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Group9 · 29-10-2019, 08:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Most of the "really bad things" related to breakdown of society style stuff happened immediately during and after Katrina. Didn't happen that way in NYC. I was involved in the Coast Guard response to both, well aware of the differences. If you were still there 6 months later it was because you had nowhere else to go or chose to stay, we were offering free rides out on helicopters on day 1 as long as you were willing to wait on your roof

Bottom line is that you can't extrapolate the human response to a disaster before hand based on past disasters except to plan for the lowest common denominator, which we did a lot of in the Coast Guard. Of course we kind of had the opposite mentality of this thread, we were running to while you all are running away!

Actually, I was federal law enforcement, so I wasn't running away, either. And, while you guys got to see things from the air, some of us got to see them from ground level, and from helicopters. It was not the same perspective, although I was surprised how bad New Orleans still smelled at 2500 feet after a few days (imagine what it was like one the ground, standing next to very dead bodies, a lot of whom weren't even identifiable as bodies until you were right on top of them, because of the rapid decomposition).

We had one house we searched three times, before we found the woman we were looking for, lying on the couch, that she had become part of by this time (almost a month later).

Worst story, wasn't one of mine, but one of my best friend's. My agency was using small boats to pick people up from rooftops and high ground. I ran into him back at our base, and he simply looked shattered.

He and a National Guardsman were trying to get a guy into their boat who had become delirious and kept wading away from them in the putrid, stinking, crap filled water. They kept paddling after him, and finally he went under. The National Guardsmen dove into the water after him (which was one of the most amazing acts I heard the whole time) and pulled him out and they pulled him into the boat and then saw that he was dead, and they couldn't revive him. The poor guy came so close to getting rescued, and didn't make it. That's the kind of stuff that was happening on the ground.

And, like the most accurate way to gauge a location's crime rate is to look at homicides, (because it's pretty hard to fudge or relabel a dead body as anything else), the number of people killed in a disaster, is a pretty good way to judge it's severity.

I think the worst thing for me, was knowing now, that people who assume that civilization will continue to run normally in a real large scale catastrophe, despite all of their sincere belief, (and, at one time, I was probably one of them) just simply don't know what they are talking about. If it does stay normal, you're lucky.

I sure don't want to go through another one. It took me too long to recover mentally from the last one (if I ever did).

gatorman49 · 01-11-2019, 07:11

Rifle of at least .30, lots of ammunition and the courage to use it knowing it could go either way for you if the dust settled.

I like the Abacos. Those left on barrier islands are survivors, big ships can’t get past barrier reef, power boats would have no gas, plenty of fish and vacant land to garden. Easily defendable with .30 rifle I mentioned above. Any vessel deemed to be dangerous wouldn’t stand a chance.

Of course this is all hypothetical. In a real world event, those who survive will be mostly lucky. I do think those with a sail boat will live the longest!

Lnewman · 01-11-2019, 07:57

Well, the one true fact of life is that none of us are getting out of it alive.

Ghostrider421 · 01-11-2019, 08:17

I'm in my bolthole now - Iceland. But if I had to leave via boat to another bh - it would be Greenland. Always enjoyed being there - so many fiords to explore. Lots of fish to catch.

rvich · 01-11-2019, 08:35

I guess I better save my paper charts.

flandria · 01-11-2019, 08:42

Ask the folks in California, who now are told to live without power every day or so and flee their burning homes. It does not take much to have our sophisticated, electricity based society grind to a halt. Food is the major issue and our food supply is an industrial product. Most of us would simply starve. I am afraid I'd be one of them, and my immediate family... We're too well adapted to modern life!

OasisP33 · 01-11-2019, 08:46

Our goal is a vessel capable of surviving 2 years off grid. We are starting with a Gulfstar 50. Our idea was to spend winters in the Bahamas around deserted islands. Summers on the coast of Maine. Avoiding people would be the goal. We figured 2 years would settle most troubles and we could start trade with those remaining.

gatorman49 · 01-11-2019, 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostrider421

I'm in my bolthole now - Iceland. But if I had to leave via boat to another bh - it would be Greenland. Always enjoyed being there - so many fiords to explore. Lots of fish to catch.

The Greenland Defence Force still uses the US M1917 rifle from WWI based on dependability in extreme WX. Plus it’s .30!!!!

Your two choices are good ones!

Calif.Ted · 01-11-2019, 09:02

We used to joke that our job description was "To boldly run into places anyone with a brain is running from". Fires, floods, earthquakes, tsunami, riots (now called civil disturbances), hazardous material spills etc. etc. all immediately impact mobility. You can't get there from here anymore if you don't have a helicopter. The one advantage to the sailboat is you can beat feet out of town for a while.
I couldn't shoot someone for begging for food.
After the quake we started to BBQ all the meat from a walk in restaurant freezer next door to a fire station, no power, no water, even the Fire Department starts to "forage".

LargeMarge · 01-11-2019, 09:50

We align with the plans of Wm Simpson and SeaGypsyPhilosopher Ray Jason:

Join our floating utopia a hundred miles off-shore.
A few dozen boats of like-minded preppers.
Put that way, the continuation of this collapse sounds like fun!

Then, a few decades from now, if we get bored, we can cruise over to current-day fun-spots such as Baltimore (balti-less...) or Miami or Frisco or Seattle.
To check on their stabilization attempts.
But probably not.

Front-row seats for doom-n-gloom, surrounded by a few million other refugees in a F.E.M.A. camp managed and administered by the folks in charge of federal emergencies?
Or a nice isolated beach with some great cruisers?
A disaster camp, forcibly-disarmed and dependent on hand-outs?
Or permanent vacation on a beach I choose, with the freedom to move any direction we choose?

Garsh, that's a toughy... how much time do I have to decide?

LargeMarge · 01-11-2019, 10:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpeer

[edited for brevity]

...It’s hard for me to believe Canada will let Newfoundland starve...

Let's pretend this particular planet is a business.
Let's pretend to be a global administrator.

Where would I cut my losses to remain productive?
Where would I divert supplies so my workers clock-in on schedule?
How do I direct my MainStreamMedia to produce the propaganda benefiting me?

JBsurfin · 01-11-2019, 10:25

Thanks for listing all you locations you may be, if all goes to the crapper. At least I'll know where to find supplies.. At that point.. it will be a dog eat dog world.. Anyone watch walking dead..

Auspicious · 01-11-2019, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by flandria

Ask the folks in California, who now are told to live without power every day or so and flee their burning homes. It does not take much to have our sophisticated, electricity based society grind to a halt.

You left out the part about trying to flee in electric cars when the grid is down.

roland stockham · 01-11-2019, 10:44

Most of the stuff hear is complete nonsense that shows the people writting it have no real survival experience and cant envision a global catastrophy. Humanity has never faced this situation befor because if there was a war, epademic or environmental calamity it was limited to a place or region. There was always somewhere intack to help or at least rebuild. What we are looking at now is a world so interconnected that a major event could have a domino effect and spread everywhere. One thing nobody mentions is disease. In the event of a civil breakdow the likely casualty rate in the immediate period will be in the order of 80% primarily from disease but also malnutrition. In the one to 10 years following pretty much anyone not a member of a reasonable sizes sustainable community will go. the few who remain will be sevearly pschologically traumatized and suffering from PTSD. There will then be a cycle of 3-5 generations of multigenerational inhereted trauma that makes communities very disfunctional. The few who survive this might the begin to rebuild something but more likely a different species will become dominant. Our only chance for longterm survival is to learn to live peacfully with each other without degrading the environment. Any other option will lead to extinction, the question is not if but when.

We have been around for 200,000 years but in the lasr few hundred had caused more mayhem and disater that every other species combined. If we don't find a solution Darwin will and life will have discovered the technological capability is not a survival trait. So stop prattling about how you as an individual may avoid some problems and star tackling the real issues.