[The Reaper]

Survival (or just comfort) is not just about having things; it is about having a plan, too.

Larry, all of the great questions you asked are something we each have to decide for ourselves. No point in collecting before planning. If you take two months worth of food, clothing, etc., you will not be able to carry it all. You have to decide what the likely events are that would cause you to have to bug out, and what you think you will need to get to wherever you are going, or whatever you think you need till you are able to return home. Maybe you have to change your gear seasonally (or have multiple kits) depending on the climate and the threat.

Not only did the recent earthquake victims not have an hour to pack, many of them were unable to access their homes after the event. Maybe keeping a spare bag in the car is not such a bad idea. OTOH, most of the potential tsunami areas had longer warning times to prepare. It would appear that a lot of them had not thought ahead and so descended on the local stores to do their disaster prep/SHOPEX then. Given the non-event, it would be interesting to see how many will take this as a hint that they should be better prepared and work on it, versus how many will decide that the whole evacuation and preparation business is a waste of time, except perhaps for stocking more beer. Knowing the Hawaiians, I would suspect that the latter will be the case.

If there is an earthquake, terrorist attack, there may be little warning. Fires, floods, hurricanes, etc. usually provide more notice.

Since we are normally away from our homes at least half of the time, I am leaning toward putting a car kit together. I too, keep a Camelbak ruck on/around me most of the time with first aid, meds, sanitation, ID/cash/credit cards, trash bags, food, clothing, 550 cord, Ziplocs, multi-tool, rain jacket, compass, map, whistle, BIC lighters, flashlights, zip ties, spare batteries, sanitation/toiletries, signaling gear (mirror, panel, etc.) Most of that gear is multi use, and occasionally comes in handy.

I live 30 miles from work, but could top off the water and start walking home in less than a minute without further preparation and without too much difficulty, if I had to. It might be an overnighter, but except for the few very hot or very cold days per year, it would not be too uncomfortable. If I had to hole up in the office, I could go several days without much of a problem.

You should probably do a good area study and threat assessment. This would be a quick sample one:

We live in a geologically stable area, out of the flood plain and on high ground. We are 100 miles or so from the coast. There is a good amount of pine forest on and around our property, but it is managed and there is very little deadfall to burn. Most of the pine straw is harvested regularly and then the areas are controlled burned. We normally get ample rainfall every year. There are severe thunderstorms and occasional tornados in the area. Hurricanes have passed through the community before, usually with winds under 80 kts., but with significant rain events. No known widespread serious diseases or pandemics have occurred here in many years. No volcanoes exist in the area. There is plenty of small game in the area from squirrels to deer. Ponds and streams have ample fish, unless I have a pole out. We live on the edge of town on a dirt road, adjacent to pastures and a state wildlife preserve. My neighbors are unfortunately, unreliable and potentially hostile. I do have a number of SF friends in the neighborhood. The area is moderately populated; total county population is probably 40,000-50,000. Crime is relatively low, the nearest city is Fayetteville (40 miles away), the closest ones of any real size are Raleigh (70 miles), Greensboro (80 miles), and Charlotte (around 100 miles). I do wish at least two of them were further away. There is one significant highway passing through the area, it is US 1. The closest interstate highway is at least 20 miles away, and it is a new, largely rural interstate. The number of people traveling who might be stranded in the area and how they would be supported concerns me, especially after reading OSA. There are several railroads in the area, including an Amtrak stop. Multiple waterways exist, but none are navigable (beyond pleasure craft) in the local area. Climate is mostly moderate, tending toward hot summers with daily high temps usually in the 90s. Winters are usually mild; lows are typically in the 30s. Snowfall averages 7" or so per year. There are a couple large dams within 50 miles, but we are not downstream. A nuclear power plant is roughly 50 miles north, fortunately, the prevailing winds are from the southwest. There is a small state prison hospital roughly 12 miles away, housing roughly 360 inmates, about 2/3 of which are patients. A few could be headed this way, but they would pass a lot of other opportunities along the way. Most, I suspect, would quickly succumb to the lack of care. We are very close to the western end of Ft. Bragg, so there is a 30 mile buffer from main post. Camp MacKall is nearby, but has little impact on the civilian populace. There is a very small commercial airport in town, a military field at CMK, and a couple of private airfields in the area. No large civilian aircraft land anywhere other than the larger regional metro airports at FAY, RDU, GSO, or CLT. We do have some overflights by military fixed and rotary wing. Utilities are reliable, the only power outages are normally from weather causing lines to be down. However, if a large scale disaster occurred, we could lose power indefinitely. There is no local power generation beyond commercial entities and a few small portable units. The municipal water supply is pretty reliable, though we did have a couple of years of dry weather a few years back, forcing restrictions on water use. The local government is working to enlarge its municipal supply sources. There is no local water delivery service except for non-portable construction tanks. If the municipal supply fails, we have some water stored, but the nearest running water is further away than I would like to carry it from. The waste water treatment is reliant upon running water, chemicals, and electric power. Any interruption more than a day or three and chemical toilets and slit trenches will become necessary. Communications are good (except for the remote areas of Bragg), it is rare to lose home phone service. Cellular can be spotty. There is battery back-up and generators for the land lines and cellular system, till the fuel runs out. There are no television stations in the area, even with a good antenna, reception is unreliable. If cable and the satellites go, there is going to be little TV to watch. There are a number of local AM and FM radio stations, and some Ham operators, so broadcast news and information should be available.

(Cont.)