Urban Survival

A biological weapon is released into the public water supply causing 10's of millions of Americans to get sick and die. Public services as we know them cease to exist because the strain on the system is so great. Widespread power failures keeps you from going to the store, bank, or work. You are now on your own with what you have in your house and car. What do you do? How do you survive?

If you lived in the city and this were to happen, things would get ugly very quickly. Mob mentality would quickly set in and people would begin looting and destroying. Your safety would be threatened. Survival would be difficult. But not impossible.

In my previous post I mentioned "The Rules of Three" in survival. Most people think these apply when you are out in the elements, but the same rules apply in urban survival as well. Let's review the rules:

Three hours - this is how long the human body can survive exposed to the elements without shelter in extreme conditions without permanent damage.
Three days - this is how long the human body can survive without water under normal to moderately extreme (hot/cold) conditions without permanent damage.
Three weeks - this is how long the human body can go without food without permanent damage.

In an urban survival situation, if you are at or near home, your chances of surviving are much better. Your shelter is already there, but if it is winter and you just lost your heat, what next?

As you can see, the rule of three applies to urban survival as well. You need to get shelter first. Once that is secure, you need to assess your water supply and then your food. This is where it gets hard for the urban and suburban dweller.

Life in the city and suburbs is all about convenience. Microwave this, instant that, the internet...everything is geared for making life easier. There is nothing wrong with that. That is what you pay for. But if things got bad and you were without all these trappings, what would you do?

Living in the 'burbs, think about these things...especially when I hear about survivors of natural disasters. While these people suffer, the good news is that unaffected nations come to aid them. But what if it happened to you and no one came to your aid? You follow the rules of three.

1) Make sure you have shelter and are warm/cool. You can be exposed for up to three hours in extreme conditions before you suffer damage.
2) Make sure you have water for the next few days. The human body can only go without water for three days before it begins to show signs of damage.
3) Make sure you have food. This is last because you can go up to three weeks without food before you suffer any real damage.

Back in the days of The Great Depression (late 20's and early 30's) many poorer people took on a "packrat" mentality. They would tend to collect things and never throw anything away. While this is not normally a healthy lifestyle, in a survival situation this attitude becomes a necessity. When SHTF, nothing is garbage. Everything can be used beyond what it is designed for.