching from windows. This was one of the most powerful examples of a terrorist lockdown ever to occur in the United States.

If you think it can’t happen to you, think again. Terrorist attacks are not a question of if, but a question of when. There have been major attacks in the United States before, and there will be another attack in your lifetime (and possibly several). Our enemies have made it very clear that they intend to visit as much destruction on us as they can, by whatever means necessary. If a terrorist attack occurs in your city, a lockdown is likely to occur, even if suspects are not at large, as the authorities attempt to reestablish order. Free movement is, for those

in charge, chaos. They lock down the area in an attempt to reduce variables and assert control. That control is area-wide. It is no guarantee of safety for your individual family.

If you are not prepared for a terrorist lockdown, you face three main threats:

1. The terrorist suspects could come to your home if it is not secured.

2. You could catch a stray bullet or be fired on mistakenly by the authorities

3. You could be caught without enough supplies and your family could go hungry or thirsty while the lockdown is under way.

What To Do In The First Five Minutes

• Lock your doors and secure your home, drawing all shades and window blinds.

• Stay away from the windows and do not silhouette yourself in them.

• Secure family members in the center of the house, where the most number of walls exists to absorb bullets (which will pass through at least one exterior and interior wall.

• Stay quiet so you can listen for the sounds of intrusion. Monitor the radio and the news to stay up on the latest developments until the lockdown passes.

• Check your property when the lockdown ends. (The Boston Bomber who caused the lockdown in that city was found hiding in a man’s boat in his back yard by the owner himself, after the lockdown was lifted.)

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a lockdown:

• Guns and ammo (because if you want to be armed in a crisis, you won’t be able to buy a gun or ammo to put in it when the lockdown happens)

• Long-term storable food and water • Batteries, Flashlights, and Lanterns • A portable AM/FM and/or emergency band radio • Install secure locks/quick release burglary bars on

doors and windows

What’s Coming — Either the lockdown will be lifted and life will return to some semblance of normalcy, or the lockdown will drag on (in which case what we’re dealing with is martial law). Living under martial law presents its own challenges.

Winter Storm

What It Is — A winter storm is a crippling weather event that dumps snow, ice, or just sheer cold on an area, making travel difficult or even life-threatening. A blizzard can snow you in to your home or your place of work, and a cold snap can make going outside very dangerous, especially for children and older people.

We usually live our lives as if we’re immune to the weather. We complain about winter storms and shoveling snow, but we never really think of the weather as something that can seriously interfere with our lives. That’s when accidents happen. Every winter, there are horror stories about people who get stranded in their cars. A couple of winters back, a man stranded in his car in a major snow storm near Buffalo, NY, died of exposure while waiting for help to arrive. In another horrifying scenario, a man left his family with their stranded car and struggled through the snow to get help. He never came back.

Winter storms are not just dangerous to travelers. An ice storm can knock out power and leave you helpless as your home continues to get colder. If your heating source depends on electricity, losing power during a blizzard or ice-storm can be life threatening even if you never leave your home.

If you’re not prepared for a winter storm, you could find yourself stranded and in danger of dying from exposure. If you are home when you get snowed in, you could still suffer or even die from the cold if you lose power and have no heat. If you don’t have enough to eat to sustain you for a few days, the storm will hit and leave you going hungry because you can’t go out to get more. (That’s why, before major snowstorms, the grocery stores always get cleaned out for milk, bread, and beer.)


• If you are safe indoors, assess the risk of travel and the likelihood you will get where you might want to go. If it’s too dangerous, STAY PUT.

• If you are trapped in your car, DO NOT run the engine when the tailpipe is covered in snow. You will die of carbon monoxide poisoning.

• If you are in your vehicle and stranded, DO NOT LEAVE THE CAR. Help will come eventually when the roadway is cleared. Stay with your vehicle to be found.

• If you are weathering the storm with someone, remember that shared body heat helps everyone. It’s better for two people to huddle under one blanket than for them to sit with two blankets separately.

• Section of a part of your vehicle or room with plastic sheeting or reflective emergency “space” blankets to create a smaller space needed to heat.

• Listen to the radio or the news, if you have power, and stay abreast of the breaking news so you can assess the status of the weather and the cleanup for the snow or ice.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a winter weather event:

• Blankets (Emergency “space blankets” are ideal) • Emergency food, water, boots, gloves, and (for

your car) flares • Hand warmers and fire-starting supplies • Flashlights and batteries (ice storms often cause

power outages) • Shovels (you would be surprised how many

people don’t have them!) • Emergency AM/FM radio

What’s Coming — It will take time to clear the snow and restore power and normal transportation. Ride out the storm and wait for these incremental steps. If you live on a side street, it’s going to take longer to clear that than if you live on a major highway or arterial. Remember that this is also true if you are stranded in your car. If you are

stuck on a major roadway, help will come to you a lot faster than if you are stuck on a side road.

In most cases, beating a snow storm is a simple matter of staying warm and staying fed and hydrated while waiting for the snow to storm to pass and the roads to be cleared. In most cases, this takes a few days at most, but in very serious events, it can take a week or more.

EMP Attack

What It Is — An electromagnetic pulse is caused by the detonation of a nuclear device at high altitude over the target area. An EMP can also be caused by a solar storm. The electromagnetic pulse generated by such an attack or event can destroy electrical power infrastructure and electronic devices, knocking out the power for hundreds of miles.

An EMP attack is not like one of those television shows or novels where all electricity everywhere stops working. Some electronic devices will be destroyed, but others will not. Power will be out in some areas but may remain on in others. Some experts say vehicles won’t be affected, while others say they could be. Small electronic devices not switched on and not connected to the power grid may not be affected.

It’s very likely that widespread power outages that take a long time to repair will result from an EMP. Many of the modern devices we take for granted, including Internet access, will be unavailable. The wireless phone network will almost certainly be rendered inoperable.

If you’re not prepared for an EMP attack, you could find yourself without access to electrical power or electrical devices in a world that is falling apart around you. The sudden loss of modern life as we know it is sure to generate riots, looting, and other societal problems.


• If you have advance warning that an EMP is coming, such as from a solar flare, unplug all your electronic devices (cell phones; tablets, etc.), and shield the ones you can by putting them inside a microwave oven, which is a good, quick substitute Faraday Cage.

• Make sure family and friends are located centrally where you can protect them. While you can, make arrangements to bring them home, because civil unrest is very unlikely.

• Lock your doors and secure your home. Be watchful for looters.

• Keep an eye out for fires. EMP may cause certain support infrastructure to collapse, causing small fires to develop that go unchecked and become bigger fires. During a widespread power grid outage, the danger of runaway fire is very real.

• If you have a functioning portable AM/FM radio, listen to the news and stay abreast of what is happening.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for an EMP attack:

• Batteries, flashlights, candles, and other power-outage items

• Faraday bags that insulate electronics from EMP • Backup electronic devices stored in Faraday bags • Firearms and ammo (for self-defense against

looting) • Cooking supplies that do not require electrical

power, including food, and storable water

What’s Coming — It will take time to restore electrical infrastructure and electric power after an EMP. During that time, martial law might be put into effect. Chaos may well reign on the streets. You must be prepared for an extended period of civil unrest during which you protect your home and your family from looters and other threats before order is restored.

Volcano

What It Is — A volcanic eruption is one in which a large volume of ash is ejected into the atmosphere from an active volcano. There may also be flows of lava in the nearby area, but in survival terms, it’s the ash that is the major threat.

In May of 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, creating a column of ash that was fifteen miles high and which came down across eleven different US states. Fifty-seven people were killed and billions of dollars of damage was done as the choking ash coated the countryside.

No doubt the residents living near Mount St. Helens never thought they would be subjected to a volcanic eruption, but these can and do happen. There are maybe 169 active volcanoes in the United States alone, although many of these are in Alaska (where there are eruptions almost every year). And those geysers in Yellowstone? They may indicate future eruptions. A volcanic blast could produce falling rocks the size of automobiles and hundreds of cubic miles of ash and pumice that will rain down on the countryside, laying waste to it, choking and clogging anyone caught underneath it.

If you’re not prepared for a volcanic eruption, you could find yourself choking and blind in a cloud of volcanic ash... or entombed in a vehicle that is coated in the stuff.


• If you have advance notice that an eruption is happening, get out of the area if you can do so safely.

• Take shelter from the blast. Close the windows of your home.

• Your car is not sufficient shelter. Get indoors if you can.

• If you see the ash cloud descending, tie a cloth or bandanna over your mouth and nose, and protect your eyes if you can.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a volcanic eruption:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Tarps • Emergency AM/FM radio • A shovel or entrenching tool • Goggles and face masks/respirators

What’s Coming — When Mount St. Helens erupted, the area directly affected by the blast was devastated. Be prepared for a long recover effort followed by considerable disaster-relief efforts to restore life to “normal” in those areas saturated by the ash.

Blackout/Power Outage

What It Is — A widespread blackout or power outage is just that: It is a loss of electrical power as the electrical grid fails over a large area.

Our power grid is held together with duct tape and hope. There have already been terrorist attacks on electrical substations in the United States. These have not made nearly the news they should have. But as we saw during the Northeast Blackout of 2003, it doesn’t have to be a terrorist attack that knocks out electrical power to huge portions of the United States.

In 2003, power was out for two days to a lot of the affected area, and it took nearly a week to get everybody’s power back on. The blackout has been blamed on a software issue at a control room in Ohio, which triggered a “race condition” that overwhelmed the power grid. A manageable local blackout instead became a massive, cascade failure of the grid across multiple states.

If you are not prepared for a power outage, you and your family could find yourself in the dark without support services and without adequate food or water. Worse, widespread civil unrest could develop during a sustained blackout, support services could become unavailable, and looting and wilding crimes could run rampant as law

enforcement and emergency services struggle to keep up with demand.


• Secure your home and make sure you and your family are safe. If some family members are not yet with you, make whatever arrangements you can to see them safely home.

• Lock your doors, hunker down, and prepare to wait out the blackout. Stay home and off the streets. Monitor conditions outside as best you can, but don’t expose yourself.

• Duct-tape your freezer and refrigerator shut in an attempt to keep them as insulated as possible while reminding you not to open them. Your freezer can keep food from spoiling for several hours during a blackout as long as you aren’t opening it and exposing it to warmer air.

• Fill your bathtub and other receptacles with clean drinking water. In an extended blackout, there will be no power to run water treatment, which means water may become unsafe to drink. You need as much drinking water on hand as possible if the blackout persists.

• Formulate a plan for what you will do for food, water, and light if the blackout persists.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a blackout or power outage:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, lanterns, and batteries • Emergency portable AM/FM radio • A means of boiling/treating water • Firearms and ammo (to fend off looters)

What’s Coming — The longer a blackout persists, the worse conditions outside will get. Civil unrest could devolve into martial law or, worse, complete chaos. In most cases, though, the blackout, and the dangers associated with it, will last for a couple of days before power is restored and life returns to normal.

Martial Law

What It Is — Martial law is the imposition of military authority to control an area. The rights of citizens are suspended and armed troops control the streets, often imposing curfews and otherwise constraining the movement of the populace.

There’s a lot of speculation about what martial law would actually look like. There’s really no clear-cut answer to it. There are 800,000 law enforcement officers in the United States. During an emergency, it’s not uncommon for law enforcement personnel to leave their posts in droves. They have families to protect too. To restore order, the government may well send in the military, who are trained to deal with all other forces as hostiles, not as citizens being served and protected.

In the United States, martial law usually indicates that control has been lost and someone in a political position of power is trying to do damage control and protect their career. What they then do is impose martial law and curfews until they can restore order. There are cases where this may even be the correct thing to do, from a practical standpoint. Martial law is the quickest way and the least painful way to get from a time of chaos to a time of order. Different martial laws scenarios are more or less intense, too. Locking down a city because of a terrorist attack, and imposing temporary martial law to quell a

race riot, are different things and will have different durations.

If you are not prepared to cope with martial law, you could find yourself on the wrong end of that “law,” herded into a government camp or otherwise detained. You could even end up shot dead by the very military that is supposed to be protecting you, because they can’t tell the difference between you and a rioter or terrorist.


• Get off the street. If you’re not home, go there. Lock your doors and secure your home, drawing all shades and window blinds.

• Stay away from the windows and do not silhouette yourself in them.

• Focusing on keeping the household quiet and still. You don’t want to attract attention. The authorities will focus on areas where their attention is needed most urgently.

• If you must go out, play the part of the “gray man” and be as unobtrusive and non-confrontational as possible.

• Avoid checkpoints and soldiers enforcing martial law at all costs, especially if a riot occurs. You can’t afford to get caught in a demonstration or be confused for one of the enemy.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for martial law:

• Guns and ammo, including “sacrifice guns” to turn over if the authorities come to confiscate personal arms

• Long-term storable food and water • Batteries, Flashlights, and Lanterns • A portable AM/FM and/or emergency band radio • Any supplies that will prevent you from having to

leave the house and take to the streets

What’s Coming — Either the martial law will be lifted and life will return to some semblance of normalcy, or it will drag on. Living under martial law for extended periods of time can be extremely challenging.

Riot, Flash Mob, or Demonstration

What It Is — A riot or flash mob is any group demonstration, protest, or act of violence that takes place as a mass of people. A riot represents the worst-case scenario for social order. When a group of people become violent, they engage in behavior they might never consider engaging in individually.

During rioting in England, one of the minor actors in the “Harry Potter” series was caught on video breaking the law as part of the mob. From all accounts, he simply got carried away. He’s a good example of how some people will lose their minds during a mass demonstration or riot, becoming criminals from within the safety of a crowd’s anonymity.

Any political protest or gathering has the potential to turn violent. Riots also break out during emergencies when the normal rule of law breaks down and emergency services/law enforcement personnel are overwhelmed with calls.

If you get caught up in a riot, you could be injured by the rioters. You could also be injured by the police or military responding to the riot, who have no way of knowing, when you’re in the crowd, that you’re not just another rioter. If you let yourself get drawn into the mob’s violence, you risk getting arrested during or after the riot, too, which can have long-term legal consequences.


• Get away from the mob. Move in the opposite direction. If you cannot immediately get out of the crowd, play along, chanting the same way the mob is chanting so they will think you are one of them.

• If you’re caught in the mob, move at a 45 degree angle to get out of the crowd, always working toward the edge of the crowd (never the middle). Avoid storefronts and never try to move directly against the flow of the crowd.

• Never move toward the police, who don’t know you’re not one of the rioters. You could get hit with a rubber bullet or worse.

• Avoid the urge to preemptively shield your face from tear gas unless it’s present. Masked protestors draw police attention quickly and are seen as willing agitators.

• Use buildings and other structures to shelter in. Consider dumpsters or other obstacles to separate yourself from the mob.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a riot or mob:

• Emergency food and water (so you don’t have to go out while a riot or civil unrest is ongoing)

• Emergency AM/FM radio (to monitor the news) • Gas mask (for tear gas)

• A nondescript hoodie (for concealing your identity)

What’s Coming — As long as you can get clear of the mob or the riot, things will eventually get back to normal relatively quickly (riots rarely go on for several days, although that can and does happen). As long as you avoid getting enmeshed in the mob or its behavior, you’ll be fine.

Water Contamination

What It Is — Water contamination can take many forms. For our purposes, it is any time the water coming out of your taps becomes unsafe to drink.

There have been several high-profile cases of water contamination recently. The EPA accidentally turned an entire river orange when they caused mining waste products to be released into the river. In Flint, Michigan, a series of bureaucratic missteps resulted in the piping infrastructure releasing dangerous lead contamination into the city’s water. There are studies claiming that the water supplies of many major metropolitan areas are dangerously unsafe.

If you aren’t prepared for a water contamination incident, you and your family could be left with no source of drinking water for an indefinite period of time.


• If you have advance warning that there will be a disruption in the water supply, fill your bathtub and any other containers on hand with water so you have as much drinkable water as possible.

• Determine the nature of the water contamination. Is it chemical, in which case your tap water is completely unsafe for use? Or is it biological (such as bacterial contamination), which means simply

boiling the water will make it safe? Determine what methods, if any, can be made to treat the water to render it safe for drinking.

• Make arrangements to purchase bottled water in quantity, even if you have to buy it online. Bottled water will quickly sell out, so if you’re not making arrangements to buy as much as you can in the first five minutes, you will be out of luck.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for contaminated water:

• Bottled water • A bathtub water storage container • Water treatment tablets • Water filters/straws • A means of boiling water

What’s Coming — Depending on the nature of the water contamination, the problem could be over quickly and the “boil water advisory lifted”... or the problem could persist for weeks, months, or years, as it probably will in Flint while they get their water crisis sorted out. Pay close attention to whether your water supply is safe to drink. Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt: drink bottled water instead of tap water.

Don’t forget that if a water problem persists for a long period of time, traveling to buy bottled water out of town

(where the supply has not yet sold out) may be an option. Lay in as large a supply as you can. Collecting rain water may be one way to supplement your stores.

Tropical Storm/Hurricane

What It Is — A tropical storm or hurricane is an ocean storm that moves inland, bringing floods, high tides, and powerful winds to shore.

One of the best modern-day examples of a storm wreaking havoc in the United States is “Superstorm Sandy.” This was the worst hurricane of the 2012 season. It did damage in 24 states and flooded parts of New Jersey and New York. The storm surge flooded New York city tunnels and subway lines, cutting power in the city. It did more than 70 billion dollars of damage in the US alone.

One of the most vivid pictures of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy were the poor souls desperate to get in contact with their friends and family. Their electronic devices worked, for the most part, but there was no power for days. People were clustering around extension cords set up in public, laden with extra adapters. Sales of heat-exchange and solar charging equipment skyrocketed.

If you’re not prepared for a hurricane, you or your family could be hurt or killed in the immediate storm surge, flooding, dangerous winds, and rains of the storm itself. You could also be left to suffer through an extended power outage in an area whose law enforcement and

emergency services are overburdened and overwhelmed.


• If you can evacuate the affected area before the storm, do so.

• If you are in your car, get off the street and get to shelter.

• Secure your family members and your pets inside your home.

• Stay away from windows. If possible, tape the windows with an “x” of duct tape to help make them less susceptible to shattering. Windows can also be braced with plastic sheeting or plywood, if you have it handy.

• If your home is located at a low point, take shelter on an upper floor. If your home starts to flood and there is nowhere for you to go, don’t go into an attic where you can be trapped. Even the roof is a better option to be saved

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a tropical storm or hurricane:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • LED strobe light to signal rescue responders • Tarps

• Emergency AM/FM radio • Duct tape • Plastic sheets • Plywood sheets (and hammer/nails) • A solar or heat-driven charger for electronics

What’s Coming — Depending on how bad the storm is, it could take weeks or even months for the damage to be repaired. Arguably, the New Orleans area never did recover from Hurricane Katrina. Be prepared to endure months of rebuilding. In the absolute worst-case scenario, you might even need to relocate permanently.

Tornado

What It Is — A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that makes contact with the Earth’s surface. The majority of tornados happen in the United States’ “Tornado Alley” region, but they also occur throughout North American and the world.

The worst tornado ever recorded happened in Indiana in 1925. It went on for 3.5 hours (a record) and left a record-breaking destructive path 219 miles long. In Bangladesh in 1989, 1,300 people were killed by a single tornado. 2011 holds the record for the most tornados ever spawned -- 363 in the southeastern United States, 218 of those in a single day.

If you’re not prepared for a tornado you or your family could be hurt or killed devastating column of the tornado’s destructive force. You could also be left to suffer through an extended power outage in a devastated area whose law enforcement and emergency services are overburdened and overwhelmed.


• Get immediately to shelter, preferably a storm shelter or basement.

• If you are in your car, get off the street and get to shelter. A car is absolutely no defense against a tornado.


• Stay away from windows. If possible, tape the windows with an “x” of duct tape to help make them less susceptible to shattering. Windows can also be braced with plastic sheeting or plywood, if you have it handy.

• Stay sheltered until the tornado passes. The lone exception is if the tornado is bearing down on your location, in which case it makes more sense to flee.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a tornado:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Tarps • Emergency AM/FM radio • Duct tape • Plastic sheets • Plywood sheets (and hammer/nails) • A solar or heat-driven charger for electronics

What’s Coming — Tornadoes are usually over quickly, but the swath of destruction they leave can devastate entire towns. Houses can be picked up and shattered. The tornado will leave some structures untouched and completely level others. Rebuilding, and returning to

normal, may take some time, during which you’ll have to live with reduced services.

Severe Thunderstorm (Lightning, Hail, Wind)

What It Is — Severe thunderstorms are weather events that include high winds, driving rain, lightning, and hail. In some cases, the hail can do significant damage to structures and vehicles. Severe thunderstorms may also be warning signs of developing tornados.

If you’re not prepared for a thunderstorm, you could be forced to endure a sustained power outage. You might also be at risk of electrocution from lightning strikes, or even property and personal injury from large hail. We tend to think of thunderstorms as no big deal, but they are actually quite deadly when conditions are just right.


• Get to shelter and monitor weather conditions closely. A tornado could develop in the wake of the thunderstorm and you’ll need to know about that as soon as possible.

• If you are in your car, the rubber of the tires may insulate you from lightning strikes, although the car itself is vulnerable to hail damage. It may due as shelter if you cannot get anywhere else.


• Stay away from windows. If possible, tape the windows with an “x” of duct tape to help make them less susceptible to shattering. Windows can

also be braced with plastic sheeting or plywood, if you have it handy.

• Be aware of the risk of electrocution from lightning strikes. Avoid using landlines, taking baths, or going outside while the lightning storm occurs.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a tornado:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Tarps • Emergency AM/FM radio • Duct tape • Plastic sheets • Plywood sheets (and hammer/nails) • A solar or heat-driven charger for electronics

What’s Coming — Storms of this type usually pass quickly, assuming a tornado does not develop. Hail damage to your car or home could take some time to repair and rebuild.

Pandemic Disease Outbreak

What It Is — A pandemic is any disease outbreak that is prevalent over an entire geographic area, such as a state, a nation, or the world. Pandemics don’t have to be deadly to cripple society, but typically they carry at least the threat of widespread death.

The recent Ebola scare was a great example of the potential of pandemic to destabilize society. None of the Americans who contracted Ebola on US soil died from it, but we were so terrified of the threat of Ebola there were Americans clamoring for martial law, rounding up affected citizens in camps, and closing the borders. Were we scared? Yeah, we were scared... and it could happen again. Ebola had never come to US soil until recently. Now, the speed with which human beings can travel all over the world guarantees that a pandemic will spread globally... and very quickly.

If you’re not prepared for pandemic, the worst could happen: You, or your family, could get sick. It’s as simple as that. Preparing to cope with a pandemic means preparing to avoid getting sick. If you contract the illness, chances are it’s already too late for you. Even if the disease won’t necessarily kill you, medical services and infrastructure will be so overloaded that you won’t be able to get the care you need. Our government knows that during a widespread, potentially deadly pandemic, “palliative care” will be the word of the day. That means

simply keeping patients as comfortable as possible while waiting for them to die.


• Go home and STAY THERE. The single best way to avoid a pandemic is to avoid other people. This is called “social distancing” and it works.

• Whatever you do, do NOT go to the hospital. The primary vector for transmission of any pandemic is the medical professionals treating it.

• Tell yourself that for the duration of the pandemic, you’re going to have to stay extra clean at all times. Good hygiene is a must to prevent unnecessary infections.

• If you have time to get to the store in the first few minutes of awareness of an outbreak, obtain as many medical supplies as you can. They’ll be sold out if you go back for them later.

• If you have to go outside at all, wear a mask.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a pandemic disease outbreak:

• Emergency food and water • Medical and First Aid supplies • Emergency AM/FM radio • Surgical mask/N95 respirator • Antibiotics and other medications

What’s Coming — The longer a pandemic persists, the worse things will get. We’ve not yet seen a pandemic as bad as the 1918 flu pandemic, but we could. Be prepared for things to get worse before the infection finally burns itself out. For extreme cases, it may be to your advantage to use plastic sheeting and duct tape, together with a filtered air evacuation system, to build a long-term “pandemic safety room.”

Financial Collapse

What It Is — A financial collapse is the complete failure of the monetary system we take for granted. It represents a fall-off in faith in the fiat currency our government prints.

We are printing money at such a rate, in fact, that a financial collapse is inevitable. Right now, the money in your wallet and in your electronic bank account is not backed by anything of value. It is backed by faith -- faith in the United States government. That is the nature of fiat currency, and our government continues to print money (backed by nothing) at an alarming rate. We’ve already teetered on the brink of collapse a few times, only for the government to delay the inevitable by raising our debt ceiling, printing more money (in the form of “quantitative easing”), and bailing out those private industries that are “too big to fail.” Government interference in the home loan industry already led to a cascade failure of our financial system once. It’s going to happen again, and it’s going to be worse. And then there’s the national debt. Sooner or later, it’s going to occur to us that we can’t afford to pay off the astronomical sum that is our national debt, and when we default, our currency will become worthless on the world stage.

When financial collapse occurs, the rule of law we take for granted will break down. Your ability to buy and sell goods and services may vanish overnight. You may be

out of a job or, worse, your employer may simply not be able to pay you, or anyone, anymore. A financial collapse represents nothing short of a complete “reboot” of our nation. Such reboots are notoriously chaotic and violent.

If you are not prepared for financial collapse, you may be stricken with poverty and left to starve and die. You might also fall victim to the predator class of your former neighbors, a class created by the collapse.


• Don’t go to the bank and withdraw all your money. If the banking system is collapsing, it’s worthless anyway. A run on the banks simply hastens the collapse.

• Secure your home and family members. A collapse may trigger civil unrest and you want to make sure everyone is safe and accounted for.

• Monitor the news closely to stay abreast of the state of the nation.

• Take a mental inventory of those items you possess that are of value and could be used for trade/barter.

• Watch for looters and other external threats. Remember that emergency services will not be available to help you in a collapse, as they will be overwhelmed.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a financial collapse:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Firearms and ammunition • Emergency AM/FM radio • Small-denomination silver coins (real silver dimes

are a great choice) for trade • Barter goods like alcohol and pornography

What’s Coming — A short "What To Expect Next" section that illustrates what they may see over the upcoming hours, days, and/or weeks so they can get their head around what they'll need to prepare for next? Without going into exactly "what" they need to do. That's what our other guides are for.

Nuclear Disaster

What It Is — A nuclear disaster could take the form of a nuclear weapon detonating on or over US soil, but it doesn’t have to be a weapon. It’s much more likely that a nuclear power plant disaster could occur. The disaster in Fukushima had devastating effects on the local area; even now, radioactive wild boars are running unchecked in the quarantine area, and the plant itself is still spilling contaminants into the ocean. There are nearly a hundred nuclear reactors in the United States, any of which could be susceptible to an accident or even a terror attack that releases radiation.

If you aren’t prepared for a nuclear disaster, you run the risk of being killed by the blast radius of the explosion (if there is one) or, much more likely, being made sick by radiation poisoning. The threat of nuclear disaster did not end with the cessation of the cold war with the Soviet Union. The threat of nuclear disaster is no less real today.


• Assess whether you should leave the area or remain where you are.

• Determine whether you and your family members should be taking KI tablets. These should not be taken unless there is a direct medical need to do so.

• Prepare your home to protect it from fallout. This involves using plastic sheeting, duct tape, and a HEPA-filtered vacuum pump. When fallout is coming, it isn’t unreasonable to think you could set up this sheeting to seal off your home in a few minutes. Your life, and the lives of your family, are on the line.

• Dig in and prepare to ride out the fallout. Monitor the news for updates, but don’t trust everything you hear. If you must go out, you must wear an N95 respirator and protective clothing. Anything that comes in contact with the radioactive fallout will have to be discarded before reentering your home.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a nuclear disaster:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets • Emergency AM/FM radio • Plastic sheeting, duct tape • HEPA filter and vacuum system for air exchange

What’s Coming — Fallout usually ends in a week or two, but the devastating environmental effects of a nuclear disaster will remain with the local area for years to come.

Surviving a nuclear disaster is just the first step in a long-term survival scenario that is anything but pleasant. It is, however, entirely possible. Nuclear disasters CAN be endured. They are not the world-ending catastrophes that 1980s disaster movies lead you to believe.

Earthquake

What It Is — An earthquake is a shift within the Earth’s crust that produces violent shaking the ground. If an earthquake is powerful enough, it can destroy buildings and other structures. Earthquakes also produce tsunamis, which produce devastating flooding and sudden surges of water.

If you’re not prepared to survive an earthquake, you could either be killed in the initial quake, or suffer through the resulting loss of infrastructure and services without adequate food, water, or electricity. An earthquake represents devastating property damage at first, but the long-term problems revolve around the loss of power, the strain on emergency services and law enforcement personnel, and the degradation of infrastructure that inevitably leads to social chaos, rioting, and looting.


• The safest place to be in an earthquake is an open field. Stay away from buildings or power lines. If you’re with other people, don’t stampede for the exits or you’ll make everything worse.

• Don’t stand in doorways. Avoid exterior walls. If you’re trapped inside during a quake, getting under a table to shelter you from falling debris is your best bet.

• If you’re driving, park the car, et out, and get away. Stay away from bridges and overpasses, trees, light posts, and anything else that could fall on you or your car.

• Always move to higher ground if possible. • Be aware of fire hazards, especially if gas lines

are ruptured. • After the quake, check for problems like electrical

shorts, structural cracks, or developing flames. Shut off gas and electric at the control box/main if necessary. Monitor the news for further information.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for an earthquake:

• Emergency food and water • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Emergency AM/FM radio • A shovel or entrenching tool • A gas turn-off tool

What’s Coming — A short "What To Expect Next" section that illustrates what they may see over the upcoming hours, days, and/or weeks so they can get their head around what they'll need to prepare for next? Without going into exactly "what" they need to do. That's what our other guides are for.

Fire (Wildfire, House Fire)

What It Is — A fire is a structural conflagration that could destroy your home... with you in it. Wildfires are fires that affect the surrounding area, too, endangering multiple dwellings.

The danger of fire is not just flame. Fires produce toxic gas that can overwhelm you and kill you even if you aren’t actively being burned. Many of the would-be heroes who rush into burning buildings to rescue pets, family members, or whomever end up dying, not because they were burned, but because they were overcome with the toxic fumes. A fire is not like in the movies, either. In real house fire, you won’t be able to see a thing from inside the dwelling. The smoke will make everything black and impenetrable.

Homes are destroyed by fire every day in the United States and around the world. The threat of fire is very real. If you are not prepared for the reality of a fire, either within your home or external to it, you run the risk of losing all your possessions in addition to your life. No responsible parent should fail to consider the possibility of a fire, as many of the victims of serious house fires are children who don’t make it out in time.


• Get down low and crawl on the floor if you are caught in a house fire. Toxic gas and smoke rises.

• Leave the house immediately and do not try to reenter.

• Test doors and doorknobs for heat before opening them.

• If you see smoke seeping in from under the door, select an alternate route.

• Stop, drop, and roll if your clothes catch fire. • The moment you are clear of the house, call 911.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a fire:

• Emergency food and water • Fire extinguisher • Emergency AM/FM radio • Goggles and face masks/respirators

Install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the house. Test them annually. Consider also setting a fire evacuation plan and practicing it with your family ahead of time.

What’s Coming — If your home survives the fire, things will get back to normal pretty quickly. If it doesn’t, it will take months, if not years, for your family to achieve some sense of the “normal” after all their possessions are destroyed. Follow the instructions of your insurance company and remind yourself that possessions can always be replaced, but people can’t. You may wish to get counseling for the trauma of the fire.

Flood

What It Is — A flood is any ingress of large amounts of water that swamps a local area, destroying infrastructure and endangering lives. The danger of a flood is that the waters rise so high that homes and other structures are swamped or submerged completely.

Massive flooding during Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans as well as parts of Mississippi and other areas. The resulting chaos and breakdown in social order produced damage that affects the area to this very day. There are many other examples of floods destroying property and endangering lives, too. In 2012, the worst hurricane of the season, Superstorm Sandy, flooded subway lines and cut off electrical power. Parts of New Jersey were also flooded.

If you’re not prepared for a flood, you or your family could be hurt or killed in the immediate surge and rise of water. You could also be left to suffer through an extended power outage in an area whose law enforcement and emergency services are overburdened and overwhelmed.


• Monitor weather radio and your surroundings to gauge how fast the water is rising and the threat it presents to you.

• Stay home unless your home is flooded and untenable. Do not drive unless absolutely necessary (it may be physically impossible to drive anyway).

• Avoid flooded areas and leave the area if possible when the flood warnings start.

• If you are in your car and water starts to rise around it, abandon your vehicle immediately and flee.

• Never ignore or circumvent flood barricades. Disaster almost always results.

• If you evacuate your home, shut off water, gas, and electrical services before locking up the home as securely as possible.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a flood:

• Emergency food and water • Water treatment supplies (this is especially

important) • Candles, flashlights, and batteries • Emergency AM/FM radio/NOAA Weather Radio • A solar or heat-driven charger for electronics

What’s Coming — Depending on how bad the flooding is, it could take weeks or even months for the damage to be repaired. Do not attempt to return until the authorities say it is safe to do so. If flooding has affected your home,

check for signs of damage, especially damage that could cause a wall or roof to collapse. Be aware that all manner of sewage, litter, and other invaders, including living creatures, might be borne on floodwaters and left behind in and around your home after a flood.

Food Shortage (Supply Interruption)

What It Is — A food shortage is a disruption in the food supply caused by a disruption of the supply lines themselves, or by a rise in food prices that makes buying food impossible for ordinary citizens. The danger of a food shortage is obvious: deprivation, vitamin deficiency, and ultimately starvation.

For some time now, food prices have been rising. We’re poised to see massive jumps in the price of food, and the demand for food is only growing stronger throughout the world. Some in the agricultural world wonder if we aren’t close to reaching peak food production with our current technology. Even if there’s plenty of food out there, civil unrest, a strike, a natural disaster, or some other issue could disrupt supply lines. The average grocery store will run out of food in just days if it is not resupplied by trucks bearing new goods for its shelves. That means that the average American, who tends to live more or less hand to mouth when it comes to groceries, is just a long weekend away from going hungry if the supply lines are disrupted.

If you are not prepared for a food shortage, you and your family will go hungry. It’s as simple as that.


• Take an inventory of the stored food, perishables, and other food items you have on hand.

• Set up a schedule of rationing your available food supplies to stretch them for as long as is feasible.

• Monitor the news for clues as to the duration of the disruption in the food supply lines

• Be prepared to secure and defend your food stores from looters and thieves.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a food shortage:

• Emergency food and water (long-term storage food is essential)

• The means to boil and treat drinking water • Hunting and supplies for securing small game • Gardening supplies/seeds for growing food

What’s Coming — A food shortage that lasts for a very long time will force you to find other ways to get food. You can scavenge and forage for it, of course, but you’ll come up with less and less success over time. You must be prepared to grow your own food and hunt for your own small game if you intend to survive a long-term food shortage.

Chemical Spill (Train Or Nearby Plant)

What It Is — A chemical spill or release involves the discharge of hazardous chemicals into the air or onto the ground of the local environment. Depending on the chemical released, the danger to human life can be extreme.

In 1984, a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, discharged a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals into the air. nearly eight thousand people died over the course of two weeks. Half a million people suffered permanently disabling injuries. The healthcare system was immediately overloaded. Mass funerals and cremations occurred. The chemical spill also killed thousands of animals, including goats and buffalos, which had to be collected an buried. Food and medical supplies became scarce. Fishing was banned, which made the shortages worse.

This is an extreme case, one of the worst on record. Chemical spills, however, can endanger anyone, anywhere. All it takes is a single tanker truck hauling something toxic to overturn and discharge the gas into the local area. If you’re not prepared for a chemical leak, you could be poisoned. You might also have to suffer through the deprivation of a local area devastated by a major chemical disaster, which will overburden emergency services and law enforcement.


• Evacuate immediately if this is feasible, especially if the authorities say you should. Flee the area if you are near the discharge point. Avoid that area at all costs.

• If you are fleeing the chemical spill, alert those you encounter that they should flee as well.

• Pay attention for local emergency management alerts. Monitor local news for updates regarding the spill.

• Assess the nature of the chemical spill based on the available information and proceed accordingly.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a chemical spill:

• Emergency food and water • Plastic sheeting, duct tape • HEPA filter and vacuum air exchange system • Goggles/face mask/N95 respirator

What’s Coming — If you’ve evacuated a chemical-spill-affected area, don’t expect to return until the authorities say it is safe. When you do, you may have to contend with the long-term environmental effects of whatever chemical was released.

Looting

What It Is — Looting is one of those things that happens whenever there is a breakdown in law and order. Whenever social chaos reigns, looting is never far behind. There are always people in society who take advantage of a crisis, a natural disaster, or some other tragedy to start looking for “free stuff.”

Looting usually occurs because an emergency or social chaos condition has left law enforcement overburdened and unable to respond to individual acts of theft. Then, too, the mob mentality that usually holds sway when looting happens tends to embolden individual thieves. They will walk off with things they would never think of stealing by themselves, because hey, everybody’s doing it.

The danger of looting is that you could be caught up in it (and later arrested) or that you could come into conflict with looters and end up beaten to death (or worse). Most of us value law and order, and the temptation to confront looters is strong. You might also have to defend your home or your shop from looters, as was the case when Korean shop owners took to the rooftops of their stores with rifles during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

Worse still, you have no control over where looting will occur. Looting could break out literally anywhere if some emergency condition precedes it and law enforcement is

preoccupied. Even if law enforcement is on the job, a sudden riot can break out and cause people to start looting simply because they are part of a mob.


• Don’t give in to anger. You can’t afford to confront a mob of looters, no matter how much the chaos bothers you.

• Do your best to blend in among the looters. They will ignore you if they think you are one of them. Shake your fist and shout the same slogans they are shouting. Make your expression one of happiness or excitement. Match the people doing the looting.

• Flee the area where the looting is occurred as long as you can sneak away unnoticed.

• Take shelter, preferably at home, and stay there until the looting, and the emergency, has passed.

• Avoid the streets at night at all costs. It is at night when looters and rioters are boldest.

• Prepare yourself mentally to fight back viciously if set upon by a group of looters. You’ll be fighting for your life.

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for looting:

• Emergency food and water (so you don’t have to go out while a riot or civil unrest is ongoing)

• Emergency AM/FM radio (to monitor the news) • Gas mask (for tear gas) • A nondescript hoodie (for concealing your identity)

What’s Coming — In the aftermath of looting, don’t be surprised if individual looters are arrested an brought to justice once order is restored. The good news is that looting typically stops once the original emergency, whatever it was, has come to an end. Looting is one of those crimes of opportunity that accompanies an emergency but seldom persists beyond it.

Forced Evacuation

What It Is — A forced evacuation is any government mandated flight from your home or survival retreat. It happens because the government dictates that everyone in the area must leave. This is most often done because a natural disaster is approaching.

One of the biggest criticisms of government response to Hurricane Katrina is that many people stayed behind when they should have left ahead of the storm. Buses that could have been used to evacuate citizens were left to be flooded, rather than used to facilitate evacuation. Those left behind suffered in deplorable conditions, such as at the Superdome, where they were treated like animals by the very people who were supposed to be helping them.

A forced evacuation is one in which the government is determined not to repeat that same mistake. Anyone found in the affected area will be forced to go. If you are not prepared for such a forced evacuation, you could be caught far from home with no supplies, none of your personal and essential government documents, and nothing to do but live at the mercy of a government that does not have your best interests at heart. Your government wants to restore order in a crisis. The individual safety of you and your family is not of concern to the authorities.


• Gather your pre-prepared kits of documents and bug out items, which are essentially to your response to an evacuation

• Designate “travel buddies” for every member of your family or party

• Take a verbal inventory of everything you have with you so that all involved can hear (you’ll only have one opportunity to inventory your belongings in a forced evacuation

• Follow the authorities’ instructions

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a forced evacuation:

• Prepare a kit with your birth certificates, medical records, insurance, titles, deeds, and other government documentation, which you’ll want to have access to if you are evacuated

• Flash drive containing scans of the same documents and any other information you want to carry with you

• Portable emergency AM/FM radio • Bug out bag for extended travel away from home

What’s Coming — The results of a forced evacuation are hard to judge. Every situation will be different.

Stranded (Vehicle Breakdown/Lost)

What It Is — A stranded vehicle leaves you and your passengers stuck in a location where help is not readily available. The danger of being stranded is that you may not have any of the supplies you need to survive in a location you did not intend to visit in the first place.

People get stranded every day. Most of the time, you’re just flagged trucker away from getting help from a cop along the highway. But if you’ve ever been stranded in the middle of nowhere, on a back road somewhere or even farther out in the wilderness, you could be very far from help. The danger is amplified if the weather is poor and exposure becomes a real threat. Either way, being stranded means being stuck somewhere without the supplies you need. You may not even be dressed for the weather because you were counting on your car to keep you warm and dry.


• Stay with the vehicle, where you have the best chance of being discovered

• Deploy flares or cones from your car emergency kit

• Call for help if you can • If you are stranded along a busy highway, do not

get out of your vehicle (you could be struck and killed by a passing car or truck)

Suggested Supplies & Preps — Consider stockpiling the following items to be better prepared for a stranded vehicle or breakdown:

• Emergency food and water • Car kit with emergency flares, blankets • Spare “burner” prepaid cell phone • A shovel or entrenching tool • Gloves, hat, boots, and an extra coat • Scarf or bandanna (for protecting your head/face) • Spare sunglasses

What’s Coming — When you’re stranded, your job is to wait until help arrives. It may be necessary, however, for you to judge whether help is ever going to come to the location where you find yourself. It may be necessary for you to walk out simply because you’ll have to wait too long to be found. That’s a potentially deadly decision, as people often die when they leave their cars. Make leaving your vehicle a last resort.

Consider also joining a roadside assistance club, like AAA, so you always know who to all if you are stranded.

Conclusion

The information in this book doesn’t take a committed prepper to accomplish. You don’t have to spend a fortune. You don’t have to give up your normal life and live like a hermit. You can be prepared for any crisis simply by reading this book -- and by having the right gear on hand.

I’ve set up an entire organization devoted to helping you accomplish that. If you’ll give me the chance, I’ll provide you with the tools and the knowledge that you need to protect yourself and your family from any threat.

As always, train hard, stay safe... and prepare now.

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