The Earthquake and subsuquent tsunamai show us once again the awesome power of Mother Nature…

The videos of walls of water sweeping ships, cars, houses and people away in such an unstoppable manner puts us in our place.  What can we learn from such an event?

1. Natural disasters strike suddenly and can be deadly. There is no way to escape their wrath but you can have all possible warning systems in place and you need to heed these warnings.  Things like Weather Alert radios could save your life. (Some natural disasters like hurricanes are slow moving and subject to lots of forecasting, if you get hit in your house by a Cat 4 or 5 Hurricane then you are plain stupid to be there) 

2. If you live in a Coastal area, this is one of the chances you are always taking so you might want to consider moving to somewhere that is not going to be swept away by a Earthquake triggered tsunamai… or destroyed hy a Hurricane.  And if you regularly hear about Wildfires and Mudslides near where you live, you might want to move to Nevada or Arizona– it is a better climate for business anyway.

3. These disasters often cause water, electricity and gas to be shut down for long periods, so you should have planned ahead to survive for a time without utilities to your home. 

4. Food and water are in short supply in the aftermath of a disaster.  If you can store even two weeks worth of food and water for your family, and some to share with friends and family who didn’t prepare then you can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. 

5. The government can NEVER respond as fast or efficiently to our needs as we can respond to our own needs.  We know our exact situation and what we could need.  When the items we need are in ready supply that is the time to store and prepare, not waiting until the event happens and then hoarding what we can find on the stripped shelves.

Please do what you can to help the survivors, I am not going to recommend any particular charity but in most cases I feel the more local and the smaller ones are best.  And take action TODAY to make sure you are a little better prepared for such an awful event.

Regards

Survival Rob

Hope you are able to spend the Holidays with your family and friends.

I will resume posting new content in January so stay tuned!

Lately, we are hearing the term Quantitative Easing mentioned by our politicians in the financial sector, as well as in the news.

Sometimes it is referred to as QE2, since they are contemplating a second round of QE (since the first round in 2008 worked so well)…

Quantitative Easing is simply a harmless sounding code-word for Fire Up the Printing Presses, we are going to Print up some money and flood it into the banking system by buying up various things like government bonds and troubled assets. This is supposed to make the banks more flush so they will create lending opportunities that will in turn stimulate the economy. It is used when the traditional forms of control of the money supply, like setting interest rates, are no longer practical (interest rates are already near zero so they can’t be lowered to stimulate anything). The only problem is that it doesn’t work very well, and is almost impossible to control.

The end result is usually inflation which is a particularly destructive tax on all earned and saved wealth. It also hits people on fixed income the hardest. And it can lead to out-of-control inflation and even hyper-inflation…

But rather than let the markets correct, these meddlers at the Fed are convinced that they need to do something, and they are out of options. Recommended reading… End the Fed by Ron Paul…

Gold and silver are potential hedges against inflation, and you should also store other commodities you will need in the future anyway like food. It is only going to get more expensive.

regards
Survival Rob

PS: Sorry I’ve not posted for a few weeks, life has been very busy!

Many people just think that storing food and water is a paranoid activity. Here are five good reasons to start your own emergency preparations today:

1. In case you lose your job and money becomes tight, you will not have to use your cash reserves to feed your family while you are looking for a new income;

2. In case of a natural disaster or major weather event, you will be able to stay safely in your home with enough to eat;

3. You can save money on food if you buy it when it is on-sale, and in larger quantities;

4. Knowing you are prepared to cope with what comes your way is a great stress reliever;

5. You will be in a position to help your close friends or family if a disaster strikes them.

None of these reasons involves TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it) type events or massive social or financial collapse. These are all things that are very possible.

What are you waiting for? Start by storing enough for at least one month for your entire family. Assume 2000 calories per day per person. Time to make a list and get started…

Be Prepared,
Survival Rob

Precious metals like gold and silver are in the news. Every day we are seeing fresh new highs in both metals.

Here is a “live” chart of Silver:

and a “live” chart of Gold:

People keep saying that Gold and Silver are going up in value, and that is true. But they are going up in value with respect to paper money. So, what is really going on?

In reality, gold and silver are stable in terms of their value. It is the paper currency that people are losing some faith in. They know that the various governments of the world are drowning in sovereign debt and are planning for (or already are) printing large amounts of paper money to balance their books. This can lead to inflation which is a reduction in value of existing dollars, or it can lead to default on the debt. Neither is good, which is why they are said to be “between a rock and a hard place”.

In reaction to the fear of money losing its value, investors are putting some of their paper money into hard money- which is gold, silver and some other commodities. Gold and silver both have the advantage that they are a relatively fixed supply item, and have been accepted as MONEY for over five thousand years across almost every human civilization.

The rise in value of gold and silver is primarily die to the loss of confidence in the value of paper money over time. In 1900 you could buy a nice custom-tailored suit for about an ounce of gold, in 2010 you can still make the same exchange. if you wanted to do the trade in dollars you would need about 30x more in 2010 since the value of the dollar has eroded about 97% since the Fed was established in 1913.

Putting some of your long-term money into precious metals is a solid hedge against inflation. It might go down if things get more under control, but it will never be worth nothing and it is portable.

There is a high chance of brutal economic chaos ahead. Start buying and storing food and other necessities for your family so that you can escape the worst of it. And don’t tell everyone you are doing it or you will have hordes at your doors looking for handouts if there is a panic.

Be Prepared,
Survival Rob

Many people rely on prescription drugs in order to maintain their health.

In the event of an emergency, drug stores may be closed for a while. Just like you shouldn’t let your gas tank in your car run empty, you shouldn’t let your supply of prescription (or other necessary) medications drop below a safe point.

It would be a good idea to have a month supply at least of your major medications if you can get your insurance company to go along with it. In many cases, you can choose to go with a 90 day supply as well which will give you on average a larger safety cushion.

People with specific medical issues like diabetes should make sure that they have a stock of life-saving medicines and that they are kept in the proper conditions. Many medications, like insulin, require refrigeration for extended shelf life.

In addition to getting a handle on your drugs and medications, here are a few things you can stock up on when you are at the Drug Store–

1) Multi-vitamins (like one-a-day or equivalent)- get a couple of large bottles
2) Meal replacement bars for your 72 hour kit
3) Batteries
4) First Aid Kit

You can incorporate this preparation into your daily life and your daily errands, you just need to put yourself in the proper frame of mind.

Be Prepared
Survival Rob

Many families don’t even have a decent first aid kit in their house. Here are the top 2 sellers on Amazon, the first is more inclusive of outdoor injury items but both are a good starting point.

#1 Seller…

# 2 seller…

We will talk more about medical supplies in later posts, but a decent First Aid Kit is a must…

And if you need a book on basic First Aid, this one is a good start…

You should also have a First Aid Kit in each of your cars… (this link is for a TWO-PACK):

And think about taking a First Aid training course in your local area. You may not have easy access to doctors or a hospital in a real emergency and you might save the life of someone you love with a little preparation…

Quick post today…

This website has a lot of interesting information and the data is updated frequently to keep it current.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Companies manufacture and sell a wide variety of freeze-dried canned foods that are designed for long-term storage.

The best known of these is Mountain House…

Their foods are cooked and then freeze-dried before canning…

“Freeze-drying” is a unique process that provides product characteristics that cannot be achieved with other processing methods. Fresh or cooked foods are flash frozen and then placed in vacuum chambers that are as cold as -50 F. As low level heat is applied, the ice evaporates without going back through the liquid phase, and removes approximately 98% of the product’s moisture.

This freeze-dried food is then packed in airtight #10 size cans. #10 cans are a little smaller than a gallon.  The filled cans are then nitrogen packed (the air has been replaced by nitrogen). The inside of each can is coated with a protective enamel, including the lid. This enamel helps protect the can from deteriorating elements.

As long as the can is not opened or punctured, the food inside have the longest shelf life available…up to 30 years!

After opening, they recommend using the contents with 2 to 3 weeks for best results and taste; using the convenient resealable plastic lid between uses. Treat any leftover cooked food as you would fresh food.

Some of their popular items include:

Entrees like Beef Stroganoff, Rice & Chicken, and Lasagna with Meat sauce (each can has about 30 servings)
Breakfast Items like Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Canned Meats like cooked hamburger, turkey, chicken, diced beef
Fruits and Vegetables
Dessert Items like Blueberry Cheesecake, and others.

They also manufacture these foods in pouches which have 1-4 servings and which have a shelf life of 5-7 years.  These are very popular with backpackers…

These pouches make excellent additions to your 72 Hour Emergency Kits…

Over the next few weeks, we are going to be talking about securing your home from criminal intruders.  I am glad that the picture on my last post gave some people a chuckle, it was not meant to be indicative of what you need to do to secure your home (yet).  Of course, if we got to a situation of complete anarchy and widespread starvation/looting then even this would not be enough because the criminals would probably just set our house on fire.

I am looking to protect myself, and help you protect yourself, from the common criminal who wants what you have in your home.

With so many people without jobs, and so many people feeling that they deserve whatever they can take, it has led to an increase in home burglaries and car break-ins in many areas…

Criminals are not all stupid, they will tend to go after less defended homes and neighborhoods before they go after well-defended ones.  So, if you don’t already have one in place you should help your neighborhood set up a Neighborhood Watch program.  The one in our area is called C.O.P.S. and we are sent emails whenever there is a break-in that occurs in our general area.  This is also the place where suspicious vehicles and door-knockers are reported and tracked.   Many break-ins are begun with a person dressed as a contractor in work clothes knocking on the front door of a residence.  If the party is home, he says he is mistaken and moves on.

If the homeowner does not answer they know that the home is vacant, and they can case the house and look for a vulnerable point to break-in. (we will discuss how to minimize these vulnerable points in the days ahead).’

Having a Neighborhood watch program gets the entire community aware of the crime in their midst so that they can have the proper awareness.  It also gives a place to report suspicious activity for patterns and so that the police can be alerted.  If a contractor knocks on the “wrong door” in our neighborhood, there is a good chance this would be immediately reported and the police could intervene.

For help starting a Neighborhood program, check out <a href=”http://www.nnwi.org”>www.nnwi.org</a> or <a href=”http://www.usaonwatch.org”>www.usaonwatch.org</a>

Three more things-

1. Talk with your neighbors when you will be gone for more than a day and let them know your plans… They can be alert for people that might pose as movers stealing all your stuff.

2. Don’t let your kids post on Facebook, etc. that you are going on a Cruise tomorrow and will be gone for a week.  This has led to numerous break-ins.  Keep these details to yourself till after your trip.

3. Leave some lights on (with timers if possible to turn them on and off simulating activity).  Maybe leave a radio playing quietly.  Leave external floodlights on as well…

And make sure that you lock your house (DEADBOLTS, not just the pass locks) when you leave.  And lock your cars in your driveway.  Seems obvious, but many people don’t do it…