 |
| Somewhere between being ready for three days alone, and being ready for seven years alone, is probably where most people should be. |
It is not really possible to prepare for survival objectives without first defining what you plan to do.
Is your objective to merely remain alive through a short term or longer term regional difficulty ?
Is your objective to remain comfortable with all your modern day creature comforts through an unanticipated disaster until the grocery stores open once again ? This is the objective of most preppers. They seek to maintain the modern lifestyle, to which they have become accustomed. They wish to maintain comfort throughout a short duration interruption of some type.
This is not really my objective. I have always approached preparedness with a different personal view.
Over the last thirty years my objective has been to remain alive throughout a variety of potential natural or man-made disasters for the purpose of rendering aid to my children, some of whom have medical issues. Because no man is an island, and because we all depend upon others in some manner or another, my objective has also been to render reasonable medical and other aid to people well known to us following such a disaster. Certainly, because my children have specific medical needs, and many of my neighbors do as well, I require more supplies than someone whose basic objective is solitary survival.
 |
| Anyone, licensed or not can gather plenty of 4x4 and 2x2 gauze and tape. Simple basic medical preparedness could well be the most important kind. Exotic supplies may not be necessary for most issues. |
I have shared my personal perspective because it is important when gathering preparedness supplies to carefully define in advance what you need. If you spend money on a vehicle which can evacuate six and you are a widow who owns a ferret, you may have misappropriated assets. Everyone's assets are limited, regardless of your present perception or misperception, as the case may be, of wealth. Money comes and money goes, much faster than we can hold on to it. Reversals in health alone can turn us from being wealthy to being a pauper within a year, and insurance often will not pay for the best care or for some of the best treatments deemed experimental at that particular juncture in time.
Stop gathering supplies for a moment, just long enough to truly assess your objectives. Are you in a small enough rental home that you could not stockpile and remain there anyway throughout a protracted emergency ? If you are, then perhaps the better objective would be collecting less, remaining mobile from that location, and saving for a home elsewhere.
People who are in a permanent home, one that is paid off have the luxury of gathering and layering preps. However, they are vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods and forest fires that could decimate that home and those preps. They might also make the mistake of heavily leaning on sheltering in place without giving adequate attention to planning for a family evacuation, especially with animals.
Those who are in a rental home might feel that they can't gather preps as they might wish, because ultimately they must move them. However, they may have the advantage in that they may be able to relocate and evacuate their family and possessions more easily than those who see themselves in a permanent base and have stocked accordingly. Each of us have an advantage of some kind with regard to our locations, our settings and our homes. Play to those strengths !
 |
| Make sure that both sheltering in place and family evacuation plans are made for your pets also. |
What are your objectives ? Under what circumstances would you shelter in place ?
What would it take for you, your family and pets evacuate prior to being told to do so ? Where would you go ? Before stocking up and spending a lot of money on preparedness supplies, vehicles, or anything else, consider these truths, and craft a personal plan. Your plan needs to be personalized and may not resemble the plan of your brother or your neighbor. Those with pets certainly won't have a plan which mirrors those without.
How long could you and your family shelter without obtaining supplies from other locations ? Remember that a journey of a thousand steps starts with one step, and then just a few more.
More information on this at:
Rational Preparedness: A Primer to Preparedness (The Book)
