Survivalist Tendencies
Glen Reynolds has a great post with a lot of links about home disaster kits and disaster planning. Base10 was thinking about this last night, spurred on by the fact that up until yesterday, one of his friends in Sunnyside still did not have power. What should Mr. and Mrs. Base10 have on hand?

I started thinking about it and realized that it's a complicated topic. Base10's not an emergency worker anymore. What disasters could happen here? Well, there's two obvious things that you couldn't do anything about. If a moderate-sized nuclear weapon were exploded in Manhattan, Base10 is less than ten miles away. If that happened, life would be nasty, brutish and short. The other thing that's an obvious threat but that's unlikely is some type of war. Assuming Base10 didn't go off to fight, I don't think this is something you need plan for.

So what do you plan for? Well, let's start with natural disasters. The most common disasters that sometimes happen in New York are hurricaine's and blackouts. In these circumstances, we would probably have to hole up in our apartment for the duration with a disruption of some or all utilities.

The other scenario is that of a terrorist attack or possibly a virulent disease outbreak. In this case, we should be prepared to get out of the city as quickly as possible if we can. This is easier said than done, however. The unfortunate thing about living on an island is that you're always potentially stuck. There are two ways to get to the mainland by foot or bike. One is to go over the Triboro Bridge directly to the Bronx. The other is to cross over to Manhattan by one of several crossings and then to cross over to the Bronx in one of the northern crossings or the George Washington Bridge. There's really no other way unless you have a row boat. That being said, if Mrs. Base10 and I had to get out, if you could ride ten miles and hour by bike and you could do sixteen hours in the first day, you could be 160 miles away. That puts you in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. If you rode ten hours a day you could be in the midwest in a week.

So this is the planning: two broad options--be able to get out and be able to hunker down without utilities for at least a week. The key is flexibilty. My disaster kit will consist of the following:

Emergency Backpack

If you literally have to run out into the street, what should you take with you? I think you should have to plan for six day's worth of food and water.

• Water. You can survive on a cup of water a day with no activity, so figure two quarts should be okay. Figure about two quarts.


• Food. Figure 4 MRE's and 4 2400 calorie ration bars.


• Rain Poncho.


• Blanket.


• Leatherman-type tool.


• Roll Duct Tape. You could construct a shelter out of the above if you had to.


• Surgical masks.


• First aid kit.


• Hand-powered radio and flashlight.

Emergency Apartment Supplies

I figure that you should have at least a week's worth of food and water, it addition to the above. Since weight isn't an issue, I figure the following:

• 30 MRE's.


• 15 Gallons of water.


• A gun. And extra bullets.


• A more extensive firstaid kit.


• Plastic sheeting.

Emergency Bike Pack

I have two paniers and a rack pack plus racks on two mountain bikes (which seem more useful than road bikes if this sort of thing should happen). I would basically tranfer food and water to the bike packs and racks, but in addition would carry extra tubes and a pump.

Well, I guess I better get cracking!
- posted by Base10 @ 11:06 AM