SHTF

[Esotera]

What's your s**t hits the fan plan, fellow escapist citizens? Have you planned out what you would do in the event of a natural disaster/apocalypse, and if so how much detail have you gone into? Maybe you've spent a fair amount of money on creating a bug-out-bag, or just have something interesting to share...this is the thread to talk about it!

Spoiler: My plan

I have a generic 'zombie' plan for if something goes really really wrong. The most likely scenario I can see happening is either a global energy/food crisis or war, although if a pandemic was bad enough then I would also enact this plan.

As soon as the decision is made to enact the plan, I should head home and grab my bug-out-bag. In here I have pretty much everything I need to survive for a couple of days - sleeping bag/mat, water, limited tinned food, knife, slingshot, tape, shovel, saw, and various other useful things. I grab as many perishables as possible and make my way out a couple of miles into the countryside, far away from the city centre. Depending on how long the threat is I might try & make my way back down to Devon to my parent's house or a friend's house, as there's a lot more opportunity to live off the land down there. I'd never want to do this but if I did, I would just steal a bicycle and try and cycle it in a couple of days.

Anyway, I know this is paranoid and I'll probably never need to do it, but it always helps to be prepared! And when I do camping this stuff always turns out to be useful...I also don't really need to pack as much. Your turn to share.

 

[tippy2k2]

In the event of an emergency, I am absolutely, positively, fucked

I have minimal knowledge of firearms (I know how to load a weapon and not shoot my own foot off) but I do not own any weapons.

I have virtually no knowledge of first aid. Just about everything in nature gives me allergies so I know nothing about the great outdoors. Shit, I don't even own a flashlight [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.819686-The-power-is-out].

The day civilization collapses is the day that I should just grab a shovel (shit, I don't own one of those either!) and dig my own grave to save everyone the time and trouble.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

What's your s**t hits the fan plan, fellow escapist citizens? Have you planned out what you would do in the event of a natural disaster/apocalypse, and if so how much detail have you gone into? Maybe you've spent a fair amount of money on creating a bug-out-bag, or just have something interesting to share...this is the thread to talk about it!

Spoiler: My plan

I have a generic 'zombie' plan for if something goes really really wrong. The most likely scenario I can see happening is either a global energy/food crisis or war, although if a pandemic was bad enough then I would also enact this plan.

As soon as the decision is made to enact the plan, I should head home and grab my bug-out-bag. In here I have pretty much everything I need to survive for a couple of days - sleeping bag/mat, water, limited tinned food, knife, slingshot, tape, shovel, saw, and various other useful things. I grab as many perishables as possible and make my way out a couple of miles into the countryside, far away from the city centre. Depending on how long the threat is I might try & make my way back down to Devon to my parent's house or a friend's house, as there's a lot more opportunity to live off the land down there. I'd never want to do this but if I did, I would just steal a bicycle and try and cycle it in a couple of days.

Anyway, I know this is paranoid and I'll probably never need to do it, but it always helps to be prepared! And when I do camping this stuff always turns out to be useful...I also don't really need to pack as much. Your turn to share.

Mate, you're from the UK. We've not had the capacity to support our population for at least a century now without imports. Anything major goes down, we're all pretty much fucked unless we get the hell off'f this island. There just isn't enough land here. The only workable plan is to just wing it and hope you're one of the lucky ones (don't ask questions about where you're mates found that 'meat'), flee to Russia or something, or learn how to tie a noose.

 

[evilneko]

With apologies to Shakespeare,

Oh happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.

 

[Miss G.]

While I certainly don't want something like that to happen, I don't really have any survival skills, and coupled with having some anxiety/panic disorders, assuredly these things will not help in improving my already low chances. I'll have to hope for a quick and painless passing.

 

[Gormech]

I already live in a fairly rurual area so I should get some kinda heads up in advance in most situations.
Weapons include a bow, a knife, and a pistol.
Ammo is 12 arrows and 3 15 round magazines of 9mm rounds.

Plan is to get some hunting gear on and keep to the woods for a bit, maybe picking off people I see taking advantage of other survivors, and making limited runs for supplies to the nearby suburbs when necessary.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I'd head over to Sykes' Gunsmiths three streets down from me, load up on firearms, and head into the Lakes. There's plenty of wilderness and foraging opportunities up in the north of England to keep a decent number of people comfortable and isolated pretty much ad infinitum.

 

[Neonbob]

I really don't know what in the hell I'd do other than die a slow, uncomfortable death. I'm a type 1 diabetic, so once civilization ended, I'd be pretty much screwed once I ran out of my insulin supply. I mean, if I knew more about what the hell I was doing, I could entertain the idea of going to a pig farm and harvesting their insulin like we used to, but I honestly don't see that working out very well for me.
So I suppose my plan is just to try and get my family to a safe place before I became a useless hunk of blergh. The first step would be to get to the grandparents, who have enough firearms and ammo to go around, and then hole up until the worst had passed.

 

[Catfood220]

In the event of an emergency, I am absolutely, positively, fucked

I have minimal knowledge of firearms (I know how to load a weapon and not shoot my own foot off) but I do not own any weapons.

I have virtually no knowledge of first aid. Just about everything in nature gives me allergies so I know nothing about the great outdoors. Shit, I don't even own a flashlight [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.819686-The-power-is-out].

The day civilization collapses is the day that I should just grab a shovel (shit, I don't own one of those either!) and dig my own grave to save everyone the time and trouble.

Can I hang out with you when the apocalypse hits? You have a slight working knowledge of weapons and I have torches and a tent. I think we'd make a fairly average team. Plus I'm fat and out of shape so any zombies will be chewing on me while you escape.

Anyway, failing this budding partnership, I will embrace my zombie self. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to get bitten and even though I live in a top floor flat, I live in a town and I deal with the dead as my job. I'm one of the first walkers, I have accepted my fate. And I gladly accept it, lets put it this way, who has more fun in every single zombie movie you have ever seen? It certainly isn't the frightened, screamy annoying humans that will squabble, fight and almost always have some idiot that gets bitten and hides it from everyone else. No, its the zombies that are having all the fun munching on the yummy human flesh. Plus, seeing as I'm dead, I can finally eat all I want without worrying about calories.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I have a few areas where I can go and live that are secluded from outside contact and are well defendable. Assuming that fish and other sea life aren't destroyed, I can live comfortably and have an ample supply of water since I know how to turn salt water into potable water.
All in all I could live by myself there for years but probably go nuts from lack of human contact.

 

[Kennetic]

I've thought about becoming a prepper, but I'm too lazy and lack the funds so whatever. 1) Buy one of those missile silo homes and just chill out for a while or 2) Get my ass to an oil rig and chill out for a while. 3) Get a tracked vehicle like an M113 or a Bradley or an MRAP if I need to use wheels. I'm an EMT-B and a combat medic with combat experience so I got first aid down even during stress. I have extensive firearms training and experience so I'm good there. Survival skills are okay but could use some work and actual experience. Honestly, I think I'd be alright but the people who have it best live either in the desert or the mountains. For my weapon of choice, Ruger 10/22 with a suppressor for hunting game and not being heard by various ne'er do wells.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

What's your s**t hits the fan plan, fellow escapist citizens? Have you planned out what you would do in the event of a natural disaster/apocalypse, and if so how much detail have you gone into? Maybe you've spent a fair amount of money on creating a bug-out-bag, or just have something interesting to share...this is the thread to talk about it!

Spoiler: My plan

I have a generic 'zombie' plan for if something goes really really wrong. The most likely scenario I can see happening is either a global energy/food crisis or war, although if a pandemic was bad enough then I would also enact this plan.

As soon as the decision is made to enact the plan, I should head home and grab my bug-out-bag. In here I have pretty much everything I need to survive for a couple of days - sleeping bag/mat, water, limited tinned food, knife, slingshot, tape, shovel, saw, and various other useful things. I grab as many perishables as possible and make my way out a couple of miles into the countryside, far away from the city centre. Depending on how long the threat is I might try & make my way back down to Devon to my parent's house or a friend's house, as there's a lot more opportunity to live off the land down there. I'd never want to do this but if I did, I would just steal a bicycle and try and cycle it in a couple of days.

Anyway, I know this is paranoid and I'll probably never need to do it, but it always helps to be prepared! And when I do camping this stuff always turns out to be useful...I also don't really need to pack as much. Your turn to share.

Mate, you're from the UK. We've not had the capacity to support our population for at least a century now without imports. Anything major goes down, we're all pretty much fucked unless we get the hell off'f this island. There just isn't enough land here. The only workable plan is to just wing it and hope you're one of the lucky ones (don't ask questions about where you're mates found that 'meat'), flee to Russia or something, or learn how to tie a noose.

True enough as far as the nation as a whole goes, but bear in mind that following a catastrophic global disaster we're not going to have the same population level. A diminished population equates to greater resources per surviving head and for those of us in rural areas the future would be far from bleak. Maybe for inner-city types things would be different, but for people who already provide for themselves 'The End' would mean very little.

 

[Bobic]

Honestly, I've thought about this before, and my favourite answer is to ditch my anti-psychotics, follow whatever weird ideas pop into my head and, with any luck, become the antagonist of someone else's journey.

I may need to buy Leather Pants and a big sieve helmet in preparation. . . And move to Australia.

 

[Frezzato]

All the sensationalist fantasies such as the collapse of the volcano on the Canary Islands or Yellowstone's Super Volcano will likely not happen in our lifetimes, or if they do, the results won't be the call to arms we expect. What nobody realizes is that the disaster has already happened. The global housing meltdown, a product of incredible stupidity and stupendous avarice, has left a high unemployment rate around the world. Millions have defaulted on their home loans and the idiot banks lost out as people crawled away from underwater mortgages. State tax income disappeared. And municipal services are starting to dry up.

God help you should you have an accident and accrue some very expensive medical bills. Or lose your job, or get cancer. "It won't happen to me," you may think. "I've just finished college. I'll be okay," you think to yourself. The question we should be asking isn't how we would survive a terrible event, but rather what happens AFTER we are left to survive while the world keeps spinning. What if you lost your job and your house? Will you end up in a place like the now defunct Tent City [http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/homeless-nashville-tent-city-usa#sthash.VizrBghY.dpbs] in Tennessee or California? Or would you have to live under a bridge [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104150499] in Miami? Will it be something in between?



We may end up as just another statistic, part of the 1-66% unemployment rate [http://www.tradingeconomics.com/country-list/unemployment-rate] around the world. No QuikClot bandages, iodine tablets or 5.56mm ammo will change anything about that. At least not legally.

This is what all the shitty zombie movies and video games have picked up on. What if you become ONE OF THEM??? In the nineties the sensationalist fear was triangular UFOs. The eighties, slasher flicks (psychotic strangers). In the fifties, Hollywood picked up on the paranoia of communism and the possiblity of nuclear war.

And today, it's the very real threat of chronic unemployment and homelessness. You may very well end up an aberration in a sea of normalcy. The disaster will not strike the earth. The disaster will strike individuals at random, and passersby will discount a stranger's misfortune as just that: misfortune. "I'm prepared for that," they think.

[hr]
Thank you! I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.

 

[Saltyk]

In the event of a global apocalypse that kills 90% of the population, I plan to die. I've run the numbers. Odds are that I'm part of the 90%. Even if I am part of the 10% that lives, we'll all probably die slowly. My odds of survival for more than a week are slim at best. So why fight it?

Basically, I have no plan. I'll wing it. But that whole dying plan will probably be my go to strategy.

 

[Zeren]

We've got a go bag with some survival supplies, cash, and a couple Glocks.

Figure we'll just prey on the people who don't.

I have a similar plan, but I'm taking my .45, .270 Remington, and my little .22 and heading into the woods after I procure an off-road worthy truck or ATV. I have enough outdoor knowledge to survive for a little while, but I'll probably need to start preying on others for supplies after a while.

 

[Esotera]

Mate, you're from the UK. We've not had the capacity to support our population for at least a century now without imports. Anything major goes down, we're all pretty much fucked unless we get the hell off'f this island. There just isn't enough land here. The only workable plan is to just wing it and hope you're one of the lucky ones (don't ask questions about where you're mates found that 'meat'), flee to Russia or something, or learn how to tie a noose.

That's why my plan is to head to one of the least populated areas, at least I have some chance of surviving there. But as you said, this island isn't big enough for all of us and if for some reason we suddenly had to be self-sufficient, it would not be pretty.

All the sensationalist fantasies such as the collapse of the volcano on the Canary Islands or Yellowstone's Super Volcano will likely not happen in our lifetimes, or if they do, the results won't be the call to arms we expect. What nobody realizes is that the disaster has already happened. The global housing meltdown, a product of incredible stupidity and stupendous avarice, has left a high unemployment rate around the world. Millions have defaulted on their home loans and the idiot banks lost out as people crawled away from underwater mortgages. State tax income disappeared. And municipal services are starting to dry up.

I'd also say this is one of the most likely scenarios - the global economy goes to shit because of short-termism & a lack of conventional fossil fuels to keep manufacture down. But a pandemic like Spanish Flu is just as likely and I'd be surprised if it doesn't happen in our lifetime.