Murphy's Law - If anything can go wrong, it will.
One of the questions I have for people, and something I'm currently thinking about, is what is your plan if you don't have access to your main storage? An example for the city dwellers; a natural disaster strikes, be it earthquake, tsunami or tornado. But something quick, and devestating. You survive, but your house or apartment is reduced to matchsticks. There's a BOB in your closet or your car, but that's either buried under a tonne of rubble or in a debris field that hasn't finished shifting around and is an active danger to enter or possibly even just flat out gone. You find yourself among the others with nothing but the clothes on your back, and what's in your pockets. Everyone around you is in the same boat.
Now what?
Aphrael
Oh sweetheart, I don't have to run faster than the bear...
For this I have 3 plans for staying with relatives...one out of town,one out of region, and one out of province. Nice post...gets people thinking.
Well, back to plan A, the Evac Centre for our building, an arena about half a mile from our condo building.
Although a home prepper for years, I was really saddened by the pictures of the Japanese people in evacuation centres, (they wanted underwear) so that spurred me to throw together 3 Go Bags for myself and my two kids (young adults, excuse me). Then I caught the 'fever' and plan B became a large rolling garbage bin from Canadian Tire, filled it with a tent and camping supplies (these all had to be bought because we don't camp. jeez louise.) and scouted out a likely spot at a nearby park. I've contemplated the difficulty of getting the bin out of the building, (it's 30 metres to the side door from our door, and 10 steps to the ground) I even attached a length of rope to the handle of the rolling bin in case the stairs are gone and I need to lower the bin by hand. I am also contemplating replacing the plastic wheels with rubber lawn mower wheels for a better roll. (If I start painting it camo the kids'll know I've gone completely around the twist.) I figured the kids could sleep at night while I guarded with the crow bar, and I'd sleep during the day. (I'm middle-aged so I only sleep 4-6 hours a day at the best of times.)
So, if that can't be done it's off to the Evac Centre for us. Maybe we should start carrying extra underwear with us at all times.
Ideally I'd plan to Hunker Down or Bug In in a real emergency, but as we're all aware this may not always be possible.
Where I live the only real danger that would force me out of my home would be a House Fire or Tornado, if one of these were to occur I'd be in a tough spot especially if I was unable to get to my B.O.B.'s. However, in this event I do have important Documents and other critical items in a safety deposit box.
We can't plan for everything, all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. My own plans are primarily focused on Surviving at home in the event of disaster. If I have to get out, it will be because I have no other choice and if I can grab at least one of my B.O.B.'s on the way out all the better.
Interesting answers, and something to consider!
Nearly all my family lives in the city, and within a couple of neighbourhoods infact meaning that if there's a big emergency, there's a decent chance that we're all in the same boat. We do have one out of province relative that we can (and will!) use to coordinate and report to if things get completely fubar'd. In the meantime...
If I have access to my/a car;
1. check other family residences if accessible (parents, sister, signifigant other). If any of the places aren't tied up in the emergency, they just got a couch surfer.
2. if their places are tied up with the same emergency that ruined my day, we try and find a hotel in city but outside the disaster zone. If this doesn't work, we'll spend a couple hours arguing over which friend outside the city is about to be impinged upon.
3. make way outside the city to friends place. Once secure, tactical reacting stops, strategic planning starts.
If my car is pancaked in the same even that destroyed my stuff;
1. Swear. Alot. Creatively. Multiple languages. Discuss ancestry, personal habits, sexual preferences, hygeine, possible future and probable descendants of the cause of said emergency. Move on to useful response.
2. If emergency services is on the ball, register with someone at site. If they aren't, make way on foot to closest relative's place.
3. Here's where it diverges a bit. Once I manage to get contact with someone (and I do expect this to take a while as everyone will have the same plan) If an out of towner can come get me, I leave the city. If there's no place to stay inside the city, and I can't get a lift outside (the closest outside the city friend is over 100km from here. I'm not walking it unless we're talking zombie level event) I do two things;
a) register at the refugee camp, find out the rules, get myself set up
b) find the emergency coordinator, and volunteer for absolutely everything, as if things are that bad, they're going to need all the hands they can get. The best rule of thumb I've heard is once they tell you they don't need any more help, the emergency is over and it's time to move from tactical to strategic again.
Aphrael
Oh sweetheart, I don't have to run faster than the bear...
Aphrael, I laughed out loud at your #1 suggestion if your car was pancaked.... thanks for the laugh!
Since I live in an actual active earthquake zone-potential tsunami zone, this is a thought that is ever-present in my mind. Vanislemom's go bag/evac bag is my desired goal in the next few weeks and I am still reading up on storage issues...even if things crumble, sometimes there is the potential to dig things out if the storage is rugged and water tight enough. I am also considering 2 alternate locations of storage at the moment. I would love to hear from more people who have found ways to overcome this, especially if they are also living in a disaster-prone locale!
Excellent topic!