First, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Forum and all those involved in discussions. I have learned a great deal in the last year and much of it is due to all of your involvement. Thank you!

Now, on to something related to my last post (What will you drive & how far will you go?). In order to avoid the “chicken with head cut off response” (CWHCOR?) that we often see, pre-during and post disasters, I believe displacement pre-planning is essential.

These pre-planning needs to include:
1. Various kits (all needs related to survival H2O FAK PSK, etc., (these have been discussed at length.)
2. Directional coordination, maps and/or GPS & proper use knowledge.
3. Pre identified safe-harbor locations.
4. Vehicles.

So, this list differs only slightly from a regular pre-planned camping trip, (or going to visit friends and family), the only difference is the time spent preparing and some of the materials may be more long-term related. Comments?

One HUGE difference is the travel times involved. Driving 250 miles under normal circumstances is no problem. Driving that same distance while several million other people are trying to do the same is an absolute nightmare.

You need some safe way to store extra gas and water, not to mention a vehicle in excellent shape. Driving 5mph for ten hours is very hard on a car.

-Blast

Both in response to this thread and ther the other on bugging-out, here are some other questions to pre-answer:

1. What will you bug out for? Hurricane, firestorm, chemical release...

2. When will you bug-out? This applies mostly to hurricane situations where you can see them coming for many days in advance. 48 hours or less from forcast landfall will put you in gridlock. 72 hours before will get you heavy traffic.

If you're planning to bug-out with an RV, be aware of this: I live 150+ miles from the Mississippi gulf coast, The center of Katrina passed about 40 miles to our east and we had hurricane force winds sustained for several hours with higher gusts. Areas to our east and more than 100 miles north along Katrina's path expirenced sustained winds of over 100 MPH. So, if you're using an RV, plan on going to a location outside of the forcast track variability.

This is an unknown and variable depending on where you live and what the threat may be.

You're point is very valid. I would not want to be caught in an RV with high winds, nor would a person want to be caught in traffic during a chemical spill or worse.... All these conditions are worthy of evaluation taking into consideration one's own surrounding and mobility conditions.

It's hard to beat a pickup with a camper shell or a good SUV as a bug out vehicle. What works for a long camping trip is going to be ideal for evacuation.

The best bet seems to be to shelter in place as long as you can and only evacuate if you have to. If it is not the EOWAWKI water and supplies will be trucked into cities until utilities can be restored.

What may be desirable is a radiation shelter in case of a nuclear explosion. The blast radius is not as large as we have been let to believe and the radiation drops down to non-lethal levels within a few days.

The biggest PIA would be if the authorities required you to evacuate. Stores would be cleaned out in all directions out of any large city. The group shelters, in the case of a large event, would not be fun. The authorities may not give us an option of where to evacuate to.

Good point. Nuclear weapons, horrible as they are, are not as horrible if one learns something about them.
Here is a great reference if you don't know about it already.
Nuclear war survival skills

Well, they aren't horrible in the sense that if you ignore that they annihilate every living thing for miles, those far enough away from the radiation and heat can survive the fallout if sufficiently bunkered for a few weeks. Of course, that also ignores the economic, social, and human aspect of devestation. Yeah... not so horrible. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One atomic bomb is bad in the blast zone and for about 3 days or so around it and downwind. The rest of the world (& US) will look at the devastation on TV and think they are glad it wasn't them.

But what is the likelihood of a single bomb? If I were a meglomaniac terrorist with power and money, I would think the best way to do it would be to truck the bombs to the desired location (cheaper and more accurate than ICBMs or whatever they're called these days), they couldn't be tracked by radar, if the CIA/FBI did get word of them they wouldn't do anything in time, they could have timed detonations, etc, etc, etc.

And, could someone remind me of the type of bomb that doesn't seem to have an explosive blast, it just spreads a particular type of radiation that kills every living thing (excepting maybe rats and cockroaches), and leaves the buildings standing for possession by the invaders? It is a neutron bomb? Of course, true terrorists probably wouldn't use one of these, as the destruction is as important to them as the killing.

Sue

Yep, Neutron Bomb Susan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_bomb

Kill every human, leave the infrastructure (kill the electronics though) and walk in a few days later when the radiation has dissipated. Thoroughly nasty.

I wonder if it would be advisable to let certain party's like I...., S...... etc know that if that happens, we ain't going to bother asking who?
History of the Human Race: Build a rock, Build a BIGGER rock, Build a BIGGER, BIGGER Rock.
Depressing isn't it? <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />