It’s a new year, slightly later than it should be for me, and it is time I revisited the basic facts behind my prepping philosophy.
When I started prepping the main risk seemed to be Nuclear War and an Asteroid Impact. It was a sign of the times. Since then it has expanded to include not only TEOTWAWKI but also the lesser SHTF scenarios. They are two different things and although preps for one can cover the other they require two different ways of doing things. For example if your preps are for TEOTWAWKI and you decided you were just going to go next door and steal what you wanted at the point of a gun then in a SHTF scenario you will likely pay for your crimes when the laws come back in. However, if you have put aside six months supply for TEOTWAWKI then it is an easy thing to survive a SHTF scenario.
Everyone should have enough to survive a few weeks without supply from an external source. It is basic common sense.
So as I decided a long time ago I was going to survive a TEOTWAWKI scenario as well as any general SHTF scenarios I was looking at keeping several months of supplies which would cover both situations. Allowing me the flexibility in a SHTF scenario to be generous to others and help them through a short term event.
Nor trusting my fellow man too much. They are some who are little more than animals I also needed to take into consideration the risks from that area.
So as I have revisited my requirements several times over the years, yearly as now and after a major event like Katrina I have added to my TEOTWAWKI list as well as my SHTF list so that I now have a list that includes, in no particular order;
- Nuclear War
- Pandemic
- Societal Collapse
- Invasion
- Asteroid Impact
- Hurricanes
- Earthquakes
- Tsunamis
- Floods
- Solar Storms
- EMP
- NBC attacks
- Biological escape
- Global temperature changes
Some are global, some are local and some could vary. That list about covers everything and if not explicitly mentioned the prepping for most of these covers other things as well.
Then there is the issues that are just you and your family, you lose your job, you get arrested, your house catches fire. These require very little prepping but are just as important as they happen to people every day whereas an Asteroid Impact doesn’t.
So looking at my list I don’t see anything I want to remove, which isn’t surprising. I think over the last year and consider and new events and decide that nothing needs added either. We have had Floods, High Winds, Cold Weather and increasing unemployment. None of which exceed my Flood preps, my location is significantly higher than sea level, or my Hurricane preps, 105 MPH winds have been around for several years now as have low temperatures and increasing unemployment just increases the security risk and the risk of societal collapse which the government seems hell bent on bringing in anyway. So I just don’t see anything to change at all.
As an aside I find the discussions of news items such as floods, etc. on the forum to be pointless. Anyone who is in danger of flooding and does not have this risk on their radar is not really prepping. The pointless talk about an extra few inches of floods and why people move on to flood plains is not prepping. Helping those of floods plains with advice is. And continually saying move away from the flood plain doesn’t add to the topic either. Although we may think it is a key decision to move many cannot for various reasons. Yet it is often repeated as if it is helpful advice. After the first few times it is not. So despite the increased chatter about a few extra MPH winds and flood levels the risk for these has not changed at all so no need to change plans.
One thing I have noticed is that there is an increasing number of people who are prepping, although they would not call it that. They put in solar panels, sometimes for the wrong reasons, and log burners, keep chickens and are growing their own food in back gardens and allotments. This doesn’t increase or decrease my risk though. Just shows that some people are waking up. Too little too late though.
So, with no increase of risk and no dates for trigger events or anything I will keep my risk register as it is.
This has the knock on effect that little else needs to change. I don’t need to consider Bugging Out instead of my original plan of Bugging In. It also means I don’t have to change my basic purchasing strategy and consider Bug Out Vehicles or having everything ready to be transported. Nothing changes.