Preparing for disaster

[silversword]

What I see mentioned a lot on here, other forums, and on Youtube, is the SHTF scenario: The possibility of a total global  financial collapse in which the world's fiat currencies all get hyper-inflated to the point of being worthless. I'm sure we are all familiar with such doom-mongering. There are some very good arguments to suggest that this will happen at some point, although whether it actually gets to be as bad as pre-War Germany, or worse a descent into all-out anarchy, is another matter. 

 

The common theme amongst the various predictions is that after all fiat currency becomes worthless, those who hold physical gold and silver will find themselves in the privileged position of being the only ones who have real purchasing power. I've seen plenty of people with the opinion that their stacks of silver and gold will be useful for trade and bartering. And maybe they will. Eventually.

 

But before we worry about what we can barter for with our Somalian Elephants (because I suspect most of the UK population would have no idea what it was, and would tell you where you could shove it), I wonder how many of us have considered other, real preparations. When SHTF, people's concerns will turn to food and water, energy, and shelter. I think if you stack PMs with any view to it being a contingency against such events, remember that for the price of a couple of Britannias (as of today's prices) you can buy a hell of a lot of bottled water and baked beans.

 

I am not one of those people who has a fallout shelter in the back garden, but I do think it's wise to have some ability to look after yourself and your family. Wondering what everyone else thinks and whether you've made any preparations other than stacking.

[Danny-boy]

Have thought about this a lot lately.

We had a water service interruption across most of Birmingham just before Xmas. Shops were out of water, and we didn't know what to do (9 month old baby to sort out also).

I did wish I had say 50 litres of spring water stashed somewhere, which is what got me thinking.

[SpaceCash]

Due to space constraints what I've done is scope out my local usable spring and worked out how to purify water using household bleach (very easy by all accounts). You can buy purification tablets from eBay for next to nothing as well. I wonder if doing this is a better bet if you live somewhere with abundant non drinkable water. That way you can use that space to save food

[SpaceCash]

Appreciate this might be more difficult in cities etc but it's alright for me in a small town surrounded by parks and countryside

[silversword]

Good point SC. Goes to show there is no one-size-fits-all approach to preparation, you have to make use of what is available to you, and work within your limits. A local spring or river (plus purification tablets -or even bleach) is a great backup if needed, especially if you have little storage space to work with.  

[Ares]

Highly recommend the Lifestraw. It's a straw with internal filters and the numbers are pretty good. Good for 1000L of water (tested up to 1600), removal of 99.999% of waterbourne bacteria and 99.9% of waterbourne parasites. Remaining sediment thatpases through filter has a diameter of 0.2microns.

 

2oz, 9in long. More portable than the likes of a container of bleach. I find purification tablets make the water have a nasty taste, but that's not exactly a main problem if you need purification tablets

[SpaceCash]

My gut feeling is that we won't wake up one morning to find its all gone mad max and roaming gangs of shotgun toting punks are out robbing peasants of their hard earned fray bentos pies. I've always figured it will be more of a slow slide into commodity shortages and housing shortages with people living on cabbages and instant mash for weeks at a time and selling the family heirlooms for a pack of bacon. That for me is the SHTF scenario I'm prepping for. I accept there will be some pockets if rioting but I think if it gets too bad Marshall law, checkpoints and curfews will be introduced. That's my prediction anyway

[SpaceCash]

That said if the power and water went out things could get hairy very very quickly

[Ares]

That said if the power and water went out things could get hairy very very quickly

 

In which the popular scenario is currency being of no use and bartering with coins for goods, can't imagine the workers at power plants and water stations would work if they found out their paychecks were worth less than the paper they are written on.

 

Some people have said economically that the 2008 crisis was worse than the '33 great depression, if that's the case then I wonder what the modern Weimar Germany equivalent would be. Probably not as bad as what actually happened i'd bet.

[SpaceCash]

I can't help thinking that even in a scenario like that there would still be some social cohesion and business as usual. People wouldn't let it all go completely chaotic, they would look after their elderly neighbours and muck in with water and food distribution. Blitz spirit and all that. I think it would take something pretty spectacular to completely destroy society in this country. I know people are panicky heard animals but we also work well together in a crisis, at least in the short term

[watchesandwhisky]

absolutely i have made preparations, i think most people are far too used to being able to walk into a shop and get exactly what they want there and then. Apparently the average house has enough food for a few days and that's it, to me that's insane. We have a habit of feeling immune to natural disaster in the UK but we really are not. People also tend to think the government/army would save them if need be, on our vastly over populated island that's wishful thinking. 

 

Look back to the big freeze of 1963, if that happened today it would be chaos. Weather is becoming more extreme year by year.fuel strikes, rioting, all very real possibility's and almost inevitable at some point in the future. 

 

bulk buying long lasting foods is not only sensible from a insurance point of view, it also helps beat inflation.

[Ares]

I can't help thinking that even in a scenario like that there would still be some social cohesion and business as usual. People wouldn't let it all go completely chaotic, they would look after their elderly neighbours and muck in with water and food distribution. Blitz spirit and all that. I think it would take something pretty spectacular to completely destroy society in this country. I know people are panicky heard animals but we also work well together in a crisis, at least in the short term

 

Not the same thing, community spirit back then existed because it was a common enemy, however in this instance there is no 'enemy' as such. Business as usual doesn't exist without power, water and energy and you don't know what to do when your own family is freezing and starving, see the riots in 2011 for how out of hand the people of this country can get over a relatively minor issue down to pure greed and violence. At least in built up areas where lots of people are in proximity who do not know eachother well this would certainly happen, plenty of scum who wouldn't give a damn. In the countryside where you know your neighbours pretty well then that could happen, but in a town? Never.

 

For clarity, I do not see this type of scenario ever occuring, not in the slightest. But if some of the doomsday predicters are to be believed that's what will happen.

 

Round here the countryside is a pantry if properly utilised.

[SpaceCash]

I don't think the London riots provide a decent indication of how a situation like that might play out. They were about disparity in income and opportunity and tensions with the police rather than about shortages of essentials

[Ares]

The point is that look at the damage they caused. Then the following damage caused by scum and the greedy looking for expensive electronics and expensive footware to pinch around the country because the opportunity to do it came along. Imagine the country without power, water, electricity and heating, the chaos would be multiple orders of magnitude than those riots and would look like mild civil unrest in comparison.

[silversword]

I don't think the London riots provide a decent indication of how a situation like that might play out. They were about disparity in income and opportunity and tensions with the police rather than about shortages of essentials

 

I think they provide an illustration of how things could go from bad to worse very quickly. Income disparity could easily translate into "food disparity" in the event of the present system grinding to a halt.

 

Lets say the £ was hyper-inflated. Those on low incomes cannot now afford even basics. People start to realise the money they have in their pockets today used to buy 5 days of groceries, today it might only buy 3 days worth. Panic buying ensues. Supermarkets get cleared out. Distribution centres don't send any more deliveries because diesel is unaffordable. Oil is unaffordable, gas is unaffordable. Power stations running on pipe-in russian supplies of gas shut down (sounds reasonable?).

 

Its not hard to believe that people in underprivileged areas could start looting, because desperate people do desperate things. Businesses first, maybe even private homes that look like something can be salvaged from them - either food, or to trade for food. Now its quite possible the police and army will step in at this point whilst government (who have a vested interest in remaining "top dogs") try and sort things out, but for that period of time where the stores are empty, fuel stations empty, and power blacked out or browned out, that's the sort of thing you can prepare for.

[SpaceCash]

I know this very rarely happens in an online forum, Silversword, but you've convinced me there hahaha

[Keithoil]

I am a prepper of sorts.

 

For water I have a Katadyn Pocket not cheap but it will purify around 12000 gallons of water, and will eliminate the micro bacteria also. I also have various means of making a fire.

 

I do keep a bug out bag with me now but I am based in the Middle East. Enough said.

 

Some really good videos on You Tube for prepping. You can take it to the nth degree or any where in between. Thats your choice.

 

If society did break down for whatever reason I believe it would deteriorate very rapidly, and those with guns would rule!!!

 

[silversword]

Do you have to carry a firearm then Keith? Is it something you'd consider having back here (FAC permitting of course)? 

 

Whilst I am a pretty good shot and would dearly love to have a shotgun again (wife says no... for now), I'm under no illusions about this - I don't ever want to be involved in a shoot-out; any sort of firefight is probably going to end very badly, especially with reduced or no emergency services in the kind of situation we're envisaging. 

[Keithoil]

No I don't carry a firearm They would cut my hands of out here.

 

It is in case I need to leave the plant in a hurry because history tells us that when terrorists take over any facility especially (Oil & as) it generally ends very badly for their hostages. My idea is to get out ASAP and then worry where I am going to go from there.

 

I am the same opinion as you I would have one but for hunting primarily, as you say any fire fight will always end badly for someone probably me!!!

 

I do intend to take archery lessons!!! A catapult will also get you some food. I do have a .22 rifle (pellet gun). Still it would be enough to get food with if necessary.

 

I try to have a philosophy that everything should have a least two uses, so silver investment and also SHTF scenario.

 

Keep your options open!!!

 

This might sound extreme but if it does happen then you will be prepared.

[ChrisSilver]

Best place to be: Russia.

Plenty of land and natural resources. Population is very small compared to landmass.

The Russian Government is also a serious gold stacker. So they should be one of the strongest countries in a worldwide economic crash.