5 Ways to Keep Your Friends Alive During a Disaster
8:15 PM
Type “Zombie Apocalypse” into Google and I guarantee you
will find at least ten recent articles about how to prepare for the end of
times. You’ll run across posts encouraging you to stockpile food or convince
you that this event is in fact scientifically possible for a parasite to cause
humans to start eating flesh. While I can binge watch The Walking Dead with the
best of them, I understand that seeing a disaster like that in my lifetime is highly
unlikely.
However, it is very possible that Missouri, will experience
another ice storm like 2007 or suffer the crippling effects of a tornado like
in 2011. Now, being a part of this young community, I find myself worrying
about how to prepare my friends to take care of each other in the event of a
natural disaster. After all, there is strength in numbers and you can’t play
Settlers of Catan by yourself.
What follows is a list of things needed in order for a small
community of people to survive any realistic disaster for about a week. Everything
in the list below is useful and affordable, and all of the frivolous stuff that
has no use – except to impress your friends, of course – has been excluded:
Shelter-
You can do all the prep work you want, but if a tornado rips through your house without a safe place to hide out, the last thought in your head as you go flying through the air will be “Man, I wasted a lot of time and money on canned corn.” The best shelter is underground surrounded by concrete with something overhead that won’t get ripped off. A tornado shelter that fits two people can cost around $3,000 dollars, but one big enough for ten is not worth the investment. It would be better to make sure someone spends a little extra money and build a concrete basement with a windowless room.
Generator and Gas-
The one predictable side effect of most natural disasters is knocking out the power grid in a city. The first thing that people do when the lights go out is run to a big box store and buy a worthless generator for three times the sticker price. The second thing they do is buy gas to run it – until there isn’t any gas left for the rest of the town. Buying a nice generator for a single house for everyone to stay in will save you a lot of money in a disaster, but a generator is useless without a gas supply to run it. Fifteen gallons will keep the generator running for about a week. It needs to be stored in a plastic container that is air tight and has a siphon/pump already attached. Gas will go bad after about six months, so it is important change it out with a fresh supply twice a year. You can use the leftover gas to power your car.
Medical Kit-
All the medical kit needs is gauss and bandages. If someone is hurt badly, the only thing you can do is to try to slow the bleeding, while you rush them to the hospital… if it is still standing. All the other typical junk in a medical kit is pretty much useless in an emergency. If you have a friend in the medical field, I recommend adding a couple of extra goodies that they can track down for you and demonstrate how to use:
- Tourniquet- Should only be used for a maximum of 15 minutes or if a major artery is nicked
- Decompression needle- Easy way to fix a collapsed lung
- IV start kit with fluids- If you have lost a lot of blood, it is a good way to stabilize your blood pressure until you can get a transfusion
Water-
West Virginians are learning the hard way what happens when your city water supply goes sour. Most disasters will only leave you without water for a couple days, but a group of ten people drinking a couple liters a day adds up quickly, and you can only survive 3-4 days without water. Buying bottled water is not the way to go; it is expensive, goes bad faster and it takes up a lot of space. Buying a 35 gallon horizontal water tank is cheaper in the long run and you can refill anytime. Fill it up with tap water and add a couple drops of bleach to keep the bacteria at bay. After six months, the bacteria in the water will have multiplied to unsafe levels, so it will need to be changed. Just trust me on this one.
Miscellaneous doomsday goodies-
- Double bit axe- If something is in your way, this can help make it not be in your way anymore
- Can opener- Jay has a lot of beer, and it would be a sad day if he had no way to enjoy it
- Settlers of Catan and a deck of cards- You are going to need something to pass the time with all of your community members
Well, that is my list. You might be thinking: "Wow, Travis, that
is the greatest thing I have every read, but why did you not list food."
Stockpiling food is crazy expensive. I have looked into it and it is not worth
the time. The supply would go bad after six months, and I do not want to be
periodically eating a weeks’ worth of MRE’s for ten people every six months and
then buying a new supply. Also, you can survive for a month without food if you
have a steady supply of water. If a natural disaster is so bad that it causes
you to go without food for over a month, you are probably screwed regardless.
Don't look back, Carl!
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