I live in a predominately Irish - American neighborhood in St. Louis, MO. That said it's about two blocks from high crime. I already have the basics covered for several predictable scenarios, but am looking for info on gear and plans for evacuating if something does happen large scale (i.e. earthquake, civil unrest, etc.)

Best advice I could possible give, given the info provided, is go AWAY from that high crime area if you have to bug out. Or just stay put, if that happens to be an option...

Right off the top of my head:

What are the likely and unlikely threats that you and your family may face. Which threats demand Bugging Out for and which threats don't demand Bugging Out for.
(Look @the Log Term Preparation Board for the ThreatCon and HurCon Checklists) It may help.

Consult www.standeyo.com for checklists of supplies. I think you will find it helpful.

You need to decide what situations it is best to stay put (and how long you can stay put) for and what situations it will be necessary to bug out from.

If you're staying put, you've got to plan on providing the basic services that allow you (and your dependants) to consume water, prepare & serve meals; go to the bathroom, defend yourself, family, & property; getting Intel (reliable news).

If you're Bugging Out, you need to have completed recon and mapped out several routes leading out of the city. You will need to identify possible dangerous areas along those routes and plan on how to deal with those areas/threats. You will need to know where you're going to Bug Out to, what supplies you can take with you (or have supplies cached at your destination or along the way), and again, how are you going to provide the basic services that are required for living once you arrive at your destination.

CORRECTION: The HurCon & ThreatCon Checklists are on page 2 of the Survival Forum

I get the civil unrest thing, but, are earthquakes really much of a threat in St. Louis?

Isn't the New Madrid fault in the neighborhood of Saint Louis?

"...are earthquakes really much of a threat in St. Louis?"

It does sound kind of strange, but YES. The New Madrid, MO area was the epicenter of the worst earthquake (actually a series of four major quakes) to have taken place in the continental U.S. between December 11, 1811 and February 7, 1812. The last quake was estimated to have hit 8.0 on the Richter Scale.

From Wikipedia: "There are estimates that the earthquakes were felt strongly over 50,000 square miles, and moderately across nearly one million square miles. The historic San Francisco earthquake of 1906, by comparison, was felt moderately over 60,000 square miles.

"As a result of the quakes, large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed (notably Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee), and the Mississippi River changed its course, creating Kentucky Bend. Nearby sections of the Mississippi River actually ran backwards for a short time. Sandblows were common throughout the area, and their effects can still be seen from the air in cultivated fields. Church bells were reported to ring in Boston, Massachusetts.

"The epicenters of over 4,000 earthquakes can be identified from seismic measurements taken since 1974. It can be seen that the earthquakes originate from the seismic activity of the Reelfoot Rift. The zone which is strongly colored in red on the map is called the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

"The zone remains active today. In recent decades minor earthquakes have continued. Scientists estimate that in the next 50 years, with a probability over 90%, there will be an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 7 on the Richter scale.

"The situation is more precarious than it was 200 years ago. The area is now more densely populated, and many buildings have no earthquake resistant construction. A few states have joined forces and founded a special institute for their earthquake zone, to prepare as well as possible for a major earthquake. The Mississippi River will probably present one of the incalculable problems."

Sue

Historically, one of the weapons of civil unrest is fire. In the case of fire moving through a highly-populated area, bugging out would be a distinct possibility, so being able to grab some pre-gathered supplies and having a place to run to would be a high priority to me.

In the case of an earthquake, you could be in a real tight spot. Earthquakes often make travel difficult or impossible, you're in competition with a lot of other people, law breaks down in many cases, and there is always the added difficulty of fire due to broken gas mains and plain carelessness.

I would plan for both escape and hunkering down, and be aware of conditions that would cause you to change from one plan to another. Never get locked into just one plan; when conditions change, you must, also.

Sue

heat & storms are likely your #1 concern there -- combine either with a power outage...

New Madrid is a couple of hundred miles to the south of St. Louis and yes, St. Louis felt effects from those EQ's. There are small tremors (1 & 2's) on an almost daily basis.

A big one (7+) is coming soon!

As usual, Susan has cut through the crap and gotten right to the bone!!

Another 8.0 would certaintly get everybody's attention even 200 miles away!

Anyone know if Missouri or St. Louis building codes include anything about earthquakes?

There are very few earthquake building codes in effect in these areas. It is my understanding that this is now starting to change, but slowly.

Earthquake is probably the biggest threat you are likely to face in your area that will require you to bugout in a hurry.

The New Madrid fault isn't the only one you have to worry about. There is a new fault that was found that starts 20 miles N of the New Madrid fault line and gets fairly close to StL. They are saying that by 2040, there will be a 90% chance of a major earthquake happening.

Stl does have building codes in place for earthquakes and all the bridges across the Mississippi River have been retrofitted. The problem is that this was based on the New Madrid fault line and not this new one just south of StL. Some of the experts say the bridges will hold up, but the approaches will all fall because of liquifaction. You will be able to see the bridge standing, but not be able to get to it.

Getting out of town is going to be tough since you are limited on escape routes with all the rivers around. Heading West is about your only option, but that is also the only option for everyone else that lives through the quake.

You might want to consider finding someone that lives just outside the county to the West or NW where you can store more supplies. This way, you have a destination that is within a day or two's walk if it comes to that.

I live in the center of the state and have been researching what the effects would be for my area when the big quake hits.

Well, if riots are a concern, it never hurts to have a keg of beer and a boom-box playing the Dropkick Murphys

My corporate headquarters is in St. Louis; I'm flying out there next week to schmooze, and I know quite a few Irish-Americans that live there...that being said, my advice would be to rent a storage facility outside city limits and pre-position supplies there.

A bug-out bag could be stocked enough to get you there (even on foot), and from your new "base" you'd be able to resupply/rearm and continue to march, hopefully to an out of the area relative's place (with whom you have coordinated such action).

Definitely agree. Most of the damage from the 1906 San Fran. earthquake came AFTER the quake, from fires that raged for days.
Looking at more recent quakes, such as the 89 S.F., or the 92 Northridge, lots of damage was either initial, or aftershocks knocking down previously weakened structures.
The moral is, if you worry about New Madrid, just recall that it won't hit once. Check out some of the CA preparedness sites (ARC, city/county fire department preparedness pages, etc), for more info on how to prepare specifically for this threat.

As to the other situations, listen to what folks here have already written.

Civil unrest and earthquakes are not the same, but both do often result in fire. Look at the Rodney King and Watts riots in Los Angels. Lot of fires started by bad guys. And look at Reginal Denny for a good reason to avoid the area populated by those bad guys...

Another thought on earthquakes in that part of the country: Miss. River and broken dikes. Are you higher or lower than the river? What a nightmare THAT combination brings to mind!

ZOWIE!

Sue

Thanks for the advice...as for my experiences and training...I am an Eagle Scout with every camping, survival, and preparedness merit badge. I also spent six years in the Army as a Combat Engineer as well as civilian law enforcement. Even with that said I am always looking for more information as I know that there are plenty of people with more training and experience than myself. Thanks again.

A lot higher than the river...there are two major hills in St. Louis City. One is called the Hill where a lot of Italian-Americans live the other is a mile away called Dogtown where the Irish-Americans live. I live in Dogtown, so I'm lucky to be away from the Mississippi and higher. My house is a brick home built in the early 1900's, so it's probably not built for earthquakes.

And everyone on low ground will be heading for the hills in the event of flooding!

Some common retrofits people do around here are house bolting, reinforcing the chimney (especially if its brick), securing the water heater, asking the gas co. to intall an automatic gas cutoff valve, tethering large bookcases or other furniture so they don't fall over easily, and installing sturdy latches on cabinetry. The first two will cost you, the other four can be done for almost nothing. If nothing else, pick a sturdy table and jump under that sucker. I stood in doorways during quakes for the longest time until I found out sturdy tables were the way to go. At least thats what everyone says.