CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

We preppers often use the term, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. This is certainly the case with the current Ebola crises that has erupted in West Africa. 

We all hope that the outbreak will be contained and eradicated without spreading further afield. However, we have to be prepared in case this doesn’t occur, and the outbreak goes global. The fact that United Kingdom’s Cobra committee met regarding the subject in the last week of July does suggest that there is a strong element of concern in western governments regarding the current situation. The Cobra committee meets when there are matters of national crisis, national security or terrorism concerns. If the United Kingdom government is discussing the Ebola situation, then we can be assured that other western European nations are doing the same thing, as is, without a doubt, the government of the United States. 

The head of the World Health Organisation, Margaret Chan has told leaders in Africa that the outbreak is spreading faster than efforts to control it, and it could be “catastrophic” in terms of lives lost. 

Even though West Africa appears at first glance to be far away, modern international travel combined with an incubation period of 21 days means that we should be prepared for outbreaks on a global scale. We need to know what to do if the very worst should happen. Those that have a plan will be better placed to survive than those that don’t. 

This book aims to bring together information about the virus, its symptoms, incubation periods, death rates and how it is transmitted. It discusses the problems with stopping the virus from spreading due its incubation periods. This will give you a strong background on what to look for and steps that you can take to prevent infection. We also look at the steps governments may take in case of an outbreak. We then move on to the situations that this response might provoke. Then the book will look at both basic preparations that people might wish to take in case ordinary life is halted, in addition, we may look at some further alternations for the more experienced prepper. Finally, we will look at a worse case situation and plans for longer term survival in a new world. 

Disclaimer: The authors are not medical professionals. Medical advice should always be taken when you are concerned about possible infection. Government advice should be followed at all times. 

CHAPTER TWO

What is the Ebola virus?

Origin of the Virus

The virus is named after the Ebola River where the first case of this deadly virus was reported in 1976. The river is situated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Africa. Even though the first reported case of the virus was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country where the first epidemic of the disease was officially declared is Zaire. With the first reported case only being so recent, it is clear that there has not been a lot of time for research to be undertaken into Ebola. As a result there is currently no vaccination to prevent it, reports suggest that the earliest any vaccination might be available will be six years time. 

The Ebola virus is the member of the Filovirus family. The genome organisation of these negative-sense RNA viruses is similar to Paramyxoviridae. The virus can alter it shape and size to suit the environment; this makes it particularly dangerous. The five known strains of Ebola virus are Ivory Coast, Sudan, Reston, Bundibugyo, and Zaire strain. Out of the five strains only four strains – Ivory Coast, Bundibugyo, Sudan, and Zaire are known to cause harm to both nonhuman primates and humans.

Non-human primates, like chimpanzees and gorillas, are cited by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a possible infection source for humans. However, health experts have realised that they are not the only source of this problem. Apes are deemed as “accidental hosts," which means that they don't produce the virus but pass it to others. Domestic farm animals are probably a greater threat to the human population than primates. 

Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of the virus will begin suddenly after about five days of infection. Some of the early symptoms of the virus are:

a) Severe Headache

b) Fever

c) Weakness

d) Chills

e) Joint and Muscle aches

Clearly, these symptoms can be a result of numerous other diseases, the most prominent one being Flu. This makes the virus hard to identify in its early days. 

If left untreated the symptoms will develop with increasing severity.  Some of these symptoms are:

 Red Eyes,  Stomach Pain, Cough and Chest Pain, Nausea and Vomiting, Severe Weight Loss, Bleeding from the eyes, Raised Rash, Diarrhoea and Internal Bleeding. 

Incubation Period

The incubation period of Ebola is the time between the transmission of the virus and the start of the symptoms. When the virus enters the body, it begins to multiply. It can enter the bloodstream and can travel to any part of the body, including spleen, lungs, brain, kidney, skin, liver, pancreas, and thyroid gland. The incubation period can be as short as 48 hours or as long as 21 days. The incubation period is important because an infected person can be passing the virus along without even being aware that were ill. The longer the incubation period, the greater the problem. 

How the virus progresses

The virus infection runs its course within 2 to 21 days. Initially, a person infected will exhibit flu-like symptoms. As the virus infection progresses, the patient may show coagulation abnormalities, rash, and severe bleeding. Patients may also have to deal with hematological irregularities like neutrophilia and lymphopenia. When reticuloendothelial cells come in contact with Ebola virus, it can release cytokines, which can lead to exaggerated inflammatory responses. Massive viremia combined with damage to the liver can cause disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. The virus eventually attacks the microvascular endothelial cells and can compromise vascular integrity. The last stage of the virus infection usually includes hypotensive shock and diffuse bleeding, which accounts for most virus fatalities.

Mortality Rates

The death rates during an Ebola virus disease outbreak can be as high as 90 percent. The mortality rate varies from 50 to 90 percent, depending on the strain. Death usually occurs due to shock rather blood loss. Here are details of the fatality rate of different strains of Ebola virus.

Sudan Strain

It is the first known strain that infected people in Sudan. The Sudan Ebola Virus infected 284 people and had a high fatality rate of 53 percent.

Reston Strain

Since this strain does not affect humans, the fatality rate of Reston Ebola Virus cannot be determined.

Ivory Coast Strain

This strain of Ebola virus was first determined in chimpanzees in 1994. There was a solitary case of Ivory Coast Ebola virus when a scientist who was performing the necropsies of a chimpanzee contacted Ebola. The scientist fully recovered after six weeks.

Bundibugyo Strain

The Uganda Ministry of Health confirmed the outbreak of Bundibugyo Ebola Virus in 2007. Out of the 149 people infected by this virus, 37 did not survive.

Zaire Strain

This strain has the highest average death rate of 83 percent. In some epidemics, the fatality rate was as high as 90 percent. The first outbreak of Zaire Ebola virus was in Zaire in 1976. This is the deadliest strain of the virus and, regretfully, this is the strain that is currently providing the concern around the globe and particular in West Africa. 

CHAPTER THREE

The current global situation with Ebola

There is a rampant outbreak of the Ebola virus in the western African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. This has been stated to be the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus, certainly since the 1970’s and possibly in history. Clearly this is of great concern, especially when you consider that the death rate of those infected with the virus in Western Africa is around 90%. 

Of particular concern is the outbreak in Guinea, which, until now, has never seen an outbreak of this disease. What makes it more concerning still is that normally outbreaks occur in remote rural communities, however in Guinea cases are being identified in urban areas. 

The health ministry of the country of Guinea has openly made it known that by 27th of July in 2014, there were cases of about four hundred and sixty people who were confirmed to have been infected by the Ebola virus. The number of people who have died from being infected by the virus in Guinea has been officially documented to be three hundred and thirty-nine cases and is expected to rise.Most of these fatalities have been confirmed as dying from the virus through laboratory testing. This spread in Guinea has led to the major affected districts, Conakry and Boffa, to be quarantined to help prevent further spread of the virus. 

In Sierra Leone the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that there are a total of five hundred and thirty-three people who are suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus. In addition, there is also a confirmation of about two hundred and thirty-three fatalities as of the 27th of July 2014, and the number is expected to rise due to the increasing number of people being infected by the virus in that country. There are about eleven districts within Sierra Leone that have been confirmed to be affected by the Ebola virus.

In Liberia, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has reported that three hundred and twenty-nine citizens have been affected by the Ebola virus. These numbers have been confirmed by WHO through laboratory testing. The number of deaths officially reported having been caused by the disease is stated to be at one hundred and fifty-six by 27th of July 2014.

The current outbreak Ebola virus crossed three West African borders, on a broad geographical basis. In addition, it has recently been reported in Nigeria, their Ministry of Health confirmed that one person has died from being infected by the virus and some additional people are suspected of being infected (numbers at this stage are unconfirmed.) 

The outbreak has spread immensely in the three West African countries due to the closeness of their borders.  In Liberia, the Ebola virus was reported in the Lofa and Nimba counties in the final days of March 2014 and in April Sierra Leone and Guinea also had confirmed scattered cases of people infected with the virus. The spread of this virus throughout the region has been prolific because of the closeness of the countries affected and the free movement of people within those countries. The living conditions in those countries are very poor; this is shown by the lack of proper sanitation and water. These poor living conditions play a great part in escalating the spread of the Ebola virus. 

The countries affected have taken very serious steps to counter the spreading and escalation of the virus. In Sierra Leone, the president has put forward a demand that all places that have been affected by the virus be quarantined, and the people infected are secluded from the healthy people to help prevent the spread. This quarantine ruling is being enforced by the police and military, indicating how dangerous the situation is there. The president has also put forward a state of emergency concerning public health. Citizens have been restricted from having random public gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus. The government of Sierra Leone also requires people to report any death that has occurred in the country, this has enabled the government to evaluate the cause of death and also update records. Sierra Leone is also taking considerable measures to prevent the virus from spreading to other countries by introducing new airport rules, passengers arriving and departing are being subjected to medical evaluation

Because the spread of the Ebola virus has shown little indication of slowing down, other West African countries have also taken far-reaching steps to prevent the spread of the virus in their regions. Many countries are monitoring their borders more closely and advising people to closely monitor people expressing signs of being infected with the virus.  Nigeria, with its one, confirmed case and death, and has also put forward strict airport rules and has begun screening the passengers’ temperatures to prevent any entry of the virus to uninfected areas. The adage, prevention is better than cure, is certainly true in the case of Ebola and that is why a lot of the countries not yet affected immensely by the virus are putting in a lot of efforts to prevent further devastating outbreaks. This is seen in countries like Ghana where strict new laws in transport and health care have been introduced to prevent the spread of the virus.

The outbreak of the Ebola virus and the number of deaths have captured the attention of the whole world and WHO.  Concern is being shown as far away as the United Kingdom, where their Cobra Emergency Committee met recently to discuss the situation and prevention within the country. WHO has monitored the outbreak in the affected countries, and has reported officially that the number of fatalities stands at seven hundred and twenty-nine and the people infected by the virus is at one thousand three hundred and twenty-three by 27th of July 2014. WHO has already launched a one hundred million dollar plan to respond to the outbreak that is escalating at a very fast level.

Further developments are likely to take place on a daily basis. 

CHAPTER FOUR

How is the Ebola virus transmitted

 Ebola first spreads when humans come into contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals. Humans become infected when they touch the secretions, blood or organs of these animals.  infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines. 

The human-to-human transmission of the Ebola Virus. 

The virus then moves through human communities. Human-to-human transmission occurs when a person comes into direct contact with the bodily fluids of another who has the virus. In the same way, the virus transmits when one person touches the blood or secretions of an infected human host. Burial ceremonies in which people have direct contact with the body of the deceased person also have a role in the transmission of the virus. 

It should also be clear that the virus can be passed on by contact with contaminated environments. 

Ebola also takes hold if we come into contact with contaminated needles or syringes. This happens regularly in West African Hospitals with poor hygiene practices. In addition, there are numerous cases of the infection being transferred to health care workers. 

Researchers have also found that men continue to spread the virus through their semen seven days after recovery. 

The natural reservoir of the virus is not yet determined, increasing its danger. A large amount of the virus resides in the fruit bats living in the Tai rain forest, but researchers have not established them as a prime source of its spread. They do not know how it begins transmitting. 

Problems with the incubation period 

This lack of knowledge makes developing prevention methods or treatments a onerous task. To add, doctors also face problems with the virus' incubation period. The incubation period creates difficulties because it varies widely. The disease starts to spread anytime from two to 21 days. 

Studies on data collected by Martin Eichner, Scott F. Dowell, and Nina Firese during the Ebola outbreak of 1995 showed that the mean incubation period of the virus was 12.7 days. More importantly, it also revealed that the incubation period for 4.1% of those infected was longer than 21 days.

This data shows that the virus is impossible to isolate. It is also hard for doctors to know when the virus is the most contagious.

How close are we to a vaccination? 

When dealing with Ebola, then prevention is better than cure. However, vaccination is currently not available. 

To do so requires knowledge of the virus' weaknesses. Researcher Karthik Chandra of the James Cunningham Laboratory of the Harvard University has made headway with his discovery of the virus' apparent failings. He found that the virus needs an important cellular protein, the Niemann-Pick, to spread. Laboratory mice he bred to produce low levels of this protein developed no symptoms after being exposed to the virus. He used the information to develop a new compound to block this essential  protein. He hopes that the compound will stop the protein's growth in humans and prevent the virus from using it as a pathway. Chandra has yet to test further to determine the effectiveness. The process is likely to be a long and arduous one. 

Still, this potential exploitation of the virus' weakness brings hope that he and other researchers will eventually produce vaccinations. Clearly if the virus were to spread globally significant funding would be available to step up the trials and research. 

Preventing the transmission Ebola Virus

As a first preventive measure, those suspected of having the virus need to seek medical treatment.  Hospitals must quarantine anyone with the illness. Isolation is, as yet, the best way to stop the virus' deadly spread. It is common sense that we should lessen our contact with infected people. For health care workers and close relatives, this is difficult. Numerous doctors and nurses have contracted the disease from their patients. Barrier methods should be used by health care workers when dealing with infected people. 

In the Liberian capital of Monrovia, disinfectant is being sprayed around offices in order to help prevent against the transmission of the virus. Simple steps such as washing of hands can also be an excellent method of halting the viruses progress.

Further, we must put good hygiene practices into place into farms. The regular cleaning of pig and monkey farms is necessary to stop animal to human transmission. If the disease is found in an animal herd, then culling will be necessary to irradiate the virus. Compensation will probably be required in Africa to encourage farmers to report cases. Besides taking note of the health of animals, we can further prevent the disease by reducing our consumption of raw meat. This decreases our contact with contaminated animal blood. 

Lastly, education is imperative. Nations with incidences of the ailment should share information with others. Introducing facts about Ebola in schools is a must. 

CHAPTER FIVE

How might the number of cases expand

Whilst the current outbreak is isolated in West Africa, we cannot say for certain that it will remain there. 

West African hospitals, ill-equipped to combat the virus, have turned to medical facilities in the West for help in curbing the disease's transmission. A German Hospital in Hamburg has already agreed to accept Ebola patients at the request of WHO. Though doctors assured the media that they will take the utmost care to prevent the spread of the disease during treatment, the daunting lack of knowledge about its specific nature makes this entirely possible. Infected people will be kept behind air locks and the health care staff that treat them will be wearing full body suits complete with their oxygen supplies. These body suits will be burnt every three hours. 

There may also come a time when WHO will send Ebola patients hospitals in America, bringing with them the same likelihood that the disease will spread. Federal authorities are only ready for a low incidence of the disease's outbreak. 

Of course, the illness may spread in other ways. It only takes an infected person on board a plane to transmit it. The incubation period of the Ebola Virus can take as long as 21 days and any person infected may not show signs of the disease for several weeks. In our modern times, the international travel can spread the Ebola disease very quickly and very randomly. This is an unprecedented public health scenario because since the 70s’ Ebola outbreaks were limited to remote regions of Uganda and Congo, far from urban centers. All other previous Ebola outbreaks were contained within the borders of a single country. However, this time the first Ebola cases emerged in Guinea and then hundreds of people contracted the disease in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The current situation is made even worse because those are some of the poorest countries in the world, with limited public health resources.

Ebola may spread fast around the globe because it is difficult to detect the disease in departing passengers. Usually, the initial symptoms of Ebola are similar to many other diseases. An eventual spread of Ebola Virus around the globe may pose a real danger. Studies have shown that any infectious virus could spread around the world in less than a day. The Ebola virus has spread at an alarming rate in West Africa; the modern world is a world without borders. WHO has already issued a warning that Ebola could become a global pandemic.

Even if the Ebola Virus is not airborne and it is not spreading as quickly as a flu virus, the possible exposure to the population in a large city makes real the possibility that Ebola may mutate into something even more contagious. Ebola could potentially spread up in just a matter of hours all over the United States. The key factors in this kind of scenario would be how many people had the Ebola infection and how many of them would travel further. 

Here are the main factors influencing the way how the Ebola virus could be transmitted around the globe:

1) Ebola Virus doesn't modify as fast as some other killer viruses. 

The Ebola Virus was first discovered in 1976 and has not changed significantly since then. It is not expected that the virus causing the current outbreak will change significantly in the future. Some other viruses can change dramatically from year to year, including the SARS virus and the flu viruses. However, this is not the case of the Ebola Virus. The severity of the current outbreak is not caused by the fact that the virus itself has gotten any worse. 

2) Ebola spreads through close contact with bodily fluids or contaminated environments. 

Because Ebola can’t travel through the air like other viruses, it is unlikely that an infected passenger would spread the disease in a public place or on a plane. However, the Ebola Virus can stay alive for several days on a surface, so people could get it from touching objects contaminated with bodily fluids.

3) People infected with the Ebola Virus are generally not contagious until they are sick

Aches, diarrhoea, or fever can be clues that somebody is sick with Ebola. However, these symptoms are confusing because they are common for many other diseases. Bleeding from orifices, which is a symptom typical for Ebola disease may come on later or may not happen at all. That makes it difficult to recognize when dealing with someone infected with Ebola.

4) It is possible to survive Ebola

People do survive Ebola. The survival rate depends on the medical care provided to the patients. It is likely that survival rates in the rest of the world would be higher than those currently being experienced in West Africa. 

5) The current Ebola outbreak is worse than anything experienced before because it is happening in countries with poor health infrastructure

Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, the countries at the centre of the outbreak are among the poorest places in the world. With a weak health infrastructure, they are not able to properly manage and contain the current Ebola outbreak.

6) Ebola could spread in random countries

With the high rate of today’s international travel, it is possible for cases of Ebola disease to appear in random countries across the globe. How big the outbreak would be in the new location depends on how prepared the public health system is and on how quickly the virus is noticed.

7) It is possible that Ebola Virus would come to the US

In the worst-case scenario, the first person to bring Ebola over to the United States would contact with lots of people before the public health system realizes that it might be Ebola. Then the disease would start spreading before the epidemiologists would track down sick people and implement measures to prevent further transmission.

Based on these factors we can forecast the following potential scenarios for the current Ebola outbreak:

Scenario 1:

The Ebola virus will be contained during the coming months, due to disease information, local and national health support, health care efforts of the international community, and treatment centers.

Scenario 2:

The Ebola virus may become in the years to come a recurring and deadly threat for the continent of Africa.

Scenario 3:

The Ebola virus could become a constant international threat. Military control posts would be organized on borders from infected countries and air traffic across the globe would halt to a standstill.

Scenario 4 - worst case scenario:

The Ebola virus mutates and becomes air-borne with a global pandemic that cause widespread destruction, chaos, and death across the world.

CHAPTER SIX

Treatment for sufferers of Ebola

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) formerly known as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever is the disease that attacks humans and is induced by the Ebola virus. As we have discussed, symptoms can take anywhere from two to 21 days to show up after the infection, and they include fever, severe headache, joint and muscle pain, chills and weakness. After some time, these symptoms become more severe and progress into other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, rashes, painful cough and chest pain and eventually lead to death. Ebola can be contracted via blood, other body fluids, having contact with tissues of infected animals or people or contact with contaminated areas.  It's a severe disease that can have a 90% mortality rate, but people do survive. The question has to be asked, how do we treat Ebola?

TREATMENT METHODS

Being a disease with a very high mortality rate, it is important that people receive treatment as soon as possible after a diagnosis has been made. Even though the high mortality rate mostly refers to the outbreaks in Central and West Africa, the virus would still be highly dangerous in the western world. The sufferers are usually severely dehydrated and need intensive care. They must be re-hydrated via intravenous fluids or orally with the help of electrolyte solutions. There are currently no medications available that could successfully be used for treatment of Ebola. There are quite a few trials that are being run around the world, but none of them has produced a pharmaceutical treatment that would be viable for the general market. In addition to that, there are a few vaccines being tested but none of them is available for clinical use yet.

SURVIVAL RATES

As previously mentioned, survival rates in third world countries during an outbreak are poor. The survival rates are poor mostly due to poor hygiene standards and the inability to provide sufficient rehydration treatments.  The survival rates for the United States and Western Europe are being evaluated as a little bit better, if there would ever be an outbreak, but it is still important to keep in mind that Ebola virus does not hold the title of the world's deadliest disease for nothing. Recent estimations show that the survival rate in these countries would be about 40%, and this is mostly due to quarantine protocols would be put in place and the fact that hospitals can treat symptoms and keep patients comfortable and hydrated. Clearly at risk groups such as older people, pregnant women, the young and those with cardiovascular conditions would suffer a higher mortality than the rest of the population. 

PREVENTION OF INFECTION AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Ebola virus is transmitted by human-to-human contact, and this is why healthcare workers should be especially careful while dealing with patients that show signs of EVD. Because early symptoms of Ebola can be very non specific, it is also important that anyone that comes in contact with a sick patient uses standard precautions consistently. If this is not the case, hospital personnel should always have the ability to report anyone that does not follow protocol, because this way they can be instrumental in preventing the disease from spreading and causing a potential outbreak. Standard precautions are frequent hand washing, hand disinfection and a uniform that is clean and without any stains. One of the precautions is also handling any type of infectious material with gloves and disposing of and storing it in appropriate containers that are clearly labeled. After a positive diagnosis is made, anyone that comes in contact with an infected patient should take additional precautions. If they have to be in close contact to perform medical or diagnostic procedures, such as drawing blood for testing, they should put on a long sleeved non-sterile gown, gloves and additional face protection that covers their mouth, nose and eyes. If the patient is prone to coughing, this can mean that the healthcare worker can get infected by the smallest droplet that falls into their eye for example. The protective gear should be made from materials that sufficiently protect whoever wears them, but it should also be disposable. The German hospital that has been asked to take victims from Africa has stated that health care works will wear full body suits with their own oxygen supply.  Changing protective clothing and gloves is a must in any hospital to prevent hospital infections, and it is absolutely vital with a disease as deadly as Ebola, incineration of these items is the safest form of disposal. 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Likely government responses to outbreaks

Anyone who wants to be prepared in case the Ebola virus hits their shores needs to understand how both their government and the majority of the population will react. This is what this chapter will discuss. 

The government’s two principle concerns will be the containment of the virus and to stop panic spreading throughout the population. A panicked population could actually cause greater damage than any virus. Due to this, any government may try to keep any outbreak out of the media. Of course, they may not take this route, and if the outbreak was serious then, announcements would have to be made. However, it is likely that the Government would be aware of any confirmed cases in the country at least 24 hours before any press release was issued. 

The first steps would be the Government to attempt to isolate the outbreak. This would be achieved by not just isolating the infected person (one person always has to be the first in any country), but anyone that the person has come to contact with. The isolation of non-affected individuals would have to be for a period of at least 22 days to ensure the inception period for the virus has past. If this proves to be infective and further cases come to light then, the Government will have to take additional measures. 

It is likely that a range of measures will then be introduced these are likely to include:

    •    Ban on travel into or out of the infected areas. This would include bans on travel from affected areas outside the country. Additional policing and enforcement would be required at borders to ensure that this restriction was adhered. 

    •    All schools would shut. 

    •    All sporting fixtures, concerts, conferences or events where large numbers of people would be gathering would be banned. 

    •    If matters became more serious then restrictions could be placed on when people could leave their homes. This would to avoid the population mixing as much as possible. This could even be upgraded, forcing people to remain in their homes at all times to prevent the virus spreading. 

    •    Food parcels would be delivered as visiting the supermarkets would be banned to prevent people being in contact with each other. 

The measures above are highly sensible and rational. However, when measures like this are put in place, people panic. The major concern would be a breakdown in the social order; people would raid and strip supermarkets of all foodstuffs. Additional rioting could take place as people seek to secure the resources they believe that they are going to need. The breakdown of social order is when the Prepper needs to consider bugging out. 

CHAPTER EIGHT

Basic Prepper Considerations

The first step that people should undertake when deciding to be become prepared for such a situation arising is to stockpile basic goods. Remember restrictions are likely to be made on your movements, you should not expect that the government will be able to provide for you. We are going to cover ten considerations that you are going to have address in a worst case situation. This section discusses the ideal situation where you will have enough of every item to sustain yourself as long as possible - it was written to apply to any “doomsday situation” where society breaks down, and the world stops operating as it currently does. The information applies to the situation that we are currently considering, although some of the points may be more relevant to other potential doomsday situations. I have left them in as it can help someone new to the concept of prepping get a grasp for the way their mind needs to start working. 

Remember - the essential points are One and Two. If you do nothing else, then at least address these issues. 

One: Food

Quite possibly the easiest concept to grasp for any “want to be” prepper. You will need food in order to live. The problem you will have is that supermarkets will no longer exist. Food will no longer come on a shelf. In reality, we are going back to caveman style.

In the long term, you will need to grow and catch your own food, however in the short term that isn’t likely to be possible. In the first few months of any doomsday event you are going to want to stay hidden, possibly even for a few years. You need to be prepared for the short term. 

If a doomsday event is predicted on the media then your local supermarkets shelves will be wiped out in minutes. Trust me this will happen. You have to prepare now. 

You should aim to store, as a minimum, a one-year supply of food for yourself and your family. In an ideal world, many preppers look at storing two years supply. This obviously is going to be expensive; however, it is a far better prospect than fighting other humans for the last bag of pasta on the shelf in the supermarket. It will take some considerable thought as to how much food you will actually need for a whole year. Five tins of baked beans and two packets of pasta isn’t going to get you very far. Sit down and work out the numbers on paper for your own particular situation. 

Clearly you can’t store fresh food. There is little point in storing frozen food either, in a doomsday scenario electricity is likely to stop. Unless you go really hardcore and have your own generator in place, it is far easier to store dry and tinned goods. 

The obvious starting point are carbohydrates, in reality this comes down to rice and pasta. This will become the bulk of your food supply. Another good source are pluses. Keep the goods in the bags they are purchased in they will last far longer than if left open to the air. Never store bagged food on the floor, vermin will find a way in. In fact, the golden rule is never store any food on the floor at all. 

Then you need to look at tinned goods. Tinned food is fantastic; it lasts for years and years and still tastes good when you open it. You need to think about your nutritional needs; you will need protein; you will need fats and you will need vitamins and minerals. The beauty is that all of these needs can be taken care of with tinned food. Both meat and fish are supplied in tins, fruit and vegetables also. The range of goods is vast, there will be no need to be eating the same food every day for the next two days. 

It may be the case that it makes more sense to buy at least some of these goods from a wholesaler or cash and carry type store. The cans of food are far larger in these stores and are often more cost-effective to purchase. If you are feeding a family of five, how many tins of tuna will you need to open? Two? Three? More? Isn’t it better to have one large tin than lots of smaller ones? Tins are also very easy to store and don’t take up a lot of room; you can stack them very high and thus the space required is far less. 

After the carbohydrates and the tined essentials are the extras. The things that are likely to make your life more bearable.  A range of sauces in jars is a good idea, especially when you make pasta. Then you could consider things like gravy granules. Instant coffee, hot chocolate and tea bags are a must together with a combination of both long life and powered milk. Soups are another excellent choice; they are filling and are very easy to cook. 

You may also like to consider stocking a range of dried fruits and nuts. You need to check how long these goods can be stored for safely; the last thing you need in your store is food that is going off. 

Finally, you need a store of salt, pepper, possibly sugar, flour and dried herbs. 

One truly essential item at this point is a tin opener, with the majority of your food store in tins, you are going to need to get access to the goodies. A simple suggestion is don’t go for just one tin opener as they all tend to blunt and break. Store at least ten openers and make sure they are different models. 

Two: Water

Right up there with oxygen comes water in our list of essentials. After a doomsday event, you should never trust water supplies, even it appears all are working normally. You simply don’t know what might have happened further up the supply chain. Always be safe, never, ever trust the water supply! Rant over. 

The obvious solution to this problem is to store at least some water in your food store. Do be careful about how long the water will stay safe for, ensure you have a list of when the water will go bad and drink and replace before that happens. I’m not normally a fan of soft drink, but again a small supply could be a useful addition to a food storage area. A sugary drink could be an excellent idea when blood sugars are low, and tiredness sets in, especially in those early days after the doomsday event. Longlife fruit juices may also be a good idea to store, obviously they won’t give you the health benefits that fresh juices do, but it is often better than nothing. 

I would aim to store no more than enough water to last you one month. Even then that is probably too much, we need a lot of water, and it will take a massive amount of space to store anymore. You really have to allow four litres of fluid per person per day! This allows for cooking, a small amount of washing as well as drinking. For a family of four for a month, you are looking at storing some 480 litres. That’s a lot of bottles! 

Ultimately you are going to need an alternative water source because you simply will not be able to store enough for any length of time. As you will find out, we recommend that you have a bolt hole to go to in the event of a doomsday event. We recommend that bolt hole is in the country, close to a small water source, ideally in the hills.

Your first job after collecting water is to filter it. This will remove any visible particles from the water. You may think that the water is clear, but you should never skip this important step, you will live to regret it. Water filtration kits are available to purchase, and we recommend that you have a number of quality models in your storage area.  Failing that, filtering the water through a series of clean handkerchiefs and socks stuffed inside a cut open plastic water bottle is a very credible substitute. 

After filtering the next stage of the process, is purification. If you miss out this stage, you are doomed to death. Never fail to purify water before you drink it. Everyone knows the best method to purify water; you need to boil it. Make sure that you are actually boiling the water, the liquid should be bubbling. And also ensure that you boil the water for at least ten minutes, this will be enough to kill all the germs, bacteria and any other nasties that might be lurking. All you have to do then is wait for it to cool and drink it. I would recommend that you boil water before you cook with it as well. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the cooking process will kill the germs. It doesn’t matter if the water is boiled twice, better safe than sorry. 

The other, simple method of purifying water is to use a tablet that can be bought online or from any camping or outdoor store. There are a number of different types on the market, simply ensure that you follow the instructions for use to the letter. Just be careful about tablets, because once the seal has been broken on the bottle, they do have a shelf life. Never exceed that shelf life thinking that it will be ok. If in doubt, don’t use and boil instead. 

The whole process of water purification is one that should be mastered. This link goes to a fantastic little book that looks at this subject in far more detail than we are ever able to in our one hour read book today. I urge you to spend the few dollars needed on it. It might just save your life. http://tinyurl.com/bvlv6px 

There may be an occasion when you don’t have access to a ready supply of fresh water. This is when you need to be really creative. The obvious method of getting a supply of fresh drinkable water is to capture rain water to drink. Plastic sheeting is ideal for this job. The bigger, the better, lay out the sheeting in such a manner that the rain water runs down into some form of receptacle.  Trees are a good source of water if times are hard. By tying a plastic bag tightly around a branch with leaves overnight, it should produce you a quantity of water by morning. It won’t be a lot, but it will keep you alive till you find an alternative source. 

Yes, you can also drink your urine if you are really up against it, but we don’t have time in this book to talk you through the process of how you do that. Make learning this skill one of your educational tasks (discussed later on in the book.) 

Condoms make fantastic water carriers if needed. Special services around the globe have been using condoms for this purpose for years. Choose the ones without spermicide applied though!

Three: Shelter

You will need a shelter of one form, or another to live in after the doomsday event. Without a shelter, you will have to construct one of your own, which isn’t hard, but is certainly time-consuming. Time that would be far better spent doing other things. However, one thing is for sure living out in the open is not recommended. 

You may have planned to live in your own home post doomsday. However, if your house is anywhere remotely urban this is not a good idea. Cities, towns, villages are not good places to be in the event of a breakdown of social order. Mob rule will take over, and your carefully laid plans will soon be ruined as the mob comes in search of food. 

Ideally you need some form of a secret hideaway as far away from people as you can find (more on location later.) Your shelter needs to be big enough to have everything that you need stored away inside. Your food store needs to be in your shelter for example (obvious but it needs to be clear.) It is pointless having your food store inside your main home if you aren’t going to be staying there post doomsday. You simply won’t have time to pack up the car before you leave. Your shelter needs to be easily heated; ideally with an option of at least two heat sources. Finally, it needs to be as secure as possible. This may mean shutters being nailed over windows. This is a decision that you need to take depending on the circumstances.   

It really isn’t a good idea to decide to live in a tent post doomsday. You simply aren’t secure enough, and there is no way you will be able to store everything that you might need. There is no harm in having a tent or tents as part of an emergency kit. A tent will obviously give you protection from the elements and is far preferable than sleeping outside, but it is not a viable long term solution. 

A motorhome type vehicle is actually a very good idea. You can have the required stores already in the vehicle ready for use and then simply drive to your chosen location at a given time. You just won’t need a big television that most motorhomes come with these days. 

Obviously the ideal shelter to sit out any doomsday event is a bunker. It may be the case you want to look into the possibility of building your own bunker. (Again, there is nowhere near enough space in this book to do this.) Be warned building your own bunker is going to be EXPENSIVE. However, what price do you put on survival? There are reports on the internet (okay not most reliable of information sources at times) that China finishes a new bunker every single week. All of this is in preparation for a doomsday event. Some reports even say that within five years they will have created enough bunker space to house their entire population. 

Whatever route you choose, you need to consider and more importantly action your solution now. Who knows when it will be needed? The sooner you are prepared, the better!  

Four: Location

The location that you intend to live post doomsday event is very important and should be researched at some depth. We have already considered the importance of shelter and having something appropriate prepared. But now the question arises where should that shelter be located? 

Firstly, it needs to be in a rural location. This is essential. It needs to be as far away from the mob as possible. However, it also needs to be easy to get to in a hurry. It should take you no more than an hour to reach via motorised transport. Ideally, it should be closer to fifteen minutes away. Remember in the event of a doomsday event occurring, or the possibility of one being reported on the media the roads will become chaos. Your car needs to be ready to go to your location straight away. You need to know at least five different routes that you can take to reach your location as quickly as possible. Remember! Preparation saves lives!  

Your planned shelter may already be there, you either own it, or you can purchase it. It might be a countryside cottage, a rundown barn or a hunting shack. However, just because you own it, have access to it or it meets the requirements of having sufficient storage space it doesn’t mean it is in the right location.  

After a rural position, your next requirement is proximity to water. You need a clean, fresh, natural supply of water. Essentially this means a river, stream or spring. However, never make the mistake of choosing a location on a flood plain, this is just suicide waiting to happen. The ideal water source is a spring. Fresh water gushing out from the earth, what could be better? Take some time to educate yourself about your local springs. Is one close to you? Is this a potential location for you to survive in? The next preferable source of water is a stream, ideally in the hills. The higher up the stream, the better, the water tends to be faster-flowing which means that any impurities are washed away quicker, and there is little chance of the water stagnating. The location in the hills is far better than one on low ground. Think back to medieval times, the castle was always placed next to the water on the hill. Why? It was easier to defend, and it gave its inhabitants a fantastic line of sight. If you are high up on a hill, chances are you are going to be left alone, in truth people just won’t be bothered. They will go and find an easier target. 

Finally, you need to consider the soil type of your location. The time will come when you need to grow food to survive. Those tins will not last forever. Unfortunately, the soil in many hills tends to be thin and not that suitable for growing things. This is why hill farmers tend to concentrate on livestock, sheep in the main. So it may be the case that you have to find a secondary location close to your main location where you can in the future grow crops. Valleys below the hills are often far better places to grow, and it will certainly increase your fitness by having to walk up and down hills every day.

The best way to find your ideal location to sit it all out is to get an official map, a piece of string and a drawing pin. Stick the pin on your home and then draw three circles, the first one roughly how far you can travel in 15 minutes, the second in half an hour and the third in an hour. You should begin your search for a suitable location within a 15-minute circle. If nothing suitable comes up, move to the thirty-minute circle and then finally to the one-hour circle. Mark down every possible location and then you need to put the leg work in. You need to go and visit those locations to determine the best one. 

Five: Vehicle 

You are going to need a vehicle stood by, ready at all times to get you to your location in the shortest possible time. The fact that you want to get there in the shortest possible time might suggest that the most suitable vehicle is going to be a sports car. It might be, but to be fair it probably isn’t. 

In reality, the most suitable vehicle is likely to be a 4x4. They tend to be heavy duty vehicles than aren’t going to fall apart if you have a minor scrape in them. Roads will be chaos post doomsday, in order to survive you may need to push other vehicles out of the way on route, a 4x4 is better equipped than most to handle this task. The roads might even be so bad that you might need to go off road at some point; there is little point in having any other vehicle other than a 4x4. There is no sense in having prepared for this moment for years, in having a great location with a superb comfortable shelter which is fully stocked without being able to get there. 

The only other vehicle that you may consider is a mobile home. The advantage of this option is that you are taking both your shelter and your stock room with you. This does give you the option of going slightly further to a choice of location; however it does make off-roading an almost impossibility. You need to decide, based on your own circumstances, which is the best option for you. 

Always ensure that your vehicle has enough fuel in it to reach your location comfortably. It is obviously not practically to always have a full tank, but that is what we are looking to achieve. Never take the risk of taking your vehicle out for the day and parking it up at home with next to zero fuels in the tank. No matter how tired you are, ensure that you fill up before reaching home. Also, never scrip or save on vehicle maintenance. You need it available when you need it, ensure regular servicing occurs and when issues arise, fix them. You may also like to consider keeping an additional spare tyre in the car; just in case. Certainly you need four cans of the special foam that can instantly repair a flat tyre, that way even with four flats, you can still get to your location.  

You should also keep a mini-survival kit in a rucksack in your vehicle. You should always plan for the worst; use the adage that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. You may have to ditch your vehicle and continue the rest of the journey to your location on foot. Make sure your rucksack includes warm clothing, a survival blanket, a flashlight and two days worth of rations. 

Finally, ensure that you have the maps to your location secured inside your glove box. You should know your route by heart. You should practice the drive at least three times a year (in all seasons). Know all the alternative routes. Never depend on a sat-nav system, post doomsday they won’t work! 

Six: Health

Over the next few years, your health is likely to be your biggest stumbling block to survival. Hopefully post doomsday enough people will survive to start rebuilding “normal” lives once again at some point, but how long will that take? What happens if every single doctor dies in the meantime? You can’t expect there to be any form of medical care for you after doomsday. You will have to take care of matters yourself. 

Firstly you need to start looking after yourself as much as possible now. If you are unfit, then use the time you have now to reverse that position. You need to be as fit as possible when the time comes.

Doomsday is no excuse to eat badly. Fruit and vegetables will come in a tin, you need to have a good stock of them and then you need to eat them. In addition, your store should have a good supply of vitamin supplements; these must be taken on a regular basis. As they say, prevention is always better than a cure. 

If you take regular medications, then you need to find a way to stock up on them as soon as possible.. You might look at the options of purchasing more privately on the internet; you need to be aware of legal issues surrounding this of course. Always know the location of the chemist, on the way to your location it may well be worth stopping off to stock up on your essential medications (we aren’t talking a shopping trip here, you walk in get what you need and leave.) It is pointless turning up at your location knowing that you only have medication to last you 40 days.  Learn the locations of manufacturing plants and distribution centres for your medications, in time you may have to visit them.

A chemist should be a regular place you visit as you create your stock pile. You will need basics such as anti-septic washes and creams, plasters, bandages, headache pills, tampons, cough mixture, sore throat spray, etc. If you can see it in a chemist shop, then you will need it. You get sick post doomsday, mark my words you are on your own. The one advantage you will hold is that you won’t have contact with many people, hence colds and flu won’t be passed around with ease. Your only limit on medical supplies is really based on how much you can store. 

A medical reference book might be a good addition to your shelters book shelf. However don’t fall into the trap of thinking a simple headache is a brain tumour. If you truly do develop a serious condition, there is little you are going to be able to do about it anyway. You need to look to cover the most common illnesses and any possible injuries. Learn and research how to fix your arm if it is broken, believe it or not it is perfectly possible to do. Education is key, and you don’t need medical school. 

Seven – Fuel

You will need to decide how you are going to get the two basics after doomsday; heat and light. 

A very experienced and well prepared “prepper” may have a generator installed already at their location. This will allow them to generate their own electricity. This is a very advanced strategy and opens up its own set of problems. Firstly you are going to need fuel to power your generator in the first place, this means a stock pile of this somewhere at your location. Secondly generators go wrong; almost constantly. You will need to be skilled at repairing equipment and are likely to need a range of spare parts at hand to do this. Finally, generators are still extremely noisy, you want your location to remain as secret and hidden as possible. A generator is going to give away your position as much as someone pointing a great big flashing light over it! To put it simply, forget about a generator. 

For heat, there can be nothing simpler or better than a normal wood burning fire. Stockpile wood beforehand in a wood store attached to your shelter. Also have at least a one month supply inside your shelter. If you want to be a further step ahead have a fire already prepared that simply just needs lighting when you arrive. Remember, even though you are prepared, a doomsday event will still be a shock, don’t rely on yourself to think straight for a day or too. If you can prepare in advance, do so! 

If you are going down the wood route then, you will need at least three axes. Remember to learn how to sharpen an axe beforehand and have the necessary equipment all stored in preparation. 

Fire lighting tools are a must. Firelighters, matches, cigarette lighters are all very useful when you need to light a fire. Never rely on rubbing two sticks together, it’s far too complex. You should easily be able to store a couple of thousand matches, which should last you many years. Matches should be stored in at least three different places. You don’t want to have a small leak in the roof somewhere and find your only supply of matches is wet. Think worst case and prepare to beat it. 

You can also use your fire to cook on, although it may be difficult inside a normal fireplace. Open fires are fantastic for cooking marshmallows on, the perfect activity to unwind after a doomsday event. 

For ease, when it comes to cooking it makes far more sense to invest in a gas stove set that are sold to take on camping trips. They come in a range of different sizes, and you can actually set them up in the kitchen area and leave them. They are normally powered by gas cylinders; you will need to stock pile these cylinders as well. However, do take into account the dangerous nature of gas cylinders. It would probably be worth storing them a little distance away from your shelter for safety purposes. Again, knowing locations of gas cylinder stockists would be useful for the future in case you run out, and you need to restock. 

When it comes to light at night, you have a range of possibilities. Firstly your wood fire is going to throw out a lot of light so that will immediately become a help. Candles are cheap, easy to store and last a long time. But there are a whole range of gas, oil and battery driven lighting solutions. I would suggest that you have a range of devices stored (together with their appropriate power source) backed by a very large store of candles. Flashlights are obvious solutions for walking somewhere that is isn’t normally lit up – the outside restroom for example! Just ensure that you keep an ample store of batteries and bulbs at hand.  

Naked flame is going to become the norm; however, you aren’t likely to be used to it to start with. If you have a family, your kids aren’t going to be used to it either. You need to spend time educating everyone about the dangerous nature of naked flames. You must all ensure that candles are put out before bed for example. It is also probably worth investing in a range of fire extinguishers, just in case the worst should happen. There is no point in beating doomsday only to have your shelter burn down at night!  

Eight: Communications

In the event of a doomsday event occurring, our modern communication devices will more than likely become next to useless. 

In truth, it depends on the event that is occurring as to what is going to get knocked out. If the doomsday event is a health pandemic, then actually the radio and television networks will still be broadcasting, and cell phones are likely to still work. A massive solar flare, however will wipe all of those out. 

Cell phones are likely to be the first thing that disappears. If doomsday is caused by solar influences, the satellite system will be destroyed instantaneously anyway. If social unrest starts to occur, then governments are likely to switch them off even if the satellite system is unaffected. The recent riots in London and the rest of England were found to have been planned on smart phones. Any government in such a position will be forced to switch cell phone signals off. Assume that you won’t have a cell phone. 

The same is true for the internet; you are going to have to assume that you don’t have it. For many young people, this is going to be one of the biggest adjustments that they are going to have to get used to. The internet works through our phone system, if the phone system is down; the internet will be as well. 

You need to be kept informed of the changing situation as much as possible when you are in your location. Therefore, you need to equip your location with a television (hoping that the power is still on) and a radio. You can either get a battery powered radio or a wind up one. Radio is likely to survive for longer than television so having two radios could be a good idea. You will need to monitor a range of wavelengths and frequencies especially as the situation deteriorates, and radio stations go off the air. 

For communications between ourselves then we need an alternative method. A CB radio system, such as those that were popular in the 1970s, would seem to be an obvious choice. You can search the different channels and see if other people are broadcasting and then converse with them to build up a picture of events outside of your location. CB radio systems are still easy to purchase with many specialist stores on line. Like everything, you should research what you are buying and how you go about using it. It stands to reason that the more you pay, the better your system will be. 

In the Hollywood film, Independence Day various pockets of the human race communicated with each other via Morse code to coordinate a strike on the alien invaders. This is probably not a viable method for us as individuals; you aren’t likely to have the equipment, but it is something to be aware of. A copy of Morse code should be in your location just in case the message is received by you in this format. 

Both televisions and radios are used for monitoring events as they unfold; you can’t interact with people on them. CRB radio is a completely different matter; you will be able to speak to the person on the other end. You need to consider carefully what you tell the person you are speaking to. For example, it wouldn’t be wise to disclose your location to the person on the other end of the line. Indeed this is the golden rule of post doomsday communication. Remember everyone is looking after themselves and the person you are talking to might simply be in search of additional resources. Simply put, don’t trust anyone, no matter what they say. It might be very exciting to get human contact after a few months of nothing, but you have to curb your excitement and remember to keep calm and stick to the golden rule.

Nine: Weapons

A sensitive subject for many, however you need to embrace weapons if you hope to survive long term post doomsday. 

Firstly, you will need weapons for hunting. Your stored food will, eventually, run out; you will have to hunt for meat and fish. You might like to learn about snares, traps and driving deer into pits. All skills are useful. However, it is far easier to hunt with weapons.

Fishing is likely to be the easiest method of “hunting.” As your location is going to be close to the water, there will either be fish in the stream close by or you can follow the water downstream to where there is a supply. You could, if you wish, try to fish with a rod and line. However, you aren’t doing this for recreation or sport so don’t mess about – use a net. Stretch your net across the stream and drag downstream, that way you are more likely to maximise your catch. 

When you need to hunt for meat then you will need a gun, a crossbow or a bow and arrow. A crossbow can be a useful, powerful weapon but in many countries they are actually banned so getting some pre-doomsday practice in is going to be tricky. The bow and arrow are probably going to be a waste of your time, the time it will take to master the technique isn’t worth it. To be honest, the only weapon worth your time and effort is a gun. A hunting rifle of some description is going to be best. The wisest course of action is to get some education down at the local gun club. Take the time to learn how to shoot with a degree of professionalism before you need the skills. Go on hunting trips with experienced professionals; learn the skills now. Experienced professionals are best-placed to determine which weapon suits you best. Then you need to purchase your gun and ammunition and store it appropriately at your location. 

Weapons will also be required for self-defence. It isn’t a pleasant thought, but a group stumbling on your location may wish to ransack it and take your resources. In this event, you will need to protect yourself, your family and your resources. 

One gun isn’t going to be sufficient; you need a range of guns. In addition to hunting rifles, you might want to have a shotgun or even pistols. Learn as much as you can about guns as soon as possible and determine what it is going to be best for your own needs. Purchase them and store safely ready for use. 

You may consider a knife a weapon. However, in my mind, knives are purely tools. You will certainly need knifes, and you will need a range of them for gutting fish, butchering meat, preparing food, the list just goes on and on. But keep them as tools, not weapons. 

Ten - Education

Our final point is probably the most important. You need to educate yourself on all the skills that you are lacking. Don’t waste the time you currently have, take action on this point now. If you don’t, you may find that you don’t have any time left, and you regret what you have wasted. 

Take yourself to a quiet place with a pad, a pen and a drink of something that you fancy and make yourself a list of everything that you need to learn to survive post doomsday. This may include something as simple as learning to cook. 

There are numerous courses that you should take; a basic survival course for one, a firearms course for another, but probably the most essential is a first aid course. You need to know how to treat injuries when and if they occur. 

Knowledge will be the most valuable commodity post doomsday. The person who has the most relevant knowledge and then applies it is the person that will survive. Take the time now, to ensure that person is you.

CHAPTER NINE

Bug Out Locations

A phrase that the prepper community often use is “Bugging Out." But what does it mean? 

It has nothing to do with insects. Bugging out simply means that you get yourself and your family away from where you are at present, to a place that is somewhere safer. 

Think about it. If you live in an urban area, you are going to be surrounded by lots of people who will not have prepared for a disaster or the doomsday event that has just occurred. These people are going to be a mob. They will be seeking out your resources. They won’t be their normal selves; they will be in shock, and they will be trying to keep their family alive. This means that they will happily steal, or worse, in order to get what they want. You don’t want to be around when this happens. You need to bug out. 

There are so many different situations that might mean that you have to bug out; I cannot possibly list them all. In fact, when you do need to bug out it will be probably be for a reason that you haven’t remotely thought of. 

In short, if you feel that you or your family are in danger where you are then you need to bug out. 

Where am I going?

It doesn’t really matter, just some place safer. In reality this means somewhere where there are not many people about, a rural location. As a serious prepper, I have a location and a shelter setup where I intend to go when the shit really hits the fan. It is at this place that I intend to live post doomsday event. 

However, I understand that maybe I cannot get to my place quickly. (Normally this takes me 45 minutes by car.) Maybe we have had a series of twisters strike, and the whole area is a bombsite. If this had happened, the road is sure to be blocked with trees and debris. Is there really any point in trying to get to my location? No, not really. 

I know that even though the twisters have struck, and things are looking pretty bleak where we are. The rest of the world will be unaffected, the White House still stands, and there is still a President living there. This means that support will be on the way. It may not arrive within an hour, but it is sure to be on the way. However, until that help arrives the mob will be on the street looking for food, water, medical supplies and items that you do not even want to think about. I want to get out for a short time until professional help arrives. I only need to keep my family alive for a short period. 

It is this situation that a bug out bag helps you with - a short-term survival situation. Normally people like to ensure that they are going to be safe for 72 hours (three days, in case you cannot add up!) 

I have two rural locations that I have already marked down as safe bug out locations for a short-term stay. If I believe that we are looking at just a short term survival situation then, my family will head for one of these locations. Both of these locations are actually less than a three hour gentle walk from our home. These locations are a good half a mile from the nearest road and away from any well-used footpaths. I want us to be away from the mob looking for resources, but able to be located by professional rescuers. 

You could also use your bug out bag when you know the situation is going to be more long term, and you have to walk to your location to start your new life. The roads are blocked, and you cannot drive to where you want to be, you have to walk. I know my family; they aren’t going to be able to reach our place in a day’s hike. They will, however, probably reach it in three days. Our bug out bags will help us get there. 

CHAPTER TEN

Bug Out Bags

The bug out bag isn’t a complex concept to grasp. It is a bag that contains everything you need to survive for 72 hours in relative comfort. Each member of your family should have their own bug out bag. Obviously the size of the pack each family member is expected to carry is going to be dependent on their age and physical condition. A fifteen-year-old boy is going to be able to carry more than a seven-year-old girl. You will need to determine how the bags are packed, but it is essential that every member of the family has certain key items with them in case they become separated from the group. More on that later. 

You need your bag packed and ready at all times. Why? Let's just try an experiment. From the time, you read the end of this paragraph you have got just four minutes to go and pack a bag with everything that you need to comfortably survive for 72 hours. Why have you got four minutes? Because a mob of fifty people is just one block away, and they are breaking into homes taking anything, they want. They are driven by hunger, fear and greed. Your family isn’t safe. You have four minutes. Go. 

The clock is ticking. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. 

Assuming you actually got up off your assets and gave that exercise a go. I know that your packing won’t have been that successful. I know for a fact that my brother-in-law won’t have even managed to get himself upstairs in the four minutes! To avoid this situation when it matters you must have everything packed before you need it.

A bag with supplies in it is useless unless it can be carried. There are hundreds of items that you might want to take with you. But accept that you cannot take everything. You need to be able to carry this pack with relative ease. I regularly go out for runs with my pack on (short ones, I might add) but I want to be sure that the pack isn’t going to be an issue when the time comes. 

A bug out bag needs to be a quality backpack. It needs to be waterproof, and it needs to be a proper hiker’s pack; one with a metal frame. These are specially designed to ensure that the load you carry is evenly distributed across your shoulders. This means that you will tire less quickly than carrying a suitcase for example. It may be the case that, for smaller children you decide that a pack with a metal frame is going to be too heavy, you may like to choose a “day pack” like they might take to school with them. Remember the bag will be useless if the child cannot carry it. 

Additional Bug Out Kit

Many people simply go to the stage of having a bug out bag ready. I don’t, I go a small step beyond. 

Each member of our family has a utility type belt, which is stored with the bags. Each belt has two metal water bottles clipped to it; these are always full. The belt also has our survival knife attached. Myself, my wife and my fifteen-year-old son all have a large good quality survival knife. My daughter has a small Swiss Army knife, more so to keep her happy than anything else. In addition, each belt has a plastic whistle tied to it (not a metal one, in extreme cold this could freeze to your mouth.) It also has a glow stick tied on. You know the things I am talking about, a plastic stick that you crack and the chemicals inside mix, and it starts to glow. Once operated they normally last a few hours. 

Why do you need these items? The water is obvious, and I will come to that later. The knife, again obvious, but it is best to have a knife in its sheaf at your side than having to grope for it in a bag when the time comes. The whistle is for attracting the attention of rescuers; short sharp blasts with pauses are best. The glow stick can provide you with a light source although it will be quite weak, but again, it is mainly to help rescuers find you at night. 

In addition to the bag and the belt we each have a windproof and waterproof jacket. They are of decent quality; I don’t recommend specific products in my books, but you know the type. Go for ones with lots of pockets with zips. 

In the chest pocket of each jacket, there is a typed piece of paper. It contains essential information in case we are unconscious when a rescuer finds us. 

The information on the paper is this

•    Name

•    Date of Birth

•    Contact details of my mother and my wife’s parents

•    Blood type

•    Passport number

•    A shortened medical history

•    If appropriate the medications currently being taken. 

The paper is placed inside a sealable plastic bag; the type that you can put sandwiches in is a good type to use. 

In the left hand, main pocket is a folded map of the area with the locations of our safe places marked (this map is kept inside a plastic map case.) Inside the map case is also a basic, but workable compass. Every member of our family knows how to set up a map with a compass in order to read it correctly. This is essential; items prepared will be useless unless you know how to use them correctly. There is also a pencil and notebook inside the map case. Always use pencils because pens have a nasty tendency to run out and not write on damp paper. Even if the pencil breaks you can always sharpen it with a knife (a lost art!) 

In addition, I have a hand held GPS locator. It is pre-programmed with the safe sites and that of our long-term location. Myself and my wife both know how to use to the device, we were taught by our fifteen-year-old son (this is a useful trick for technology; simply get the kids to set the thing up, it seems to be a skill they are born with these days). The time not to be reading the instruction manual is when you have your packs on your back, and you are ready to go. 

The large right main pocket on the jacket is for our gloves. These are the thermal type that you can buy from any outdoor kit supplier. Most of this type of jacket now have a cell phone sized pocket. Our cell phone obviously goes in there. Most people have cell phones these days, and they are normally to always to hand, I don’t advocate having a spare cell phone to hand in a bug out kit. My family is pretty lucky, all three of our cell phones (mine, my wife’s and my son’s) are on different contracts, and the providers are different for each one. These days getting signal isn’t so bad, but a certain provider’s equipment may have been damaged when another one hasn’t been. So we have managed to cover our bases with three phones with coverage supplied by three different providers. 

The other pockets on the jacket are filled with high-energy snacks and candy. I’m a fan of pear drops that I buy from a traditional English sweet shop close to my mother’s house in England. I find sucking a hard sweet helps keep my mouth moist and means I’m not constantly looking to consume liquids. Other snacks that we keep in our pockets are cereal bars, raisins, and Kendal Mint Cake (another English product – a high energy almost pure sugar bar.)

We keep our hiking boots next to the bug out bags. These are always stored there! The kids know it will be a fate worse than death if I find that they have moved them for any reason. The hiking boots are worn when we go camping or on hikes (the last thing you want to be doing is breaking in new hiking out boots when you are bugging out) but they are always returned to the correct place once we are finished with them. There is always a fresh pair of wool hiking socks stuffed into the boots awaiting us. 

We also store a pair of combat style walking trousers for each of us by the bags. You never know when the need to bug out will come. I wouldn’t fancy bugging out in my suit (if I had to I would) this way essential clothing is to hand. 

The final piece of kit I would hope to take with me would be one of my handguns. As a responsible gun owner, this is not stored with my bug out bag but in a locked gun cabinet. If I have time to get it I will, if I don’t then I won’t lose too much sleep over it. 

There is just one more thing we keep ready.  Next to the bug out equipment there are four shops bought medium sized bottles of water. We each drink these as we are getting ready and then leave the bottles in the house before we leave. The idea is that we try to get a significant amount of water in our systems before we set out into the unknown. That way we are not using our precious supplies in the first few hours. 

What to pack

Now we come to what to pack in our bags. Every member of our family has their own personal items based on their needs. Until my daughter reached about six, she had a stuffed bear in her sack. Would it keep her alive? Probably not, but it would help keep her calm when placed in a frightening and unusual situation. A few non-heavy luxuries can help, for example, my wife has a small bottle of dry shampoo – she says she feels a wreak if she does not wash her hair in the morning. Clearly she knows that a normal shampoo will probably mean wasting valuable water, so she packs the dry stuff. We all understand that clean hair isn’t going to save anyone’s life. But if it makes her feel better and keeps her moral up then who I am to argue that this isn’t a good idea?

Last year, my son insisted that his laptop should be his luxury item. I pointed out that we weren’t buying him another laptop to keep in his bug out bag and that I was pretty convinced he could live without Facebook for 72 hours. I also pointed out the weight of the thing. He very proudly showed me how he could carry the bag complete with his laptop without any difficulty. I nodded my head, said I was very proud of him for carrying the extra weight, told him he was still not taking a laptop and gave him an extra bottle of water to carry for his sister! He stopped asking about stupid non-essential items after then. 

Despite the fact that we have bought waterproof backpacks we still pack everything inside the pack in a heavy duty refuse sack. I want to ensure that the kit inside my pack stays dry. This is a great way to ensure that this happens. 

Water

Water is the most essential item that you will pack. Regretfully, it is also the heaviest. I liter of water weighs over 2 pounds. You need a minimum of two liters to drink a day, probably three if you are walking. That’s nine liters in order for you to survive 72 hours. That is a lot of weight and a lot of volume; it is basically impossible for a child to do this. So we store water in advance at our safe areas in caches (more on that later.) It is, however, essential that every pack has at least some water in, just in case someone gets separated from the party. 

We carry water in our two metal bottles strapped to our belts and then two medium sized bottles in our bug out bags, normally in the pockets at the sides of the bags. I ensure that the water is kept fresh and is rotated and used on a regular basis. 

We also have water purification tablets in each bag, and every member of the family knows how to use them, although I strongly hope that we won’t need to.

Checklist

2 metal water bottles on clip belt 

2 medium sized shop bought bottles in the bag

Water purification tablets. 

Food

We take three days rations for each person in the bag. Your personal selection of food is up to you. However, we take a mixture of dry food stuff and dehydrated meals that you add hot water to make. Some people preach against the dehydrated meals, but if you buy a quality brand you will find they taste pretty good (although look pretty awful). People’s main concern is that you have to use your water to cook them. I say that the water is entering your body anyway, so I don’t see a problem if you are just drinking or putting the liquid into food. 

There are a number of specialist survival bars that are extremely high in calories that are available for purchase. I believe that some are recommended by the Federal government. We also have some of these bars in our bags as part of our rations. I personally think that they taste like crap, but hey, I’d rather they taste poor than I be dead. 

We include easy eating foods like nuts and raisins, which are high in natural fats and calories yet low in weight. I would never consider packing canned goods in a bug out bag. You spend a lot of your effort carrying around packaging that is useless. Plus you need a can opener. In my mind, canned goods are no-good for this situation. 

It will be nice to have a hot drink. It will help keep you warm and also helps keep morale up. So we “collect” sachets of coffee, hot chocolate and tea bags from hotels and restaurants. We also include creamers and sachets of sugar in our packs. We allow for two hot drinks a day. We obviously only pack for our personal tastes. This means that I pack tea bags (being brought up in England) my wife and son have coffee, and my daughter has hot chocolate. 

In order to heat both the food and the water for the drinks my son and me carry small hiking stoves, the sort that come with a burner, a wind guard, two pans and a kettle. They are useable in all weather conditions. I carry the fuel for the burner in a purpose-designed flask that is tied to the outside of my bag.

When it comes to eating, the dehydrated meals can be eaten straight out of the packet. You will need a spoon or a fork. You will also require a thermal mug to prepare your drinks in. A normal non-breakable mug will do, but I love the thermal sort.

Checklist

2 large survival bars

3 (minimum) dehydrated meals from a quality supplier

3 freeze dried muesli packs – just add water (eaten hot or cold)

Nuts, raisins

Beef jerky

Dried apricots and other dried fruit

3 large Calorie dense biscuits

3 Flapjack cake bars

6 hot drink sachets

creamer and sugar, plastic stirring stick (these are easy to “collect” from numerous outlets) 

thermal mug

Spoon, fork.

Clothing

We pack one change of clothing per person that includes underwear. We also include two pairs of socks as these are items that are likely to become wet. Layers are the best way to dress in order to keep warm, so a t-shirt, covered by a thin pullover, covered by a fleece, covered by the windproof jacket should about do the job in even the toughest conditions. A pair of leggings would be a useful addition for underneath your trousers (men, it is acceptable to dress in women’s clothing in order to survive.)

A warm jumper is an essential item. Hyperthermia is a real threat when outside in cold weather you need to ensure that you are not struck down.

Much heat is lost via the head, so a wool hat is needed during winter. The hood on the jacket will serve as a waterproof layer. Obviously in the summer the opposite is true. We add a sun hat to the bag together with sunglasses and sunscreen. The last thing that we want is sunstroke. In the heat, you will need to consume more water than the three liters mentioned earlier; four would be near the mark (more on how you can do that later.) Notice I say that we add a sunhat, we don’t remove the wool hat. In the heat of the summer, in many places, the heat differential can be massive. In other words, it may be very hot during the day, but it can also be extremely cold at night. You will probably still be glad of your wool hat. 

In order to save space in our bags, we place the clothing in a vacuum bag and compress using our normal vacuum cleaner. If you have not seen these amazing space saving bags just Google vacuum-sealed bags and see what I’m talking about. They are well worth the investment. 

If you have, children that are still growing up will need to regularly change the clothes that you have stored. It sounds obvious, but the last thing you want for your child is that when the bug out call comes for the clothing in the bag to be six months old and basically un-wearable. 

Checklist

1 spare set of clothing vacuum packed consisting off

1 trouser

1 pair leggings

1 set underwear 

1 t-shirt

1 thin pullover

1 thicker fleece or sweater

2 sets of wool socks

1 wool hat

1 sunhat

1 pair sunglasses

Sunscreen

Medical Supplies

Every bag needs a first aid kit. It may be the case that the adults have a larger kit than the children. But everyone needs something just in case your family becomes separated. I’m not going to list the items that should be in a first aid kit; I’ll be here all day, and any such list is always open to debate. 

I favour the pre-packed first aid kits that you can buy from an army supply store or any outdoor store. I find that the kits are always far better packed that I would be able to. They now also come in canvas rolls, as opposed to hard plastic boxes which make things easier to store. 

As well as a basic first aid kit I also add light painkillers and some heavy duty ones as well (there are ways of obtaining prescription medication if you are creative – don’t do anything against the law though.) Remember all medications have use by dates, so you should cycle your medication, using up old supplies and then replacing with newer purchases. In addition, I add a diarrhea medication. The last thing you need is diarrhea, it could seriously dehydrate you, and it could even be life threating. Take this threat seriously and include it in your first aid kit. 

You will also need supplies of your regular medication. I know we are only planning for three days, but if the medication is truly life saving I think you would be better packing a seven-day supply. (Better safe than sorry!) 

I also include multi-vitamin pills for four days (always best to go one extra when the things are so small.) Survival food may be full of calories, but it does not always give you the full range of nutrition. A multi-vitamin each day will work. 

Finally, there is one thing that you cannot pack but you simply can’t do without. You may have the best first aid kit in the world, but if you don’t know how to use it, you may as well have left the thing at home. Each member of my family has attended first aid courses; my kids did their first one at 6. I have been trained in advanced first aid, and I go on update courses every year. My wife only updates every two years. My kids are still going through short courses and once they have finished the series they too will go on two yearly updates. I cannot stress how important skill building is. You need the skills before an emergency situation arises. Don’t delay book you first aid course today. 

Checklist

 First Aid Skills Training

1 quality first aid kit

diarrhea medication

Any medications you currently take

Basic painkiller

Bad boy pain heavy-duty painkiller

Multi-vitamin pills

Personal Items

Trust me, if there is one thing that you do not want to forget in your bug out bag its toilet paper! Each of our bags has a roll in it, but we have removed the inner tube and crushed the roll, so it takes up less space. Again this is stored inside a sealed sandwich bag. Wet toilet paper is something that you will want to avoid. 

I also have a small wash kit, which is filled with items from hotels. I forget about shower gel and shampoo. Unlike my wife, I can go three days without washing my hair (it does help that I don’t have much of it of course.) I stick with three of the mini bars of soap that a hotel provides and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste set. I also have a hand towel to dry with. In addition to a basic wash kit I have a small travel packet of moist paper towels, these are great for quick wipe down at the end of the day. I also have a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer that I always use before I eat (I don’t want to get ill when bugging out.) 

Ladies, you will need to consider feminine hygiene products in your bag. 

I also include a few kitchen bin liners in my personal section. They are useful for many things and you never know when you might need one. 

Checklist

Toilet Paper

Soap

Toothbrush and toothpaste

Hand towel

Moist paper towels

Hand sanitizer

Feminine Hygiene Products

Bin liners

Tents and Sleeping Bags

I always advocate taking a tent with me in a bug out bag. We have two small pop up light weight tents that both me and my son carryon the bottom of our bags. My son is very large for his age and is quite capable of carrying heavy weights; obviously this helps ease the burden on my wife and daughter. Although it does always appear that our packs are much larger. 

We like the pop-up tents; okay, they aren’t the best quality, but they will help keep us warm and undercover, each tent sleeps two. 

We also have a quality sleeping bag each with a compression sack, which helps reduce the size. 

Finally we each pack two foil survival blankets, what some people call space blankets. These weigh next to nothing, but you never know when you might need one. 

Checklist

Tent

Sleeping bag

2 Space Blankets

Other Kit

We also have a range of other kit with us. We take two different flashlights in our bags. A pen type size LED battery flashlight is the first type; it is amazing how powerful these items are for their size. We also have a new set of batteries to go into it. Then we have a hand-powered flashlight, one that you turn the wheel at the back to power up. I never find these things as bright, but I think they are really useful to have, because you are never worrying about the power running out. 

We each have our own fire lighting kit. This consists of a book of waterproof matches, butane lighter, three sealed firelighters and three different bundles of tinder in order to get a fire started. All our fire kit is packed inside a sealed plastic box. This helps prevent you firing up your butane lighters by accident and finding that your bag is on fire. Again, these tools are useless unless everyone knows how to use the things, make sure everyone is skilled at making a fire before they need to. It could be the difference between life and death. 

We all have a quality multi-tool that is readily accessible in a side pocket. With any multi-tool, you really do get what you pay for. This is an item where I wouldn’t want to purchase cheap. The last thing you need is for your multi-tool to let you down when you really need it. 

Each bug out bag contains two signal flares. Each member of our family knows how to use these safely. Obviously these are used to attract attention of any rescuers out there.

I have an emergency radio in my bag; it has both a battery and a wind up power up option. The radio that we have has an alert tone whenever there is an official “disaster” message about to be played. This is extremely useful when your mind is “busy”, and you need help in concentrating, it will help ensure that you don’t miss anything important. 

Each pack contains a roll of paracord and duct tape. These are extremely useful items to have with you and be used to help in a whole range of problems and situations. In addition, both my pack and my son’s have ten foot of good quality thick rope slashed to the top. You never know when you might need rope, so it is good to have with you. 

Finally, each bag has $100 in small notes. Both my bag and my wife’s bag have an additional $400. Yes, this means that we have over $1000 of our hard earned cash just sat in bug out bags. To be fair, the banks give you almost zero interest anyway. I would rather we had the cash ready in case we need it in an emergency. Finally, I also have an unused credit card in my bag. Our card has a high limit. I don’t really know how or when I might use it, but the idea is if we need to purchase airline tickets to get out of the area, or some rooms in a hotel for example (again, probably not likely if a disaster has struck but it is there as a backup.) I would hate to see an immediate solution to our problem and not have the means to sort it out.

Of course, this list is not complete, you should feel free to take what you want with you. I know some people swear by a small bottle of household bleach which can be used to treat water, or some people always pack a little sewing kit. If you wear glasses, you might consider a spare pair a prudent item. In short take what you feel you might need. But make sure you can carry it.

Checklist

LED flashlight

Wind up Flashlight

Fire starting kit

Quality multi-tool

Signal flare

Emergency radio

Paracord

Duct tape

Rope

Money

Credit Card

Cache

This is the bit where you can turn your bug out experience from purely surviving into something that might actually resemble a bit of comfort. At each of the safe locations, we have marked down I have cached a large sealable box of additional survival kit. 

This box is actually buried at the safe areas. Each one contains slightly different things, but they include things such as canned foods and tin opener. Canned goods last forever, but there is no way I would consider carrying them around in a bug out bag, but I have no problem in storing them at a safe area. There is another supply of hot drink making stuff. Loads more candy. There are also sugar filled soft drinks and isotonic drinks that help balance the body. We have some heavy blankets, spare batteries for flashlights. We have foam rolls that separate us from the groundsheet of our tent. They offer a little bit of comfort and help in keeping warm away from the cold ground. We also have some comfort items, like books and packs of cards. Once a paperback has been read it is excellent for helping start a fire; although I do also keep a larger selection of fire starting materials in our cache. There is more toilet paper and personal hygiene products stored there as well. 

The box is not buried deep; our safe areas are away from the beaten track and the actual burial points are under bushes, etc. I carry a small trowel in my pack to help dig the box up. The box handle is attached to paracord, which can be pulled, and that helps pull the thing out of the ground. 

You can burry as much stuff as you think you might need. I have heard of people burying barrels of equipment to access. Why not?

Finally, at each of our sites I have also stored a further quantity of water. These aren’t buried as I like to ensure that I swap them regularly. But if you look around the site you will find numerous places to hide bottles of water. Inside rotten fallen trees is a good place or up a tree is another place I have used. If you find a good place to store water then you can stock up and ensure that you have a good large supply. 

Other preparations

As I have said throughout this book, you should be familiar with every single piece of kit in your bag and cache. It is useless having the stuff if you can’t use it. Make sure that you take the time to learn how to use everything to its full potential. 

We have already discussed the fact that a first aid course is essential. But you might like also to consider doing a short survival course, as well. This could be a great thing for your family to do together as a bonding exercise. 

If you are planning on taking a gun with you, then firearms training is a must. 

You should also consider working on your physical fitness. You need to be able to walk with all of this kit on your back. You can never be fit enough. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When to leave

The Ebola outbreak is what I would determine a medium burner situation. It isn’t like a massive solar flare hitting the earth and wiping out all electronic communication and modern cars. It is something that is going to develop day by day, hour by hour. You have to be able to judge when the right to leave is. Make no mistake, you are going to be more comfortable in your home, so you want to be able to stay there as long as possible. But you cannot afford to stay too long. 

You can be assured that you will hear about any outbreaks of the virus today’s media being as it is; they love to blow up small events into massive ones. This means that you have to follow reports with a degree of objectivity. It is easy to overreact to a situation. Although it is far better to over react than under react. You can always leave your location and return to normal life if the situation proves to be not so much of a threat. 

The simplest way to avoid contracting such illness is to avoid contact with people. As a prepper you will intend to separate yourself from the rest of the population before things turn into anarchy, so you are ideally positioned to avoid contracting the virus. 

You will first hear about reports of the virus hitting a certain country or region. If people start contracting  in reasonable numbers, then it is time to watch reports in closer detail. If this starts to occur, I would strongly recommend that you stop all plans you may have to travel on an aircraft. It doesn’t matter if your flight is going nowhere near the infected region, you have no idea where your fellow passengers have been recently. 

You will need to be weary of places where large amounts of people gather on a regular basis. The best form of protection is to cover the body and wear a facemask. Avoid all physical contact. Again, there may have been no reports of the illness within five thousand miles, but you have no idea where the people you surround yourself with have been and who they have met. 

Anyone with children is going to have an issue at this point. You know better than most that as soon as the little darlings return to school, they come home with some form of illness. You need to make a decision about what point you pull them out of school. 

At this point, the virus has probably not even hit your region. It’s probably still thousands of miles away. These precautions may seem like overkill, but it is better to be safe than sorry. 

So when is the time that you should head to your location and cut yourself off from the rest of the world? This is hard to tell, but probably when the virus has hit your town or when you hear of quarantine orders being placed in the surrounding area. When you pack up and travel to your location you shouldn’t stop for fuel or further supplies and everyone should be wearing their facemask. Once you have made the decision to go to your location then go, don’t delay and don’t stop on route. The rule is move before you are trapped. 

Once in your location you should have everything to hand to survive. The key thing to avoid is contact with people. If you go outside of your shelter to hunt or to garden then, it would be prudent to have your facemask on. As concealed as you think you are; the last thing you want is to come face to face with an infected person who has fled in panic. If this does happen then you remove the person using whatever means required then you remove all clothing that you were wearing and burned outside. Then wash completely before returning inside. Take zero risk. 

Other than this there is little special that you have to do in this situation. You eat; you hunt, you sow your crops. You live and simply have to wait. You will be monitoring events on your televisions, radios, etc. and some point a solution will have presented itself. This solution will either be that the only people who are left alive are those with a natural immunity to the virus and therefore it will die out because there are no living bodies for it to transfer to. Or it will be the case the scientists will have developed an effective vaccine to combat the virus. 

However, depending on how aggressive the virus is before we get to the points outlined above we might experience a complete breakdown of essential services and communications. With too few people left alive then keeping, these services going will be impossible. If this situation arises, then it is completely unlikely that a return to “normal” life will be possible. You should continue to monitor radio channels to see if anyone is broadcasting. However, you should expect that from now on you are on your own. 

It may be the case that over time you find other people who have managed to survive, be it on the radio or in person. You need to decide for yourself if you want to start a “community.” If that idea appeals to you, all well and good (There are considerable advantages to living in a community.) But be aware that people out there may simply be after your resources and also yourself; after a while sex also becomes a commodity. I personally would leave it at least eighteen months after the breakdown of standard services before I would even consider face to face contact with another person; I would want to ensure that the virus has had time to disappear.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Basic Summary

The Ebola virus strain that we are currently dealing with has a 90% mortality rate. 

Symptoms in the first stages are very flu like but become more severe over time. 

The virus is passed from human to human by bodily fluids or contaminated environments. 

If outbreaks occur on a global scale, governments are likely to restrict movement. 

You should consider stockpiling food and water if you haven’t already done so. 

Have a location in mind that you can move to in case social order breaks down. 

Remember the prepper phrase.  “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst!”

Good Luck. 