Disasters We Might Not Survive
* The most common killers
Let’s say that a crisis situation descends on your area,
whether it’s a natural disaster, an industrial disaster, a
financial disaster, or a conflict disaster.
Depending on the type, the disaster itself might not even
be the biggest killer. The aftermath can often do just as
much damage to an insufficiently prepared population.
Thirst is one of the major killers in nearly all disaster
scenarios. You can survive for three weeks without food,
but only three days without water.
Because the water supply is often one of the first things
to get affected in a catastrophe, it is incredibly
important to have access to clean water.
In addition, you should have several ways of filtering and
purifying unclean water.
Just like we often take water for granted today, we often
take protection against the elements for granted. But
insufficient protection against weather weakens and kills.
It is not just a matter of having the tools to stay warm
in the cold, or cool off in extreme heat.
Without staying dry and out of the wind, you’ll become
more susceptibile to cold weather.
Hygiene is another factor that we take for granted, but in
a survival scenario, poor hygiene leads to infections that
affect your overall survival odds.
Lastly, there is the human factor: violence.
As much as we would like to think that an emergency brings
out the best in us, our most compassionate selves, in
some people it unleashes the beast.
But, more so than making already ambiguously moral people
bad, disasters have a way of bringing out the
opportunists and givingrise to already violent tendencies.
Take Houston, Texas, for example: When the victims of
Hurricane Katrina were sheltered there, homicides went up
by 23%.
“But what about hunger?” you may ask. “I have all of these
food preps!”
Of course hunger kills. Hunger leaves you weak, as well
as open to viruses and bacteria. But you knew that! You’ve
prepped for it or you are prepping for it now.
Your family probably won’t be dying from hunger.
* Incorrect prepping
That said, when it comes to longer term disaster
situations, food availability does of course play an
important role.
Faced with a three-year disaster, you won’t survive if your
food preps expire in a year. And if all you have are beans
and rice, you may suffer from palate fatigue and fall prey
to illness.
Incorrect prepping kills. That said, it’s not usually
incorrect food prepping that is the most immediate killer.
The real problem arises when the entire family’s needs
aren’t fully considered.
For example, if you have young children their needs will
be different from yours, and if you don’t prep properly
for your pets, they may not make it.
This goes far beyond food and water and into other aspects
such as protection against the elements, first aid,
hygiene products, and more.
Bug-out scenarios are particularly precarious. Fleeing
home means that incorrect prepping becomes all the more
dangerous.
Failing to prep medications is a killer in a large number
of scenarios that most preppers would not even consider
disasters or emergencies.
Even a few days of being snowed in can become highly
dangerous if you don’t stock your medications and supply
is running low.
* Dependency
Dependency is the deadly cousin of incorrect prepping. In
particular, I am talking about dependency on people.
Let’s say that there is a bug-out scenario and you are far
away and unable to get to your family.
What would that mean for them if you are the only one who
is strong enough to carry the main bug-out bag with the
necessary supplies?
What would that mean for them if you are the only one who
knows how to use all of those survival supplies?
What if you have designed the entire bug-out plan around
your very specific survival skills?
Your family will be dead in the water without you.
There are some dependencies that you just have to accept,
of course. An infant will not carry on without you, nor
will a weak elderly or handicapped family member.
When it comes to certain dependants, such as certain types
of pets, you might even have to make the tough decision to
sacrifice them because of their dependency.
* Insufficient skills
Last, but certainly not least, your family simply might not
have the knowledge or capabilities to survive. When you are
the lead survivalist in the family, their insufficient
skills can lead to dependency.
But insufficient skills can apply to anyone and does not
necessarily mean that some family members are more
dependant than others.
Insufficient skills often boils down to not enough drills.
It is not enough to have the tools; you have to know how
to use them in a given emergency. That will give you the
ability AND the confidence to see it through.
Don’t forget about the little ones. A lot of smaller
children have routines that they are used to and will have
a massive meltdown when those routines are broken.
Your toddler won’t be able to learn to build a shelter,
but he should, for example, be able to fall asleep, to
eat, and to stay relatively quiet in an emergency
scenario.
I hope that was more eye-opening than terrifying, although
a little bit of fear is not necessarily a bad thing!
Warm regards,
Victor
https://survivalventure.com