The 4 Most Likely Ways You Can Die if the SHTF

The subject of survival in a long term disaster goes beyond having stockpiles of beans, bullets and band-aids. Those that do survive during a long term emergency will no doubt be tried and tested with a great many things. One of those trying scenarios is dealing with death.

Zombie attacks seem to be a prevalent theme for preppers to prepare for. In fact, the CDC has even posted a preparedness article on how to ward off zombie attacks. While I believe these zombies will likely take the form of substance abusers, mental patients, chronically ill or diseased, and desperate individuals whose basic needs have not been met, they will die out in the first few months of an onset of a major disaster, and there presence will rarely be an issue in a long term situation.

In reality, a majority of those that will die during a long-term disaster will be from illnesses brought on by acute respiratory infections due to cramped living conditions, poor water conditions (or lack of), or bacterial infections from wounds. If we survive a major disaster, America would become a third world country and the aftermath of such a scenario will be similar to those living in Africa, Ethiopia and India.

Illness Due to Poor Water Conditions

Typically, any diseases that are brought on by lack of sanitation and hygiene are controllable and preventable. In a disaster where water sources are compromised, people within a 50 mile radius could be adversely impacted by illness and disease if just one person incorrectly handles water or incorrectly disposes of waste. Contaminated water, poor sanitation and/or lack of hygiene leads to diseases such as Hepatitis A, viral gastroenteritis, cholera, Shigellosis, typhoid, Diphtheria and polio. If these diseases affect enough people, an epidemic will ensue.

Dehydration and diarrhea are also water-related matters to contend with. Those without adequate water conditions and/or are suffering from disease brought on by poor water conditions could quickly dehydrate. These types of illnesses typically affect at-risk populations such as children, the sick and the elderly. Young children in particular are at high risk for diarrhea and other food- and waterborne illnesses because of limited pre-existing immunity and behavioral factors such as frequent hand-to-mouth contact. The greatest risk to an infant with diarrhea and vomiting is dehydration. In addition, fever or increased ambient temperature increases fluid losses and speeds dehydration. Having knowledge beforehand on how to properly clean drinking water and food, and the symptomology and treatment of these types of diseases can prevent further outbreaks from occurring.

Recommended preparedness items: water filtration systems, water purification tablets, chlorine granules, bleach, electrolyte or rehydration powders, anti-diarrhea medicines.

Malnutrition

Malnutrition from either improper water conditions or from lack of nutrients is also a large killer amongst those in impoverished communities. Medical experts say there is a symbiotic relationship between malnutrition and diarrhea. Malnutrition increases the severity of diarrhea while diarrhea can cause malnutrition. Either way, prevention for both of these health issues is key.

Those that are malnourished are more susceptible to illness and disease. Individuals who are malnourished will also be vitamin deficient and their health is likely to regress further. Those who survive from malnutrition are permanently affected by this disease and may suffer from recurring sickness, faltering growth, poor brain development, increased tooth decay, reduced strength and work capacity, and increased chance of chronic diseases in adulthood. Adult women with this condition will give birth to underweight babies.

Recommended preparedness items: dietary supplements, vitamin powders, seeds for sprouting or seeds for fresh vegetables and fruits, survival bars, knowledge of alternative means to attain vitamins.

Acute Respiratory Infections

Upper respiratory infections (URI) will also be a leading cause of death in a long term disaster. Upper respiratory infections include: colds, flu, sore throat, coughs and bronchitis can usually be cured with additional liquids, rest and nourishment. Allowing the illness to exacerbate will lead to secondary infections such as bacterial pneumonia. The germs from pneumonia are easily spread from an infected person to others by coughing or sneezing or through close contact. A major concern about respiratory infections is that there are many drug resistant strands of viruses, bacteria and diseases (including tuberculosis), that regular medicine will not cure. In a long term disaster situation, many could perish.

To properly prepare for this type of medical situation, learn about the more prevalent viruses and bacteria in your country and how to prevent them in order to provide a healthy living environment in a long term situation.

Not only are URI’s a concern but other air-borne diseases such as tuberculosis will likely fester during a long term scenario. In regular non-SHTF times, treatment for tuberculosis requires 6-12 months of medication. In a long term emergency, chances of surviving tuberculosis are slim. The best way to prevent tuberculosis is adequate nutrition, vitamin D and living in a properly ventilated shelter.

Survival groups that have multiple people living under one roof will only increase the likelihood of passing air-borne infections and diseases to one another. In addition, those in an at-risk group (elderly, immuno-deficient, infants) are more likely to catch illnesses. If a survival group is sharing a home, an infirmary or sick room should be prepared for those who have fallen ill. Isolating the person who is ill will limit exposure to the other members of the group. Adequate nutrition, water, rest, good sanitary practices and ventilation of the home is essential in curbing this.

Recommended preparedness items: decongestants, expectorants, upper respiratory medicines, antibiotics (for secondary and bacterial infections), knowledge on medicinal herbs, prepare a sick room at your survival homestead.

Infections From Wounds

Open injuries have the potential for serious bacterial wound infections, including gas gangrene and tetanus, and these in turn may lead to long term disabilities, chronic wound or bone infection, and death. Anitibiotics will be few and far between and will be more precious than gold. Without proper medicines, antiseptic and knowledge on proper medical procedures, many will die of bacterial infections. Learning medical skills, gaining knowledge on natural medicines and alternative medical antiseptic (i.e., Dakin’s Solution) before a disaster occurs could help people survive from wound infections. Also, ensuring the area that you treat medical emergencies is clean and as sterile as possible may also prevent bacterial infections.

Recommended preparedness items: stock up on maxi pads for wound absorption, gauze, celox, antibiotics, suture needles and other basic first aid supplies.

Additionally, consider developing the following skills: basic first aid class, sign up for EMT classes in your community, an off-grid medical care class such as those offered by onPoint Tactical. Also, consider investing in books such as When There is No Doctor and When There is No Dentist.

Also look into making your own antiseptics utilizing alcohol distillation, such as the custom made units from LNL Protekt.

These illnesses (provided above) have impacted countries all over the world. These illness and conditions, coupled with unsanitary living conditions such as substandard sanitation, inadequate food and water supplies and poor hygiene, make disaster-affected people especially vulnerable to disease. These illnesses will affect us no matter what part of the world we live in, what socio-economic status we currently hold, and no matter how prepared we think we are.

Understanding what can happen and being prepared when it does is absolutely essential. The last thing we want to do when a serious condition arises is to panic. Preparing your supplies, developing your skills and educating the rest of your family and preparedness group on how to prevent, identify and counteract these serious conditions will provide a significant boost to your ability to survive if the worst happens.

Written by Tess Pennington

Tess Pennington is a guest contributor of the Texas Preppers Network. Thanks Tess.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Prepping and Preparedness - Life As We Know It

Our life as we know it is clearly being assaulted on a number of fronts until it seems that civilization is at the verge of collapse. Our own dependence on the trappings of what many consider a civilized society is our biggest enemy. Its effects on you and your family can be lessened or avoided with a decent amount of preparation ahead of time. On the other hand, you may have decided to let the institutions that control our civilized society take care of your problems. If so, you may be in for a rude awakening to the reality of our situation.

Let’s consider a variety of present day situations that can affect our lives.

1. While we are able to predict the occurrence of certain natural events to some extent, we do not have the ability to stop them from happening. Major flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters will continue to threaten our existence and without a proper amount of planning ahead of time will be an even greater threat to your survival. Our society is already crippled by an inability of our institutions to respond to these threats in an efficient manner. The strain which has been placed on our emergency services by these natural events has already been seen in recent events over the past few decades.

2. While we have one of the better systems of emergency services of any civilized society, it is increasingly burdened with a greater number of events and more people that need those services. As the population continues to increase and the severity of natural disasters, which also seems to be on the rise, increases, our emergency services which have been hindered by a lack of resources themselves due to a lack of adequate funding, mismanagement and an increase of government “red tape” will eventually be unable to keep up.

3. While our government institutions are largely responsible for a number of policies that affect our everyday lives, they are not the only ones responsible for our current situation. Many private institutions also have a role in these problems. Corporations driven by greed that are seeking ever larger profits continue to do so at the expense of those who have come to depend on their products and services without regards to the true cost of their actions.

4. As our population increases, there will be even greater demands on our food and energy resources. Shortages of food and fuel are already commonplace events in many parts of the world and we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking we are immune from those same shortages. The availability of these resources is continuing to decline and will eventually put us on a collision course with disaster.

5. We are also beginning to suffer the effects of an aging infrastructure that has been neglected to the point where we may not be able to fix the problem without drastic measures. This will only increase the cost of maintaining many of our basic services that are now taken for granted. Water supply systems, sewage systems, electrical power systems and many of our transportation systems (highways and bridges) are failing and very little if anything is being done to alleviate this problem and is being largely ignored until something actually does fail.

6. All of the above factors continue to place a severe strain on our economic situation as well. You also need to consider the effects of high unemployment rates, low wages and inflation rates that affect the cost of basic needs such as housing, food and fuel. Many of our basic institutions continue to ignore these problems and rely on government hand-outs to correct fiscally irresponsible business practices or rely on government printing presses to furnish the funds for reckless spending levels which are unsustainable.

It is this basic inability of our institutions, both public and private, to deal with these problems and situations in an appropriate manner that puts us in this rather precarious situation of needing to be prepared.

Be aware, Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Hacked!

After several years of having a posted email on my website, someone has decided to hack my account and send out unauthorized emails to persons on my contact list.

Apparently my email account has been hacked by some sort of social networking or messenger site. It's sending invites to people who I have sent emails to or received emails from at one time or another.

My apologies to everyone for this problem.

Please do not respond to these unsolicited emails. Mark them as spam or delete them.

I am working to solve this problem on my end.

Apparently this is affecting a lot of persons other than myself, including gmail users as well.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Secure it is.

My fellow Texans need to be aware of the escalation going on.

Pickdog

Short Term Emergency Check List

ESSENTIALS:

Flashlight

Battery-operated radio

2-way radio or other form of communication

Extra Batteries

First Aid Kit (one for your home and one for each car)

Note: As a precaution, do not include candles. Candles cause more fires after a disaster.

WATER:

3 gallons of water per person, minimum, in a food-grade, plastic container

Water purification tablets

Additional water for sanitation

FOOD:

Minimum 5-day supply of non-perishable food that requires no refrigeration or preparation and little or no water

Dry cereal

Peanut butter

Canned fruits

Canned vegetables

Canned juice

Ready-to-eat canned meats

Ready-to-eat soups (not concentrated)

Quick energy snacks

SANITATION:

Disinfectant

Household chlorine bleach

Soap, liquid detergent

Toilet paper, towelettes, paper towels

Personal hygiene items

Cloth towels (at least 3)

Feminine supplies

Plastic bucket with tight lid

Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation use)

CLOTHING:

Plastic garbage bags, ties

Sunglasses

Rain gear

Sturdy shoes or work boots

Blankets or sleeping bags

Complete change of clothing and footwear per person

TOOLS & SUPPLIES:

Whistle

Aluminum foil

Crowbar

Compass

Paper, pencil

Plastic sheeting

Medicine dropper

Needles, thread

Signal flare

Matches in a waterproof container

Assorted nails, wood screws

Pliers, screwdriver, hammer

Plastic storage containers

Heavy cotton or hemp rope

Cash, traveler’s checks, change

Map of the area

Non-electric can opener, utility knife

Cell phone with charger

Mess kits, or paper cups, plates and plastic utensils

Tape, duct tape and plumber’s tape or strap iron

Patch kit and can of seal-in-air for tires

Shut off wrench, to turn off household gas and water

FOR BABY:

Formula

Diapers

Bottles

Medication

Powdered milk

Baby food

PETS:

Food, water

Non-tippable food and water containers

Leash, harness, carrier

Records of vaccinations

Pet medications

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS:

Important telephone numbers

Record of bank account numbers

Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)

Inventory of household valuables

Copy of will, insurance policies, contracts, deeds, stock and bonds

Records of credit card account numbers and companies

Copy of passport, social security cards and immunization records

FAMILY MEDICAL NEEDS:

Insulin

Prescription drugs in original containers

Heart and high blood pressure needs

Denture needs

Extra eye glasses

Contact lenses and supplies

ADDITIONAL ITEMS:

Family photos

Jewelry

Irreplaceable personal items

Thanks to Tess Pennington at www.readynutrition.com for putting this short term emergency checklist together.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Hurricane Season Reminder

The best time to prepare for a hurricane is before it ever happens. With hurricane season officially starting on June 1st and running through November 30th, it’s a good idea to get prepared now. There are a number of precautions you can take beforehand to help you be better prepared to handle the threat of a possible hurricane in your area.

Make sure you are aware of the weather. Listen to your local radio or television frequently and stay informed about changing weather conditions. Then you can take a few simple steps ahead of time to protect and secure your property.

While permanent storm shutters offer better protection for windows, you can board up windows with 5/8 “ marine grade plywood that has been pre-cut to fit your windows so that it will be ready to install if necessary. Remember that tape will not keep windows from breaking.

Secure all outdoor furniture, trash cans or other objects that could become dangerous projectiles in high winds that normally occur during a hurricane. Check your trees for any limbs that could possibly damage your home should they suffer wind damage from a hurricane.

Water sources often become contaminated after a hurricane. Be prepared to have a supply of water for drinking, cooking and sanitary purposes such as cleaning and flushing toilets. Be ready to fill the bathtub or other large containers with water if necessary.

Have a plan ready if you are forced to evacuate. The best time to leave is before an evacuation order is initiated by local authorities. Leaving early is always the better option. If you are unable to evacuate, remember to follow a few safety precautions:

1. Stay inside during the hurricane. Most any type of loose object will become a dangerous projectile in the high winds associated with a hurricane.

2. Stay away from windows and glass doors during a hurricane.

3. Brace all exterior doors securely. Make sure all doors on your garage or storage buildings are also properly secured.

4. Don’t be fooled into thinking the storm is over if there is a lull. It may be only the eye of the hurricane and you could find yourself exposed to the forces of the hurricane as the eye passes.

5. Be prepared to take refuge in a small interior room or closet if necessary.

Don’t wait until a hurricane is knocking at your door to get ready.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker