Solar [coronal] mass ejections occur most frequently at the peak of the 11 year solar cycle.  Statistics show that Earth will get a direct hit from a major solar mass ejection every about every 500 years. This estimate comes from the number of solar mass ejections we see and frequency. Now figure in the size of the Earth versus the size of the solar mass ejection. The calculation is similar to the odds of a pin landing on a particular point on a globe, except Earth is the pin and the globe is the sun. In the end, we can estimate that Earth will get hit every 500 years or so by a flare large enough to affect our electronics.

This doesn't mean that life will end when the next one hits. Solar storms come in different intensities. The impact of a solar mass ejection our civilization will depend on its strength and the technology we think we need to get by.
 
Satellites

Satellites in orbit are the most sensitive when it comes to solar radiation. They lack the protection of Earth's atmosphere. Those satellites on the side of the Earth that is facing the Sun during a major solar flare would have component failures. However, not all satellites would be lost. There are different designs of satellites, with some more shielded [or "hardened"] than others. Satellites on the back side of Earth couldn't be affected unless the solar flare and its accompanying radiation showered the Earth for many hours as the satellite's rotation brought it to the day side. And variations in the Earth's magnetic field could offer protection to some satellites. We would see a mix of charred, failing and fully functional satellites. We can’t know when a flare will hit except for the likelihood of it occurring during the peak of the solar cycle, so no nation can protect all of its satellites by keeping them on the night side of the Earth.
 
Your Best Defense Against This

Don't rely on GPS or Global Positioning Satellite Systems for navigation. Know your route or know how to get there with only paper maps. And never rely on GPS-based geocaching to find hidden supplies in an emergency. If we see a massive release of solar radiation that is the natural equivalent of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) weapon, then your GPS capability will probably be gone.
 
Long AC Transmission Lines

Safety equipment designed to prevent overloads will protect most of the transformers connected to long Alternating Current or AC power transmission lines. However, some transformers will get overloaded by the field strength of a solar flare or solar storm. The bad news is that this means that utility crews will still have to replace hundreds of transformers in addition to resetting thousands of circuit breakers where the safety equipment prevented the transformer from overloading. This is a slow process, and it is hampered by the fact that we don’t have a huge stockpile of transformers for a disaster of this scale. (Although stockpiling spare transformers has been recommended as a step to minimize the impact of a nuclear weapon or EMP pulse weapon unleashed on the United States.) The task is made more complex by the need to bring thousands of [power plants and] power lines back on line and in [phase] sync to restore the [three] power grids in CONUS]. [JWR Adds: The manufacturing lead times for large transformers are as long as 24 months!]

Power distribution systems would be massively disrupted for anything greater than a mid-scale flare, but the power distribution system would be spotty failures for anything less than mid-scale flares.  These failure rates will be affected by any improvements in the overload protection devices that hopefully have been made since the Northeast Blackout of 1965. If the recommended overload protections were put in place and maintained, the size and scope of outages would be reduced.

Your Best Defense Against This
 
You should know how to disconnect your home from the local power grid as soon as you have warning of imminent power disruptions, [via your main breaker.] At a minimum, have the means on hand to live a few weeks without electricity. It would be better to have renewable power sources or a generator and fuel stores on your property.

The Internet

The Internet itself will go mostly dark. Why? Imagine what happens if 99% of the servers go off line. They have not all been destroyed. They simply need power to be available. Without the power grids up, the Internet will be crippled. 

Many servers will be without power due to the damage to the power grid. Those servers that are still running will be isolated by power outages to the hubs they use to transmit information. A functional server in a computer room is a hub in the Internet. If it cannot connect to the major nodes to relay information then it might as well be turned off. And in an emergency like this, facilities running off of generator-supplied power will focus on properly shutting down rather than keeping extra servers running once they’ve backed up their data.

Fiber optic lines will be okay. However, with the disruption of power in the AC transmission lines, means that the fiber optics will be "dark" until they get power again. Those relying on Skype or Internet access will be left in the dark, since fiber optic lines won't run without power, and the backup option of Internet via satellite will not be an option.
 
Your Best Defense Against This
 
Have other methods of contacting family members, such as [FRS , GMRS, or MURS] walkie-talkies and ham radio. Document everyone’s phone number in a [hard copy] address book, and make multiple copies so that you can find their contact information even if the Internet is essentially dead.
Back up your data locally, regardless of whether or not you perform online backups. Have local sources of any information that you frequently reference. And make sure you have entertainment on hand that does not rely on an Internet connection.

Computers

Laptops with batteries are relatively immune to solar flares. They receive power from the battery and so will remain operational until the battery runs out. [If disconnected from outside power or data cables] they will not get fried by a solar flare. However, they could be ruined by an EMP weapon [if in very close proximity].  Desktop computers will be in worse shape. The thousands of miles of power, phone, and Ethernet cables connecting many desktop computers act like long antennas, picking up the voltage generated by the solar mass ejection. The cables connecting the computers thus have the potential to damage desktop computers [or any laptops that are connected.]
 
Your Best Defense Against This
 
Use surge protectors and UPS in your home network. Keep laptop batteries charged, and have spare batteries. [Leave computers disconnected from power and data cables when not in use.]

Telephones

Land line telephone [handsets] will probably be fine. Land line phones receive power through the same copper wire bundle that the phone signal travels through. Each land line home phone is connected to the phone company with up to several miles of telephone line.  These lines are generally far too short to be affected by an event like a solar storm, but they are at much more at risk to EMP  The Central Offices (COs) changed over from tradition relays to computerized switching decades ago. So the phone systems are now at greater risk since the computerized systems are less robust.  In short, the phone lines may work but the computers than handle the call routings may go down.

Cordless phones in homes with land-line phone lines will work as long as there is power to the home or the batteries are charged. Households relying entirely on cell phones are in trouble.
 
Your Best Defense Against This
 
Keep at least one tradition land line phone handset in your home. Own additional methods of communication like ham radio rigs, and know how to use them. Some of the hand-cranked Emergency Radios can also charge cell phones, and this is a good 'tie-breaker' when deciding which Emergency Radio to buy.

Ham Radio

Amateur radio or ham radio would be temporarily affected by the solar flare, disrupted until the radiation [in the ionosphere] has peaked and passed. After that point, ham radio equipment will run as long as there is power to run them. Those with hand crank radios will be able to listen. Ham radio operators with backup generators or photovoltaics will be able to transmit. 2 meter transmissions that depend on grid-powered repeaters will be limited to line of sight transmission.

Your Best Defense Against This
 
Find battery-powered ham radio equipment, so that you can always stay in touch. Own at least one method of recharging the batteries that is not reliant on the power grid, whether it is a hand-crank receiver or a PV panels (for transceivers.)

Personal Electronics

Small personal electronics like cell phones, laptops, tablet computers and televisions will initially be fine after a solar mass ejection.
They have the Earth's atmosphere shielding them. Their electronic components will be fine. However, the device's functionality depends on power, whether this comes from a crippled power grid, local generator or renewable power.

The problem for users will come from the damage to the communication networks these devices rely upon. For example, television stations and cell phone towers will be out. Cell phone towers have good backup batteries; they are designed to last 4 to 8 hours off of the battery. This works well during electrical storms that disrupt power [briefly], permitting local users to still make calls. However, in an extended power outage, the cell phone towers themselves will go offline within 8 hours unless they are powered by PV panels [which is very uncommon]. generators or a working local power source. At this point, even those with a working cell phone [handset] cannot complete calls.
 
Your Best Defense Against This

For each device you cannot live without, maintain at least two spare batteries for it. Better yet, have a battery charger for those batteries so that they will continue to function no matter how long the grid is down. You may also want to buy an antenna to ensure that your television can still receive local channels [rather than relying on a cable television service provider. ] Local television stations often have generators and transmitters on site and will continue broadcasting news even if a solar storm ruins satellites. [Their ability to do so will be limited by the depth of their fuel supplies for their backup generators.]
 

Vehicles

[Vehicles will be unaffected by solar storms.] The studies I have read say that about 1 vehicle in 10 will be rendered inoperable [by EMP], not the near 100% that some alarmists have predicted.   Older vehicles [with traditional ignition systems nd fuel management systems] will be completely unaffected as long as the owner has gasoline to run them. [JWR Adds: If the field strength of EMP is high enough to destroy a vehicle's electronic ignition system or fuel management system microprocessors, then you would be so close to a nuclear weapon that you would inside of its blast radius. So you would probably be dead before you'd ever have the chance to see if one of the affected vehicles started.]

The greater problems will come from the power outages. If satellites are out, the payment systems that rely on satellites to connect to a bank and withdraw payment will not work. If power is out, most gas pumps will not work. Traffic becomes a nightmare when power outages wipe out traffic control.  
 
Your Best Defense Against This
 
Stock up on stabilized gasoline. Carry cash so that you can pay for gasoline, if necessary. Carry maps in your car, instead of relying on GPS.

Many readers will recall that my 2011 novel "Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse" was partly set in and near Farmington, New Mexico. I chose that region because it has a particularly resilient power grid. In the novel I described how Farmington Electric Utility System (FEUS) has made contingency plans to immediately reconstitute a local power grid, in the event of a western power grid collapse. This was not just literary license on my part. It was based on a face-to-face interview with a FEUS manager that I conducted in 2009, as I was researching locales for the novel. That manager told me that if the western grid collapsed, all FEUS customers could have their power restored in less than a minute. This capability is called "islanding" or "controlled system separation." While not a secret, islanding capability is not well-known outside of the power industry. Islanding is also uncommon in most of the United States. (Most Americans live in areas where the majority of their power is imported from the larger grids. It is only in a few areas such as the Pacific Northwest and the Four Corners that are net power exporters. This zoomable map shows you the Big Picture for the US and parts of Canada.

America's Three Power Grids

There are actually three main power grids in the United States: an eastern grid, a western grid, and a Texas grid. This map shows the dividing lines, and this map shows some planned changes. Within those three grids, there are distinct service areas. And within those service areas, there is a patchwork of large power companies, co-ops, and a few independent power producers.

The majority of Americans depend on power that comes from coal-fired or nuclear power plants. Both of these sources would be problematic in the event of major societal disruption. NERC regulations require shutdowns of nuclear plants for trivial reasons, and coal-fired plants require literally trainloads of coal to keep running. The most stable power in event of an economic disaster will be hydroelectric. The Pacific Northwest has the clear advantage in hydroelectric power and some of the most reliable and least expensive power in the country. Generally, where there are large dams there is plentiful hydro power, and the greatest potential for stable local islanding. (But note that potential does not necessarily mean planned. You will need to check on that with your local power company's management to see if they have made the requisite arrangements for islanding.)

Where Will the Islands be?

Do some online research to find maps like this one: Map of Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) transmission lines. Then call you local utility and find out if they are power exporters or importers. If they are exporters, ask if they have an islanding plan.

Long Term?

In the event of a long term grid-down situation where the coal trains stop running there will just be a few areas that will have reliable power. Most of these will be in the Pacific Northwest, where hydroelectric power predominates.

Black Startup

In the event that one or all three American grids collapse because of something catastrophic such as a major solar flare, or an economic whammy that stops coal train traffic, getting the grids back up might be difficult. Typically a power plant requires lots of outside power to be re-started. The re-starts that done without functioning outside power--commonly called Black Startup or Dark Startup --are a challenge. Here is a quote from the sometimes useful LeftistAgendaPedia: "To provide a black start, some power stations have small diesel generators which can be used to start larger generators (of several megawatts capacity), which in turn can be used to start the main power station generators." In the event of a nationwide collapse of the power grid, the best chance for power plants to be restarted and partial grid restoration will be in the Northwest, where hydro power will be available to feed the grid.

Off The Grid

Home generation is the sure way of knowing that you will have power. (Even if you are fortunate enough to live near a hydroelectric dam or geothermal power plant, you can't assume that your power will be restored in the event of a power grid collapse.) Home power systems that are not grid tied will be the most resilient to solar storms or EMP. This is because grid power lines can act as unintentional antennas. To be fully prepared for a solar storm, it might be necessary to store spare charge controllers and perhaps even spare inverters, for a worst case. These spares should be stored disconnected, preferably in Faraday enclosures.

If you are planning to strategically relocate your family to a safe region, I recommend that power utility islanding be part of your criteria for choosing locales. Places with plentiful hydroelectric power are your best bet. But again, don't just assume that they are ready for islanding. Take the time to call the local power company or co-op, and ask them if they have contingency plans for islanding, and if so what would be the geographic boundaries for their planned island. This could make a huge difference for the quality of life that you will have in the dark times to come. - J.W.R.

Mr. Rawles,
Regarding the letter, Food Storage in the Southern United States by Gary S.,, 
in Florida, from May until October, the heat is merciless, making food storage difficult. Some items, like powdered milk, barely last the summer without electrical cooling. Most folks turn their A/C up or off during the day when they are away from home or pay a very high electric bill. .With the droughts of the past few years, even heavily canopied forest home sites can be too hot. Power outages from wildfires, hurricanes, storms, tornadoes,  or heat waves can cause loss of air conditioning for days or weeks, greatly reducing the storage life of foods.

It seems to me that the best place to store food would be in a fallout shelter, which had better be a cool dry place or it won't be livable for very long. Nuclear warfare may come to the CONUS unexpectedly, like Pearl Harbor, the WTC and Pentagon attacks, or like a thief in the night, from a multitude of enemies. This is pretty evident in the lectures, interviews, and books of Joel Skousen and others, In his book Nuclear War Survival Skills, Cresson H. Kearny, advocated dual use buildings, with one being for a fallout shelter, and the other could certainly be for cool storage. A cool storage building is a lot better explanation to family and friends than a fallout shelter is, just as long as it meets the fallout shelter specifications. We can put some kind of a green energy spin on this, like calling it a planet saving earth cooled utility building, the bureaucrats will love that, and think of all the carbon fuel that will be saved.

With the high water tables, above ground structures seem to be the way to go for cool storage independent of electricity, using thermal mass to keep things cool. However, moving thermal mass is backbreaking work, Below is a list of structures that is by no means complete, but should provide the reader with a starting point. On all of these structures, you will want the entrance facing away from the sun. I would like to hear from other readers who have addressed this issue.

1) Steel drum bunker - I saw one of these at the Patriot's Point museum in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Vietnam Support Base. It is an ammo bunker from the Vietnam War, which has a lot of thermal mass to it, consisting of standard 55 gal drums, which are 22.5 inches in diameter and 33.5 inches high, it is eight drums wide (15 ft)  by two drums high (67 inches), the interior is probably 11ft x 11ft and the roof used either Marsden Matting, Pierced Steel Plank (PSP) or aluminum AM-2 matting, along with about three layers of sandbags, dirt and sod. For root cellar purposes, the door area would have to be expanded out with drums, four on one side, two on the other, ended with two more for a ninety degree turn. This would require about 68 drums and a heavy duty door would be needed. They obviously had a lot of 55 gal drums to spare, lining the whole perimeter with them, for added protection. But, that was how they shipped fuel back then.

2) Hesco/Gabion bunker - A wire and cloth, earth filled structure. In overseas areas these days, there are a lot of hesco or gabions being used similarly, but the kits can be expensive.
Wiki page on HESCOs
Wiki page on Gabions
HESCO corporate page
Defencell corporate page

3) Nuclear War Survival Skills - Aboveground, Crib-Walled Shelter.  I would use treated wood in the South.

4) Low-Cost Multipurpose Mini-building Made With Earthbags

5) Emergency Sandbag Shelter

6) Large culvert pipe - I've seen these in both concrete and metal. Kind of like this one, only one end has a regular door and you berm up around the rest of it, Mini Blast & Fallout Shelter, By Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM).

7) FEMA above ground Permanent Fallout Shelter - concrete block and concrete construction, back filled with earth. There is also a design that has a building within a building, filled with dirt or gravel.

8) Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) Storm Shelter - the forms are filled with concrete after assembly and can be bermed for additional protection.

9) Thin shell concrete dome - an inflatable form is used to shape the concrete structure until it dries. See:
Monolithic Dome, EcoShell, and Basalt Roving Dome. These can be reinforced with rebar or basalt roving.

10) Thin shell concrete dome panel kit - kind of like an igloo, the panels are assembled to form the dome, and then the concreted is applied.
12’ DOME POD KITS FROM AMERICAN INGENUITY, Inc.
12' Dome Utility Pod Kit - Out Building - Storage Shed - Well House - AiDomes
They sell a strengthening kit, but you might also be able to use the basalt roving technique as well

Mr. Rawles,
I have to make a comment about information in this article that is just wrong and I have seen others wrongly assume on the internet before.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to keep metal within the cage from touching the conductor that makes up the Faraday Cage. The reason is that the cage (assuming it has been constructed without gaps or holes, as it should be) forms an "INFINITE" barrier between the electric fields inside and outside of the cage. No electric field can go through the cage because they are dispersed across the surface and do not propagate through. The inside and outside are electrically isolated from each other.

As an experiment, take a radio that is receiving and you can hear the music, wrap it in aluminum foil and make sure the antenna is TOUCHING the metal. As soon as you make a completely enclosed cage, the radio will go to static because the waves CANNOT reach the antenna. The charge is only on the outside.

People falsely believe things cannot touch the side because the cage is a conductor. As I have explained, when constructed correctly, the outside and inside are in isolation.

Just to qualify my responses, I am an electrical engineer who studied electromagnetics in school and I work in the power industry. I did not list the equations to prove the material, but I can send detailed information about why electric fields do not go through conductors, only propagate on the outside. Or, you can pickup any introductory electromagnetics textbook and read about Faraday's experiments and equations and other information for yourself from people who are a lot smarter than us.
Thank you, - Cason R.

Jim:
That was a very good article by Chris C. to get people up to speed on EMP threats and mitigation, there is one very simple thing to add that was shared with me by a former military contractor who was involved in EMP work.   While it's possible to protect equipment in place with shielding, grounding and specialized electronic components, the most economical solution is to store spares.  This has the advantage of protecting (remember, "two is one") with backups from ANY type of equipment failure, EMP or otherwise.  This method uses readily obtainable and very economical materials.  There's really no excuse not to do this, as you'll be protected against a number of different possible problems.

Go through your your gear and determine what you need for spares.  Many, many things now have microelectronics inside.  Low startup power water pumps, tankless hot water heaters, refrigerators, LED light bulbs and flashlights, audio equipment, inverters, charge controllers, solar panel diodes, video cameras, network routers and switches, computers, cars and trucks etc. all have electronics that could be fried.  

According to my source, the best way to store electronic equipment is in it's original box, which provides an insulator from the outside via plastic, cardboard or foam.  Many electronic components come in static protecting bags, which will provide yet another layer of protection.  Double wrap the box with heavy duty aluminum foil, being careful to seal all seams with metal ducting tape in each layer.  The outside of this is then wrapped in plastic bubble wrap and placed inside a galvanized steel 32 gallon trash can.  

The inside of the trash can needs to have the same metal tape applied over the holes in the metal from the handles on the barrel and the lid and an insulating layer of cardboard should be fitted to the inside of the metal trash can.  This is to provide an insulator between the Faraday cage of the trash can and the electronics inside.  

Place all your wrapped electronics (double foil and bubble wrap) inside this trash can and seal the lid with more metal duct tape.  This provides two layers of security from the can and each component is also separately protected inside the can.   You can test this by placing an FM radio that is turned on, wrapping it in a box, layering the foil and bubble wrap, then placing it inside the metal trash can.  If you don't hear any radio signal after it's been wrapped and placed inside the metal trash can, you are good to go. - C.K.

James:
While I appreciate the thought that Chris C. and others put into discussions of EMP scenarios, Chris and others are all forgetting one fact that makes all of this an exercise in futility:  There are dozens of active nuclear reactors operating in the US.  Any EMP burst will travel along the high tension wires that are used to distribute their output and fry them.  It's not going to be the 1850s, it's going to be more like The Omega Man, with most of the population dead within weeks from radiation poisoning when the cores melt down and explode. Those who survive this initial die off will be left with a land that will not grow crops for millennia to come.  That's why I don't worry about EMP anymore: There's going to be nothing left. My family and I live in Butte, Montana astride the Great Divide. That puts us upwind of most of America's nuclear reactors.

If we do ever suffer an EMP, I hope that there won't be concurrent or subsequent radioactive fallout. The fallout from the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/reactor incident has really made me think hard about this.  If memory serves, there are 47 active reactors in the US, if they all overheat their cores [or spent fuel ponds] at once (or within the same week, say) I seriously fear for the population of the US and other countries. 

Wouldn't the Jet Stream eventually carry the fallout around the northern hemisphere and hit us here as well?  I read that it takes several months under controlled conditions to completely shut down a reactor [and disassemble its pile], and that if the fuel rods were exposed to air because the pumps stopped that it might take years for them to cool off and stop spewing radiation. If the grid collapsed due to an EMP, there would be no heroic efforts like we saw in January, with 47 reactors going critical and no communications or transport, Sir Isaac Newton is in the drivers seat. 

I don't want to sound defeatist, I have been following SurvivalBlog for several years, and am doing my best to prepare to keep my family alive in case of emergency.  I'm even working on a Bug-Out Bag article, which is what caused me to really start thinking about what I was prepping for.  The collapse of the grid like in your novel Patriots is obviously the biggie we all try to plan for, and if it goes down like that we all might have a chance to try the 1850s over again.  - Greg C. (A former USMC Captain.)

JWR Replies: These issues were described in detail in a SurvivalBlog article posted back in September, 2010. The only good news is that by the time that fallout clouds circle the globe, they will have already dropped most of their heavier components. In an absolute worst-case situation where all of the nuclear power plants and spent fuel ponds boil off and melt down, the worst-affected regions would be: the northeastern United States, Quebec, Iceland, and northern Europe. (Sorry about that!)

The southern hemisphere would obviously be safer, since there are relatively few nuke plants compared to the more industrialized northern hemisphere. Here in the United States, the least-affected regions would be the Pacific Northwest and the Inland Northwest (The American Redoubt.) I would not want to be living anywhere in the eastern United States!

Mr. Rawles,
We have had a couple telephone consults and I have found your knowledge to be of great use. I try to make your blog one of my first early morning reads here on the East Coast.
 
Chris C.'s article on EMP was extremely well thought out, comprehensive and full of accurate information. The only thing I take issue with is his statement regarding the reason we are a very likely target. Chris stated, "We now face an enemy who is difficult to put a face on, impossible to identify, and hates us for no other reason that the fact that we are a nation of free infidels."
 
I find this type of thinking to be all too prevalent in America today. I am in no way a Muslim apologist. I feel strongly that the Islamic community has done little to nothing to denounce terrorism, either through fear of retribution from fellow Muslims or tacit approval of the activities of their radical counterparts. Additionally, my late father was a United States Marine, I was a U.S. Navy Corpsman and my son is presently a Marine Lieutenant attending flight school in Pensacola, so I do not take what I am about to say lightly.
 
Chris C.'s way of thinking is short-sighted and flat out wrong. The vast majority of Muslims do not hate us for our "freedom". That is a false narrative that [the media] has been trying to create for decades. Just as any red-blooded American would be outraged at the presence of a foreign military on our soil, so do those inhabitants of Islamic countries who have had our military occupy and/or invade their lands. There is no denying that Saddam Hussein was an oppressive and evil tyrant and the world is a better place without his presence, but the same can be said about many dictators throughout the world, particularly on the African continent. The government of Afghanistan may or may not have known the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, but did its people deserve invasion and continued occupation?
 
Let's use a fictitious example for a moment. An American citizen or group of citizens plots and successfully blows up the Eiffel Tower. Washington D.C., for whatever reason, states they don't know where the group is, or simply will not turn them over. Would YOU accept French planes bombing U.S. cities, breaking down doors in the middle of the night looking for suspected terrorists or knocking your car out of the way with an APC because they wanted to get through......or would YOU be planting IEDs alongside the road to blow up the French troops?
 
The hijackers on 9/11 were almost all Saudi's, as was OBL, yet they are our "allies". OBL was found and killed in Pakistan, yet they are our allies. Does anyone believe that OBL lived in Pakistan for years without the knowledge of elements high within the Pakistani government? Let us not be naive. America is a great country, but we serve our interests, as do all nations. That said, we must not be surprised when our actions result in hatred. Most Muslims knew nothing of the United States, but when we bomb their countries, kill thousands and call it "collateral damage", should we be surprised when that hatred is turned towards us?
 
We have involved ourselves in the politics of oppression throughout the world to serve our own national interests and must realize that the end result is hatred directed towards us. Yes, they resent the encroachment of "Western" corruption on their generations, but don't we resent many of the very same vices that they do: promiscuity, drugs, alcoholism, abortion. Christianity preaches against the same things. They hate us not because we are free, but because we wish them to "be like us". Forcing your ways upon the people of another land is not freedom, no matter how backwards we may perceive them.
 
Many of us resent the way our own government is trying to force us to comply with their beliefs. Anyone with the slightest bit of intellectual honesty will admit that our country is not the beacon of freedom it once was. That oppression they feel will soon be directed upon those who disagree with our present government. You basically wrote as much in your first novel, Patriots.
 
America has much to be proud of, its people are kind, generous and caring. Our government is not. If we need to know why they hate us, we need to look no further than those in Washington, D.C. Hatred of freedom? Please, let's not fall into that jingoistic trap of false patriotism. True freedom is when people are left alone to live their lives, safe with their families, to live their lives. It's not having Humvees racing down the street with guns pointed at your children. Let's at least have an honest discussion.
 
Otherwise, it was an outstanding piece. Thanks, - Ken B. on Long Island

Jim:
Chris C.'s essay on EMP has some false information and conclusions unjustified even by those falsehoods, and misleading advice. His essay rehashes some myths that have been circulating on the Internet for years in spite of the ready availability of reliable contradictory evidence. He tries to qualify his remarks by saying there is "debate" over situations where "no one is sure what will happen," but in truth we do know. It's just that the facts contradict his opinions.

He clearly wants to believe that "small transistor devices", airplanes, modern cars, laptops, and pacemakers are at high risk from EMP, but the facts show that they aren't. Of course, they shouldn't be. They simply aren't able to capture very much energy from EMP, and the features that protect these devices from electrostatic discharge (whether fingertip static on a cold day, or nearby lightning strikes during a storm) also serve to shunt EMP energy away from their critical systems. - P.N.G.

Those of us who frequent this web site, the prepper community, prepare for a host of potential crises that may befall our nation.  Some are more likely than others, but most share a common background when it comes to being prepared for them.  The event of an EMP strike, however, requires some very specific knowledge and safeguards.  This is a serious enough issue that a study was commissioned by congress several years ago, which found that the threat was real and that we were woefully unprepared. This essay will provide a brief description of the event itself with some supporting history, discuss the likelihood of such an event occurring, and finally go over the potential impact of an EMP strike with recommendations for preparations.
What is an EMP?

EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse, a powerful burst of electromagnetic radiation that interacts with the Earth’s atmosphere and creates a wave of electrons that travel outward at the speed of light.  This “pulse” lasts only milliseconds, but the magnetic field that it produces creates a powerful electric current in conductive material through the Faraday principle.  There are actually three components to an EMP, but only the first, called the E1 wave, is considered a threat.  (The E2 mimics disruption by lightning and is comparatively easy to shield against, and the E3 phase is similar to a solar flare but would typically not reach the ground in a high altitude burst.)

This type of energy occurs naturally in the form of solar flares, but can also be man-made in the form of a nuclear burst.  While a solar event is possible, and strong examples have occurred in the past, it is typically much weaker than a weapon-based pulse, which will be the focus of this article.  EMP energy travels in line-of-sight, so ground bursts actually have much more localized effects.  The most damaging type of strike for EMP production occurs at altitudes of 40-400km above the surface of the Earth, where line of sight extends for thousands of square miles.  At altitudes such as these there is no blast damage, fallout, or even dangerous radiation.  Certainly these are the immediate and disastrous effects of a detonation near the ground, along with the now universally known mushroom cloud.  Why, then, with this kind of damage potential, would someone choose to exploit the EMP effects of a nuclear blast rather than the direct destruction?  Read on…

EMP- The early years:
EMP was discovered by accident to be the byproduct of a nuclear explosion.  In early tests, recording instruments located miles from the blast were destroyed by energy that traveled through cables and power lines, and in some significant early tests there was a demonstrable “practical application” component for EMP production and use.  Many people are familiar with the two historical examples of nuclear tests that resulted in measurable damage from an EMP.  The first is the 1962 American hydrogen bomb known as Starfish Prime, detonated 400km above the Pacific Ocean, and estimated at 1.4 megatons in yield.  The effects of the EMP component couldn’t be accurately measured since many of the instruments maxed out their readings, but the effects were felt 900 miles away in Hawaii.  300 streetlights were knocked out along with the phone exchange and many alarm systems.  It also crippled 1/3 of the satellites then in orbit, including some early communications models.  If this doesn’t sound severe, remember several key things about this test:

• It was intentionally detonated over the ocean far away from any landmass
• The Earth’s magnetic field at that location actually minimized the effects because it was located far from the poles
• The electronics of the 1960s were very simple and robust compared to the circuit boards and microprocessors used today.  Cars were not fuel injected, there were virtually no computers, satellite communication was extremely limited, most electronics were vacuum tube based, and cell towers were non-existent.

The second test of note was a Soviet air burst in a series known as test 184.  It was “only” a 300 kiloton burst, but it took place over sparsely populated Kazakhstan.  The EMP from this blast caused a massive voltage surge in an underground power line, started a fire in the power station and burned up several generators that were not even connected to the grid.  (Presumably due to the lengthy copper winding present in generators that would mimic a long power cable as far as current induction.)

Bear in mind that neither of these tests were tailored to generate EMP, and note the difference in the size of the warheads.  As further research revealed, the size of the yield is not proportional to the EMP energy released.  Smaller warheads are in some cases more lethal in this regard than the big ones, and weapons have since been engineered to maximize EMP production.

So, what’s the point?
The intent of the history above is to demonstrate that the EMP generated by a nuclear device is not just theory, and that it acts as a force multiplier.  During the cold war we had thousands of nukes designed to literally destroy an enemy’s ability to wage war.  If they had been employed, we could have leveled nations and left nothing but a smoking ruin.  Now, with the SALT treaties and efforts to limit nuclear proliferation, only a select few nations have nuclear weapons and with few exceptions, none have more than a handful.  Compared to the still-impressive might of the American nuclear arsenal, small players such as North Korea, Iran, or even well funded terrorist cells might only be able build, buy or steal a small number of weapons.  Two or three would probably be the most they could field.  (Make no mistake, there are weapons available; by most accounts there are over 100 missing Soviet weapons, many of them the small “suitcase” variety of tactical nukes.)  With ground bursts they could clearly decimate our largest cities, kill hundreds of thousands and cause trillions of dollars in damage.  But, if they were to employ even small nuclear weapons in a high altitude burst, three bombs could literally cover most of North America with an EMP burst.  With a design intent similar to the neutron bomb, there would be little to no physical damage done by the actual nuclear blast.  In fact, from a high enough altitude there wouldn’t even be a sound, just a bright flash if you happened to be looking in the right direction.  The damage they are capable of makes ground burst weapons and dirty bombs seem like an almost welcome alternative.

Okay, it sounds bad, but it’s not like this would ever happen…
The reality is that during the cold war, no one fired off a weapon because it would have been immediately apparent who was responsible (through missile launch tracking), and the retribution that America and her allies would have delivered was too awful to consider.  We knew who the bad guys were, but more importantly they knew that we knew and it kept everyone honest.  Even if they had destroyed Washington and all of our land based missiles, we would have had enough warning to alert our airborne SAC bombers and the Navy’s ballistic missile subs, which would have delivered more than enough counterstrike to make the whole thing an exercise in futility.  The old policy of mutually assured destruction really did have merit and it kept an uneasy peace, but the world today is completely different.  We now face an enemy who is difficult to put a face on, impossible to identify, and hates us for no other reason that the fact that we are a nation of free infidels.  Muslim terrorists are unlike anyone else we have fought, and our nuclear deterrent is from their point of view no deterrent at all:

• They have demonstrated the desire and ability to kill Americans and cripple our country whenever and wherever possible.  Two attacks at the World Trade Center, embassy bombings, The USS Cole attack, and countless smaller events prove that they have the will and can execute complex and lengthy planning.
• Muslim terrorists have no compunction about dying in the process of the attack; in fact that is their ultimate goal.
• Those that subscribe to Sharia law believe that it is their duty to convert or kill non-believers
• Terror groups have now linked with other countries to expand their capabilities and global reach, and we have no shortage of detractors around the world.  There is evidence of communication between Islamic terrorists and Mexican cartels, as well as between Iran and North Korea.

It goes without saying that most of the world’s Muslims have no interest in this, but those that do are sometimes well funded through oil-rich state sponsors.  As mentioned above, there are many unaccounted for weapons from the old Soviet Bloc.  Several countries were left with nuclear weapons when the Bloc broke up, including Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine.  Many of them are poorly inventoried and protected, meaning that if they were stolen there is some doubt that the theft would even be noticed or reported.  There is also a strong possibility that they could be sold by cash-poor nations or even individuals to unscrupulous customers.  State run nuclear programs are also not above suspicion;  China, Pakistan and North Korea all have weapons that could find their way into the wrong hands.  In the event of a ground burst detonation, it would take some time to analyze the residue and try to determine the origin of the bomb.  In the event of an air burst EMP strike we may never be able to determine who was responsible.  As we will shortly see, this type of attack has far-reaching consequences that would be far more disastrous than even a detonation in one of our largest cities. 

The delivery method of such an attack is not nearly as complicated as you might think.  Ballistic missiles are expensive, complex and highly technical, as is evidenced by the failures of North Korea to build and launch one in the past few years. The delivery system for an EMP strike does not need to be nearly so precise.  In fact, it might be the simplest part of the entire thing; certainly much less so that building or acquiring a nuclear weapon.  As we will see when we begin discussing the effects of the pulse, the EMP is not a surgical strike.  In fact, it could conceivably be hundreds of miles off course when detonated and still cause massive levels of damage.  If multiple weapons were used to provide overlap, accuracy becomes even less important.  Here are some of the potential methods for lofting a weapon to the appropriate altitude for a successful strike.  For maximum results a high altitude of 40-400km is ideal, but even a burst at lower altitude will cause damage for hundreds of square miles.  If an attack were to include the Eastern seaboard of the US, or the Pacific coast, tens of millions of people would be affected.

• High altitude balloon
• Jet aircraft; i.e. a chartered business jet
• Medium range missile launched from a ship
• Low satellite orbit

If the methods above seem a little odd, remember that we are dealing with a “simple” nuclear device.  It does not require a complex targeting system, a military aircraft, or any type of specialized delivery system.  Iranian Shahab-3 missiles, purchased from North Korea, and others in development might be candidates.  Also, North Korea just last month put their first satellite into space and Iran has similar ambitions.  While these two options are reserved for nations with substantial funding, balloon delivery and chartered jet are within the range of virtually any group.  This may seem farfetched, but the weapons and the delivery systems already exist, and there are plenty of groups who would be happy to employ them.  This is not science fiction, and is well within the realm of possibility.
So what happens when it goes off?
The impact of an EMP strike on modern society is open to a great deal of conjecture.  The last tests, mentioned previously, were in 1962 and the technology of today is vastly different.  Broken down simply, an EMP has the potential to affect the following:

• Electrical power generation
• Communication
• Transportation
• Microprocessors

There are many subsets of the four categories above, which will be examined below, and it is important to remember that they are all interrelated.  For example:  Your power has gone down due to an EMP strike and you need replacement parts to get it up and running.  The problem is that you need power to manufacture replacement components, a method for conveying what exactly you need, and the transportation to bring the components to your plant.  As a more local example, with no communication you can’t call and report a fire, the water pressure at the hydrant isn’t maintained because the pumping station has no power, and the fire trucks may not be functional anyway.  A blow to any of the four will adversely affect the other two. 

The E1 component of an EMP is a powerful magnetic wave, and it creates a massive voltage spike in metal components.  The energy is measured in volts per foot, so longer the metal, the more power is generated.  This means that long high-tension transmission lines could generate huge amounts of power, which would blow transformers and cause severe damage to power generation plants.  Let’s break down each of the above three broad categories and see how they would impact life in these United States.

Power generation:
Right now when the power goes out it’s annoying, and we sit and fume for the few hours it takes to replace a downed line or transformer knowing that American Idol is coming on.  An EMP has the potential to knock out virtually all of the power plants and transformers within line of sight from the blast.  (Remember, from an altitude of 40-400km, or up to 250 miles, “line of sight” only ends at the curvature of the earth.  An airliner only flied at 6-7 miles high, so imagine the vast area that line of sight covers from that vantage point).  There is evidence to suggest that the E1 pulse, which travels at or near the speed of light, would not be stopped by most surge protectors, meaning that much of the standard lighting protection equipment would offer no shielding.  Imagine the casualties in the immediate aftermath.  Hospital life support systems would shut down; even those with underground generators that might avoid destruction only have a fuel supply sufficient for a few days.  During the colder months people may freeze to death without heat in as little as a few days.  Food rapidly spoils.  Gas stations can’t pump gas even if the vehicles are operational.  All of the automatic monitoring and management of utilities, gas and oil pipelines, infrastructure down to the traffic lights.  Telephone exchanges and standard radios are useless, as is anything that you plug into a wall.  What could be worse than having all the power out in an instant… and not being able to find out what happened.  No internet, no cell service, no phones.  The water treatment plant is shut down and your toilets may back up.  Depending on where you live, you may immediately lose water pressure when the pumps go down.  As mentioned, there is no firefighting capability and fires which would have been easily contained now rage out of control.  Instead of one townhouse with a small fire, the entire row burns to the ground, or the entire apartment building, high-rise, etc. 

Communication:
Many of us don’t appreciate our modern communication network, which is heavily satellite based.  While an EMP wouldn’t take out satellites beyond the curvature of the Earth, those within line of sight are at risk.  Also knocked down would be cell towers, relay stations, computers and servers, etc.  There is some debate over whether or not small transistor devices such as two way radios would survive, but even they would provide a very limited range for communication.  Some military hardware is hardened against EMP, but only a small percentage of it.  With no comm systems intact you cannot call for help, check on your family, organize relief efforts, or even find out how extensive the damage is.  The pony express may make a sudden resurgence in popularity.  Satellite damage will also preclude the use of GPS systems and national defense, and with the damage to the power grid and transportation systems it will not be easily repaired.

Transportation:
The effect of an EMP on our national transportation system is up for some debate; it could range from severe impact to negligible damage and there is no easy way to test the theories.  Since this is a forum for preparedness and survival, we will examine a worst case scenario.  Aircraft are one of the biggest unknowns in an EMP; they are designed to absorb lightning damage but as mentioned above, the E1 pulse is faster than lightning and may “leap over” the standard safeguards.  If this is the case, then aircraft would literally fall from the sky.  Modern jets do not glide well at all, and most require computers for operation.  The loss of life would be heavy, not just from passengers being killed but from the aircraft on approach and departure crashing in populated areas and the fires that would result.  Remember the comment above about lack of firefighting ability?  Even a single airliner going down could burn massive areas of a city.  Trains would likely cease to function as well, since most of the controls are computerized and in some cases they are powered by electricity from an external source.  Trains carrying hazardous waste that are unable to stop in time or divert to side tracks could be catastrophic. Cars and trucks are the biggest question mark in this equation.  While most cars produced since the late 1980’s are computer controlled, the electronics are fairly robust.  It is possible that they may experience a brief problem or not function as well, but many may keep driving even if in a limited capacity.  Older models and carbureted vehicles would probably fare much better.  Generally the simpler the ignition system, the less likely the vehicle would be incapacitated by an EMP.  Many motorcycles, ATVs, riding mowers, etc would likely continue to function.  The good news is that even in modern cars the computers are simple and may retain some functionality.  Vehicles parked underground in concrete parking structures may be shielded from a pulse and continue to function.  In the final section, we will mention a few steps that might keep your car running.

Microprocessors:
Virtually everything electronic today has some form of microprocessor control.  Obviously if the power is down then this is a moot point, but what about the large number of battery powered devices that rely on these controls?  The short answer is that no one is sure what will happen.  Think for a moment about the devices that you may be relying on as part of your preparations that could cease to function:

• LED lights
• Electronic optics (EO Tech and Aimpoint are most common)
• Two-way radios
• Small battery powered radios
• Portable computers (Meaning that documents saved might not be accessible even on the hard drive.)
• Home standby generators with automatic controls
• Some medical devices such a pacemakers

So what are we supposed to do?
With all of the above in mind, how do you prepare for an event that creates an EMP?  There is not much that you can do to preserve the integrity of your local power grid and communications systems, but you can prepare some obvious backups.  The problem then is how do you shield your power supply, communications, transportation and microprocessors from the pulse when it happens?  What are the first steps you should take to stay ahead of the curve and secure your family?  We will break down your areas of concentration into several categories and dig a little deeper into each one.  The good news, if there is any, is that an EMP is an instant event and you don’t have to worry about overreacting or convincing your family that there is a problem.  In fact, you will have several critical hours, (maybe even days), where the rest of the neighborhood/town/city is trying to figure out what the hell just happened.  (That said, there may be a small benefit to waiting for a brief time before repairing things.  Earlier we talked about the potential for several weapons to be employed and an overlap of affected areas; if another weapon is detonated 15 minutes after the first and you have just fixed your car or taken your secured items out, it will require another fix or potentially ruin your sensitive items.)  Remember, there are no phones, no TV, no internet and most of the population in classic fashion will be sitting on the front porch cursing at the government and wondering when someone is going to come out and fix this for them.  In this case more than most, forewarned is forearmed, and reacting just a little quicker than the population at large can make the difference between life and death.  The primary focuses are going to be the same that we talked above previously; power, communication, transportation, and some concern for microprocessors, with the addition of these:

• Water
• Food
• Security
• Heat

Let’s go through the list and see what we can do to mitigate the effects of an EMP event both before and immediately afterward.

Transportation:
If you have a bike, you have EMP proof transportation.  Unfortunately you won’t have an advantage over everyone else with a bike.  If you have access to a motorcycle, ATV, or older carbureted truck, it will probably keep on running or at the most require a new ignition box.  If you have a new vehicle, try the following before abandoning it:  First, examine the fuse box and replace any that may have been blown.  (It is not a bad idea anyway to carry extra fuses and relays with you.  For EMP protection, wrap them in a paper towel and then in foil.)  Before you replace them, disconnect the power cable from the battery and leave it off while you work with the fuses.  Most automotive computers have a “reset” function where removing the power supply for a few minutes will cause a re-boot when you energize it again.  If the computer or key sensors have been destroyed by the pulse this will not help, but most systems are also designed with the ability to operate to a limited degree without full capability.  This is why bad sensors may cause a dash light to illuminate, gas mileage to decline or the emissions test to fail but won’t actually cause the car to stop running.  Once the fuses and relays have been replaced connect the battery and try to start the vehicle.  If it runs, great!  If not, grab your GHOB and anything useful in the vehicle and start walking home.  As a side note, security will rapidly become a problem so if it is legal for your to carry a weapon in your car, this is a compelling reason to do so.  It may be a long walk home.

Water:
This is the time to fill all of the bathtubs and every other container that you own with water.  The generators at the pumping stations and treatment plant may or may not work; you may only get whatever water is currently in the pipes and can be drained by gravity.  Don’t trust the quality of it either, treat and filter like you would water from any suspect source.  For filtration, a gravity-fed unit like a Berkey is preferable to something requiring a lot of manual labor or electricity.  Make sure you have this prior to the event, since you won’t be placing any online orders for the time being.  Take your water very seriously; simple infections can be deadly with no medical care, and many people will drink from the faucet out of habit not realizing that the treatment plant many not be functioning.

Food:
We all know that grocery stores only have a few days supply of food on the shelves, so with the power out and transportation crippled it won’t last long.  If you are prepared, you can capitalize on the slow reaction of the rest of the population to fill in any gaps in your supplies.  Take whatever transportation you have and get to the grocery store, now.  I’m talking about minutes after it happens.  Bring your credit cards and cash, and if possible go to a smaller store rather than a big chain.  Even though the power is out, smaller stores often still have manual credit card devices that create an imprint of the card.  I am not suggesting that you defraud anyone, and when the power comes back on (eventually) you will absolutely be responsible for any charges.  It certainly beats the hell out of starving to death though, so stock up on canned goods, bottled water, first aid supplies and non-perishables.  If the store doesn’t have a manual credit card machine use whatever cash you have on hand, but you probably won’t be bartering with gold and silver at this point.  No one will be all that worried at first and assume it is just a large power outage, so when you try to pay in old dimes don’t expect them to go for it.  Go to as many stores as possible and stock up; with manual machines in use you won’t hit any credit limit.  Crank up your old Jeep, find a trailer, and go shopping before the barbarian hordes arrive.  When you get home, use up all of your refrigerated items quickly.  Cook your refrigerated meat over charcoal to save your propane for heating and boiling water later.  Thaw your frozen meat and salt and dry it, and plant your garden now.  Don’t wait; your supplies won’t last forever.  If you live in an area with game and fish, start shooting deer and spend time fishing, preserving the meat by drying and salting.  Once reality sets in, there won’t be a deer to be found.

Microprocessors:
Virtually everything now is controlled by some sort of circuit board or microprocessor, which may be at some risk from EMP damage.  Protecting them is easy; it just requires some forethought on your part.  The best way is to place them in a Faraday cage, which channels the electric current around a metal enclosure and shields whatever is inside as long as it is not touching the metal.  The best example is a microwave oven.  It is designed to contain radio waves, and you can usually see the metal mesh in the door.  A gun safe also works, as long as there is no metal contacting the objects inside.  Any metal enclosure will work, even mesh as long as the holes are small.  You can build them yourself use existing metal cabinets, etc.  Store anything in it that you want to survive an EMP pulse.  Medical monitors, LED flashlights and weapon lights, holographic and laser sights, two way radios, small AM/FM radios, etc.  Remember that GPS will be useless if satellites are down and so will cell phones since the towers will be knocked out.  If you have a laptop with critical documents on it try to keep printed copies on hand since you probably won’t be able to access them later.  (You might even consider printing out articles like this from this web site and keeping them in a binder, along with your food storage details and supply lists.)  A steel storage building may also provide some protection, so if your ATV, old car, generator, etc are inside they may fare well and not require any repair.  Home standby generators are generally located inside a steel enclosure, but are connected through a transfer switch to the home; there is no clear evidence one way or the other to suggest whether or not they would survive a strike.

Security:
It is safe to assume that the days following an EMP strike will be filled with examples of society at its worst.  People on life support or even those that use pacemakers will be first wave of the dead, along with those killed in fires and accidents.  A progression of disease, injury, starvation, dehydration and predation will kill many more.  It will begin with simple looting, robbery and rape as criminals realize that no one can call for help and the police are overwhelmed and can’t respond.  As the days pass and they realize that there is no food, expect gangs to form and scour the area for resources.  Expect authorities to attempt to confiscate fuel, weapons, and food; resist if possible and with deadly force if needed.  Prescription medication will be unavailable, painkillers will be stolen almost immediately and refrigerated drugs like insulin will spoil.  Suicides will increase exponentially as will violence as hundreds of thousands on anti-depressants and anti-psychotics run out of their meds.  Prisons will likely be emptied of all but the worst offenders since the guards will leave and food will quickly run out.  Lack of basic necessities makes for desperate people, and desperate people are capable of anything.  It will start in the cities, where there are not enough resources to support even a fraction of the population once the transportation system is crippled.  High rise buildings with no power cannot pump water to the upper floors, creating an immediate crisis.  From the inner cities it will spread, as the inhabitants flee looking for resources.  They will swarm over the suburbs and into the rural areas, mistakenly believing that they can “live off of the land” or that the countries rural areas have food to spare.  Many people have no appreciation for the process by which food gets to the table, and the fact is that without modern irrigation, fertilization and harvesting only a small percentage of the grain and livestock will actually be turned into food.

A bug-out shelter in Wyoming is a great idea, but not if you can’t get there, so the odds are that you will have to secure your home.  This is not the place to discuss the ideal types of weapons to use.  What is more important is that you are armed, stocked with plenty of ammunition and spare parts, and most importantly have the training and will to use what you have.  If you have stockpiled food, have a generator running, and are driving a functional vehicle, you will certainly be a target.  Your best defense is to look innocuous; keep to yourself, don’t flaunt what you have, and if possible try to surround yourself with like-minded people so that you can support each other.  Run your generator only at limited intervals and try to muffle the exhaust as much as possible.  There are plenty of resources on fortifying your home; do your research now.  Even plywood sheets over the windows can provide a degree of protection and on most houses can be cut ahead of time and kept on hand to prevent storm damage anyway.  To survive an EMP you will need to have a one year plan as a minimum, and you really can’t have enough food, fuel and medical supplies.  Remember that you will attract friends and family in the area, and take on additional dependents at your own peril.  The food that will feed your family of four for a year will feed eight for six months and twelve for only four months. 

This is just theory, but no one can deny that the possibility exists for an EMP strike and that it is in fact more likely that many other types of disasters.  They key to surviving will be to plan ahead, rapidly identify it when it happens, and then work the plan.  Remember, there is a North Korean satellite in orbit right now and the Iranians have recently practiced launching ballistic missiles from ships.  It may not be as far-fetched as you think.

Dear Mr Rawles:
A follow-up to my last letter: Spiez is where the Swiss have their federal testing lab for Civil Defense.  The lab has an english version of its website.  At this link  your readers may acess the list of tested and aprooved components ( for CD shelters) and in a seperate document, the list of aprooval holders.  Interested readers can then with a search engine find the companies who make components of interest one of which is Lunor. This company also has an English version of their web site.  Readers can from there select blast doors, NBC filters,  valves etc.  Spiez is also the home of the Swiss level 4 confinement lab, ( of which a few pictures can also  be found  on the lab website).
 
Beste grussen und danke ein andere mal. - Jason L.

Dear Mr. Rawles:
Some of your French, Italian or German readers might like to try this link to the official Swiss Civil Defense web page.  The last five links on the page titled ITC or ITAP are the ones with the specs. The 4th link is also quite interesting, and as you can see, they even have the EMP problem entirely figured out, in typical Swiss fashion
 
I read somewhere that Oak Ridge might have translated some of these documents, or earlier versions thereof but I have yet to come across these on the net.
 
Beste grussen und danke ein andere mal. - Jason L.

Rainy Day Root Cellars in Castle Rock, Colorado offers a variety of sizes of root and combination storage cellars using pre-cast concrete components. I had the chance to inspect one of their installed cellars, and I was quite impressed. Their rugged designs are optimized for safe food and water storage, self-sufficiency, security and other 'backyard' or remote site access. In addition to food and water storage, these shelters provide excellent climate-controlled safe-keeping for important papers and sensitive files, firearms, ammunition, batteries, emergency medical supplies, and much more. Standard sizes range from 8′ x 8′ Single Room to 8′ x 24′ Three Room.

The backfill depth of a typical cellar installation minimizes threat from fire, tornados or other strong storms. This depth also provides smaller annual temperature swings than those typical of basements, garages or attics. A typical year-round temperature range for the prescribed installation of a Rainy Day Root Cellar is 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. (Depending on your latitude.) Grains, canned goods, water, medicines, gunpowder and ammunition all store well in a 33 to 70 degree range environment. In addition to an ideal temperature, these root cellars provide optimum sealed, dry and dark conditions without dependence on power. A year's food storage for a family of four may cost around $15,000, which warrants an appropriate investment in a suitable enclosure to prevent or minimize shortened shelf-life, pillage from vermin or other intrusions.

The Rainy Day web site touts their enclosures as a "safety deposit box" in your backyard. Their heavy duty steel exterior cellar doors provide the first line of defense. At the bottom of the thick tread wooden staircase, the cast-in-place steel opening frames a second lockable steel door for excellent security. Ceiling, floor and walls are all reinforced concrete with all seams waterproof sealed inside and out. Pipe penetrations (typically two 4" vents) are also sealed inside and out. These can be fitted with forced-air HEPA air filters, to make you cellar double as a fallout shelter. Each room has an adjustable air intake vent, allowing independent temperature control. For models with two or more rooms, a room can be kept warmer or cooler than the others by adjusting the air intake vents. American made, cast aluminum, self-cleaning Lawler Manufacturing blast gates regulate temperature and air exchange. Turn the non-glued, screened intake ninety-degree fitting in the direction of the prevailing wind to adjust air intake. During extreme below zero conditions, a supplied cap over the air intake (in lieu of the ninety) keeps the temperature at desired minimums.

Rainy Day pre-engineers and designs all root cellars to customer specifications, including individual excavation plans tailored to each location. If desired, they will find a local excavation contractor to further reduce the involvement required from the buyer. In either case, they supply a custom excavation plan to provide a secure, level foundation. They work with a nationwide firm that has numerous concrete pre-cast concrete facilities around the country, which optimizes delivery of primary components and scheduling of on-site work. Delivery is often less than four weeks after receipt of deposit. They also provide other pour-in-place options (less preferable) if the site (e.g. too tight for crane access) or other considerations warrant an alternative to pre-cast components. After assembly, sealing, lock installation and testing, the Rainy Day staff can then install any optional items such as shelving or water tanks. Soil backfilling can be performed by the Rainy Day staff, a local contractor, or the owner. Grass seed and bushes are suggested to hide the protruding stand pipes, the tops of which should be unobstructed and above the anticipated high snow levels of the local elevation. Completion time from crew arrival on the excavated site to key hand-off is a maximum of two days.

Standard lengths for single room 8' wide root cellars include 8', 10', 12' 14' and 16'. Standard lengths for double room 8' wide root cellars include 20', 22' and 24'. There is a 24' long 3-room standard option, with other custom configurations available. For hillside installations, wing walls (for sloped ground retention) can replace the stairwell. Interior options include custom wooden shelves, pre-made steel shelves, specialized food storage units (such as ShelfReliance shelving), or owner provided storage units. Rainy Day Root Cellars recommends either 225 gallon or 525 gallon 2-valve top-filled water tank options. The valve two feet above the floor is optimal for bucket filling, while the bottom valve is for periodic draining. Battery-powered lights or solar lights are lighting options they can provide. Rainy Day staff recommends acquiring two or more D-cell powered LED lanterns which can be suspended on their supplied ceiling hooks.

Rainy Day Root Cellars' web site provides more details and photos. They can be reached at: 303-660-6461.

- L.K.O. (SurvivalBlog's Central Rockies Regional Editor)

Jim,
Many are increasingly concerned about elevated radiation levels in their own local areas, but without any way to check & test for local radiation contamination many of them are worrying needlessly, especially about minute, non-dangerous, increases over background radiation levels.

At KI4U we will for no charge test any submitted used air filters from SurvivalBlogger's vehicles or homes. Here at the lab we are utilizing state of the art isotope identification spectrum analysis with dose rate determination and will e-mail lab analysis results back to any that send in their used air filters.

Full details on these tests can be found here. Regards, - Shane at KI4U.com

Howdy,
I have a question about the American Redoubt in light of the pending and probable total failure of the Fukushima reactors spent fuel rod pool. When this thing goes, the release will be massive and long term. [I have read that the] radiation release will cover most of the US and Canada and that most of Canada and the northern two thirds of America may be unlivable. How advisable would be moving to the American Redoubt?

I'm not one for conspiracy theories. I don't buy the one about HAARP causing the earthquake and tsunami. However, the sheer lack of any effort to contain this pending disaster like building a coffin around it like Chernobyl to be disturbing. We've invaded many counties that pose less danger to the US, if not the world.

What are you thought on safety should this thing collapse? - Sasquatch

JWR Replies: All of the recent Internet rantings that I've seen about Fukushima's impact on the in the U.S. and Canada are not being written by folks with any background in nuclear physics or NBC defense.

This piece that I wrote pretty well sums up my position: Useful Tidbits on Radiation and Journalists--The Season of Isotopes and Misanthropes

And this piece, posted four days later by the well-informed editor of Modern Survival Blog, echoed what I wrote, with some greater detail: Radiation, Japan, and the Inverse-Square Law (Also be sure to see the follow-up comments.) The rates at which radionuclides (radioactive atmospheric dust) drop out of rain clouds with precipitation are similar. In essence, the radiation risk drops off to negligible levels around 800 miles downwind, unless weather conditions are very unusual.

The recent “discovery”of a small nuclear reactor (only 3.1 pounds of weapons grade enriched uranium) in Rochester, New York started my wheels turning. Like most people reading SurvivalBlog I am concerned about what is around me and what harm could befall my family in the event of a TEOTWAWKI situation. Knowledge is power, and in this write up, knowledge about where nuclear power exists will go a long way.

I have spent 20+ years in the Navy upholding the Constitution, making my living as a Radioman on nuclear submarines, specifically 688 fast attacks. (I'm looking forward to leaving the East Coast and moving to friendlier, wide open spaces.)  I ate, slept, worked out, cleaned (endlessly), communicated and repaired equipment always within 100 feet of a nuclear reactor. At first, it was a big deal, but routine and the demands of the job numbed me to what was there. I find the same sort of numbness in those that live around civilian nuclear plants today and many other industries that have the potential to magnify a major disaster. After a while it is just there. You accept it and don’t pay any attention to it until something bad goes wrong at which point you have that “A-ha!” moment.

Building on what others on this blog have pointed out, know what is around you. Several people have pointed out all the civilian nuclear reactors. What about the military reactors? Those used for research? Prototype reactors? Start doing a serious look around you and you will find them right in your backyard. The mini reactor in a Kodak factory underground bunker (since 1974) is a good example.  The Idaho National Laboratory is another example of a location where nuclear plants exist (experimental ones at that) but is not generally discussed within the mainstream media. The laboratory, just west of Idaho Falls was also home to one of the world’s first nuclear accidents.

Just a small amount of research gives one a taste of exactly what is out there. In the US alone commissioned, decommissioned, experimental, military and research reactors number in the hundreds.

Thinking about reactors around us, let’s take the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Oregon and Washington) as a point of reference. Basically you have the Hanford Nuclear Reservation [in southeastern Washington] with the Columbia Generating Station. Not even delving into what is buried or mothballed (cocooned) on the Hanford Reservation this gives us a grand total of just one commercial nuclear power plant within the Northwest. Digging deeper though, we find other reactors. From known unclassified (yes it is Wikipedia, but the data collates with other solid information) sources we find that Idaho has four operational research reactors. In various states of decommission, mothball or cocooning we find another 34 reactors.  The University of Idaho operates another reactor, the AGN-201, also located on the grounds of the Idaho National laboratory.

Oregon has zero commercial reactors. Hey, almost good news. Diving into the information highway though shows us two research reactors. The first is located on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis. A pure research reactor capable of generating 1.1Mw, it has a “low vulnerability to meltdown”.  I used to have the same thing. As it turns out my low vulnerability to meltdown disappeared when I had to deal with 18 year old Submarine School Students on a daily basis who go out of their way to invent new and stupid things to do. But I digress.  The other Oregon reactor is located at Reed College in Portland. As quoted from the Reed College reactor web page, “the reactor is operated primarily by undergraduates”. I am certain in a TEOTWAWKI of SHTF situation, all of these students will come running to the reactor to safely shut it down or otherwise keep it in a "safe operating mode." (The Microsoft Word programmers need to develop a sarcasm font.)

Finally this brings us to Washington State. As previously mentioned, Washington is home to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the only commercially operating nuclear power plant in the Northwest.  The lone research reactor within the state is located on the Washington State University campus in Pullman, near Spokane. Take it down to another level. What about military reactors? How many of those exist within the state of Washington? Basically this depends on what ship is underway. Located on the Kitsap Peninsula on the Hood Canal side is the Bangor Trident Submarine base, or Naval Base Kitsap. The submarine base is home to several Trident submarines, three fast attack subs and two SSGNs [which are Tridents converted to each carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles with conventional warheads]. Using the Submarine Group Nine web site (under Trident Submarines) and the Submarine Development Group Five web site (under fast attacks) I count thirteen nuclear submarines. Across the peninsula in Bremerton you have nuclear powered aircraft carriers parked there, nuclear powered warships (subs/carriers) in dry dock, etc. Go across the water to Naval Station Everett (just north of Seattle) and throw in some more nuclear powered aircraft carriers. If you spent your time looking for commercial nuclear power plants in Washington you may come across just the Columbia Generating Station. Dive in deep and now you have a variable number of between 2 and 18 (it really depends on which subs are in port).

This is just the information that is publicly available.  Only the Good Lord actually knows everything that is located in just the Northwestern section of the country. We have a bloated government with so many special agencies and projects I have no doubt two highly classified things happen next to each other, both working to the same end and each one doesn’t know about the other; neither  known to the public.

Getting back on topic and thinking about the Northwest, what kind of local TEOTWAWKI scenarios could develop which could jeopardize the reactors? I believe one only has to re-watch video of the Japan Tsunami and transpose that over to the West Coast of the United States in order to get a good idea. The Cascadian Subduction Zone  would be the most likely offender in any Tsunami scenario. A magnitude 8 or 9 quake along this zone has the potential to generate a Japan (2011) type tsunami event. Imagine that water rushing through the Puget Sound and being funneled through a place like the Hood Canal. Rushing water can and does move massive objects. A massive surge of water would easily move a Trident (Ohio) Class submarine off the pier and onto land or some other point. Nuclear submarine reactors were never meant to be operated on land. Cooling water is required, even when they are in dry dock. That cooling water comes from the submarines natural environment (ocean water).  It now becomes a struggle to ensure the core is covered by water.

Add massive tsunami and earthquake damage to infrastructure from a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and you have the makings for a major disaster. A good portion of the crew would have to make it back to the submarine through massive damage and in most scenarios probably would not make it back. Communications would be down. The minimal crew onboard the submarine would have some personnel injured and would in no way be equipped to handle the potential complexity and magnitude of the crisis. While submarines do have some reserve electrical power to operate and (attempt) to get things in a stable state (battery bank), this is extremely limited. The other emergency power source is the subs own diesel generator. Good luck in operating that if the sub is at any sort of angle on land (and without cooling water).  The number of submarines in port multiplies the potential for disaster.

Saying all this it is also important to remember that US Navy submarines are built to withstand a lot of damage and keep going. The reactor components even more so. The USS San Francisco colliding into an undersea mountain at top speed is a testament to how robustly those subs built after the 1960s are. The Thresher and the Scorpion, two nuclear-powered submarines lost in the Atlantic during the 1960s (pre-Sub Safe era) are regularly monitored for radiation exposure and according to government reports, minimal amounts have been released/recorded. Yes, I know. Government reports. It is also important to know that both of the reactor vessels for these submarines are sitting in several thousand feet of water and did not rupture; a testament to their strength (Thresher is sitting in approximately 8,400 feet of water, which equates to approximately 4,000 lbs per square inch of pressure). It is also a testament to the cooling effect of ice cold seawater.

The potential is there for a massive natural disaster to be compounded by several manmade disasters. Knowing the location of reactors, industrial plants and the like will give you a leg up in any survival scenario. Having a preplanned escape route to avoid these potential disasters and the massive panic that would ensue from them is vital. The Three Mile Island Disaster (scroll down to the Three Mile Island part) is a perfect example of poor communications and panicked people. That was just an isolated incident not caused by some external calamity. Throw in the external calamity and the proverbial fan blades become covered in stuff.

Dear James:

I second the motion - any nuclear power experts on the blog that can comment on the threat from further catastrophes in Japan, or similar catastrophes happening here in the US?

Quite frankly I had not paid enough attention to Fukushima.  What I am finally reading is incredibly disturbing.   To summarize, we have a fragile earthquake, and tsunami damaged building, holding tons of highly radioactive and unstable nuclear fuel rods - on the building's second storey, 100 feet in the air, in an active earthquake zone.

Here is a photo.

Here is a quote: "If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident."

This would be TEOTWAWKI for Japan.  I would love to hear from an expert how bad this one event would be for the US, especially the West Coast...

Even more ominously for Americans, the US is just as vulnerable to repeating the same catastrophe as Fukushima - because of a decades-long reliance upon insecure on-site water pool storage of nuclear waste.  This was supposed to be a temporary expedient before stable long term removal and secure long-term storage of nuclear waste.   The safer, and more expensive alternative, of on-site dry cask storage, has been resisted (dry cask storage has come through largely unscathed in Japan).

"The Worst Yet to Come? Why Nuclear Experts Are Calling Fukushima a Ticking Time-Bomb"

"Experts say acknowledging the threat would call into question the safety of dozens of identically designed nuclear power plants in the U.S."

It Gets Worse...

Beyond the storage pool dilemma is the fact that nuclear reactors need a functioning power grid to keep the coolant flowing to prevent meltdown.  If the grid goes down, it is just batteries and diesel / propane generators to keep the coolant flowing.  If the fuel re-supply  doesn't show up in time, meltdown occurs...

Natural News has the best overview of the threat I have seen:

"Solar flare could unleash nuclear holocaust across planet Earth, forcing hundreds of nuclear power plants into total meltdowns"

It is disturbing to fathom, but it appears that any disaster that takes the power grid down for an extended time, and disrupts the delivery of generator fuel, could easily turn a large chunk of the US into a nuclear contaminated wasteland.

Any nuclear scientists with a considered opinion on this?

The number of "Black Swan" scenarios that could take the power grid down for an extended time are legion:  EMP strike, or Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), a New Madrid quake, "The Big One" on the West Coast, war or terrorist attack, just to start the list...

Are we living on borrowed time?

Is the Southern hemisphere the only really desirable bug-out location for any scenario involving the power grid going down long term?

See this map.

Regards, - OSOM

JWR Replies: The American Redoubt region is relatively safe from contamination from nuclear power plants. It is noteworthy that all but one of the nuclear power plants in CONUS that are up-wind of the region have either been shut down or are so hopelessly entangled by lawsuits that they are unlikely to ever be operational. (The one operating plant is Columbia Nuclear Generating Station, near Richland, Washington.) In contrast, the eastern United States does indeed have many, many significant spent fuel storage pond meltdown risks, in the event of a long-term grid power failure.

In the west, there is still the risk of minor contamination from Fukushima. At worst, we might have to dump milk from dairy animals for a few months if there is another big radiation release. But thankfully, the inverse square law hasn't been repealed. Distance is on our side!

Mr. Rawles,

Bill W. recently wrote about some of the possible consequences of nuclear power plants when the SHTF. Although I agree that a minimum safe distance during an individual plant emergency is 50 rather than 20 miles, I have to wonder if distance is that important 4 – 6 weeks out during a continent-wide event. I work for an electric cooperative and live less than 25 miles north of the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant in Virginia. During last summer’s earthquake, an electrical engineer told me the plant had tripped offline. I could not find this out from any news outlet on the internet. Nor could the engineer answer my real concern: did the backup cooling systems work? The lack of information left my wife (who was at home and scared from the house’s violent shaking) and I who was another 50 miles northeast at work, in an information blackout.

Nuclear plants have many backup systems from distribution electric facilities to generators and batteries, but in the event of an EMP, what are the chances for all of us on this planet? Obviously, the distribution electric system will be down. Are the generators EMP hardened, will they come online? They did not at Fukushima, and the mainstream media has elected to ignore the ongoing problems at this plant. Are the vents mechanical or do they require electricity that may not be available to operate? I count +/- 36 nuclear plants east of a line due south of Detroit to the Gulf of Mexico. If no safety systems are working and no one is there during a catastrophic event to operate them, will the +/- 36 plants (and a lot more counting all the nuclear plants in the U.S.) melt down, implode and spread an insane amount of radiation into the jet stream condemning everyone to a month-long agonizing death by radiation poisoning except for the political swells in the world’s capitols who will be evacuated to underground bunkers created at our expense? Given no secondary events like an earthquake, are most containment building strong enough to contain an uncontrolled chain reaction? Will the radiation be so strong that potassium iodide pills will not be enough? Would living in our basements for a year be adequate or simply too little too late?

I think it would be invaluable if one of your readers, a professional nuclear engineer could address the truly worst case scenario of an EMP attack over the entire country. Given that most plants store used fuel rods within the containment pools, the meltdown effects of each plant are intensified almost beyond imagination. - George C.

I’m 62 years old and live in the suburbs of a large town in Georgia (not Atlanta).  I think of myself as an intermediate prepper.  I’ve studied a lot and have plans in place for myself and my family should events turn sour.  I’ve got all the survival manuals in place and have prepared to defend my family should the worst happen.  My family is prepped and ready to go.  Though I’ve not bought much in the way of food stuff, I have all the hardware and I know where to get the food stuff on short order.  I keep an adequate supply of cash on hand.

I already know that unless there is a direct threat to my family or my home I will not be bugging out irrespective of what may happen.  Neither my or my wife’s health will support a bug out on foot.  However we do have bug-out bags ready just in case we should have to leave.  We live in a community of like-minded individuals.  My home is well prepped and a supply of water and other essentials is nearby.

I have a backup location (second home about 80 miles away) that I can go to if there is a direct threat to my family or my home.  I have the capability to load my gear and supplies and make my way there without traveling major road or towns.  My backup location is actually a better physical location (more remote, better water and game, better for gardening) for a long term event.  However I do not have the community support (like-minded neighbors) there that I have at my home.  My backup location is ready should I need it.

I am a mechanical engineer by education and a nuclear engineer by trade.  My principal function at work is overseeing the analysis of risk at nuclear and chemical facilities in the US and other industrialized countries.  This brings me to the point of what I want to discuss.

As we prepare to survive in the unknown world, a world where there are no support systems to keep us aware of what is going on outside our immediate neighborhood, we need to know a lot about what surrounds us.  As we enter into a situation where there are no utilities, everyone will be busy taking care of themselves and their families as they try to survive.  So who will be minding the industrial facilities around us?  My answer is no one.  Everyone will be minding their own retreats and families.  No one will be reporting to the nuclear and chemical facilities to make sure that they are in a safe and stable condition.

As we have become more and more industrialized, our industrial processes have become more complex.  We rely on computers and embedded processors to ensure that nuclear and chemical facilities are in a safe and stable condition.  Granted well trained employees are there to oversee the automated process and to take action if things do not go as programmed.  Without power to monitor and control the nuclear and chemical facilities and no one reporting to work to do the same, many of these facilities will become unstable over time.  Chemical or nuclear releases will become likely.

As I’ve made my plans one of the things that I have done is to take a map of my surrounding area and drawn a 50 mile ring around my house (this is true for both my home and backup location).  Within that ring I have identified the facilities that may pose a hazard to me and my family should the power and employees not be available to monitor and maintain stable conditions at the facilities that use or maintain inventories of hazardous materials.  This is not easy even for a trained professional.  It involves knowing the inventory of hazardous material stored at each facility and the effect that those materials may have on humans and the environment.  Learning the material and quantities is the hard part.  The hazards can be learned from Material Safety Data Sheets which can be found on the web.
As you may expect I was surprised at what I learned.  Even in a semi-rural area in Georgia, away for any large cities like Atlanta and in an area that we don’t typically think of as chemical ally, I found a very large number of facilities that use or process large quantities of chemical that are hazardous and / or deadly to humans and the environment.

A lot of the chemicals housed in these facilities are fairly stable while in storage without much attention needed.  But when left alone for prolonged periods of time, and in a post event period when looting and mischief may abound, they may not be contained and stable for the long term.
Another factor in my analysis is the weather and the prevailing winds.  Most of the facilities where the worst offending materials are located are to the south and east of me.  This is also true of my backup location.  That is good because where I live the prevailing winds tend to be from the west or southwest.  Seldom does the wind come directly from the south and almost never from the east.  I would hardly ever be in the direct path of a wind-blown release of material from one of these facilities.

An additional factor in my analysis was knowing when there may be a release of a hazardous material.  As I said before a lot of the chemicals housed in these facilities are fairly stable while in storage without much attention needed.  If we ignore for a minute the potential of a release due to mischief, then weather, time, and the properties of the material (corrosive, stability over time) come into play.  Harsh weather such as severe cold, heavy rains and flooding, and severe winds can lead to early failure of storage facilities.  The corrosiveness of a material may require constant stirring, cleaning, and maintenance.  Some materials may volatize and give of harmful or explosive vapors while remaining in there containers.  Some chemical are susceptible to becoming unstable when mixed with other chemicals or water.  Some chemicals and processes give off heat which may lead to the early failure of a container.  A lighting strike on a chemical or fuel container may lead to a fire or explosion which can involve other materials and produce toxic vapors and heavy smoke.

In addition to the chemical facilities, within my 50 mile ring are two nuclear facilities.  One is a nuclear power plant which is due south.  The other is a government facility which is southeast of me.  They are both close to the 50 mile ring.

The government facility is mostly shutdown. It is in the process of being decommissioned and closed, although some new, less threatening facilities are being used and constructed.  It houses large tanks of radioactive waste that self-heat and evolve hydrogen.  If left alone, the hydrogen will build up in the tanks.  An ignition source or lighting could cause a large explosion that would result in a significant release of radioactive material.  Because it is so far away and the prevailing winds are in my favor I don’t worry about this facility.

The nuclear power plant is somewhat different.  It is due south and sometimes the winds are from that direction.  If a slowly evolving event were to occur then the reactor cores would probably we off loaded and all of the nuclear fuel would be stored in the spent fuel pools.  Assuming all power is lost and the employee are minding their families then over time the heat generated by the spent fuel would boil off the cooling water and a release of radioactive material would occur.  This process would take weeks to develop.  Again, because of the distance and direction I am not concerned.

Due to both facilities being near the ring and the unknown factors (you can’t smell, taste or see radioactivity) I would not travel very far to the south or southeast of where I live after the SHTF.

My analysis has allowed me to understand that I am not at significant risk of a secondary chemical or radiological event.  Dealing with the new conditions that follow the SHTF event that took away our way of life will be difficult enough without the fear of these types of surprises.

Everyone who expects to survive a SHTF scenario needs to understand the secondary threats around them.  In addition to the issues of no utilities, non-friendlies looking for food and shelter, no health care or support, and an unknown future, we need to know that we will not be blind-sided by a chemical or nuclear release that we are not prepared for.

If you think you are ready but haven’t looked at the surrounding chemical and nuclear facilities then you are not fully prepared.  If you plan to hold up in an industrialized area you must know what the surrounding hazards are.

Take out a map of your retreat area and draw a 50 mile ring.  Go to Google Maps and look at the area particularly on the upwind side of you (look at the Weather Channel and you can understand where your prevailing winds are coming from).  If you find industrialized areas, find out what types of chemical and nuclear hazards are close by.  Make a determination of whether you want to be downwind of a release of these materials.  Bugging out after a chemical or radiological release envelopes you may be too late (remember Bhopal).  Good luck and God Bless.

James,
 I read in today’s SurvivalBlog, ”David in Israel on Coronal Mass Ejections.”  In it, David mentioned that “good grounding is always a good idea.”  That got me to thinking, as I had read in fairly authoritative reports that normal electrical grounding for EMP or CME, unless it is done in very specific and professional ways, is not a good idea for the average person unless he or she has specialized training and equipment.
 
I checked the references cited below, which covers the effects of both nuclear EMP and solar storms.  In the references below, one finds that of the three effects of a nuclear EMP burst, E1, E2, and E3, the third effect (E3) is the only one that can be similar in effect to a solar super storm.  The author thus includes protection for solar storms at the same level as the E3 effect of a nuclear EMP attack.  The discussion I think is worthy of study considering the recent news of solar activity.  (He discusses both EMP and solar events throughout the discussion, rather than separately.)
 
Mr. Emanuelson even mentions the use of galvanized trash cans as protection from EMP--which I have used for a year-or-so--for EMP protection. I do not ground them, but rather I store them resting on cardboard sheets on a concrete floor.  I have also been nesting other electronics gear in these cans as well as foil-wrapped shoe boxes, .50 cal ammo cans, fruit cake cans, etc. in the event of either EMP or CME.  But the author states emphatically that any Faraday cage, regardless of how elegant or primitive, is of no use, whatsoever, in protecting from a solar storm or nuclear E3 event. So I shall quit throwing my stuff in the cans when every solar storm comes up.  He does, however, recommend unplugging the cords from computers and other electronics devices at the “box” rather than at the wall, to reduce the “antenna effect.”   He gives a good rundown of some of the myths associated with these events, of which I admit that I’ve been a victim, in the last link, below.
 
While I have read pieces and parts of this as well source, as other sources --many of which conflict --  in the last year-or-so, only today have I taken the time to read all of this source, which is quite good, in my view.. Overall, a review of these references seems a good thing to do in light of the current solar activity
 
 
The links below are but a few among many on the site:  Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse, by Jerry Emanuelson, B.S.E.E., Futurescience, LLC, Colorado Springs, CO

• History of EMP
• Definitions of E1, E2, and E3
• Protection for Individuals: Grounding for EMP
• EMP myths
  

Sincerely, - Two Dogs

There are nearly 450 nuclear reactors in the world, with hundreds more either under construction or in the planning stages. There are 104 of these reactors in the USA and 195 in Europe. Imagine what havoc it would wreak on our civilization and the planet’s ecosystems if we were to suddenly witness not just one or two nuclear melt-downs but 400 or more! How likely is it that our world might experience an event that could ultimately cause hundreds of reactors to fail and melt down at approximately the same time?  I venture to say that, unless we take significant protective measures, this apocalyptic scenario is not only possible but probable.

Consider the ongoing problems caused by three reactor core meltdowns, explosions, and breached containment vessels at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi facility, and the subsequent health and environmental issues. Consider the millions of innocent victims that have already died or continue to suffer from horrific radiation-related health problems (“Chernobyl AIDS”, epidemic cancers, chronic fatigue, etc) resulting from the Chernobyl reactor explosions, fires, and fallout. If just two serious nuclear disasters, spaced 25 years apart, could cause such horrendous environmental catastrophes,  it is hard to imagine how we could ever hope to recover from hundreds of similar nuclear incidents occurring simultaneously across the planet. Since more than one third of all Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, this is a serious issue that should be given top priority![1]

In the past 152 years, Earth has been struck roughly 100 solar storms causing significant geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), two of which were powerful enough to rank as “extreme GMDs”. If an extreme GMD of such magnitude were to occur today, in all likelihood it would initiate a chain of events leading to catastrophic failures at the vast majority of our world’s nuclear reactors, quite similar to the disasters at both Chernobyl and Fukushima, but multiplied over 100 times. When massive solar flares launch a huge mass of highly charged plasma (a coronal mass ejection, or CME) directly towards Earth, colliding with our planet’s outer atmosphere and magnetosphere, the result is a significant geomagnetic disturbance. 

Since an extreme GMD of such a potentially disruptive magnitude that it would collapse the grid across most of the US last occurred in May of 1921, long before the advent of  modern electronics, widespread electric power grids, and nuclear power plants, we are for the most part blissfully unaware of this threat and totally unprepared for its consequences. The good news is that there are some relatively affordable protective equipment and processes which could be installed to protect critical components in the electric power grid and its nuclear reactors, thereby protecting our civilization from this “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” scenario. The bad news is that, as of now, even though panels of scientists and engineers have studied the problem, and the bi-partisan congressional EMP commission has presented a list of specific recommendations to congress, our leaders have yet to approve and implement a single significant preventative measure!
Most of us believe something like this could never happen, and if it could, certainly our “authorities” would do everything in their power to make sure they would prevent such an Apocalypse from ever taking place. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. “How could this happen?” you might ask. “Is this truly possible?” Read and weep, for you will soon know the answer.

Our global system of electrical power generation and distribution (“the grid”), upon which every facet of our modern life is utterly dependent, in its current form is extremely vulnerable to severe geomagnetic storms of a magnitude that tends to strike our planet on an average of approximately once every 70 to 100 years. We depend on this grid to maintain food production and distribution, telecommunications, Internet services, medical services, military defense, transportation, government, water treatment, sewage and garbage removal, refrigeration, oil refining and gas pumping, and to conduct all forms of commerce.
Unfortunately, the world’s nuclear power plants, as they are currently designed, are critically dependent upon maintaining connection to a functioning electrical grid, for all but relatively short periods of electrical blackouts, in order to keep their reactor cores continuously cooled so as to avoid catastrophic reactor core meltdowns and spent fuel rod storage pond fires.

If an extreme GMD were to cause widespread grid collapse (which it most certainly will), in as little as one or two hours after each nuclear reactor facility’s backup generators either fail to start, or run out of fuel, the reactor cores will start to melt down. After a few days without electricity to run the cooling system pumps, the water bath covering the spent fuel rods stored in “spent fuel ponds” will boil away, allowing the stored fuel rods to melt down and burn [2]. Since the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) currently mandates that only one week’s supply of backup generator fuel needs to be stored at each reactor site, it is likely that after we witness the spectacular night-time celestial light show from the next extreme GMD we will have about one week in which to prepare ourselves for Armageddon.
To do nothing is to behave like ostriches with our heads in the sand, blindly believing that “everything will be okay,” as our world inexorably drifts towards the next naturally recurring, 100%  inevitable, super solar storm and resultant extreme GMD. The result of which in short order will end the industrialized world as we know it, incurring almost incalculable suffering, death, and environmental destruction on a scale not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.

There are records from the 1850s to today of roughly one hundred significant geomagnetic solar storms, two of which in the last 25 years were strong enough to cause millions of dollars worth of damage to key components that keep our modern grid powered. In March of 1989, a severe solar storm induced powerful electric currents in grid wiring that fried a main power transformer in the HydroQuebec system, causing a cascading grid failure that knocked out power to 6 million customers for nine hours while also damaging similar transformers in New Jersey and the United Kingdom. More recently, in 2003 a solar storm of lesser intensity, but longer duration, caused a blackout in Sweden and induced powerful currents in the South African grid that severely damaged or destroyed fourteen of their major power transformers, impairing commerce and comfort over major portions of that country as they were forced to resort to massive rolling blackouts that dragged on for many months[3]. 

During the Great Geomagnetic Storm of May 14-15, 1921, brilliant aurora displays were reported in the Northern Hemisphere as far south as Mexico and Puerto Rico, and in the Southern Hemisphere as far north as Samoa[5]. This extreme GMD produced ground currents roughly ten times as strong as the 1989 Quebec incident. Just 62 years earlier, the great granddaddy of recorded GMDs, referred to as “The Carrington Event,” raged from August 28 to September 4, 1859. This extreme GMD induced currents so powerful that telegraph lines, towers, and stations caught on fire at a number of locations around the world. Best estimates are that the Carrington Event was approximately 50% stronger than the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1921[6]. Since we are headed into an active solar period, much like the one preceding the Carrington Event, scientists are concerned that conditions could be ripe for the next extreme GMD[7].

Prior to the advent of the microchip and modern extra-high-voltage (EHV) transformers (key grid components that were first introduced in the late 1960s), most electrical systems were relatively  robust and resistant to the effects of GMDs. Given the fact that a simple electrostatic spark can fry a microchip, and many thousands of miles of power lines act like giant antennas for capturing massive amounts of GMD spawned electromagnetic energy, the electrical systems of the modern world are far more vulnerable than their predecessors.

A growing number of scientists and engineers have become concerned about the vulnerability of both the grid and modern microelectronics to debilitating damage from severe electromagnetic disturbances. These could come either in the form of naturally occurring extreme GMDs, like what occurred during the 1921 and 1859 super solar storms, or an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) resulting from the deliberate detonation of a nuclear device at a high altitude above the earth.

The federal government recently sponsored a detailed scientific study to more fully understand the extent to which critical components of our national electrical power grid might be effected by either a naturally occurring GMD or a man-made EMP. Under the auspices of the EMP Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and reviewed in depth by the Oakridge National Laboratory and the National Academy of Sciences,  Metatech Corporation undertook extensive modeling and analysis of the potential effects of extreme geomagnetic storms upon the U.S. electrical power grid. They based their modeling upon a storm of intensity equal to the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1921. Metatech estimated that within the continental United States alone, these voltage and current spikes combined with harmonic anomalies would severely damage or destroy over 350 EHV power transformers critical to the functioning of the U.S. grid, and possibly well over 2000 EHV transformers worldwide.[8]

EHV transformers are custom designed for each installation and are made to order, weighing as much as 300 tons each, and costing well over US 1$ million each. Given the fact that there is currently a three year waiting list for a single EHV transformer (due to recent demand from China and India, the lead times have grown from one to three years), and that the total global manufacturing capacity is roughly 100 EHV transformers per year when the world’s manufacturing centers are functioning properly, you can begin to grasp the dire implications of this situation.

In addition to increasing total network size of the High Voltage Transmission Network, the network has grown in complexity with the introduction of higher-kilovolt rated lines that subsequently also tend to carry larger GIC (geomagnetically induced current) flows. (Grid size derived from data in the EHV Transmission Line Reference Book and the NERC Electricity Supply and Demand database; energy usage statistics from the US Department of Energy – Energy Information Administration.) [9]

The loss of thousands of EHV transformers worldwide would cause a catastrophic collapse of the grid, stretching across much of the industrialized world. It will take years at best for the industrialized world to put itself back together after such an event, especially considering the fact that most of the manufacturing centers that make this equipment will also be grappling with widespread grid failure.
Since the earth’s magnetic field tends to protect the tropical latitudes from the most damaging geomagnetic effects, with protection dropping as one travels closer to the poles, perhaps the infrastructure and manufacturing zones in places like Mexico, Malaysia, India, and Singapore will be spared. However, most of those countries probably also rely on goods and services imported from other parts of the world that would be crippled for many months (or years) in the event of  a an extreme GMD.

According to the various Metatech analyses, it is estimated that grid collapse will effect at least 130 million people in the United States alone. However, in a recent personal conversation, John Kappenman (author of the Metatech study) admitted that this estimate is probably grossly optimistic.[11] He noted that “killer trees” and other seemingly insignificant events have been attributed to being the tiny seeds that sprouted into giant multi-state blackouts. The massive Western States Blackout of August 10, 1996, apparently started when sagging power lines shorted against improperly pruned trees in Oregon during a triple-digit heat wave, cascading into a blackout that cut power to seven western states, parts of Baja, Mexico, and two Canadian provinces. Due to excessive loads from millions of air-conditioning units operating during the heat wave, the grid had been operating near peak capacity and the shorted lines threw it over the edge into cascading failure, affecting millions of customers[12].
A similar group of “killer trees” in the state of Ohio were apparently the root cause of the Great Northeastern Blackout of August 2003 that cut power to over 50 million people [13]. Kappenman also cited the recent September 2011 event where a utility technician flipped a switch to bypass a large series capacitor that was not working properly at a substation outside of Yuma Arizona, and for reasons not fully understood this caused a chain of events leading to  a massive cascading blackout that cut power to millions of customers in Arizona, California, and Mexico. This same blackout also caused two nuclear reactors at the San Onofre nuclear power plant to automatically shut down and go off line, which they are designed to do as a safety precaution in the event of a local grid failure. This exacerbated the situation by reducing the locally available generating capacity at the same time as utility workers were desperately trying to restore power to San Diego and other areas[14].

Five years ago I visited the still highly contaminated areas of Ukraine and the Belarus border where much of the radioactive plume from Chernobyl descended on 26 April 1986. I challenge chief scientist John Beddington and environmentalists like George Monbiot or any of the pundits now downplaying the risks of radiation to talk to the doctors, the scientists, the mothers, children and villagers who have been left with the consequences of a major nuclear accident. It was grim. We went from hospital to hospital and from one contaminated village to another. We found deformed and genetically mutated babies in the wards; pitifully sick children in the homes; adolescents with stunted growth and dwarf torsos; fetuses without thighs or fingers and villagers who told us every member of their family was sick. This was 20 years after the accident, but we heard of many unusual clusters of people with rare bone cancers…. Villages testified that ‘the Chernobyl necklace’—thyroid cancer—was so common as to be unremarkable.- John Vidal, “Nuclear’s Green Cheerleaders Forget Chernobyl at Our Peril,” Guardian. co.uk, April 1, 2011[15]

So what do extended grid blackouts have to do with potential nuclear catastrophes? Nuclear power plants are designed to disconnect automatically from the grid in the event of a local power failure or major grid anomaly, and once disconnected they begin the process of shutting down the reactor's core. In the event of the loss of coolant flow to an active nuclear reactor's core, the reactor will start to melt down and fail catastrophically within a matter of a few hours at most. In an extreme GMD, nearly every reactor in the world could be affected.

It was a short-term cooling system failure that caused the partial reactor core melt-down in March 1979 at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. Similarly, according to Japanese authorities it was not direct damage from Japan’s 9.0 magnitude Tohoku Earthquake on March 11, 2011 that caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor disaster, but the loss of electric power to the reactor’s cooling system pumps when the reactor’s backup batteries and diesel generators were wiped out by the ensuing tidal waves. In the hours and days after the tidal waves shuttered the cooling systems, the cores of reactors number 1, 2, and 3 were in full meltdown and released hydrogen gas, fueling explosions which breached several reactor containment vessels and blew the roof off the building housing the spent fuel storage pond of reactor number 4.
Of even greater danger and concern than the reactor cores themselves are the spent fuel rods stored in on-site cooling ponds. Lacking a permanent spent nuclear fuel storage facility, so-called “temporary” nuclear fuel containment ponds are features common to nearly all nuclear reactor facilities. They typically contain the accumulated spent fuel from 10 or more decommissioned reactor cores. Due to lack of a permanent repository, most of these fuel containment ponds are greatly overloaded and tightly packed beyond original design. They are generally surrounded by common light industrial buildings, with concrete walls and corrugated steel roofs. Unlike the active reactor cores, which are encased inside massive “containment vessels” with thick walls of concrete and steel, the buildings surrounding spent fuel rod storage ponds would do practically nothing to contain radioactive contaminants in the event of prolonged cooling system failures. 

Since spent fuel ponds typically hold far greater quantities of highly radioactive material then the active nuclear reactors locked inside reinforced containment vessels, they clearly present far greater potential  for the catastrophic spread of highly radioactive contaminants over huge swaths of land, polluting the environment for multiple generations spanning hundreds of years. A study by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determined that the “boil down time” for  spent fuel rod containment ponds runs from between 4 and 22 days after loss of cooling system power before degenerating into a Fukushima-like situation, depending upon the type of nuclear reactor and how recently its latest batch of fuel rods had been decommissioned[16].

Reactor fuel rods have a protective zirconium cladding, which if superheated while exposed to air will burn with intense self-generating heat, much like a magnesium fire, releasing highly radioactive aerosols and smoke. According to Arnie Gundersen, former Senior Vice President for Nuclear Engineering Services Corporation, now turned nuclear whistle-blower, once a zirconium fire has started, due to its extreme temperatures and high degree of reactivity, contact with water will result in the water dissociating into hydrogen and oxygen gases, which will almost certainly lead to violent explosions. Gundersen says that once a zirconium fuel rod fire has started, the worst thing you could do is to try to quench the fire with water streams, since this action will only make matters worse and lead to violent explosions. Gundersen believes the massive explosion that blew the roof off the spent fuel pond at Fukushima was caused by zirconium induced hydrogen dissociation[16].

A few days after the tidal waves destroyed the generators providing back-up electrical power to Fukushima Daiichi's cooling system, the protective water bath boiled away from the spent fuel pond for reactor no. 4, leaving the stored spent fuel rods partially exposed to the air. Had it not been for heroic efforts on the part of Japan’s nuclear workers to replenish water in this spent fuel pool, these spent rods would have melted down and their zirconium cladding would have ignited, which most likely would have released far more radioactive contamination than what came from the three reactor core meltdowns.

Japanese officials estimate that, to date, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has released just over half of the total radioactive contamination released from Chernobyl, but other sources suggest that the radiation released could be significantly more. In the event of an extreme GMD-induced long-term grid collapse covering much of the globe, if just half of the world's spent fuel ponds boil off their water and become radioactive zirconium-fed infernos, the ensuing contamination will far exceed the cumulative effect of 400 Chernobyls.

Most of us tend to believe that a nuclear reactor is something that can be shut down in short order, like some massive piece of  machinery that can be turned off  by simply flipping a switch, or by performing a series of operations in a prescribed manner over a relatively short time, such as a few hours or perhaps a day or two. In spite of my MIT education (BSME, MIT, 1978), until recently I too was under the spell of this comforting delusion, which is far from the truth. You see, the trillions of chain reactions going on inside a nuclear reactor’s core continuously produce such incredible amounts of energy that a single nuclear power plant can generate more electricity than is required to power a good sized city. Unfortunately, these reactions do not simply “cease fire” at the flip of a switch. In general, it takes 5 to 7 days to slow down a reactor core’s nuclear chain reactions to the point where the core may be removed from the reactor.

After removal, the fuel rods are quite “hot”, both from the perspective of temperature and radioactivity. For the next 3 to 5 years these fuel rods must be immersed under roughly 20 feet of  continuously cooled water, both to shield the surrounding area from radioactivity, as well as to prevent catastrophic melt-down from occurring. According to Gundersen, after slowing down the chain reactions inside the reactor cores at Fukushima for a full eight months, the fuel rods would start melting down again if coolant flow was suspended for just 38 hours.

Gundersen explained that, essentially all modern nuclear reactors are designed with banks of "fuel rods", which contain highly radioactive materials, combined with banks of "control rods", which mesh between the fuel rods like the interwoven fingers of your right and left hands. It is the degree of interweave that moderates and controls the rate of nuclear chain reactions. He further explained that in the event of a significant loss of reactor control, reactors are designed for a "fail-safe" process to occur, where the control rods automatically fall into the fully meshed position with respect to the fuel rods, resulting in maximal slowing of the core's nuclear reactions and beginning the process of shutting down the reactor.

Typically, this action rapidly reduces the power produced by these chain reactions by a factor of 20:1 (to 5.0 per cent of full power), but that still leaves thousands of horsepower worth of waste heat that must be removed if the reactor core is not to rapidly overheat and fail catastrophically. After a day of leaving the control rods in the fully interwoven position, this reaction slows to 1.0 per cent, and after a week it will be about 0.1 per cent of full power. Once the reactions in the fuel rods slow to the point where the rods may be removed from the reactor, the spent fuel rods must be cooled inside containment ponds for 3–5 more years before the nuclear reactions decay to a point where the rods can be moved to specially designed air-cooled storage banks.

As mentioned previously, nuclear power plants are only required to store enough backup fuel reserves on-site to keep their backup diesel generators running for a period of one week. The NRC has always operated from the assumption that extended grid “blackouts” would not last for periods of more than a few days. The government has promised that, in the event of a major catastrophe such as a Hurricane Katrina, diesel trucks will show up like clockwork at all troubled nuclear facilities until local grid-supplied electrical power services have been re-established. Unfortunately, governments and regulators have not considered the possibility that the next extreme GMD  which Mother Nature unleashes upon Earth will quite likely disrupt grid services over much of the industrial world for a period of years, not just days. The chances that the world’s nuclear reactors will receive weekly deliveries of diesel fuel under such chaotic circumstances are practically zero. In a world suffering from loss of fuel and electric power, if any such deliveries were attempted those fuel tankers would be prime targets for armed hijackers.

Had it not been for heroic efforts on the part of Japan’s nuclear workers to replenish waters in the spent fuel pool at Fukushima, those spent fuel rods would have melted down and ignited their zirconium cladding, which most likely would have released far more radioactive contamination than what came from the three reactor core melt-downs. Japanese officials have estimate that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has already released into the local environment just over half the total radioactive contamination as was released by Chernobyl, but other sources estimate it could be significantly more than was released by the accident at Chernobyl. In the event that an extreme GMD induced long-term grid collapse covering much of the globe, if just half of the world’s spent fuel ponds were to boil off their water and become radioactive zirconium fed infernos, the ensuing contamination could far exceed the cumulative effect of 400 Chernobyls.

Many of the control systems we considered achieved optimal connectivity through Ethernet cabling. EMP coupling of electrical transients to the cables proved to be an important vulnerability during threat illumination…. The testing and analysis indicate that the electronics could be expected to see roughly 100 to 700 ampere current transients on typical Ethernet cables. Effects noted in EMP testing occurred at the lower end of this scale. The bottom line observation at the end of the testing was that every system failed when exposed to the simulated EMP environment. - Report of the Commission to Asses the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack[18]

Electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) and solar super storms are two different, but related, categories of events that are often described as high-impact, low  frequency (HILF) events. Events categorized as HILF don’t happen very often, but if and when they do they have the potential to severely affect the lives of many millions of people. Think of an EMP as a super-powerful radio wave capable of inducing damaging voltage spikes in electrical wires and electronic devices across vast geographical areas. What is generally referred to as an EMP strike is the deliberate detonation of a nuclear device at a high altitude, roughly defined as somewhere between 24 and 240 miles (40 and 400 kilometers) above the surface of the earth. Nuclear detonations of this type have the potential to cause serious damage to electronics and electrical power grids along their line of sight, covering huge distances on the order of a circular area 1,500 miles (2,500 kilometers) in diameter, which would correspond to an area stretching roughly from Quebec City in Canada down to Dallas, Texas and reaching almost as far south as Miami, Florida. The geomagnetic effects of extreme solar storms are sometimes also described as a “natural EMP”.[19]

The concern is that some rogue state or terrorist organization might build their own nuclear device from scratch or buy one illegally, procure a Scud missile (or similar) on the black market and launch their nuclear device from a large fishing boat or freighter somewhere off the coast of the US, causing grid collapse and widespread damage to electronic devices across roughly 50% of America. Much like an extreme GMD, a powerful EMP attack would also cause widespread grid collapse, but it would be limited to a much smaller geographical area.

A powerful  EMP  from a sub-orbital nuclear detonation would cause extreme electromagnetic effects, starting with an initial short duration “speed of light” pulse, referred to as an “E1” effect, followed by a middle duration pulse called an “E2” effect, which is followed by a longer duration disturbance known as an “E3” effect. The “E1” effect lasts on the order of a few nanoseconds, and is quite similar to massive electrostatic discharges, much like the sparks that surge from an extended fingertip after rubbing your feet on the carpet on a cold clear winter’s day, except they would surge through the hearts of electronic equipment distributed over a vast geographic area. These types of electrostatic spark discharges are particularly damaging to digital microelectronic chips  that are at the core of most modern electronic equipment.

The intermediate “E2” effects last a fraction of a second, and are similar to many thousands to millions of lightning strikes hitting over a widespread area at almost exactly the same time. Unfortunately, many of the devices designed to protect equipment from lightning damage, such as surge protectors, will be incapacitated by damage from the E1 pulse, leaving millions of electronic devices and systems susceptible to damage from the E2 effects.  

In the case of a nuclear induced EMP, its E3 effect starts after about a half second and may continue for several minutes. The E3 effect can be thought of as a “long slow burn”, and electromagnetically it is quite similar to the effects from an extreme GMD. The main difference between the E3 from an EMP and what occurs during an extreme GMD is that the EMP effect may continue for  a number of minutes, whereas the extreme GMD may continue for a number of hours or days. However, the magnitude of the induced magnetic field strengths from an EMP attack and an extreme GMD are about the same, with similar potential for causing severe damage to EHV transformers across the affected areas.

Inside the affected area, an EMP’s E3 effect would cause a similar degree of damage to the EHV transformers as that from an extreme GMD, but the E1 and E2 effects would cause far greater damage to electronic control systems than that from a GMD of similar intensity. Contrary to popular opinion, most personal electronic devices would probably survive with little or no damage, especially if they were not turned on at the moment of EMP, as would most automobiles. However, most complex electronic systems that contained digital microchips in combination with long runs of Ethernet cables (or other interconnecting cabling) which act like antennas for receiving EMP induced voltage spikes, would experience nearly 100% failure! [20]

A “successful” EMP attack launched against the US would most likely result in the immediate collapse of the grid across roughly 50% of the country, and crash the stock market. For the reasons discussed above, modern digital electronic control systems are highly susceptible to damage from EMP. These systems include programmable logic controllers (PLC), digital control systems (DCS),  and supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), all of which are absolutely critical for running factories, refineries, power plants, nuclear reactors, sewage plants, etc., as well as for diagnosing problems within those facilities and systems.
Bill Kaewert, President and CTO of Stored Energy Systems, LLC, a supplier of  backup power systems and components for mission-critical structures, such as Minuteman III missile silos, data centers, and critical corporate facilities, recently took part in a “Tabletop EMP” exercise hosted at the National Defense University. Dozens of the nation’s leading first responders, public safety experts, and military personnel took part in this exercise simulating a massive grid-down scenario typical of an EMP attack or an extreme GMD. According to Kaewert, even these highly trained personnel had a hard time grappling with the public safety implications of a disaster the size of fifty Hurricane Katrinas. It was also quite apparent that in an extended grid collapse a large number of emergency responders, military and government personnel would abandon their posts to protect their family and friends from the ensuing chaos[21].

In October of 1962, the Soviet Union conducted three above ground nuclear tests over Kazakhstan to study the effects of EMP. Due to its more northerly location, the EMP effects at the Kazakhstan test site were several times stronger than those observed during the more well-known “Starfish Prime” nuclear test, where the U.S. military detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear device in July of 1962, 250 miles above Johnston Island, which is 900 miles south of Honolulu, HI. During the Soviet EMP tests, massive current spikes were induced in a 600 mile (1000 kilometer) long high-voltage power line that was buried six feet (two meters) underground. Massive induced currents caused a fire in the Karaganda power plant at the far end of the line, burning it to the ground. In anticipation of power outages caused by the EMP tests, the Russian military had pre-placed a backup diesel generators on site, but many of these generators were damaged by the EMP blast and would not start prior to being repaired. Located at great distances from the test site ground zero, several military radar units were also disabled by the EMP. Due to the use of solid-state devices containing microchips, today’s electrical devices are generally far less resistant to EMP damage than the devices in use during these EMP tests that took place back in the early 1960s. In today’s world, scientists predict that within the heavily affected area an EMP strike would cripple many backup power systems along with the vast majority of digital electronic control systems.

Since his deployment with the U.S. military in the early 1980s, Dr. George Baker has been involved the study of  EMP effects, as well as the design of EMP hardened devices, EMP weapons, and developing EMP standards for military and civilian usage. His resume reads like a “Who’s Who” of EMP, including being a Principal Staff member of the Congressional Commission to Asses the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). Baker states that, “electronic systems are so complex, from an electromagnetic coupling standpoint, that we simply cannot predict what will fail or survive an EMP event. Actual EMP testing is the only way to know whether or not a particular electronic device will survive an EMP attack.” [22]

The only good news about EMP strike is that its effect will cover a much smaller area than an extreme GMD, so there will be a significant portion of the rest of the US, as well as the rest of the outside world, left intact and able to lend a hand towards rebuilding critical infrastructure in the affected areas. Imagine the near total loss of a functioning infrastructure across an area of about a million square miles (approximately 1.6 million square kilometers, roughly equivalent to 50 Hurricane Katrinas happening simultaneously) and you will have some idea of the crippling effect of an EMP attack from a single medium sized sub-orbital nuclear detonation!

The simple fact of the matter is that approximately 1/3 of the population of the U.S. lives within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, the vast majority of which are located in the eastern half of the country—the prime target for an EMP attack. If the reactor vessel was breeched at the Indian Point nuclear power plant 38 mile north of New York City, and the city itself was contaminated with four times the safe level of Cesium 137 (a radioactive isotope that was deposited at dangerous levels on areas surrounding Fukushima), which has a half life of 30 years, then it would take roughly 60 years before the local Cesium 137 decayed to levels at which New York City could be safely re-occupied[23]. Given the likelihood that backup power systems will fail at a significant percentage of the nuclear installations within the EMP affected area, and the distinct probability that all utilities and central services would collapse over many of the nation’s population centers, the need to invest in preventative measures should be quite obvious.

The congressionally mandated EMP Commission has studied the threat of both EMP and extreme GMD events, and made recommendations to the US congress to implement protective devices and procedures to insure the survival of the grid and other critical infrastructures in either event. John Kappenman, author of the Metatech study, estimates that it would cost on the order of $1 billion to build special protective devices into the US grid to protect its EHV transformers from EMP or extreme GMD damage, and to build stores of critical replacement parts should some of these items be damaged or destroyed. Kappenman estimates that it would cost significantly less than $1 billion to store at least a year’s worth of diesel fuel for backup generators at each US nuclear facility and to store sets of critical spare parts, such as backup generators, inside EMP-hardened steel containers to be available for quick change-out in the event that any of these items were damaged by an EMP or GMD[24].

To me, this is a no-brainer. For the cost of a single B-2 bomber or a tiny fraction of the TARP bank bailout, we could invest in preventative measures to avert what might well become the end of our civilization and life as we know it! There is no way to protect against all possible effects from an extreme GMD or an EMP attack, but certainly we could implement measures to protect against the worst effects. Since 2008, Congress has narrowly failed to pass legislation that would implement at least some of the EMP Commission’s recommendations[25].

For more than 50 years, the US Army Corps of Engineers knew that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen, and they made plans for rebuilding the aging system of inadequate levies, but those plans were never implemented. Have we learned nothing from the wholly preventable flooding of New Orleans? Will we continue to ignore facts and pretend that “everything will be okay” while our world drifts towards the next inevitable extreme GMD, or until some terrorist organization or rogue state launches an EMP attack? This time, failure to prepare will not just mean the loss of a major city, but the end of the industrialized world as we know it, along with incalculable suffering, death, and environmental destruction.

We have a long ways to go to make our world EMP and GMD safe. Every citizen can do their part to push for legislation to move towards this goal, and to work inside our homes and communities to develop local resilience and self reliance, so that in the event of a long term grid-down scenario, we might make the most of a bad situation. The same tools that are espoused by the “Transition Movement” for developing local self-reliance and resilience to help cope with the twin effects of climate change and peak oil could also serve communities well in the event of an EMP attack or extreme GMD. If our country were to implement safeguards to protect our grid and nuclear power plants from EMP, it would also eliminate the primary incentive for a terrorist to launch an EMP attack. The sooner we take these actions the less chance that an EMP attack will occur!

For more information, or to get involved, see:

• EMPActAmerica.org/
• Survive-EMP.com/
• TransitionNetwork.org/

...and please contact your congressman.

NOTES:
[1] Bill Dedman, “Nuclear Neighbors: Population Rises Near Nuclear Reactors,” MSNBC.com. Accessed December 2011.
 [2] Dina Cappiello, “Long Blackouts Pose Risk to U.S. Nuclear Reactors,” Associated Press, March 29, 2011.
[3] Lawrence E. Joseph, “The Sun Also Surprises,” New York Times, August 15, 2010. Accessed August 2010.
[4] John Kappenman, “Geomagnetic Storms and Their Impacts on the U.S. Power Grid,” Metatech Corporation, prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Meta-R-319, January 2010, p. 2—29.

[5] S. M. Silverman and E. W. Cliver, “Low-Altitude Auroras: The Magnetic Storm of 14-15 May 1921,” Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 63, (2001), p. 523-535. Additionally,  “High-Impact, Low-Frequency Event Risk to the North American Bulk Power System: A Jointly Commissioned Summary Report of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s November 2009 Workshop,” June, 2010, p. 68.
[6] Committee on the Societal and Economic Impacts of Severe Space Weather Events: A Workshop National Research Council, “Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts Workshop Report,” National Research Council of the National Academies (2008), p. 7-13, and p. 100. Additionally, E. W. Cliver and L. Svalgaard, “The 1859 Solar-Terrestrial Disturbance and the Current Limits of Extreme Space Weather Activity,” Solar Physics (2004) 224, P. 407-422.
[7] Richard A. Lovett, “What if the Biggest Solar Storm on Record Happened Today?” National Geographic News, March 2, 2011. Accessed December 2011.
[8] John Kappenman, “Geomagnetic Storms and Their Impacts on the U.S. Power Grid,” Metatech Corporation, prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Meta-R-319, January 2010. Accessed November 2011.
[9] Ibid., p. 1—3.
[10] Ibid., p. 4—2.
[11] John Kappenman, interview by author, December 2011.
[12] “Sagging Power Lines, Hot Weather Blamed for Blackout,” CNN News, August 11, 1996. Accessed June 2000.
[13] Bryan Walsh, “Can We Prevent Another Blackout?” Time, August 11, 2008. Accessed December 2011.
[14] Lauren Effron, David Wright, Julie NA and Jason Volack, “One Electrical Worker Blamed for Leaving Millions Without Power in California, Arizona, and Mexico,” ABC News, September 8, 2011. Accessed December 2011.
[15] John Vidal, “Nuclear’s Green Cheerleaders Forget Chernobyl at Our Peril,” Guardian.co.uk, April 1, 2011. Accessed May 2011.
[16] NUREG-1738, “Technical Study of Spent Fuel Pool Accident Risk at Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants,” February 2001, as reported in “Petition for Rulemaking: Docket No. PRM-50-96,” Foundation for Resilient Societies before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, p. 3-9 and 49-50. Accessed December, 2011.
[17] Arnold Gundersen, interview by author, November 2011.
[18] “Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: Critical National Infrastructures,” April, 2008, p. 6.
 [19] “Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: Volume 1: Executive Report,” 2004, p. 6.
[20] “Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: Critical National Infrastructures,” April, 2008. Extensively referred to for EMP definitions and effects.
[21] Bill Kaewert, interview by author, December 2011.
[22] Dr. George Baker, interview by author, December 2011
[23] Victor Gilinsky, “Indian Point: The Next Fukushima?” The New York Times, December 16, 2011. Accessed December 2011.
[24] John Kappenman, interview by author, December 2011.
[25] Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, “Statement Before the Congressional Caucus on EMP,” EMPact America, February 15, 2011.

Additional references not directly cited:

 “Nuke Plant’s Generator Failures Draw Scrutiny,” CBS News, October 10, 2011.
Gary Null, PhD, and Jeremy Stillman, “Solar Storms: Katrina Times 1000? A Real Armageddon Meltdown is Possible,” Progressive Radio Network, October 6, 2011.
Beth Daley, “Markey: Back-Up Generators Failed During Tests at US Nuclear Power Plants,” Boston Globe, May 12, 2011. Accessed Jan 2012.
Yousaf M. Butt, “The EMP Threat: Fact, Fiction, and Response (Part 1),” The Space Review, January 25, 2010. Accessed December 2012.
Yousaf M. Butt, “The EMP Threat: Fact, Fiction, and Response (Part 2),” The Space Review, January 25, 2010.
“Initial Economic Assessment of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Impact Upon the Baltimore-Richmond Region,” by The Sage Policy Group, September 10, 2007.
Edward Savage, James Gilbert, and William Radasky, “Early-Time (E1) High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and Its Impact on the U.S. Power Grid,” Metatech Corporation, prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Meta-R-320, January 2010. Accessed January 2012.
James Gilbert, John Kappenman, William Radasky, and Edward Savage, “The Late-Time (E3) High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and Its Impact on the U.S. Power Grid,” Metatech Corporation, prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Meta-R-321, January 2010. Accessed January 2012.

About the author: Matthew Stein is a design engineer, green builder, and author of two best selling books: When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide for Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival (Chelsea Green 2011), and When Technology Fails (Revised & Expanded): A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency (Chelsea Green 2008). Stein is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he majored in Mechanical Engineering. Stein has appeared on numerous radio and television programs and is a repeat guest on Fox News, Lionel, Coast-to-Coast AM, and the Thom Hartmann Show.  He is an active mountain climber, serves as a guide and instructor for blind skiers, has written several articles on the subject of sustainable living, and is a guest columnist for the Huffington Post.

Mr. Rawles,
I read with interest the blog today and then clicked over to the link suggested by Brittany K.: Deconstructing a Safe Room (infographic)”

I appreciate all the information your site gives. I wish the writers of the Allstate Blog had consulted your site and listed it in their sources. One glaring item in their graphic is that the door opens outward. If debris falls in front of the door a person may not be able to open it. [As has been mentioned several times in SurvivalBlog, inward-opening shelter doors are the norm,]

Another point worthy of mention: In their “What Should Be In Your Safe Room” section they list that there should be a generator. I can just envision someone without much knowledge or experience trying to start and run a generator in their safe room and not have any ventilation whatsoever; a carbon monoxide death trap.  God Bless, - John in Ohio

Jim,
Just a quick note to those interested in obtaining a simple cost-effective Faraday Cage-like enclosures to protect small to mid-size electronic devices. As has been mentioned in SurvivalBlog before, the large steel cans of popcorn sold at the large box stores this time of year make great EMP-proof storage containers. After emptying the popcorn just place your electronics into the can and place the lid on top. No need to ground the container.

I place my Fluke multimeters, spare Solar charge controllers, spare handi-talkies and mobile radios in these tins. Thanks for all you do. - Larry D.

A brand new Hummer or Jeep Wrangler, decked out with every available option may sound like the best, most capable vehicle in an emergency situation. The harsh reality is that they could be one of the worst. Don't get me wrong, they are both very nice, with proven track records, but in an emergency, can leave you and your loved ones stranded.

The problem lies with the tremendous amount of electronics needed for the vehicle to operate. The average newer vehicle (especially within the last ten years) has several computers on board that control not only the engine, but also the transmission, the four wheel drive system, brakes, power windows and locks, and even the lights just to name a few. The fact is, computers have been used in vehicles since the early 1980s. The manufacturers have incorporated them in to more and more of the systems for better emissions, fuel economy, drivability, and creature comforts. The average vehicle has more than five computers, operating on their own network (CANS) sharing information back and fourth, making any needed adjustments for a seamless driving experience. A computer controlled engine will not start and run until the computer commands it to do so. The starter, electric fuel pump, electronic fuel injectors, and electronic ignition system are all dependant on the power train control module (PCM) to function. Unlike aircraft, there are no redundant systems in place in the event of a PCM malfunction.  A computer controlled automatic transmission cannot shift until the computer commands it to do so. Without direction, the transmission [indicator] will engage park, neutral, forward and reverse, but will not shift. Before the computer can command a shift to occur it needs to look at various sensors located throughout the vehicle such as, engine speed, vehicle speed, engine load, engine temperature, gas pedal position, selector lever position, input shaft and output shaft speeds, and probably a few more.

With the ever increasing possibility of a terrorist EMP attack or natural blast from our sun, these systems will probably not survive. The computers are not shielded for such an event. Imagine loading your survival gear and family into your bug out vehicle, turning the key, and nothing happens. The starter, fuel injectors, fuel pump, ignition coils, all receive their commands directly from the PCM. Without a working PCM your vehicle is a 3,200 pound paperweight.

There are several options for a practical EMP proof bug out vehicle. Obviously, many older gasoline powered vehicles were EMP proof. They had carburetors for fuel delivery, mechanical (points type) ignition, mechanical engine driven fuel pumps, no electronics what so ever. Automatic transmissions were also mechanically controlled and needed no electrical controls either. Older jeeps and pick-ups are great choices.  They are pretty easy to find, inexpensiveto buy, and repair.  There is also my personal favorite, the old school diesel. The old school diesel has an all mechanical fuel injection system and no computer either. Modern computerized  fuel injected diesels are in the same situation as their gasoline powered cousins. The starter,  fuel pump, glow plugs and injectors are all PCM operated and will not run without a working PCM.

My personal bug out vehicle is a 1983 ford F350 Pick-up 4x4 automatic with a 6.9 diesel. The truck looks like he**, but it’s mechanically perfect. This truck has two 19 gallon fuel tanks, allowing an over 500 mile range, and plenty of room for my family and all of our gear. I had to take care of some minor repairs to make it road ready. New batteries, brakes, filters, belts, hoses, starter, tires and a front end alignment, all told I have about $2,000 invested in a vehicle that can go anywhere no matter what.  I added some custom features as well such as a cap for the bed, auxiliary off road lighting, police siren with PA system, a trailer hitch, and a 12,000 pound winch. Vehicles such as this can be purchased inexpensively, repaired inexpensively, registered  and insured inexpensively too. There are a bunch of vehicles such as this available from most manufacturers. Ford, General Motors, and Dodge all made diesel pick-ups with mechanical fuel injection and no computers all the way into the early 90s. Ford used the 6.9 until the mid 80s before switching to the 7.3. The 7.3 was used up to the early 90s, before switching to the PCM controlled Power Stroke diesel. General Motors was using the 6.5 during the same time period without any computer, and Dodge was using the 5.9 Cummins, all of which were strong, reliable engines easily capable of 300,000 plus miles. A word of caution though, while there was no computer needed for these engines to operate, some were equipped with computers to make certain automatic transmissions operate. Most automatic overdrive transmissions in these trucks were PCM controlled. Find one with a old style 3 speed automatic or manual transmission, and you’ve eliminated that problem as well.

In my opinion, a diesel has more advantages than drawbacks versus a gasoline engine. Diesels are built stronger with larger bearings, and heavier internal components, A diesel can run on many different fuel types such as vegetable oil, animal fat, and bio-diesel which can be home made a hell of a lot easier and safer than home made gasoline. Getting past the smell of the exhaust and the rattle and hum of the engine are small prices to pay for an emergency vehicle that will work in an actual emergency. - Tony G.

Hi Jim,
I continue to be amused by prepper concerns for the vulnerability of their vehicles to an EMP event.  I have followed the EMP issue closely ever since becoming a NBC qualified officer in the service, many years ago.  In 1984, by accident and through a military book-of-the-month club I received a copy of Warday and the Journey Onwards, by Whitley Strieber. Reading the book was another wake up call for me, another step towards becoming a full-fledged prepper.  A few years later, through my wife, I met a friend who was a top expert on EMP.  He explained about the various wave forms of EMP and the possible susceptibility of electronics to EMP.  He also detailed that hardening of items was not difficult, but often overlooked by civilian engineers.  He had spent many years helping the military successfully harden gear against EMP.    

Fast forward to 2010: I started listening to EMPAct America on Blog Talk radio where I heard my EMP friend speak, and where I have frequently heard authors like you and William Forstchen speak.  Forstchen of course wrote the book One Second After. In that book the EMP event takes out almost all automobiles instantly and gridlocks the roads, streets and interstates.  This led me to discuss the likelihood of vehicle susceptibility with my EMP friend.  He directed me to the EMP Commission results. (This was a commission set up by the US Congress.)  There I read not only the executive summary, but the full report.  Later I discussed the report with my friend.  He reiterated, (and I quote loosely), “If you are focused on the direct and immediate effects of EMP to your automobile, you may be disappointed and you will have missed the main point.  The effect of an EMP event could be the collapse of interdependent and critical infrastructures, particularly loss of the electric power grid and the resulting inability to get fuel for your car.  Only a few cars will stop right away.  But they will soon have no purpose if there is no fuel.”  

So the all the details are laid out in the commission report, for the following areas, Infrastructure Commonalities (including SCADA systems), Electric Power, Telecommunications, Banking and Finance, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Transportation, Food Infrastructure, Water Infrastructure, Emergency Services, Space Systems, and Government.  But I want to quote the automobile transportation section in detail from page 115:

“We tested a sample of 37 cars in an EMP simulation laboratory, with automobile vintages
ranging from 1986 through 2002. Automobiles of these vintages include extensive
electronics and represent a significant fraction of automobiles on the road today. The
testing was conducted by exposing running and non-running automobiles to sequentially
increasing EMP field intensities. If anomalous response (either temporary or permanent)
was observed, the testing of that particular automobile was stopped. If no anomalous
response was observed, the testing was continued up to the field intensity limits of the
simulation capability (approximately 50 kV/m).
Automobiles were subjected to EMP environments under both engine turned off and
engine turned on conditions. No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles
that were not turned on during EMP exposure. The most serious effect observed on running
automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately
30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a
stop and require the driver to restart them. Electronics in the dashboard of one automobile
were damaged and required repair. Other effects were relatively minor. Twenty-five
automobiles exhibited malfunctions that could be considered only a nuisance (e.g.,
blinking dashboard lights) and did not require driver intervention to correct. Eight of the
37 cars tested did not exhibit any anomalous response.
Based on these test results, we expect few automobile effects at EMP field levels below
25 kV/m. Approximately 10 percent or more of the automobiles exposed to higher field
levels may experience serious EMP effects, including engine stall, that require driver
intervention to correct. We further expect that at least two out of three automobiles on the
road will manifest some nuisance response at these higher field levels. The serious malfunctions
could trigger car crashes on U.S. highways; the nuisance malfunctions could exacerbate
this condition. The ultimate result of automobile EMP exposure could be triggered
crashes that damage many more vehicles than are damaged by the EMP, the consequent
loss of life, and multiple injuries.”

So the bottom line is, yes you should be concerned about an EMP event, either naturally occurring or nuclear induced, but not because it is going to instantly make your car stop running.  Take time to read the whole Commission report and you will know where the real dangers lie.  Thanks, - W.J.

James,
I'm looking for info on the range (radius) of direct electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects from a nuclear detonation. If you could point me in the right direction, I'd be most appreciative.

Sincerely, - Todd H.

JWR Replies: I have discussed this before in SurvivalBlog, such as in my reply to this letter posted in 2009.

Mr. Rawles,
I'd like to offer a different review of "Contagion" from the one posted by Matt H. First off, I don't believe it would be wise to look for serious survival information in any [Hollywood] movie. We are talking about Hollyweird after all. Nevertheless there were parts of the film that examined what would happen in such a widespread crisis. One character alone witnessed a home invasion, looted businesses, sealed state borders and a local food riot. Another character, a health care professional, was kidnapped and held for a ransom of vaccine. A woman was trampled by stampeding people turned away in a pharmacy line. Then there was the CDC doctor's wife who was attacked in her own home. The desperate home invaders did some homework and found out where the medical insider lived and assumed he had vaccine. In others words, a personal OPSEC failure. Aren't these relevant issues we as preppers discuss on a regular basis?

Beyond that I also disagree with the statement that the film drones on and on. Far from it in my opinion. I found it quite tense as the characters scrambled against time, conflicting national interests, criminals and even a self-centered conspiracy blogger in the desperate  battle against a previously unknown virus. People are dying by the millions and there is no end in sight through most of the movie. I personally found it more frightening than any horror flick simply because the story is so plausible. In short I wholly recommend "Contagion" as a good way to spend a couple hours. Just don't forget your hand sanitizer. Sincerely, - Bill L.

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I rarely  disagree with anything posted on your blog, but I must disagree with Matt H. and his review of the movie "Contagion". My husband and I have been serious preppers for over 10 years and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The filming was fantastic. The actors wonderful. We enjoyed the plot and the multiple characters were not hard for us to follow at all. We found the scientific research and the process of tracking a deadly virus to be interesting. My husband reached out for my hand and gave me a wink as we sat in the theatre and were reassured that we would be sufficiently prepared for a year long social distancing scenario. I thought it was odd that the cell phones and [grid] electricity were still operational. But, hey, it's a movie. And wouldn't it be nice to have communication and power if you are required to spend an extended amount of time with cranky kids? - Mama J.

Dear Mr. Rawles,
 I have just one brief addition to Dr. Bob’s excellent synopsis of the dangers of anthrax regarding treatment/prevention with antibiotics. First, I must commend Dr. Bob on all of his important advice, and for his courage to offer a much needed service (the prescribing of antibiotics in advance of need) in this highly litigious society.
 
Understanding that in TEOTWAWKI our current risk:benefit analysis will be drastically changed, and short-course antibiotic therapy may be all that is available to us, I felt compelled to mention the current CDC recommendations regarding duration of therapy. Antibiotic use in inhaled anthrax is slightly different in prophylaxis (prevention of the disease in those who have been exposed, but are yet to display symptoms) and in treatment (those who have already begun the flu-like symptoms described by Dr. Bob).
 
The adult prophylactic regimen recommended consists of oral ciprofloxacin 500mg twice daily or oral doxycycline 100mg twice daily taken for 60 days.  For treatment of anthrax, either of the two above agents should be started via intravenous administration (cipro dose is 400mg twice daily, doxy dose is the same as oral) in combination with another intravenous agent, such as clindamycin 900mg every 8 hours. As the patient’s condition improves, the oral route of administration may be substituted, and it may be possible to discontinue the additional antibiotic (in this example, clindamycin). Again, the total therapy should be continued for 60 days. Other antibiotic combinations are recommended as alternatives, but these are the most commonly cited and are available generically, that is, they are affordable.
 
Obviously, intravenous administration will be impossible for most folks if the Schumer hits the fan, so we may have to do the best we can with oral administration – which should stand a decent chance of success if the patient is well enough to swallow and has a functional gut, as most of these drugs are well-absorbed from the GI tract. The uncommonly long duration of therapy is a function of the life cycle of Bacillus anthracis, the causative organism of anthrax. The inhaled spores typically germinate into the toxin-producing bacterium within 7 days; however, some take longer. I am not an infectious disease specialist, nor a medical microbiologist, but I suspect that the 60 day antibiotic recommendation is a bit on the safe side. If the emergency need arises and organized health care is not available, any duration of antibiotic therapy beyond 7 days would certainly be better than nothing. The committed prepper should, however, be aware of the possible need for considerably more antibiotics than the typical 7-10 day course of therapy would call for.
 
Again, many thanks to Dr. Bob for his frequent contributions to SurvivalBlog! - S.H. in Georgia

Hi Jim, and Readers,
I read the piece about using a CONEX as a Faraday cage,  I made some RF measurements using a 2-meter handheld, and a small portable Sangean ATS-909 receiver quite a while back with that very subject in mind.

I have an S-250 RATT Rig shelter also.  I don't think you can really beat the S-250 shelter, with any other readily available equipment.  But in a pinch even the CONEX will work relatively well for EMI, EMP, and TEMPEST. The reduction of signals even with the wooden floor is  enough to help even with no EMI gasketing on the doors,. It is much better than a metal building like a shop or garage. Now, there are available metal equipment shipping containers available at most military surplus houses around the country many with EMI gasketing installed.  They are also often available at a lot of Ham swaps for reasonable prices. The main thing is to check the gasketing, If they just have rubber gaskets, they can be replace with conductive gaskets, Just searching "EMI Gaskets" on line will bring up lots of resources.

I have elected to make absolutely sure that when I have even the slightest doubt to use large ammo cans, or electronics equipment shipping containers to place my specialized electronics into. Then I place them in my CONEX or my G.O.O.D. trailer. In my shop, I keep handhelds, including light test equipment in shipping containers.

Even in the S-250 shelter, It is important to secure the connector caps for the RF entrance and power entrance connectors, being sure to also ground the unit with the usually-supplied grounding strap and ground rod.
If you want EMP and CME insurance then take all of the precautions possible to protect what important electronics you have.

I have elected to not only protect quite a bit of my ham  gear including several QRP (low power home built radios), but also GMRS, CBs, and test equipment.
I have also placed the business ends of some sound projection equipment in containers too. The reason for this is that I remember in the novel One Second After,  they wished they had some way to make public addresses easier.

It is important too that generators, and solar equipment be protected. I know most solar cells are diode protected, but what I don't know is what the peak inverse voltage is  or the clamping voltage is on those diodes. Meaning how much protection will that actually provide, not knowing the actual estimated energy of a threat, my personal choice is to keep my expensive panels secured until well after an event so I don't have to be concerned weather they will take the punch-thru or not of some unknown current  hitting them.

I mentioned CBs  I got a good deal several years ago with the manager of the Radio Shack, he let me have for five dollars each all of the returned CB sets, I got about 25 units, out of which I was able to repair more than half. I set them all up with Anderson Power Poles and have power cables made up.  Finding cheap antennas around at yard sales for mobiles, and making some basic dipole antennas will provide a neighborhood with fair communications in a pinch. Car batteries will provide plenty of talk and monitor time.

I am not yet fully prepared, and I don't think anyone can think of everything. I do have some old computers that are on my list of needing to be checked out and loaded with some ham radio communications programs, then secured in equipment containers too. that includes the whole computer, keyboards, mouse' mice's little rats, what ever you know where I'm headed, the whole thing.

I might mention the Earth has been hit just in the past two weeks with two moderate CMEs,  And I get a lot of lightning storms around here this time of year,  Now if I leave home for any length of time, I have made it a habit of shutting down and unplugging any equipment I consider important enough to protect. including disconnecting antenna systems.

Something to keep in mind even if your antenna gets hit by lightning and it is disconnected from your equipment. The coaxial cable can get arcing punch through for quite a length down the coax from the antenna, and again at the terminating end. Therefore prepared replacement coaxial cable should be considered as part of your preparations.  I once had to repair part of a very large antenna system and by the time we were done fixing the system it cost many thousands of dollars before it was made right.

So have some type of test equipment to check out your antenna array before reconnecting it to your critical radio equipment. Then when you bring up your transmitter, bring the power up incrementally ,continuously keeping an eye on the VSWR (SWR)  on your antenna. Blessings - Dave in Oregon

Mr. Rawles,
I was running a detail earlier today when I noticed that we were loading items into an all-steel QUADCON. As we were, I remembered the letter from the other da, asking about the possibility of using a CONEX as a Faraday cage. The dimensions aren't as big as the 40' CONEX are, but four of them put together equal the space of a 20' MILVAN container. The downside to this container is the two openings, one on each end. However, a good solid weld on one side could do the trick. The RF gaskets that you mentioned could work on the door. However, in my experience, more gaps and possible openings make it that much easier for unwanted things to gain entry. Another good thing about the size is that it would be easier to manage moisture in the smaller space. Just a thought.
Thanks for all you do, - Z.R.

Hello Mr. Rawles,
I just wanted to add something about using a CONEX container as a Faraday cage. Unlike most CONEXes, which have wooden floors, the insulated refrigerated containers almost always are a solid aluminum box (with a full metal floor). Only the gasketing and bonding of the doors [and plating or screening over the refrigeration ducting apertures] would have to be addressed. To make it 100% safe, a second interior wall and door (all metal and bonded gasketed) would need to be put in place, and then only one door should be opened at a time. (This is similar to dark room doors.)

I would also suggest looking at these web pages at the Future Science web site to get a better idea of what can happen in an EMP or solar storm , and their similarities and differences:

• Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse
• Getting Prepared for an Electromagnetic Pulse Attack or Severe Solar Storm
• Test 184

Thanks, - Solar Guy

Captain Rawles,
 As most of your readers would say, we thank you for your ministry.  My question is weather a 40' Continental Express (CONEX) shipping containers would work as a huge Faraday cage, and thus we would be able to store most of our sensitive electronics, such as communications gear, battery chargers, e cetera.
 
Thank you again, - R.L.S.

JWR Replies: There are a few problems with that concept:

1.) The vast majority of CONEXes have wooden floors. Wood is fairly transparent to radio frequency (RF) waves, including electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A metal Faraday enclosure needs to be an integral box. (Polygonal or spherical.) No windows, and no wooden floors!

2.) Creating a good "gasketed" RF seal at the doorway would be difficult. But RF gaskets might do the trick.

3.) CONEXes tend to "sweat." In a full Faraday enclosure, there would be no ventilation available, so the moisture buildup would likely be excessive. (Depending on your local climate.)

I suppose that I have a “prepper” all of my almost 57 years. The oldest of four children, I was raised by my engineer father who would probably seem quite believable as the father in the bomb shelter in the movie Blast From the Past. My mother went along with my father’s seemingly odd ideas, but I don’t really believe it went past accommodating some ‘strange ideas’.
This article is about the psychology of a perceived ‘survival’ event, at least. First you will need a little background:

I was with my father on the way back from my uncle’s house in a neighboring town one night in the middle 1960s. We were talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis [a few years earlier] and the President’s response to it, when my father asked me if I realized that we lived almost on the “bulls-eye” of one of the nation’s top ten nuclear targets.

At that time, the Phillips Petroleum Refinery in Phillips, Texas, was the largest refinery in the world, and it was about 15 miles downwind from our house. We also lived within a few miles of two carbon black plants, used as one of the major ingredients in manufacturing tires, making ink, and even refining sugar. We were not far, about 50 miles, from Amarillo, Texas, on what had recently become Interstate 40 and had been Route 66, which was the major east to west coast route, and was also on the major route north to south from Mexico City to Canada.

Needles to say, this was a lot for a young kid to take in and assimilate even though I had been aware of all these things peripherally for a long while. Whenever I was able to talk and think again, I asked if that was why he had always been so insistent about my brothers and I joining the Boy Scouts, and learning about first aid, survival, and shooting and such. He just said, “Yes.” A few miles later he told me that if I ever heard on the radio or television of an impending attack on the United States, or anything that would make me think that one might be coming, that if I was away from home, I was not to attempt to return home until I was sure it was safe to do so.

I said "Okay "almost automatically, never thinking it could actually happen. I did start to work a bit harder on Scouts and merit badges than I had been, but even at that age it seems I had already learned OPSEC. I rarely mentioned my father’s odd notions, even to the other Scouts working on badges alongside me.

A few years later, and it still seems incredible to me that so few people know of this incident, there was a mix-up in the tapes used for the Emergency Broadcast System. If you have ever looked at an old car radio from the late 1950s to the 1970s, you might have noticed the two little triangles on the dial for the CONELRAD system. These were where you were supposed to tune to in the event there was actually such an event. This was probably as close as the system ever got to being used.

Like many teens in my area, I was listening to my car radio, tuned to what was then a rock & roll station, KIXZ in Amarillo, Texas. I had been out that morning, scouting on the north side of Lake Meredith, researching where my younger brother and I would try deer and turkey hunting later that fall. It was shortly after noon, and I had just left the lake and was heading back home. The announcer came on stating that there would be a test of the Emergency Broadcast System, which was nothing noteworthy in those days. The test message wasn’t what came across, though. It was the real one. I stopped literally in the middle of the road.

The announcer came back on, saying that he didn’t know what was going on, but to stay tuned and he would let us know. That conversation with my father several years ago, and my promise to him, immediately came flooding back into my mind.

I turned the car around and headed back into where I had been that morning. According to the Civil Defense literature, you were supposed to get to low ground and as protected a spot as you could manage, in no more than fifteen minutes.

I headed for a spot my brother and I referred to as “Lone Ranger Rock,” as it had a fanciful resemblance to a rock that appeared time and again in the old Lone Ranger television program. It was a huge split piece of a soft chalk-like rock, with the split running roughly north and south, and offered probably the best cover I could get within the next fifteen minutes. The split was large enough for me to park in, and I could open one door. I sat there for the next 45 minutes, listening to the radio as they updated us on what they knew, which at first wasn’t very much.

Sitting there, I began to make a list of what resources I did have with me. In addition to my outdoor clothes and hunting boots, I had a standard transmission ’64 Dodge Dart sedan with a 225 slant-six engine in good running condition, with tires that were about 9 months old.
   I had $16.84 in my pockets.
   I had a good jack and just over ¾ of a tank of gasoline.
   I had my Scout pocketknife, a Marlin semiautomatic .22 carbine with a sling, and a grand total, once I finished searching the car, of 224 rounds of .22 LR ammunition. (I had been not-very-seriously hunting bullfrogs that morning without success, and rattlesnakes were also common in that area.) I also had eleven #7½ 12 ga. shotshells.
   I had a wool sweater, a t-shirt, moccasins, and a pair of jeans in the back seat, in a brown paper bag. I had an apple and half of a small bag of potato chips from my lunch.
   I had my brother’s and my backpacks and camping gear in the trunk, from a camping trip with the Scouts. We just hadn’t bothered to take the stuff in to the house after our trip, other than some clothes that we needed to wash.
   That gave me two good sleeping bags; my compass; my sheath knife; my brother’s sheath knife; two mess kits, four filled metal matchboxes with home-waterproofed strike-anywhere kitchen matches, possibly 100 altogether; a couple of waterproof ponchos; two plastic groundsheets; and maybe three cans of food, plus maybe some snack food stuff that was left over and we hadn’t eaten.
   I had three first aid kits; a big one in the car that was like what the Europeans required then in all automobiles, and two pocket first aid kits that would each probably fill a Band-Aid tin. In fact, mine was in a Band-Aid tin. Mine at least, had some water purification tablets, about 20.
   I had three one-quart canteens, only one of which had water in it, and a two-quart canteen, which was full.
   I had a hatchet, and an entrenching tool that stayed in the car at all times.
   And I had three fishing rods and some assorted tackle. And that was it, as best I can remember.
   The event made me think, as you can tell. I remember very well what I had, because at the time I was thinking it might be all that I would have to start the rest of my life, if the world made some bad choices in the next few minutes.
   Quite frankly, I was amazed at how much I did have with me. It could have very easily been far less. I was almost sick, sitting there waiting for the announcer to come back on and tell us what he could find out. I didn’t even know whether I was a coward, or a dutiful son.
   When the man finally came back on and told us it had been a mistake, I sat there for a long time. I wasn’t sure whether I could believe it truly was a mistake, or if his statement had somehow been disinformation that had gotten into the system; in short, if I could believe what I was being told.
   I had no way to check it, other than to listen to other radio stations; believe me, I did. I finally found a second station that mentioned it, almost an hour later. I never found a third radio station that mentioned it.
   Finally, about dusk, I started back to town. [The tape mix-up] was on the evening news on the television. My family had never heard a thing about it, all day long.
   It has been a long time since that day. I never go anywhere without some kind of what is now called a “get-me-home kit”. I had a ‘Bug-Out Bag’ before it had a name.    
   It was a “just-in-case kit”, and its contents have varied over the years, along with my work and locations. I no longer live in that area, and my father is years ago deceased. But I have long had what Dean Ing called a ”tenacity kit” in his underrated book, Chernobyl Syndrome.
   I read Mel Tappan’s articles when he wrote for Guns and Ammo. I subscribed to “Survive” magazine when it first came out, after I figured out how to do it and yet not have my name appear on any list.
   I served my country in the Army, both here and overseas. I was an acting First Sergeant, before I mustered out. I won’t mention my training or assignments, other than to say there were a lot of both.
   But of all my life and career, that hour in the Canadian River Breaks is still one of the defining moments in my life.

Those of us who at all remain connected to the main power grid run the very real risk of having no water following an electrical crisis event, whether man made or natural. That back up generator you intend to switch over to after a power failure will not fire up your well if the pump and/or the pump control box is already fried.
 
Unless you have not only food, but several thousand gallons of water in a buried cistern (with a hand pump) all the storage supplies in the world will count for naught within only a few days without safe and readily available water.
 
Even those who are totally off grid may have enough electrical "antenna" exposure via their wiring system to render their well useless. (There are conflicting opinions whether relatively "short" runs of wiring, such as those under the hood of a vehicle, or as part of a solar/wind generator array, might be susceptible to high-altitude EMP bursts, but why not prepare to
be "on the safe side" of the question?)
 
But what is not in much question is that the hundreds-of-miles of "virtual antenna" which comprises our nation's power and phone transmission lines will act powerfully upon anything connected to them -- perhaps to include your home and vital water well. Even a fence line may constitute a fatal conductor to have your hand resting on should one be so unlucky as to be in
contact with it during the initial main pulse (or pulses if follow up bursts are part of the strategy.)
 
And although a hugely powerful solar flare event is possible -- and would likely produce a similar result -- my bet will always be on the "human factor" rather than cosmic "coincidence." (That is, the more likely scenario would be a daylight deployment of high altitude EMP weapons (which would be largely invisible/unnoticed by most people) which could then be blamed on whatever a treasonous government felt was in its best interest. They could swear it was a "natural" event, or they could hop up and down in a froth with false-flag accusations against a Muslim or other fall-guy nation -- and who would be able to dispute them? They might even proclaim the grid failure to be the work of "home grown" terrorists supposedly using conventional explosives or suitcase nukes against key points in the grid. Since only government-controlled media would likely be broadcasting (if at all) after such a devastating event, we'd have to take their word for whatever they affirmed -- no more Internet or phones or local stations to counter with the truth (assuming it could even be discovered amid the chaos.)
 
All of which brings us back to the "mission critical" protection of the homestead water well. Fortunately, a fairly inexpensive "fix" is available for the problem, little more than a few feet of wire, a power relay, a small electrical enclosure box (available at Home Depot) and a modest bit of know-how. Most electricians and most well service companies could do the whole job within a couple or hours, or for those of you who are more technically proficient and adventurous, you could do it yourself with some careful study and appropriate safety measures.
 
Now before we get started with the details, let me suggest (as others have done in previous posts) a couple of "superior" alternatives to be considered. Perhaps the simplest and most reliable long term answer would be to remove the submersible pump (or surface mounted jet pump) and install a Brumby pump. (Several YouTube videos show how to build your own, very inexpensively!) No wires, no motor, and no moving parts at all down in the well hole to wear out!
 
Yes, an air compressor somewhere on the property would be required (and could be protected in the same manner as outlined herein) but in comparison to the challenges of protecting/removing/replacing/servicing pumps tens or many hundreds of feet deep, the Brumby approach really can't be beat! Also, the air compressor can do double duty, i.e. power air tools, aerate ponds, et cetera, and should it ever break, they are far easier to come by (and/or repair) than a deep pump or jet pump. Moreover, the air compressor can be hugely oversized (if that's all you could find) and still do just fine, whereas a submersible pump must be properly sized both electrically and in physical dimension, etc.
 
With the Brumby design there are various considerations regarding overall well depth, actual depth to the water level within the well, etc, but even if your particular configuration would make a Brumby pump problematical, you could still easily construct or purchase a positive displacement style air/water pump that would likewise dispense with motors and wires down in the well, yet still have great simplicity and reliability and ease of repair. There also exists at least one brand of lever-action mechanical pump able to handle a couple hundred or so of depth with no problem. I can post more on these alternatives in a subsequent post, if some readers indicate an interest...
 
Okay, let's start with the relay, widely available, but not likely to be found in a Home Depot or Lowe's etc. The links below show two variations of the same relay, one with a 120 VAC energizing coil, and the other with a 240 VAC coil. They also are available in other coil and contact voltages, but for now these will suffice for purposes of illustration.  What we are trying to do  here is walk through the general logic and a couple of "typical" installations -- as they say, your own mileage may vary, in which case any competent electrician will nevertheless understand these instructions sufficiently to adapt the principles to your own circumstance.
 
Most home or small ranch well pumps either run on 120 VAC or 240 VAC single phase power from the main circuit breaker panel. Almost always the pump will have its own "dedicated" breaker that sends the power on to the pump equipment room, where most often the supply conduit first goes to a manual disconnect box with a lever on the right side which can be pulled down to cut
power so as to safely work on the wiring.
 
Often (but not always) the output wiring of the disconnect box then goes directly to the pump pressure switch, which will not send the power any further unless the system pressure drops low enough to require more water.  If the switch does shift due to low pressure, then the power is switched either directly to the pump down in the well, or in many cases instead is sent first to a pump control box which may contain such additional items as perhaps a start relay, capacitor(s) and other associated items, and from there on down to the submerged pump.
 
Specifically, for a standard 240 VAC set-up, what we'll be doing is removing the two wires that normally go from the pressure switch to the pump (or to its control box) and let them hang momentarily.  We will then cut two new pieces of same-gauge [and color] wire and connect them from the just-vacated terminals of the pressure switch up to the two terminals of our new 240 VAC relay coil.  We'll also jumper two short wires from those two coil terminals to the two "normally open" terminal connections of the relay, typically abbreviated and molded into the adjacent plastic as "no." (Again, for those without sufficient technical know-how and familiarity with safety precautions it would be best to pass these instructions on to a qualified professional.)
 
This new relay is commonly termed a "double pole, double throw" arrangement whereby it is essentially two switches or relays in one. No power will flow through the relay unless it is energized by its built-in magnetic coil via the pressure switch wiring, as described.
 
The two "moving contact" parts of the relay (mechanically linked to each other but electrically isolated) each have their own separate terminals marked as "common" or the abbreviated letter "c" molded into the adjacent plastic.  The two wires that we removed earlier from the pressure switch and left dangling will now instead be routed individually to these two terminals
marked "c" or common.
 
However we also want to protect the pump from any possible high voltage surge that might come into the home from an outside event. High voltages can "bridge" or arc across even a normally "off" switch or relay contact, so to counter that we will use the "normally closed" contacts on the new relay and run wires from those two terminals to the well casing (or other suitable
earth ground.)
 
What this means is that whenever our new relay is off, and the pump is not running, the pump is always connected across the new relay to an earth ground, such that even if high voltage does try to bridge the gap between contacts in the relay, the arc will be forced to encounter an easy and relatively safe path to the earth. It's still "possible" for some of the voltage to divide and go down the wires into the well, but those wires will also be effectively "cross-linked" or shorted to each other via the normally-closed common wire connections to the well casing, and therefore the pump windings will be much less prone to damage.
 
If the pump system happens to run on 120 VAC instead of 240 VAC, it is still very likely to have a disconnect box and pressure switch, but in this instance usually only the black (or "hot") wire is routed through through the pressure switch, leaving the white (and green) to continue uninterrupted to the pump and/or its associated control box. For this system we would have selected a relay whose coil also runs on 120 VAC (per the links) and we would slightly modify our new wiring procedure accordingly.
 
What we'd do in this case would be to find a way to cut and splice an added length of white wire into the white wire that goes in  and back out of the disconnect box (via a wire nut) and connect the other end of this new white wire to one of the relay terminals marked "coil."
 
The black wire coming out of the pressure switch and going to the pump or its control box is the one we will now remove from the pressure switch terminal block, letting it hang loose for the moment.  We'll cut a new length of black wire (same amperage size as the one removed) and run it from that just-vacated terminal on the pressure switch to the other "coil" terminal on our new relay.  We'll also jumper a short piece of black wire from that same coil terminal over to one of the relay terminals marked as normally open or "no."  At this point our new relay coil terminals will have a black wire and a white wire, respectively.
 
The normally open and normally closed and common terminals on the new relay are "paired" individually and separately to either the right side or left side of the relay, so either by following the metal strips and contacts visually, or by using a test meter set on ohms, we need to make sure that whichever of the two "no" or normally open terminals we selected for placing our black hot wire from the pressure switch, we then locate the matching "common" terminal associated with the "no" terminal having that black wire.
 
That common terminal will then need a new piece of black wire running from it back down to the "hanging" black wire that we had earlier detached from the pressure switch.  We'll wire nut them together or otherwise reconnect them safely.  Thus when the disconnect switch restores power to the system, what now happens is that when the pressure switch senses low water pressure and clicks "on" it will send power up to our new relay coil (turning the relay on) and via the jumper from the black coil lead to the normally open terminal the power will now go across the relay and out the "common" terminal over to the pump, or its control box, thus running the system until pressure builds back up again.
 
As with the 240 VAC arrangement however, we still must protect the pump from EMP surge, so we finish the project by finding the normally closed terminal associated with our other two wires (common and normally open) and connecting it to our well casing or other equivalent earth ground.
 
Thus in either instance, whether 120 VAC or 240 VAC, while the pump is off, it's internal wiring will always be connected to a direct earth ground connection, instead of being vulnerable to a surge which could instantly burn it out like an old incandescent light bulb that goes "FLASH" and gone before one can even blink!
 
Now some of you sharper readers will have already noted that the protection outlined above will not help if by unhappy chance the pump is actually running to recharge the pressure tanks or re-fill the cistern [at the moment] when the EMP burst occurs. Sorry folks -- there really isn't much of a fix of any nature (that I've yet come across) for that rare instance.
 
Fortunately however, most deep well pumps run for only a small fraction of each day, so the odds of being "hit" during those moments is fairly remote, but still possible. (Thus the recommendation to use a Brumby or mechanical lever pump or have a full back up of all major components and the capability of hauling the entire array out of the well and re-installing it all -- not usually an easy job for amateurs!)
 
Nevertheless, for only a hundred or so dollars in parts (plus perhaps paying a professional for wiring it all) you will have increased the odds tremendously in your favor, since the alternative is to leave it as is, always at total risk of being fried should an EMP or flare event take place (whether the pump is running, or not!)
 
I'd be happy to provide a clearly-depicted wiring diagram based on your particular system, plus a suggested parts list, for anyone interested.  Contact me via e-mail.
 
Here is one source for the aforementioned relays. (An online search will show other similarly-rated items):
 
http://store.acradiosupplyinc.com/nter04-11a30-120relay-30amp-ac120v.aspx
 
http://store.acradiosupplyinc.com/nter04-11a30-240relay-30amp-ac240v.aspx

I often have SurvivalBlog readers write to ask me about vacuum tube technology and its robustness in EMP and CME events, and which antique multi-band vacuum tube radios to look for. I'm also asked how to determine which models can be run on both AC and DC power.

To begin, vacuum tubes are inherently "hard" to EMP and CME but not invulnerable. They are also relatively safe from lightning strikes--but again not invulnerable. Modern integrated circuits are at the opposite end of the scale for vulnerability. In essence, the smaller gates in a microcircuit, the greater its vulnerability. In recent years, chip makers have been creating chips with gates smaller than .3 microns. They are very vulnerable! In fact just an inadvertent discharge of static electricity can destroy a chip.

Often, questions from my readers turn to the now legendary Zenith Trans-Oceanic portable radios. Although I love the older tube type Zenith Trans-Oceanics, I must admit that they're not the best choice for preppers. This is because they require two different DC voltages to operate, and they lack a beat frequency oscillator (BFO). Furthermore, since they are now so collectible they are also much higher-priced than many other vacuum tube multi-band radios. Therefore, as much as I love my G500--I think it's one of most handsome radios designed in the 20th Century--I wouldn't recommend it for a serious survivalist. For details on Zenith Trans-Oceanics, see the book Zenith Trans-Oceanic: The Royalty of Radios.

The tube radio that I recommend most highly is the Hallicrafters S-38E. This is a very sturdy four band radio that has broad coverage from 550 KHz on the AM band all the way up to 32 MHz. This model was manufactured from 1956 to 1961. It has several advantages over the Trans-Oceanics:

1. It requires only one input voltage that can range from 105 to 125 Volts, AC or DC.
2. It has a proper vernier scale (horizontal) tuning dial. (Which all of the the early Trans-Oceanics lacked.)
3. It has a separate band spread tuning dial (which all tube type Trans-Oceanics lack.) Band spread tuning makes fine tuning much much easier.
4. It has a BFO setting. Granted, this is not a modern pitch-adjustable BFO, but the pitch can be adjusted by using the band spread tuner. You will find that it takes just a bit of practice to become accustomed to adjusting the the BFO for either manual Morse or single sideband voice transmissions.
5. It has a "standby" setting, which temporarily deactivates the receiver so that a separate transmitter can be used side-by-side, without destroying your receiver's circuitry.
6. It was a very popular model and hence produced in large numbers for several years. This means that spare parts are readily available and the price of used radios is quite reasonable.

One disadvantage is that a S-38E draws more current than a Trans-Oceanic. But at at least it draws less current than a big 9-tube "Boat anchor" receiver with a huge transformer.

Granted, there are many other general coverage vacuum tube receivers available, made by a variety of makers including Drake, National, Heathkit, and Hammarlund. And many of those have some features that are superior to the S-38E. But most of those radios do not have AC-DC flexibility. And most of them are much more expensive and use much harder to find tubes. And, as I mentioned, most of them draw much more current, which is a poor choice if you are going to power a radio from a battery bank. For the money, I think that a restored Hallicrafters S-38E is ideal for preparedness-minded families. There are very few other radios available for under $100 that will fill the same role. And incidentally, at an average auction price of $65, that is very close to the radio's final catalog price of $59.95. Given the ravages of inflation on the U.S. Dollar, I consider these radios a tremendous bargain. (A product that cost $60 in 1960 would cost $455 in 2011 Dollars!)

The All-Americans
There are many other vacuum tube tabletop radios that can operate on both AC and DC that were made for the mass market. These are often referred to as "All-American Five" and "All-Americans Six" radios. (In auction listings, sometime written "AA-5" and "AA6".) These are typical tabletop radios produced in the US and Canada from the 1930s to late 1950s. They can be identified by simply looking in the back of a tube radio set. If you don't see a large transformer, but instead see only five or six vacuum tubes sticking up from the chassis, then odds are that it is an AC and DC compatible radio. But if it has a big transformer, then it is an AC-only radio. (This is just a general rule for identification, so be advised there are some exceptions. For details, see the book The All-American Five Radio: Understanding and Restoring Transformerless Radios of the 1940'S, 50'S, and 60's.)

Many of the All-American Five" and "All-Americans Six" are two banders that can receive both AM and shortwave. But be advised that many of these have shortwave coverage only from 2 to 5 MHz, which is not particularly useful for modern international shortwave listening in the northern hemisphere. Coverage from 5 to 12 MHz is better, and coverage from 5 to 18 MHz is ideal. Also, be advised that very few of these radios incorporated a BFO. This makes them incapable of the modulating continuous wave (CW) and single sideband broadcasts. I suppose that you could use an add-on BFO module, but that would probably be solid-state circuitry, and hence vulnerable to EMP.) Lastly, nearly all of them lack band spread tuning. This makes precise tuning and compensation for drift very difficult.

Sources
The best place to find multi-band vacuum tube radios (such as the Hallicrafters S-38E) is on eBay or at your local ham radio swap meet. Unless you have considerable experience with soldering iron, then I'd recommend buying one that has already had all of it's older-style electrolytic capacitors replaced with modern capacitors. The slang term for this procedure is "re-capping." If you buy a tube radio at a garage sale, even if you're told that operates perfectly, don't take it home and just plug it in. Old leaky capacitors have a tendency to go "bang" with the initial high current in-rush of switching on a radio. So I recommend that you immediately take a new "find" to a friend who's an experienced in radio electronics and have it thoroughly checked out. Make sure that it's been recapped and is safe to operate. It also may or may not need to be "realigned". If it is an untouched tube radio, then odds are that at a minimum it will need a new power cord installed and will need to have its electrolytic capacitors replaced, in order for it to be safe to operate.

Running on DC
To operate an All-American Five" and "All-Americans Six" on DC, all you need to do is obtain nine or ten charged 12 volt batteries, and cable them together in series, (connecting positive terminals to negative terminals, in a chain). Make sure to use proper heavy duty brass screw-type battery cable clamps, and 10 gauge or larger cable. (And if you will be drawing more current than operating just one radio, then you will need even heavier gauge cabling!) If fully charged, a nine battery bank will yield around 108 Volts DC. Once the charge on each battery starts to drop below 12 Volts, simply add another battery to the series chain, to boost the combined voltage back above 105 Volts. A bank of 10 typical 12-volt car batteries will suffice, but a bank of 20 6-volt deep cycle (golf cart or marine type ) batteries would be fantastic. Warning: Keep safety in mind whenever working with batteries. The combined current of a DC battery bank is enough to kill an elephant. (BTW, so can the discharge of a high value capacitor--so even a radio that is turned off can zap you if you poke your finger in the wrong place!) Battery acid spills and vapor explosions are also well-documented hazards. Do not attempt to wire a battery bank unless you know what you're doing. If you have any doubts whatsoever, then please consult someone locally who has experience with DC wiring. Any older ham radio operator or even someone that works of electric golf carts will be able to assist you.

Spare Parts
Depending on your radio, the only spare parts that you will need for most vacuum tube radios are a spare main power fuse and a spare set of tubes. Most of these tubes are very reasonably priced. An S38-E, for example, requires one each of these five tubes: 12AV6, 12BE6, 35W4, 50C5, and 12BA6. You can often buy a full set of five on eBay for less than $30, all still in "new old stock" (NOS) condition.

The low-cost tube advantage doesn't apply if you buy a later Zenith Trans-Oceanic, which includes a 1L6 in the tube line-up. (The 1L6 tube is very scarce and expensive--so scarce in fact that some hobbyists have resorted to some elaborate work-arounds.)

The Sunspots are Coming!
We've just gone through more than eight years of horrible shortwave listening because the sunspot numbers were so low. (Good HF propagation depends on the solar wind charging the ionosphere.) This poor shortwave propagation caused a lot of shortwave listeners to give up on the hobby. But we've now passed the unusually long sunspot minimum and are coming back into higher sunspot numbers--and hence better propagation. Hooray!

I strongly recommend that anyone interested in buying shortwave radio equipment buy it soon, before strong interest in the hobby resumes. Once the good propagation resumes, HF ham transceivers and general coverage receivers gear will ratchet up in price. Buy now, while the gear is still inexpensive!

What You Will Need
Here are the basics of what you will need to enjoy shortwave radio listening with an older tube radio:

• The receiver itself, properly re-capped and aligned.
• Some antenna cabling
• A long wire or dipole antenna
• A ground wire and grounding rod
• Access to frequency listings and broadcasts schedules

(There are frequency listings available on the Internet, but I recommend getting a recent copy of the World Radio & TV Handbook.)

In an Austere Environment
To operate in an austere (grid down) environment you will also need:

• A battery bank. (Preferably deep cycle marine batteries) In the event of an extended emergency you will need PV, wind, or micro-hydro power, for re-charging.
  
• Battery cabling.
• Battery maintenance equipment. (Goggles, rubber gloves, distilled water, baking soda, terminal brush, cable tools, et cetera.)
• An antenna lightning arrestor
• Spare tubes and fuses
• Hard copy frequency listings. (Such as the World Radio & TV Handbook or print-outs from Internet web pages.)

Provisos

The foregoing represents just one approach to shortwave listening in an post-EMP or post-CME world. Plan B might be to simply purchase several compact battery powered compact modern shortwave radios, and keep them all in separate Faraday enclosures. You can break them out sequentially, as needed. Or Plan C might be to got totally "old school" and build crystal radios or one-tube regenerative radios. (Their drawbacks have previously been discussed in SurvivalBlog.)

My only other proviso about buying and restoring vacuum tube radios is that it is an addictive hobby. (As my late father once told me, "If you're going to have an addiction, make it a positive one.") I have accumulated several of these radios, and spend many hours tinkering with them. They are great fun.

Collecting and restoring old shortwave radios represents a great way to teach your children about electronics, electrical safety, batteries, battery chemistry, battery maintenance, circuit theory, antenna theory, antenna construction, radio propagation, and much more. And once you start tuning through the bands, international shortwave listening is a captivating entree to teaching your children about geography, time zones, geopolitics, and the history of the 20th Century. I highly recommend it.

Mr Rawles,
I have been reading survivalblog.com for about eight months now and have been considering trying to go off the grid so to speak. I have been reading many, many very helpful and interesting articles about "how to" setup and or make your own solar panel system. There is one question that I hope that you can field to your contributors of this subject. How you you protect your solar panels and system from a HEMP should one occur? I have not found info on how to protect against this kind of attack. It does not seem practical if you mount a system on your roof to take it down and shield it in a Faraday cage. There would just not be enough time for that exercise to happen nor would anyone get any "heads up" type of notice. Thanks, - Greg in Salt Lake City

JWR Replies: The silicon panels themselves as well as their blocking diodes are inherently fairly "hard" against EMP.  It is the charge controller and the inverter in your system that are most at risk.   Buy spares and store them in static protective bags inside Faraday boxes/cans.

All survivalists, indeed all citizens everywhere, should give proper thought and consideration to the threat posed by Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) and Radiological agents, particularly chemical agents as they are the most likely to be encountered in dozens of possible situations. It is a fact of life that chemicals are everywhere, be they in surplus military storage depots, the local chemical plant down the road, the chemical laden train moving through the county, the semi hauling a tank filled with chemicals, or the nefarious terrorist who has finally realized that all he needed to make some very nasty blood agents was a basic high-school/college level education in chemistry, some basic lab equipment, and precursor chemicals easily ordered online or common found in any college chemistry class. The main defense against NBC threats is knowledge, knowledge which leads to preparations. You have to understand the potential threats and realize what steps need to be taken to prepare/counter them.

I believe there is a certain degree of overlap with preparations for chemical agents and preparations for radiological/biological hazards, and since my knowledge has to deal with chemistry/chemicals rather than specific biological hazards, I will refrain from making too many remarks about biological hazards and instead go with what I know, chemistry/chemicals. Suffice to say, while there are no guarantees in life, the gas mask and NBC suit that buy you time to leave an area rich with VX contamination, should also buy you time to leave an area that has just been contaminated by Anthrax or some other biological agent, that said, I’d still much rather have a full self-contained breathing apparatus when dealing with a biological hazard.

With that in mind, I'll discuss the "C" aspect of NBC warfare.

Broadly speaking there are three primary ways to encounter chemical agents:

Industrial/Military Accident

For regular citizens not actively deployed in a hostile foreign nation or fighting in some other context, the most likely way to encounter a chemical agent is through some sort of industrial accident, be it corporate negligence or equipment failures causing a release at a chemical production/storage facility (as was the case in Bhopal India in 1984 where the leakage of an isocyanate killed 3,000 and injured over 500,000), the derailment of a train carrying chemical agents (as was the case in Graniteville, South Carolina in 2005 where chlorine gas killed several and injured several hundred), or some mishap in the disposal of military held chemical stockpiles (supposedly several bases/facilities throughout the USA are in the process of incinerating or otherwise neutralizing chemical agents, thus creating a potential for a leak/accident, particularly in the transportation process).

It is a fact of life that each and every day there are thousands of trucks on the road hauling tanks filled with chemicals that could kill or sicken thousands if the trucks were to crash, and the tanks were to rupture, in a populated area. It is also another fact of life that there are easily dozens if not hundreds of trains operating on a daily basis that are loaded with similarly dangerous chemicals. In the United States we have been fortunate in that we have avoided major chemical releases along the lines of what happened in Bhopal, India in 1984, although as time goes by, infrastructure begins to wear down, communities become more complacent about what is going on at the local plant, officials become increasingly corrupt, etc, numerous factors may exist for a potential chemical disaster…

At any rate, we should certainly be aware of the daily risk posed by trucks and trains. The main ways to mitigate the risk posed by industrial/military accidents would be to keep a quality gas-mask (with a quality filter) handy in your home and your vehicle, for everybody who lives in your home and everybody who regularly rides in your vehicle, know how to recognize the signs of a chemical incident (to be addressed shortly), know how to properly use your gas mask (to be addressed shortly), and know what your gas mask can and cannot do for you (to be addressed shortly).

It is worth noting that my father was injured in an industrial chemical accident, decades ago, and was incapacitated for over a week after just a few seconds of exposure to a choking agent (specifically he was sprayed in the face with phosgene). Even if you are not outright killed by a chemical agent, a few seconds exposure may leave you an incapacitated chemical casualty for a week or longer

War

Soldiers in war are exposed to the ever-present threat that an enemy nation may resort to using chemical weapons, particularly fast acting fast dissipating agents (such as Hydrogen Cyanide), that would give a tactical advantage and possibly help sway the course of a battle. However, if you are a serviceman or servicewoman you have doubtlessly endured hours of instruction on NBC defense, although it may help you to continue reading and perhaps learn a few new things. At any rate, exposure via war is pretty much self-explanatory. However, I will address a few aspects about which specific agents people may expect to encounter in a war context, and the particulars of the chemical weapons use policies/doctrines of certain nations.

For example, due to their military doctrine, it is highly likely American citizens (at least those near areas of active combat/fighting) will be exposed to Russian chemical weapons in the event Russians ever invade the USA. Furthermore, any American citizens acting as insurgents/rebels against an occupation by Russians or similarly oriented communist forces (anybody trained/educated by the Russians/Soviets) will likely be exposed to chemical agents. Such issues will be addressed shortly…

Terrorism

Terrorists, the modern bogeymen, few know who they are, where they will strike, or when they will strike. All we know is that they are out there, likely living seemingly normal lives until the point where they make their move to secure their seventy-two virgins. The anthrax scare during the last decade was pretty much a whole lot of brew-ha-ha about nothing, because a few elected officials receiving contaminated letters does not translate into a regional crisis that could infect millions.

Simply stated, whoever was behind the anthrax scare, all they were going for was a psychological victory, their choice of delivery system pretty well proved that they were not out to infect and kill millions. Because well-meaning survivalists and decent American citizens are not the only ones with access to the internet, I am going to refrain from discussing what would have been an optimal delivery system for dispersing anthrax to maximize the causality rate. Suffice to say that the choice the anthrax terrorist made, that of mailing letters to a few officials, revealed that they were not serious about infecting the masses, but rather wanted to scare/terrorize the masses.

However, with all of that said, the terrorist chemical threat is potentially serious because some chemical agents (agents that can kill within minutes if not sooner) can be prepared with commonly available chemicals that have legitimate industrial/commercial uses and thus are easily obtainable, by anybody who has access to basic laboratory equipment. With a few thousand dollars to procure commonly available chemicals, access to a chemical laboratory equipped to at least basic college standards, and a few days time, I could prepare enough chemical agents to cause at least tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of chemical casualties in a major urban area. Again, for security purposes, I will refrain from discussing what agent/s I am referring to, what the precursor chemicals are, and what the optimal method of dissemination is, suffice to say that the threat is potentially very real and it is simply our good fortune that terrorists have not already figured it out.

So, now that you understand that the threat is real, you may be asking, “well what can I do about it?” and fortunately for you, yours truly has an answer…

First, you need a quality gas-mask… Allow me to discuss those that I have experience with…

M40 Field Protective Mask
I have personal experience with the M40 field protective mask and I find the mask quite adequate, with the only possible drawback being that it is a two eye-piece mask instead of a one eye-piece mask, so there is something of a gap or a blind spot in your vision, unlike the new commercial gas masks and some [U.S. Air Force masks]. However, many of the new commercial gas masks take odd commercial filters that are expensive and hard to find, and they may or may not be compatible with a ballistic helmet. I can say with one hundred percent certainty, my M40 field protective mask is fully compatible with my ballistic helmet, it fits comfortably with the helmet, it uses commonly available 40mm standard NATO filters, and with the filter mounting on either the left or right side (as opposed to the front with some gas masks) I can actually shoulder my rifle and aim down the sights. Note that even with a gas mask mounting a filter on the other side, you will still have to get used to cheek placement in regards to how you use your iron sights, it can be a bit tricky at first and some folks may find it easier to just go with an EoTech type sight when using a gas mask. The M40 gas mask also has a provision for using a special tube to drink out of a gas-mask. You can also purchase an adapter kit that will let you hook up your gas-mask to a water bladder, although you must make certain that the water bladder is rated for use in an NBC environment and make sure that your water bladder tube is rated for use in an NBC environment. It is also worth mentioning that you can change the filter without having to remove the mask.

The main drawback of the M40 gas mask is that it is typically expensive when you can find it (usually $200-$300 dollars), although I was able to buy mine in gently used condition for less than $70 dollars because a major urban police department was apparently switching over to something else (probably some new, untested, and incredibly expensive commercial mask, with the bill being footed by the tax-paying citizens) and they were getting rid of the masks that had doubtlessly been given to them for free by the US Army. Supposedly the military is in the process of shifting away from the M40 field protective mask due to the mask’s physical weakness against blister agents (specifically issues with the mask suffering corrosion due to blister agents). However, for reasons I will be addressing shortly, I don’t believe blister agents are likely to be encountered.

One final warning, try to be reasonably certain your mask isn’t stolen military property. To my knowledge soldiers still have to account for their gas masks and they’re not treated like canteens or magazine pouches where if you “misplace” or “lose” it, you get to cut Uncle Sam a check and all is forgiven. Losing a gas mask isn’t as severe as “losing” a rifle or “losing” night vision optics, but if you “lose” your gas mask you’re going to have some problems. There are a lot of M40 field protective masks on the surplus market and they are probably okay to buy. However, if you come across an M50 joint service general purpose mask, unless it is the commercial/police version of the mask, the item is probably stolen government property.

The M50 is said to be replacing the M40 even though most soldiers have yet to see an M50 mask. My best friend, who is active duty, has informed me that most Marines still have the M40 field protective mask although many of them have at least had basic exposure to the M50 joint service general purpose mask. That said, there shouldn’t be too many M50 masks legitimately available for sale because the mask hasn’t even been fully phased into service with the Marine Corps, let alone the Army, as is the intention/plan (the Marines and Army are to both receive the mask). That stated, I will be keeping his eyes open for the first opportunity to legally obtain an M50 joint service general purpose mask. From what I've has read, the military version (M50) is to be preferred to the basic commercial/police version (FM50) because it is more adaptable for use in combat and it has more options/features such as linking to a hydration bladder or a canteen. That said, another commercial version, the C50 looks as though it may be promising. I will be placing the lawful acquisition of either an M50 joint service general purpose mask or a C50 mask, or failing either of those, the FM50 mask, high on his priority list for the near future. If and when successful, I will evaluate the mask and give it a thorough review.

Czech M10 and U.S. M17 Series Gas Masks
I don’t have a whole lot of positive things to say about a gas mask that uses cheek filters that require taking the mask off when it comes time to switch the filters. This is true of the Czech M10 and U.S. M17 series gas masks. (The M10 is a clone of the M17.) Maybe there’s something wrong with me but the idea of taking my mask off in a chemically compromised environment, or an area rich with radiological hazards, so I can spend several minutes switching the filters, seems rather counter-intuitive. What the M10 gas mask has going for it is that it is inexpensive, readily available, and it doesn’t interfere with wearing a ballistic helmet or shouldering/aiming a rifle because it has internal cheek filters instead of the standard 40mm NATO filter that is used by almost every other gas mask. That said, the M10 gas mask should only be considered as a “stop gap” gas-mask, or the “until I can find and afford a better one” gas mask. The M10 gas mask might also function well if the only anticipated threats are CS or CN riot control agents.

M15 Israeli Masks
These are the new style of Israeli surplus gas masks, much more comfortable than the older style (which I would only recommend for those on a tight budget or with nothing better), but they suffer from many setbacks common to gas-masks made primarily with civilians in mind. The filter is in the front and it greatly interferes with the ability to shoulder/aim a rifle, probably because nobody expected somebody wearing a civilian gas mask to need to shoulder/aim a rifle. The main advantage to this mask is that it is cheap (at least they were cheap when I bought four of them back in 2006 for about $100 dollars for all four, each coming with a filter). In regards to filters they use the friendly 40mm NATO standard filter. Also, unsurprisingly, this civilian gas mask does not fit well with a ballistic helmet and leaves the wearer uncomfortable. Obviously the mask was designed with the idea in mind that regular civilians would be sitting around doing nothing other than avoiding exposure to a chemical threat, instead of trying to shoulder/aim a rifle or operate with a ballistic helmet on. I also have an old style Israeli surplus gas mask that predates the M15 series and I find it too uncomfortable to consider seriously recommending for anything other than a “stop gap” gas mask until something better can be obtained. If you can obtain old style Israeli surplus gas masks for perhaps $10 dollars each (with filters), they might be worth considering as “hand out” gas masks or “shelter in place” gas masks, or a gas mask for tucking into the drawer at the office. However, the M15 Israeli gas mask should be considered for those roles if they can be obtained at a reasonable cost.

Commercial Masks
I don’t know much about the various commercial gas masks on the market other than that they appear to be pretty reliable and useful with their single one-piece lens design (very common with commercial gas masks). However, they also tend to use specialized and often mask specific commercial filters that are likely to be expensive and certainly difficult to find in any situation where the supply chain has broken down or otherwise been interrupted. Another mark against commercial gas-masks is that they are generally very expensive (anywhere from $200 to $350 dollars for the basic mask with one single filter) whereas a surplus M40 field protective mask can be obtained (if you shop smart and find a good deal- such as the case with the mask I purchased) for under $70 dollars. Ultimately it will be a matter of your budget, your needs, and your personal preference.

However, I would like to give one final caveat in regards to the commercial masks, while they are supposedly rated for deadly agents (blood agents, blister agents, choking agents, nerve agents) and not just less-than-lethal agents such as CS (tear gas), they seldom find themselves in situations where they might be put to a serious test. They may or may not perform as rated by the company. If a few hundred masks fail then the company has to worry about some lawsuits. If a few hundred or a few thousand American military issued gas masks fail on soldiers in the field, then the Pentagon, Department of Defense, and possibly the Congress and President have to worry about a major scandal on their hands. Gulf War syndrome aside (something that I believe is real and something that I will discuss later), US military issue gas masks/NBC gear probably function as rated/declared. However, from personal experience, there is only one thing I can declare with absolute certainty: The M40 field protective mask protects the user from CS tear gas. I know this firsthand as his M40 field protective mask worked fine when I was in a room filled with CS tear gas. I have also conducted tests with the M15 Israeli gas mask and can certify that the gas mask, with the proper filter, provided fine protection against CS tear gas.

I tend to believe the US military surplus masks will reliably protect against lethal agents (blood agents, blister agents, choking agents, nerve agents, etc) because they were issued in times when the threat of an enemy attack using chemical weapons was a very real prospect (i.e. Gulf War 1 and depending on what you believe about Iraq’s supposed weapons programs, Gulf War 2). If hundreds of thousands of American personnel had gone into combat with less than adequate masks and been killed or incapacitated by sarin, soman, hydrogen cyanide, mustard, etc, it would have caused a huge uproar across the entire USA. If a few thousand soldiers or contractors bought their own commercial masks which they then used and experienced mask failures, the worst the company could expect would be a few dozen lawsuit or perhaps a few hundred lawsuits (depending on how many soldiers used them and had them fail). If government issued military masks were to fail, it could very well cost dozens of senators/congressmen their seats/careers, cost multiple generals their careers/pensions, and become a huge scandal. Gulf War Syndrome aside, it is my opinion that US military surplus NBC gear (designed/manufactured from at least the 1980s onward, 1990s is better) will provide the protection as stated.

Also, don’t forget to obtain a number of equipment decontamination kits for decontaminating any equipment (i.e. your expensive battle rifle or your night vision optic) that might become exposed to chemical contaminants. I was able to find a pack of four decontamination kits at a gun show for just five dollars. The DECONTAMINATION KIT, INDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT: M295. It would be a shame if you had an awesome gas mask, a great NBC suit, and you avoided dying from a nerve agent attack, only to die a few hours later after you left the chemically rich environment, removed your suit, and then touched your still-contaminated rifle. Obtain proper decontamination kits and follow the instructions (that come with the kit) for how to use properly use the kit.

So now that you’re well on your way to selecting a gas-mask you may wonder what to do with it once you get it? Well first you need to realize what your gas mask can and cannot do for you… The gas mask does not function as a self-contained breathing apparatus that enables you to stay in an area with no oxygen/air due to the oxygen having been displaced by a chemical/gaseous agent. A gas mask filters out certain chemical/biological hazards enabling you to breathe filtered air. That stated, you still need air/oxygen to breathe. If all of the oxygen in the air has been displaced by chemicals you will suffocate, even if you have a gas mask on.

I’m not sure how to state it any simpler than that, if you are in a confined area you need to get out of the confined area because an area with a limited amount of air could rapidly become an area with no air due to the air/oxygen being displaced by gas. Gas masks do not generate oxygen; they simply filter contaminated air so you can breathe filtered air.

If you’re looking for a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA -- which means you have your own supply of oxygen to breathe from) as opposed to a gas mask then by all means look for one, but such devices are outside the scope of this article and as I have no personal experience with a self-contained breathing apparatus (other than those of the underwater variety, i.e. SCUBA variety) I shall refrain from commenting on which self-contained breathing apparatus does this or that in regards to NBC protection.

I also want to stress that a gas mask by itself does not provide full protection against certain agents (nerve agents, blister agents, etc) because those agents will either be absorbed through the skin (nerve agents) or will burn exposed skin (blister agents).To achieve optimal protection against a nerve agent you need to be wearing a complete NBC suit (with the hood, the gloves, and the boot covers) in addition to a gas mask with a filter rated for a nerve agent (even then you need to be aware that many filters, especially commercial filters, may only provide 20-40 minutes of protection in an area rich with certain agents before they are compromised, the idea is that you get out of Dodge). There’s one thing about nerve agents I really want to hammer home, nerve agents quickly saturate filters. Ditto for blister and blood agents. [So you will need lots of spares and will need to practice changing them rapidly.] It is worth noting that the mask itself should be immediately changed after use if it was exposed to hydrogen cyanide. Against most of the nastier agents the life of filters is often measured in a few hours or less. If you're going to spend a lot of time in a chemically rich environment you're going to need to be able to change filters and you're going to need to know how to change filters in a chemically contaminated environment (a technique useful to know, but one that would not be my first choice--my first choice would be getting out of Dodge).

When selecting a gas-mask make sure that it fits comfortably and is properly sized for your face. You’re going to have to make sure you can obtain a proper seal and it will entail just a little bit of work… Gentlemen, if you’re sporting a beard then now is the time to shave because you will be unable to obtain a proper seal unless you are clean shaven.

When testing for a proper seal have a friend standing by just in the event you become panicked upon being unable to breathe and end up requiring assistance getting the mask off (this may happen the first time you try to obtain a proper seal). Make sure that the filter connector (the place where you screw the filter into the mask) is open and unobstructed. After donning the mask and adjusting the straps to assure it fits comfortably you will then place your hand over the filter connector and attempt to breathe.

You should be able to exhale but unable to inhale and every time you attempt to inhale the mask should slightly collapse in towards your face (try this several times to make sure you are indeed unable to breathe and thus have obtained a proper seal). Note that if at any time during the procedure you feel panicked by a lack of being able to inhale, remove your hand from the filter connector and breathe normally. If necessary your assistant can help you in removing the mask if you feel panicked by being unable to breathe or if you are beset with a sudden claustrophobic attack due to having a gas mask on your face (it may take some getting used to for some people).

Once you have a proper seal without a filter the next step is to make sure you can obtain a proper seal with a filter. I know that conventional wisdom states that you don’t want to open a filter until you are ready to use it; however I believe that if you’re going to have a gas-mask ready at hand you’re going to have to have the filter opened, on the mask, and ready to go. The gas mask I keep in my bed-room has a filter on it, ready to go, otherwise it wouldn’t be particularly useful (try donning a gas mask, unsealing/uncapping a filter, and then screwing the filter into place when under stress, all while holding your breath with your eyes closed, you’ll see the merit in keeping your gas mask ready to go).

Speaking from my own personal experience I had a standard 40mm NATO filter, unsealed and open, sitting on my closet shelf for about four years and when I finally screwed it into place on the gas mask and used it in a room filled with CS tear gas, it worked beautifully. That said, I wouldn’t necessarily rely on that filter as my “go to filter” for protection against anything more serious than CS tear gas, because it has already been used to filter one chemical agent, it may have a diminished ability to provide protection against other chemical agents (i.e. lethal agents).

However, I have no problem with the idea of using an unsealed and opened filter, that has never been exposed to any sort of chemical agent, as a “go to filter” that is kept in place on the mask to wait for the situation that you hope never comes. I don’t doubt that an open and unsealed filter will provide the protection it is rated to provide because I have seen the filters do that (although only in regards to CS tear gas, I have never been exposed to nerve agents, blood agents, blister agents, choking agents, etc).

Filters that I have opened/unsealed and exposed to CS tear gas go into the pile labeled  “save these for use testing future gas mask” and they will stay there, serving that function, unless there is a dire emergency.

To make sure you have a proper seal with the filter on the mask, make sure you open and unseal the filter (you don’t want to suffocate yourself by trying to breathe through a sealed filter), then carefully screw the filter into the filter connector on your mask. After you have done those things you should don the gas mask and then place your hand over the opening on the filter (the opening that was previously covered by the seal that you removed before donning the mask).

Again, as was the case with the seal test without the filter in place, you should be able to exhale but you should not be able to inhale, when you inhale you should be unable to breathe and the mask should slightly move inwards to your face. After doing this inhale/exhale business two or three times (being able to exhale but not inhale) it should feel as though you are unable to breathe and that you are suffocating (because if you have a proper seal you won’t be able to breath while blocking the intake for the filter). Simply remove your hand from the filter opening and breathe normally. If you encounter any problems remove your mask immediately or have your friend help you remove it.

Once you’re satisfied that you can safely and effectively obtain a proper seal with your gas mask and that you can breathe properly with the filter in place, I suggest that you wear the gas mask around (at first without a filter in place, later with an open filter in place- use a filter at your discretion, depending on your supply of filters) so you can become acclimated to the burdens of operating while wearing a gas-mask. Try shouldering a rifle, try aiming with your rifle, try aiming your pistol, if you have access to a shooting range where people won’t give you funny looks for wearing a gas mask, trying shooting while wearing your gas mask. You might be surprised how difficult it becomes to do something as simple as shouldering a rifle or properly aiming a rifle. If you have a gas-mask with a filter that is off to one side or the other you will certainly appreciate it. If your gas mask filter is in front of the mask you’ll probably be cursing yourself and wishing that you had obtained a gas mask with a side-mounted filter.

If you really want to have some fun try doing some light exercises or household chores while wearing the gas-mask, it will help get you used to wearing one. Although I would again like to remind the readers that the purpose of a gas mask is not to allow you to go about business as usual for the next 6-12 hours or however long it may be, the purpose is to buy you the time needed to get out of the chemically (or biologically) contaminated area. Even still, it will help if you have some basic conditioning for operating in a gas mask, not to mention it will help gauge your overall physical condition and probably help boost your physical condition to a degree.

That said, if at any time while wearing a gas mask you ever feel panicked for any reason, be it difficulty breathing or an attack of claustrophobia, remove your gas mask or have your friend help you remove it (one of my gas-mask rules is that you shouldn’t use gas masks when alone, the only exceptions being emergencies or if your training is sufficient that you know how to avoid suffocating yourself). There have been instances where people had difficulty breathing while wearing gas masks and they believed it was because they had been exposed to contaminants, giving them all the reason in the world to believe they needed to keep their gas masks on, when the problem was that they had failed to unseal the filter connected to the mask.

So now that you know how to properly obtain a seal and how to safely wear a gas mask you might wonder what sort of agents are you likely to encounter?

There are several broad categories of chemical agents and they can be broken down as follows: Blood agents, Nerve agents, Choking agents, Blister agents, and Irritant/Disabling agents

Blood Agents
These agents operate primarily via inhalation (theoretically you could also ingest them) and they are absorbed into the bloodstream. Death can often result within several minutes depending on the manner of exposure and the level of exposure. Death is usually caused by respiratory failure. One of the most useful (from a tactical perspective) is Hydrogen Cyanide, although there are other blood agents (such as cyanogen and cyanogen bromide).

A key sign of exposure to a blood agent is the breathing cycle is stimulated to such a severe level that the exposed individual cannot hold their breath. According to Jared Ledgard in A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents, violent convulsions usually follow within 30 seconds of cessation of respiration starting after 1 minute of exposure. One of the early indicators of exposure is a rapid increase in heart rate combined with the onset of deep breathing. Death will usually occur within 5 minutes of inhalation of a lethal level.

It is my opinion that in a war with a major power, blood agents (specifically Hydrogen Cyanide) are very likely to be encountered. For protection against blood agents, for the most part, a gas mask with a quality filter will suffice, although blood agents can quickly compromise many filters. Fortunately hydrogen cyanide is usually neutralized by nature in normal weather conditions within 60-120 seconds, although it can persist for upwards of 12 hours in colder weather (cold as in approximately 40 degrees). Make sure that you are not relying on a charcoal based filter as they are insufficient/ineffective against most blood agents.

Be aware that the cyanide agents (i.e. hydrogen cyanide, cyanogen, etc) can be absorbed through the skin although the primary method has always been intended to be inhalation. Note that basic clothing will provide some level of protection against hydrogen cyanide although an NBC suit is to be preferred. Also note that if all you have is basic clothing and you are exposed to hydrogen cyanide (or other blood agents), you must carefully strip off your clothing and dispose of it as soon as you can safely do so. You must also be aware that exposure can occur via the eyes of other mucous membranes. If you are decontaminating after exposure to a blood agent and you fail to decontaminate properly, and then rub contaminated hands or fabric over your eyes, you may very well have just exposed yourself via your mucous membranes.

Basic clothing will probably buy you a few moments to get out of an area although you want to make sure as little skin as possible is exposed (blood agents aren’t as nasty as blister agents in getting through clothing - so additional layers may be worth the effort here), and you’re also going to have to accept that you’re going to need to strip down and dispose of your clothing in a very timely fashion. You’re also probably going to have to part with your footwear unless your footwear was covered by chemical covers or you are able to properly decontaminate your footwear. As an aside, I wouldn’t ever wear any previously contaminated clothing and I would only wear the footwear if I had no alternative and had thoroughly decontaminated the boots in question.

As an additional note, realize that hydrogen cyanide is lighter than air; it will naturally rise to higher locations.

Author’s opinion - Likely to be encountered in war, very likely to be encountered via terrorism since blood agents are easy to synthesize, less likely to be encountered via industrial accidents (depends on how bad infrastructure decays). Due to the doctrines of several major militaries, hydrogen cyanide (and other blood agents) will likely be very freely used in any conventional war fought in North America (more on this later).

Nerve Agents
These agents basically kill by interfering with an enzyme known as Acetylcholinesterase that allows the body’s nerve system to send out the right messages/impulses in a timely fashion so your muscles relax. With a nerve agent binding to the site of the enzyme and crowding out the proper enzyme so it cannot bind to the site, your nervous system is unable to send the proper messages to make your muscles relax. The end result is that your muscles continually contract, to the point where you die.

Nerve agents include (but are not limited to) to so-called G agents (so named because they were originally designed/developed by the Germans) primarily Tabun, Sarin, and Soman.

Nerve agents have been known to be able to contaminate vegetation, water, and even become absorbed into vegetation. Extreme care should be taken when entering any area that may have been exposed to nerve agents.

Possible indicators of exposure to nerve agents- Runny nose (without congestion and without sore throat), tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, stomach cramps, loss of control of bowel functions (i.e. defecating in your pants), loss of bladder control (i.e. urinating in your pants), profuse sweating, muscle weakness, muscle cramps, tremors, any uncontrollable muscle twitching/spasms, etc.

Nerve agents can range from the VERY persistent VX agent (which can linger on the ground, on surfaces, in puddles of water) for literally MONTHS, to the much less persistent Sarin, which may only persist few several hours (outdoors) and even less on a warm sunny day (according to Ledgard). Additionally, as Ledgard points out in his book A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents, 4 MILLIGRAMS of Sarin can kill five soldiers and it can kill them within minutes of being disseminated. Soldiers exposed to non-lethal amounts of sarin will become incapacitated within 10 minutes of exposure and will be unable to perform their normal duties as soldiers. Anybody exposed to a lethal dose will be dead within 10 to 60 minutes.

Readers should note that Sarin is far less toxic than VX, the only good thing about Sarin (if you could even call it good) is that it tends not to be persistent (except in confined areas such as bunkers, buildings, trenches, etc). Also note that Sarin is heavier than air and will be particularly deadly/persistent in enclosed areas, especially if they are low lying areas. VX vapor is also heavier than air and as an agent, VX is particularly likely to be encountered in liquid form (i.e. a shell loaded with VX liquid being burst over the top of a trench or a fixed position).

In all cases exposure to a lethal dose is fatal. However, according to Jared Ledgard in A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents some people have a natural immunity to low and/or chronic doses. Furthermore, it seems that his view of Gulf War Syndrome is similar to my view. It is my belief that Gulf War Syndrome is the result of exposure to of nerve agents (possibly soman) at levels that were not sufficient to kill or immediately incapacitate and were possibly even too low to be immediately/readily detectible. It is probable that soldiers away from immediate combat areas were not suited up or they were allowed to remove their suits after the Republican Guard was smashed and the ground campaign to liberate Kuwait was over, meaning they would have had the opportunity to be exposed to low levels of nerve agents from Iraqi chemical depots that were being destroyed or had just been destroyed. Exposure to even low levels of nerve agents, levels below that at which you become an immediate chemical casualty, can cause long-term problems (and there are documented cases of low level exposure to nerve agents causing a decades worth of health problems).

It is worth noting that there is a window of treatment for exposure to nerve agents, approximately 5-15 minutes long, although knowing about the antidote (atropine/pralidoxime- along with diazepam/valium to mitigate the convulsions) is almost a moot point since the military is not fond of handing out their atropine/pralidoxime combopens. And even so, some nerve agents (such as Soman) are not impacted by oxime, not to mention that you would have to be absolutely sure that you or the person you are injecting with the combopen has been exposed to a nerve agent or else you’re essentially poisoning them with atropine.

I have some advice for nerve agents, avoid them at all costs. If you’re a trained EMT, paramedic, Navy corpsman, Army medic, RN, physician’s assistant, a physician, or even perhaps a chemical engineer, and you know what you’re doing and can legally obtain atropine, then it might be worth considering obtaining the items. However, if you’re just a regular guy or gal reading this to learn about gas masks and some basic defense ideas, please resist the urge to rush out and try to obtain an atropine-oxime combopen from one of your military buddies. If you’re really concerned about nerve agents and you’re not going to stop preparing until you have a few combopens, then please get some serious education and training. (You might be able to get such training via the Red Cross or via a State Defense Force/State Guard depending on the state you live in and whether or not your state governor maintains a State Defense Force).

If you are going to be exposed to a nerve agent you must note that a mere gas mask alone will not provide proper protection. You will ideally want to have a self-contained breathing apparatus (NBC rated and protected from direct exposure to NBC agents) in addition to a full NBC suit, NBC hood, gloves, boot covers, etc), failing that you will want a full NBC suit (gloves, hood, boot covers, etc) with a gas mask and filter specifically rated for nerve agents. If all you have is a gas mask it is better than nothing but be aware, be very aware, of the simple fact that nerve agents do not have to be inhaled to cause death, indeed in many instances they operate more rapidly/effectively if absorbed through the skin.

Author’s opinion- In a war situation VX is most likely to be encountered in an “area denial” role since it will contaminate an area for weeks/months at a time, causing enemy personnel to generally avoid the area, funneling them through other areas. In the tactical/operational role it is most likely that Soman and/or Sarin will be encountered. The production of nerve agents requires complex laboratory equipment, reasonably skilled/educated personnel, reasonably controlled/regulated precursors, and as such they are not likely to be encountered outside of a war/military setting. Not to mention that any storage/delivery system worth its salt (i.e. an artillery shell or an aircraft bomb with a binary storage/delivery mechanism) wouldn’t be particularly easy for any idiot to whip up in their basement. Granted that the cult in Japan launched a Sarin attack on the subway but their Sarin was low quality, if they had been using military grade Sarin of a higher purity, and/or if they had a better delivery system, the resulting death toll may have been dozens of times higher.

Choking Agents
These agents incapacitate/kill by interfering with the exposed person’s ability to breathe. They are not to be confused with riot-control agents that cause discomfort. Rather choking agents cause a build-up of fluids in the lungs which ultimately leads to death by suffocation. The two most common are chlorine and phosgene.

At this time I should mention that my father was exposed to phosgene in an accident at a chemical factory (specifically, he was sprayed in the face by a stream of phosgene) and was incapacitated for several weeks. Generally speaking there is no treatment for phosgene exposure other than to keep the exposed person calm and let them rest, aside from administering oxygen to reduce the impact of pulmonary edema, although virtually all those exposed to a lethal dose will be dead within 48 hours. It is not for nothing that phosgene accounted for almost 80% of all of the chemical/gas fatalities in the First World War.

Fortunately most choking agents, such as phosgene, have fallen out of favor in most major militaries; unfortunately it is because they have been replaced with things that are arguably at least twenty times worse. Phosgene is virtually impossible to detect by smell, no test strips are available to detect it, and generally you have to wait for people to exhibit signs of exposure to know that you are in an area rich with phosgene. Immediately after the gas is inhaled there should be coughing, choking, feelings of tightness in the chest, nausea, and vomiting. However, it remains possible that phosgene may be encountered in some capacity because it is very easy to produce. Although it should be considered that any hostile nation capable of putting an army in North America is going to be capable of supplying them with better chemical agents than phosgene.

The other main choking agent is chlorine, which could easily be encountered in an industrial accident and indeed it was encountered when a train derailed in Graniteville South Carolina (in 2005) and released 60 tons of the gas.

Chlorine gas is unlikely to be encountered in a war although it is certainly possible that an air or artillery strike may damage/destroy an industrial facility where chlorine is stored, causing its release. Fortunately a simple gas mask (no need for an NBC suit) will protect against chlorine gas. Also it is worth noting that chlorine (like phosgene) is heavier than air (get to high ground if trying to avoid chlorine or phosgene).

Your basic quality gas mask will provide protection against phosgene and chlorine, there is no need to don your full NBC suit.

Author’s opinion - You are unlikely to encounter a choking agent in a war situation, you may encounter them in a terrorist situation because it would be relatively easy for terrorists to cause a spill/leak at an industrial facility. Likewise the potential exists for a genuine accidental leak/spill or a transportation accident resulting in a release of a choking agent. If you keep your gas mask ready at hand in your vehicle you should have adequate protection against the possibility of an industrial/transportation accident involving a choking agent.

Blister Agents
These agents are primarily used to incapacitate/maim/disfigure although they can kill. They primarily are intended to incapacitate and cause casualties, in addition to having a very nasty impact on morale due to the manner in which they cause casualties. The exposed soldier seldom dies (although death can occur from exposure under certain circumstances).

Blister agents are typically very persistent especially in dry/cold areas. They are known to be able to penetrate standard clothing, rubber, vegetation, some plastics, and even some NBC suits (standard US NBC suits generally do not prevent all blister agent penetration, allowing some penetration, with the result being some degree of blistering or worse). The only solution to that problem is to regularly change your NBC suit or utilize a special full body polymer suit (although this will destroy your combat effectiveness).

Blister agents are horrible and viciously disfiguring to any exposed to them. Fortunately they are about a century old and are mostly obsolete, aside from the fact that they are very useful as an area denial weapon since they have such a high level of persistence. According to Jared Ledgard, during the First World War a British soldier sat down on a patch of grass that unbeknownst to him contained several droplets of mustard gas and within hours he had severe blister burns on his buttocks and back.

Blister agents primarily burn the skin and cause damage to the mucous membranes (eyes, lips, mouth, ears, nose, rectum, genitals, etc). Yes blister agents can cause chemical burns on the genitals, not a pleasant prospect.

There have been accounts of blister agent chemical munitions (i.e. artillery shells) that were dumped into the ocean following the end of the First World War causing blister burns on people who discovered the shells throughout the 1990s-2000s.

Blister agents have no real cure, antidote, or treatment (other than the potential for skin grafts to deal with the skin ruined by blister burns), and that is part of what makes them truly terrible weapons. Fortunately blister agents are easily detectible by commonly available military indicator paper (check the surplus market or check survivalist circles) although if exposed symptoms of exposure may take 2-6 hours to manifest themselves in the case of the mustard gases while exposure to Lewisite will result in symptoms manifesting themselves almost immediately.

There is some good news as far as blister agents are concerned. Specifically, I am of the opinion that blister agents are unlikely to be encountered outside of trench warfare. Unless the USA is invaded and it bogs down into trench warfare, you as an American/Canadian survivalist are unlikely to encounter blister agents. The critics of the M40 field protective mask who suggested it may have a weakness for blister agents are forgetting a few things, one of those things being that trench warfare is pretty much a thing of the past. If you’re being hit with a blister agent it is probably because you’re in a trench/static position which begs the question, “why are you in a static position?” Blister agents just aren’t that useful at this day in age, although they would make a very effective psychological weapon for a defending force to use against an attacking force, causing soldiers to worry not about a quick and painless death but rather a horrible and painful disfigurement.

Also, please note- sulfur mustard vapor, nitrogen mustard vapor, and Lewisite vapor are all heavier than air, they will naturally settle in low areas.

Author’s opinion - You’re much more likely to encounter nerve agents and blood agents (in a war/invasion context) and choking agents (in an accident/terrorism context) than you are to encounter blister agents in any context. That said, if for some reason you come across artillery shells that look like they were produced when Woodrow Wilson was halfway through his second-term, don’t go near them!

Irritant/Disabling Agents
These agents are primarily used for crowd/riot control or for “civilian law enforcement” purposes, -please excuse my use of the term “civilian law enforcement” I probably should have said “citizen peace officer operations” but our society is a far-cry from the days of Sheriff Andy Taylor, so I picked a term I felt more fitting. Anyway, I’m not here to preach about political issues…

Your basic irritant/disabling are not designed to kill you but they can kill you if they displace a sufficient amount of oxygen, leaving you an insufficient amount of oxygen to breathe. Your gas mask will protect you against the harmful effects of all known irritant/disabling gases, such as CS tear gas and CR gas. However, you still need to have oxygen to breathe because your mask operates as a filter, filtering out the gas, it doesn’t produce oxygen for you.

You don’t need an NBC suit to obtain protection from irritant/disabling agents, all you need is a quality gas mask (indeed you could probably get by with a 1960s or 1970s gas mask but why chance it, get a quality gas mask and you’re set for irritating agents and other agents).

Expect to encounter irritant agents from any variety of sources. In a post collapse situation you might find a number of individuals who were previously on some SWAT team have suddenly realized that they don’t have any stocks of food, medicine, water, etc, but they have some rather neat weapons, close quarters combat training, and a lot of tear gas that was previously stored in their station. They might decide to try to smoke people out of their home with CS gas, shooting them as they exit. Likewise any random thug might get the idea to do such a thing.

It is possible, but unlikely, that you will encounter CR gas, CR being a riot control agent that was used mainly in South Africa in the 1980s to put down the uprisings in the townships and homelands. Strictly speaking CR is non-lethal but it is recognized as toxic and since it is approximately 10 times more powerful than CS tear gas it is capable of causing instant incapacitation. In poorly ventilated areas (i.e. confined spaces- think indoors/basements/bunkers/etc) death may result in several minutes due to suffocation and pulmonary edema. The most common and immediate affects of CR gas exposure will be blindness (temporary), coughing, struggling/gasping for breath, and tremendous panic. If exposed to the agent you should remain calm and begin your chemical reaction drill (to be covered shortly). If you panic and begin inhaling large amounts of CR gas, expect it to induce further panicking and expect it to possibly/probably incapacitate you.

Patriots can use disabling/irritant agents to their advantage in numerous situations. It is possible that CS tear gas canisters can be rigged with trip wires to cover certain areas of approach, so the good guys can focus their initial fire on attackers coming from one main area and cover it accordingly. Likewise, if you arrive at a bug-out location and find that squatters have taken up residence, you might consider using CS tear gas to flush them out (as much as I'm a fan of dynamic entry and room to room fighting, I recognize that such tactics usually pose a major risk of suffering casualties, and the local hospital may be a charred ruin at this point). Once you flush them out you can either negotiate with them or deal with them as you see fit. That said, if you deploy CS gas canisters into your bug out location and flush out a nun and six orphans from the county orphanage, you might want to think about helping them because A- it’s the Christian thing to do and B- you can probably trust them not to try to cut your throat in your sleep. If you deploy CS gas and a half-dozen outlaw bikers come running out, you might want to think about neutralizing them as they’re exiting your structure, because trusting publicly declared criminals would be the height of folly.

I'd also like to point out that in many states (check your state/local laws) it is legal for law-abiding citizens to purchase and possess CS tear gas. Indeed, in accordance with the laws of my state, I lawfully possess multiple canisters of CS tear gas. I have also tested several of canisters and was sufficiently impressed with the results. Patriots would do well to buy three or four “clear out” CS gas canisters from KeepShooting.com as they are readily available and only about $16 dollars per canister. Note that while the canisters have “best by” dates printed on them, I used a canister that was 2.5 years expired and it was sufficient to cause myself a rather nasty experience. For safety purposes I conducted my test with others nearby ready to intervene if necessary, fortunately they did not have to intervene. I don’t recommend testing CS tear gas on yourself but he also doesn’t recommend against it. As a free man (or woman) in a free land (well to be correct -- a previously free land -- but I’m not here to preach about that) you are free to decide whether or not you test CS tear gas on yourself. However, if you’re going to do it, please make sure you won’t be violating any state or local laws governing the release of such gases, and above all make sure you can do the test safely. I had my mask with me (I was wearing my mask before I removed it and exposed myself to the gas) and I also had other people nearby ready to intervene if I needed them. After I removed my mask and exposed myself to the CS I had the option of being able to put my mask back on, clear my mask, and resume using my mask, leaving the area, or having my friends intervene to help me. If you want to see the impact CS tear gas can have then feel free to test it as long as you do so legally and safely.

Author’s opinion- You are likely to encounter disabling/irritant agents in the context of high-style home-invaders/attackers who were formerly members of police tactical units or who happened to be in the right place at the right time to loot police armories of their stockpiles of disabling/irritant agents (especially CS tear gas). You are likely to encounter CS tear gas from a variety of private citizens (but as long as you’re not trying to invade a man’s ranch you’re unlikely to be tear gassed by him or his family members). However, you are not likely to experience a disabling/irritant attack by terrorists (except terrorists of the “specialist/one-issue” variety, such as earth-first types, who may deploy such agents at select facilities to try to bring the facility to a standstill and gain attention for their cause. The Islamic Jihadist types are unlikely to use disabling/irritating agents as such agents do not produce the desired results, they don’t bring the dread that blister agents bring due to the prospect of maiming/disfiguring, they don’t bring the death toll that blood/nerve agents bring, all they do is cause people to feel compelled to remove themselves from the impacted area. Likewise industrial accidents are probably unlikely as CS tear gas is not something that is made at your local chemical plant, as it is a specialty item that is likely manufactured at a small number of centrally located plants.

As a final note, I would like to take the time to repeat one very important thing, disabling/irritant agents can kill you if they displace enough oxygen in the enclosed area where you happen to be located. In such a situation you would die from suffocation due to a lack of oxygen in the air. That said, in regards to most disabling agents, there properties are such that they are not designed to kill through direct exposure (only through displacing air/suffocation). That doesn’t rule out the possibility of somebody who is already weak due to illness or advanced age, becoming even weaker due to CS tear gas exposure and succumbing to their illness from it (in other words, if you have pneumonia or any sort of lung ailment, avoid exposure to disabling/irritant agents).

To Summarize
A quality gas mask is sufficient to protect you from most threats posed by BLOOD agents, CHOKING agents, and IRRITANT/DISABLING agents. Note that some blood agents can cause exposure via the skin, basic clothing will help mitigate the risks but a quality NBC suit (with gloves, hood, boot covers) is the best way to go.

An gas mask, in conjunction with full NBC gear is required for basic protection against NERVE agents and BLISTER agents. When I say basic I mean just that, basic, because optimal protection would be provided by either an NBC rated self-contained breathing apparatus or a military vehicle’s positive overpressure-based filtration system. Let me put it this way, as cramped and uncomfortable as the Soviet/Russian BMP-2 is supposed to be, I’d much prefer to be inside a BMP-2 during a nerve gas attack as opposed to walking around outside and having to rely on my gas mask and NBC suit.

At any rate, make sure you know what your filter is rated to do and how long it is rated to last with a given agent. Be prepared to have to change your filter and/or NBC suit at least once if you plan on lingering in a chemically rich area for half a day or longer, depending on the agent/s the area is contaminated with. If you’re anticipating having to do such things, make sure you know how to properly change a filter in a chemically contaminated environment and make sure you have provisions made for being able to safely change your NBC suit (nothing would be worse than stripping off your NBC suit in an environment rich with something such as nitrogen mustard or VX).

I should also take this opportunity to mention that if you have a charcoal based filter it will typically be neutralized by normal environmental conditions in about one week’s time, even without exposure to any chemical agents, just due to the impact a normal environment has on charcoal. Once you open your sealed charcoal based NBC suit, you have one week to use it before it is neutralized regardless of whether or not it is exposed to a chemical agent. Also recall as I stated earlier, some agents are not resisted very well or at all by charcoal based devices.

Now that you have some basic background information about the categories of agents and signs of exposure, how can you recognize a chemical attack and what should you do if you recognize or suspect a chemical attack is underway or you are entering a chemically rich area?

First of all you have what is called your chemical/gas reaction drill… If you or anybody in your team suspects or recognizes a chemical/gas situation, at any time, you or anybody in your team should by all means call it out. You will loudly shout, GAS! GAS! GAS! (yes- shout it three times), after that you will immediately close your eyes and stop breathing. You will then don your gas mask (with your unsealed, open, and ready to use filter already screwed in place on it), make sure it is on tight, and then exhale hard once or twice to clear it of any possible particles, then you breathe normally.

But how will you know when to call out a gas situation? There are many different ways in which a gas situation may be recognized…

Some agents have distinct odors (it would be too time consuming for me to discuss every possible odor of every possible agent, not to mention you would probably forget them, if you want to learn more about the particular smells of particular agents then please purchase a copy of Jared Ledgard’s book A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents in which he gives a detailed analysis of all of the main chemical warfare agents, even touching on the colors, odors, etc, of those that have colors and/or odors). As far as odors are concerned, a general rule is this, “if you smell something you probably shouldn’t smell, you’re in trouble.” If you’re in the field tending to chickens and all of the sudden a fighter-bomber zips by overhead and moments later you’re smelling bitter almonds, you need to call out GAS, GAS, GAS, go into your drill, and get out of the area because you’re probably in trouble (bitter almonds is usually indicative of a cyanide agent, especially hydrogen cyanide). I decided to mention that specific smell because hydrogen cyanide is an agent that I expect is very likely to be encountered in any war/invasion scenario. However for every agent that has an easily discernable/distinct odor it seems there is another agent that is odorless…

Some agents have distinct colors although just as many agents are colorless. A good general rule for determining a chemical attack via the color or lack of color of an agent could be as follows… If any sort of attack aircraft flies overhead and sprays any colored liquid, assume it is a chemical attack and react accordingly. If an aircraft drops a bomb and it explodes in the air and you see liquid it is almost certainly a chemical attack. If the aircraft drops a bomb and there either is no explosion or a very subdued explosion, with nothing present after (i.e. no liquid can be seen) it is almost certainly a chemical attack in the form of a colorless vapor or a colorless liquid. When an aircraft is using a bomb you should see some sort of conventional explosion, or the warhead should be splitting open and releasing cluster/sub-munitions, it shouldn’t be a subdued and barely evident conventional explosion, if it is then it is indicative that the warhead was probably a chemical warhead and the shell had limited conventional explosive power.

If a shell or warhead bursts over your area and you see a less than spectacular explosion, nobody was impacted by fragments or any sort of cluster/sub-munitions, then you must assume it was a chemical attack and immediately go into your chemical reaction drill.

If you ever encounter animals, such as chickens, cows, horses, deer, cats, dogs, birds, etc, that are dead with no signs of external trauma (i.e. no gunshot wounds) then you should assume they were killed by chemical (or biological) agents and immediately go into your reaction drill. If you are part of a group of six individuals moving through a field an area and you come towards a clearing where you can see a half-dozen dead deer and a few dead song-birds, you should immediately call out, “GAS! GAS! GAS!” and go into the rest of your reaction drill. Then you should get away from that area.

The same goes for encounters with human bodies that show no signs of external trauma. The immediate assumption should be that they were killed by chemical or biological agents.

It is also possible to obtain detection strips that are specific to certain agents and will change colors when exposed to certain agents. However, it is worth noting that some agents (i.e. Phosgene) are not capable of detection via detection papers. It is also possible to use electronic equipment to detect gas.

Why are chemical agents something to worry about? Would anybody dare use them in modern war? Well they’re something to worry about because some of them are so deadly that an amount that can fit on the tip of a pin can kill you in a minute if it is placed on your skin. As to the question of whether or not anybody would dare to use them in a modern war, consider what happened in the Iran-Iraq war, although arguably that had a lot to do with the fact that the war bogged down into trench warfare. However, that isn’t to say that a frustrated counter-insurgency force won’t resort to using chemical weapons, as the Soviets allegedly did in Afghanistan in the mid-late 1980s.

Standard Soviet doctrine allowed for and encouraged the liberal use of fast-acting and non-persistent agents, such as Hydrogen cyanide. The benefit to hydrogen cyanide is that it is neutralized within 1-2 minutes in normal weather conditions, so if an attacking force bombards the enemy with hydrogen cyanide just before the attack begins, they force the defenders to mask up and fight in masks (diminishing their morale and combat effectiveness) while the attackers typically won’t have to mask up and can arrive unhindered by masks/NBC gear, taking the fight to the enemy, within just a few minutes after the end of the bombardment.

The idea was that hydrogen cyanide would be used against targets situated along the Soviet axis of advance, while persistent agents (such as blister agents and in some cases nerve agents) would be used against installations/facilities key to NATO conducting a proper defense, but that whose seizure was not key to the Soviet advance. Supposedly the Soviet Union has dissolved and collapsed but the utility of hydrogen cyanide has not diminished. For an army looking to pepper the enemy with an agent that is very lethal but very quick to be neutralized by normal weather conditions, they need look no further than hydrogen cyanide. It would cost an army virtually nothing to use hydrogen cyanide as the threat to their own personnel is virtually non-existent, the cost of the agent itself is ridiculously low, and it is easy to deliver in a fashion (i.e. artillery) that doesn’t expose friendly personnel to excessive risks (as might be the case with planes using spray tanks).

Blood agents are very effective for tactical use to help clear the way for a rapidly advancing army, while nerve agents are effective for hitting areas that the army is not advancing through and is mainly concerned with denying the use of such areas to the enemy. In that sense, both blood and nerve agents are likely to be encountered in an war/invasion situation.

You mat ask yourself why I have devoted very little to discussing decontamination procedures. The answer is very simple and I hope the reader will try to understand my reasoning. The decontamination procedures can vary widely depending on the agent and the type of exposure/contamination. The decontamination procedures for the various agents are different, although there will always be some similarities… The main similarities being that you need to get out of the contaminated area, get out of your contaminated clothing/NBC suit (when you can safely do so- and without exposing yourself to any contaminants that may be on the outside of your NBC suit), change your gas mask filter, and probably decontaminate the outside of your gas mask. Don't forget to use decontamination wipes on any/all contaminated equipment (rifle, scope, magazines, etc).

As for the specific procedures for the specific agents, if you want to find an exhaustive list of what the procedures are, I strongly suggest that you obtain a copy of Jared Ledgard’s book, A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents. I know I have repeatedly referenced that book throughout this article but it is a very handy book to have if you want to learn more about chemical agents. He gives a detailed analysis of each agent, signs of exposure, possible treatments, the chemical properties, etc. Although this author has one request to make since Ledgard also gives a step by step process for how to prepare every chemical agent he discusses. My request is to heed Ledgard’s advice and my advice and refrain from attempting to produce any of the agents covered in his book.

It is my sincere hope that you have been able to take away something worthwhile and useful from this article and that you will take the threat posed by chemical agents seriously. My main regret is that I am unable to discuss the specific threats of specific biological agents and radiological hazards because his area of interest has tended more towards chemistry/chemicals instead of biology or other areas. At some point in the future the author may give a review of the M50 joint service general purpose mask (military or commercial version) depending on whether or not he is able to obtain one.

Mr. Rawles:
I own a pretty densely-wooded 40 [acre property] in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) [of Michigan]. The land on 2.5 sides of ours belongs to a timber company, and the land across the road belongs to the state. We live in a typical "stick built" house. It was built in the 1980s, with lots of big windows and two double-glazed sliding [glass] doors. We are four miles out of a town (about 2,000 population) but our house is only 60 feet from a somewhat heavily traveled county road. So our house is what you would probably call a tactical disaster!!!

My wife recently inherited $212,000. We also have about $60,000 saved in silver and gold. We want to use the cash and liquidate a small part of the gold to very quietly (using some contractors from 90 miles away) build a 1,420 square foot aboveground hardened house/shelter at the back end of our property. I'm presently having a civil engineer link up with my architect for the design. My wife calls our little project "The Hatch", in honor of [the bunker in the television series] Lost. It will be our "fall back", in case everything goes to heck. It'll be set up like a regular house with kitchen, bedrooms, and bathroom--all the comforts of home, except windows!

Because we've got a high water table here, we plan [to build] it above grade, and then haul in soil to make an artificial hill. The entrance will be hidden by a fiberglass "rock", like you talked about in one of your old posts [about concealing cave entrances]. (Thanks, for that.) Inside of that [camouflaged door], the main door will be an inward-opening vault door we'll be getting through Safecastle. The nuclear [fallout protective] ventilator (A.C., with a pedal frame backup) will be out of Ready Made Resources. And we plan to get a Pelton wheel DC generator to power The Hatch. We have a blessing: There is a small river going through the back corner of our land just 90 yards behind [the construction site]. (Yeah, yeah I know, with the [low voltage DC cable] line loss we'll have to invert to 120 Volts, AC.)

So here is my question: How can I construct a temporary road to the work site, without laying down rock and gravel? It is almost dead level between our house and there. I'll cut as few trees [to clear the roadway] as possible in a bunch of S-shaped turns so that it won't look obvious. Here's what I'm picturing: I want to make the road disappear, after the construction is a done deal. We just want a little footpath that winds through the trees. If I scrape the road gravel back off, it will leave traces of the road, even if I plant trees. And we can't skip on [using gravel], because the construction will likely start late in June and continue until about October. It would be axle-deep muck if we've got all those trucks going back there [with no gravel on the roadway]. So here I am, racking my brain... How do I make a temporary road that I can remove, and not leave a trace? Help! - B.D. in the U.P.

JWR Replies: I believe that the best answer is buying or renting a quantity of military surplus AM-2 airfield matting. These aluminum mats were designed to be laid down on leveled ground and linked together to form military runways and taxiways. Earlier generations were made of steel and are often called Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) or Marsden Matting. (The latter is after the name of the town where it was first produced.) There is also now some Soviet-era Russian military surplus runway matting now available in the U.S.

After you are done with your construction project, you can very likely re-sell the matting, probably at just a slight loss. (Since it is always worth at least its scrap metal value.) AM-2, or its earlier generation steel equivalents can often be found at little more than scrap metal prices through DLA/DRMS sales yards and their auctions.

Good luck with your project.

Jim:
After reading several articles on EMP in the form of a CME/solar flare, my understanding is that we would have hours or even days in which to prepare for such an event. Although I imagine that a massive CME would still cause damage to our electrical grid, I would also think that many homes could be disconnected from the grid and electrical equipment shielded in metal containers before the CME reached us. Any thoughts?

JWR Replies: Yes, there will be 12+ hours of warning, but do not depend entirely on the mass media. At times, they seem clueless about space science. (And thus they have a habit of either under-reporting or over-reporting events.) So be sure sign up for free solar flare alerts from the Australian Space Weather Agency.

As I've previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog: Any radios and other modern electronics with microcircuits that you don't use on a daily basis should be stored in Faraday enclosures. (Wrap them in plastic bags and put them in a galvanized trash can with a tight-fitting lid.)

Immediately after you get warning of a big solar flare, disconnect all of your home electronics from both grid power and antennas. And, as your storage volume permits, also store those in Faraday cans/boxes, until after the solar storm subsides.

After the first few days, it was possible to get some idea of what had happened. The initial numbers of fatalities had been fairly low, and it was hard to know how many had survived in the coastal towns. As the phone systems and many roads there were devastated, a big effort was going to be required just to scope out the damage. Sadly, it became clear that well over 10,000 lives were lost. In terms of life in Tokyo, though, it was electricity and basic supplies useful during disasters that became somewhat hard to come by. The other major factor that seriously damaged daily activity was that many train lines were not running.

I went to work on the Monday after the quake, in many ways just to see how co-workers were doing and what my company was planning to do to deal with the disaster. Many had suffered property damage, but the real damage was to those who had relatives along the coast or near the Fukushima facilities. My wife had relatives in both of these areas, so she spent time on trying to figure out if everyone was okay. They were, but news that a cousin had been forced out of his house due to radiation was a sign that things were looking bad. At first, I wasn't so worried about Fukushima, and was far more concerned with getting more cash out of the bank and trying to get more supplies for possible disruptions. As it turned out, disruptions were going to become normal, and Fukushima was looking less and less like it was under control, or even within its expected disaster scenarios.

The week after the earthquake was one of verifying that property was undamaged and businesses working to figure out their workarounds for problems like employees who couldn't ride the trains or the big issue of just-in-time systems having almost no room for failure. And we just had dozens of failures, whether it be destroyed factories and roads, or a new reality of inadequate refinery capacity or electricity. In my case, the initial observation of property damage looked fine, but the shock meant that I missed something. This may be one of the lessons of the disaster. It's hard to judge things accurately when you've just had your life changed dramatically.

During this week, we tried to obtain many things, such as mineral water, and large orders were no longer possible. Small amounts, such as water in supermarkets, were still possible, but that was fading, and vanished once the story about radiation in tap water came out. And a troubling story with a major bank being unable to handle ATM transactions came out. On a personal note, my bank had old banknotes, which was a first. I'd always received new banknotes before. Tokyo Electric announced a rolling blackout system to cover for the loss of power due to the tsunami. This system exempted the central part of Tokyo, and the suburbs had to suffer. The real shock was hearing that the blackouts would likely last for years. A high-tech, just-in-time society cannot function efficiently with blackouts, and the harm to business will be off the charts if this actually goes through the Summer. The loss of electricity and nuclear contamination could end up costing dramatically more than the loss of infrastructure due to the earthquake and tsunami.

As the situation at Fukushima seemed to deteriorate, a rush to get out of the nearby areas occurred. Foreigners generally had a more pessimistic view of the situation than most Japanese, probably due to the different way news described things, so flights out of Japan became ridiculously expensive. Still, I know several Japanese who sent their families outside of Tokyo because they do not trust Tokyo Electric and the Japanese government. Like many others, I decided to spend a week in Osaka to see how things played out, but had too many things to take care of for at least a few more days. A particularly troubling thing has been that it was never clear what was going on, and there are many reactors in question, and even speculations about problems at other facilities. This leads to the question of when one should take emergency nuclear precautions, such as consuming Potassium Iodide. In my case, I had lots of iodine products, such as sea vegetables, as well as products that many recommend for protecting against radiation, such as miso soup. It was clearly time to consume these. It was also time to break out masks and to create a clean area at the entrance of the house. I had N95 masks, but nothing that could be expected to do much for radioactive particles. So part of dealing with this series of disasters was going to be research. (To be continued.)

Sir:
It would appear that very low levels of radioiodine (I-131) have been detected in Western US milk, as could be expected.

Presently, the contamination from Fukushima is taking over a week to cross the Pacific, and that time, combined with dilution effects, reduces the contamination from the Fukushima disaster to point far below the level of concern. At the present time. It also appears that the fukushima fallout plume is not rising high enough at present to become entrained in the jet stream

However, reports from Fukushima, and analysis of the data available, indicates that a containment breach may have already occurred, and that it is possible that re-criticality events have already occurred in the melted reactor cores. Assuming that the emissions of radioactive material from the former Dai-ichi nuclear plant do not significantly exceed their present rate, it is likely that this will remain a largely regional horror. The Japanese continue to place their power plant workers, and military and construction teams assigned to the Fukushima site, in harm's way to attempt to prevent this from further deterioration. And these people continue to be willing to risk their lives and suffer significant exposures to do so. Take a moment to keep these people in your thoughts and prayers; they are truly heroes.

However, should the re-criticality inside any of the damaged reactors accelerate, and make the immediate area around the plant unsurvivable, the spent rod pools (#4 is at greatest risk) will dry out, and could also melt and suffer re-criticality (keep in mind that there are over 800 tons of recently used spent fuel rods stored on site, with another 6,000 tons of older used rods stored in a common fuel storage pool.) The spent rods have no robust containment at all.

The radioactive release from such an event would dwarf Chernobyl, and while the fallout from such an event would probably not be serious here in the USA, (absent a large enough plume to be carried across the Pacific in the jet stream,) the deposition of Sr-90 and Cs-137, which substitute for calcium, would pose a potential health risk, especially for children and women of child-bearing age. If you have not already purchased a supply of powdered milk, I suggest you consider it, especially if you have small children in your household. - L.M.W.

Days Two and Three I slept well the night of 11-3-11, which was good, because I hadn't the two previous nights. A premonition, perhaps? Like the day after September 11th, there was an eerie feeling everywhere. The weather was nice, at least in Tokyo, but a cold front was coming in from the North, so the folks near the Tohoku coast were going to be suffering even more. It was obvious that the damage was off the charts, but the television downplayed the likely deaths, and a big question was whether the government had learned from its poor performance during the large earthquake in Kobe in 1995. We didn't know at this time, but the unfortunate answer was "no". In fairness, this disaster was much more difficult to handle, but the whole world will be asking about the inability to get resources to the Fukushima plants ASAP.

In the morning, many stores were closed. When they did open, they were packed with folks buying everything that might come in handy for hunkering down. This was the last chance to get a lot of things. By the end of Day Three, many things were gone, and announcements were made on television that supplies would have to be rerouted towards the most damaged areas. At this point, most convenience stores and supermarkets resembled photos from the worst days in the Soviet Union, at least for most necessities. The power was reliable, and trains and subways started to return to some semblance of normality by the evening. There was no panic but it was easy to see that gasoline and types of food were not going to be available within days.

The news was focused on the immediate damage. Besides the tsunami, there was cleaning up the fires and making major roads passable and fixing train tracks. All kinds of equipment had to be verified, so disaster preparedness teams in businesses and governments went to work. This seems to have gone well, and the volunteer groups did a good job, but it seems that most groups are a lot more effective in local areas, and the hard-to-get-to areas were too devastated to do much more than try to go through what was left of their own houses. My wife wondered about volunteering, but there was no way to get to the hard-hit areas, and one would just be an extra burden by getting there.

Up to this point, things still looked manageable. Soon, though, the topic of electricity came up. A lot of Tokyo's power comes from nuclear plants, and those were near the ocean. The assumption was still that everything was under control. Wishful thinking. On the street though, the feeling was mainly that the economic future had taken a huge hit, not that a nuclear crisis was at hand. That was to come soon enough. And refugees from the impacted areas were coming in to stay with relatives or hotels, and some passed through on their way to western Japan, where no damage had occurred. For me, though, it was time to get more cash out of the bank and think about whether our plans to leave Tokyo needed to be expedited. (To be continued.)

Many readers have been sending me questions about radiation. One, from a reader in Los Angeles asked: "Mr. Rawles, Should I sleep in my basement for the next few weeks?"

Please don't over-react, folks. I must state, forthrightly:

1.) The gamma emitters at the Fukushima reactors (and more importantly, their spent fuel ponds) are a long, long way from America.

2.) In my opinion, the only significant risk to health here in CONUS is possibly a chance that a bit of radioactive dust (with isotopes like Strontium-90 or Iodine-131) could end up deposited on pasture grasses and then subsequently become concentrated in cow or goat milk. (Remember what I posted the day after the first news report about the Fukushima reactors--about keeping powdered milk on hand? Stock up.)

3.) It won't hurt to spend a little extra time washing fresh fruits and vegetables.

FWIW, I was stationed TDY in Stuttgart, Germany and was working a live intelligence mission with the 2d M.I. Battalion (AE) in the Spring of 1986. So I was down-wind when Chernobyl melted down. Been there, done that, got the isotopes. But I still ate a lot of white spargel, after Chernobyl. Coincidentally, we were bombing that same misanthropic dictator in Libya, then too. (Operation El Dorado Canyon.) History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. So I think of early springtime as the season of Isotopes and Misanthropes.

Radiation, By The Numbers

Here are some useful numbers to file away in your Key References binder:

First, for those not familiar with the term Gray--the standard unit of measurement for radiation, and Sievert ("Sv"--the now standard unit for an absorbed dose) that replaced REM (Roentgen Equivalent, Man), and RAD (Radiation Absorbed Dose). The metric SI system makes a lot of sense, but some of us are still wet-wired for the Old School units of measurement. So for us Blast From The Past era dinosaurs who still think in Roentgens, conversion from Grays to RADs are as follows:

1 Gy equals 100 rad

1 mGy equals 100 mrad

1 Sv equals 100 rem

1 mSv equals 100 mrem

And here is how Sievert numbers relate to REMs (found at Wikipedia):

1 Sv (Sievert) = 100 rem

1 mSv = 100 mrem = 0.1 rem

1 μSv = 0.1 mrem

1 rem = 0.01 Sv = 10 mSv

1 mrem = 0.00001 Sv = 0.01 mSv = 10 μSv

Now what does the foregoing really mean, in terms of human health? That is best visualized with a good summary chart, posted over at Next Big Future. Please take the time to look at that chart, and ponder it.

To Journalists, All Math is Fuzzy Math

I must warn you, folks; beware when watching news reports in the mainstream media that mention anything related to radiation. Keep in mind that most of these people are hired because they look handsome (or pneumatic) and have pleasant speaking voices, not for their technical knowledge.

Remember that in general journalists:

• Are typically mentally challenged when it comes to any sense of scale, (like 10x and 100x multiples). They find logarithmic scales particularly daunting.
• Are clueless when it comes to decay rates.
• Have little understanding of fallout deposition rates versus distance.
• Have no concept of distance and the inverse square law.
• Don't understand the difference between alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. For instance, I once had a reporter ask me about "Tyvek gamma ray protective suits". (No, I'm not making this up.)
• Have no sense of proportion when it comes to a momentary dose of radiation versus cumulative doses. (Back during the First Gulf War, I spent some time repeatedly trying to explain the difference between a dosimeter and a ratemeter, to a reporter. She kept saying: "But they look the same." Then I had her look through each type pen, and she she exclaimed, "Oh, I see, they have different thingies, inside!")
• Only vaguely "get it" when you try to explain concepts like inhaled dust versus isotopes deposited in thyroid glands, via the food chain. (And subsequent food or drink ingestion.)

Jim,
There's a lot of folks around the country who bought surplus Civil Defense radiation meters.

What they don't understand is the CDV-715, CDV-717 and CDV-720 meters WILL NOT measure background radiation and are useless if they are watching for increased radiation from Japan. Only the CDV-700 will measure background radiation.

According to an LAFD document: "Radiological survey instruments, if available, are recommended for initial entry to the site. Before entering the accident area, determine the background radiation level using the CD V-700, or a similar survey instrument."

Background radiation levels cannot be determined using the CD V-715 or other high-range gamma-detecting instruments; therefore, a 'positive response on high-rage' meters such as these should stimulate immediate rescue and medical intervention.

I found this misunderstanding by my fellow man to be of concern and thought you might post it. Best regards to you and yours, - John

Friends,
In the wake of the Japanese nuclear plant melt-down situation, I called a safe room manufacturer for a hand cranked air filter.  It was over $2,000.  Too much.  I did learn that you need both particulate (HEPA) and gas (carbon) filters.   I have jury-rigged an NBC air filtration system.  Here it is:

Go to a hydroponics store or find one online.  Yes, the one's that people go to in order to grow marijuana. You will need an inline fan.  I used a  continentalfan.com AXC150B-C fan.  It is a little more expensive but German engineering costs more.  (Quieter too). You will need a carbon filter.  I used a Can-33 activated carbon filter (made in Canada) You will need a 6 inch Greenhouse HEPA filter.  It can be washed and reused but only put it back in your system if it is completely dry.

Total cost about $450.

The HEPA filter is attached to the air intake of the fan. The Carbon filter is attached to the air exhaust of the fan.

This is a recirculating system, not an overpressure system. At 300 CFM, it will clear the air of a 10'x10'x10' room in 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

It stands completed at 30" high and 16" wide at it's widest point. It uses 130 watts of current. - SF in Hawaii

JWR Replies: A HEPA filter system with air pushed by an electric fan is best suited to someone that has a fairly capable alternative energy system. Anyone without a large power source that can be relied upon for weeks should substitute a hand-cranked fan. And even those that do have a large alternative energy system should always have a "Plan B": An electric filtered ventilation system should have a hand-cranked or pedal-cranked backup. There are too many potential points of failure to entrust our lives to continuity of electric power.

Hello James,
It is with a heavy heart that I watch the nuclear incident unfold in Japan. I am watching my nightmare come true, and I pray for the safety of the people in Japan. As you know, my article that was published in your blog last September was primarily written to alert the public about the possible EMP effects on nuclear power plants. While the initiating event may have been different, the results of the loss of all AC power at the site results in virtually identical consequences. Events are playing out very similarly to those that I had described. There are certain differences, however, since I had described the events for a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The reactors involved in the accident in Japan are boiling water reactors (BWRs).

I would like to take the opportunity to both alert your readers about the truth of what is happening and also dispel some rumors and incorrect assumptions regarding the events at the nuclear plant in Japan. I have seen many “talking heads” on the news this past week that have virtually no nuclear background and frankly are not qualified to be making assumptions or assertions.

The Fukushima Units #1 through #5 at Daiichi are older GE designed BWR-3 and BWR-4 Mk.I, boiling water reactors that were all built in the 1970's.  I used to design fuel for these types of reactors when I worked at GE some years ago.  In general, I would say that BWRs are actually inherently safer than PWRs.  When I was at GE they used to say that BWR stood for "BEST Water Reactor."  This older design, however, is not the best design for accident scenarios.  It has a torus or "doughnut" for the suppression pool and it is limited in its capacity.  Also, these containment structures are smaller than later designs, and generally considered not as robust.

I found these excellent papers on the internet about Japan's BWR reactor designs:

http://www.ansn-jp.org/jneslibrary/npp2.pdf

http://www.ansn-jp.org/jneslibrary/BWR_Safety_Design.pdf

Also, this from Wikipedia regarding the older BWR-3, Mk.I containment: 

"Though the present fleet of BWRs are less likely to suffer core damage from the 1 in 100,000 reactor-year limiting fault than the present fleet of PWRs are (due to increased ECCS robustness and redundancy) there have been concerns raised about the pressure containment ability of the as-built, unmodified Mark I containment - that such may be insufficient to contain pressures generated by a limiting fault combined with complete ECCS failure that results in extremely severe core damage. In this double worst-case, 1 in 100,000,000 reactor-year scenario, an unmodified Mark I containment is speculated to allow some degree of radioactive release to occur. However, this is mitigated by the modification of the Mark I containment; namely, the addition of an outgas stack system that, if containment pressure exceeds critical setpoints, will allow the orderly discharge of pressurizing gasses after the gasses pass through activated carbon filters designed to trap radionuclides."

I found this document in the NRC reading room.  Basically, a Station Blackout Event (loss of off-site an on-site AC power), is perhaps the worst event that these types of BWRs can face. 

Here is an excerpt.  I added the bold type:

"For station blackout accidents, containment systems will not be functional and the drywell floor will often be dry, leaving the plant susceptible to drywell shell melt-through. In addition, the reactor vessel will normally be at elevated pressure, which increases the containment loads at vessel breach. This means that station blackout accidents pose a severe challenge to Mark I and Mark II containments, and therefore, these accidents are often important contributors to the frequency of containment failure."

I will say that even though the 9.0 magnitude earthquake was beyond the design basis of the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant, the plant actually weathered the earthquake itself quite well and shut down as designed. It is the tsunami that caused the bulk of the problems that the plant operators now face.

The backup emergency diesel generators actually started as designed and began to power the auxiliary pumps designed to circulate cooling water in the reactors. However, the tsunami arrived at the site and overflowed the seawall that was created to protect it from a tsunami. The height of the tsunami was also beyond the design basis of the plant. It is my understanding that the seawall was about 6.5m tall, and the height of the tsunami was above 7.0m. The tsunami destroyed the diesel fuel tanks for the emergency diesel generators and then flooded the below ground switchgear rooms that contain the diesel generators themselves. Therefore, the diesels stopped running about an hour after they started.

The loss of both AC and DC power and the flooded switchgear room also meant the loss of most of the instrumentation that tells the operators what is going on inside the reactors. (Imagine trying to drive your car blindfolded.)

To their credit, the operators at Fukushima understood their predicament. They quickly made the decision that they had an emergency on their hands. They also made the decision to pump sea water into the reactors to stem the overheating cores. This decision was a fateful one, and one I am sure was not taken lightly, since it meant that they understood that the reactors would be permanently ruined. Their once multi-billion dollar asset was turned into a multi-billion dollar liability. It is my understanding that the sea water was pumped via fire suppression system diesel pumps and fire trucks. However, these pumps cannot generate the kind of pressure that was needed to overcome the rising pressure inside the reactor.

Without the added cooling water, the reactor units experienced what is known as a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). Water level fell, exposing the fuel rods. This lead to fuel damage and release of radionuclides into the containment.

Water levels continued to drop, uncovering the reactor cores by varying amounts. The exposed fuel rods caused the temperature and pressure to rise rapidly, generating steam.

Operators were forced to vent pressure from the reactors. This lead to very high pressures in the containment structures. It is my understanding that pressures inside the containment structures reached about 120 psi, about twice the design basis. This could cause the containment structures to fail.

This steam reacted with the zirconium fuel cladding to form hydrogen. It is this hydrogen that is believed to have caused the explosions seen in reactor #1 and reactor #3 buildings. It may also be responsible for what may be an explosion that potentially has caused a crack or leak in the containment vessel in Unit #2, perhaps in the region of the suppression pool.

In Unit #4, there were no assemblies currently in the reactor vessel. All assemblies had been off-loaded into the spent fuel pool. It should be noted that all spent fuel pools at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have not been properly cooled since all power was lost. Just like fuel in the reactors, spent fuel also retains heat for a long period of time and must be cooled. There was also an explosion in reactor building #4, and a fire was seen. It is not yet clear what the cause of the fire was or if the fire has actually been put out. There have been conflicting reports on this issue. However, it is my opinion that the fire may have been caused by the interaction of the zirconium fuel rods with the steam in the then boiling spent fuel pool.

Measurable amounts of Iodine and Cesium have been detected even more than 30km from the plant, which indicates that fission products have been released and that fuel cladding has been compromised for at least some of the fuel rods. Radiation levels inside the control room reached over 1000 times normal.

Radiation levels around the reactor buildings are currently too high for personnel to respond properly to ongoing issues such as possible spent fuel pool fires. On Tuesday, radiation levels just outside of the reactor buildings had reached a high of 400 milliseverts (equal to 40 REM). Twelve to fifteen hours at this level is a fatal dose of radiation. All but essential operations personnel were evacuated from the plant site as result of this level of radiation.

Currently, the concerns revolve around two issues, 1) the status and integrity of the containment vessels surrounding the three reactors that were operating, and 2) the status of the spent fuel pools. In fact, since the reactor buildings are no longer intact, and there is no containment structure surrounding the spent fuel pools, it is actually the spent fuel pools that are the greater danger.

It is clear that there has likely been fuel damage in all of the operating reactors and possibly also in the spent fuel pool in reactor building #4. Spent fuel pools in reactor buildings #5 and #6 are also still heating up.

We have seen continuing variation in measured radiation levels at the plant. This may be because of fluctuating winds blowing the airborne particles around to various directions, sometimes toward detectors and sometimes away from them.

It should be noted that this event is far from over. As of Wednesday morning, Japan time, white smoke or steam was coming out of the #3 reactor building, and higher levels of radiation were being observed. It is unclear if the increased levels of radiation are coming from reactor #2, where the containment vessel may be compromised, reactor #3, from which steam or smoke is being observed or reactor #4, where fire was observed yesterday. There are large holes in the side of the #4 reactor building which may have been caused by the fire or from the explosion of hydrogen. The spent fuel pool in reactor #4 may also be boiling or may be on fire. This fuel in the spent fuel pool will melt if the water boils away and it may even catch fire. Preparations are being made to inject water into this spent fuel pool as soon as possible. Helicopters from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) have already attempted to drop water from the air into the spent fuel pool in the Unit #3 reactor building.  Attempts to use water cannon from police riot trucks apparently failed due to the inability of the personnel to get close enough to accurately place enough water into the desired location.  However, special fire trucks used to put out hazardous aviation fires were successful in getting at least some water into the Unit #3 reactor building.  How much of this water actually made it into the spent fuel pool is not clear.  Certain Japanese experts have declared this as “somewhat effective,” since steam was seen rising from the building and the levels of radiation around the unit supposedly dropped very slightly, but the volume of water required to completely re-cover the fuel rods is higher than what has so far been sprayed or dropped onto the site.

It should be noted that this is an unprecedented situation. Japanese officials are struggling to contain and resolve this situation. Lack of functioning instrumentation is hampering both interpretation and mitigation of this event. This is event will go on for many weeks, if not months.

TEPCO has now started efforts to restore high voltage power lines to the stricken plant. This would be the best chance to regain control over the situation, by restoring AC power to the cooling systems.

What everyone wants to know is, what are the best case and worst case scenarios and other possible outcomes?

The best case is that TEPCO operators regain control of the plants by adding adequate cooling water to the reactors and the spent fuel pools and the containment vessels remain intact. There will still be a huge cleanup effort required, and the plant will never operate again. This event will still last for many months as removal of the fuel at least from the spent fuel pools must occur (since the spent fuel pools are now exposed to the environment) and most operations will initially need to be done remotely due to the radiation levels. The cost of even this best case will be in at least the tens of billions of dollars, and may be in the hundreds of billions.

The worst case is what everyone fears, but those in the know don't want to talk about. Officials are all trying to put on a good face and spin things in a positive way. However, the worst cases are these:

1. One or more of the operating cores meltdown, the containment vessels fail, and at least part of the contents of the contained fuel is released into the environment. This would be a disaster exceeded only by Chernobyl. Chernobyl is still a worse disaster than this, since that reactor had no containment at all. I believe that it is still likely that the containment vessels will contain most of the radioactive fission products.

2. All of the fuel assemblies in the spent fuel pools, which have no containment structure, either melt or catch fire, and release much of their contained fission products into the environment. This is an absolute worse case scenario, and locally could even be worse than Chernobyl, since the volume of fuel contained in the spent fuel pools exceeds the volume contained in any one reactor core. However, since there has not been a large explosion at the site that has lofted large amounts of radionuclides into the air, the area which will be affected is likely to be much smaller than the area affected by Chernobyl.

People are asking if a similar accident could happen in the USA. The honest answer is yes, but it is not nearly as likely.  Many lessons were learned as a result of the accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, and modifications were made to all US reactors as a result of these lessons learned.  The east coast of the USA is not generally prone to tsunami. There are only two reactor sites on the west coast of the USA, the plant at San Onofre in southern California and the Diablo Canyon plant, located near San Luis Obispo.  Of these two, the San Onofre site is perhaps the more at risk.  The Diablo Canyon plant has its critical systems far above the level of the ocean. Per haps the most vulnerable sites in the USA are the St. Lucie plant on the east coast of central Florida, the Turkey Point plant, south of Miami, and the Crystal River plant, on Florida's west coast. The most likely risk to these sites is hurricane storm surge. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 greatly affected the Turkey Point power plant and that event became the NRC standard for hurricane storm events and Station Blackout events.

There has been a run on potassium iodide and potassium iodate pills in the USA as a result of the event in Japan. Let me dispel some misconceptions and alleviate some of the fears of your readers. How radiation (or rather, radioactive particles that give off radiation) travels is highly dependent upon the direction, speed and altitude of the prevailing winds, and the weight and size of the particles. The closer to the area of the incident that you are, the more likely that there will be particles which fall to the ground in that area.

Californians have nothing to worry about from this incident in Japan, and anyone there who purchases KI tablets for this event is wasting their money. Any possible radiation that might reach there would be so diluted and dispersed by the time that it arrived that while it may be measurable, it will have virtually no health effects.

Also, the event at Chernobyl involved an explosion that lofted particles much higher into the atmosphere than anything that has so far happened in Japan. While there were apparently several hydrogen explosions in Japan, these apparently did not contain significant radionuclides, as the reactor containment structures were at that time still intact.

Even the fire in reactor building #4, which had assemblies only in the spent fuel pool, did not have a large explosion. Therefore any radioactive particles that were released from this fire will likely be deposited much closer to the site itself and are not likely to travel very far before falling to the ground. The latest radiation readings at the site boundary are currently only between 2 to 3 millirem per hour. This is not a significant dose rate, and workers could work in this environment for many days or even weeks without experiencing any radiation symptoms. (See the NEI web site for the latest updates.)

At this time, prevailing winds seem to be taking any particles directly out to the open ocean due east of Japan. I see no cause for alarm for any US mainland state (or even Hawaii).

Calculations have been performed which show that the area of maximum danger area is 50 miles or less, and safer areas would be in the 100 to 200 mile range. Beyond 300 miles from the site, I wouldn't be concerned. If I were the Japanese officials, however, I would recommend extending the evacuation zone to at least 50 miles.

We have seen how significantly that not just Japan but the world has been affected by these events. While panic has generally been averted in Japan, and people there are behaving in an orderly manner, there have still been shortages of food, water, fuel and other commodities. Many people have been displaced from their homes. Financial markets have been roiled. There is even a shortage of salt now in stores in China, as people there are [mistakenly] afraid that the sea will be affected and the sea salt which they obtain from the sea will be contaminated!

All of this from an incident at just one nuclear power plant.  What would happen if this incident happened in the USA?  What if it happened at dozens of nuclear plants at the same time?  What if communications, banking, power, water distribution, sewage treatment, internet access and transportation were all crippled at the same time?

I would like to again emphasize the point that an EMP event resulting in an extended grid down situation could cause a very similar event. There is only adequate diesel fuel on site to power emergency diesels for 7 days for most commercial nuclear plants in the USA. After that, you are in essentially the same situation as the Japanese find themselves - lack of power to provide any cooling to either the reactors or the spent fuel pools. Imagine if this event were to happen at multiple sites in the USA simultaneously!  How to mitigate this? One way is to ensure that additional diesel fuel and spare parts are available at all commercial reactors.  Diesel generators and their fuel tanks should be shielded and protected (many reactors in the USA have already done this). Another is to pre-stage diesel electric locomotives and a train load of diesel tank cars that could be brought to each reactor site in time of emergency (most reactors sites in the USA have a railroad spur). Diesel locomotives are very robust against EMP, and could act as an emergency generator.  There is also a petition that is now before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) which recommends certain modifications to nuclear power plants to ensure their continued safety in the event of an EMP event.  Write to them and urge them to take this petition seriously!

What is the best way to protect against EMP or a catastrophic infrastructure collapse? Write your Congressman and urge them to join in the passage of the SHIELD Act! The EMP Commission has already outlined what can and must be done to protect our national infrastructure from catastrophic collapse. I urge that these recommendations be carried out with all of the swiftness that the nation can muster. Protection of the grid is the best defense. Sincerely, - B.Z.

Friends,
In the wake of the Japanese nuclear plant melt-down situation, I called a safe room manufacturer for a hand cranked air filter.  It was over $2,000.  Too much.  I did learn that you need both particulate (HEPA) and gas (carbon) filters.   I have jury-rigged an NBC air filtration system.  Here it is:

Go to a hydroponics store or find one online.  Yes, the one's that people go to in order to grow marijuana. You will need an inline fan.  I used a  continentalfan.com AXC150B-C fan.  It is a little more expensive but German engineering costs more.  (Quieter too). You will need a carbon filter.  I used a Can-33 activated carbon filter (made in Canada) You will need a 6 inch Greenhouse HEPA filter.  It can be washed and reused but only put it back in your system if it is completely dry. You will need a can flange 6".

Total cost about $450.

The HEPA filter is attached to the air intake of the fan. The Carbon filter is attached to the air exhaust of the fan.

This is a recirculating system, not an overpressure system. At 300 CFM, it will clear the air of a 10'x10'x10' room in 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

It stands completed at 30" high and 16" wide at it's widest point. It uses 130 watts of current. - SF in Hawaii

JWR Replies: A HEPA filter system with air pushed by an electric fan is best suited to someone that has a fairly capable alternative energy system. Anyone without a large power source that can be relied upon for weeks should substitute a hand-cranked fan. And even those that do have a large alternative energy system should always have a "Plan B": An electric filtered ventilation system should have a hand-cranked or pedal-cranked backup. There are too many potential points of failure to entrust our lives to continuity of electric power.

Dear Editor:
With several Japanese reactors threatening to meltdown, knowing that I am downwind and would have less than a few days' notice, I quickly did some research on how to protect my family. The choices for thyroid protection (apparently the most common disease) are either Potassium Iodate (KIO3) or Potassium Iodide (KI).

I found an old SurvivalBlog article that showed that KIO3 has advantages to KI. So I placed an order for enough pills to cover our family, plus extras to give away. But while doing some additional research I happened upon the bulk form of KIO3 at PureBulk.com. I then found an article describing the process of capping your own supplements from powder.

I knew I'd need a capping machine, some caps, a precise scale and some filler to balance out the capsules. Without the filler it's next to impossible to get a consistent dosage.

For about $75 I bought the following items, enough to give the recommended adult dose of one 170 mg pill for fourteen days to at least thirty people:

1 - Potassium Iodate 100g (KIO3-00100)
1 - EDTA Calcium Disodium 250g (EDTAC00250)
1 - Scale, Digital Gram, Blade Series, 0.01g x 100g (BLADE)
1 - The Capsule Machine & Tamper (0) + 500 Gel Caps (CAPMC0+500GEL)

On the plus side, I'll have the machine and scale and experience for capping my other supplements. I'm on quite a few supplements so this will save even more money.

Alternatively to EDTA, you can use Dextrose for a filler, though I couldn't find any on PureBulk.com. EDTA is very harmless (found even in baby food) and has the added advantage of chelation which is the process of removing heavy metals from your body, something which could potentially be found in the fallout. The amount of EDTA per pill should be 330 milligrams, or one twentieth the daily maximum of a person weighing 200 lbs; check your other medications for EDTA before you proceed, to make sure you're not getting too much.

I plan on keeping the bulk powder in the refrigerator until needed, though I will produce a practice batch first -- I don't want the moment of panic to be the first time I attempt this.

Follow the procedure to get precise measurements. There are some YouTube videos which also show some of the procedures.

I am no doctor, so consult yours for advice before proceeding as KIO3 interacts with your thyroid. Do some research, too.

Enough pills for 30 adults, for $75 bucks. Not bad, eh? - C.D.V.

JWR Adds: That sure beats the current very high prices on eBay, where folks are re-selling products that originally came from one of our advertisers. (One seller had a $1,000 per bottle asking price!)

I spent three years working through college as part of several emergency response teams dealing with hazardous materials (Hazmat) containment and cleanup.  There are simple lessons that can help prepare for various emergencies and materials that might be encountered.  This is not a do-it-yourself type of endeavor nor is it safe unless you are properly trained, equipped and monitored.  Safety is most important and your responsibility: Never put yourself or others in danger when a substance or environment is unknown or dangerous.  Take basic precautions and obtain all information about any potentially dangerous materials you may encounter or store as part of your preparations.  Some of my experiences have given me a lot to consider in my emergency preparations and hopefully will be of interest to others.  

Almost any material you might store or encounter around you will have a data sheet available providing details on each substance, their health risks, precautions, and basic instructions on how to deal with it.  These Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are also available online for free.  As part of your personal or family preparation, create a list of all potentially hazardous materials and gather their MSDS.  Study them.  Businesses must have MSDS on hand ready access and display placards of other regulated materials.  Become familiar with those materials you will likely encounter.  It is also worthwhile to collect MSDS for materials manufactured in your area that you might encounter in an emergency.  

Another important step is to do a site assessment of your home or site, to determine what potential hazardous materials are around.  Some suggestions may include old mining sites (especially in the western US), railroad tracks, highways or interstates, old manufacturing sites, steel mills, regional chemical plants, power lines, and especially pipelines.  All of these pose risk of chemical spills or contamination and should be considered.  Each county will have records as will the BLM or even the EPA to help you determine any possible risk.  Often I was called on to assist law enforcement when unknown chemicals were discovered along highways or in public places – often with drug paraphernalia.  Any main highway or roadway that connects large populations will have drug or other harmful chemicals discarded at rest areas, parking lots, or on-ramps.  

A simple list of personal protective equipment (PPE) can go a long way for basic hazmat needs.  These should include latex gloves, heavy PVC gloves, PVC boots (preferably with steel toes and shanks), Tyvek coveralls, and of course duct tape.  Eye, face, and skin protection such as safety glasses, goggles, or splash shields are good to have on-hand.  90% of our professional hazmat PPE consisted of these items.  The Tyvek suits are readily available, and I recommend getting the ones with booties on them.  Duct tape works well to reinforce knees and other locations from tearing easily.  The Tyvek was adequate for all dry materials we worked with, and a coverall jumpsuit can be found on eBay for about $7 each.  

If you have the need or availability, a good heavy PVC coverall and full-face respirator are also valuable for more difficult hazmat situations.  The PVC coverall works well for oil or petroleum materials.  For dirty cleanup we would wear latex gloves taped and sealed to a Tyvek suit, then put on the PVC coverall and heavy gloves and boots.  Again we would use duct tape to seal our gloves and boots to the PVC suit.  The hood of the PVC suit was also sealed with duct tape to our respirator or air mask during difficult or dirty work.  Our respirators of choice were full-faced masks by MSA which used dual filter canisters, and are easily available from mine safety sources.  The most common cartridges used for these masks were “Combination Cartridges” that were used for Organic vapors, Acid gases, and particulates.  Petroleum products, acids, and any wet materials required the PVC protection in our work.    

Full-face masks are common on eBay for under $100, and cartridges run about $5 each.  Whenever PPE is used to clean up materials, always dispose of the PPE with the hazardous material – never reuse contaminated PPE!   Mine tailings with heavy metal contamination is an invisible risk.  A friend was renting and trying to purchase a beautiful piece of property with a large shop on it and later discovered that a small manufacturer had used the site for casting lead bullets.  Most of the site was contaminated with lead in various forms to depths of up to 3 feet deep.  This posed significant risk to his plans for a garden and young children.  Many cleanup sites in the western US I’ve worked on consisted of replacing all exposed dirt and topsoil with several feet of ‘clean’ dirt.  Most of the contamination of these sites was capped by simply covering the bad dirt with a foot of clean soil.  When performing cleanup of heavy metal or mine tailings, we typically did not require protective breathing gear such as respirators if we could keep dust under control with water spray.  Our PPE was simply Tyvek suits to keep dirt contamination off our clothes.   Many counties will provide testing options for your soil, and if you find information that leads you to believe there may be a hazardous material, it would be best to document your findings and seek some lab testing.  With conclusive results you can then work to address or evacuate the area of concern well before your plans depend on the location.

I spent several months cleaning up radioactive materials at a Manhattan Project site – including contaminated dirt, cinder block walls, and underground pipes.  Our PPE was the Tyvek jump suits and respirators when needed.  Most of the time we did not require the respirators when the dust and dirt could be adequately suppressed by water spray.  We were constantly monitored by safety personnel with Geiger counters and air monitors, so this may be a tricky situation to call in a personal situation.  One day we were called outside to a grassy lawn that tested for low-level radiation.  The day was warm and sunny, so we kept a spray hose on the dirt as we loaded our wheelbarrow which kept the dust down, allowing us to work without respirators.  As we dug deeper, the soil became more and more radioactive.  After we had dug two feet, the Geiger counter was “lighting up” and we nervously put on our masks even though there was no dust.  Then, my shovel struck something and I reached into the hole, pulling out a very radioactive asbestos tile.  I was very glad to have my mask on!  A whole pile of these tiles had been buried out in the yard of this government campus, years earlier.  

Asbestos is another material we wore Tyvek suits with respirators to clean up in various buildings and ships.  Whenever asbestos is encountered, always vacate the area and allow professionals to deal with this material.  It is not safe nor is it legal to clean up on your own.  If you may encounter it, especially in older buildings, get more information on what to look for so you are aware of it.  It is best not to disturb it at all.   Acids are another hazmat you might encounter – especially if you have vehicle batteries around in your inventory.  While often not requiring breathing protection, eye, face, and skin protection are important.  If you have batteries, solvents, citric acid (for food preserving) I’d also recommend keeping baking soda and water near by.  Make sure you know what you need and have it close.  For most typical acids the soda and water will adequately neutralize any spills.  Another suggestion is to buy some simple PH test strips from a pool or hot tub supply store.  These strips are great for a quick check to see if acid is leaking or has been neutralized.  

Another common hazmat category would be explosives.  Gunpowder is usually stable and safe when stored properly.  I’ve responded to several sites where old Tovex or “Minerite” sticks were discovered.  Tovex is a modern replacement of dynamite and is much more stable and safe than dynamite.  Numerous federal, state, and county permits are required to transport this material, so engagement with appropriate authorities is necessary.  Ammonium nitrate (AN) is the main ingredient in most varieties of Tovex. It is still commonly available in agriculture or mining.  One response I participated in was for a semi-truck which was hauling a load of AN when it crashed into a mountain stream in a winding, mountainous canyon.  The trailer split open, spilling most of the AN load into the swift water.  The AN settled in pockets of thick, pink paste at the bottom of the river.  We used a vacuum truck to extricate the AN from the river bottom where we could.  It was easy to handle but sticky.  Since it is a fertilizer, our cleanup was not for safety but for the cosmetics of the fishing stream.  The recovered AN was interned at the local landfill.  When the trailer was removed from the river, we wiped the AN off with thick absorbent pads, which resembled thick paper towels of cotton.  These absorbent pads also worked well with oils and petroleum materials.  I’d recommend keeping a bundle of these pads available for an emergency as they are handy for many uses.  

Water reactants are a very dangerous and scary material to deal with in an emergency, and any risk or exposure to them should be identified well before it starts to rain.  Water reactants are chemicals that react to water itself, often very violently.  Though not common, they are serious and should never be dealt with except by professionals.  Indulge me in one story that may not have direct value to emergency prep which is vivid in my memory.   Late one night we got a call from the local fire department of a fire at a small chemical plant.  The firefighters, upon entering the building, discovered a large quantity of old, crystallized picric acid – very explosive with water or mechanical vibrations (i.e. shock).  The firefighters backed out, called us, and then performed fire suppression while we carefully carried the containers out to the police bomb trailer for later disposal.  As we were removing the acid, we noticed one of the burning walls had a small, hidden room with several weapons inside.  In less than 15 minutes, we had BATF agents escorting us and the firemen as we finished removing the acid and began removing the guns, cocaine, and other ‘evidence’ while the building burned around us.  That was a really exciting night for a young college student!  Apparently the ATF was already watching the place, and the cache of hidden guns was enough for them to pursue it further.   

If you have explosive materials such as gun powder, fuels, or fertilizers in your area, one suggestion would be to protect those materials with sandbags and concrete blocks.  Do not stack materials on the hazmat materials, but form blast walls in layers that will give protection in the event of a detonation.  Fuel vapors are very dangerous and will travel so learn of and take precautions.  It is beyond the scope of this discussion to give details, but take the time to ensure you are safe and legal.   Liquid mercury is another hazmat material we ran across often in my work.  Though not common it is still around in most communities and should be handled with minimal exposure.  Mercury vapor is the most serious threat.  Vaporized mercury can enter through your lungs and collect in your blood.  In our cleanup we used special vacuums with HEPA filters to keep vapor out of the air and always wore respirators with appropriate filters.  

We were called one day to a large warehouse where someone had shipped a quart jar full of liquid mercury.  The jar had broken, spilling material all over the shipping van, the parking lot, and pools were spread throughout the inside of the warehouse.  Our PPE was Tyvek suits, respirators, and heavy PVC boots and gloves.  We entered the warehouse (where work was continuing as normal) and found a young woman trying to help the company by using a common shop-vac, standing in the pools in her tennis shoes trying to vacuum up the mercury.  We had our masks on and quickly shut off the shop-vac, which was spraying mercury vapor into the air, and sent the young woman to the hospital.  I never heard about what happened with the young woman.  

Pipeline accidents seem to becoming more common in the news.  Please be well aware of any pipelines in your area of interest.  Neighborhoods are crisscrossed with gas lines in many residential areas.  One summer while removing neighborhood yards because of heavy metal contamination from an area steel mill, we found many houses where the gas lines were not buried sufficiently or where the gas company said they were buried.  We dug many of the gas lines up with our backhoe, and after a while provided our own first response to a cut gas line.  Most new gas lines are plastic “poly” line of 1 to 2” in diameter, and when cut by a backhoe blade, we would simply bend the broken end of the pipe over itself, crimping the end shut.  Then with duct tape or bailing wire we would tie the pipe end to itself, keeping the leak crimped closed on its own while we evacuated the home and waited for the gas company to respond.   In an emergency break, crimping the line will save valuable time and risk to the area.  If we couldn’t get a good crimp, or those times when the gas pipe was older metal, we got everyone evacuated a safe distance as soon as possible.  

Besides pipelines, railroad tracks are one of my personal concerns.  Many of my Hazmat calls were to respond to railroad accidents throughout the western states, and any railroad accident is a serious accident.  It is amazing the amount and variety of chemicals that are shipped daily around the US.  In the event of a railroad crash, toxic gases could be released and force evacuations.  Evacuation routes themselves are often affected by the crash.  The local environment and groundwater can also be at risk.  The good news regarding a railroad issue is that they typically are responded to quickly and effectively because any closure to the track line can cause serious financial losses.   Two coal trains collided in the canyon of a western state.  Fortunately no one was hurt.  Two of the engines derailed (along with many empty coal cars) and their diesel tanks ruptured, posing a threat to the water supply of 50,000 people.  The clay soil sealed the fuel tanks where they sat, giving the railroad time to repair and open the tracks.  Finally, two cranes hoisted the engines up, allowing us to capture and remove the fuel before it could get to the water supply.  My personal feeling is to stay 25 miles (and upwind) from track lines, and check on possible impacts a spill of any type might pose.  

Sometimes even a harmless spill of corn in a railroad incident can have dangerous effects.  In the remote mountains of Montana several cars of feed corn were derailed.  No other dangerous materials were on the train, so our response ended quickly.  About a week later, however, the feed corn had gone sour and attracted two black bears, which became quite attached to their lucky stash of sour mash and caused some problems with the cleanup crew and locals.  I was told that the Fish and Game Department had to intervene for the work to complete.   Petroleum spills are the hazmat materials most people will be exposed to.  Most of these items are extremely and violently explosive in gaseous form, so any potential risk of gas you must get away!  This goes without saying but is worth stressing again.  For most heavy weight oil spills, we would use Tyvek suits underneath an outer PVC suit, with gloves and boots.  Having several large bags of absorbent clay granules (Kitty Litter is great) is very helpful, as are the absorbent pads mentioned previously.  I’d also suggest some industrial strength citric cleaner that is readily available and works great to clean up.  Some times we’d be called to clean up drums of vegetable oil, and other times it would be 90-weight petroleum oils.  All of them were easy to clean up in warm weather, but thickened up in colder weather and required a lot of scraping.  Another suggestion if you have large quantities of heavier oil is to place several feet of gravel underneath.  In the event of a spill the gravel holds the oil well, easing the cleanup effort.   Hydrocarbons also pose an explosive risk when temperatures and vapor / oxygen levels are at sufficient levels.  Most of our cleanup equipment was specialized for explosive environments, including sealed light sources and brass hand-tools to eliminate spark sources.   

Many gas stations or places where vehicles are frequently located can become contaminated with even small amounts of hydrocarbons.  When these oils get into the soil, they can contaminate the ground and groundwater badly.  As the groundwater travels along streams, or as the water table rises or falls in the soil, these oils are spread upwards and downwards as they ride on the top of the water, contaminating many feet of soil when “pushed” up.  It is worth considering this as you evaluate your location in proximity to gasoline sources.   One job was running test wells at a heavily contaminated gas station.  Several buried gas tanks had leaked for years, contaminating the soil for many yards around the gas station itself.  As part of our work to monitor the cleanup, we had several test wells dug in the area and were pumping ground water out into large tanks where we could test the water for the amount of hydrocarbons present in each well.  All of the test water was contaminated and had to be treated before we could dispose of it.  

Our water treatment for this contaminated water consisted of three 55-gallon drums full of “activated” charcoal plumbed in-series together and gravity fed out of the holding tanks.  Activated charcoal is very porous or powdered to give it a high surface area for exposure.  The gasoline tainted water simply ran out of the tanks, into the top of the first barrel, out of the bottom of the first barrel into the top of the second barrel, and so forth.  Finally, when it emerged from the last barrel it ran out into the street.  We continually monitored the exiting water for any signs of contamination.  All of the water – even the last few gallons from the tank were “clean enough to drink” after running through the charcoal.  We processed more than 12,000 gallons through those three drums.  I was really impressed with the ability of the charcoal to cleanup the gasoline.  I don’t recall what amount of gas was originally in the water.  This experience has been great food for thought over the years.  

Industrial sites have a wide variety of solvents and hazardous chemicals.  Food processing sites also have a fair share of dangerous materials, including ammonia and acids.  Late one evening a coolant line busted at a frozen seafood warehouse leaking ammonia throughout the freezer area.  Much of the downtown city block around the warehouse was evacuated for more than two days while we cleaned up the spill.  Ammonia is a very powerful material and surprisingly difficult to deal with.  All seafood and ice in the warehouse was contaminated by the strong gas and had to be thrown out.  Less than 100 gallons was spilled, but contaminated more than 80,000 square feet of storage and hundreds of tons of food, not to mention all the other buildings around the vicinity.  While using steam cleaners in our efforts, our respirator cartridges would quickly fill and clog up with the steam if we weren’t careful so keep in mind the environment breathing PPE will be used in.  

One last story to share that hopefully will help someone else avoid a painful lesson.  One emergency response I was called into was to clean out a hotel room where a couple of drug fiends had taken an undercover police officer hostage in a bust-gone-bad.  Long story short- a lot of teargas was used to resolve the situation.  So much tear gas that when we entered the room, gas droplets pooled up at our feet in the carpet.  The room had to be gutted, and when the cleanup was over we were told to dispose of all of our PPE – including our respirators.  I was quite fond of my closest facial friend, and thought I would try cleaning it off instead.  The lesson I learned was that water does not wash off tear gas – it just spreads it… all over the rest of the mask.  Putting on a contaminated mask is not pleasant except to the others working with you to get a good laugh out of.  Lesson learned and I got rid of my old mask for a new, cleaner friend.   Decontamination (Decon) of equipment and yourself after a cleanup incident is as important as containment of the original spill.  Take time to plan out your exit strategy and ensure your PPE does not spread the contaminant outside of the containment area.  We used travel trailers with front and rear exit doors to allow us to Decon at one end of the trailer, shower inside, and exit the rear of the trailer in the clean zone of the site.  All work was done in pairs with multiple support people monitoring us at various distances.  While we did occasionally run out of supplied air and some minor injuries, I never encountered any other serious situations because of the redundancy and attentive care. 

Only one incident of contamination is worth noting that required first aid.  I was inside 10,000 gallon tanks cleaning them for old Chromic acid contamination.  Again, because of the steam, I was required to frequently exit the tank for my respirator cartridges to be replaced.  While having my cartridges replaced, the acid slurry was deep enough to enter the top of my boot through the duct tape seal as I knelt at the tank's opening.  I immediately noticed the irritation and quickly exited the tanks and PPE, quickly washing my leg in clean water that was on-hand for just such a situation.  My injuries were minimal and required very little first aid, because of the planning and quick action.  

Finally, the most important suggestion I can make to someone regarding Hazmat cleanup is don’t do it!  Don’t mess with any of these materials, and if you believe you have discovered something potentially dangerous, get everyone away and notify authorities.  In many situations we have may have no choice but to do something this may give you something to think about for your own preparations.  As professionals we had extensive training, re-training, safety monitoring, regular blood work to monitor for exposure, and more training.  The best way to deal with hazmat materials is bug-out and get to a safer location.  That will keep you safe, and that will keep you legal.  Hopefully some of these ideas and experiences I’ve shared will help you do both.

Mr. Rawles,  
I recently have been going through the PCM/ECM/ECU vehicle engine/transmission control module nightmare. And it is a nightmare. Dealers typically won’t warrantee or allow return/refund on the vehicle computers unless they perform the diagnostics first. That’s a couple hundred bucks right there, before you get to buying the computer – which in my case for a 10 year old truck was $480, before sales tax. Then you have the labor to install it. Oh, and only the dealer can program it.  

So I started snooping around on Google.  Using the search terms “remanufactured PCM” and “remanufactured ECM” I found dozens of links to companies which sell preprogrammed vehicle computers [from wrecking yards] for all makes and models. And they are “plug and play”.  Meaning that a reasonably able person could put one in themselves.   And the prices seem to run about $150, rather than $500 or more.   All the caveats posted by earlier contributors about multiple computers on a vehicle, and other factors, still apply.   I only wanted to point out that there are other sources besides the dealers.  And their return policies, warrantees, and delivery beat the pants off the dealers to boot!   As always, caveat emptor – perform your own due diligence- YMMV.  - The Homesick Idahoan (Still behind enemy lines)

Sir:
Most computerized gas engine vehicles built before 1996 (OBD-I) have a permanent computer memory module called a Mem-cal or PROM (programmed read-only memory) which can be stored indefinitely or used as-is from a parts house or junkyard. OBD-II vehicles, generally 1996 and later, all use the writable E-PROM which requires a specialized program and equipment to re-write. Also, the newer the OBD-II vehicle, the more computers it is likely to have. However only the module(s) for the power train are mission-critical. E-PROMs are more delicate than the older PROMs and sometimes require "re-flashing" to restore functionality. Obviously, the older style would be preferable in a grid-down situation. - Dave B. in Texas

Greetings JWR:
Thanks for all your hard work on SurvivalBlog, I look forward to reading it every day.

This is regarding Jim S. in Ohio's letter on EMP prepping his 2006 F250 Diesel. There are multiple modules on the vehicle that would need to be purchased, "flashed" and stored for EMP "Disaster Recovery", just to make the vehicle run. Many of these modules are vehicle specific due to calibrations, and would need to be "flashed" by the dealer at an additional expense.  To do this properly, one would work closely with their Ford Service Center to procure the proper parts and arrange to have them installed and flashed.  Once tested and verified, you could reinstall the originals or keep the new working pieces and store the originals in EMP protective cases/containers with the tools needed to replace them. The saving grace in Jim's case is the F250 Diesels did not have the Passive Anti-Theft System (PATS) keys, I believe that started in 2008 for the F250.

This would require additional key programming and another "interrogator" as it is nothing more than an antenna, and possibly subject to EMP itself. You can find the interrogator coil in a plastic "halo" surrounding the shroud on the ignition switch.  Ford vehicles use different models of PATS over the years, each is specific to the vehicle model and year.  Each key has a specific code (128 bit or 3.402823669209e+38), which must be programmed in to the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) by the user, or dealer - depending on the version.  Without the proper key type and code, there is no fuel or spark initiated at start up - it just cranks.

My recommendation for PATS type vehicles is to use the two factory keys to prepare three additional keys. Keys 1 and 2 are the factory keys and get locked in a safe - do not use them. Key 3 is used as your "daily use" key.  Key 4 is your "EMP Event" key - treat it accordingly and store it hidden, inside the vehicle. Key 5 is a non-PATS key, cut twith teh intent of opening the doors, unlocking the steering and running accessories. It is stored where accessible (home, work, wallet).

If and when the 3rd key gets lost or destroyed, the 5th key (or a rock) is used to gain access to the vehicle and the 4th key is used to get you home. Later, keys 1 and 2 are used to add an additional key.

Notice "add", since not all vehicles let you remove keys. This is a potential security issue as the person with that key could still operate your vehicle, just not to make new keys.

Should our region be hit with EMP, I have a flash programmer that can be used to install a custom tune which removes PATS, all limiters/codes and allows me to run on substandard/alternative fuels.   This is my cost effective alternative to purchasing a specific, EMP resistant vehicle.  This will work for file corruption, but not for a total PCM failure. Thanks, - Fred in Washington

JWR,  
Thanks for the great blog and everything you do for us.   I was at my local Ford dealer getting some work done and ask the service manager about computer modules for my 2006 F250 diesel. He told there are three different modules; engine, fuel and transmission. I ask how much they cost and he told me “a lot” but they are fairly simple to install, basically unplug the old and plug in the new one. What he told me next I hadn’t thought about and had not read; the computer modules must be programmed to work. Also if you get one from a junkyard and plug it in it will still need to be programmed. So if anyone is thinking about getting backups for EMP events you still need to store a computer that can program the modules for newer vehicles.   Do you know if this is correct? Is there any way to remedy this problem short of buying older vehicles? I guess this is exactly why you tell us to get older vehicles! - Jim S. in Ohio

JWR Replies: In most cases the CPUs that you store can be pre-programmed to match your particular vehicle before you put them in storage. This will be a bit expensive and time consuming (requiring swaps and tests), but it sure beats storing a computer to program them, post facto!

The three main factors in determining who lives and who dies WTSHTF are situational awareness, overcoming inertia, and dumb luck. The first two you have some control over. The third is always going to be beyond your control, except for Divine intervention, so don’t worry about it. If you are at mid-span on the Golden Gate Bridge when Al Qaeda sets off a nuke in San Francisco, or “The Big One” hits. In such cases, acceptance of God’s will is all you have to do to prepare.

For those who are lucky enough to not be killed immediately when disaster strikes, how you have trained yourself to handle the first two factors will make all the difference in the world. The first two of these factors are well known and accepted. Believing and accepting what has now become inevitable should motivate the serious survivor. There are three parts to being adequately prepared:

First: Acceptance of the seriousness of the situation. Most of us are already there or you wouldn’t even be reading this. You have to accept the probability that there will be a major crisis befall our nation in the near future.

Second: Initiate Preparations: Having accepted the first premise as a literal fact, you must start as soon as possible to “put away the things of a child” and start behaving as a responsible adult. This means beginning to acquire those supplies that will give you and your family the very best chance of surviving the impending collapse.

They are: Water; Food; Weapons; Medical Supplies; Transportation; Fuel; Shelter; Skills.

Third: A Backup Plan. The third level of preparation is distinct from the first two. If you have already taken care of the first two parts, this will be supplemental to your plan. If not, this will offer your best chance of surviving the crisis. You have to put yourself in the best possible position to to take advantage of what I shall refer to as “the golden hours” which occur at the very beginning of any crisis. The “golden hours” is a concept that has gotten very little, if any, ink in all the survivalist literature, both real and fictional.

Anyone familiar with emergency medicine is aware of the term "the golden hour”. This refers to that first hour following an injury until the initiation of medical treatment. In most cases, the ability to get the patient into a medical facility within the first hour raises the chances of survival exponentially.

The same will be true of those last minute preparations an alert person can make who recognizes the magnitude of the impending crisis in its’ earliest stages. As in most things in life, the majority of the population will not be able to process and accept the severity of the crisis until it is too late to do them any real good. In other words, most people won’t recognize “it” when “it” first happens. And most of those who do get a glimmer will in all probability delay acting, and that delay will most probably be fatal in any real TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Even for those few who do get a sudden dose of clarity, most will also fail absent prior planning.

Why are almost all last minute actions doomed to failure in major crisis situation? Because by the time the average person realizes there is a real crisis, their ability to mitigate the effect will be so severely compromised as to be almost useless to them. e.g. if you need a six month supply of food to survive, it is too late to acquire it once the trucks have stopped running and the markets have been emptied.

Think of it this way: You, having been jolted out of your American Idol reveries, finally decide the national and world situation dictates you order a years worth of freeze dried food for your family. You immediately place your order. You are informed that due to the increased demand, there will be a delay of 60 days in shipping. Being aware that all suppliers are experiencing the same delays, you go ahead, place your order, and hold your breath. You are now at the mercy of fate for at least 60 days. 59 days into your waiting period TSHTF. No food is shipping. No trucks are running. You now find yourself in the worst possible position, appreciating how serious the crisis is, and unable to do anything about it, except for those golden hours I mentioned earlier.

Effective preparation requires forethought and planning, but forethought and planning are not sufficient in and of themselves to keep you alive in most long term crises. Thinking and planning are only a prolog to action. “Think; Plan; Act” needs to become your credo.

The concept of “the golden hours” encompasses at least two aspects of survival preparation. First, as a supplementary action for a person who has already made some preparations, and second, as a last ditch back up plan for those who foolishly waited too long to start their preparations.

There are basically three approaches to preparation from which to chose, and these three approaches will encompass virtually the entire population, whether they want to be there or not:

Approach Number One: Preparations made well in advance of a crisis, which provide the very best chance of survival whatever the crisis might be;

Approach Number Two: Preparations made in the last golden hours at the very beginning of a crisis supplemental to a preexisting survival plan, or as a second best alternative, but only for those who are smart enough to quickly grasp the situation and act decisively thereon;

Approach Number Three: Attempted preparations that are made too late to provide any security to those poor individuals too unaware or slow witted to anticipate and/or recognize the crisis for what it is.

The place you do not want to be is in the third category. Being in the third category will in all probability get you and your family dead in very short order in a TEOTWAWKI crisis.

So what kind of planning will help you take the maximum advantage in the golden hours? Here are a few a examples, and I want to stress these are just my own examples, and how I have addressed potential problems for my own family. You might have totally different priorities, but regardless, the better you can position yourself to take advantage of the golden hours, the better your chances are of surviving.

Transportation:

I have assessed the potential threats to my own families transportation as being a fuel shortage crisis and/or an EMP attack on the U.S.

We have an 1992 GMC 2500 Sierra 4x4 which is our primary G.O.O.D. vehicle. I keep it well-maintained and topped off all the time. (For those of you too young to remember the 1973 gas crisis, you missed what can only be described in the words of our “Dear Leader” as a really good “teachable moment”.) Being well aware of the probability of a major natural disaster (I live in earthquake and wild land fire country) and to the impending economic collapse, I have taken other precautions so as to cover as many bases as possible.

EMP Preparations:

(For those readers who don’t know about electromagnetic pulse (EMP), do a web search. This is something you need to know and understand.)

Being aware of the possibility of an EMP attack on the US, I have acquired spare electronic control units (ECUs)--also known electronic control modules, CPUs, or simply "computers") for all of our vehicles, and secured them in an EMP shielded Faraday cage shielding metal can along with the necessary tools to swap out the units, and printed instructions for doing the job for each specific vehicle. Each vehicle also has a Chilton’s Manual on board.

The easiest way to ascertain the part you need is to call the local dealer parts department, give them your year, make and model, and the VIN, and they will be able to look up your part and give you all the specifics. If you feel the price from the dealer is too high, then get on Ebay and find and order your part from a wrecking yard. Some newer vehicles have more than one computer, but the one you need is the one that controls the engine/fuel/ transmission. I have not ordered the computers that control the cabin heat and gauges as, quite frankly, in a G.O.O.D. situation I really don’t need to know my mpg, mph, etc. I just need the vehicle to start, run, and get me to where I need to go.

The units are stored under the seats of each vehicle in a Faraday cage. The Faraday cage container is made by first wrapping the unit in some kind of non-conducting material: rubber, plastic bubble wrap, anything that is non-conductive. Next, wrap the whole thing in duct tape. Then wrap the whole with two or three layers of aluminum foil, and then another layer of duct tape. It is important that each successive layer completely covers the each prior layer. Then insert the whole into a steel ammo box, along with the instructions and change out tools. If the time comes you need to open and use it, don’t forget to first ground the ammo box and yourself.

A possible alternative solution that I have not elected, at least not yet, is to own and maintain as your principle G.O.O.D. vehicle one which was manufactured before 1986, as those vehicles did not have computers or other electronics that are susceptible to the effects of EMP.

Fuel Crisis Preparation:

For most of us it is impractical (not to mention unsafe) to store large quantities of fuel. We are 300 miles from our retreat location, which is located in another state, and under normal conditions it takes us about six hours to get there. However, keeping in mind the value of the golden hours, I am fully prepared to take advantage of those hours. I did this by acquiring two 55 gallon steel fuel drums from a local distributor, and a 12 volt fuel transfer pump with hose and nozzle from Ebay. I don’t keep the drums full, but rather readily accessible for loading in the truck and a quick trip down to the local all hours gas station.

Those who recognize the crisis for what it is should have enough lead time to make last minute purchases of critical supplies, such as fuel, medicines and food. One problem for most people is they have not positioned themselves to take advantage of those golden hours for immediately acquiring a last minute emergency fuel supply. The additional hours they might have to waste acquiring portable storage containers could easily lose those critical golden hours.

When I see on the 11:00 PM (or whenever) news what I deem sufficient information to make the final call that the crisis is really starting, I will load my drums into the truck and drive to my local CardLock station and fill up. (I just joined a local CardLock station for this very purpose.) If I didn’t already have my drums, I would either have to wait until the next morning to go out and try and acquire some drums or fuel cans, or if it happens during the daytime, go out and try and acquire some before I head to the fuel station. This means that by the time I can get to the gas station it could already be pumped dry, rationed, confiscated or requisitioned by the government for the “common good”.

By having the necessary containers already on hand, we will be able to beat the rush, and be literally hours ahead of the masses which will by then be approaching a full scale panic mode.

The point is, I have put my family in a position to be able to act quickly and decisively to take advantage of those golden hours at the very beginning of a crisis, thereby increasing my family’s chances of survival. By anticipating a need, I have made a plan and acted upon it. When TSHTF I now have in place not only a plan to make use of those golden hours, but those items needed to fulfill that plan.

Costs? The fuel drums were free from my local fuel oil and lubricants dealer. Mine originally held methanol alcohol. I purchased a nifty little 12 volt fuel pump, complete with hose and nozzle that I can screw into the barrel bung, attach to my truck’s battery and will deliver up to 20 gallons a minute. “Little” is a relative term. The whole pump and hose system weighs in at 39 pounds, but it is smaller than a regular service station fuel pump, and a lot more portable and, since it is being carried in the truck, the extra weight doesn’t bother me.

The cost of the pump was less than $150 on eBay. Don’t have $150 to spare on an emergency fuel pump? Try a simple siphon hose costing a couple of bucks. Every vehicle we own has a 20' section of 3/8" I.D. clear plastic tubing. Why clear plastic tubing? Because I have never acquired a taste for petroleum products. Keep in mind the tubing needs to be small enough in diameter to get past the “unleaded fuel” barrier in the mouth of the filler tube which is now a standard in all modern vehicles.

In addition to the two barrels I also have five 5 gallon red plastic gas cans. Best price I found for these is at Wal-Mart which, while anathema to left wing ideologues, is most often the prepper's best friend. Between the 25 gallon tank in my GMC; the 110 gallons in the drums, and the 25 gallons in the gas cans, I have now provided my family with yet another benefit: options. A military maxim states “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” This is why the more options you can provide yourself, the better off you will be in a crisis.

Medical Crisis Preparation:

What holds true for fuel, also holds true for last minute medical and prescription acquisitions. Have a friendly doctor write you some undated prescriptions for antibiotics and for several months worth of your regular prescriptions can be a lifesaver. If you don’t have a relationship with a physician that would allow you to acquire these, check out the SurvivalBlog archives for an article on veterinary pharmaceutical equivalents.

Remember the golden hours rule. Be prepared to pay cash or write a check for the necessary drugs, as you probably won’t have the luxury of time to negotiate with your insurance company. Wal-Mart and other competing chains offer $10 prescriptions for a 90 day supply. Try and acquire prescriptions for at least 180 days on hand. Tell the pharmacist you are going on a trip out of the country if they question you.

I was discussing survival preparation with my best friend many years ago when he was in medical school, and he commented that very few people understand that civilization is only about one micron thick. The very same germs that killed our great grandparents are still alive and thriving in the dirt just outside our window. The only reason they don’t kill us now is we have magic bullets in the form of antibiotics, vaccines and pain controllers that keep them in check. Take away these and we will die even quicker than our antecedents because as a civilization we have lost so many of our natural immunities.

Our nation functions on a continuous re-supply system for medicines and food. All of this is kept in motion by an increasingly high tech system of computers and coding. It all works because of a myriad of interconnecting symbiotic systems. For example, most pharmacies (including those in hospitals) only keep about a three day supply of drugs on hand for their normal patient load. If anything in the supply chain breaks at any juncture the whole chain grinds to an immediate halt. Overload a hospital with injured disaster victims and the medical supplies will be gone in less than 24 hours. Without resupply, and a steady supply of power from the grid, modern medicine reverts back to the 1800s in just a few days.

The weakest link in our entire social construct is our total dependency on computer driven data, and the computer’s total dependency on an uninterrupted flow of electricity. Shut down the grid for a day, and things get very bad. Shut down the grid for a month, and the result will be catastrophic. Shut down the grid for a year, and the estimates are that, absent outside assistance, 50% to 70% of our population will die from starvation and disease in that first year!

There was an article on the net last week about there being approximately 26 million insulin dependant diabetics in the US. If the supply system stops, absent a backup supply, the majority of these people will die within 90 days. How can they prepare for this situation? A little forethought and preparation can give a diabetic a chance of at least surviving long enough for the restructuring of the supply chain.

The whole plan keys on two points: 1.) Having sufficient insulin stored away to keep a diabetic alive for an extended period of time; and 2.) having a way to keep the insulin refrigerated and usable for an extended period of time.

For example: Humilin N, a common OTC insulin, has a three year shelf life if kept properly refrigerated. Humilin N comes in 100 Unit vials. One vial lasts a diabetic X number of days, depending on dosage. A diabetic can easily calculate how many vials they will need for whatever period of time they wish to prepare, up to 3 years, under refrigeration.

So, what is the most effective way to maintain refrigeration in the event of a grid collapse? Propane refrigerators.

Because we have two family members who are insulin dependent, we have prepared as follows:

Our RV, which is stored on site at our retreat, has a propane/electric refrigerator already installed. Additionally, and in my own penchant for redundancy in all things survival oriented, I acquired a full-size propane refrigerator for our retreat, through Craigslist

For those unfamiliar with propane refrigerators, let me say they are probably the most energy efficient appliance ever built. Energy companies don’t want people to know just how cheap it is to run a propane refrigerator. The amount of propane necessary to keep a full size refrigerator cold is about the same as a pilot light. We have a 500 gallon tank at the retreat and are adding another one this summer. With that much propane we can run the fridge for many years.

Note: If you are thinking about using your RV fridge as your backup insulin storage, remember to acquire the necessary fittings and hoses to fill your RV tank and also to attach it to larger external tank(s).

Another Note: Why is propane the preferred fuel for making long term preparations? Because, unlike gas and diesel, it doesn’t get old and it requires no treatment to stay usable. As long as the tank holds pressure, the propane is good. Additionally, when used to power a generator, there is no residue to foul and damage the filter and diaphragm which stay clean, extending the life of the power plant.

The existing current national disaster plan calls for the requisition, by force if necessary, of all existing food and drug stocks from outlying, lightly populated, rural areas, for transport to and use in more densely populated (read “voting bloc”) urban areas. This policy will, however, take a few days to implement. Once again, an alert and informed person will have golden hours they can use to their advantage. Make a list of your local all night pharmacies, markets and fuel stations. Then, make lists of what you need at each location, print them out and keep them handy. Use the golden hours to fill out your list.

Food Supply Crisis Preparation:

In times of disaster or emergency the demand for everything in our culture will spike, exhausting local existing supplies in less than a day. Our markets resupply daily. If the resupply stops, even for a few days, the effect of the resulting shortages will magnify. The time to go to the store is before the crisis hits or immediately upon recognizing it for what it is. Don’t delay! These are the golden hours. Go and shop immediately! Once the reality sinks in to the general public, stores will be cleaned out in a matter of hours.

I have prepared a shopping list I distribute to friends and family for either just before or just after a national emergency occurs or is announced. Once the truth sinks in to the general population, there will be a run on the stores. Re-supply to the stores will be either unlikely or irregular. If you have failed to prepare adequately before now, this may be your one and only chance to provision your family for an extended period of time.

I won’t bore you with my own list, but I will say that we have given it quite a bit of thought as to quantities and types of food we will acquire, and they are all easy to prepare, non-perishable foods needing no refrigeration. I have even gone one step further to prepare my family to take advantage of the golden hours. My wife and I regularly mentally map what foods are where in our local markets to assist us in making the best use of time in the stores.

When TSHTF, while I am down at the Card-Lock filling the fuel drums in the truck, my wife will be at the closest market filling the shopping carts. After the fueling is completed, I will meet her there to help finish up the shopping and loading the purchases in the SUV and to provide additional security. Hopefully it will not be needed as all of the foregoing last minute preparations should be taking place well before the masses even realize the severity of the crisis, in those “golden hours” which are the focus of this article.

In Summary:

Last minute preparations are not a panacea for a previous lackadaisical approach to preparation. But people should realize that even this late in the game there are still options to see them through a major, extended crisis. The sooner you start serious preparations the better chance you have of surviving what is most certainly headed out way.

The real key to your family’s personal survival is recognizing the true nature of the crisis before too many others do. Even a few hours lead time on the majority of the population can mean the difference, literally, between life and death. Those few hours are, truly, the golden hours.

JWR,  
SAA Joe makes some good points in his article. He states however that “Hopefully 3 minutes without oxygen is self explanatory.  You have to breathe to survive!” then offers no solutions to a scenario where that may become a problem.   Scenario: You are stuck in traffic on the interstate due to an overturned tanker truck a few hundred feet in front Of you when a cloud of unidentified gas starts rolling towards your car from the overturned tanker. What do you do?   Scenario: You are at home which is located ¼ mile from a heavily used rail line. You hear the sound of a train Derailment and subsequent explosion. Looking outside you see large amounts of smoke and strange colored clouds rolling Towards your house which is downwind from the accident. What do you do?   These scenarios are not farfetched. Some version of these occurs on a regular basis in the United States.   In both cases gas masks stored in an easily-accessible spot in the home or vehicle can be life savers. Perfectly serviceable units are available at reasonable cost from a variety of sources. As with most preparations, discretion is advised when letting Others who may not share your mindset regarding preparations know of you precautions. Better safe than sorry!   Regards, - Jack C.

Jim,
While working on my preps I found electrical specifications in the data sheet for the mylar-foil bags I was investigating for my food storage.  This reminded me that many computer components (e.g., motherboards, hard disk drives, and expansion cards) are packaged in mylar-foil bags for ESD protection.  I reasoned that since the ESD protection is provided by the conductive foil layer in the bag one should be able to use the same mylar-foil bags as Faraday cages to protect electronic devices and components from EMP.

One of the perks of my engineering career at defense contractor is that I work with genuine experts who deal with EMI and EMP issues on a regular basis.  I ran my mylar-foil Faraday cage idea past a co-worker to make sure I wasn't missing something.  In addition to designing EMP hardened equipment this individual is very like-minded with respect to survival and TEOTWAWKI topics.  His response was that the mylar-foil bags offer good protection against EMP events due to their continuous and highly-conductive foil layer.

I think that mylar-foil bags offer several advantages when compared to the commonly recommended popcorn tins and ammo cans.  First and foremost, sealed mylar-foil bags provide the water resistance near that of an ammo can without the bulk and weight.  With one bag you can protect the gear in your BOB from both moisture and EMP!  Also, the mylar-foil bags can be much more space efficient, especially for irregular shaped devices.  Finally, these bags are inexpensive.  Even if you don't have extras left over from your food preps you can visit your local computer store and usually find an assortment of them for the cost of your time.  

If you choose to use salvaged bags make sure to stick with the mylar-foil style ESD bags.  Avoid the bags that are clear, pink, or blue and those with printed patterns of conductive ink.  If you can find them, I would recommend the mylar-foil bags with “zip-lock” style seals.  These will allow one to periodically rotate the rechargeable batteries in their emergency gear without consuming material in the resealing process.  

A word of warning: DO NOT use electronics grade mylar-foil bags for food storage!  Bags that are not made specifically "food grade" for food storage may contain harmful chemicals and compounds that could leech into your food.

Many thanks for the great blog! Sincerely, - Kron

James,
Let me introduce your readers to propane and the many possibilities it offers your planning and TEOTWAWKI preps, that you will likely never have thought of before. Over the last number of years I have carefully thought out and planned a “system” if you will of key pieces of equipment which all operate on a single, inexpensive and highly efficient and large mobile fuel storage system. Naturally, I have the standard wood stove and gasoline operated family vehicle(s), but what is most interesting is some of the items I have been working on and extensively testing/ using on the side.    

1986 Chevrolet 3/4-Ton Pickup on Dual Fuel    

I have recently finished building my ideal Bug out vehicle (BOV) and a number of other very interesting and related items of interest which all fit in with a "one fuel system" for my preps.    I own a customized flat tan-painted 1986 Chevrolet/GMC pre-CPU or fuel injected 3/4-ton 4x4 pickup truck with a long bed on 33 inch high performance tires. It has the very tough NP 205 transfer case. This truck has a manual transmission without the hydraulic clutch (easier to repair), 4 inch suspension lift, custom built heavy duty roll bars and light bar, custom built heavy duty Front bush guard, bumper/ grill guard made from oil field drill stem. My spare tire mounts directly in the center of this heavy duty grill guard. All of this is great and the many features and modifications are too many to mention. But what is interesting about this truck are the most recent modifications which have the greatest impact on this trucks ability to be a high performance BOV. I have recently had this truck;s fuel system modified to a "dual fuel" system. The truck now runs on propane and gasoline.

Directly in the front of the truck bed, I have a 230 liter propane tank mounted between the roll bar mounts. It sits just out of sight below the top of my truck box. With the pull of a manual cable  just above my left knee while driving, I can switch between gasoline and propane in a moment's notice, moving from my 150 liter reserve of gasoline between my two twin gas tanks, to my 230 liters of propane and back again.

I specified manual "IMPCO" brand propane controls installed as opposed to easier to use electronic controls which are slightly more convenient to use but that are less reliable and have the potential to "fry" during an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) event. The system is old school and has been used and tested in many thousands of vehicles for about 30 years. My mechanic tells me that the fuel efficiency difference between gas and propane in a Chevrolet/GM 350 engine with a manual transmission is hardly noticeable and not a concern. The difference in power is also barely noticeable from my findings as well. However, the savings in cost for me are substantial which I will explain near the end of my posting. 

As a side note, my truck starts and runs much better on propane than it ever did on gasoline even in the coldest months. The last thing I’ve done is to ensure an adequate level of EMP protection is that I decided to purchase a GMC 3/4 ton pre-1987 vehicle. You see, 1987 was the first year Chevrolet and GM introduced electronic fuel injection. Although more fuel efficient than a standard carbureted engine, they are vulnerable to EMP as they are CPU/ Microprocessor controlled.

Even though it was a pre-1987 model it came standard with a high energy ignition (HEI) system which is prone to vulnerabilities and issues during an EMP event. I’ve recently had my mechanic swap the HEI ignition system out for the older style points, rotor and coil ignition system which can be easily fixed or replaced with spare parts stowed away in a Faraday box under the seat of the truck. The total cost for all of these brand new ignition parts and complete system was less than $150. A spare set of replacement condenser, points and coil will run me less than $90. In the event of an EMP, I have the ability to quickly replace these parts within minutes while on the road and I’m back up and running. My fuel capacity would take me well over 1,500 kilometers with a single fill up.  

Propane Heaters      
I did a fair bit of research into propane heaters for use in a home, cabin, tent, etc. The two models of heaters which I settled on were infrared radiant propane heaters made by "Mr. Heater" brand. The first one I bought was a "Big Buddy" portable heater which I can run off 1 pound propane "camping" bottles or a 20 lb barbeque tank or larger if I really wanted to. Currently I use a 20 lb propane tank with this heater in my home office which happens to be an atrium which tends to get a little cold in the winter otherwise with this heater. This unit is an 18,000 BTU per hour unit and can easily heat my un-insulated atrium/office from -20 degrees to + 20 degrees Celsius in under an hour.   The second heater I purchased was a 30,000 BTU per hour wall mounted/free standing with included legs heater. Currently I have this heater mounted to wall on the main floor of my three-storey 8 bedroom home and it heats my entire home even on the coldest night thus far. I am presently running this heater from a 20 lb. barbeque tank and find that I have to refill or swap out tanks about every 48 hours.

My heating costs are approx $150 per month at this point give or take a few dollars. In the event I need to bug out, I can simply grab the heater off the wall and go. Both of these Propane heaters have all the stamps and badges of approval from both the Canadian Government and the US safety agencies. They both use a catalytic conversion process which vaporizes or burns all the dangerous carbon monoxide (CO) from the burning process. I run three separate CO detectors in my home and none of them have ever registered a single reading thus far except one day early on when I had a very small propane leak from a poorly threaded propane hose line to which my alarm promptly let me know that it was "Sniffing" propane. The main advantage to these units is that they don;t require an exterior vent. Unlike your furnace which sends a plume of wasted hot exhaust into the atmosphere, these units send that clean, moist and very hot air into your home as opposed to wasting it. When the heater claims 30,000 BTU per hour as its output rating, its likely much higher when compared to the output rating of your furnace or wood stove simply due to the fact that its a vent free system and not wasting significant amounts of hot air by pumping it out the chimney stack as a byproduct.

Generators    
In deciding on the generators to own and use, I did a lot of research. I wanted to have a mid-sized generator (5,000 to 7,000 watts) that could run nearly all of my home systems at the same time if need be.( Well pump, sump pumps, furnace, a few lights, fridges, deep freezes, washer and dryer et cetera.) This unit also had to be easy to start, use and move around in the event my wife or children had to use it for whatever reason. In preparation for this I had a generator backup electrical panel installed next to and in conjunction with my current grid power panel. Basically, the power goes out, you flip a big switch on your power panel disconnecting you from Utility power, and fire up the generator. Using this type of panel eliminates the risk of a "back feed."

The generator I settled on was a dual fuel (Gasoline and Propane) 5,000 watt unit from Northern Tool for around the $700 price. It came standard with wheels and handles to move it around, an electric start battery system with a backup pull cord system and all the propane lines and fittings a guy needs to hook up to a standard 20 lb barbeque tank. I’ve tested it out numerous times with 100 lb propane bottles and 20 lb tanks. Everything seems to run very well thus far and my 10 year old son has no problem wheeling it around, hooking it up and operating it with ease after a little safety instruction.  

The second genset I have on hand is a Honda 2,000 watt inverted super quiet model. I purchased a propane conversion kit online for about $150 and within an hour had it converted easily to run off propane. Works like a charm off my 20 lb tanks.   The last thing I’m hoping to do and I have not had any success in finding any reliable information is to convert an ATV to burn propane as there doesn’t seem to be much information out there. If there is anyone that knows a reliable method or where to obtain information it would be much appreciated if they e-mail JWR a reply.  

I mentioned that I would get into the cost factor of the propane I use. I live in the country and there are many farmers who use mobile propane tanks mounted on trailers for irrigation and construction. I contacted my local propane dealer for more information. After a little discussion, here is what I found out:   My dealer leased me a brand new 1,000 gallon (3,600 + liter) propane tank mounted on a brand new 16 foot dual axle trailer for $260 per year. The trailer has a standard 2-5/16 " ball hitch and trailer brakes. When asked by my dealer what I was going to use the propane for, I told him I would be using it for a number of uses but mostly filling propane bottles and tanks. Because I didn’t mention it would be used to fill up my vehicle the rate was significantly less. He charged me only 40 cents per liter to fill the entire tank up ($1,400). Currently this is 60 percent less expensive than filling up my vehicle with gasoline at the pump and I get about the same mileage.

The benefits of using propane in these ways are substantial just to name a few:

• Low profile purchasing. Unlike home gasoline tanks, propane tanks create no suspicion
• Virtually unlimited shelf life
• Large volume fuel storage on hand (1,000 gallons / 3,600 liters per tank) in most jurisdiction with no restrictions.

Propane offers mobility and bug out possibilities in a grid down situation where transportation legalities won't matter. A number of key pieces of equipment are available which operate using propane.   The possibilities with propane are endless and in my opinion its a far superior option for fuel and flexibility than gasoline or diesel fuels. The cost savings alone would make a person do a double take and reconsider all options.  - M.B. writing from the Frozen North

I recently got an irate letter from an outspoken Peak Oil commentator who often stresses "community agriculture" and "sustainable development." He castigated me for "advocating a fortress mentality..." and "encouraging gun-buying..." I think that he meant those as insults, but I took them as compliments.

I am indeed an advocate of the fortress mentality, and fortress architecture. The two go hand-in-hand. As I pointed out in my book "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It", modern American architecture with flimsy doors and large expanses of windows is just a 70 year aberration from a global norm that dates back many centuries. The real tradition in architecture outside of the tropics has always been to build homes with small windows, very stout doors, and lots of mass in the walls to absorb projectile impacts and to delay entry by evil-doers. Since 1945 we've been blessed to live a country that is relatively safe and peaceful. But don't expect that to last forever. Plan and build, accordingly.

Just look at the long history of the mote-and-bailey and castle in Europe and Fujian Tulou (Hakka) in China. Or look at the stout walls that are still the norm in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And consider the HESCO bastions that are almost always used by the U.S. military when deployed in any of the world's hot spots. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: There is no substitute for mass. Mass stops bullets. Mass stops gamma radiation. Mass stops (or at least slows down) bad guys from entering a home and depriving its residents of life and property. Sandbags are cheap, so buy plenty of them. When planning your retreat house, think: medieval castle.

The fortress mentality necessitates adopting fortress architecture. Whether you turn yourself into a moving fortress (with body armor), or you decide to design fortress features into your next home, I recommend that you prepare for as many different threats as possible. If you cannot afford to build your house like a fortress, or if that would "stick out" where you now live, then at least add a combination vault/shelter basement room to your house. (Either via new construction, or by remodeling.) Several SurvivalBlog advertisers can supply the know-how and crucial components for such a project such as inward-opening vault doors, blast valves, and HEPA filters. These companies include: Hardened Structures, Safecastle, and Ready Made Resources.

The bottom line is that in the event of societal collapse, looters will prey upon those who are obviously weak and defenseless. Unless they are suicidal, looters will consciously pass by any well-defended retreats. Why would they go up against an Alpenréduit when they could instead go pick on some defenseless granny living in a veritable glass box, a mile down the road? Why would they risk getting ventilated by a group of well-armed Rawlesians who are standing behind ballistic protection--especially while living in a world without readily-available medical care?

Planning ahead for bad times isn't paranoia. It is prudence. An integrated national defense should start with every hearth and home, and proceed systematically all the way to national borders. This is the true and righteous fortress mentality. The Swiss call this an "intellectual defense of the homeland" (Geistige Landesverteidigung). Their well-armed citizenry and their extensive system of réduits (many of them very well-hidden) have kept them free and essentially independent for 720 years. We should learn a lesson from that.

Mr. Rawles,
The U.S. government has released new advice for what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. What's really disturbing is that with the low protection factors cited, someone essentially needs to come and rescue. On the plus side at least they're thinking about what ought to be done. - Jake in Massachusetts

Dear Editor:
It shouldn't come as a surprise to SurvivalBlog readers but the newest research in the June 2010 document, "Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation" concludes that rate of survival to a nuclear disaster climbs if people shelter in place. I thought this line from the CNBC news was interesting: "disasters planners should forget trying to evacuate large cities and instead urge people to shelter in place." Oh the good old days of digging out a basement under our house in the early 1960s. - C.A.

The reality of the situation is that tactical combat, survival and self defense training is not something that can be mastered in a week or a month.  Training needs to be consistent to the point where the drills become as a reaction that you don’t even have to think about it…. The point is that terrorists and threats to you have been in serious training for a long period of time while many of us still see the concept of learning the inner workings of firearms as being premature.
Private survival training in the present day has often been seen as an invitation to police repression.  Examples such as the Black Panthers in the 1960’s and the Militia movement of the 1990’s are often sighted.  For the most part these organizations stayed within the law and were mainly small groups of private citizens trying to exercise the same Rights as the founding fathers did at Lexington and Concord.  The focus of these organizations was to make an expression through show of force.
Private firearms ownership in America for anything other than target shooting and hunting has been made to appear unwise and even illegal.  For that reason people have become more dependent on the government for their defense than ever before. The reality is that in every one of the 50 states in the Union it is Legal to own and use a firearm in defense of life.   What happens when the National Guard is called up and sent overseas?  Do you know 30% of most local law enforcement are members of the Guard and reserve.  We are becoming more and more dependent on Federal Law Enforcement… and a dependant, defenseless people is an enslaved people.
So you have a desire to train, to become confident in what you carry, how you carry it and what to do with it but you are not a member of the law enforcement community or the federal military. What can you do? How can you train?
Unregulated Live Fire Self-training
“Grab some rounds and head to the local dump or the woods and Go shoot”- NO
This is the worst thing you can do. Worse even than not training. If you go to the local shooting pit and blast a box or two of shells out all you are doing is shortening the life of your weapon and reinforcing bad habits. If you typically are doing something incorrect, odds are- without the proper practice to correct that bad habit- all you accomplish is building the wrong muscle memory. Guess what you are going to do when the SHTF? You will fall back on your worst training which is this.
Avoid this!
Regulated Self Training of Firearms
Research your courses of fire that are available. Go online and Google ‘course of fire” and you will find any number of courses plainly outlined. These include Cooper Drills, Shoot and Move drills, Dozier Drills, the El Presidente, various courses used by law enforcement agencies such as the NYPD and LAPD, military courses of fire for rifles, pistols and shotguns. Go to an actual range (or build your own safe one using established range safety guidelines) and run these drills until you can do them correctly. Exercise your fundamentals of Sight picture, trigger control, good solid position, and breathing. Use actual targets instead of beer cans, washing machines and the like. Paper plates can be substituted.
Inquire around at local gun shops and sporting goods stores for local rifle and pistol clubs who offer regulated ranges and competition shoots in exchange for nominal fees. Many State Departments of Wildlife have free ranges that are open to the public at no fee. This will also introduce you to the best part of training which is networking. Make contacts with like-minded individuals that can help point you in the right direction for your goals.
Live Fire is only a small part of firearms training. You need to spend hours training with an unloaded and safe weapon for every minute you spend sending brass downrange. Again, exercise your fundamentals of sight picture, trigger control, good solid position, and breathing. Practice tactical reloads, administrative reloads, one-handed reloads (for if injured), drawing from cover, firing positions etc.
The Boy scouts
Yes I am speaking of the ubiquitous organization that is the Boy Scouts of America. They are faith based and are represented in every community large and small. They also are a cornerstone of one of the few organizations that still attempt to provide firearms training without profit. Get with your local troops and find out the contact for the Shooting Sports Council for your area. Volunteer your services as a Range officer for the Marksmanship classes they have during semi-annual jamborees. Many councils offer full fledged certified NRA Firearms Instructor certification classes at reduced cost (sometimes as low as $25) to volunteers willing to give up a few weekends of their time to help local scouts learn to shoot.
You can learn valuable skills, gain an expanded knowledge base and provide a legacy for our youth in the process. Again, you see the chance to network your training opportunities by making more contacts and sharing information.
Appleseed Groups-
The non-profit Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA) offers nationwide Appleseed Clinics that generally cost $70 for two days however, it is free for active military/guard/reserve, people who are under 21 years of age, and currently for 2010, women are also free. These provide training in long arms to a ‘rifleman’ qualification. They also offer longer week long courses and 30-hour instructor courses for much less than what you would get from the custom for-profit training academies.
Bring a rifle and a few hundred rounds of ammunition and put in some legitimate training. Spend your down time networking and making contacts to further your training.
PoliceOne Training Articles- http://www.policeone.com/training/articles/ with hundreds of free articles such as “Training Police Recruits to Think”, Relevant and Realistic Firearms Training on a Tight Budget” and “Watch Behavior Indicators for Potential Violence” this resource is vital to anyone who is looking for training needs. While these are written by law enforcement and security professionals for use by law enforcement and security professionals many of the same concepts hold true for a TEOTWAWKI situation, CCW holders, and anyone who just wants to gain the upper hand in a bad life or death situation when the zombies come.
Emergency Management Institutes-
Government and National organizations in partnership with colleges such as the University of Alabama- Birmingham Texas A&M and Tulane University officer online web interfaces such as the South Southern Public Health Partnership, FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute, and the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center
These institutes lean mainly towards Health and Safety aspects of Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism with dozens of amazing free courses such as “Food as an Effective Weapon of Terrorism”, “Preparedness: Factors for the Emergence/Reemergence of Infectious Diseases” Applied Epidemiology of Terrorist Events”, “Agro-terrorism”, and “Medical Effects of Primary Blast Injury” while they are dry are some of the best online training available from accredited sources.
Spend one night a week and devote four hours to one of these free classes. In a single year that is 52 classes under your belt. Take extensive notes that you can understand and create a chapbook with lessons you learned from each class. When the lights go out and the phones die the notebook can be your reference back to those night classes you took.
State Defense Forces
About half of the States in the Union offer a State Defense Force. These range from small relatively top heavy cadre groups such as the Mississippi State Guard to the large and very well organized 1000-manVirgina State Defense Force. Some 23 of these organizations are chartered by the state military department and work hand in hand with the local National Guard AG to perform “State’s only” service as directed by the governor. 
Many of these organizations offer membership regardless of physical conditions to residents with clean criminal records. They typically have monthly drills and an annual summer camp much like the regular National Guard. While some offer limited weapons training most are good for at least an introduction into basic military courtesy, field craft, land navigation, communications and other tasks that will come in handy post- TEOTWAWKI without being in danger of a federal call-up or the unfortunate stigma of ‘militia groups’.
The Red Cross
Well known for more than a century of community outreach the American Red Cross is in every community. Contact your local chapter and inquire about joining their Disaster Action Team (DAT). In exchange for agreeing to help with local disaster response inside your own county the Red Cross will provide all the necessary training. A DAT team member is required to have the following training, at no charge to the volunteer: Orientation to Red Cross, Introduction to Disaster, Disaster Team Training, Standard First Aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Mass Care, Shelter Operations, Damage Assessment, Family Service and Providing Emergency Service.
Some of these courses will be more involved than others and each will have its own opportunity to learn lessons and new skills. Networking with individuals on your team can pay great dividends.
Conclusion
So what are we looking at for training as far as an outlay in money?
 You can join your local State Defense Force for free, take classes online from the EMI, NEERTC and other agencies for free, catch the nearest Appleseed shoot for free (in some circumstances), help with the Boy scouts, browse online courses of fire and read your Police training articles all for free.
How about time?
Set up a schedule. Allocate one (four hour) night a week for online classes and articles. Schedule one full day a month (eight hours) to drill with your State Defense Force. Set aside one (four hour) night a week for regulated unloaded training with a safe weapon. Spend one (sight hour) full day a month on the range following a course of fire. Attend an Appleseed or Boy scout range when they come up to help brush up your skills and pass the knowledge along to others. Go to your Red Cross DAT team training dates.
This totals some 48-hours per month on average. This is a part-time job to learn the skill-set now that will be literally invaluable if the worst case scenario evolves and you have to utilize it.
As the old saying goes- it’s better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it.

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) risk assessments have been published by journalists, defense analysts, and foreign policy experts. Unfortunately, some of these assessments rely on incomplete or incorrect information and give the mistaken impression that EMP is not an immediate threat. For example, STRATFOR Global Intelligence recently published a report titled “Gauging the Threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack.” The report assesses that the risk from an EMP attack is low because “the EMP threat has been around for more than half a century and there are a number of technical and practical variables that make a HEMP [High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse] attack using a nuclear warhead highly unlikely.”

STRATFOR is a well-respected organization that publishes many excellent reports on national security threats. However, this particular report is badly flawed, suffering from both analytical misconceptions and factual errors. Below I quote from the report, describing why this assessment should not be relied on. (STRATFOR generously allows republishing of its reports with the following statement: Gauging the Threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack is republished with permission of STRATFOR.)

"Only the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China possess both the mature warhead design and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capability to conduct such an [EMP] attack from their own territory, and these same countries have possessed that capability for decades. (Shorter range missiles can achieve this altitude, but the center of the United States is still 1,000 kilometers from the Eastern Seaboard and more than 3,000 kilometers from the Western Seaboard — so just any old Scud missile won’t do.)"

The report makes the error of assuming that any EMP attack would be carried out with a single nuclear warhead that must be centered above the continental United States for maximum effect. An immediate result of any EMP attack would be the destruction of power grids within line-of-sight of the nuclear detonation. The continental United States has only three power grids—Eastern, Western, and Texas. Therefore, an effective EMP attack need not be a single detonation over the center of the US, but could instead consist of two separate detonations over the Eastern and Western power grids. Such an attack could easily be carried out by Scud missiles. Moreover, as the 9/11 attacks showed, it is well within the capability of terrorist organizations or rogue states to conduct simultaneous attacks.

The STRATFOR report states: "Countries that build nuclear weapons do so at great expense…Nuclear weapons also are developed as a deterrent to attack, not with the intention of immediately using them offensively. …In other words, for the countries capable of carrying out a HEMP attack, the principles of nuclear deterrence and the threat of a full-scale retaliatory strike continue to hold and govern, just as they did during the most tension-filled days of the Cold War."

The report assumes that any country or group capable of conducting an EMP attack would share the mindset of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. There is a substantial body of thought that Iran in particular would not be subject to these same principals of nuclear deterrence. Bernard Lewis, the noted Middle Eastern scholar, has stated, “MAD, mutual assured destruction, [was effective] right through the cold war. Both sides had nuclear weapons. Neither side used them, because both sides knew the other would retaliate in kind. This will not work with a religious fanatic [like Ahmadinejad]. For him, mutual assured destruction is not a deterrent, it is an inducement.” While there is substantial debate over whether the position of Bernard Lewis and other scholars is correct, this position cannot be lightly dismissed.

The STRATFOR report also states: "One scenario that has been widely put forth is that the EMP threat emanates not from a global or regional power like Russia or China but from a rogue state or a transnational terrorist group that does not possess ICBMs but will use subterfuge to accomplish its mission without leaving any fingerprints. In this scenario, the rogue state or terrorist group loads a nuclear warhead and missile launcher aboard a cargo ship or tanker and then launches the missile from just off the coast in order to get the warhead into position over the target for a HEMP strike. This scenario would involve either a short-range ballistic missile to achieve a localized metropolitan strike or a longer-range (but not intercontinental) ballistic missile to reach the necessary position over the Eastern or Western seaboard or the Midwest to achieve a key coastline or continental strike…Any use of a nuclear weapon would be vigorously investigated and the nation that produced the weapon would be identified and would pay a heavy price for such an attack (there has been a large investment in the last decade in nuclear forensics). (Emphasis added.)"

Their conclusion is factually incorrect. First, a nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude would likely not leave sufficient material at ground level for forensic analysis. Second, the ability of the United States to conduct forensic nuclear analysis has been degrading, as made clear in a recent report by the National Resource Council titled “Nuclear Forensics: A Capability at Risk.” This report reads in part, “Although U.S. nuclear forensics capabilities are substantial and can be improved, right now they are fragile, under-resourced and, in some respects, deteriorating.” Lastly, any nuclear forensic analysis would require continued functioning of national labs such as Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—a dubious proposition if the Western power grid is down.

The STRATFOR report concludes:

"When considering the EMP threat, it is important to recognize that it exists amid a myriad other threats, including related threats such as nuclear warfare and targeted, small-scale HPM attacks. Some things are more likely to occur than others, and there is only a limited amount of funding to monitor, harden against, and try to prevent, prepare for and manage them all. Clear-sighted, well-grounded and rational prioritization of threats is essential to the effective defense of the homeland. But each dollar spent on these efforts must be balanced against a dollar not spent on, for example, port security, which we believe is a far more likely and far more consequential vector for nuclear attack by a rogue state or non-state actor."

Here the authors confuse the likelihood of various attack scenarios with the consequences of an attack. An EMP attack is of special concern because it would destroy one or more power grids, which are the underpinning of every other critical infrastructure. In contrast, a nuclear attack on a port city—even one as important as Los Angeles/Long Beach—would have a dramatic but localized effect.

In summary, the STRATFOR analysis of the EMP threat fails on two counts. First, the analysis misstates the likelihood of an EMP attack, in both the technical feasibility and motivations of rogue nations such as Iran. Second, the report never explicitly states the consequences of an EMP attack should the US power grids remain unprotected—the likely end of the United States as a functioning country.

The United States Congress is currently considering legislation to protect our power grids against EMP. While Survival Blog emphasizes individual and small group preparedness, another important means of preparation is government action. Should you find the EMP threat credible, please contact your elected representatives. If even 1% of preppers did this, it would represent the equivalent of a tidal wave of letters to Congress. - Thomas P.

It is with some trepidation that I write this article, since what I write will be controversial and will alarm some members of the public as well as your readers. Some of my colleagues have urged me not to bring this subject into the open or to even discuss it in public. However, I think the topic is important and needs to be brought to the attention of the public. The issue is the effect that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, or for that matter, even a great geomagnetic storm created by a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun, would have on a nuclear power plant. Personally, I believe that an EMP attack from a rogue nation such as Iran or North Korea or even a terrorist organization is perhaps the most serious security threat that we face as a nation today.

As many readers may know, nuclear power provides about 20% of the electricity generated in the United States. It is an important component of our energy mix, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and although some people are concerned about what to eventually do with nuclear waste, nuclear power plants emit no greenhouse gases and are generally quite benign. [I would rather live next to a nuclear power plant than say a chemical plant. How may people recall the incident in Bhopal, India? Over 6,000 people died or were maimed in that tragedy. No member of the public has ever been killed (or even injured) by a commercial nuclear power plant in this country.]

Many readers (if they are old enough) will remember both the Three Mile Island incident (where a Babcock and Wilcox reactor actually partially melted its core) as well as the Chernobyl accident, where an explosion damaged the core of a Soviet-era RMBK graphite-moderated reactor and spread radioactive fission products over a large portion of Europe. We in the nuclear power industry have been saying for years that a Chernobyl-type accident could never happen in the USA. All of the commercial reactors in the USA have concrete and steel containment structures that would prevent (or at least greatly reduce) any release of radioactive fission products to the public. The reactors at Chernobyl had no such containment structure, and the explosion literally blew the roof off of the reactor building.

As a nuclear engineer who has worked in the industry for nearly 30 years, I have agreed with this premise – that all of the US commercial reactors are very safe. Under normal circumstances, I still believe this. However, as I have been studying the effects of EMP for the last several years, my concerns have grown.

I have recently been in contact with a member of the intelligence community who is highly knowledgeable in the area of EMP. I have communicated my fears regarding the effects that an EMP attack might have on nuclear power plants, and this person has confirmed (through independent sources) that my concerns are well founded. I have also gotten concurrence from eight other engineers of various disciplines at my power plant (such as transient analyses, simulator, reactor engineering, a Shift Technical Adviser and nuclear analyses) that the scenario that I describe here is accurate.

Nuclear power plants are not isolated electrically. They are tied into the power grid and are also dependent upon it. There is a postulated accident for nuclear power stations called “Station Blackout,” where all off-site power is lost. Every nuclear power plant must prove to the NRC that they have the ability to withstand this event without core damage. Every US nuclear power plant has emergency diesel generators just for this purpose. These are designed to start automatically in the event of the loss of off-site power. This kind of event has actually happened before in the USA, and the systems responded as designed, and off-site power was restored within a reasonable period of time.

However, in the event of an EMP attack, the grid will come down, and it may not come up for many months, if not years. It is likely that a substantial number of transformers that are used to link power plants (and this applies to all power plants – coal, gas, oil and nuclear) to the grid will be “fried.” There will be no way to obtain off-site power to restart the nuclear power plants. Most station blackout events are assumed to be concluded (i.e., “over”) within 24 hours. No one that I know of has seriously analyzed the effects of prolonged station blackouts.

Assuming that the emergency diesel generators will start after an EMP event (and this is up for debate), most power plants only have enough diesel fuel on site to keep them running for about one week (though some may have up to 30 days of fuel). If they don't start, or if the controls systems do not operate, then everything that I describe here will still come to pass, only much more rapidly. The power from the diesel generators is needed to operate the pumps that circulate the water in the reactor (called the “primary side”) and that also feed the steam generators with water (part of the “secondary side”). If power to the reactor coolant pumps in the primary side is lost, the reactor will likely begin what is known as “natural circulation.” However, in order to remove heat from the reactor core, water still needs to be continuously pumped through the steam generators so that the heated water in the secondary side can be cooled either via cooling towers, spray ponds or some other ultimate heat sink. If these secondary side (feed water) pumps will not operate, then the steam generators will dry out and then the cooling effect for the core is lost. (A steam generator is just a very large heat exchanger. Think of the steam generator as the “radiator” in your car. If your water pump goes out, water will not be able to flow through the radiator, and your car will overheat.) The result is that the reactor core will heat up, pressure will build to the point that the reactor coolant system (RCS) will not be able to withstand the pressure. Special spring-loaded valves will automatically lift and vent steam to the containment building to reduce the pressure in the primary system. Loss of pressure control will occur eventually, the coolant inventory in the RCS will drop to the point that the core becomes uncovered. Charging pumps normally would pump additional water into the primary system, but without power, these will not be available. Essentially, this event is similar to what is known as a Loss of Cooling Accident (LOCA). Again, all power plants are designed to “survive” this type of accident with minimal fuel damage. However, that assumption is based on having power available to operate the safety systems, including the High Pressure and Low Pressure Safety Injection (HPSI and LPSI) pumps to pump additional water into the primary system. There are other emergency systems, such as Safety Injection Tanks (SIT), which are passive and will inject water into the core when the pressure is reduced enough such that the SIT tank pressure is greater than the RCS pressure and then the check valves will open automatically. [It should be pointed out here that there are also steam-driven auxiliary pumps that will still function for a while to run the auxiliary feed water system to feed additional water into the steam generators (until there is no water left in the secondary system to turn into steam).]

The HPSI and LPSI pumps are designed to ensure that the core remains covered (as much as possible) by injecting water into the core so that the core can still be cooled. If these pumps are not working due to lack of electrical power, then no additional water is being injected into the core. When the water level in the reactor drops below the top level of the fuel, the core will begin to melt. This is what happened at Three Mile Island. However, the containment structure prevented large releases of radioactive fission products to the public.

You might ask, “well, if the containment structure can contain the melted reactor core, is there a real danger to the public?” The answer is, “yes,” but not from where you think. The reactor core may well be the focus of most people, but the real concern is somewhere else.

What many people don't know about nuclear power plants is that when spent fuel is off-loaded from the reactor core, the fuel is then placed into what is essentially a large, very deep swimming pool called the “spent fuel pool.” Fuel that has been removed from an operating reactor core is still very hot (both in the sense of temperature and radiation level). In fact, if you were to stand within even 50 feet of a spent fuel assembly with no shielding, you would receive a lethal dose of radiation in just seconds. The water in the spent fuel pool, in addition to cooling the fuel assemblies, acts as a biological shield. In fact, water is an excellent shielding material. You can stand at the top of the spent fuel pool in virtually any nuclear power plant in the US and receive virtually no dose of radiation, so long as the fuel assemblies are covered by about 25 feet of water.

The building that houses the spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants in this country is usually a simple building, with concrete sides and floors but usually with nothing but a thin, corrugated steel roof. This is the root of the problem. Just like the fuel in the reactor, the fuel assemblies in the spent fuel in pool must also be cooled. These pools have their own independent, multiply redundant systems for cooling, separate from the systems that cool the reactor core. However, these pool cooling systems can be cross-tied with the reactor cooling systems in an emergency. The water in the spent fuel pool must be continuously circulated through heat exchangers (again, like your car radiator) to reject heat. Loss of off-site power will also cause a loss of spent fuel cooling. Normally, the temperature in these spent fuel pools is somewhere around 100 to 110 degrees F or so (similar to a typical suburban “hot tub”). When the spent fuel cooling system pumps stop operating, the fuel assemblies in the spent fuel pool will immediately begin to heat up. These fuel assemblies will continue to heat the water in the spent fuel pool until it boils. The best case scenario of “time to boil” for these spent fuel pools is perhaps 90 hours. The worst case, such as just after a core offload, would be much shorter, perhaps as little as four hours or even less. At that point, once the fuel assemblies in the spent fuel pool become uncovered because the water has boiled off, the effects mirror what would happen in the reactor core. The spent fuel assemblies will heat up until the fuel cladding starts to melt. As bits of the melting fuel fall into what is left of the water in the pool, the process will just accelerate as the heat source is now more concentrated since it has fallen back into the water and the water may flash to steam and this may cause the pressure in the building to increase, and radioactive steam, carrying radioactive particles, will now begin to exit the building through the non-sealed penetrations, portals or doors in the building.

Of course, there are usually multiple sources of water than can be called upon to re-fill the spent fuel pool before the water all boils off. But virtually all of these systems are dependent upon working, electrically operated pumps to move this water. If control systems have failed due to the EMP and there is no power to operate the pumps (either to add additional water or to pump water through the heat exchangers), then the fuel will ultimately become uncovered. Exposing the hot zirconium fuel cladding to air and steam causes an exothermic reaction, and the cladding will actually catch fire at about 1,000 degrees C. Even the NRC concedes that this type of fire cannot be extinguished, and could rage for days (Source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 58, No. 1, Jan./Feb. 2002).

The bottom-line is that if the spent fuel cooling pumps cannot be operated or the system cannot be cross-tied with the reactor shutdown cooling system, then the fuel assemblies in the spent fuel pool will melt, catch fire, and radioactive fission products will be released into the atmosphere and much of the countryside downwind of the nuclear power plant will be contaminated for many years. Thus, an EMP attack has the potential to cause a Chernobyl type accident at every nuclear power plant in the country!

There are a lot of “ifs” to this scenario. IF there is an EMP attack or solar event. IF the emergency diesel generators will function (or not) and IF the spent fuel pooling system can get power from the diesels or be cross-tied to the shutdown cooling system. Perhaps the emergency diesel generators will still function, but what happens when they run out of fuel? In the event of an EMP attack, can tanker trucks with diesel fuel get to all of the nuclear power plants in the US in time to re-fuel them before they stop running? Will tanker trucks even be running themselves?

I think it also bears noting that the volume of fuel in the spent fuel pools is many times greater than that in the reactor cores. Most nuclear power plants have 10 to 20 years or more of spent fuel stored in their spent fuel pools. Therefore, the consequences of a spent fuel pool melting down and subsequently spewing radioactive fission products into the air is potentially worse than if just the reactor core were to melt and its fission products releases into the air. Assuming all of the spent fuel in the pool melts, catches fire and the radioactive isotopes are released into the atmosphere, lethal dose rates may be accumulated even 5 to 10 miles from the plant site (>500 REM), with dose approaching 50 REM even out as far as 50 miles. Since Cesium-137 would be the largest released isotope in terms of curies (which the body preferentially uptakes over potassium), it will be about 300 years before the area might be habitable again. This is because Cesium-137 has a half-life of about 30 years, and the “rule of thumb” is that you need to wait ten half-lives before the isotope has decayed away to a negligible level. (Results for dose were calculated for a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel pool using the RASCAL radiation dose code from Oak Ridge National Laboratory assuming 100% release over two days, winter conditions, calm winds at 4 mph.)

I urge anyone living within 50 miles downwind of a nuclear power plant to be prepared to bug out in the event of an EMP attack. You will likely have a few days to pack and leave, but no more than a few. If the reactor near you has just refueled, and the emergency diesels do not start, you may have less than one day (since the heat load in the spent fuel pool immediately after a refueling is much greater than normal, and boiling will occur much faster). Many people have already expressed here the importance of having a G.O.O.D. bag and a plan to leave their current location if required. However, many people may need to evacuate on foot or by bicycle if the EMP attack renders their vehicles useless. I think this puts added emphasis on having a G.O.O.D. vehicle that is not reliant on computers or complex electronics.

For those of you who commute long distances to work I would also suggest that you have and maintain a G.O.O.D. mini-bag. (Nutnfancy on YouTube has produced an excellent series of videos on this – he has called it an “Urban Survival Kit” or “USK”). If your primary commute vehicle fails due to an EMP (or if your train or bus fails to function) while you are at work, then you may have a long walk home. It is wise to have pre-positioned (if you are able), a bag or backpack which contains items that may help you to get home more comfortably and safely.

I will cover what is in my mini-bag that I have pre-staged in the event that an EMP happens while I am at work at my power plant. (I would need to walk more than 30 miles to get home) in another letter. But I certainly hope that I never have to use it! - B.Z.     

JWR Adds: At a minimum, in addition for G.O.O.D. and "get me home" kits, I recommend stocking up on potassium iodate pills, for thyroid protection, in the event of a nuclear accident. These are available from several SurvivalBlog advertisers. In some locales, they are made available free of charge to down-wind residents.

Sir:
Mr. Hayden presented an outstanding, almost-verbatim review of the commission reports. After having read in the last few months both of the reports, I sought to find as much corroboration of them as I could find. My motive for doing further research was pretty elementary and is simply stated: "This is a government commission, right? Since when have I believed the contents of a government commission?" (I am a former and long-time employee, now retired, of a technology-heavy government agency, and so I am naturally skeptical when I read any government report.) That research has led me into some pretty technical and sometimes jargon-filled essays and writings that at times I was challenged to understand.

I came upon some, however, that were easier for me to read, and that offer direct challenges to the EMP Commission report. One tacitly accuses the commission of being secretive in the release of its numerical data to the extent that independent reviews might find it very difficult to duplicate its findings. Another challenges the findings regarding automobiles and trucks, stating that the simulator used by the EMP commission generated much lower kV/m values than those we would likely see in a realistic attack. Thus, many more cars and trucks might be affected in a real event than what is stated in the latest report. Who is right? I surely do not know, but I am learning more as I read more.

See the excellent article at "The Space Review". This essay is pretty technical in places, for the subject lends itself to technical explanation, but I found that its presentation was logical and overall very understandable.

Note that E1, E2, and E3, as I interpret them, are the respective electromagnetic yields of a given event from the strongest to the weakest; but not necessarily in their major effects upon large areas of infrastructure. According to the author, a solar event, while considered to be primarily an E3 event, might have much greater consequences to the infrastructure than an E3 (or even E1 or E2) event caused by some lower-yield thermonuclear devices.

I encourage blog readers to peruse this as well as other independent studies for additional knowledge over-and-above what is provided in the EMP commission reports.

Thanks to Jim Rawles for the "chalkboard" upon which we are at liberty to express, and even to "screech" out, our thoughts. - "Two Dogs", Lt.Col. USMCR (retired)

An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), is generated from the detonation of a nuclear device. A similar waveform is created by extreme solar activity, such as that which was experienced in 1859, 1921, 1989 and as recent as 1994. The US Government and military have studied these phenomenon extensively and several reports have been issued regarding EMP effects on vehicles, computer networks, critical infrastructure and more. In this report, we'll briefly cover many of the topics discussed and researched in regards to geomagnetic anomalies, solar storm activity and the effects of an electromagnetic pulse. It should be noted, however, that Congress has largely ignored the EMP Commission's warnings and our hospitals and critical infrastructure remain highly vulnerable.

In the late summer of 1859, a great solar storm hit the planet. This storm was the product of a coronal mass ejection from the Sun. While the science and physics behind these coronal ejections is interesting, it can also be long winded for some readers so I'll keep this brief.

Once in a while - exactly when scientists still cannot predict - an event occurs on the surface of the Sun that releases a tremendous amount of energy in the form of a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection, an explosive burst of very hot, electrified gases with a mass that can surpass that of Mount Everest. I encourage you to research this more if you would like a deeper understanding of the charged plasma that is ejected from the Sun's surface occasionally.

What you need to realize is that these solar storms are not only electrically and magnetically charged, but they bring radiation – across the spectrum, from microwave radiation to gamma rays.

On September 1st and 2nd, 1859, Earth's inhabitants experienced the greatest solar storm in recorded history. "The grid" was in it's infancy, consisting mainly of a few telegraph wires, mostly in larger cities. This storm short-circuited the wires and caused massive fires. The typical light show in the far north, known as the Aurora Borealis, was seen as far south as Cuba, Rome and Hawaii. Due to society's light dependence on any form of an electrical grid at the time, this did not disrupt the world substantially.

In 1989 and 1994, minor solar storms knocked out communication satellites, shut down power plants and disrupted the electrical grid. These were minor solar flares. Imagine if a solar storm the size of 1859's struck our modern society? Delicate wires run everywhere nowadays. Filaments, computer chips, hard drives, cell phones and electrical lines that stretch thousands of miles. Have you stopped to think about your vehicle's computer system? The details might surprise you. We'll get to that in a minute, but first, let's talk briefly about a man-made version of the Perfect Solar Storm – the nuclear EMP event.

Electromagnetic Pulse Attack

According to the 2004 Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States of EMP Attack (Executive Report), “Several potential adversaries have or can acquire the capability to attack the United States with a high-altitude nuclear weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication.”

It goes on to briefly address the effects, “EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. EMP will cover the wide geographic region within line of sight to the nuclear weapon. It has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures and thus to the very fabric of US society...” The Commission's chairman has testified that within one year of such an attack, 70% - 90% of Americans would be dead from such causes as disease and violence. It is also highly plausible that many Americans would die of starvation due to the interruption of the national food supply.

According to the Washington Department of Health, Office of Radiation Protection, “A 1.4 Megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States.”

So, as you can see, both a massive solar storm and an EMP event could quite possibly end civilization as we know it. I know that sounds drastic, but in the United States and other technologically advanced countries, how would the mass population handle a prolonged event with very little or quite possibly, no electricity? As the Commission noted, our society is utterly dependent on our electrical grid for everything.

Trucking and transportation

Gas stations and refineries

Information and communications

Commercial production of food and goods

Water purification and delivery

Most of our military capability

These are only a handful of things that we take for granted because they are always there. If the gas stations were out of order, and no refineries able to produce more fuel, can you imagine how quickly our “civilized society” would break down? With that event alone, grocery store shelves become empty within a matter of days and farmers can't transport any goods. If you were not aware, grocery stores do not stock much extra produce or food “in the back of the store.” In order to maintain a high profit margin, stores maintain only a few days worth of staples until another shipment arrives. This not only conserves space, but allows for them to keep their overhead lower, among other things.

Once the gas stops flowing and the shelves are wiped clean, how long will your neighbor remain civil?

Several tests and scenarios have shown that cell phones will be one of the first tell-tale signs of an electromagnetic event because of the enormous percentage of the population carrying one. If the power grid were to simply go down, this wouldn't effect your cell phone. Depending on your location, your local cell towers probably have back-up power systems, as well. The cell towers, backup power and your cell phone will all be disabled after an electromagnetic event, offering you a clue as to what has just happened.

The Commission went on to assess just how our society would be impacted from an EMP event, including how well cars and trucks can handle the burst of electromagnetic waves.

The Automobile and Trucking Infrastructures

[brief excerpt from the Commission's 2008 report]

"Over the past century, our society and economy have developed in tandem with the automobile and trucking industries. As a consequence, we have become highly dependent on these infrastructures for maintaining our way of life.

Our land-use patterns, in particular, have been enabled by the automobile and trucking infrastructures. Distances between suburban housing developments, shopping centers, schools, and employment centers enforce a high dependence on the automobile. Suburbanites need their cars to get food from the grocery store, go to work, shop, obtain medical care, and myriad other activities of daily life. Rural Americans are just as dependent on automobiles, if not more so. Their needs are similar to those of suburbanites, and travel distances are greater. To the extent that city dwellers rely on available mass transit, they are less dependent on personal automobiles. But mass transit has been largely supplanted by automobiles, except in a few of our largest cities.

As much as automobiles are important to maintaining our way of life, our very lives are dependent on the trucking industry. The heavy concentration of our population in urban and suburban areas has been enabled by the ability to continuously supply food from farms and processing centers far removed. As we noted above, cities typically have a food supply of only several days available on grocery shelves for their customers.

Replenishment of that food supply depends on a continuous flow of trucks from food processing centers to food distribution centers to warehouses and to grocery stores and restaurants. If urban food supply flow is substantially interrupted for an extended period of time, hunger and mass evacuation, even starvation and anarchy, could result.

Trucks also deliver other essentials. Fuel delivered to metropolitan areas through pipelines is not accessible to the public until it is distributed by tanker trucks to gas stations.

Garbage removal, utility repair operations, fire equipment, and numerous other services are delivered using specially outfitted trucks. Nearly 80 percent of all manufactured goods at some point in the chain from manufacturer to consumer are transported by truck.

The consequences of an EMP attack on the automobile and trucking infrastructures would differ for the first day or so and in the longer term. An EMP attack will certainly immediately disable a portion of the 130 million cars and 90 million trucks in operation in the United States. Vehicles disabled while operating on the road can be expected to cause accidents. With modern traffic patterns, even a very small number of disabled vehicles or accidents can cause debilitating traffic jams. Moreover, failure of electronically based traffic control signals will exacerbate traffic congestion in metropolitan areas.

In the aftermath of an EMP attack that occurs during working hours, with a large number of people taking to the road at the same time to try to get home, we can expect extreme traffic congestion."

EMP Vulnerability of the Automobile and Trucking Infrastructures

The Commission tested the EMP susceptibility of traffic light controllers, automobiles and trucks.

The summary of the tests conclude that traffic light controllers will begin to malfunction following exposure to EMP fields as low as a few kV/m, thereby causing traffic congestion.

For automobiles, approximately 10% of the vehicles on the road will stop, at least temporarily, thereby possibly triggering accidents, as well as congestion, at field levels above 25 kV/m. For vehicles that were turned off during the testing, none suffered serious effects and were able to be started.

Of the trucks that were not running during EMP exposure, none were subsequently affected during the test. Thirteen of the 18 trucks exhibited a response while running. Most seriously, three of the truck motors stopped. Two could be restarted immediately, but one required towing to a garage for repair. The other 10 trucks that responded exhibited relatively minor temporary responses that did not require driver intervention to correct. Five of the 18 trucks tested did not exhibit any anomalous response up to field strengths of approximately 50 kV/m.

In regards to the airline industry, “Although commercial aircraft have proven EM protection against naturally occurring EM environments [such as lightning], we cannot confirm safety of flight following [severe or hostile] EMP exposure. Moreover, if the complex air traffic control system is damaged by EMP, restoration of full services could take months or longer.”

In conclusion, you have a very good chance that should an EMP or severe solar storm occur while you are driving home from work, you will be able to make it home as long as you are careful to avoid collisions. Once home, however, is an entirely different story!

There will be no more fuel available. There will be no more food and water for purchase. There will be no more iPhone or internet. And if you do find these things, what will be the price? Your dollars will very likely mean nothing to anyone with common sense. The art of bartering will very quickly take on a new importance for your own survival.

If this event were to occur, you could count on a very prolonged period of great civil unrest, riots, theft and wide spread violence. Repairs will be very slow and new parts for the large generators and power plants will likely have to be manufactured overseas and delivered to the United States. Furthermore, these foreign factories would have to retool their machines to create the specific part that we need if they are not already our supplier. And that is if the other industrialized nations aren't effected, as well.

As for the military and police, you can expect high numbers of deserters, placing an even greater strain on the limited resources of government order. This is not meant as an insult to our uniformed personnel, but from my personal experience of being a New Orleans police officer before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, I witnessed 1/5 of the police department simply walk away the first day. Some chose to leave for family reasons while others left due to stress. I also saw how quickly those we entrust with public safety can become an armed street gang and simply take what you have at gun point. These are all valid topics to consider when speaking about an event such as an EMP or severe solar storm. These are valid points even when the disaster is very localized, such as Hurricane Katrina was.

If you would like to learn more details about the actual tests, continue reading below.

Traffic Lights

In testing the traffic lights, the Commission used the 170E controller which is in use in 80% of all signal intersections. They noted four different types of effects, depending on the power level of the electromagnetic pulse.

The following effects were observed:

1. Forced Cycle: At field levels of 1 to 5 kV/m, the light was forced to cycle from green to red without going through yellow. This is a transient effect that recovers automatically after one cycle.

2. Disrupted Cycle: At field levels of 5 to 10 kV/m, the normally programmed cycle times became corrupted and change to a cycle different from that originally programmed. The controller had either been damaged or needed to be manually reset.

3. No Cycle: At 10 to 15 kV/m, the side street lights at an intersection never turned green. The controller had been damaged.

4. Flash Mode: Also at 10 to 15 kV/m, the intersection went into a mode in which the lights in all directions were flashing. This mode can cause large traffic jams because traffic flow is severely reduced in this situation. The controller has either been damaged or needs to be manually reset.

Based on these results, it can be anticipated that an EMP will trigger moderate to severe traffic congestion in metropolitan areas. The traffic congestion may be exacerbated by the panic reactions possibly attendant to an EMP attack. None of the data predict or suggest life threatening conditions; conflicting green lights did not occur during the tests. All the observed effects would cause less traffic disruption than would a power outage, which results in no working traffic lights.

Automobiles

The potential EMP vulnerability of automobiles derives from the use of built-in electronics that support multiple functions within the vehicle.

With more than 100 microprocessors in modern vehicles, one might think that leaves newer cars more susceptible to being disrupted by an EMP, but due to higher standards in electromagnetic compatibility, this weakness has been mitigated.

The Commission tested a sample of 37 cars in an EMP simulation laboratory, with vehicle years ranging from 1986 through 2002. Automobiles of these vintages include extensive electronics and represent a significant portion of the vehicles on the road today.

Automobiles were subjected to EMP environments under both engine turned off and engine turned on conditions. No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles that were not turned on during EMP exposure. The most serious effect observed on running automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately 30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a stop and require the driver to restart them. Electronics in the dashboard of one automobile were damaged and required repair. Other effects were relatively minor. Twenty-five automobiles exhibited malfunctions that could be considered only a nuisance (e.g., blinking dashboard lights) and did not require driver intervention to correct. Eight of the 37 cars tested did not exhibit any anomalous response.

Based on these test results, the Commission expects few automobile effects at EMP field levels below 25 kV/m. Approximately 10 percent or more of the automobiles exposed to higher field levels may experience serious EMP effects, including engine stall, that require driver intervention to correct.

Trucks

As is the case for automobiles, the potential EMP vulnerability of trucks derives from the trend toward increasing use of electronics. The Commission assessed the EMP vulnerability of trucks using an approach identical to that used for automobiles. Eighteen running and non-running trucks were exposed to simulated EMP in a laboratory. The intensity of the EMP fields was increased until either anomalous response was observed or simulator limits were reached. The trucks ranged from gasoline-powered pickup trucks to large diesel- powered tractors. Truck vintages ranged from 1991 to 2003.

Of the trucks that were not running during EMP exposure, none were subsequently affected during the test. Thirteen of the 18 trucks exhibited a response while running. Most seriously, three of the truck motors stopped. Two could be restarted immediately, but one required towing to a garage for repair. The other 10 trucks that responded exhibited relatively minor temporary responses that did not require driver intervention to correct. Five of the 18 trucks tested did not exhibit any anomalous response up to field strengths of approximately 50 kV/m.

Sources:

• NASA, “Solar Superstorm”. 2003
• Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States of EMP Attack, 'Executive Report' 2004
• Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States of EMP Attack, 'Critical Infrastructure'
• Washington Dept. of Health, Office of Radiation Protection, “Electromagnetic Pulse"

- Kevin Hayden, Editor of the Truth is Treason blog

I believe that in a severe crisis, most of the problems are going to have to be solved at the local level. State and federal government are too big and dependent on technology to survive a severe crisis once the grid drops and all services start to erode. Local governments, too, are ill prepared to assume this crushing responsibility, but they are much more resilient because their scope of control is smaller. Most of them have never even considered what they would do.

This article is a discussion piece to stimulate thought on the subject of small community recovery after TEOTWAWKI. I hope it will also be useful as a rough blueprint or checklist for local community leaders, or at least a starting point for a comprehensive plan. I wrote it from the perspective of a fictional town mayor. Most of the issues I mention apply to many levels of local government and law enforcement. I realize that A mayor never acts alone or has absolute power. They have a lot of people helping and advising them. I am hoping you will help yours make and implement the right decisions and that this paper will help in some small way.

Before I start spouting off about what I think will occur, I need to tell you who I am. I am a retired Army Electronic Warfare and Signals Intelligence Warrant Officer. I spent over a decade working on Army planning staffs at various levels, and was a professional action officer on the USAREUR DCSINT planning staff for more than four years. I got the rare opportunity to see many failed states and regional crisis and how people, communities and economies react. But I have never held any office in local government. Also, unfortunately, I am not a wizard who can see into the future. The following are my own conclusions and suggestions drawn from my own experiences. I may be wildly wrong, or overlooking factors that seem obvious to you, especially if you have a lot of experience in local government. So, take this for what it's worth. Hopefully, it will provide a basis for discussion and planning and generate a dialog. I am hoping to hear corrections and other ideas. I am never insulted by disagreement, so if you see things differently, I would be very happy to hear it.

First, we need to define what kind of crisis I am talking about. I am talking about a large scale disaster of some kind that effects a huge geographical region and forces local communities to solve their own problems and precludes getting help from outside. I am talking about an event that would cause a complete failure of basic services such as finance (banking) or the electrical grid and prevent the Government from repairing it quickly enough to prevent a general cascading breakdown of other services. I will use a major EMP event as my example because that would be just about a worst case event. Some of what I say will be applicable to regional or short term events, but some of it won't.

I believe that most communities are doomed. Many American and European communities are artificial constructs entirely dependent on modern society to keep them running. You can tell if your town cannot survive by looking at the population density, arable land, water supplies and other resources. If your community is in a desert and trucks in all their water, you can't possibly survive long term. If your whole population is suburban or urban and you have no working farms or farmable land, then you are doomed. Sorry. If you live in a doomed community, I don't know what to tell you. For this article, I am assuming a smallish town with a good water supply and a lot of working farms that don't require electric irrigation. Even a perfectly situated town will have huge problems and may not survive a major EMP event. Anything less than perfection is going to require superhuman effort, no mistakes and a large touch of luck.

Somebody has to take charge quickly:
Anarchy is the dirtiest word in the English language and should be avoided at all costs. Whenever I see some teenager wearing a T-shirt espousing anarchy, I get a strong urge to show him a little anarchy by beating him up and ripping it off his back..and then ask him if he still thinks Anarchy is "cool". I have seen chaos and virtual anarchy up close and I was frankly astonished at the depravity of mankind. Without law and order of some kind, the strong will take from the weak. The cruel will torture and kill wantonly. Rule of law is essential to any progress or recovery. I am writing this in the firm belief that when our society crashes, some communities will maintain order and some vestige of humanity. That's going to require a delicate balancing act because the two concepts are not mutually reinforcing and can be at odds with each other. Communities are going to have to make some very hard choices if they are to maintain order and survive. Lets hope they can maintain their humanity and Christian values while they are doing this.

Let's imagine that you are the mayor of a small town when this horrible event occurs. The lights go out, most cars don't work, and personal battery powered electronics malfunction. How quickly would most small town mayors realize it was EMP? I am guessing that most of them will figure it out within minutes or hours. There are enough smart folks around to advise them even if they are not knowledgeable. So what are your actions going to be?

What are your resources? The town owns some land and some buildings, some vehicles and maybe some utility equipment. But by far, your biggest asset is a limited amount of capital in the form of authority and good will. You represent a body of voters, which gives you more legal legitimacy than anyone else. You have a police force of some kind and the authority to spend money on behalf of the government...sort of. Your authority is real, but it's based on some fairly fragile cornerstones. Some of them may not exist anymore. The monetary system may be completely wrecked. You may not be able to pay anyone for anything. The Federal and State Governments are both out of communications and may not exist anymore. Any indecision or misstep on your part could destroy your authority, leaving nothing in it's place.

What, exactly is your authority? Where does it overlap with county or other governments? What gives you the authority to maintain order? Impose martial law? Appoint armed deputies, Set up roadblocks? Commandeer fuel and food stocks? The Army NCO academy teaches that there are five types of power that an individual can wield. You will need to use all of them.

a. Legal: You have limited direct "Command authority" in a military sense. Unless you have a body of laws to back you up, you can't lean on your command authority too much. Check on this, but your town is unlikely to have bylaws giving you much power in an emergency. Instead, you have to assume that you possess Delegated authority. You are the representative of both State and Federal government and have to assume their roles and responsibilities until you can re-establish a chain of command. In the absence of orders or directives, you are free to "assume" responsibility and authority. At least that's a good legal theory and may be enough. If this were ever tested in court, it might not be upheld, but by that time, the crisis will be over, right? Everything you do is "Legal" until you are overruled by a court...or ousted by a mob of your constituents. Your real authority is your mandate from the people. It rests on your ability to make sound decisions and convince others that you are doing all the right things. That buys you more authority in a crisis than all the documents ever printed.

b. Coercive: Unfortunately, brute force is always a factor. As long as you maintain control over the police force or sheriff's department, you have authority. You must gain firm control of your police and public employees first, before you try to do anything else. Without them, your authority can be dissolved by a few hot-heads with weapons. You are going to be forced to make some very unpopular decisions and part of your community is going to be extremely angry with you. Get your troops in place first or you won't keep your authority long. You must also be very careful not to abuse this authority or let your troops abuse it. A good way to do this is to immediately beef up your police force with out of work, solid citizens. You can take on a fairly large number of deputies from the community. That gives the community a sense of ownership in the police and helps prevent excesses.

c. Reward: You will initially have almost no ability to reward anyone. If the finance system is gone, you have nothing to trade for goods and services. You will need to change this immediately by setting up some kind of economy for your town. (This topic is covered below). If you don't lick this problem immediately, your police and city employees are going to stop showing up for work very quickly. They have to feed and protect their families somehow.

d. Charisma: Unfortunately, (or fortunately perhaps) personal charisma and magnetism are much more important than we like to admit. If you can sway a crowd or argue persuasively, it doesn't matter if you are right or wrong. This sword cuts both ways, of course. You are going to have to face very charismatic personalities around town and persuade them to go along with you, or at least stay neutral. You need to gain the immediate support of community and church leaders. Figure out who can cause you political trouble and approach them to get them on your side or otherwise neutralize them, or you will be facing a "minority party" that will eventually oust you.

A good tool for dealing with dissension is to trap your opponents into stating a preferred way to resolve some problem and then enlist them to oversee it. There are a lot of ways to "skin a cat". Let them try their way if it can work. Pull them into your administration. Remember, you are all on the same team at some level. Find that level and stay on it. I believe that in a crisis, everyone has a tendency to follow anyone with a firm voice and the appearance of a plan. Just be sure you have a good plan and you will keep dissension to a minimum.

e. Expert: Knowledge is power. Anyone with unique and useful knowledge has value and power. It's much easier to sway an audience if you have a degree in the topic or an acknowledged expert in your corner. You should surround yourself with experts. When a new problem arises and an expert or two are identified, pull them into your circle of advisers. Doing this not only makes you a better leader with better decisions, it gives all of your followers the sense that you are open to suggestions and good ideas from any quarter.

So, you take charge quickly and start issuing orders. What are those orders?You have a lot of things to worry about, and all of them are urgent and critically important. The following is my list of issues that you need to address immediately and some suggestions on how to address them. Local conditions, laws, resources and public opinions are variables that effect how you must react. Think it out in the context of your local conditions and try to at least have a tentative plan to put forward immediately. The venue for putting forth your agenda should be as transparent as possible, either a public meeting or a written decree or order. That way, everyone not only knows your decisions, they know the reasoning behind them. If you can get consensus from a town meeting before you put out an emergency decree, you will have less trouble,but some of these issues require immediate action.

1. Communications:
Without communications, you are powerless. You must be able to communicate with your police department and other public service folks, the people of the town, the county seat, the State, and lots of others. Unfortunately, a big EMP event will wipe out electronic communications in a blink and leave you isolated, just when you need to be at the center of activity. There are a couple of things you can do to mitigate this if you plan ahead, but you are still going to have to somehow establish some kind of communications with your neighboring towns and other polities...and hopefully higher echelons of government.

Mitigation:
If you can store some short range radio equipment and maybe some old-school TA-312 or TA-1 type telephones in a Faraday cage, they will be worth their weight in gold. Even a few old telephones (and wire) can enable you to keep in touch with the town down the road, or your own guard posts. Another thing to add to your Faraday cage is a couple of battery-powered shortwave receivers. These will allow you to catch long range HF broadcasts from working stations possibly overseas. Shortwave may be your most reliable source of news. A ham radio rig, if it survives, might be very useful too.

Actions:
If you don't have working radios, think back to a time when radio and even telephone didn't exist. Our founding fathers didn't have those luxuries and still managed. The solution is a central, easy to find headquarters, official written communications, and messengers. You will need plenty of paper, (with your office letterhead if possible), envelopes and some kind of official seal you can use. You might even consider a wax seal, like they used in the 18th century, but a notary seal (or something similar) with your signature over the top will look a lot more official than a blank paper. You will also need carbon paper or a working copier, but probably won't have them.

Small communities in the past used church bells, beacon lights, gongs, bugles, whistles, sirens and flags to communicate locally. These methods require some planning, but they still work.

Public notice boards were a major tool of government in the days before electricity. Designate a board outside city hall or somewhere convenient and section it off into five sections (or more if you wish). Post public policies and directives in one section and "good advice" such as water purification procedures in another. A third section of the notice board should contain a calendar or event log to keep people advised on upcoming events. (Also, you should somehow let people know what day it is). A fourth section of the board can contain news items picked up on the shortwave or from other communities.

The fifth [and very large] section should be made open to the public. Remember, they have no reliable communications means and may need to link up with missing relatives or communicate privately with other community members. A board is a good way to do this and can substitute for a public mail service. Set up a drop box for personal messages (controlled by someone at city hall or at the post office or whatever) and maintain a list of people with "refugee mail" on the public notice board. That way, if someone wants to send a letter or something to anyone else, they drop an envelope in the drop box and write the addressee's name (and a date) on the public board. When the addressee picks up his mail, he crosses his name off the list. Any person traveling to a nearby town can carry mail to that town.

You may need to regulate your public notice board by requiring people to date their notices and limit the time something can remain posted. Otherwise, the public board will quickly get out of hand, no matter how big it is. Try not to get too draconian. Allow people to post anything they want (subject to whatever constraints make sense to the town). Your board may be the best and only information service most people have.

You should also expect to do a lot of face to face meetings with crowds and individuals. Consider setting up a weekly town meeting where you can put out orders and public service information in person and invite discussion. Town meetings used to be a great source of entertainment and gave everyone a chance to blow off some steam about things that bothered them. When electronics fail,You will need to be able to do a lot of business face-to-face. If you move your headquarters to an easily accessible area, like downtown main-street, or near a marketplace, everything may be easier. Unfortunately, messengers and face to face conversations require working transportation of some kind (as discussed below).

2. Building an emergency economy
You are going to have to set up some kind of economy to replace the crashed finance system. You are not going to be able to rebuild the crashed economy, but will have to build an entirely new system, almost from scratch. If you get this one wrong, everything else will fall apart very quickly. This is a huge undertaking, but it must be done quickly. You simply cannot use the existing financial system or hope to rebuild it. About 4/5ths of your town will need food and most of the town's food will be owned by a very few individuals or controlled by a store manager in the case of a corporate chain store. If you allow the market to "work itself out", these few store managers or individuals will suddenly control all the wealth and be able to charge people anything they see fit...or withhold critical resources as the whim takes them. Some people will have nothing of value in the new economy [except their labor]. How will these people buy what they need? "Money" is not the fiat currency we are used to dealing with. It is something of value exchanged for something else of value. Any finance system has to be able to allow people to exchange what they need for what they have or it will fail. In this example, the likely results might be a riot and immediate looting.

Mitigation: None possible? I don't know how you can prepare your town for a total financial crash. If anyone has a suggestion, I would love to hear it.

Actions:
We might as well deal with this topic right away. Are you going to try to have a strictly capitalist system? If so, a lot of people who don't currently have exactly what they need, or anything that happens to be valued in your new economy, are going to die. (More likely, they are going to revolt and try to take the resources they need.) A free market is a wonderful thing, but it requires time, security and communication to form. You won't have any of these. People who don't have food won't wait long enough for you to form a fully functional free market system, which could take months or years. Without perceived equitable distribution of "wealth" in the form of whatever your community members need, you will have violence and mayhem very quickly. A free market capitalist trade system will never get a chance to form without a precursor system to hold it up until it gets established.

In my humble opinion (after seeing many different monetary systems over the years) there is no alternative to adding a very large socialist component to a post-collapse emergency economy. If you don't strictly regulate critical resources, they will not be distributed equitably and many people will needlessly suffer and perhaps die. Even if that's okay with you, consider what you would do in their shoes. Would you watch your family starve while there was food on the shelves down at the Wal-Mart? Not very likely. You might decide to gather some like-minded folks up and storm the Wal-Mart. If the police try to stop you, what will you do? You will fight to the death because there is no valid alternative. For that matter, the police force may be leading the charge. What are you planning to pay them with? Patriotism? Whoever controls the food and other scarce resources controls the reins of power. It simply cannot be left in the hands of random individuals.

To avoid total anarchy in a societal collapse, you will need to form a centrally controlled economy in the short term, designed to equitably re-distribute and manage critical resources. You will need to slowly build a free market as you are able, but trying to do it immediately will undermine everything you must accomplish during the crisis.

In order to form a centralized economy or even pay for the services the town is going to desperately need, you need to gain control of most of the "publicly available" critical shortage resources and use them as your basis of wealth. Scarce resources are the basis for a currency system. At a very basic level, Food is cash. Once you have a warehouse of food under your tight control, you can pay for labor and other commodities and resources with that food. A better system might be to pay for labor and services with "ration cards". That ration card entitles them to eat a single meal at a community soup kitchen, or entitles them to a set amount of grain or other commodity on demand from the town warehouse. In essence anyone needing community resources "works for the community" and gets to eat at the mess hall...and earns a little surplus to use for other necessities. This arrangement will also give you a huge manpower pool to work with almost immediately. You may find that you will need most of them.

Avoid giving "handouts" to anyone. You need everyone to work as hard as they can. You need them to use their incentive. Handouts that compete with the local economy are counterproductive and destroy human dignity.

Without machinery, manpower is your biggest resource. Cherish each unemployed citizen. Make them work for their pay and use them to build capital for the future (see below), food production, military duties, messenger services, trash collection or anything else that needs doing. Remember, these are not freeloaders, they are solid citizens who want to work and feel like they are part of a larger effort. Don't worry about having so many people on "welfare". Most of them will get to be self sufficient as fast as they are able. Pay them a slight surplus and they will feel that they are working toward something and not living hand to mouth. You may find that they invest the surplus and build your free market economy for you.

If you let private citizens keep their food and fuel and other scarce resources and only confiscate and control corporate or "large retail or wholesale stocks" (explained below), any citizen with resources can also hire help at roughly the same rates you are paying, which helps the whole community and drives down demand for public stockpiles. (You have established a minimum wage of 1 ration card per hour). Everything else could be bartered using food or the town ration cards as currency. If you establish a set value for your ration cards and a safe marketplace in town (perhaps even a market day, where other communities can join in the trading), you have the beginnings of a free market with as little pain as possible and almost no stink of socialism. Since food is established as the gold standard, you also add incentive to immediately start farming, hunting, and otherwise adding to the public larder.

So where do you get the resources you are going to control? I am not talking about collecting up everyone's food and gasoline. That would be an economic disaster in the long term. People need to feel secure in their property rights or they won't be willing to invest in the future. And you need a lot of private investment to get your community through the crisis. You will need to collect taxes later, but not until there is a harvest or something to collect.

You have to be careful which resources you initially confiscate and only gather large retail or wholesale stocks meant for re-sale. Anything owned by an individual for his own use is his property and must not be touched. Any critical and scarce commodity owned strictly for resale should be confiscated for the common good and held by the community. Make sure you provide a receipt to any owners you can locate or at least keep records of what is taken. This will allow much easier accounting if someone ever tries to rebuild the old
economy.

Our free enterprise system has provided the opportunity for some families and even individuals to amass huge fortunes. It also allowed groups of individuals to "incorporate" to form legal entities that own vast resources. In normal times, this is an overall goodness that generates wealth and (at least in theory) raises everyone's standard of living. In normal times, an individual is free to own thousands of acres of land and all the minerals under it. He is allowed to farm it, bulldoze it, burn it, deny it's use to others or use it pretty much any way he wants. It's almost certain that critical resources in your community are "owned" by a corporation or private investor. In theory, a single individual can legally "own" all the arable land in a community and prevent anyone from farming it, even if they are starving.

In an emergency, I feel that this cannot and must not be allowed. Moral imperatives and common sense must prevail over law in some rare cases and this is one of those cases. Private property for use by the individual is morally different from corporate property or privately owned property that is held for the "wealth" it generates. If someone "owns" something and has no intention of ever using it himself (or even seeing it), he cannot morally control it in an emergency. I believe that corporations are legal fictions that have exactly as much validity as the rest of our complex finance system. When the dollar crashes and all the banks close, (IMHO) they cease to exist in a moral sense.

Any corporate or investment property belongs to the state in an emergency. Did that sentence scare you? It does me. But I believe it will come to pass. The state has the ultimate responsibility to answer to the people and has legal power over all corporate entities. The government's charter (by constitution and a huge jurisprudence system) is to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare. In normal times, this is best accomplished by jealously guarding a clearly documented body of property rights for individuals and corporations. But this is not a universal law of nature. If corporate interests collide with public welfare needs, the government has the right and the responsibility to negate corporate or individual rights for the common good.

As mayor of a community, you are going to have to make some hard choices and convince others that you are right. One of these choices might be to confiscate corporate property and redistribute it as needed for the common good. That specifically includes local merchants who hold stockpiles of needed resources meant for resale, such as gas station and grocery store owners. The whole retail system with it's complex accounting and "ownership" laws are part of a finance system that no longer exists after a severe EMP event. You (and your community) need to sit down and determine a whole new set of ownership rules. I urge you to think hard about this and perhaps appoint someone wise and respected to arbitrate individual cases. Farmable land owned by a absentee landlord is easy; he's not there and owns it only as an investment, therefore it now belongs to the community. Large corporate holdings, like the stock of a chain department store are easy matters. That corporation is dead and gone and the goods now belong to the community. A large Agra-business hog farm is easy, confiscate the hogs and their feed. But what about a silo of corn owned by a Co-op of local farmers? What about a local farmer with 1,000 acres of standing corn clearly meant for commercial sale? What about a rancher with 100 head of cattle? You really have to be careful where you draw the line between private ownership and "retail goods", but draw it you must. Your new government is going to need a lot of capital to survive the tribulations coming.

3. Transportation and fuel
Your police and city vehicles may not work after an EMP event. In my opinion, the testing of EMP effects on vehicles outlined in the congressional EMP report "2008 Critical National Infrastructures Report" was flawed. Their simulator was only capable of generating 50kv EMP and only generated a E1 event, not the (perhaps) more damaging E3 wave. The cars were tested only until they exhibited a fault of some kind and then the testing was halted. Many of the vehicles showed some kind of failure or "faults" at lower voltages, but were never subjected to high voltage EMP, yet the conclusion includes these cars as having survived with no permanent damage.

Also, there is no reason to assume that 50kv is the upper limit in a real world HEMP event, it was simply the limit of the test gear available. I believe the test gear used was strongly influenced by the Master's degree thesis by Louis W. Seiler, Jr., "A Calculational Model for High Altitude EMP, report ADA009208". That thesis, while brilliant, computes E1 gamma burst for the peak EMP at ground zero for a burst above the magnetic equator, where the Earth's magnetic field is far weaker than it is at high latitudes (nearer the poles). Further North or South, the magnetic field lines converge (increasing the magnetic field strength). It's generally accepted that the peak EMP is almost directly proportional to the power of the Earth's magnetic field. That means that real world voltages in real world equipment may easily exceed 50kv. In fact we have some evidence of this. The Soviet above-ground warhead test #184 produced ground zero EMP intensity estimated by Soviet scientists at 350 kV. Also, remember that the cars used in the commission's testing were older cars build between 1986 and 2002. Have cars gotten more EMP resistant since then? No. My conclusion is simple. A lot of cars may not survive a real world event.

If a lot of vehicles survive, fuel stocks may be depleted almost immediately unless you take steps to protect them. I know this sounds draconian, but the police force and emergency vehicles should have priority for fuel and the only way to assure this is to implement some kind of rationing plan immediately. Fuel stocks are a public resource owned by private citizens. Once they are gone, your community may never get any more. This is a case where you are going to have to exercise some emergency powers and appropriate property from private citizens. If possible, you should "pay" for the fuel immediately. If you cannot, at least make sure you give the rightful owner a receipt so you can pay him back later if someone manages to re-build the economy.

Mitigation
Keep your town's vehicles in good shape and look into storing them inside a shielded garage when off duty. Being indoors may prevent some of the damage. If you are able to afford it, buy a reserve fuel supply for the police department. I don't know how much this would cost for a specific town, or how much fuel it should hold, but if you could somehow talk the town into the merits of a municipal reserve to last even a few weeks, it might someday prove very useful. If you bought two tanks, sized to last the police department a month or less, you wouldn't have any extra expense for fuel additives. You could rotate your fuel.

Actions
As distasteful as this is to Americans, I can't see any alternative likely to work. You need to seize and ration all bulk stocks of gasoline, Diesel, propane, fuel oil, coal and other fuels used or held by the town. The town will desperately need these fuels for heating, emergency services and agriculture. You may also be forced to confiscate privately owned vehicles if yours are damaged or you need specialty vehicles (like fuel tankers, for instance). You need to work out a method of doing this without stealing. Any time you confiscate resources from any private citizen, you need to somehow reimburse them as fairly as possible. A better approach may be to exclusively hire them as the driver and let them retain ownership.

Your town may also have a stream of refugees pouring through or past it from a nearby city. This is a very bad situation that has to be dealt with immediately. If they have access to your town's fuel stocks, they will drain every drop in a day or two. This may need to be your first order in an emergency. Every hour you delay may be critical. (Refugees are discussed below).

Another distasteful, yet lucrative opportunity you may have is to confiscate fuel (and other resources) from passing highway traffic. Whether you call this piracy or taxation, If trucks are still moving on the big highways, they may contain resources your town really needs to survive. I am not suggesting that this is a moral or desirable option, but someone in your community is bound to bring it up. Think out your position in advance and be ready to argue your point. Personally, I believe that any interference in long range commerce or transportation is detrimental to all of society and also undermines the very laws that prop up your own authority. No matter what you call it, the act of a government stealing is a slippery slope.

4. Water and sewage

Modern towns are very wasteful of water, but can't survive without it for more than a few days. Most people have never thought about how to purify water or deal with waste. If you don't do something quickly, a lot of your citizens are going to start defecating outdoors and many of your citizens are going to drink unsafe water. The results will be catastrophic in terms of public health.

Your town may be in good shape, but probably not. You will want to get some expert advice on this immediately. Many towns rely on pumped water, often from towers in or near the town. If so, you have a few days until the tanks run dry. You will need to figure out a way to keep this system going if you can. You still need to add chlorine and get the water high enough to maintain water pressure. If the machinery for doing this is broken, you need to set a crew working on water immediately.

Some towns won't be able to keep their water flowing and will have to use extreme measures to provide water for their people and deal with wastes. You may have to haul water to a central point and purify it manually, or even set up public latrines and wash points. Without ready supplies of water, most private residences are going to be uninhabitable in the long run. The folks with homes you cannot supply may need to move closer to your water point.

Mitigation
Talk to your water providers now and get them thinking about it so they can come up with options for you. Ask them to do a formal assessment of your town's situation and resources and suggest mitigation strategies for emergencies. What do they need to manually run their system during a power outage? If they can't run manually, you might consider buying a backup generator to run pumps and machinery. (Make sure you budget for a good Faraday cage to protect this generator and keep it disconnected and keep all cables inside the cage until needed). You may need to stockpile fuel or extra chemicals or buy extra equipment that can be run manually. If your town can't afford any of this, You may need to buy some mobile water tanks for the town. Any of these preparations could be very useful during a whole range of situations and natural disasters.

Actions
These will depend on your town's system. But you need to keep your eye on the ball. You need to provide at least a gallon of water per resident every day, just to keep them alive. You will need much more than that to keep them healthy in the long run. You also need to tell the community how to get pure water and warn them against drinking or using tainted water. Is your area dependent on irrigation agriculture? You will need to figure out how to supply that water too.

5. Solid waste disposal and burial of dead.
Without fuel, trash collection and burial can be very laborious. These problems would be a lot simpler if everyone lived within easy walking distance of town, but unfortunately this is almost never the case in the US. You may need to solve this by distributing simple instructions on how to do it using old-school techniques. Old homesteaders had an outhouse to deal with sewage, a compost pile to deal with organic waste and a burn barrel (or fireplace) to get rid of burnables. Anything else, they threw in the "trash pile" out back. (The solid trash pile for non-rotting, non-burnable trash was often a used outhouse cesspool, which was then covered over with dirt). On the bright side, municipal rubbish volumes are going to diminish and be replaced mostly with compost-able plant waste. Anything that can be recycled and reused, like old cardboard boxes will be treasured and kept. Our throw-away society will be over.

Burial and funeral services used to be handled very locally at the neighborhood church or even on your own property. Embalming and cremation are modern innovations that will be too expensive to maintain. [JWR Adds: The only exceptions will be in heavily-timbered regions or in coastal communities that are in driftwood deposition zones. There, perhaps there will be plentiful firewood for use in outdoor cremation pyres.] You will need your medical people to oversee and recommend procedures for burial. Make sure they consult the church leaders or you may make problems for yourself.

Actions: Check with a local doctor and have him recommend procedures for waste disposal. Find a way to distribute them and encourage people to follow the procedures by explaining why.

6. Food. (Short term provisioning)
This is going to be a real problem. You need to provide some minimum of calories and nutrition for all your citizens until the community can grow (and the free market can distribute) all the food needed by the community. This is going to be a tall order. Most people don't store a substantial amount of food in their homes and will quickly be dependent on town stocks. Most of the food in most communities is owned by very few people or corporations.

The only way you are going to save a substantial percentage of your population over the short term is to gain control of and ration most of the food centrally. You are going to have to locate and safeguard as much food as possible. you will need to establish a warehouse of some sort and guard it well. Pre-historic villages and other primitive cultures always locate their food stocks in the center of their living space to ensure it is guarded. This might be a wise choice. You may be able to use a church, school or other public building close to the town center for this purpose. If that building also has a substantial kitchen and cafeteria that you can get working again, it will save a lot of transportation problems.

Don't be shocked if your town is forced to fight some other town to keep the food you stockpile. Historically, when food gets scarce, communities fight and take what they need. Be ready for this behavior. I would station my police force inside my granary, in the center of town if possible.

Sources of food you can confiscate or otherwise control:

a. Department stores and food stores: Large food stores are the most obvious place to look for food. They will not last long whether you confiscate the food or not. People are going to either buy or loot everything in a matter of days or even hours. Unfortunately retail stores don't maintain much stock these days. If it's not on the shelves, it's probably not in the back room either. With modern stocking practices, nobody maintains a well-stocked warehouse on site anymore. The non-refrigerated foods should all be salvageable, but if you hurry, you might be able to make use of much of the frozen foods and fresh produce or even salt some away using other preservation techniques before it goes bad.

b. Co-ops and large commercial farms: These may have livestock and large amounts of feed grain and other dried foods on hand. Whoever manages these establishments are also probably experts at food preservation, storage and a whole range of agricultural issues. Seek them out and get their input and help to secure their food. You want to avoid spoilage and loss as much as possible and these people can help. Hire them. You may need to keep the grain right where it's at (and guard it) or provide power (if possible) to dry out the grain or you may need to provide manpower to manually harvest crops. Listen to your experts.

c. Feed stores: Most animals in your community are going to have to be slaughtered during the first year. Save as much edible feed as possible for human consumption. Most feed mixes are good for humans to eat. Even the big bags of dog food should be preserved. You will probably need them. They are mostly grain and if ground into flour and thoroughly cooked, all of them are safe to eat. Alfalfa pellets and other "non-human-food" products may be used to feed livestock.

d. Pet stores. Bird seed is nothing but grain and oil seeds. Most pet foods are edible and should be saved for human consumption. The issue of what to do with pets is going to be a hard one, but logic dictates that the community refrain from using up useful food stocks on animals unless they add substantially to the local economy. However, keep in mind that people get very emotional about their pets. If you try to get people to give up their animals, they may lynch you. (Your commissary should sell the pet foods, just like they do people food. If the pet owners work hard enough to support their animals, you should not try to get heavy handed. Any other approach will put you at odds with part of your population.)

e. Regional distribution centers: If you are fortunate enough to have one or more of these in your reach, you should act immediately to secure them. These centers typically have very substantial stocks of food on hand. Unfortunately, much of this food requires refrigeration and will go bad very quickly. The centers with dried and canned goods will be in big demand very quickly, so you need to dispatch work parties (with lots of trucks) as quickly as you can organize them.

f. Standing commercial crops: Depending on the season, one of the first tasks you need to tackle may be to help farmers with their harvest or planting or other tasks. Modern farms are only manageable with the aid of heavy machinery. Without this machinery, even routine tasks are not possible. Without combines, farmers couldn't possibly complete their own harvests. Without security of some kind, their crops may never make it to maturity. Refugees would strip them bare without your help. You can strike a deal with farmers to bring in their crops and help in return for some kind of payment in kind or a cut of their crop and others in the area. (Remember, most farmers are mono-crop farmers with little use for 60 tons of corn with no market). They may be more interested in what you can provide in the form of machinery, power or labor. Talk to them, explain your situation and strike a deal that benefits both of you.

g. Lakes and rivers: Fishing resources are very limited, but important sources of food in many areas if you can protect them. You need to prevent poachers from destroying their production capacity by over-fishing (maybe with dynamite) or polluting water resources.

h. Bakeries and food processing plants: Processing plants usually have very limited stocks of food on hand, but may have quite a lot depending on what they are making. They may also have usable machinery that can be converted to use.

i. Colleges, Libraries and bookstores. These don't contain food, but they contain knowledge about foraging for wild plants. You may be able to extend your resources by sending out forage parties to collect locally growing wild resources. If you get lucky, you might be able to gather a large harvest of acorns or maple seed or some other highly prolific food species. Appoint someone (maybe a survivalist or old hippie) as "wild food forager" and cross your fingers.

Things to watch for are large grain mills and industrial cooking equipment. You may also find water pumps, power generation equipment, specialized vehicles, lathes, mills, presses and other industrial tools. If you can repair the EMP damage, power them and get them working, they can speed the recovery of your community and really enhance your economy.

Actions: Appoint a good commissary officer. Someone is going to have to oversee collection, storage and disbursement of not only food supplies but fuel, tools, fertilizers, seeds and other resources. Your commissary officer needs to be a very smart, honest person and he or she will need a fairly large staff. They are going to have broad powers, so find somebody that is morally good. Whoever you appoint needs excellent people skills and the meticulous attention to detail of a banker. This same person is really in charge of your whole economy and will probably be in charge of printing currency if you use it. A bank manager might be a good choice. If you have political opposition in the community, this is an excellent place to put them if they are up to the job. Once they are "holding the baby" they will be on your side and won't be able to accuse you of any misbehavior.

7. Heat and shelter:
When winter hits, you may be faced with a grave heating fuel shortage. People staying in private homes may not have access to heating fuel at all. The town council is probably going to have some number of refugees to care for and they require heat too. Your community may use oil, gas, wood or something else for heating and each of them pose their own problems. You will need to think this issue out in the context of your own community situation and come up with some kind of solution. The most efficient solution, of course is to co-locate everyone in a few larger buildings and heat them at 65-68 degrees. Setting up a shelter has it's own problems, but it's easier than trying to heat 500 single family shelters. The public shelter model of setting up in a big gymnasium can work, but it provides a very efficient vector for respiratory and other diseases. If you can provide each family (or multiple families) with a classroom or office room of their own, they will be much more comfortable and resistant to diseases.

Providing a warm place to sleep may be all you can manage. Some homes are going to be difficult or impossible to heat once the power grid goes down and the oil trucks stop delivery. You should make every effort to conserve liquid fuels that will be needed for spring planting and emergency machinery.

Mitigation: Location specific. You may be able to encourage your citizens to switch over to an alternate fuel source (like wood, if your community has a lot of forests nearby). Stockpiling fuel for the town may be a good idea if you can afford it, but this is a temporary solution. Look around your town for some suitable shelter buildings and food storage facilities and check out their heating and ventilation equipment. You may be able to improve your chosen buildings or buy alternate heating systems for them within your budget constraints. Laying in a large supply of cots and blankets is a good idea.

Actions: You should immediately set up a shelter and cafeteria of some kind after the emergency. Schools are probably your best choice for this. You will probably have homeless almost from the start, so you need to get this done quickly. Home fires are bound to be more common and some people who live too far from town will need to move closer to the cafeteria. The more people you can get to move into your shelter, the easier it will be to heat. (Each human radiates roughly the same heat as a 100 watt light bulb. It adds up fast.) Make things easy on yourself and appoint someone competent (a school principal for instance) to administer your lodging and cafeteria. The principal already has a staff dependent on the city payroll. You will probably have to feed your teachers and school staff anyway, so hire them to administer your shelters. Administration of a shelter is a big, frustrating job, so make sure you appoint someone level headed to oversee this effort.

8. Security and public order:
Whatever your town's current situation, you will probably need to greatly expand your security forces. In fact you will probably need an Army. During normal times, your town doesn't have it's own foreign policy or the need to defend itself. With a general society collapse, that changes. Your town will need the ability to fight off raiders or even other communities.

a. Some of your own civilian population is going to get unruly. Even a small percentage acting up can overwhelm your current police force. You need some way to punish them and bring them in line. Jails are inefficient and expensive and not very effective at curbing bad behavior. I suggest a simpler system of corporal punishment (whipping or caning) and for serious infractions or repeat offenders, expulsion from the community. Find a judge or other competent person to set up a simple system of justice that fits your circumstances, take a vote at a town meeting to get public buy-in and then appoint someone to run it. Your police force should be distanced from both judgment and punishment. Judgment and punishment should be accomplished by a different group, perhaps a randomly selected jury or something equally simple and fair.

b. You are going to have additional requirements for officers (or someone) to act as "messengers" to put out policies and community information. Without electronic communications, much more of your business has to be done in person.

c. You are almost certain to have extensive guard duty requirements. You will need to provide point security for foodstocks, livestock, roadblocks and critical resources like fuel, power generation, etc. Your uniformed police force is too valuable to bog down with these security positions. You need to hire out of work locals to augment them with a reliable guard force. (I recommend handing this responsibility over to your military...see below).

d. You may need to put a 24 hour presence at roadblocks or traffic control points to divert refugees away from your town. (see below for a discussion of refugees).

e. You may face a threat from outside polities. If so, you will need an Army or you will be destroyed. You may have to mobilize the entire population to fend off other communities. (see below for a discussion of inter-community politics.)

Your security forces are your "face" to the community. They will represent the town and embody your decisions and authority. You need to keep a tight reign on your police forces or some of them are going to be tempted to take unwarranted liberties and abuse their authority.

One of your first actions should probably be to call your security forces and emergency responders together and reaffirm your covenant with them. You need to reassure them that they are still going to be paid and their families taken care of. You need to get buy-in from them and make them feel they are part of something important and bigger than mere survival. Let them know your plans and your thoughts as clearly as possible so they can represent you well. You should also let them know that you will tolerate no misbehavior. They are your knights and have to act the part.

You should also set up some kind of "military" arm to deal with extraordinary requirements. Call it a militia or a town guard or whatever you want. In essence it's an army. If you have any doubts about the loyalty of your police chief or sheriff, the military arm should report directly to you or one of your representatives rather than falling under the police. All of your authority rests on the shoulders of your security forces, so you can't tolerate any dissension in the ranks or misbehavior. Choose someone loyal and skilled with a military background and good people skills to head up your military. Hopefully you have a retired officer or senior NCO available. Whoever it is will have to be able to effectively give orders to perhaps hundreds of people in an emergency, so choose someone charismatic and smart. He will also need an excellent grasp of tactics and the ability to plan for small scale military operations. Let your military commander hire his own personnel, arm and train them and instruct your commissary and police force to assist him in anyway possible.

Your military commander's first task will be to do some kind of terrain analysis and COA products to determine how to defend the community and try to predict future issues. His second task will be to build an effective military force. It should probably be a small offensive force backed up by a larger irregular militia comprising most of the town. He will need to set up some kind of training program and be able to pay people to participate. Military training is hard work, so don't expect anyone to take it seriously or work at it if you are not paying them. You can put your military commander in charge of all the guard duty requirements to assist the police as well as messenger duties.

9. Foreign relations and refugees:
Every community is going to face the same challenges you have. I expect most of them will fail and fragment. I also expect a huge outpouring of refugees from every city in the USA. City based communities have huge challenges that small towns won't. They have limited options and maintaining order will be desperately hard, perhaps impossible. Every community and group of people are going to face terrible, unsolvable provisioning problems. The ugly truth is, most citizens of the USA are going to starve to death after a society crash. It's simple arithmetic. There will not be enough food for everyone to live. Even if most of them last through a whole season until the first harvest, there is no chance that the first [post-collapse] harvest is going to be bountiful enough to sustain everyone.

The following is going to read like science fiction [a la Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank], but I call em like I see 'em. If anyone can find a flaw in my analysis, then please tell me about it. I believe you can expect large polities to attempt to take resources from smaller ones. If you are the mayor of a city with 100,000 or more people, you have no other choice. During normal times, the countryside (agrarian areas) produce all the food consumed by cities. Once the provisions stop arriving, your city is going to starve very quickly unless you can procure more. Your normal sources of supply are perhaps a thousand miles distant and might as well be on the moon. Your actual chances of sustaining your population long term are zero. If you are a smart leader, you will attempt to save most of your people by sending them to other communities that have more food and water. If you are not so smart, you will attempt to take what you need to keep going from the surrounding countryside and small nearby communities. The best a small community can hope for is that all the large polities (cities) nearby will fail and fragment quickly. If they don't the small communities may be forced to take in refugees or surrender food stocks to support the cities. Either way, the city people are mostly doomed, but if this occurs, so are the small communities.

A medium sized city could potentially muster an enormous army. I am not saying every city is going to manage the level of cohesion, organization and discipline needed to do this, but it's at least a possibility in some cases, especially for cities that have a military base nearby. You also need to consider smaller polities like boroughs or neighborhoods or even church congregations making demands on your community. How will you react when the mayor of a nearby town or city asks you for provisions?

Another probable development I expect to see is the "professional army". Groups may attempt to provision themselves by threatening small communities and extorting "protection" from them. This is another layer of taxation you probably can't afford, but if you choose not to pay, you must be prepared to fight. Think about it and make sure you discuss your concerns with your security leadership so they can form plans.

You can also expect to see a large stream of refugees pouring out of heavily populated areas. If they have vehicles, they will move outward from the cities along major roadways until they can't get more fuel and then stop. If the finance systems are still working, this refugee stream may burn up most of the available liquid fuel in the USA in a few days. If your community lies on a major line of drift, you can expect to have many thousands of thirsty, hungry refugees knocking at your door hoping for a handout. These are going to be US citizens, mothers and fathers, sons, daughters, and grandparents who are desperate and begging. If begging stops working, they will get hostile and dangerous. Maybe very dangerous.

I know this is a very disagreeable topic, but almost every refugee is doomed and you are powerless to change that fact. Think it out carefully and you will see that you simply cannot feed everyone. You are going to have to prevent refugees from consuming your community resources or you will perish with them. You need to stop the stream of refugees from entering your community. Once they are inside your community, they will exponentially harder to deal with. Effectively killing someone by evicting them from your town while looking them in the eye and listening to them beg is going to be hard to do. If you get soft hearted and let too many stay, you will be condemning your community to slow death by starvation. Discuss this topic with your community leaders, especially your security leadership and make them see that there are no alternatives to a strict quarantine. You need to have a plan and execute it immediately or you may be overwhelmed within hours.

One final note on turning back refugees: Do it as far from town as you can. The refugees are going to be truly pitiful and seeing this level of misery will cause your community a lot of pain and distention. You need very hard men to man your line and you need to be careful to leave the refugees another place to go. Don't block a major road. Instead, block a turn-off. It's okay to be as humane as possible and provide water at the roadblock, but you simply cannot afford to give away food or medical supplies. The only people you can let into your town are town residents. All others will have to continue down the road. The men on your roadblock are going to crack up fast, so rotate them often and watch them. This will be the most traumatic thing they have ever had to do.

10. Long term provisioning:
You need to appoint someone to oversee food production. This should probably be completely separate from your commissary department. You need someone with expertise in farming and more specifically, small scale gardening. They need to organize and assist everyone in the community with planting their own gardens and teaching such basic topics as drying, pickling and canning produce. They will also have to oversee a lot of coordination to grow and harvest grain crops and figure out the most efficient ways to store surplus.

Mitigation: Heirloom seeds and fertilizers are going to be in very short supply. If you can somehow trick (or talk) your town into stocking up on these, perhaps as part of a 4-H or school project, your town will be much better off. If you have any say in public plantings for parks or landscapes, try to plant as many food bearing plants as possible. An apple tree is just as attractive as a pine or elm and produces fruit every year.

Actions: Every piece of arable land in the community needs to be planted with something edible ASAP. Without power machinery, this is going to be a real challenge. Every lawn and every empty lot should be dug up and worked in order to build soils, even if it's not planting time. Working leaf litter and plant materials into the plots needs to begin almost immediately. The "Garden Czar" will probably take up the lion's share of the spare manpower in the town just planting city owned lots. He will need to procure hand tools by the hundreds and garden seed, both of which may be in short supply. The tools can be loaned or rented to citizens as needed for their own plots and the seed will need to be rationed out carefully until a stock of good seed can be built up.

The town's citizens may have no horticultural knowledge or gardening skills and will likely not be conditioned for long hours of manual labor. The sooner they start getting their hands dirty the better. Try to hire some skilled gardeners to assist and advise your citizens with their own plots. Building a surplus and a working economy depends directly on their success at working small private gardens.

You may need to pass some resolutions about gardening to prevent land from sitting idle. You can't afford a scrap of idle land as long as you have any seeds left to put in the ground.

11. Building a manufacturing capacity. At some point, equipment and tools will begin to break down. Before that time, you need to establish a manufacturing base that can support your community.

You will eventually need a machine shop capable of founding, forging and machining metal parts and tools. You may need this immediately to repair critical equipment for pumping water or grinding grain et cetera A simple blacksmith shop will be needed to create plows and simple hand tools like hoes and scythes that you are likely to need. You may also need a small foundry and machine shop to create replacement parts for critical machinery. Keep a lookout for likely skilled individuals and hire them to build the town a metal working capability. [JWR Adds: As science fiction writer S.M. Stirling aptly pointed out in his Dies the Fire novel series, leaf springs from abandoned cars and trucks make ideal steel stock that can be used to re-forge into crossbows, plows, small hand tools, knives, and even swords. Leaf springs should be very plentiful for at least one or two generations in a truly post-collapse society.]

You should have someone begin building hand plows and other animal and human powered agricultural tools ASAP. You will need as many as your metal shop can manufacture and I guarantee you will be able to trade surplus plows to other towns within a few months.

You will eventually need to replace or repair clothing. You will have a long grace period while you go through existing stocks from department stores, but within a few years, you will need new fabrics. Appoint someone to worry about fabric production. How do you build a loom? In less than four years, you are going to need a source of fiber and a fabric production capability, especially in cold climates.

Other manufacturing capabilities may be needed as you go along. You may wish to set up a pottery shop or produce adobe brick for building materials or set up a sawmill for lumber and firewood. Brainstorm this with your staff or at a town meeting.

12. Preserving:
A lot of irreplaceable things are going to be destroyed or lost if you don't make some kind of effort to preserve them.

a. Animals: A lot of people are going to be very hungry. Most of them are going to die. I expect most species of large animals in the USA and Europe, including livestock, to be slaughtered for food until they are scarce or even extinct. Think ahead. You are going to need draft animals desperately in a few months. You simply must preserve as many animals capable of filling this role as possible. Dogs are peerless burglar alarms. Cats keep vermin numbers down. Once all the chickens are gone, where are you going to get eggs and poultry? Saving even a small breeding stock of all the useful animals in your community is going to be hard when people are literally starving to death all around you.

Actions: You are going to have to put livestock under guard or they won't last long. Someone will poach them. Any private farmer trying to keep livestock is going to find out just how sneaky hungry humans can be. Someone also needs to start training your working animals immediately. It takes time to produce a working plow team out of average untrained cows or horses.

b. Knowledge: If you don't take steps to prevent it, people will burn most of the books in your town for fuel. I recommend keeping your library open for business. Your town or local school libraries may turn out to be very important for both entertainment and reference.

c. Records: You need to secure public and as many private records as possible. Without them, repairing our current culture will be much more difficult. Birth records, tax records, bank records etc. All of these may have
tremendous value in the future.

d. Art and historical treasures: If your town has any, you should safeguard national treasures for future generations. The very fact that you are making this effort will send a powerful message to your citizens.

13. Medical:
Your existing health-care facilities and drug supplies need to be safeguarded quickly. You will have a very limited stockpile of opiates and other painkillers and mind altering drugs that will be very attractive to some
criminal (or simply addicted) elements of society. Every pharmacy and clinic in town should be carefully confiscated and put under guard. Don't forget the pet hospitals and veterinarian clinics. Appoint a doctor or pharmacist to oversee this effort and support them with whatever resources they require (if you can). Some drugs require refrigeration and may not be salvageable if they are ever warmed.

Hire as many doctors and nurses as possible and set up a public health clinic near the town center. Have them take charge of public health and start an outreach program for self help and public sanitation. If your town has vaccines available, you will probably want to use them up quickly before they go bad. Your community may be able to avoid a lot of misery and casualties if you organize your health care.

Have someone in your manufacturing base or commissary department work with them to replace or recycle medical supplies. Something as simple as a building wood-fired autoclave might be beyond the capability of your health care folks but easy for your artisans.

Also, hire as many pharmacists, chemists and any other scientists you can find. You probably won't have too many of these once they are all accounted for. If you have a few, don't be afraid of tasking them to do some very difficult tasks for you. They are very intelligent folks and can perform miracles if you challenge them. Challenge them to set up a lab and try to synthesize antibiotics, or opiates. Or challenge them to figure out how to improve agriculture in your town or synthesize liquid fuel for your vehicles, or explosives. They may surprise you with spectacular results. These folks are valuable property, so try not to use them as unskilled farm hands or guards. The same goes for engineers. Give them challenging work and have them tackle real problems.

Conclusion:
I recognize that most of us are not mayors. We are probably not the ones who will be called on to shoulder the numbing responsibilities of command during a crisis. I really wouldn't care for that job, even in peacetime. When the balloon goes up, it will be hardest on the leaders. Your mayor and police chief will need help. As a prepper, you are in a position to provide that help. How many of the jobs that I mentioned above could you competently fill? I implore you to help them. Having you available as adviser (and commissary officer or military leader, experienced gardener, metal smith etc) could literally make the difference between life and death. Your efforts could make a huge difference to a lot of people.

If your community has any chance at all to survive, those odds will increase exponentially if your leaders have a well thought out plan and make good decisions. Community leaders will need to make timely decisions on a host of issues they have never considered and have the conviction to act ruthlessly. You, as a prepper, have the advantage of thinking about it ahead of time and working out all the details in your mind. That and the skills you have learned can allow you to make a real difference. Will you step up to the plate and try to save your whole community? It seems like a superhuman job and daunting for a mere human. But if anyone can do it, maybe it's you.

Win or go down swinging, - J.I.R.

James
There was a bit of excitement when we flew the Earth through this last coronal mass ejection (CME) it might be useful for people to understand how the 1859 event was set up to cause such a powerful hit as well as its effects on Earth.

The 1859 Carrington [CME] Event was a very rare perfect storm in space where sci-fi type examples are probably the best language to illustrate what happened.

The sun is a big bubbling liquid death star, it can spew and splash at times with great power. Since we orbit the sun and it has its own spin the plasma splashes will project outward from wherever the solar surface event occurred. Since there is aim involved the "death star" has to be pointed at us, otherwise it just makes an interesting event for solar observatories.

The second factor in a perfect storm is shielding, just like you imagine with the fictional starship USS Enterprise. The first shielding the Earth gets is the existing low speed solar wind. This slow moving plasma literally creates a traffic jam around the sun. A big CME can push this out of the way but it expends much of its energy to do this. The late August 1859 CME knocked the path clear of the low energy/speed solar plasma.

With the way swept cleared by the late August CMEs the early September events were able move at full speed against the earths magnetosphere, our secondary shields in only 18 hours moving at over half a million miles an hour!

Once the high energy plasma strike arrives and sweeps across the earths magnetic field it acts like a a magnet waved across a coil of wire in your third grade science class, electrical current is produced. Any antenna long enough to receive this quasi-DC wave this will resonantly couple and a current will be detectable on the antenna, just like when we receive radio signals, the longer the antenna the better the electrical capture.

To conclude with the abstract science there needs to be a line up of several events to get an 1859 type event affecting you.
1- Sun has to eject a CME directly into the path of the Earth
2- The pathway has to be cleared of low speed plasma, probably by an earlier CME
3- Your electronics must have connection to wiring, pipe, structural conductors, or antennas which will resonate on the longer frequencies a CME produces

The two biggest EMF concerns I read on SurvivalBlog are for automobile ignition and electrical systems and broadcast radio receivers although my greatest concern is for the power grid.

Since it is literally not directly our problem but that of the utility companies we do not much discuss the power grid preps which are now part of the engineering standard for grid power components like transformers. The phone system has been surprisingly well prepared since the 1960s. Gas and oil companies and utilities do a good job of grounding their pipelines. Many parts of the power grid will be disabled in an 1859 event but most components will likely not explode in an flaming explosion, and could be repaired once the manpower is available. I would expect social problems in some areas especially where people feel disenfranchised should the power go out so expect infringement on your civil rights.

Cars and trucks should fare reasonably well since their wire runs are protected by the metal body(exception is plastic and fiberglass body cars) and the runs to vital engine components are mostly less than a meter, a bit short to induce much voltage from EMP/CME versus the energy they must survive every day from startup voltage spikes and induced voltage from the ignition spark system. I question the wisdom of switching over to a points and condenser system for a survival vehicle. I owned many older vehicles in high school and college this may have been a GM problem but wetness in western Oregon off-=road driving always ended up damping out my distributor and required popping the cap and spraying down with WD-40 to displace the water and get running right. Once I installed an HEI (high voltage electronic ignition) system I never had to worry or adjust it beyond timing, my survival escape vehicle would have been at risk were the point dwell out of tune, wear out, or I were to cross water, not so with the replacement HEI system.

Many people speak of having only tube radios for survival should there be an EMP attack. Tubes are fragile and have a very high power demand, but they are very much fun for hobby purposes so I have some tube powered gear myself. If there were an EMP or CME event your tubes would almost surely survive as the inert gases inside the tubes would ionize becoming conductive and allow the high voltage to pass right through just like a neon bulb. A tube radio has other components which are sensitive to damage, I would suspect that some kinds of capacitors and diodes especially on old antique radios would blow in a very high electromagnetic field environment. It is worth noting that the solid state PRC-77 had a higher EMP rating than the similar vacuum tube-equipped PRC-25. There are things you can do with your home electronics like proper grounding, using high quality power line power protectors, using properly rated gas discharge dissipaters on all transmission and antenna lines, and of course disconnecting power, cable television, telephone, and antenna lines during any event. Metal pipes, pipelines, electrical fences, and other long conductors can be sneaky paths for unwanted induced electrical current to enter your home and equipment.

So what to do about CME and EMP emergencies? Prioritize this emergency and the amount of money and work you budget for it against other events of varying likelihood. Earthquakes, economic upheaval, invasion, civil war, energy shortage, mismanagement and misallocation of resources, epidemic, neighbor has a homicidal intent, home burglary, or your driveway is covered in a mudslide and the power lines are knocked down. Some of these are more exciting in a Hollywood action movie way and thus more fun to prepare for, some preps make you more vulnerable to other emergencies. Use a systematic approach using researched and documented information and not just folk wisdom and hearsay for planning your preparations; don't get caught up in emotions like unreasonable fear or fantasies of becoming the regional sheriff or strongman leader.
Shalom, - David in Israel

Sir,
I read the report in the government document regarding the effects of EMP on vehicles. The vehicles were only tested at 20k V/m then up to 50k V/m if they survived the first test. The reason that they were not tested beyond 50k V/m is that is what is the "known" maximum that would be released. The Russians have purpose-built EMP warheads that are speculated to emit 1m V/m to 2m V/m (100k V/m to 200k V/m). These weapons would completely destroy sensitive engine management controls. To put this in a little more perspective, the Starfish Prime test in 1962--that blew out street lamps [hundreds of miles away] in Hawaii--was only 5.6k V/m.

Setting all of this aside we still have a greater threat from an coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun. If the United States were to be attacked with EMP weapons it would be bad, but localized to our continent, Canada and Mexico would feel some of the results. If we have a massive CME it could have the same EMP effects except worldwide, and at a higher V/m than any weapon could produce. Nuclear weapons emit 50k V/m voltages in milliseconds, a CME hit could last for minutes. If we were attacked it would be possible we could get help from allies, but if it were to be a solar event the whole planet could be in the same boat.
Here is a segment from a Future Weapons episode that shows a vehicle experiencing just such an event, and it does not restart.

This is why I am keeping my non-computer controlled 1980s era 4x4 diesel truck. - The Last Conservative in California

Dear James,
I'm responding to Michael Z. Williamson's letter "Real World EMP Effects on Motor Vehicles" regarding the likely outcome for our transportation system after an EMP event. Based solely on the simulations he cited, his is a reasonable view. Unfortunately, simulations aren't the real world, and I doubt our transportation system would hold up.

In all transportation concerns, I place heavy emphasis emphasis on the word system. It's reasonable to regard the transportation system as a living organism, and we all know there are numerous ways to kill any organism. In the simulation, all the cars restarted, and that's comforting. But - one out of 18 trucks had to be towed in for repairs. Here's a thought experiment based on the 1/18 failure rate: I'm assuming that the disabling damage was to electronics, and that the damage rate held nationwide. First, the backlog for replacement electronic parts would stretch into months or years.

Sure, you'd probably find a handful of electronic control modules (ECMs) or the various sensors for any given engine at truck dealers in any major city. Problem is, there are tens of thousands of trucks in proximity to any major city on any given day. If one out of twenty of those trucks failed, it would take a week or two just to tow them all in to the shops. Available parts would quickly disappear into the trucks towed in first. (The lucky recipients might be the tow trucks, for all we know.) And, if components failed on the truck, who's to say any replacement parts on dealer's shelves will be any good? Then there's the still-running fleet's need for ongoing repairs, including plenty of their own electronic issues. Sure, those trucks survived the initial burst, but what would happen to the failure rate of their electronics? Also, how will the electronics manufacturers function after EMP? Will they be able to produce more parts, and what's that time frame? There are further issues, but at least the problem is in focus now.

If one in twenty trucks nationwide were inoperable it would put a serious crimp in just in time (JIT) deliveries. As your readers know all too well, JIT inventories/deliveries are already stretched to the breaking point. Combine that with a bit of nervousness on the part of the unprepared...

Trucks also carry fuel. Minus fuel distribution, the transportation system grinds to a halt in a matter of days. I'll skip past the distribution challenges, and pipeline/refining SCADA issues (all very real, but hard to relate to) and focus on a link we all know well: gas pumps. When you stick your credit card in that slot, you're effectively operating an ATM - an ATM that dispenses liquid gold instead of paper money. ATMs depend on a working power grid, along with functioning Internet/telecom and banking systems to operate. Don't bet on using cash, either - if electronics at the station or in the pump are fried or if the power grid is down, the pump simply won't run. The brain (car computers) may survive, but if the blood (fuel) doesn't flow then your car is dead anyway.

In survival planning, we generally deal with icebergs. It's small comfort that a visible part of this iceberg fared well in a simulation - a government simulation at that! Cars/trucks in close proximity to miles of conductor (power lines, pipelines, rails etc.) may experience much stronger pulses than were simulated. How will they fare, and does it even matter? I say it doesn't. I remain convinced that the transportation system will collapse after an EMP event, and that it will fail at multiple weak links. At least some of the cascading failures would have nothing to do with the vehicles themselves, and some of those would occur in systems I haven't even addressed here.

EMP is a grave scenario, and I'm praying we never find out about it firsthand. As always, James, thanks for your yeoman efforts on the SurvivalBlog.

Regards, - Fred H.

I distilled the following from another forum:

See the EMPCommission.org links. The auto testing results are on page 112 of that report. They tested a sample of 37 cars. Here is a summary of the results:

Most cars will not even stall. In a test, where cars were subjected to EMP conditions, they tested both with cars turned ON, and cars turned OFF. I quote "No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles that were not turned on during EMP exposure." NO EFFECTS FOR CARS THAT WERE TURNED OFF during the EMP, they just started right up.

EMP effects on cars that are running: "The most serious effect observed on running automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately 30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a stop and require the driver to restart them." In other words, 90% of the cars would not even stall if they were running when an EMP happened. There were some further effects, blinking dashboard lights on some cars, etc.., read the report to see them described. Over 20% of cars experienced NO effects while running, not even burnt out radios, and to reiterate, for the cars that were OFF, there were NO effects.

Here's the conclusion of the commission for trucks: "Of the trucks that were not running during EMP exposure, none were subsequently affected during our test. Thirteen of the 18 trucks exhibited a response while running. Most seriously, three of the truck motors stopped. Two could be restarted immediately, but one required towing to a garage for repair. The other 10 trucks that responded exhibited relatively minor temporary responses that did not require driver intervention to correct. Five of the 18 trucks tested did not exhibit any anomalous response up to field strengths of approximately 50 kV/m."

An EMP could cause some cars to stall, which could definitely lead to accidents when the EMP happens. Most cars will run just fine, we will not likely see a breakdown of our auto transportation system from an
EMP. - SurvivalBlog Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson

Mr. Rawles:
Regarding the recently-posted article on EMP, while some of what Tom S. says is true, some of it is just plain silly. The results of a nation-wide EMP pulse would be catastrophic to be sure. Banking, communications, even food supply
would in fact be disrupted. But to suggest that well organized gangs with armored vehicles would be systematically destroying farm homes and lake cabins is simply preposterous. Please consider:

1. If fuel production is halted, no one is going to get further than one tank of gas outside the city limits.

2. If fuel is still being produced then law enforcement will operate and food production will not be halted and the point is moot.

3. There is a reason the US Army moves its [tracked] vehicles by rail. They can’t drive more than a few miles without the things breaking down.

4. Existing gangs are mostly composed of ignorant teenagers who, while fiercely loyal and ruthlessly violent, do not possess the foresight or the organizational capability to run a sustained campaign based on
foraging. While the older, more structural gangs (such as the Hell’s Angels) might be able to pull it off, once the gas runs out they, like the inner-city Crips and Bloods, will be on foot.

5. In the event of a power outage, jail cells will be locked shut, not open.

6. In order to run a successful raid on even an isolated farm house takes meticulous planning, thorough preparation, lots of supplies, and the ability to perform small unit infantry tactics. If you’ve ever done it, you know that even in the best of circumstances, it is extraordinarily difficult, because it is physically demanding and takes real discipline.

7. The idea that the neighborhood gang is suddenly going to turn into a disciplined force, operating with military precision out to get Tom S. is simply delusional
paranoia.

A fundamental tenet of preparedness is cool headed planning. We can not afford wide-eyed optimistic sentimentalism. However we do not need wild-eyed hysteria, either.

Respectfully, - Andrew B.

Noah may have questioned God about why he should build such a big boat.  To quote the comedian Bill Cosby, God might have asked: “How long can you tread water?”

In the event of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) burst 250 miles above Kansas or a super solar flare, the loss of the electrical grid would stop almost all food production and importation in the USA.  Some estimate there is, at any given time, more than 1,000 pounds per capita of food in consumable form available in the USA.  Unfortunately, it is very poorly distributed and will not be available to the populace in a “Grid Down” scenario.  So the question is then, if you personally have not stored at least a three years supply of food per person (and, no, a one year supply just won’t due), “How long can you live on a zero calorie diet”?   

Iran, as this is written, has a small satellite circling the earth 250 miles high.  They are building a satellite launching facility for larger rockets.  They have launched missiles from a barge in the Caspian Sea and detonated them at high altitude.  They have tested a sophisticated two point detonation method which allows a much smaller nuclear bomb (reduced payload on a rocket).  They have enough material right now, if further enriched, to build at least 2 nuclear bombs (although too heavy for missiles).  North Korea has enough plutonium for at least 10 bombs, they are making more every day, and they successfully detonated a small nuclear bomb (Hiroshima size) in 2009.  As well, they are developing missile and space technology.  Chavez just met with Putin to obtain nuclear energy and space technology.  Pakistan’s nuclear guru A.Q. Khan is known to have shared nuclear bomb technology throughout the Middle East.  According to Times Now, “Already Pakistan has 60 nuclear warheads, and now with two new plutonium reactors nearing completion in Khusab, its weapons grade plutonium production will jump seven-fold, according to latest figures released by Swedish institute SIPRI.”

North Korea needs money, a lot of money.  Plutonium is one of the most precious commodities on the planet.  Will Pakistan or Korea sell their plutonium or complete nukes?  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.  Syria has transferred Scud [SS-1] missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah (Jihadi terrorists).  North Korea is suspected of transferring nuclear technology to Syria, Iran and Myanmar (Burma).  In short, the nuclear genie is out of the bottle and it is all over the globe.  We have simply lost control and now it is only a matter of when, not if.

A super solar storm can do the same thing as an EMP and would have done so in 1859 and 1921 if our electronics had the sensitivity that they do today.  As reported by NASA Science  in May, 2010, “The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms….”  Such an event just recently took place.  On April 19, 2010, Science Daily Online observed one of the most massive solar eruptions in years. Earth was not in the line of fire ... this time.”    Again, it is only a matter of time.

A massive cyber attack to the Grid:  "The severity of what we're seeing is off the charts," said Tom Kellermann, vice president of security awareness for Core Security Technologies and a member of the Commission on Cyber Security that is advising President Obama. "Most of the critical infrastructure in the U.S. has been penetrated to the root by state actors." Joe Weiss, a security expert and managing partner of Applied Control Solutions, who has testified before Congress about such threats, said “The industry has failed to address these vulnerabilities.” He said “The long-term ramifications of such an attack would be severe: If electrical equipment were destroyed, power could be lost for six to nine months, because the replacement gear would take so long to manufacture.”   Note:  As you read the following, consider what that six to nine months without electricity and what the power grid really means to our society.

EMP is optimized by the detonation of a nuclear weapon at 25 to 250 miles above the Earth's surface.  An electromagnetic field radiates down to the earth, creating electrical currents.  These instantaneous currents accumulate and migrate on long electrical lines and overheat transformers, large and small.  Breakers are of no use due to the speed of the pulse which is 1,000 times faster than lightning. EMP will cover the wide geographic region within line of sight to the nuclear burst.  A 40 mile high detonation over Virginia would black out the entire East Coast.  A 250 mile high detonation over Kansas would take out most, if not all, of the continental USA.  

The lead time for obtaining a single replacement of the very large “step-up or step down” type transformer is two to three years from overseas (Total worldwide production of these huge transformers is less than 100 per year); there are about 2,000 in the USA that would need to be replaced plus the millions of small transformers (frequently mounted on utility poles) in the distribution system.  There is a huge and perhaps insurmountable problem with almost all electrical power generation plants.  They must be shut down gradually according to carefully designed procedures.  A sudden shutdown from an EMP or super solar flare would cause the destruction of major components of most power plants and, in a grid down scenario, it would not be possible to repair them.  Further,most that survive must have outside power for start up and that outside power won’t exist.  

The point is Noah only had to contend with a boat ride and live off of stored food with no one coming to his door asking for a handout.  We, on the other hand, will be without electricity for many years, able to create very little new food, and will have to defend against a continuous onslaught of attackers.

Even a small nuclear weapon at 250 miles high would permanently take down the electrical grid by shorting out transformers, large and small, because they are all tied into long distribution lines which would pickup, magnify and transmit the surge.  Although cars, computers, televisions, generators, etc. may or may not continue to be operational, a regional or national grid failure would cause a cascade of failures throughout the broader infrastructure due to our highly interdependent systems and “just in time” delivery systems. Even if cars and trucks still ran there would be no new fuel supplies.  The disruption would include communications (radio, television, phones, GPS), banking (including ATM machines and credit cards), cash registers at stores, medical, police (911 dispatching), fire fighting support, fuel and energy (including gas stations), transportation, food production, processing and delivery systems (including farm equipment, fertilizer and insecticides), water for consumption and irrigation, emergency services, satellites and the Internet. The fundamental force behind any and all modern industrial societies is electricity.

A small nuclear weapon specifically designed to produce a very powerful EMP would take out virtually every electrical device that was not protected.  In either case, effectively, the U.S. would be thrown back to the pre-electrical age and 99% of US food production and processing would cease.  Such an event is frequently referred to as “The end of the world as we know it” (TEOTWAWKI) or “When the Schumer hits the fan” (WTSHTF).

There would be immediate loss of access to our money.  Under Martial Law, if communications existed to transmit the orders, there would be extreme limits on access to our money, they would allow maybe a maximum of 5% of funds on deposit to be withdrawn per month, but banks would run out of currency almost immediately, if they were open at all, and would not have access to more.  Currency itself would only have value as long as people believed the government could restore the electrical grid and get things back to normal.  Within a few weeks, when people realize the power will not be coming back on, currency would have no value.  Further, the rest of the world, seeing our hopeless condition, would realize we would have no ability to generate revenue and they would deem the US dollar worthless.  Investments in US stocks and bonds would be worthless.  The value of real estate would be at or near zero.  There would be no access to funds held off shore.  The loss of wealth as we know it today would be nearly total.  Wealth after TEOTWAWKI would have its basis in clean water (and the means to make it), food (and the means to grow and preserve it), fuel, tools and arms and in the knowledge and skills useful in a world without electricity.  Gold and silver may have their place, but “you can’t eat gold” e.g.  If I only have enough food for me and my family to survive, I won’t be trading it for gold or silver.

After an EMP or super solar flare, except for those on life support systems or perhaps in airplanes, there would be no immediate loss of life due to the burst(s). There would be no shock wave or radiation.  For awhile it would seem to be just an ordinary power outage, but gradually, hour by hour, the seriousness of the problem would be realized. Water from the tap would stop very soon if not immediately. Most emergency generators, if they worked, would run out of fuel within 72 hours.  Food in freezers would last a few days then spoil.   Grocery stores would be looted within a couple of days.  Most food in the USA is stored in regional warehouses, and some of it requires refrigeration.  Most people, probably 80%, would choose to stay in their homes for as long as the food in their pantry lasted and they had access to clean or treatable water.  They would be hoping, day by day, that the power would come back on and they could resume their everyday lives again.  When the water and/or food ran out or they were overrun by looters, they would have no choice but to hit the road in hopes of finding food somewhere.  Ninety percent of the US population will run out of food in their homes in less than two months, many in a week or two. They would become refugees.  A refugee is a person who is carrying with them all of their means for survival and cannot survive more than a few weeks without help since they cannot produce new food.  Many would loot, burn and destroy the cities and suburbs while most would hope to find survival in the country believing that farmers have an abundance of food.  Eventually virtually all must leave the cities because there will be nothing left to eat and the means to produce new food there will not exist. (Often referred to as the “Golden Horde” which would follow “Refugee Lines of Drift”. See: SurvivalBlog.com)

Vladimir Lenin is often quoted as saying, "Where there is hunger, there is no law."  In their struggle to survive refugees would first be beggars, but very quickly, with the increase in hunger, they would become looters and spread out like locusts stripping the land of everything edible.  Remember, these people would not be on a simple weekend camping trip. Rather, they and their children would be starving, desperate and probably sick.  They would have lost everything.  They would face a horrific and uncertain future and they would pretty much do anything to survive.  A few may indeed maintain their moral integrity and quietly watch their children starve to death, but the vast majority of refugees will become looters, most of them violent?  Many would be in loosely formed bands for the purpose of overwhelming homes or retreats.  They will resent and hate those who have stored food in advance and feel it is not fair that preppers should “hoard” food while their families starve.  From the preppers point of view they may only have enough food for their own family to survive and to give it away would doom their own family. 

Some “Preppers” will have stored food, fuel and arms for themselves and their loved ones, but unfortunately most will have chosen to do so in their suburban or country home, hobby farm or cabin on the lake.  First, when WTSHTF, the neighbors that knew of your prepping will come to your door when they run low on food, first asking then demanding your food; see the Twilight Zone episode “The Shelter” by Rod Serling who understood human nature.   Second, looting attacks (violent home invasions) will take place again and again and again on every house, occupied or not, as the locust like hoard spreads across the land looking for that last morsel of food.  Remote homes/retreats will be least susceptible but eventually every home/retreat that can be found will be looted.  It may take some time for them to reach the mountain lake cabins, but they will reach them, and overwhelm them all.  The defenders of homes and retreats will be forced to repeatedly kill and dispose of the bodies of the attackers and deal with the heartbreak of their own dead and wounded until they themselves are eventually overwhelmed by a superior force.  No matter how well prepared, the retreat will be overrun.  Why?  There will be a great many attacks from random groups large and small, day and night, day after day, week after week for months.  Also, well organized and well armed groups may note your solid resistance and plan your demise over time since they know you are not going anywhere.  Eventually they will use tear gas, explosives, armored vehicles, etc.  When they want you, they will take you.  The other contingency is that the “attackers” may be the U.S. Military or a local government enforcing Martial Law for the confiscation of food and arms.  Frankly, I do not foresee long term survival unless the retreat remains unknown to all.

Typical homes and cabins cannot be defended well.  A high velocity .308 projectile will pass through the entire house unless it hits a wall stud or appliance and wall studs are typically spaced 16” apart.  Eventually a large enough group or gang will take the house, kill/rape/plunder, transport the goods to their lair and then move on to other targets.  They would systematically attack every home/retreat they can find.  Any surviving defenders will become refugees.  Even with a remote food/equipment cache, the defenders will still be refugees with insufficient food to survive until food could be grown and without the means to preserve it if they could grow it.   Almost everyone who becomes a refugee will surely die quickly from exposure, violent mobs, physical attack, starvation, disease, infection or dysentery (which would be epidemic due to fouled water). 

You may think this is an exaggeration about the vulnerability of your home and our society, but just take a minute here to step out of your house, walk to the street and study your home for a minute.  Imagine you, your brother, and your friend from down the street trying to defend your house at night with two deer rifles and a 12 gauge shotgun against 20 guys with semi-automatic assault rifles, night vision goggles and maybe tear gas and an armored vehicle.  You would be surrounded.  There would be no help from anywhere and you would not have a “snowball’s chance".   They will tell you that if you just give up your supplies they will leave you unharmed.  When you surrender they will have you haul your goods to their vehicles with smiling gratitude then they will tie you up and torture your wife or children in front of you until you tell them where your “secret supply caches” of food and gold are located, even if you do not have one. (For an example in fiction, see the movie Nevada Smith with Steve McQueen.)  The thing is they already know that many retreats have such caches so, until dead from torture, they will not believe that you do not.  They will kill the men, children and older women and take any young women with them.  Yes, in many cases it will be that horrific.  Throughout history it has always been such.

Your home was built completely dependent on services, including sewer, water, electricity, heating fuel and the fuel for your car to get you to and from work and stores.  Without electricity you have no heat, no air conditioning, inability to cook (a large propane tank is an exception), no lights, no water, no sewer (requires water for the toilet).  Without these services your home is a poorly located weatherproof shell that was built the way it was and where it was only because of the “absolute certainty” that there would always be electrical service.  Here is an eye opening weekend experiment:  Turn off all the electricity to your house (except the refrigerator and freezer which would be taped shut), turn off the gas and water and prohibit the use of your vehicles.  You will find out in a hurry about life without electricity.  Now look at your neighbor’s house, think about the houses across town, think of your parents or brother’s house across the country.  All across the nation homes are about the same (about 99%), they all depend upon services that will not be available after the loss of electricity.  And almost all will only have a few weeks to a few months of food on their kitchen shelves, pantry and refrigerator.  Translation, almost all of their occupants will become refugees when the food runs out or when they are overwhelmed by attackers and will die soon thereafter.  All of them.  Again, the fundamental force behind any and all industrial society is electricity.

Think about it:   When you are forced out of your home or run out of food and there is no new food to be had anywhere, what are you going to do, where are you going to go?  This won’t be like in the movies or books, there will be no cavalry, no supplies parachuted in, and no relief trucks arriving just in time.  There will be no help at all.  Over 310 million people in the U.S. will be on their own just like you with almost no new food being produced or imported.  Think of the total USA food supply like a giant hour glass being filled with food production and imports just as fast as it is being consumed.  After an EMP or super solar flare the consumption will continue at the same rate while food production and importation will essentially stop completely.  That means no more new food added to the hour glass!  Perhaps one third of total US food supply will rot due to the lack of refrigeration and 80% of the balance is somewhere in the production, storage or distribution system, none of which still function.  The balance available to the masses will be consumed as it is looted.  The hour glass will be essentially empty for the masses.  For anyone to survive they must have enough to eat until new food could be grown, perhaps the second summer after TEOTWAWKI, assuming you have the means and know how.

Hansel and Gretel were dumped in the forest to die or fend for themselves, probably so their parents could try to feed the then smaller family.  During severe famine in the middle ages this forced reduction in the size of families was not unheard of.  Most of us have no concept of real famine.  If we did, each and every one of us would have at least three years supply of food while obtaining it was so simple, so easy. The representation of the Witch as a cannibal is not a coincidence.  Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans throughout the world; in many cultures it was an everyday thing even without famine.  Severe famine and cannibalism, however, go hand and hand, for example the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 57, the Donner Party, Siege of Leningrad, etc.  So, when the masses are starving, be careful, they may not look on you as either friend or foe; they may think of you as dinner.
                  
New food cannot be grown until after the violent gangs are gone and those with seeds and know how are no longer afraid of having their gardens discovered.  The first new food probably could not be safely grown until the second summer.  The first crop by inexperienced gardeners without insecticides, fertilizer, equipment or pumped water will be a disaster.  You had better have enough food to get your family through at least until the third year and way more (non-hybrid) seeds than you think you need.  My mother was a teenager in the Great Depression.  She said they would plant one seed for the birds, one for the bugs and one for themselves, but since they could buy seeds, you should add one more category, production of the seeds for next year’s crops.  By the way, do you know how to avoid cross pollination and loss of the usefulness of the seeds?  Do you know how to collect and store the seeds? If you are not doing it now, you probably won’t be able to do it later when your lives depend on it.

After the burst, widespread looting would begin within a day or two in larger cities without containment due to limited communications and totally inadequate law enforcement.  Within a week there would be near total anarchy except in some small towns and military bases.  Well armed gangs and escaped prisoners, with the most brutal and ruthless taking leadership, would essentially take over and loot, rape, kill and plunder every house and food source within their territory no matter how well defended.  In only a couple of weeks these well armed gangs would become very proficient at taking homes and farms and all they could find would be overrun.  Over time, every farm animal of every description would be consumed.  Wildlife and fisheries would be wiped out.  The seed grains needed for next year’s crop would be consumed. Unspeakable atrocities, cannibalism, and torture would be rampant.   The desperate conditions will unleash the darkest side of human nature.  Throughout history, such atrocities consistently take place when there are no consequences in desperate times.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

As we go about our day to day lives it is very difficult to comprehend that any of the people we know or those that live down the street would do such things, but studies such as the “Stanford Prison Experiment” and others have shown perhaps one third of a random selection of emotionally stable individuals will, within a matter of a few days, show brutal tendencies.  Think of that!  One third of the “problem free, mentally stable” people!  Further, these guys were not trying to survive, they were merely placed in a position of near absolute power over others. In the anarchy after “Grid Down”, if the above is any indication, one third of the population (or much more considering the survival circumstances) would become violent predators plus virtually all of the neighborhood nut cases, criminals, perverts and those in prison.  It would be the worst nightmare of the zombie horror films.   The [Los Angeles] Lakers [basketball team] recently won their umpteenth season and there were riots, even with a huge law enforcement presence.  One news report read: “Despite a massive Los Angeles police presence Thursday night, sporadic violence broke out near Staples Center after the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.  Crowds hurled bottles and other objects at police, smashed marquees, jumped on vehicles, broke windows, and set rubbish dumpsters and vehicles on fire…”  But, what if there had been no police presence?   This was a happy mob.

Eventually, over a year or so, these gangs would be killed off by a variety of means such as losses taking retreats, heavily armed organized communities, occasional army units, rival gangs trying to survive, fighting amongst themselves or, when there were no more places to loot or stored food to eat, they would starve to death.

In six months to a year 90% of the US population would be dead.   The higher the current population density of an area the higher percentage death rate since the density of looters and gangs would wipe out almost every prepper, farmer, or retreat no matter how well defended leaving nothing to survive on until food could be grown and leaving very few who have the supplies and know how to grow it.  A much higher percentage will survive in rural Kansas while almost no one would survive in densely populated areas.

What about help from overseas? The USA currently exports a great deal of food to feed a hungry world.  Without those exports the rest of the world will have food shortages.  Some countries may send aid over the short term of a month or two, but over the long term of a year or two, it would be very doubtful since what country is going to starve its own people so that food can be shipped to the USA?  Even if ships are sent, what captain will dock his ship amongst a mob of looters. Even if they docked, how do you unload a container ship with no operable cranes?  Even if you could unload ships, how could you move goods inland with no fuel for trucks or trains?  Even if food could be moved inland, what coastal community would export food when they need it desperately for their own survival?   

It would be far far worse for us now than it was in 1890 because then they had systems in place that worked without electricity such as steam locomotives, horse drawn wagons and plows and lots and lots of work horses and mules.  Most important, they had era farming tools and the knowledge of how to live their lives and store food without electricity.  Just as vital, they had a functioning society with on-going production capacity and supply lines for basic staples. Even the Amish buy staples, they do not produce everything themselves.  After TEOTWAWKI almost no one will have those tools, supplies, sources for staples or that knowledge.  Realistically, the USA could not even begin to support the 1890 population of about 64 million people.  Unfortunately our existence might be more like the Jamestown colony, circa 1609-10 or so with hostiles at the gate, starvation, disease, and massive die offs so severe they called it the “Starving Time”.  It could be like that for us without adequate food storage.

What about the military?  The nation’s military is largely unprotected from an EMP.   Since the early 1990s, “Essentially all our new weapon systems have been built with a waiver for EMP hardening,” says Bartlett, a scientist and inventor who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces according to a NewsMax article.

The Military would be pretty much immobilized although they would have more stored fuel and supplies than most.  The good news is that if the soldiers who remained with their units could maintain order in the immediate area of their base, food could be grown the first summer.  Therefore, if you cannot afford to have a hidden retreat, relocating to be close to a military base in a farming area with good rainfall may save you.  The bad news is that while the military won’t rape and plunder, they will take your food, fuel and guns “for the common good”.  Since they could defeat gangs that had taken over regional food storage warehouses they may be able to accumulate a very large supply of food.  They would balance out the food supply and your only hope then is that enough food could be produced for everyone or else everyone would starve together.  Still, it is better than being a refugee with no future at all.

The consequences of an EMP burst are consistently understated. Writers of reports or articles don’t tell the whole story because they either worry about being accused of “Fear mongering” or they are in denial themselves, being unwilling to let their mind take them to the inevitable consequences of a modern society suddenly finding itself permanently without electricity.  Frequently there are articles about the possibility of an EMP and they state that the consequences would be “catastrophic” or “disastrous” or “devastating” without going into detail about what that really means.   What they don’t say is this:  Considering our limited ability to create, process and transport new food without electricity and doing so in a state of near total anarchy, the survival rate would be maybe 10%.  Even Dr. William R. Graham who is Chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and who is intimately familiar will all aspects of EMP and the vulnerability of our infrastructure and the EMP effect on transformers, etc. has concluded that a 250 mile high burst over Kansas would cause the death of about 80% of the 310,000,000 US population.  The actual report to Congress, however, just says “Catastrophic”.

Who will survive?  Primarily those who use the "The Art of War" tactics of avoiding a direct conflict with superior forces by using deception and concealment  “The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth”.  Without electricity the majority of the population will either kill each other off or die from disease, exposure or starvation.  The survivors, for the most part, will be those who do not fight at all.  The Golden Hoard or a Government entity cannot fight you or take your supplies if they do not know you exist.  The key is to be well hidden during the six months to a year or so after TEOTWAWKI, then keep hidden as much as possible while you grow food but maintain a high level of surveillance and defense.  This tactic is completely contrary to the Rambo survivalist types with an arsenal at their disposal and an attitude of “Bring it on” for the Golden Horde and gangs.

“There are a few possible survival scenarios presented here in no particular order since each individual must adapt their skills, knowledge and resources to their situation. 
1.  Very remote, well hidden, well armed, well trained and well stocked retreats with enough people to guard and defend the retreat and the equipment and other resources to produce food. Food production could begin by the second summer but if it is far away from where you live, you might not be able to get to it.   ("Patriots"). 

2.  Very small towns that are cohesive enough to band together, consolidate resources and defend against gangs or refugee throngs (as in the novels One Second After and Lights Out).  This is a tactic that would allow food production to begin ASAP.  A defendable town on the coast or a large river would be best to allow fish to supplement the diet.  However, because it will be ruled by a government, they may also confiscate your supplies for the common good.  The Alaska panhandle would be ideal but you “gotta like the rain”. 

3.  Areas in the immediate proximity of military bases where good gardens could be grown.  You would still have to survive some home invasions and looting early on but the military presence could provide the security, technical knowledge, tools, equipment and fuel for food production to begin ASAP following TEOTWAWKI.  You will be under their “anal” direction and have few freedoms, but you and your family may survive.

4.  Those who have stored food and fuel, have access to good water and can stay completely out of sight for up to a year (undetectable fully serviced basement or bomb type shelter).  This would allow a family to live in quiet comfort while the rest of the world kills itself off.  It is much more doable than one might think, see the references section about “Basements”.

5.  Those very rare few who could survive in the wilderness well off any trails and undetectable by smoke, smell or sight for a year or more by placing a large cache of food and survival equipment at a wilderness hide.  While I could survive year around in the Alaska wilderness if I did not get sick or hurt and if properly prepared (having done so), here in Georgia, the forests would just be too “crowded” to keep hidden; the survivor in the woods here would simply be “The Last Man Standing”.

6.  Those who had a well stocked sailboat that could be sailed to the tropics (Watch out for Pirates).  This is a situation where having gold and silver would pay big dividends.

7.  The Amish are wonderfully equipped with tools and knowledge to survive and thrive in the long term without electricity, however, they will be wiped out and their food stocks taken since they do not have guns or knowledge of defensive tactics.  They do not have the ability to survive in the short term against armed gangs.  This is a classic example of the skill sets necessary to survive early in TEOTWAWKI are much different that those required much later in TEOTWAKI but that for anyone to survive in the long term, they must have both sets.  Since the Amish farms function without electricity, when they and the gangs are dead and gone, the tools and systems will still be in place if you know how to utilize them.  Of course, all of the animals will have been consumed.

Others who may survive are refugees with skills useful in a post TEOTWAWKI world who may find refuge in one of the above.  What skills?  Read books about life in 1890 (Lawyers, politicians and stock brokers need not apply but those who could fix a tooth or build a steam engine would be in high demand… a steam engine fired by wood or coal could power a generator to create electricity).  Travel tip:  have a map showing the nearest military base and be there very soon because even the military will have its limits of how many people they can handle.
 
WTSHTF, at some point each and every one of us must decide if we actually want to survive to a life that would be harder than any we have ever imagined.  But more than that we must decide if we are willing to kill other human beings to defend our food cache and loved ones?  Are we willing to kill others to take food so our loved ones could survive?  What about witnessing the killings, rapes, torture of our friends, neighbors and loved ones and enduring the smell of rotting bodies that goes on without end.  Are we strong enough to mentally go through all of that and keep our sanity and our will to live?  Will we survive the guilt of our own survival when the vast majority has died?  Further, the mental stress after an EMP burst would be monumental.  People would have to instantly transition from the availability of vast amounts of information at their fingertips and information overload to a near total information vacuum.  A great many will not be able to handle all or even part of it.  Even highly trained military personnel do not handle such events well, how can ordinary citizens hope to live through it and stay sane.

What about Mutual Assured Destruction that kept USA and USSR from war?  Maybe but MAD might not work.  There are some fanatics in Iran.  Ahmadinejad has said that he wants to bring about the coming of the 12th Imam: "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi" – Ahmadinejad. (So what then are the conditions for the Mahdi's arrival? The destruction of Israel and world conflagration).  The threat of our retaliation and the destruction of Iran and the Middle East may not be much of a deterrent in Ahmadinejad’s belief system.  If Ahmadinejad could simultaneously detonate a bomb in Tel Aviv and 6 to 10 nuclear satellites around the globe at 250 miles high to cause the eventual death of the majority of the world’s infidel population and significantly level the playing field, do you think he would?  Are you kidding?  In a New York minute.  He can’t do it yet, but, even though it may take years, Iran is working feverishly on the satellite delivery system and in making bombs themselves.

Of course, our own Sun could beat Ahmadinejad to the punch.  Severe space weather events that we know about originating from the Sun with the Earth in the “line of fire” have occurred in 1989, 1921 and 1859 (geomagnetic solar super storms).  In 1989 only one of the very large difficult to replace step up/step down transformer was destroyed.  The 1921 event was 10 times stronger and if it happened today it would probably destroy all of the large transformers.  The 1859 event was much stronger than the one in 1921.  Such an event could easily destroy the huge transformers that would take years to replace (If the capacity to produce them still existed) which means years without electricity for most of the population.  The problem is, we can’t survive that long.  Scientists consider the recurrence of such a solar super storm as not just a possibility but as inevitable.  Indeed, if the Earth had been in the line of fire on April 19, 2010 we quite probably would be living “Grid Down” in TEOTWAWKI right now.  How prepared were you and your family on April 19? 

Can an EMP burst be prevented?  The Heritage Foundation has written extensively on the subject and it is well worth the read.  At present defensive missiles are in place in Alaska and California to take out intercontinental missiles in the atmosphere from N. Korea.  We must have defensive missiles around the entire USA that are capable of taking out long and short range missiles (such as a Scud  or Iran’s new 1,200 mile missile launched from a freighter like Iran did in the Caspian Sea).  When the “Star Wars” defense was proposed in the 1980’s there were those who said such a defense was not possible because “you can’t hit a bullet with another bullet”, but now the experts say “We can hit a spot on a bullet with another bullet”.  We have the technology to do this.

We should protect our transformers by requiring all new ones to be EMP and solar flare protected (it adds about 5% to the cost).  We could use that stimulus money to retrofit existing transformers, if possible and protect our railroad engines and systems, fuel production, transportation, and electrical generation systems. 

If we prepare now, quickly, two things will be accomplished:  First, there would be a good chance that the civilized world we know today would survive an EMP burst or super solar storm and, two, there would be far less incentive for an EMP strike.  But, as it stands now, if you wanted to destroy the USA whom you perceive to be the devil, you would be salivating at the prospect of launching a few missiles off a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico and causing the death of 90% of the US population.  For those who wish to destroy us it has to be positively orgasmic and we should absolutely not underestimate their resourcefulness.  Remember, they have access to all of the EMP information you and I do and probably much more.  They also have the ability to coordinate a massive cyber attack on the electrical grid which is extremely vulnerable.

That said, the nuclear genie is indeed out of the bottle.  Al-Qaeda is said to control 80 freighter ships.  It is only a matter of time before organized terrorist groups obtain a bomb that they can sail into one of our port cities.  A crude bomb from Iran’s uranium would weigh a few thousand pounds.   The fact is, we will have to accept the horrific reality that, from time to time, a major coastal city will be nuked from a freighter or small submarine, terrorists have both.  Such is the reality of the failure to contain the nuclear genie.  They have the desire to kill every man, woman and child in the USA and they have the means to deliver a nuke to our coastal cities; they just need the nuke.

What would be so difficult about having someone like “Jihad Jane” purchase a good sized boat with a dock slip at Gangplank Marina on the Potomac River in Wash. D.C., motor out through Chesapeake Bay to the ocean to pick up a nuke from a freighter at night then arrive at Gangplank Marina on a weekday afternoon and detonate it ?   

If one of our cities is nuked, the nation will be under martial law.  If your retreat is very far away, the police or military may prevent you from getting there.  If you live anywhere on either coast they will probably not let you exit inland.  Both politicians and the military have shown their propensity to confiscate guns at such times and most certainly will do so again.  Further, the “temporary” martial law may well become permanent.  Your stored food may be deemed “Hoarding” and be confiscated in an unconstitutional but nonetheless real house to house search performed by guys who are looking for secret hiding places.  You do not want these people to be able to find either your beans or your bullets because, even under permanent martial law, we may still be hit by an EMP burst or solar storm or another coastal nuke.   

The world is different today than ever before.  The basic problem in our psyche is that we have the “white hat” cowboy mentality; we never throw the first punch, we never draw the gun first; we wait for the bad guy to shoot or draw and only then do we react.  This time, if we wait for them to strike first with an EMP without being well prepared, this country, as we know it, will cease to exist.  Our military may well destroy their country in retaliation, if they knew where the nuke(s) came from, but the above EMP scenario will still take place here regardless of what happens to the other guy later.

During the cold war we lived with the fear in the back of our minds that one day there may be Global Thermonuclear War that would destroy the world.  However, while Global Thermonuclear War is still a possibility, a super solar storm, EMP burst and/or nuked coastal cities are eventual certainties.   Nuking a coastal city is easiest and most likely, of course, but our unconscionable lack of preparation makes an EMP burst so appealing they will do everything in their power to make it happen.

Noah knew he could not tread water for long and built the Ark.  Since people cannot live on a zero calorie diet for long and the Federal Government, who’s primary duty is to protect us, is doing nothing to prevent or prepare for an EMP, super solar flare or cyber attack, we all had better store at least three years of beans, band aids, bullets and benzin.  In other words, become a “Prepper”, but do so wisely, very well hidden and very very secretly.

“If you think the unthinkable and devise plans to survive, then when the unthinkable occurs, you are prepared and will make the correct choices automatically.” (SurvivalBlog.com)   A basic rule of thumb in survival situations is that 10% will do the absolute wrong thing, 80% will do nothing and wait to be led, while 10% do the right thing. 

An EMP, a massive cyber attack, and a nuked coastal city are all possible but a super solar flare is inevitable.  Just a word of caution here, once you let yourself think about such threats and project the inevitable outcomes of life here in the USA without electricity, it is very difficult to get your mind back inside that “denial” box."- Tom  S.

About wood stoves:  Having lived in an Alaskan cabin with only wood heat for four years I know that the smoke makes it very difficult to keep your presence a secret.  Even a year or two after TEOTWAWKI you still will want to keep your existence as secret as possible, therefore do not use just any wood stove; use the 95% efficient and virtually smokeless wood stoves available that, with very dry wood, produce almost no smoke.  Further, use wood fuel that does not have a strong odor such as birch and avoid those that do such as cedar or some hardwoods.  For wilderness survival there is nothing better than a small fan forced wood stove such as the Sierra stove or similar.  I have used these on extended Alaska camp-outs with the Boy Scouts with great success and always unlimited fuel.  Because they are fan forced they are very good at burning any wood and producing almost no smoke.  This type of fan forced fire is very useful for surviving in the wilderness or, with larger versions and side feed, using outside your retreat to process food.

Basements:  Undetectable fully serviced basements/retreats:  A family or group in an undetectable basement or bomb shelter can survive in quiet comfort while the rest of the world kills itself off without the tear jerking confrontations from starving beggars, violent confrontations with gangs, looters or the military.  And yes, it is very possible. 

I once saw an article about a family who bought a house and after living there for two years discovered there was a full basement under the house.  The previous owner had sealed up the stairs going down and filled in the small windows that had previously been visible.  Why did he do that?  He was hiding a flooded basement.  So, if a basement can be invisible to someone who actually lives in a house for over two years, what would it take to make a basement invisible to looters and gangs who would be there for less than 30 minutes?   That will be the subject of a separate article.

Selected References:

SurvivalBlog.com, numerous writings

“Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons: Congress Must Understand the Risk” by Baker Spring, Heritage Foundation WebMemo #2822

"Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack," Volume 1: Executive Report, 2004

"Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: Critical National Infrastructures," April 2008
Executive Report (See the EMP Commission web site.)

From the Executive Report Summary:  “However, now even a single, low-yield nuclear explosion high above the United States… can produce a large-scale EMP effect that could result in a widespread loss of electronics, but no direct fatalities, and may not necessarily evoke a large nuclear retaliatory strike by the U.S. military. This, coupled with published articles discussing the vulnerability of U.S. critical infrastructure control systems, and some U.S. military battlefield systems to the effects of EMP, may create a new incentive for other countries to rapidly develop or acquire a nuclear capability.”

“The electrical power system has become virtually fully dependent upon electronic systems working nearly flawlessly. The overall system reliability is testimony to the skill and effectiveness of the control systems. However, the lack of margin (combination of generation and transmission margins) results in making catastrophic cascading outages far more likely, and should the electronics be disrupted, the system is highly likely to fail on a broad scale. Thus, the small margin and reliance on electronics give rise to EMP vulnerability.”

“All production for these large transformers used in the United States is currently offshore.  Delivery time for these items under benign circumstances is typically one to two years.  There are about 2,000 such transformers rated at or above 345 kV in the United States with about 1 percent per year being replaced due to failure or by the addition of new ones. Worldwide production capacity is less than 100 units per year and serves a world market, one that is growing at a rapid rate in such countries as China and India. Delivery of a new large transformer ordered today is nearly 3 years, including both manufacturing and transportation. An event damaging several of these transformers at once means it may extend the delivery times to well beyond current time frames as production is taxed. The resulting impact on timing for restoration can be devastating. Lack of high voltage equipment manufacturing capacity represents a glaring weakness in our survival and recovery to the extent these transformers are vulnerable….”

“Many electric generating plants would be severely damaged by uncontrolled shut down.  Almost none, even if not damaged, would be able to restart without external power.”

“EMP is one event that may couple ultimately unmanageable currents and voltages into an electrical system routinely operated with little margin and cause the collapse of large portions of the electrical system. In fact, the Commission is deeply concerned that such impacts are certain in an EMP event unless practical steps are taken to provide protection for critical elements of the electric system and to provide for rapid restoration of service, particularly to essential loads.”

“The current strategy for recovering from such failures is based on the assumption of sporadic failures of small numbers of components, and for larger failures, drawing on resources from outside the affected area. This strategy leaves us ill-prepared to respond effectively to an EMP attack that would potentially result in damage to vast numbers of components nearly simultaneously over an unprecedented geographic scale.”

“The Commission has concluded that the electrical system within the NERC region so disrupted will collapse with near certainty. Thus one or more of the three integrated, frequency-independent NERC regions will be without electrical service. This loss is very large geographically and restoration is very likely to be beyond short-term emergency backup generators and batteries. Any reasonable EMP event would be much larger than the Texas region so basically the concern is the Eastern and Western regions with Texas either included or not depending upon the location of the weapon. The basic threat to U.S. society that moves an EMP event from a local or short-term adverse impact to a more prolonged and injurious event is the time it takes to restore electrical and other infrastructure service.

North American Electric Reliability Corporation three regions, Texas, West and East.  All of these collapse mechanisms acting simultaneously provide the unambiguous conclusion that electrical power system collapse for the NERC region largely impacted by the EMP weapon is inevitable in the event of attack using even a relatively low-yield device of particular characteristics.

EMP attack on the electrical power system is an extraordinarily serious problem but one that can be reduced below the level of a catastrophic national consequence through focused effort coordinated between industry and government.”

Independent Working Group, "Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century," 2009 Report, p. 130, at

Rawles, James Wesley, "Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse", Ulysses Press, 2009           

Forstchen, William R., One Second After, Tom Doherty Assoc., 2009

Lights Out, by Half Fast (formerly an Internet e-novel, now being published)

CBS Twilight Zone episode “The Shelter”

Brieitbart.com  “Spies compromised US electric grid”, Associated Press

Severe Space Weather Events—Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts Workshop Report Committee on the Societal and Economic Impacts of Severe Space Weather Events: A Workshop, National Research Council
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12507.html

“EMP Attack Would Send America into a Dark Age”  “EMP Attack Would Wipe Out U.S. Military”, NewsMax, Monday, 28 Sep 200

Some key quotes:

“An estimated 80 percent of the population would die within a year of an EMP strike from starvation or disease or would freeze to death, according to William Graham, who was chairman of the congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack.”

“The nation’s military is largely unprotected in the event an enemy launches a nuclear bomb that would fry microchips and the power grid with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., tells Newsmax.”

“Since the early 1990s, “Essentially all our new weapon systems have been built with a waiver for EMP hardening,” says Bartlett, a scientist and inventor who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces.
“If an enemy used an EMP enhanced weapon — and Russian generals told our EMP commission that they had developed weapons which emit 200 kilovolts per meter weapon — I’ve been assured by experts in the area that everything would be down,” says Bartlett, who has been the leading member of Congress fighting to recognize EMP as a threat.”

In fact, “One of the first things [an enemy] would do is an EMP laydown to deny you the use of all your equipment which is not EMP hardened, which is essentially all our equipment,” Bartlett says. “They don’t harden against EMP any more.”

The Stanford Prison Experiment:

The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted in 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University. Twenty-four undergraduates were selected out of 70 to play the roles of both guards and prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Those selected were chosen for their lack of psychological issues, crime history, and medical disabilities, in order to obtain a representative sample. Roles were assigned based on a coin toss.

Prisoners and guards rapidly adapted to their roles, stepping beyond the boundaries of what had been predicted and leading to dangerous and psychologically damaging situations. One-third of the guards were judged to have exhibited “genuine” sadistic tendencies, while many prisoners were emotionally traumatized and two had to be removed from the experiment early. After a graduate student (prisoner #819) broke down from the inhumane conditions in the prison, and realizing that he had been passively allowing unethical acts to be performed under his direct supervision, Zimbardo concluded that both prisoners and guards had become too grossly absorbed in their roles and terminated the experiment after six days.

Milgram, Stanley, 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View.  Milgram described experiments conducted at Yale University in 1961after the start of the trial of German Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised his psychological study to answer the question: "Was it that Eichmann and his accomplices in the Holocaust had mutual intent, in at least with regard to the goals of the Holocaust?" In other words, "Was there a mutual sense of morality among those involved?" Milgram's testing suggested that it could have been that the millions of accomplices were merely following orders, despite violating their deepest moral beliefs.  He set up an experiment and showed that most ordinary people can become accomplices in killing totally innocent individuals. 
Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr wrote in 1981 that the Milgram experiment and the Stanford prison experiment were frightening in their implications about the danger which lurks in the darker side of human nature.

33 Minutes   Protecting America in the New Missile Age (2008) by The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002 Ph. (202) 546-4400

Food production and life styles in the USA in 1900 compared to life today:

In 1900, 39 percent of the U.S. population (about 30 million people) lived on farms; today that percentage has plummeted to less than 2 percent (only about 4.5 million people).  The transformation of the United States from a nation of farmers to a nation in which less than 2 percent of the population is able to feed the other 98 percent is made possible only by technology.

Human survival without food:

Physical condition, age, amount of fat, and air temperature are major factors but an absolute deprivation of food, on average, will greatly diminish a person’s capacity for physical work within a few days. After 4 to 5 days without food, the average person will suffer from impaired judgment and have difficulty performing simple intellectual tasks. After two weeks without food, the average person will be virtually incapacitated. Death typically results between 30 to 60 days with a few being able to last up to 70 days.  This is without any physical activity and plenty of good water.

Irish Hunger Strike of 1981

I've often written in SurvivalBlog about the over-dependence of modern societies on technology. Our level of dependence on high technology is large, and steadily growing.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle summed up over-dependence on technology in their novel Lucifer's Hammer:

"Whole nations depends on technology. Stop the wheels for two days and you'd have riots. No place is more than two meals from a revolution. Think of Los Angeles or New York with no electricity. Or a longer view, fertilizer plants stop. Or a longer view yet, no new technology for ten years. What happens to our standard of living? Yet the damned fools won't pay ten minutes' attention a day to science and technology. How many people know what they're doing? Where do these carpets come from? The clothes you're wearing? What do carburetors do? Where do sesame seeds come from? Do you know? Does one voter out of thirty? They won't spend ten minutes a day thinking about the technology that keeps them alive."

So what happens when the grid goes down? Thirty or forty years ago, if the power grids collapsed, there could still be considerable commerce transacted. But today? I think not. It would be la fin du monde tel que nous le connaissons. So much of our daily commerce is tied to electronic cash registers, ATMs, computerized inventory control systems, point-of-purchase credit card transactions, debit cards, and the Internet that I have doubts that there would be an easy transition in reverting to "the old way of doing business." Furthermore, many retail stores in the US and Canada are now housed in almost windowless buildings constructed with tilt-up slab architecture. So even if businesses wanted to stay open in the midst of a power failure, they couldn't, because there wouldn't be enough daylight to see the merchandise.

Technological Complexity

Part of our dependence on technology is tied to the increasing complexity of the technologies themselves. With each passing year, the complexity of high tech systems increases. Some of this complexity contributes to redundancy and robustness, but most of it does not. Do you really need an electric clothes dryer with microprocessors? Or a toaster with a microprocessor? Don't laugh, many of them are now made that way. As an illustration, when I recently bought a slightly used pickup truck , I felt obliged to buy an extended warranty, but only because it was a 2009 model with an absurd number of "bells and whistles." It seems that there are no longer "stripped down" models available. Almost all the new rigs come with power windows and so many electronic gadgets that the owner's manual is nearly an inch thick! There is so much complexity built into this vehicle, that the likelihood of a failure of some sort (electronic, or mechanical) seems very likely. This a is a far cry from my fondly-remembered 1968 Ford Bronco. There wasn't much that could go wrong with it, and the few items that did fail were all owner serviceable.

The miniaturization of microcircuits has changed considerably in the past 30 years. The typical gate sizes of microcircuits has been reduced from two or three microns, to far less than one micron. The smaller the gate, the easier it is for a stray voltage to "weld" it shut. This has made microchips increasingly vulnerable to static electricity, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and solar flares.

Many systems in a variety of industries have been developed that are completely dependent on computer controls. There is no reversion available for "manual backup." Without the CPUs, you have a dead system.

Logistical Complexity

As I've discussed before in SurvivalBlog, we now live in a world with very long chains of supply and just in time (kanban) supply chain management. Meanwhile, container ship docks are now being transitioned to computerized management.

Financial Complexity

Derivatives. That sums it up in just one word.

Medical Care Complexity

One of the blessings of the modern age of science is life extension through medical technology. But it has also become one of our vulnerabilities. If the grids go down, so will millions of Americans with chronic illnesses. Here are some examples: Millions of people now depend upon medical oxygen--both in clinical environments and at home. At least 11,000,000 people in the US and Canada have been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) -- the catch-all term now used for chronic emphysema and bronchitis. Most of them are on medical oxygen, and some of them 24/7. More than 100,000 patients get heart pacemakers implanted each year in the United States. Nearly 24,000,000 people in the United States have diabetes, many of whom require regular insulin injections. More than 500,000 people in the U.S. are classified as having End-stage Renal Disease (ESRD). The number of newly diagnosed cases has roughly doubled in the past 10 years and the same has happened in Canada. Without regular kidney dialysis (or a kidney transplant), many of them would die within a few months. There are also millions of Americans that have severe sleep apnea, who use CPAP machines. For a small percentage of them, without a CPAP machine running every night, they would have complications and die. There are about 500,000 Americans that have had various "ostomy" procedures like urostomy, colostomy and iliostomy. Many of these patients are on very restricted diets, and many need specialized appliances. And of course there are also many millions of Americans that are dependent on daily doses of various medications.

In summary, any large societal disruption that interrupts the power grid and/or the supply infrastructure would result in a large die-off of patients with chronic illnesses.

Conclusion

We've built ourselves an enormous complexity trap. And for most of us, the severity of this won't become apparent until after the grids go down.

Jim:
One question comes to mind, does his basement have a restroom, or is he relying on a honey bucket? Also, how does he intend to deal with cooking odors [both good and bad?] Might be a huge tip off in a SHTF situation. Thanks, - Greg L.

Sir:
Most of us have furnaces, A/C and hot water heaters in our basements, and they require seasonal maintenance by outside contractors. The description from Jeff W. sounds like he may have restricted access to these devices (180 degree turn at the bottom of the steps), or they're not in the basement...

How did Jeff W. overcome this problem? - Dave in Missouri

Hi Jim,
I just had to respond to this piece. There are three glaring omissions that will turn this place into a nightmare in short order. The first is air circulation. Without an air exchange system, there will be CO2 build up that will make the place unbearable and dangerous. Cooking will be out of the question. The second problem is waste management. In a month, the smell will be bad, the flies worse and the prospect of disease a reality. It would take a power source to run a pump to push sewage into an existing system. The final problem is likely to be moisture. Even if rain does not actually run into a basement, moisture is a reality in underground living. Best wishes, - Kathy Harrison (author of Just in Case: How To Be Self-sufficient When The Unexpected Happens)

JWR Replies: The challenges mentioned are significant, but not insurmountable. A fairly small DC "muffin" fan that is powered by an alternative power system battery bank can provide plenty of outside air, but of course you'll need a corresponding size outlet. Ideally, a more sophisticated DC and hand-powered air pump (with a HEPA filter for NBC events) should be added, as your budget allows.

See my lengthy response to a 2007 letter in the SurvivalBlog archives for some recommendations on minimizing cooking odors.

Depending on your water table and time of year, and manual sump pump, or one powered by an alternative power system battery bank would be appropriate.

For most family shelters, I recommend getting a Luggable Loo Portable Toilet. These toilet seats fit on a standard 5 or 6 gallon HDPE bucket. Depending on how many people you will have in your shelter, and the expected duration, you'll need to lay in a corresponding supply of additional buckets with lids. (The inexpensive non-food grade buckets from places like Home Depot work fine.) For planning purposes, keep in mind that the accumulated volume of urine will be greater than the volume of fecal matter and toilet paper. When each bucket becomes nearly full, move the toilet seat to a new bucket, and tightly seal a lid on the full one. To cut down on odors, keep a sack of powdered lime available, to sprinkle over the feces, immediately after each use. The lime you'll need is the calcium hypochlorite type, a.k.a. Ca(ClO)2, which is made from chlorinated slaked lime. this is available from many feed stores and farm/ranch co-op stores.

James Wesley:
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the "Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act" which is "intended to bolster that national electric grid against terrorist attacks, cyber threats, electromagnetic
pulse weapons and solar storms. The Act authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue emergency orders to protect critical electric infrastructure, and to take other measures to address current
and potential vulnerabilities."

Given the speed at which government moves, I don't think I'll be unpacking my bug out bag or getting rid of my food stores! - Michael H.

James,
The article on perennial food sources was both timely and excellent! Kudos. We are already planning to introduce many of the species into our farm.

Next, a question. Since your book "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It" has caused me to re-think several things -- and after I have spent 20 years being a prepper --I figured I should buy your book "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation". Chapter 14 is of special interest to me right now as we are building a snug little adobe house on the farm we just bought. We don't want to call it a cement bunker do we?

Chapter 14 [of the book] is a good starting point but I was wondering if you have a source of more detailed information. I've researched many different "housing styles" around the world and across time. But turning them into a modern grid independent house.

There is the crux of the matter: I was wondering if in addition to the books you listed there might be others. Or if you know of a good architect you have worked with to create a "green" off grid bunker?

We envision a semi-buried adobe style house that will have a full basement and a bunker off of the basement (for NBC protection) as well as a flat roof. We are in a low rainfall area. This provides a place to mount PV panels, and a flat roof with a solid wall around it gives us a good "high ground" to defend the house from.

But we are open and interested in contacting anybody who might have professional experience building such a retreat house.

JWR Replies: Three of SurvivalBlog's advertisers could assist you:

• Safecastle specializes in combination walk-in vault/fallout shelter/storm shelter rooms, both below grade and above grade.
• Hardened Structures is an engineering and architectural firm that does "start to finish" hardened retreat home design and construction management.
• Ready Made Resources can help you specify and assemble a complete off-grid power setup. They do free consulting on alternative power systems.

I also recommend that you get a copy of the book The Secure Home by Joel Skousen. Also, keep in mind that there are also more than 450 articles in the SurvivalBlog archives that relate to retreat security. There are some real gems there--everything from thorny bush and cacti plantings to ballistic hardening.

I have been reading the novel One Second After by William R. Forstchen. I just finished it. Whew, what a heavy book. I decided to write it up as a "lessons learned" book review. A couple of you may be wondering why I sent this to you. Well, I just thought of you and know you to be like-minded ... I think. That is, concerned about what the future holds for us as a nation, as crazy and uncertain as things are getting in the world. I've been following the elctromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat for a couple of years now and regrettably, just now made myself purchase my own copy of this novel and read it.

My initial reaction, to get to the point, is that it is my hope is that each of you will buy a copy of this novel for your own personal libraries. It should go on the "Mandatory Reading" list, right next to "Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse" , by James Rawles.

EMP is a very real threat, as is the threat of a major economic collapse, as addressed in Rawles' novel, "Patriots".

Since I expect most all of you will acquire your own copy, I'll spare the commentary of the characters' specific experiences, and get to what I gleaned as "lessons learned." I'd love to hear feedback from each of you and know your thoughts.

This is an insightful, well-thought-out and researched novel. Dr. Forstchen is extremely knowledgeable and is a respected subject-matter expert on the topic of EMP and has a web site dedicated to his research.

Also, consider checking out this video. There are lots of videos of interviews with Dr. Forstchen

Also, separate from the book and author, this piece on future weapons.

In my opinion, this author has a keen sense of human behavior, especially in stressful and traumatic situations; an acute sense of the sociological implications of an event such as an EMP attack. I think that he is extremely accurate in his assessment of what our culture could be reduced to in the event of this type of catastrophic event. The novel gives one a lot of food for thought regarding steps that could be taken to lessen the blow of such an event ... at least, on a personal/family level.

Lesson 1: Never, ever, ever, if you have any choice at all become a refugee. Do everything within your power not to let your family become refugees. Remember the television series, Jericho? But we've seen it real world, in Sudan, Haiti, Chile, Mexico, Hurricane Katrina, and as far back as WWII, through Korea, Vietnam, and on and on. If you think you've got it bad in your hometown or neighborhood, you should count yourself lucky to have one (home or neighborhood).

Lesson 2: Have enough supplies stored up to last you and your family one year. That means food, water treatment capability, first-aid/medical supplies, toilet paper, .22 ammo, etc. Do not depend upon wild game (deer, elk, grouse, squirrel, etc.) in your survival plan. In a serious situation, such as described in this novel, 30,000 other people are going to have the same secret idea, and there will be no wild game to be had, and in short order.

Lesson 3: Be able to produce your own food when your food stores run out. Seeds, saws and knives for dressing game, chickens, rabbits, etc. The supplies are there to last until you can start producing your own. Be able to preserve it, as well. Learn about canning and preserving and stock up on the supplies.

Lesson 4: Security: Be able to defend your family if you have to. The ol' lever action .30-30 is great for knocking down a deer. But have something serious on hand. Perhaps one of those kinds of firearms that make the uninitiated ask, "why would a civilian ever have a use for something like that?" Because when you do need something like that, there is no substitute. And then pray you never have use for it.

Lesson 5: Security 2: If you think you can make it on your own in a TEOTWAWKI situation, you and your family will die. That simple. The exception is some family living remotely in a valley in Alaska somewhere. Otherwise, better start figuring out now who you might want to band together with ... friends, family, etc.

Lesson 6: Keep a survival kit in your vehicle. If for some reason you have to abandon your vehicle to get home, have the supplies to get there fast. Don't forget loose, non-descript clothing and comfortable shoes. Food, water, shelter, tools, and a weapon of some sort. You can go to YouTube and look up keywords such as G.O.O.D. Bag, Bugout Kit, Urban Survival Kit, etc.

Lesson 7: As with many natural disasters in the past, and a worst-case scenario such as an EMP attack, computer banking systems go down and cash transactions will be the only transactions. Have cash on you at all times. At least $100 in small bills. ($1's, $5's, $10's, and a $20 bill or two.) Never bring it all out at once. Make it appear that it's the last of your money. If you know something bad went down, and you are safely able to, make a B-line for the store and stock up on perishable items that you couldn't stock up on much, such as cooking oil, brown sugar, batteries, gasoline, medications, etc. Make a list of "grab from the store" items now. Purchase those items in the first minutes or hours while everyone else is still dumbfounded and trying to figure out what just happened.

Lesson 8: Try to protect electronic equipment now. Even if you purchase a couple of FRS radios just to stash away. A short-wave radio, a ham radio transceiver, or a scanner, etc. There is a ton of information out there about EMP hardening, such as Faraday cages to protect electronics from EMP. Those with communications will have huge advantages over those who do not. Do you have an old ([early] 1970s or earlier) car, motorcycle, mo-ped, etc. that does not have electronics built into it? Hang on to it, or get it running and stash it away. Mobility would be a valuable resource.

Lesson 9: Have a safe place to go to. If you have family or friends with property, or know someone who lives a self-reliant lifestyle, develop that relationship and learn from them. More importantly, it would be better if they would allow you to come there and use it as a sanctuary location if things got that bad. But be prepared to take care of yourself and them as well. In other words, bring something of value to the table. Don't be a leech. The best bet is to have a huge store of supplies already there, just in case. Rawles' novel "Patriots", covers that in great detail.

Lesson 10: Learn! We all agree that things are getting volatile; in the world, in our country, economically, strategically, politically, socially. Get rid of distractions, such as television, sports, entertainment, and self-indulgence. At least for a season, prepare to be self-sufficient. Then, go back to all your "fun" stuff. Learn how to take care of yourself and your family if (when) things get worse.

It's estimated that 90% of the US population would die within a year if we were struck by an EMP. This is a very real threat. I know it seems like something out of a Stephen King novel. And although Forstchen's novel is fictional, he simply took a real town, with fictional characters, and wove a story around the real threat of EMP with uncanny insight into the social effects of such an event.

Our enemies have been working on such a weapon for a long time. This already exists, by the way. This isn't something "being developed." It has been developed! What's more is that very similar effects come from the sun in the form of solar flares. It happened in the mid-1800s, but the extent of the damage was limited to telegraph lines bursting into flames. We weren't living in a vulnerable electronic age, as we are now. Scientists are monitoring the sun and claim that we are over due for this type of solar activity. Some scientists assess that similar EMP-producing solar flares are highly probable, and expected in 2012. How they know that, I haven't a clue. But it might be worth watching closer.

NASA Warns Of Super Solar Storm 2012

2012 may bring the “perfect storm” – solar flares, systems collapse

I don't get all caught up in the 2012 hype garbage. If anything happens in 2012, it is coincidental, in my opinion. Everything will happen in the Lord's timing, and if He decides to end it all in 2011, 2012, or 4015, then that's when it will happen. Until His Word reveals something different, and I can't find it anywhere in the Bible, there's no specific date given the end of the world, or his return, or armageddon, etc. I think the Lord let's up come up with our little date formulas just to confound us. We'll all be surprised when He comes. And make no mistake about it, He is coming. Until then we need to be ready to defend the defenseless and provide for the needy when danger comes.

As far as I'm concerned, my children are at the top of the needy and defenseless list, by the way. In the novel, One Second After, it was amazing how many people were unprepared to take care of themselves. To position themselves in their preparations and lifestyles ahead of time. To not become victims, refugees, and casualties. Of course, the author wrote it that way to highlight the point that not being prepared has catastrophic consequences. Still, amazing.

The novel did a great job of bringing awareness to the reader about this real threat, and in such a way as to (I hope) motivate the reader to action. Toward self-reliance in a proactive way. It was a stark contrast to Rawles' Patriots, which followed a couple groups of characters through TEOTWAWKI who had prepared in advance, who did not become refugees and didn't need to, because they took action ahead of time. There were definitely some strong parallels between the novels though, in regard to a societal collapse and the cultural effects and personal triumph and tragedy that would be inevitable in either scenario.

It's a must-read and although a fast read it is insightful. For those of you who have already read it, and for those of you who are about to, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'd be happy to pass them along to the others as well, for everyone's benefit. God Bless, - Jack R.

Mr. Editor:
Might I humbly suggest a couple additions for Eric? First, a copy of Nuclear War Survival Skills. Second, build a couple Kearney Fallout Meters (KFMs) as instructed in Nuclear War Survival Skills. These meters are not that difficult to build, but do take some time to build if you do so carefully. Two pound ice fishing line for the suspension threads work very well. A charged KFM with Stren-type monofilament line still had noticeable leaf separation three days after charging this last winter using drywall core as drying agent. A KFM would allow a person to survey the unsheltered surroundings to determine with certainty when leaving (and for how long) is safe. Nuclear War Survival Skills seems to be the best of the choices for information dealing with a nuclear attack situation.

Hopefully, someone will be able to toss out the KFMs I have built after I die of old age; all of them unused. - Dave W.

A serious letter to my dear beloved son, Eric,

It is quite possible that the USA will soon experience a terrorist attack in the form of a nuclear detonation. The city just west of the University you are attending would be a high profile, terrorist "trophy" to attack.

If a nuclear detonation by terrorist occurs in that city, you will notice a bright flash of light and, then feel the blast wave a few seconds after. Although the University is somewhat distant and shielded by terrain from that city, train yourself to not look toward the flash and immediately duck behind a solid barrier. Expect glass to be flying from any windows and plug your ears. Once the blast wave passes note the time. Your goal is to be inside a fallout shelter within 40 minutes and with enough supplies to last 2 weeks. This will only be possible if you prepare in advance.

Given that your location is 25 miles east of that big city, and the prevailing winds blow east, lethal levels of radioactive fallout could begin falling on your campus within 50 minutes.

Right after the blast wave hits, a strong wind will start moving back toward ground zero. Depending on the size of the nuke, the reverse wind could be strong enough to knock down trees and people. If you are outside, you need to decide in the short 15 seconds between the blast wave passing and the reverse wind if, you can make it to a temporary safe place. If you are near a building, get in it. If you are in a building already, stay in it. If you are outside get away from tall trees. Wait for about three minutes for the wind to pass, then start for your dorm to get your packs. If it is a small detonation, the wind will be manageable. By this time you will have only 35 minutes left to shelter "Lock Down".

To prepare before an event, pack your back pack with things like long lasting candles, matches, Bic [butane] lighters, flashlight with extra batteries, portable radio, first aid kit, basic medications, toilet paper, water bottles, bucket, washcloth, towel, bar soap, dust masks, gloves, duct tape, some basic tools or a mufti-tool, pry bar, hammer, small trash bags for making a toilet, big trash bags to wear as a fallout suit. As for nutrition, pack instant foods like oatmeal, trail mix, beef jerky, nutri-bars, raisins, nuts, dried fruit, vitamins, etc. You should still have the water filter, hatchet and sharp knife in the back pack from our last camping trip. There is already Potassium Iodate in your respirator kit I gave you. Do not pack more than one change of clothes except, underwear and socks. You will only need to change clothes if they get wet. . Get extra dust masks which will help the others who join you at the last minute. Be sure to include a sleeping bag or some warm bedding and something to read. Prepare to be in the shelter for 2 weeks minimum. Since you will be mostly sedentary, you can eat and drink on a small daily ration. Clean water will be more important than food. You will need to drink at least 2 liters a day.

Pack everything in two large trash bags, one inside the other, and keep them packed. You will not have enough time to pack everything and then get to the shelter within the remaining 35 minute window, so it is important to prepare your packs in advance .

Prepare with a team of other people who are of like mind. Keep your team small and, if an event happens, each team member can bring a few other persons with them to the shelter. Evaluate the capacity of the shelter and supplies to accommodate the final number of people. You can expect that number to grow during an event when people see that you have an effective plan in the process of implementation.

If a detonation occurs, there will not be enough time to try to contact each member of the team or to figure out what happened. If You hear a "boom" and all power goes out, assume it is a detonation and, everyone just shows up at the shelter area with their packs. A small detonation is just as deadly with fallout, even if you do not experience much flash, pressure wave or wind.

Inquire at the University Office about the fallout shelters and how well equipped they are. Do they have any windows and are they high up? How deep is it submerged below ground level and how thick are the walls? Are there toilets? Is there a water tap to a storage tank? Does the University have gravity water pressure from an elevated water tank? Usually the boiler rooms are well built and submerged below ground level. Decide which one your team will meet at and, what each team member will bring to it in the event of a detonation.

I would not rely on the Official Plan of Action from the University Administration Office. Even if they have a plan and, assuming they have considered and planned for this kind of situation, the effect of shock, panic and, lack of regular drills will make it non-effective. Remember lethal fallout could reach your area in less than 50 minutes. It may take them that long just to find out what happened and by then, it will be too late.

Evacuating the University in the event of a terrorist nuke is a big mistake. Most fallout at first is invisible. Latter it is mixed with ash that falls like snow. It is carried by upper winds which are faster than surface winds. Roads will be clogged with traffic, and they who are stuck there will not make it ahead of the fallout. The fallout is eventually going to travel down wind for more than 100 miles. Sooner than you think traffic will start getting heavy, so, traveling fast to a shelter will be the best decision depending on the wind direction.

With a compass, map and looking up at the clouds for a few minutes, you can tell if the wind is blowing from ground zero toward your location. To evacuate the area you would need to travel in a direction at a right angle of the wind direction blowing from ground zero. In your case, since you have large natural barriers north and south of the University, and you will not be able to outrun a fallout cloud going east, you should plan to head for the shelter.

Who has the keys to the shelters? If phones and radios do not work, how will you contact them? If the key cannot be found in time after a detonation, break the lock and get in. You will need the pry bar and hammer. Maybe you can use the selected shelter for a student film project. In that case you can get the keys and covertly make some copies of it for a few members of the group.

What do you think it will be like with several hundred people, most of them sick and dying in one crowded room, with little or no water, no bathroom, not enough air, no ma tresses, no lighting, and no effective leadership or medical care for two weeks? Any of the larger shelters that are easily access able to the greater population will be over crowded, under equipped and, they will probably let everyone in no matter how late and contaminated they are. Living in this condition may not be survivable, so, be somewhere else.

Select the smaller shelter like a boiler room or a more distant building basement and equip it yourselves. These more distant buildings will be less crowded and more manageable for your team. Locate and check the water spigots but, be aware that unless the system is gravity fed from a water tower, the water pressure will be decreasing to zero very quickly. If no water tower or if the tower is damaged from the blast, the water coming out of the tap will only be the amount that is still left in the pipes. If there are water spigots in the shelter area, you can stock up empty water bottles in a big plastic trash bag and fill them immediately upon arriving at the shelter. You should also keep four liters in one of your packs ready to go.

Look for any hot water tanks that supply showers or sinks, they usually have a drain tap at the bottom or on the pipe coming from the bottom of the tank. If you find one of these you will have plenty of drinking water. At first the water from this lower tap may be a rusty color. It is still okay to drink, it is just Iron which, you can let settle to the bottom of the water jug. Avoid using water from hot water heating systems for institutional building radiators or fire sprinkler systems that may contain antifreeze which, is poisonous. These pipes are usually labeled.

If the fallout shelter does not have a water tap, you should consider stocking it in advance with some water jugs. This will lessen the weight of your packs and reduce your tasks within the remaining 35 minute time window. You also do not want to be making more than one trip after a detonation to the shelter if, it is distant from your dorm. If the shelter is close to your dorm, you will be able to make a few trips. Practice now by timing these trips.

You can also establish an alternative location for a shelter. Maybe a basement area that can be barricaded easily. It needs to have at least 14 inches of solid masonry or concrete structure between you and the fallout that will be settling on the flat surfaces outside. Your shelter should be below ground level as much as possible. Radiation is also dampened by distance, especially when there are right angle corners between you and the radiation source outside. The more right angle corners consisting of solid masonry between you and the radiation source, the better. Select alternative shelter areas now, so, it does not have to become a panic decision latter.

You should have a few drills with your group. From the time the group leader calls everyone on the Mobile phone, how long does it take for everyone to go to their dorm, get stuff and go to the shelter?

Make sure group members keep the plan secret. Refer to shelter locations by a code name or letter. Before leaving your dorm for the shelter place a note on your door stating that the group is meeting at location "Alpha" . In this way, only members of your preparation group will know where to show up with the pre selected number of people.

The travel route to your selected shelter should not be a direct route so, people cannot figure out where you are going. If possible, take some detours around barrier objects like buildings and landscaping, keeping in mind the elapsed time since detonation.

For the shelter, if possible establish two separate areas; one primary area for those who show up on time and, a secondary area for those who show up late and who are contaminated. A slightly contaminated person will survive but, be sick. and, the more contaminated person will not live very long. Those who show up late, should not be admitted inside the primary shelter because of contaminating the healthy survivors. A secondary area within the building which is well shielded from the primary area like around the corner of a masonry wall or, a separate room should be used for contaminated people arriving late. If the shelter room is large enough, you can place them at one end of the room. In a boiler room they can be placed on the opposite side of the boiler. Boilers are made of thick, heavy iron and make a good radiation barrier. Consider how you can barricade the primary and secondary shelter entrances after everyone is in.

All backpacks for gear should be sealed in a trash bag for the trip to your shelter. If you get to the shelter late, before entering the primary shelter remove the trash bag cover from your gear which is inside another trash bag, then throw the clean bag with your stuff inside the shelter and discard the outer bag outside. This procedure keeps the inner bag from being contaminated by fallout. Then remove the trash bag covers from your pack and yourself and also discard the bags outside. Wash thoroughly all exposed skin with soap and water.

Be sure to wear the full face respirator I gave you beginning at about the 30 minute mark. You should be at the shelter by then. Wearing it too soon could draw attention from "wrong doers" who might want to take it from you. Remember that desperate people will do desperate things.

Anyone showing up late without wearing protective bags, and contaminated, strips off all outer clothing and cuts off as much of their hair that was exposed as possible. They do this inside the building but outside the primary shelter entrance. Carefully throw the contaminated cloths and dust mask outside. They are to wash down previously exposed skin with soap and water if, water is plentiful and, discard the towel outside. Then they can change into the extra clothes that you brought along in your sealed trash bags.

Once inside everyone should wear a fresh clean dust mask or respirator for at least three days, and after three days when briefly visiting the secondary area. Make a dust masks using cloth and duct tape if necessary. As people show up to the shelter, dispense the potassium iodate; first come, first served. Dosages are on the bottle I gave you in the respirator bag.

All contaminated people should be segregated from each other by some distance and according to their exposure i.e. the lateness of their arrival.. This procedure limits unnecessary exposure to the less contaminated people who are more likely to survive. Slightly contaminated people if, they are still alive in a few hours can wash down thoroughly again and, be integrated into the primary shelter area.

Consider what your fresh air needs will be. Fallout settles down toward the ground so, you can open a window or crack a door open after 48 hours has past, as long as it is not windy. Minimize your exposure to the outside radiation by staying away from windows, exterior doors and thin exterior walls. After two days it is permissible to open some more ventilation. The further away from the opening you are, the better. If the shelter is small or crowded, do not use candles for the first two days unless you can establish filtered ventilation. Using candles in enclosed spaces uses up your oxygen along with normal breathing so, you will need to consider this in balancing your ventilation needs with exposure to the fallout outside. It is better to suffer for 48 hours and wait than to risk unnecessary exposure.

The best situation apart from filtered ventilation, is a fallout shelter entrance which is located within a larger building like a gym or an auditorium. The larger building space acts as a secondary area outside the primary shelter and allows the fallout to settle far away from the shelter entrance. This makes it possible to open the shelter door for ventilation if the building glass remained intact during the blast wave. Many school gyms and auditoriums do not even have glass windows so check for this when selecting your shelter.

After two weeks you can carefully venture out beyond the shelter to set up an S.O.S. message for the military who will be looking for survivors. Before going outside, place plastic bags on your feet and tape securely with the duct tape. Use curtains or white sheets to spell out S.O.S. on the ground large enough to be seen from the air. Secure them from the wind with rocks or wood stakes you make with the hatchet. Make a white flag using a sheet and hang another white sheet out of an upper window facing the approaching road. Listen for rescue trucks or helicopters. Remember that a distress signal is to wave only one arm or a single white flag. Limit your exposure outside to only short and necessary visits. Remove the bags from your feet before reentering the shelter. Be careful not to respond to just anyone, make sure they are government rescue.

If a helicopter lands do not run out to meet it. The prop wash will be kicking up a lot of dust with some fallout into the air. Signal them from inside the building and let them come to you. Once rescued, you will be taken thru decontamination, given a physical and given new clothes to wear. The rescue unit will probably not allow you to bring your packs so, take anything valuable out with you in your pockets.

After all these years of camping and discussing survival scenarios with you and your brother, I've tried to prepare you the best way I know how. Now that you're both adults, living independently, I hope some of it stuck.

You may not need to use any of this information and I hope it never becomes necessary but, it is better to be prepared now. You will not have time to prepare after an event if, it happens. You will only have time to act quickly. If it is never needed, you will all have learned and practiced survival skills that very few people in this world know. I

James:
In looking at your blog on survival it revealed to me a major problem with safes with digital combo locks. If there is an EMP, those locks would most likely be fried and one could not get to guns, funds, et cetera! Do you know of a process or method of guarding against this? Is there some shielding that can be put around the combo unit that will protect the electronics? Thanks. - R.C.

JWR Replies: This blog topic seems to pop up just as regularly as dandelions. I've mentioned the following several times in SurvivalBlog, but it is worth repeating: A steel gun vault body itself makes a decent Faraday cage. (Although a finger mesh RF gasket at the door perimeter would make it even better.) All that you really need to add is a flat steel can (such as a peanut can or Danish butter cookie tin) to cover the safe's electronic keypad assembly. Taping the can on works fine, but it will look tacky. A hinge attached with epoxy to a tin (allowing the can to swing to the left or right) might look better. Ideally, the tin should be grounded to the vault body. (Again, this looks tacky, but there is no way around it if you want a fully effective Faraday enclosure.)

If EMP is a major concern where you live (i.e. if you live within 250 miles of a major nuclear target), and your vault has an electronic lock then you should use silica gel rather than a 120 VAC rod-type dehumidifier inside your vault. This is because the power cord for a dehumidifier can act as an unintentional antenna that might "couple" EMP to your vault's electronics. (One of the major no-no's with Faraday cages is to have any conductor that can carry RF penetrate the cage or container body.)

And, needless to say, to have a gun vault lock that is absolutely safe from EMP, the next time that you move, you should sell your current vault as an included "bonus feature" with your house. Then, after you move, replace that vault with one that has a traditional mechanical combination lock. Coincidentally, I should mention that I prefer S&G Group II locks. Oh, and speaking of moving, I prefer Zanotti Armor brand six piece gun vaults that can be disassembled for ease of transport. We have a Zanotti ZA-III six-foot tall vault here at the Rawles Ranch that we've moved several times over the years.

When you finally die and I know your not eager to, the world will certainly go on. You might be so lucky to have someone cry at your funeral. Regardless of how important you thought you were, your death will not be as special to the world or to yourself. You will be dead like the billions of animals and species before you.  After a week, maybe two, life here on planet earth will be the same as before you died. Most, if not all, will not miss you in the caring ways that you would want to believe. Like many, you didn’t have a say coming in this world, and you won’t have a say leaving this world. I and most of the people in the world would like to live, this life, without the need for suffering. When your time comes, time will take you out of this life. You will not escape this certainty.  There are a million ways to go. Nobody knows how it happens, until it does. I think it and wait for it to appear. Not knowing when, is the greatest mystery. It could be in a second or a hundred years. It will come. The law of death is simple. All living things shall perish. The containment of your life force energy and/or soul is part of the law of thermodynamics, the transformation of energy.

Imagine, if you will, a tree full of leaves that has fallen to the ground. The energy it took for the leaves to fall gently is the same amount of energy to rake them up. Just displayed differently. A second instance of energy transformation is a 300 pound man losing 100 pounds. His weight was lost because he used it as energy. One third of him is gone forever in a different form--somewhat painless.
Another instance of thermodynamics is a bottle of propane ignited under a small stove heating water. The propane turns to fire transferring to heat energy thus boiling the water. The water then changes to steam. The steam evaporates into the air and/or atmosphere. The vapor then gets absorbed or diminishes and turns to rain or condensation, consumed by a living creature or living organism then used as energy
again and made whole to earth once more. (This is another transformation of energy.)

Life is quite simple in living terms. Energy can’t be created nor destroyed. Just transferred to different forms.. I’m not saying your death will be painless but I am telling you that your pain, if any, will only last a short time compared to time of existence. Some great writers have written that death is as easy as stepping out of your body. The smarter you are, the easier it will be to guide yourself through your one and only [mortal] life. I hope you read, learn, teach and guide, through the different and strange times which lay ahead. The one thing I have learned about emergency preparation is don’t waste time trying to convince anyone of their needs that don’t want convincing. No matter how much you love or care for somebody, prepare for your own immediate survival should be your top priority! You must take care of yourself in order to help take care of others.

To help keep you alive, I'll focus on one key preparedness step:

“Prepare a laptop inside a Faraday Box”
                                     

You should store the following references on your laptop hard drive [or on memory sticks, CD-ROMs & DVDs that you can access with your laptop]:

Barter:
To include valuable information on what people will need for survival trades and efficiency, for day to day living wants and needs.

Boots and Clothing:
How to repair boots and clothing, to include various sewing techniques, glues, patches, laces, buttons, zippers, sew kits, Velcro and items needed or stored.

Civil Defense:
Technical operation and/or procedures on how the civil authority will lead. Establish and support an authority figure during the crisis, which may mean you.

Combat Skills:
Various skills to lead and teach realistic offensive tactics and defensive tactics and positions. Don't overlook weapons training and weapons repair manuals. [JWR Adds: There are now some excellent training videos available on DVD, such as The Art of the Tactical Carbine, but of course they are no substitute for hands-on training and the hours of practice needed to create muscle memory. For some free assembly/disassembly manuals in PDF, see the manufacturer web sites, as well as Steve's Pages. (BTW, you'll also find a lot of useful military manuals at Steve's Pages, such as FM 3-105 Survivability. )

Command:
How to organize, maintain and discipline as a leader, how to give orders and create and maintain a disciplined organizational structure. See the military organizational manuals that describe Unity of Command and related topics.

Communication:
Various types of radios, CB, Morse code [HF ham radio], American Sign Language (ASL). Also to include antenna fabrication and/or makeshift communications devices.

Computer Programs: 
In addition to backups of operating system and word processing/spreadsheets, include specialized programs related to radio communications, propagation, ballistics calculations, and others.

Construction:
Information on how to:  Shelter building, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, welding, mold making and casting of raw materials.

Dental:
How to maintain good teeth and dentistry with the correct tools when need be.

Dictionary: You must be knowledgeable and have key references.

Economics and References:
What brought us to this economic crisis and who are the money masters? How long has the monetary system been around? You could download thousand of pages and help teach the truth. Store your own economic data. [JWR Adds: References on the standard weight and composition of various silver and gold might be crucial.]

Encyclopedia Britannica:
The entire world at your finger tips such as, science, discovery, arts, crafts, math, English, videos, writings, and so much more.

FEMA:
Federal Emergency Management Agency- procedures, operations, expectations and what to expect for various disaster assistance.

Food:
MRE, freeze dried, dehydrated, stored foods, canned foods, canning, bottling, cooking, preparation, recipes, gardening, raising animals, making your own bread, sprouts, cookware, medical care with [soft] foods.

Games:
Various games to keep you [and your children] happy and keep morale up.

Health And Fitness:
Exercising, fitness, eating correctly, not being lazy - work, work, work.

Herb and Vitamin Cures:
Store massive amounts of data on herb and vitamin cures and personal treatments for all types of ailments. Don’t forget your vitamins.

Hygiene:
Making your own soaps, bleach, laundry soaps. Learning to use household remedies. Toiletries, solutions, disease fighting techniques, and sanitary solutions to include corpse handling/burial.

Items Wanted/ Needed:
Keep notes and massive data on you need, not want, no matter how long it is. [JWR Adds: The Alpha Strategy by John Pugsley is a great starting point. The book is out of print, but a PDF is available for free download.]

Local Government Readiness:
It’s wise to be prepared. The government is a small number of people. Governments like to dictate how to, but you should learn how to, without the government.  It’s a never ending battle of learning to live and to expect the unexpected. Remember, what can go wrong will go wrong. Often, it will be something you would have never of thought of.

Maps (Road and Street), U.S. and Canada:
Collect massive amounts of data on streets and/or other geographical data for your region, to include railroads, bus systems, sewers, drains, taxi depots, bus depots. Getting lost is no fun.

Medical:
Collect references on home remedies, medical and human anatomy. There are plenty of downloads out there. [JWR Adds: Start with a free download of Where There is No Doctor,and Where There is No Dentist, from The Hesperian Foundation.]

Monthly Checklist:
Include chores from every day to every month, month to month, year to year maintenance and up keep on grounds, machinery, equipment, tools, weapons and/or perimeter establishment and grounds.

Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC):
What to do in the attack scenario for nuclear, biological, and/or chemical attack or mishap. How to recover from the NBC situation. Recovery is your only option. There are lots of references on the Internet. I urge you to figure out what works best for you. Download it now and store it. You can always read more later. You must be able to retrieve data if the power grid is down, so plan ahead for alternate power source , inverters, and DC-to-DC adapters for your laptop. [Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney is available for free download.]

Outdoor Survival: How can you survive in the woods, desert, jungle, sea, ocean, lake, mountains, brush, bush. How will you gather water and food? Get videos and download as much info as you can because you will never know where you could end up.

Pests:
How to get rid of particular bugs, pests, rodents. How to attract them for your advantage and how to use them as bait.

Pets: Store food, water, medical, shelter, for your pets. Download veterinary guides to fix your pet's problems. Get antibiotics now and store them..

Pictures and Videos:
Store photos, pictures, movies and videos to look at and watch later. You will be surprised at just how much entertainment is out there. [JWR Adds: Instructional videos can also be stored--even ones found on YouTube.]

Power Heat Fuel:
How are you going to keep warm? How are you going to create power? Candle making, bio-fuel, liquor, wood, heat rocks, make a tent inside your home? Create electricity, solar, wind, hydro, Sterno, generators, steam power, Sterling engine power, making batteries, inverters, charge controllers, drawings, diagrams, schematics.

Protocols:
State the exact protocol or direction on how to handle the situation that just arose. Rule of thumb is to stay where you are for as long as you can safely.

Reading Materials:
Download books you might think you will like in the future. You may want to start downloading survival books, medical, nutritional, gardening, recipes, how to manuals, et cetera.

Religion:
Download various Bible translations for future reference. The Grim Reaper may approach you sooner than you think. Laugh now but tomorrow may be another story. You will want the hands of God to guide you, even if you are presently a little skeptical.

Security Intelligence:
Who, what, when, why, where, how many, what are your intentions, weapons, who is the leader? What are you facing? The biggest threat are your neighbors and/or neighborhood. Where are the hideouts in your area? Is it the church or the stream bed? The best defense is a great offense.

Shelter:
Download various shelter building techniques-- underground shelters, bunkers, domes, ICF block construction, wood construction, adobe, rammed earth, straw bale and anything else you can get your hands on.

Tactics:
Invisibility is a great benefactor, ghillie suits are great, but if your opponent has thermal night vision gear, you are screwed. The best enemies are ones that will fight themselves. Camouflage is the greatest tactic.

Terrorism:
Nuclear, biological, chemical, accidental, rail collisions, confusion, what to do and how to do it.

Transportation:
Buses, taxis, planes, trains, automobiles, animals, skateboard, foot/feet, bicycle, mini bike, moped, motor bike, electric skateboard, ski’s, camper, motor home, class A, B, &C, recreational vehicles, military vehicles, gyrocopter, helicopter, hot wiring, and so on.

Water:
Water filters, distilling, bleach, containers, pills, can you purify sea water? Do you know what to do if water is contaminated with nuclear fallout? How can you kill pathogens and bacteria? Water is the most vital information of all. Don’t take it for granted. What will you do if the tap stops working?

Weapons:
Manuals, drawings, spare parts, directions, tools needed for repairing weapons, oils, lubrications, cleaning supplies, gun safes, holsters, sights, extra ammo, extra magazines, and such.

Weather:
Information and understanding of earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, summer’s extreme heat, winter’s extreme cold, fall, spring, ice storms, volcanoes, wind-driven wild fires, heavy snowfall, landslides, tsunami, thunderstorms, floods, droughts, severe climate shifts and wind storms. Are you ready for all of these?

Conclusion
Personally, I’m not as prepared as I should be, or would like to be. Many people that I have spoken to feel the same way. Money is presently very tight, and most people in reality are living week to week if not day to day.
Information in the United States or the World Wide Web thankfully costs nearly nothing. For me, knowledge right now seems to be the most important way I can prepare because it is free. I can help guide and teach people through their situations. Which to some may be more important than having worldly possessions.

If I had more money I would love to buy weapons, a month’s worth of  food, a piece of property, a house or a smile on someone else’s face.
For now I can only try to prepare by gathering the knowledge others never thought of, but may someday need.

JWR Adds: See the SurvivalBlog archives for a wealth of information (more than 8,000 archived posts) that will be useful in disaster situations. In addition to making digital archives as Dakota Diamond has suggested, I strongly recommend printing out or purchasing commercially printed hard copies of the most crucial references. (See my Bookshelf page, for some suggested "must" reference books.) Hard copy is the only sure way to have references at your fingertips, when the Schumer hits the fan.

James Wesley:
Just a short note on the S-250 information. The original writer made an error in assuming all of these are shielded. There are several manufacturers of the S-250 and models differ in not just shielded or non-shielded, but also the level of shielding. NSA shelters (not generally available) have the highest level.

Here is a link to one of the manufacturers. My point is that a buyer should investigate the National Stock Number (NSN) of the unit they are interested in and contact the manufacturer to confirm that a specific level of EMP/EMI shielding is installed, if any.

Best regards as always, - Bob S.

Letter Re: The S-250 Vehicle Shelter

Dear Editor:
Now available from your local Federal Government through GovLiquidation.com is what is commonly known as the S-250 shelter. In essence, this is a highly sought after, well constructed, insulated truck shelter used by the military as a radio shack or electronics shelter.  [They were designed to be mounted in pickup beds, but more recently have been mounted on Humvees.] When looking online you’ll find most of those seeking these shelters at auction are either military vehicle collectors or those seeking a super heavy duty slide in truck camper.  Thirdly you’ll find some hams wanting a mobile radio shack.

What is overlooked for the most part is that these shelters are RF-shielded and therefore EMP shielded as well. Whether it’s the coming of the solar storms in 2012 or the real world threat of an EMP detonation in the USA, having a S-250 loaded and sealed could be a survivalist's dream come true.
In essence this is a big Faraday box!

Last march I picked up an S-250 at auction for $800 with the intention of converting it to a heavy duty camper.   After getting it home and looking at the layout, it became clear that the best use would be in keeping the shielding.  My S-250 will be used an outpost at our retreat complete with a bunk, and outfitted with appropriate survival equipment.  It will also be a storage location for nearly any electronic device I can afford to stock here. Spare 12VDC power inverters, shortwave radios, spare vehicle electronic control modules (ECMs), extra solar panels, multiple CB radios, and anything else I can afford to stash protected from the effects of EMP.
 
When looking at these at auction, look for the newest models with the fewest box accessories mounted through the walls. If possible, look for the one with the fewest internal accessories as well. This will prove to be a great time saver.  As it turned out for me, I ended up with a 2001 model fully loaded inside. Of the original equipment I kept a few switch panels, rifle rack (which holds two M16s or AR-15s), and the overhead lighting. The 24 volt power inverter was missing so I am going with the commonly available 12 volt system.

Having only weekends to work on this project it took me several weeks to unbolt all the aluminum rails and mounting hardware stuffed into the shelter.  The one I ended up with was indeed a radio shack and had miles of wire routed for the 12 or more radios that it once housed.  Once I basically had the shelter gutted, I was able to better see how much room I was going to have to do the conversion. Where once there was a radio/com desk I now placed a bunk. The power supply corner was going to remain at the same location as well as the rifle rack.

I am using the original switch panel having rewired the unit for my 12v system. Using the original vented battery box holding two 12V deep cycles, I have employed an 800 watt 12VDC inverter. I picked this up on sale at a Love's Truck stop for $40. Most shelters will already have a power supply source and internal lighting.

Preserving the integrity of the shielding means installing no windows but as a camper or retreat outpost it really does not need one [and this has advantages in maintaining light discipline]. There is an exhaust fan already installed and they all have a unique door system that would prevent anyone ever being locked inside the box while clearly locking others out.

The only thing I had not yet decided is whether or not to put this on a trailer, for extra mobility. - F.J.B.

James,

The magazine Infoworld is a fairly trusted source in the information technology (IT) field. They recently posted an article titled, "Tech apocalypse: Five doomsday scenarios for IT".

Here is a quote:

"What could happen [from a wide scale EMP attack]: Workstations? Dead. Data centers? Gone. Cell phones might still work, but the cell towers probably won't, rendering them useless. Your car won't start. A large enough attack will also shut down automated controls at power substations, leaving everyone in the dark. Think pre-industrial revolution days. In our scenario the New York Stock Exchange shuts down, causing shock waves to reverberate throughout worldwide markets."

That is not bad for a mainstream IT magazine, though in this scenario they downplay the aftermath. in my opinion. However, they call it "higher than you might think" when talking about chances of this happening.

Their description of the effects of a massive coronal ejection (their last scenario) is pretty good, with a prediction of a recovery time of 4 to 10 years, if at all. - MP

Good Morning Sir,
My question pertains to a February 24, 2010 blog post, where there was mentioned an EMP ground for one’s vehicle. This is the first I have heard of a ground wire for today’s vehicles that would prevent electronics from being damaged. Is this true sir? Thanks for providing us all the education to survive. - Tim S.

JWR Replies: A grounding strap offers only marginal EMP protection for a vehicle. The type that were mentioned are the sort that you can see used on many trucks, especially fuel delivery trucks, where the concern is a buildup of static electricity.

With a quick web search, I found one vendor on the Internet with straps at reasonable prices. They do eventually wear out, so you should probably buy several. But again, they are more for static electricity discharge protection than EMP protection. Sadly, the only way to make your vehicle truly safe from close proximity EMP is to convert it to a traditional ignition system. Alternatively, if you leave the electronic ignition system installed, you'd have to carry spare ignition components in a couple of layers of Faraday protection. ( Alternating layers of aluminum foil and ziploc bags should work fine.

I should also mention that once parked, while preparing to unload fuel, gas tanker trucks use a separate grounding cable, for even greater protection, from a static discharge kablooey.

It is important to note the EMP is a different animal than lightning, so the grounding rules are not quite the same. For example, a ground connection can actually be counterproductive to EMP shielding if you use a lengthy linear object underground, such as a water or sewer pipe. For anyone with a basic understanding of lightning protection, it may sound hard to believe, but EMP can actually couple with underground linear metal objects! So if you do decide to use a ground for any of your electronic gear, then don't use anything longer that a six foot long ground rod.

A SurvivalBlog reader who is an Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) engineer added these comments:
"Many people are under the false impression that a ground connection is some sort of magic sump into which they can dump electric current and electromagnetic fields they don't want. To some degree this impression comes from the fact that power lines and other electrical wires entering our buildings are grounded at the point of entry. The reason for this ground is to give a path for lightning strikes to wires external to the building a lower resistance path back to the source of the electric current (in this case the Earth) than though something inside the building. The service entrance ground rod does not play a part in electrical safety insidethe building provided by the ground wires run with the hot and neutral power wires. The key issue here is that the ground wires are connected to the neutral wire at the service entrance bond point. That same bond point is where the ground rod is connected, but the physical path to earth ground is not why the ground wires in the house help safety.

By the way this is why portable generators do not need to be grounded per the National Electrical Code (NEC). All they need is the internal bond from neutral to the ground wire.

In a similar way, when it comes to electromagnetic energy (radio waves) the important issue is shielding rather than grounding. The most effective shielding is made of a continuous conductive surface that totally surrounds what we want to protect. This is why the advice to wrap equipment that we wish to protect from EMP in aluminum foil is excellent. The continuous conductive surface of the foil with joints that overlap each other provides extremely effective shielding from all types of electromagnetic waves including those from EMP. Grounding the foil to an earth ground makes no difference in its effectiveness.

Static electricity also is stopped by shielding, and discharges to a conductive shield flow around the outside surface of the shield and do not damage equipment inside the shield. Again a connection to earth ground will make zero difference in the protection provided by the shielding.

Ground straps on vehicles provide a path to equalize the local static electric potentials and reduce the chance of a static discharge that might cause fuel fumes or other explosive or flammable gasses or liquids to ignite. A separate ground wire as you mention is even more effective. In both cases they work because they reduce or eliminate static electric potential differences that could cause a spark, not because they are tied to the physical earth."

Jim,
I know your time is valuable,so I will get right to it. The recent post on buying [decommissioned underground US Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic] missile sites raises a question. Aren't these sites vulnerable during nuclear attacks/exchange with a foreign country? Thanks for your site and your service. - John

JWR Replies: They would only be pinpoint targets if the Soviets are still using ancient targeting data, and that is very unlikely. From all that I have read, they simply are no longer included in the "target structure" for any nation states that are potential combatants. (Like Russia, China, and North Korea.) I cannot imagine a nation state being that inept. The only significant threat to some of these decommissioned sites is that they are contiguous to--or immediately downwind of--newer, currently-deployed missile sites. That was case for a old Titan I silo that I researched on behalf of a consulting client, who was considering buying it. This site is near Chugwater, Wyoming--which is also the home of a fairly new, active Minuteman III silos!)

On a related note, I should mention that I was forced to use out-of-date nuclear targeting data in my book "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation", but only because there has been no declassified targeting data (that is, CIA assessment of likely Soviet targets) released since the late 1970s.

Jim,
Sean in Malibu mentioned watching the episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Shelter". Your readers might like to know that the full episode is viewable online [free of charge] at the CBS web site.
Best, - Matt R.

James Wesley,
That episode of of The Twilight Zone a reader mentioned was one of the reasons that prompted me to be very quiet about my preps. I (and my family) use the "need to know" rule.

I'm all for charity, but I agree with your approach of doling it out anonymously, through our church. (We're Baptists.) The characters in your novel ["Patriots"] showed the right approach. Like them, I plan to "give until it hurts", but in the event of a major whammy,, I'll do so very discreetly, through a third party. Thanks for your wise counsel. You truly are the Mel Tappan of the new century. - Alexander G. (Ten Cent Challenge subscriber.)

Hi Jim,
One of the most common failures which will cripple your G.O.O.D. (Get Out Of Dodge) vehicle is a broken fan/accessory belt. Granted, the newer [flat, grooved] serpentine belts last a lot longer than the old V-belts, but failure will mean overheating or the eventual loss of ignition due to battery discharge, especially at night if headlights are needed.

So a spare belt and tension release tool (usually a 1/2" ratchet or breaker bar, for a serpentine belt) is a must for your emergency parts kit. [JWR Adds: Whenever you change your vehicle's serpentine as a part of a regular service, save the old one to carry in your vehicle as a spare. An old belt is better than no belt.]

Also consider some thick, sticky caulk that you can work with your fingers, which can be used to plug a radiator leak. The fire-stop used by electricians works well. Be sure to open the radiator cap to release any pressure (Watch out for scalding steam!) and leave it loose. I have seen a vehicle driven hundreds of miles in that condition after being hit by debris from the road.

Keep up the good work. - Larry P.

Hello James,
Like many others, I've just finished reading "Patriots" for the second time. The first time, 10 years ago, I didn't take notes while reading it, this time I did! I have just discovered your site and was reading a post about your vehicle. While the extra ignition and fuel components are nice, the EMP (electromagnetic pulse) will very likely take out the alternator regulator as well. It could also quite likely take out your car's computer and possibly the electronic dashboard (depending on the model). Even analog looking dashboards these days are full of electronics instead of actual, physical things like speedometer cables, or a capillary tube to a pressure switch. The computer may go into "limp home mode" if it's not getting information from the throttle position switch, mass air flow sensor, or manifold absolute pressure switch, the crank position sensor, etc. Another possibility is that the vehicle won't run at all.

If at all possible, for those who need not go very far to get to their retreat, buy something old like the Bronco in your book or an old CJ or Willys overland wagon. Basically anything that uses points. Tune it up, yank the points distributor, and store it along with a distributor wrench. Install an electronic ignition distributor, and run a jumper wire across the ballast resistor, as electronic distributors need 12 volts and points need 6 volts. If you have a GM product, remove the "resistance wire" that is used instead of the ballast resistor and replace it with a regular wire and ballast resistor from a Ford or Dodge.

When EMP destroys your distributor, install the points distributor and motor happily away for the next 15K miles as the EMP will not affect a points distributor in the slightest. Be sure to remove or cut the jumper wire on the ballast resistor, or you will only motor for 500 miles (Bosch) or 1000 miles (Standard) on a set of points, running them at 12 volts. Just a thought. - Bill J.

Mr. Rawles,
I recently started reading Survivalblog and find it very helpful. In hopes of providing some help of my own, I would like to address the question of survival vehicles especially in regards to EMP survival. I am an ASE certified master automotive technician with a background in not only automotive repair but also agricultural and diesel mechanics as well as welding.

To get right to the point, today's automobiles have so many electronic components and control modules that there is no way to stow enough parts to make them operational after exposure to an EMP. The only way to be confident in your vehicle's ability to function after an EMP is if it is equipped with a carburetor rather than fuel injection (unless it's mechanical like some of the old European autos or an older diesel) and a mechanical fuel pump. As for the ignition system, electronic ignition has been standard since the mid 1970's. However, there is a chance to stow enough spare parts to get an older electronic ignition back up and running if it is a simple design like the old GM HEI that doesn't use an external engine control module. The best and safest bet, though, would be to get your hands on an old points-type distributor that would be installed in your vehicle if it did fall victim to an EMP, especially if a second or third or more might come.

I would also recommend a standard transmission and, if the vehicle is 4-wheel drive, a manually operated transfer case and front wheel locking hubs. The reason for this is because starting in the mid to late 1980's even automatic transmissions are computer controlled and any truck with push button 4-wheel drive is also using a computer to engage the transfer case. In fact, virtually any automobile built since the mid to late 1990's uses computers to do even such basic things as turn on the head lights! There is a reason that the government keeps coming up with things like cash for clunkers and emissions inspections to get old cars to the crusher!

My personal vehicle is a 1985 Toyota Landcruiser with a carburetor, electronic ignition, manual transmission, transfer case and manual front hubs. It's not fast, fancy or efficient but it is simple to repair and super tough. The only weakness from the factory is the electronic ignition but it can be repair with just one part after and EMP or be fitted with an older distributor. Other models that I would consider for my personal use would be a Chevy, Ford or Dodge truck build before 1986 (that's the year electronic fuel injection became pretty much standard on domestically made truck, 1984 for cars) but it would be even better if it were built before 1980 since Detroit was using some super finicky feedback carburetors after that. Most all trucks that fit that production range can be fitted with an older distributor if desired but they all definitely have a simple electronic ignition system. The best thing to do would be to find a survival-minded mechanic and get his advice and help with your plans. - Elijah K.

JWR Replies: Thanks for that suggestion. I am constantly amazed at the depth of knowledge provided by SurvivalBlog readers. I will be including some details on carburetor and timing adjustments for unusual fuels like natural gas distillate ("drip.")in my forthcoming sequel to my novel "Patriots".

Good day, Sir!
What a pleasure it was to see that a like minded individual spoke out about this often neglected aspect of preparedness. It was gratifying to find that your "survival tool set" matches my own core tool collection almost exactly. However... I'm not certain how you get all of that into one toolbox!

I have a two-tray box exactly as you describe with virtually identical dimensions...and there is no way you're going to get all those tools in that one box. I presume you are referring to your "road box" with that description. In my own collection, the 1/2" set has it's own box...as do the pliers/grips, drivers, bicycle tools, my number two 3/8" set came with it's own box, et cetera. Besides what's on your list, I've also got a set of Torx bits for working on newer GM and a 1/2 impact driver (the handheld kind that you hit with a hammer) with a selection of impact bits and sockets. In addition, I've collected a few oddities that have allowed me to minimize my spending on personal transportation. I spent just $1,000 this year on vehicles. I bought four, killed off two, sold one, and am currently driving the fourth as it's engine has been overhauled (by me) and it came with an almost-new transmission (and a pristine body, which is why I bothered overhauling the engine). To do this, I've also obtained items like a ring compressor, coil spring compressors, brake tools, ball joint fork (actually makes a good pry bar in some situations where a crowbar doesn't work as well), and some simple diagnostic tools, like a timing strobe. I've been debating whether or not to invest $100 or so on an OBDII reader.

I've also made the habit of picking out any free information I can find on things mechanical. The Briggs and Stratton mower I purchased a few years back came with a code to the B&S web site where you could download a free brochure on small engine maintenance. I've used this information to keep the mower running like new. You probably know that it's possible to kludge together a gas powered generator with nothing more than a good 4-5 horsepower mower engine, an auto alternator, and an inverter. I got the inverter at a wholesale liquidators for 20 cents on the dollar. It's only a 400 Watt unit, but that will keep a few lights burning. I plan to tinker with it until I feel confident to move up to a more powerful home built rig.

Anyway, enough about me. I enjoyed the article and I will be visiting your site regularly in the future! - Brian S.

Sir:
As a former aircraft mechanic and elevator tech, I thoroughly agree with the survival tools articles, which I saw on LewRockwell.com. Also consider the kind of vehicles you want to keep running. I like old air cooled VWs because they are simple and designed to be maintained by the owner. One of mine has 700,000 miles on it. If there is an electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear weapon there are no computers that will fail. The simple carburetor is easily modified to run on alcohol. They will even run on kerosene if warmed up on gas first. In the 1970s many were modified to run on propane, see the MotherEarthNews.com article under "transportation". They even have an article on running cars on wood gas from firewood! A local company converts them to electric power. Many American cars from the 60's are simple too. I also have a 1967 Chevelle with a Straight 6 engine and 3 speed transmission.

Pick up a copy of HotVWs magazine for parts sources and info. - Pat from Florida

Mr. Rawles,
The following describes my background and how it shaped me.

My Parents' Influences
My parents were from the south (Eastern Tennessee)
They were also children of the Great Depression, their families were farmers and it was normal to prepare for winter or hard times.
Both my parents could can food, especially vegetables and fruit.
My father was an avid hunter and trapper.
I learned from a young age from my parents, never take anything for granted, prepare for good and bad times.

My Childhood
My parents moved to Ohio for work, where I was born.
I spent my youth (from birth to 15 years of age), I lived half of the year in Tennessee and the other in Ohio.
I helped out on uncle’s farm in Tennessee, where my Dad and Uncle taught me to work the land, process livestock, harvest honey & wild fruits and vegetables.
My Uncle and Aunt were children of the Great Depression, yep they were preppers too.
Why this is important, this was the late 1960s to early 1970s.
Their farm was on a route road, where electricity was iffy at best, no city water and the closest store was 25 to 30 miles away, it was natural to just prepare, stock up and be ready instead of heading out on long peat gravel back roads, especially in the winter.

I lost my father, uncle, and aunt in a close span of time together when I was 16 years old. But my Dad, Uncle, Aunt and my Mom gave me some great gifts on taking care of myself.

Young Adulthood
We didn’t get to Tennessee to much after the deaths of my Dad, Uncle and Aunt.
My Mom lost the drive to prepare, can and such.
I did for a while, but once I started working two full time jobs I stopped prepping.
I was working maintenance and training to become a deputy sheriff.
But I still prepped with can goods, drink powders and well water.

An Evacuation
In 1986, we had an industrial accident that affected the region, that started me back to be a prepper
A freight train hauling industrial materials derailed, some of the cars were carrying Phosphorus,
Which caught fire and released a poisonous gas, this caused more of the small towns along the rail line to be evacuated, including our town.
This was my first experience in seeing the baser instincts of human nature take over.
You have to remember, these were small towns, not vast urban areas.
The looting and robbery and loss of the rule of law began.
I saw people fight with police at road blocks.
I saw people nearly run officers dow with their cars.
As in New Orleans during Katrina (several years after the derailment event), some cops didn’t show up for duty, because they were worried about their families.
Our town had not been evacuated as of yet. I was told not to report to any of my jobs, and I wasn’t called up to help.
In fact most law enforcement pulled out of the area to a central location.
I decided to send my mom and younger sister to a family members home outside of the affected area.
And I stayed and protected the home and cared for the animals.
This is the first time I used an Israeli gas mask. It worked quite well.
This was 14 years before 9/11 attacks.
I sealed the windows, doors and any other exterior accesses with towels and duct tape. That worked great.
I set back and watched the circus unfold on television and listen to the scanner, with my Ruger Service Six on the couch.
After the evacuation, the scanner traffic slowed down, a lot of local departments were working their bases out of the county seat in a safe area.
We lived near the town square, so I watched this small but busy town turn into a scene from a nuclear war movie. The traffic stopped, the traffic light in the middle of town wasn’t working due to a car wreck.
Then slowly the cloud appeared, white, thicker than fog.
I was stuck in the house for two days until the fire burned out and the cloud dissipated.
According to police friends, several looters arrested, and one was shot and wounded by a home owner.
One of the evacuation centers at a school turned into a free for all and the police had to shut it down.
So I guess I have a taste of the TEOTWAWKI experience. I hope I never have to experience it again.

Prepper Anew
That experience renewed the prepper instinct in me.
But things had changed, I now lived in a more residential area.
Not much room for a big garden to can or live stock to keep.
So I started looking and what the Boy Scouts and military were doing.
MREs were just a dream, C rations were expensive if you could find any.
So I started with civilian canned goods.
Canned goods available in stores keep an average of one year, maybe up to two years if they are kept in a safe, dry place. This works great if you consume the products and rotate in new during that time.
Some people want to get something that will last 5 -10 -20 years, that’s fine, but I think you should check your stores more often.
Presently, I have a mixture of Dehydrated, freeze dried foods, canned meats, seeds (non-hybrid), food bars and MREs.
55 gallon barrels of potable water and a rain barrel system.
I’m working on a 4x4 vehicle, just in case I have to make a run for it.
I prepare to stay, but I have food bars and portable water, brigade first aid kits in a bug-out set up.
Go to the Dollar stores, you can great deals on basic medical, sanitary, and food products.
Don’t be a snob, it all works.

Guns
I don’t know about you, but I’m a working stiff, no longer a sheriff’s deputy I work in the trades. (Another gift from my family upbringing, I can fix just about anything.)
I can’t afford $1.000 to $1.800 weapons. So if you are in a similar financial situation, I would advise you to check your local pawn shops.

I’ve found great deals on used guns. Here is what I've bought, and my costs:
A Interarms Star M30 9mm 15 shot DA/SA auto pistol, a design once issued to the Brazilian military $299.
Mossberg 12ga 20” barrel pump $150
Taurus Mod 66 .357 $169
Hi-Point C9 9mm $130
Ruger 10/.22 $199
The guns at shows are now often much too expensive.
Don’t be a gun snob. Functionality is key, not a gun's looks.

A gun is a tool, if you can’t buy a S&W, then buy two Hi-Point pistols and have money for the ammo.
In the heat of combat, a gun jams and I can’t clear it, I'll leave it, whether it’s a S&W or a Hi-Point,
Plus the more of the same weapons you have, the more extra parts you’ll have if one goes bad.
The cheapest and easiest to get ammo right now is for shotguns and .22 LR rimfires.
No matter what the caliber, bullet placement is the key to survival. In my police training, I was trained to aim for the Instant Neutralization Zone. This starts with ocular window and runs down to the lower edge of the solar plexus
One other important lesson from my training was to stay out of the Immediate Threat Radius. That is anywhere within 10 feet of an armed opponent.
If you are in the Immediate Threat Radius, even if you get the first shot off [with a handgun], you’ll probably still get shot or stabbed by the bad guy.

Tools
Tools are just like guns, if you can’t afford Klein or Snap-On brands, then buy Stanley brand and buy more of them.
Learn to work on everything.
Stock up on fasteners, extra wood, and any thing else you use at a regular intervals.
Store some gas, kerosene what ever you use.

Faith
Get a Bible, and study it.
Most important have faith in God and in yourself.
I pray every day that none of this prepping will ever be needed.
Of what I’ve seen of the baser side of human nature, if the world goes to he**, there will be a lot of death and sorrow that will touch everyone.
Don’t ask for war, things will go their way by nature and will happen in their own time.

Remember;
“The Angels of the Lord encamp around those who love him.
The Lord will deliver him in his time of need. "

Wishing SurvivalBlog Readers God's Blessings - Gary J.

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) of the regional effect scale is a threat during times of potential crisis with a megaton class nuclear equipped foe who also has near-space launch capability for these weapons. An EMP-like event of greater strength and duration is also possible during extreme solar flare events. These types of event are caused by ionospheric excitation of the upper atmosphere by subatomic particles and plasma ejected from a massive solar discharge, this motion in the conductive plasma generates massive amounts of radio waves.

An antenna is any conductor of electricity which inductively converts radio waves into voltage, usually grabbing signals in the microvolt range, but--like a tuned guitar string vibrates in harmony when another tuned guitar string is plucked--an antenna best resonates to a frequency resonant with its length. I would ask the readers to quickly brush up on antenna theory with one of the many excellent tutorials on the Internet.

Fortunately for off the grid equipment like portable electronics and vehicles an antenna that best receives these high energy HF radio waves is measured in tens of meters, unfortunately that makes things like electrical power lines and long antennas particularly well suited to absorbing and transmitting large induced voltages into your sensitive solid state electronics.

It is important to remember, if you are concerned about EMP follow the old instructions for during a thunderstorm, disconnect all antennas and unplug your electronics. At a minimum filter your mains power and install gas discharge tubes on antenna feeds for mission critical radios.

Why do the tube tech gadgets survive where solid state dies from HERF? When an errant voltage spike enters a vacuum tube it can just discharge itself to ground if strong enough (so ground everything electronic at every opportunity), the other large components can also mostly take a sudden flash of high voltage without being destroyed. In solid state the junction size is almost universally quite small and if a reversed voltage is applied against the bias of the semiconductor or an over-voltage is applied the gate is almost always ruined in a way that requires component replacement.

While tube tech is much more survivable in an EMP environment, and HF (shortwave) radios are at high risk being tuned to the most affected bands, I wish to remind the readers that in nearly all other categories tube tech is far less survivable and is notoriously wasteful of precious off-grid electricity. The several downsides to "hollow state" tech is mechanical fragility and short life span compared to solid state, we are talking about blown glass and incandescent filaments essentially like a box of light bulbs to the uninitiated. In a well stocked retreat a tube type radio could be an asset after serious preps have been completed, although for the price of a quality collectors item several high quality military grade (civilian ham radio) solid state radios, the tools and parts to repair them, and proper antenna line and power input traps for errant voltage could be purchased providing much better reliable communications to your retreat than tube tech could.

I actually like to play with hollow state components especially when whipping up simple DIY radios and electronics with the kids, it is a much better visual learning tool which can be used to explain how the solid state components work.

I highly recommend that any serious survivalist invest in several good butane soldering irons, quality fluxed lead alloy solder, and a good tackle box full of replacement components, these can either be harvested from junked electronics or purchased in large grab bags form most large electronics engineering supply outlets. The Brunton Fuel Tool [lighter filling adaptor] makes keeping butane in a usable form easier for a prepper by avoiding the mostly incompatible gas cigarette lighter refill cans and instead using lantern/stove cartridges. These, combined with quality test equipment means that most damaged, shot, soaked, or even EMP-damaged electronics could be saved if you have the time to spare testing out components.

If the readers fail to procure the required hollow state and solid state components and practice their electronics repair skills by kitting or repairing intentionally damaged electronics they will not be able to use these skills during a crisis where mission critical equipment might be taken offline.

You must intelligently train, equip yourself for, and practice your medical, electronics, on and off-road driving, long range bicycling, cooking, fieldcraft, armed and unarmed combat, loaded hiking, carpentry, navigation, boating, food preservation, butchering, cycling, farming, veterinary, water finding, cooking, hunting, fishing, leadership, metal smithing, mechanical repair and fabrication, engineering and other critical survival skills. Being a real survivor has nothing to do with hobby shooting, wide-eyed fanatics, or overweight dude commandos, it is about living your life with the calm confidence that you are walking in the path that the Lord has set out for you while taking reasonable precautions to protect the life you have been given as well as being a vital asset to your family and community. - David in Israel

Hello Jim,
The History Channel has aired a two-hour long documentary titled 'The Day After Disaster'.

It is a very detailed look at what they describe as our government's top terrorist concern - a 10 kiloton nuke being detonated at/near the Capitol Mall in Washington DC. [JWR Adds: A re-run of this show is scheduled for October 16th at 8 A.M. and 2 P.M.. Tape or Tivo it!]

One of the things that became very clear for me is that, should this event occur in DC or any of the handful of other 'primary target' cities mentioned, our entire country will immediately go into a lockdown that will make the 9/11 aftermath look like a timeout for a five year old. This lock down will mean the immediate grounding of all air traffic, as we saw on 9/11, but also the immediate suspension of all trucking, freight, and port activity. The government will be searching for additional nukes, and to determine how the weapon entered the country. While not stated in the Documentary, there will be no just-in-time deliveries for what could be weeks, and I assume that rationing will be the method of disbursement for a time after that. There is an implied expectation that Marshall Law will be instituted at a national level as well.

If your not ready, this is yet another reason to get ready. Long term larder, and keeping out of the way will make for a much less stressful life than those who stand there like deer in the headlights.

Thank you Jim for all that you do, our prayers are with you and your family. God Bless, - D. McD.

Mr. Rawles,
I have read your blog for awhile, I would like to know if you about the following: I was diagnosed with Graves Disease over two years ago. They cured the Graves Disease and the way that was done was to completely remove my thyroid gland, If the main concern with radiation is thyroid cancer, without a thyroid what would radiation do are what organ would it damage the most. I would like to also know if there would be any need for myself to take Potassium Iodide (KI).

JWR Replies: There would be no need for you to take KI, since it only serves to "load" a thyroid gland with iodine and hence prevent the accumulation of radioactive isotopes that would otherwise accumulate there. Beyond that, in terms of "internal emitters", all that you should remember is to avoid fresh dairy products (since isotopes like Strontium-90 tend to accumulate in milk), and to drink a regular quantity of fluids, to keep your kidneys flushed.

Since you are post-operative, you can jokingly refer to yourself as partially "radiation proof." (At least you don't have to worry as much as the rest of us about radioactive iodine isotopes.)

From a preparedness standpoint, you should look into stocking up on your regular hypothyroid (glandular replacement) prescription, (assuming that you have one). Do so as much as possible, up to the maximum shelf life. And of course you should consistently rotate this supply, using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method.

Good Morning!
Thank you for the info you provide for all of us in your web site. I live in the Kansas City Area in a beautiful suburb which is one of the nicest cities in the country. till doing okay in the depression too. My work is secure and I do well and I own my own twp-story with basement frame home and have been making it a retreat for the past five years. I have no debt and am 60 days ahead with my mortgage and insurance and utilities. Am I absolutely crazy to try to stay here when things go bad?

First, let me tell you what I have done. I have a new roof ,which is fireproof. I have two large fire extinguishers in each room and more in the basement and garage and attic and I have a 2-inch fire hose with Honda generator to pull water from my 2,000 gallon swimming pool/fountain as well as from my 2,000 gallon [combined capacity] plastic tanks under the deck. Yes, they will freeze in the winter so I may add a new tank in the basement. I have 100 50-pound bags of sand which can also put out fires [and double as ballistic protection].

I have a strong 7' wood cedar privacy fence around my back and side yards and I have landscaped them such that it is difficult to see into my yard from any point but still need to add a few more tall bushes to screen my home. I brought in 80 [cubic] yards of great topsoil for the backyard to level it and to add garden areas so I can grow lots of food. I have a gutter system hooked up to the water storage and I have 3 months of water stored now in the basement and when the time comes new 55 gallon water barrels with hand pumps will be in each of my 4 bath rooms and kitchen. There is a pond and active stream 200' from my home and 5 of my neighbors next door and up hill from me have large swimming pools that I can siphon water from. I can produce clean water for 25 for 20 years with my water filters. So I have five ways to get water when the tap stops running.

I can feed my family for more than five years and then grow food too. I have all the stuff you buy in the stores weekly. I can grow food inside or outside and in a greenhouse too that is next to the house which can be heated with the natural warmth of the earth /basement and wood-burning stove, and sunshine.

We can protect ourselves better than anyone you might know, night and day. I have tried to set up my perimeter in my yard using the fence and bushes and trees and berms, etc. without anyone seeing the difference so that a stray bullet or two will not hit us easily. I will build gravel plywood walls in key places inside when TSHTF to reduce stray bullets. My fireplace is 5' x 5' x 4' deep so I can burn 4' foot logs and keep half my home warm and the firewood is placed outside on the side yards to slow down a bullet or two. The fireplace outside is 10' wide and goes above the roof. I have a wood stack 10 yards long, half of it is 4' long wood. I built a barbeque grill/water fall/pool that is solid 12' concrete that works well to stop bullets and it is 20' long and 8' high and looks really cool too.
In my basement I am finishing I added some 12" concrete walls to also give more strength to the floor above and to
slow down a bullet or two.

There are thick forests within 200' of my neighborhood to hide in if necessary and they run the stream for 50 miles. I have a nice "wine room" that is built to Joel Skousen standards [per his book The Secure Home] just in case the web bots are right and we have a problem with radiation.

I may have missed to say a thing or two but have been through others check lists to cover it all.

Can I make it in the city? Or do I want to be a refugee or try to live with friends four normal driving hours away without my stuff?

Thanks, - B., Near K.C.

JWR Replies: Your preparations are excellent for someone living in the suburbs. I believe that your plans to stay in place will probably suffice for all but a true worst-case scenario. But it is important to get to know your contiguous neighbors well, including the neighbors behind your back fence. Having neighbors that you know on a first name basis, and that you can trust in times of Deep Drama will be crucial in the next decade. At present, my best estimate is that we will likely experience an economic depression that will be on a par with the Great Depression of the 1930s. Crime will be rampant, and you will need to institute a Neighborhood Watch on Steroids. That necessitates solid familiarity and trust.

Attached greenhouses are wonderful for situations where there isn't much home invasion crime, but they are a huge security risk in inimical times.

I recommend that you hedge your bets by pre-positioning some of your supplies with your friends, in anticipation of worst-case grid down collapse, where the municipal water will not be available. This is not a major issue for you, since you have an abundance of stored water, and rainwater collection system. But "grid down" will be a true disaster for your neighbors within just a few days. They will likely abandon their houses, leaving you by yourself to defend against large numbers of very desperate looters. You mentioned that you have a five year food supply --which is quite commendable--I'd recommend that you store up to half of it with your friends in the country. Keep in mind that you may only have the opportunity to make one trip Outta Dodge, so it is important to have some crucial logistics stored at your backup retreat.

In the summer of 1995 I decided to build an underground multipurpose survival shelter. I purchased the book Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney and went to work. If you want to know about shelters and what it will be like living in one, then purchase his book. My brother helped me for a while with the construction, but I did the majority of the work alone and it took me two years to complete the project. Let me say up front that I’m an amateur who used a brilliant book to build a shelter. Along the way I made many mistakes and had some unanticipated problems. Hopefully if you decide to do something along these lines you can learn from my many mistakes.

I purchased used 40 foot x 12foot diameter and 20 foot x 8 foot [galvanized steel ] road culvert pipes. The 20 foot long culvert would be used as the entrance to the larger pipe. The first step of my project was to enclose the ends of the 40’ pipe. In the back I used heavy angle iron to frame the end then 2x12s to enclose it. Welding on galvanized metal was a problem for me so I also bolted the braces to the pipe. When I finished enclosing the end it didn’t look right so I placed black roofing felt over the 2x12s and covered it all with a layer of plywood, painted it and then tarred it. I cut a hole in the back at floor level and inserted a 12’’ plastic pipe into the hole and ran the pipe up to the top for airflow. In the front of the pipe I framed it in with angle iron and just used 2x12s. I used 2x12s so that my front solid core entrance door would be right.

I used metal channel iron to enclose the floor of the pipe. I cut the floor frame channels to the proper length so that the floor was about 8ft in height so that I could walk and not hit my head. I installed a plywood floor and placed 4 foot square inserts in the center that would pull up and out for easy access to the lower level. This lower level gives me 4 foot x 40 foot storage under the floor with 8 feet of headroom on top. Along the sides I used two 2x12s wide for bench seats the entire length of the pipe on both sides. This is more than enough seating and is not in the way when you walk around in the pipe. I don’t want to gloss over this part but it took about a year for me to complete the inside.

After I completed the construction of the pipe I was ready to bury it. To accomplish this I rented a 988 Cat[erpillar brand wheel loader with a excavation bucket] and dug a hole for the 40 foot long section. I then buried it to the proper height so the 8 foot piece would match the door and then buried the whole thing. The 20 foot x 8 foot piece extended out the end far enough to prevent the soil from burying the front door. From the bottom of the pipe to the top of the soil is about 22 feet. After burying everything the front didn’t look right. There wasn’t anyway to secure the entrance to the pipe so I then I built a 20x20 wooden shed on the end to secure the entrance. I placed the pipe west to east so the airflow would work and buried the pipe with about 10ft of earth on top of the main 40-foot pipe being sure to protect the plastic air pipe on the end. The book says you only need three feet of compacted earth to protect you from radiation but 10 feet works for temperature control. [JWR Adds: In my experience, only foot depth of clay or loam soil is required to take full advantage of the ambient ground temperature, at least outside of permafrost zones.] The temperature is constant summer and winter and it is pleasant inside. I checked the level of the ground for drainage and adjusted the drainage away from the entrance.

Alongside my buried pipe shelter I placed a Santa Fe Railroad boxcar for storage. This was the real deal and made of solid metal. I filled the boxcar with lots of stuff that could be used for barter or just be used to keep us comfortable. After loading the boxcar with stuff, as a precaution, I welded the two large solid metal doors shut. The doors slid sideways to open so I felt it wouldn’t take much to prevent them from opening.

After I finished construction, my pipe complex was 80ft long, with a storage boxcar alongside. There was water, food, bedding, clothes, everything I could think of that I might need, I stored in the pipe shelter. There is water close by and I also had 8 - 55 gallon. used white plastic Coca-Cola syrup barrels filled with water inside the pipe. When I open the entrance door and the 12’’ plastic air flow pipe you can feel the air flow but according to the book that isn’t enough air for [very] many people and the book tells you how to increase the airflow for more people. On the right side of the pipe there is electrical plugs for 12 volt DC power and 2 Heavy equipment 12 volt DC batteries for power. On the left side of the pipe is 120 volt AC power [conduit and outlets] to be plugged into a generator.

The boxcar was for extra, non-essential items. My family and I could go to my pipe shelter without bringing anything with us and stay there for at least one year.

Lessons I have learned:
My first and biggest mistake was in believing that my property was secure. There is no possible way to secure property if you aren’t there to secure it. I have 120 acres fenced in and the pipe location is out of sight of the main road. I thought the location was secure but it only took the druggies a couple of years to find it. Once the word got out what was there everything went down hill fast. Now the property is always being broken into and trashed. They will steal anything and everything and then trash the rest. I live in the city and the [unoccupied] pipe [shelter] is 200 miles away from my home in the country. The pipe is located in the middle of my land but it doesn’t matter. (Hindsight) When you use wood to enclose your shelter eventually the Prairie dogs and druggies will find a way into it. 4 Wheeler [ATV]s can go anywhere and they do. Not only did they break into my pipe [shelter] and destroy and steal everything, they used a bumper jack to attach to the bottom of my metal door on my boxcar, jack it out and steal everything they wanted. Then when they had everything worth something they burned the boxcar. The interior walls and floor of a boxcar are lined with heavy wood and burns real hot.

So here is where I am now: I had to rebuild the front of the entrance to the pipe. I originally had some windows in front of my pipe complex to help add a little illumination so I used crusher screen cloth to cover the windows and doors. After the druggies broke into the pipe they left it open and the prairie dogs ruined everything left inside. I have cleaned out everything in the pipe and threw it all away. Now the pipe is empty but at least it is still usable, but my boxcar is a burned-out shell and unusable.

If you want to have a place in the country to escape to Good luck. You have to be there to be able to protect it.
I also buried some plastic 55gal barrels with some extra #10 cans of food in them. They have been in the ground for about 10 yrs and I have learned another lesson. There is enough moisture in the barrels to rust through many of the #10 cans. The barrels didn’t leak water but many of the #10 cans still rusted through. If you want to do something like this dip your cans in wax and that will protect the metal #10 cans from rusting. You can buy lids for 55 gallon barrels that snap on to the top of the barrel. They are thin but if you place a piece of rolled plastic on top of the lid and then some ¾’’ plywood over the top of the barrels they will be fine. Mine were buried on end with about two feet of soil on top. You can bury 8 barrels with a single piece of plywood over them and have a lot of #10 cans of food safely stored in a cool temperature. 10 yrs. of storage isn’t a problem if you store wheat, rice and beans as you can fill in the gaps later with storage easer to get to.
I find that this type of storage in 55gal plastic barrels buried in the ground works for many different things.

[Some information on another topic deleted, for brevity. It will eventually be posted separately.]

I hope this information is helpful. - BB

JWR Adds: I've heard may similar tales about unoccupied retreats being ransacked. BB's experience underscores the oft-repeated need to either:

1.) Live at your retreat year-round, or

2.) Have a retreat caretaker, or

3.) Have a trustworthy year-round resident neighbor that lives in a house with line of sight to your retreat buildings.

Anything less than that cannot be relied on! There is some utility in motion-queued web cams, but there is no sure substitute for the Mark I Human Eyeball. I consider web cams just a good backup, and a means to capture images of would-be burglars and their vehicle license plate numbers.

If it is an underground shelter, then you might get away with a completely hidden entrance. Typically, this is done with a large scrap/junk pile. (Two of my consulting clients have done this, thusfar with several years of success.) Although it is labor intensive to remove, the "scrap pile camouflage" technique is fairly practical for a property that you visit only infrequently. But all it takes is just one untrustworthy person that knows about the shelter's existence to make this approach ineffective. (The goblins will keep looking until the find the entrance.)

Given enough time, miscreants can reduce just about any obstacle to entry to an unoccupied and unobserved structure. They will come back with a cutting torch or even a backhoe, given enough time!

James;
I need your advice. I am worried about power failures, and even EMP while I'm sleeping. This could take out my security system, and leave my family vulnerable. Is there any sort of device that'll alert me if the power goes out? Thanks, - Nolan S.

JWR Replies: There are fairly inexpensive commercially-made plug-in power failure alarms available via mail order for under $15. (Or under $20 each at larger home improvement stores.) I recommend buying one for each bedroom, and one for your generator house. (The 86 dB alarm is not loud enough to be heard from far away, but having a light on for you at your generator house on a dark, snowy night is a very welcome sight!) Needless to say, these are a must for sleep apnea patients that use a CPAP machine, or for anyone else that uses other 120 VAC medical devices for chronic health issues. These alarms work fine for houses with grid power, or for houses with backup generators. (The alarm will trip before an auto-start backup generator kicks in.) If you have a grid-tied alternative energy system, you would of course need to plug one of these into an outlet that is exclusively grid-powered. If you live off-grid, you won't have any way of knowing, but then again, if your level of concern for such an event will probably be minimal.

If your specific concern is a power failure in the event of EMP, then you could always wire up a battery-powered traditional buzzer with a "normally closed" relay. (When the grid power is disconnected, the relay closes, and energizes the DC buzzer circuit.) That is 1920s-era technology that would be EMP proof.

Dear JWR,
I read the EMP article by Andru and thought it very well done with one minor correction in the power generation area (worked in the nuclear power industry for 20 years before changing careers). The EMP E3 pulse is very dangerous to the transformers in the transmission and distribution system, and hydro-electric and nuclear will also be severely affected. Commercial generators of any output run at 8,000-10,000 volts which is fed immediately to step up transformers to feed the transmission system. The most common voltage for the transmission system is 250,000 to 500,000 volts (3 phase) which reduces amperage and therefore reduces line losses. The power goes from the power plant through the transmission system to one of the many interchange grids which direct and control where the power is going to. The power is bought and sold in commodity markets by these interchange systems. Even if you live next to a power plant its output will go through the transmission system first, and then to a series of step down transformers in the distribution system before finally being delivered to the customer. Much of the time my home power was not supplied by the power plant I lived next to and worked at.

The transformers are the weak link. A severe solar storm can induce currents that will destroy them (this has happened). Safety interlocks may not work as the pulse can increase current too fast for the breaker to trip before the contacts get welded shut or else it can cause winding damage before it trips. As Andru says the extent of the damage will be the problem. None of the high tension step up/step down transformers are made in the US anymore. And the lead times for their manufacture are measured in years. I expect in such a scenario desperate measures will be taken to produce transformers (or repair them – very difficult and not possible if the damage is severe enough).

If we suffer an EMP attack plan for the power being off for years. I would suspect that power recover would be prioritized in the major metropolitan areas as that is where most people and industry are. The rural areas will probably be the last to be worked. This is standard operating procedure (SOP) for power restoration, you do what brings the most people back online first. - James J.

Mr. Rawles,
Mention was made in your blog of an article entitled, "EMP 101 - A Basic Primer" concerning the results of an EMP attack on the United States. The article was written by William R. Forstchen, the author of the novel One Second After.

I followed the link and read the article. For the most part it was very informative, especially the part about all modern airliners being "fly by wire" and controlled by computers. From my aviation background I know that the control surfaces of most large aircraft today are simply too large to be moved around by the pilot's own strength, as they were in aircraft designs up to the 1950s. Still, it was a graphic reminder that most large aircraft today are completely dependent on their on-board computer systems to operate. There is no "manual backup", just another spare computer system that could possibly also be damaged in an EMP incident.

But there was one section of his article discussing advance preparations to mitigate the effect of an EMP blast that I did not understand. That was the paragraph:

"An off the shelf purchase of hand held two way radios by every local police, fire, sheriff, and emergency response department in the country would mean, that if then properly stored along with a large stock pile of batteries that within minutes after an attack, a nation wide network of communications would be back up and running. This can not be emphasized enough, that proper communications and what the military calls "command and control," will go a long step towards maintaining public order."

I'm not quite sure what Mr. Forstchen is referring to with the term, "off the shelf purchase of hand held two way radios"? If he is referring to the commonly available Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) walkie-talkies that use AA and AAA batteries, then he is not aware of their severe limitations. FRS radios only have 14 UHF channels and 0.5 watts of RF output power. The GMRS radios have 22 UHF channels and typically around 2 watts of RF output power.

Both radios operate on relatively low power and on UHF frequencies, a combination that will limit their effective range to a few miles typically. At best perhaps 10-miles with the higher powered 2-watt GMRS radio (don't believe the advertising hype on the package). The UHF frequencies do a better job of penetrating building walls, but they don't propagate as far as VHF signals. They provide "Line of Sight" operation - if you can see the other person in the distance, you should be able to reach them on the radio.

Based upon these obvious limitations, I don't understand where the author comes up with the statement that equipped with these consumer-grade walkie-talkies, "within minutes after an attack, a nation wide network of communications would be back up and running." With their short range and limited channels, it is impossible to create a "nationwide network of communications". When used from inside a vehicle, the range of the low power FRS radio can be measured in feet! Usually the range is only a few car lengths, which makes for limited convoy use. In addition, the limited number of available radio channels will ensure a pandemonium of signals and the resulting radio gridlock reminiscent of the peak of CB radio activity in the late 1970s. This is especially true when you realize that every man, woman, and child could potentially be attempting to communicate on these same channels with their personally owned FRS or GMRS radio. The public service functions will no longer be operating on radio frequencies reserved and licensed exclusively for their use.

If the author is referring to the purchase of additional two-way radios of the type already in use by police, fire, sheriff, and emergency response departments, then he is unaware of how they operate. Most "business band" or "professional" hand held radios have a RF output of 5-to7 watts. They are still limited in range by their inefficient "rubber duckie" flexible antenna, frequency band, and power output. The only reason they seem to operate so well over many miles of varied terrain is because of the supporting infrastructure, mainly the radio repeater system. The radio repeater extends the range of the low powered hand held radios by retransmitting their signal [typically] from a mountaintop repeater site. A network of repeater stations located on high terrain can vastly improve the coverage of a hand held radio, providing excellent range throughout a county or even an entire state depending on the size and extent of the repeater network.

Unfortunately, the weak link in all of the radio systems used by public service agencies is their radio repeater system. With all the repeater stations off the air due to EMP damage (or even a lightning strike) the entire radio network falls apart. Most public service radios are programmed to operate exclusively through the repeater system. If the repeater system is down, the radios no longer work. Sometimes a sheriff's department will have their radios programmed with a "car-to-car" channel, which is a simplex frequency where the radios transmit & receive on the same frequency (without the need for a repeater radio). But these "direct" channels are very few, and are often the only simplex channel available out of a radio system with five or more radio channels. To provide adequate coverage over a large city or county, all the normally used channels are duplex frequencies going through the radio repeater system. An additional limitation is that each public service function is limited to their specific allocated and assigned radio channels. The radios are pre-programmed by a radio technician at his shop. The radios are not field programmable by the user.

In addition to this vulnerability, professional two-way radios use rechargeable battery packs - usually Nickel-Cadmium or Nickel-Metal Hydride. The sealed battery packs are designed to work with a specific model of radio. The radios do not use AA, AAA, C, or D-cell batteries. So unless there is a back room filled with chargers and a person assigned to keep all the spare batteries charged up and rotated out of the charger at all times, there is no simple approach to having charged batteries ready to go to support a stash of spare radios. In fact, most public service agencies can barely afford the minimum number of portable radios needed to equip all their personnel. There is no budget for an additional stash of spare batteries and radios.

The only radio service I know of that has the flexibility to adapt in a "repeater down" situation is the Amateur Radio Service. Instead of specific frequencies or channels, "Ham" radio operators are allocated entire radio bands to operate on. The VHF and UHF radios used in the Amateur Radio Service can be user programmed to operate on any desired frequency within a radio band, and all will switch to simplex operation at the press of a button. Manufacturers of ham radio equipment often offer an optional alkaline battery case for use with their hand held radio models. While looking like the typical Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) battery pack from the outside, these battery cases can be opened up and AA batteries inserted into the slots. The battery case is then attached to the radio the same way as the regular NiCd battery packs do. This allows the ham radio operator to stockpile a stash of spare AA batteries for use during an extended power outage that prevents the usual recharging of the NiCd or Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery packs.

So, unless you are a ham radio operator, expect a long delay before normal radio communications are restored. Due to the limitations and vulnerabilities of public service two-way radio networks, reestablishing a nationwide network of radio communications is going to take time. Sincerely, - Bruce C.

James:
Andru’s outlook about EMP is in part misleading. The main item that Andru got correct is that an EMP attack will be more devastating that any other attack on America. I am an engineer and have read the Critical National Infrastructures (CNI) Report and this report is based on educated opinions without large scale testing since large scale testing has not been performed due to banning of nuclear testing. Localized EMP testing generally wipes out the electronics depending on how close the EMP generator is to the electronic equipment. It is all supposition as to the amount of damage that an EMP attack will create but it is know from a nuclear weapon test in 1962 that was 800 miles from Hawaii and the EMP created damage to Hawaii even with the minor amount of [microcircuit] electronics existing at that time. Think what the damage would happen in our electronics world of today.

Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse by Jerry Emanuelson: "Although nuclear EMP was known since the earliest days of nuclear weapons testing, the magnitude of the effects of nuclear EMP were not known until a 1962 test of a thermonuclear weapon in space called the Starfish Prime test. The Starfish Prime test knocked out some of the electrical and electronic components in Hawaii, more than 800 miles away.

When the 1.44 megaton W49 thermonuclear warhead detonated at an altitude of 248.5 miles (399 km), it made no sound. There was a very brief and very bright white flash in the sky that witnesses described as being like a huge flashbulb going off in the sky. The flash could be easily seen even through the overcast sky at Kwajalein Island, about 2,000 km. to the west-southwest.

In a phenomenon unrelated to the EMP, the radiation cloud from the Starfish Prime test subsequently destroyed at least five United States satellites and one Soviet satellite. The most well-known of the satellites was Telstar I, the world's first active communications satellite. Telstar I was launched the day after the Starfish Prime test, and it did make a dramatic demonstration of the value of active communication satellites with live trans-Atlantic television broadcasts before it orbited through radiation produced by Starfish Prime (and other subsequent nuclear tests in space). Telstar I was damaged by the radiation cloud, and failed completely a few months later.

EMP is a potentially massive, severe problem that can essentially devastate our nation. America as we know it can not survive even a moderate EMP attack. Society will collapse.

The EMP pulse flows through the air at the speed of light until it hits antennas, power lines, cabling, etc. then the pulse flows through this cabling at the speed of light into the electronic equipment and the electronics fail.

[Here is a roughly analogous event that is illustrative:] Our television cable system was struck by lighting and all electronics that were on and all electronics that were off and that were connected to the TV cable were fried. Similarly, EMP will fry any unprotected electronics. The only way to protect your electronics is to have the equipment inside an adequately grounded Faraday cage (metal box) that does not have power or cabling running into it. Your electronics that are not in use should be stored in a grounded Faraday cage everyday.

Even if repair parts for your electronics were available, how would you obtain the repair parts since there will be no mail or transportation services. If you have an auto that still runs after and EMP attack, the last thing that you will wish to do is take your vehicle out and show everyone that you have an operating vehicle.

We are acquiring extra [CPU] "brains" for our diesels and SUVs. We also are acquiring carbureted vehicles.

Even if an EMP strike only caused the death of 10% or our population (30 million citizens) just how do you survive this as a nation? Prepare for EMP and pray that it does not happen.

Analysis:
Severity of potential failures: From least to greatest [Some causative details and conjecture deleted by JWR, for brevity]

1. Swine Flu – World Wide – Population loss 1 to 10% – could trigger Item Number 3.

2. Civil War – America – Population loss of up to 40% – could trigger Item Number 3.

3. Financial Collapse – World Wide – Population loss up to 40%. Loss of 50+ years of progress. Will probably lead to nuclear war or EMP strike. No economy remains.

4. EMP Attack – America – Population loss of up to 80% - No economy remains.

5. Nuclear War – World Wide – Population loss up to 60%. No economy remains.

Regards, - TD

One topic I have paid close attention to for the past 10 years has been our nation’s risk to Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP).  There are a few points I would like to make that are often overlooked—mostly dealing with the magnitude of the threat.  I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, but I have consumed as much information as possible that doesn’t delve into the high-level physics—the kind of knowledge required to truly be an expert.  What may set me apart the most is the simple fact that I actually read the 181 page Critical National Infrastructures (CNI) Report released in April of 2008 and in my opinion, it has shed more light on the subject of EMP effects than any other research conducted since EMPs were first discovered more than 60 years ago.

Had this information been available a few years earlier to authors like William R. Forstchen in his novel One Second After would have likely painted a different picture of the effects of an EMP and how it would impact a society.  His lessons are still valid, but a little more accurate information can have a huge impact on our preparation decisions.

Anatomy of an EMP:
Among the most commonly listed elements that determine the magnitude of an EMP, one deserves special emphasis and that is altitude.  In most discussions, altitude is correctly identified as a significant factor in EMP effectiveness as a weapon but there are two distinct reasons why altitude is so important.  The first and most obvious is the LOS (line of sight) influence of electromagnetic pulse.  The higher you go, the greater distance the pulse can affect across the curved surface of the Earth.  However, the point that most people don’t understand is the impact the atmosphere has upon the strength of an EMP.  Logic would suggest that the closer you get to an EMP, the greater the impact upon sensitive electronic equipment.  This is not necessarily the case and this is why a high altitude detonation not only increases the range of the EMP, but actually increases the magnitude as well.

An EMP is actually created when gamma particles from a nuclear explosion interact with the earth’s atmosphere at a sufficient altitude to cause a uniform disturbance in the earth’s magnetic field.  It is the fluctuations of the earth’s magnetic field that causes the EMP and not the nuclear explosion itself.  If the detonation occurs within the earth atmosphere, the gamma particles are absorbed by the air before creating a significant enough fluctuation in the earth’s magnetic field. Generally speaking, a detonation within the earth’s atmosphere will not produce a significant EMP beyond the actual radius of the nuclear blast.  In other words, the radiation will kill you before the EMP fries your I-pod.

To be most effective, the detonation needs to be outside the earth’s atmosphere—even higher than the International Space Station and many satellites.  This allows the gamma rays to interact with the earth’s atmosphere (and magnetic field) over a broad area at roughly the exact same time. 

We could spend time discussing the three different types of EMPs generated by a nuclear detonation (E1, E2, & E3), but suffice it to say that E1 tends to quickly damage sensitive electronics, E2 is slower and not so much of a threat with modern fuses and surge protectors, and E3 is slow but massive and turns the earth’s magnetic field and any long continuous conductors (long-distance power lines) into a huge electrical generator—overpowering surge protection and destroying connected transformer equipment on either end of the line.  Individuals tend to be concerned with the E1 pulse and infrastructure professionals tend to be concerned with the E3 pulse.

Consumer Technology Risks:
Most people think that anything with a computer chip will be wiped out by an EMP attack.  The findings of the commission who produced the CNI Report actually prove otherwise.  While the most sensitive equipment almost always failed, the failure was sometimes resolved with a re-boot, or with the replacement of a few damaged parts.  Due to the unpredictability of the EMP effects, we can assume that many televisions and radios would still work and public broadcasting capabilities of one degree or another will likely be available—if not immediately, then shortly after an event for as long as power can be supplied for the broadcast.  This can also be attributed to the fact that the strength of the EMP will vary from one place to another.  For example, the further north you travel, the more intense the earth’s magnetic field and resulting EMP.  You could expect the impact felt in New York would be more intense than that of Atlanta.

According to the CNI Report, modern automobiles are not nearly as susceptible to EMP as previously thought.  It seems that while equipment and circuitry has become more sensitive, manufacturers have also beefed up the shielding on these components to reduce electromagnetic interference from non-EMP sources thus reducing susceptibility to an actual EMP.  According to the report, only 10% of the vehicles on the road will stop functioning even temporarily after an EMP and one third of all vehicles won’t even suffer any nuisance failures such as a blown fuse or damaged radio (pg. 115 of the report).  The risk here is still significant, but mostly overstated when compared to other risks.  For instance, we’ve all seen what one accident does to rush-hour traffic.  Now imagine 10% of the cars on the road shutting down at the same time—accidents would result and gridlock would be intense on the major highways—stranding even those with operable vehicles.  But if your car was parked at work at the time of an EMP, chances are you would be able to start your car and at least attempt to drive home.

What are the Real Risks:
To put it simply, there are really two big threats we face as a society when it comes to EMPs.  The first involves the entire electric grid as long-distance power lines convert the slower E3 pulse into extremely high-voltage power surges.  These surges subsequently blow out transformers at either end of the lines and render the grid virtually useless until these custom-designed transformers can be repaired or replaced.  Based upon the current rate of production for these transformers worldwide, it would take 20 years to replace all the high-capacity transformers in the US power grid (see report pg 49).  Now imagine the difficulties of trying to make these repairs in a society that has collapsed.

The other significant threat posed by EMP lies in a commonly used automated control system called supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA).  In essence, SCADA systems are similar your typical computer except that they are designed for specific uses—such as monitoring and controlling our electric grid, telecommunications infrastructure, oil and gas transmission lines, and even our water treatment plants.  Under the testing conducted by the EMP Commission, every SCADA system failed to one degree or another (see report pg. 6).  While some failures might be as simple to fix as rebooting, others would permanently disable a particular control unit.  Taken together at the exact same time, this combination of minor and major failures becomes catastrophic to whatever infrastructure these SCADA units control.

The Reality of a Post-EMP Attack:
Obviously, the risks to our electrical and utility infrastructures are sufficient to categorize an EMP attack as TEOTWAWKI.  However, the picture painted by most EMP alarmists doesn’t do us any favors as we consider our own personal preparations.  I’m convinced that many preparations are either completely ignored, or resources are allocated in less-effective ways because we haven’t focused clearly on what a post-EMP society will look like. 

First of all, the lights will likely go out; and for most of the grid they will stay out for a long time.  However, most of the cars we drive will keep working with minor electrical problems.  Most gas-powered generators will start up, and as long as the back-up power supply holds out, we might even have land-line and perhaps even cell phone telecommunications.  If service stations have back-up power generation, then gas will still be pumping (plan on paying with cash though) until the tanks run dry.  A national priority will be getting the gasoline distribution lines back up and running and with back-up power at key points, this could be accomplished in a matter of weeks or months.  If we can get the gasoline flowing, then harvesting equipment will work, the food supply will begin flowing again, and crews will be able to repair the electrical grid. 

Don’t get me wrong, an EMP attack would be catastrophic and would probably be the worst attack ever to affect our nation.  Millions would die as a result, but I don’t expect it to be the end-game that some make it out to be. It should be entirely survivable for a well-informed and well-prepared groups and individuals.

Lessons for Preppers:
Preparing for an EMP can be overwhelming—especially when one fully grasps our reliance upon technology.  Few of us are in a position to buy and move to a resource-rich piece of farmland and then be able to plow, plant, and harvest a decent crop with nothing but 19th century farm implements.  The good news is that even after an EMP, society may remain intact—at least initially.  And just like we see in the novel Patriots, some areas of the country can be expected to escape societal collapse indefinitely.  For those of us who can’t relocate to a retreat property, the proper selection of our current residence can play a significant role in how we might fare after an EMP attack.  Here are some considerations:

• Do you know where your power comes from?  How far does it travel before it gets to you?  Hydroelectric, nuclear, and wind -powered generators will likely be back online soon and have enough supplied fuel to run indefinitely.  If you live close enough to one of these, then less equipment needs to be repaired before getting your town or city back online.
  
  
• Do you know where your water comes from?  How much treatment is required to make it suitable for human consumption?  Those living in mountainous areas will likely see minimal impact to their water supply after an EMP.  Fresh gravity-fed water usually requires less chemical treatment and no electrical pumps to fill water storage tanks.  Those living in flat areas and who rely upon treated river or ground water pumped into water towers will likely suffer the most from water shortages after an EMP.  Hygiene-related diseases will spread quickly; and if you also happen to live in a relatively dry climate, then dehydration deaths will soar as well.
  
  
• Do you know where your gasoline comes from?  Do you live close to a refinery, or does your fuel come from a combination of pipelines and tanker trucks.  If you live close to a major gas pipeline terminal then your location will likely be better supplied than areas located off the main trunk lines.  Refining capacity will be limited and gasoline will be rationed, but expect those towns closest to the source to be in better shape than those further away and to be among the first areas where order is restored—if lost.
  
  
• Do you know where your food comes from and could your area be food self-sufficient if needed? Those living on the fringes of America’s bread basket will be better off than those living in the large cities on the East Coast.  Your grocery store has about three days worth of food without an EMP and about three hours worth of food with an EMP.  Regional food distribution warehouses carry about 30 days worth of food—much of which is dependent upon refrigeration.  Do you know how close you live to one of these regional warehouses?  Living close to the regional food distribution centers could buy you and your town some time, but the best solution is to live close to a productive agricultural region—supplemented with your own stored food.  The apple you eat today could have been picked 3,000 miles away almost 8 months ago.  It has been stored in one of these warehouses in a carefully climate-controlled environment.  How will your location be affected by a lack of modern food distribution?
  
  
• Do you know the kind of people who live in your area?  Not all demographics are created equal when it comes to EMPs.  Do you live in an area where people are looking for an excuse to riot or loot or do you find yourself among hardworking, religious people who tend to support each other?  Notice the different responses between a tornado hitting a small town in Oklahoma and a flooded neighborhood in New Orleans, or even something as inconsequential as a national basketball championship in Los Angeles?  Not all big cities are created equal and not all small towns are created equal either.  If there is a large number of welfare-dependent residents in rental housing nearby, I would seriously consider moving.  A demographic with a low-income, highly liberal population will pose different threats than a demographic with a high-income, conservative population after an EMP.  Populations who support a larger role of government in providing security and livelihood tend to react negatively when neither is provided on demand.  A good resource to analyze these risks on a state by state and county by county basis is the book Strategic Relocation by Joel Skousen.

When it’s all said and done, we need to accurately understand the threats we are preparing for in order to make wise decisions regarding our limited resources.  An EMP would be catastrophic for sure; but the reality of life “post-EMP” is likely to be much different than the most-common pictures being painted these days.  Do your own due diligence, research the risks and how they affect you specifically, and you will be much better off than just taking the arm-chair advice of even the loudest prognosticators—this author included.

Mr. Rawles,
Within our Christian survivalist group in Washington State, we use your novel Patriots, as a primer for friends. Keep up the great job you do.

Please consider the following statement with your readers. I believe that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack by satellite can happen to the U.S. without any notice at all, and many nations already have the satellites in order to produce the end result. This is not meant to scare, but just an observation on how our great country can be taken back to the 1800s technology and a Third World country economic level, in a microsecond. Please consider my train of thought on this line of reasoning which I send you. I think you "have" to agree that this method is so, so simple.

Can the U.S. be hit without any notice whatsoever by an EMP attack? Yes, and the answer is in the line of thinking to follow. Before you can read this reasoning statement post to it's conclusion, we could be back to the 1800s in technology. And by the Congressional report of 2008, 90% of Americans could be dead in 12 months [following a nationwide EMP attack.]

I just didn't realize how many satellites were orbiting the earth at 200 miles up and from so many different nations until today.

Another question to ask oneself: Does another country hate the U.S. to the extent to want to destroy us? Yes, several nations.

Can EMP be delivered by [a nuclear weapon onboard] an already existing and orbiting satellite to devastate our economy? The answer is yes. We’re on borrowed time, preppers.

For a comprehensive assessment of likely damages to electronics equipment and electrical infrastructure, see the 2008 Critical National Infrastructures Report written by the EMP Commission of the Federal government.

A cataclysmic attack throws the United States back to the dark ages, with no electricity, no communication or transportation networks, and no medicines. The most vulnerable members of society—the very young and the very old—begin to die off first, but soon hundreds of thousands of people, and then millions of people, begin dying. Rogue bands of lawless predators, living by rule of force rather than by rule of law, prey on weakened communities. The government, crippled, can’t come to anyone’s rescue. And all it takes is a single bomb detonated high above the atmosphere, two hundred miles above the continental United States.

At first thought, it might seem far-fetched to imagine a single bomb wiping out the entire country. But it wouldn’t be the power of the explosion, per se, that would cause the problem. Instead, the real problem would be the EMP generated by the explosion. Traveling at the speed of light, the EMP would act like an enormous ripple in the earth’s electromagnetic field. As that ripple hits electrical systems, it would get coupled and be way beyond anything hat a typical circuit breaker could handle. William R. Forstchen, the author of the popular novel One Second After in an article titled "EMP 101" A Basic Primer & Suggestions for Preparedness writes of high altitude EMP: “This energy surge will destroy all delicate electronics in your home, even as it destroys all the major components all the way back to the power company’s generators and the phone company’s main relays,” Forstchen writes. “In far less than a millisecond, the entire power grid of the United States, and all that it supports will be destroyed.” And if the power grid goes, then everything goes.

In July 1962, a 1.44 megaton United States nuclear test in space, 400 km (250 miles) above the Pacific Ocean, called the Starfish Prime test, demonstrated to nuclear scientists that the magnitude and effects of a high altitude nuclear explosion were much larger than had been previously calculated. Starfish Prime also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, more than 800 miles away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link

According to Wikipedia, there are several major factors control the effectiveness of a nuclear EMP weapon. These are:
1. The altitude of the weapon when detonated;
2. The yield and construction details of the weapon;
3. The distance from the weapon when detonated;
4. Geographical depth or intervening geographical features;
5. The local strength of the Earth's magnetic field.

A Federation of American Scientists (FAS) article stated that an EMP "can easily span continent-sized areas, and this radiation can affect systems on land, sea, and air. A large device detonated at 400–500 km (250 to 312 miles) over Kansas would affect all of the continental U.S. The signal from such an event extends to the visual horizon as seen from the burst point.

Could a Satellite with a nuclear payload already be orbiting Earth? So let’s ask the question, do any satellites orbit at 200 miles above Earth and how many countries have satellites at that altitude? Look at North Korea and Iran, Why are they so interested in building small-scale nuclear missiles? Only one model fits. Forstchen says: ”It’s the fact that the U.S. is so vulnerable that our enemies are even contemplating such an attack." Iran is in the space race. North Korea is in the space race.

Earth is ensnared today in a thick spider web of satellite orbits. Satellites with different assignments fly at different orbital altitudes. Russian and American navigation satellites orbit from 100 to 300 miles altitude. Civilian photography satellites, such as the American Landsat and the French SPOT, orbit at altitudes ranging from 300 to 600 miles. American NOAA and Russian Meteor weather satellites are at these same altitudes.

Does this seem too difficult for other nations? No. Just load up your nuclear weapon payload, orbit it as long as desired, and then hit the button when the satellite is above Kansas.

If Osama bin Laden - or the dictators of North Korea or Iran - could destroy America as a twenty-first century society and superpower, would they be tempted to try? Given their track records and stated hostility to the United States, we have to operate on the assumption that they would. That assumption would be especially frightening if this destruction could be accomplished with a single attack involving just one high yield nuclear weapon, and if the nature of the attack would mean that its perpetrator might not be immediately or easily identified. Unfortunately, such a scenario is not far-fetched. Frank Gaffney, in an essay titled: "EMP: America's Achilles' Heel" wrote: "...a report issued last summer by a blue-ribbon, Congressionally-mandated commission, a single specialized nuclear weapon delivered to an altitude of a few hundred miles over the United States by a ballistic missile would be "capable of causing catastrophe for the nation." The source of such a cataclysm might be considered the ultimate "weapon of mass destruction" (WMD) - yet it is hardly ever mentioned in the litany of dangerous WMDs we face today."

JWR Replies: Iran and North Korea are currently developing fission bombs, not fusion (hydrogen) bombs. A large fission bomb would produce an order of magnitude less EMP than a typical fusion bomb. High Altitude (space-based) EMP with a hydrogen bomb is presently a capability of only a handful of nation states. China is the biggest threat, in my opinion. As for fusion bombs concealed inside satellites, that is conceivable, notwithstanding the Space-Based weapons treaty. (The US and the former Soviet Union were signatories, but China was not.)

In my opinion, of far greater concern is EMP from a nuclear bomb on-board an aircraft. Assuming detonation at a high altitude, detonated suicidally, inside the aircraft, rather than being dropped) that would provide a broad line of sight (LOS) for EMP to provide a "footprint" radius of perhaps more than 200 miles, and far beyond line of sight (BLOS) indirect EMP coupling (via power lines and telephone cables) to a much larger radius. I first discussed LOS calculation for EMP in SurvivalBlog back in October of 2005, and I wrote the following more detailed piece in April 2007. Since it is relevant, I'll post it here again:

The [LOS] answer is both easy and impossible to determine. Let me explain. First, the easy part. The basic line of sight (LOS) footprint range calculation is really simple. It is essentially the same as the calculation that is used to determine the maximum effective range for a VHF or UHF radio onboard an aircraft. Referring back to one of my unclassified notebooks from my Electronic Warfare (5M) course at Fort Huachuca, I find: Assuming level terrain, the maximum potential radius of LOS in nautical miles (nmi) = square root of the emitter's altitude (in feet) x 1.056. Hence, that would be 149.3 nmi at 20,000 feet above sea level (ASL), or 191.8 nmi at 33,000 feet ASL. (A typical jet or C-130's service ceiling.) SurvivalBlog reader "Flighter" mentioned: "...some of the larger business jets such as the Airbus ACJ, Gulfstream, Challenger, and Citation are certificated to fly at or above 41,000 feet. The Sino Swearingen SJ30, is perhaps the highest flyer with a certificated ceiling of 49,000 feet. Hypothetically, a dangerous parabolic flight profile could with supplemental oxygen for the flight crew and perhaps even supplemental JATO rockets might push apogee to 75,000 feet in a few aircraft models. (Hey, it would be a suicidal flight anyway.) That is probably the highest altitude that could be expected for a terrorist to touch off a nuke--at least in the near future. That would equate to a footprint with a 280 mile radius. Oh, yes, they might also get really creative and use an unmanned balloon. (The word's record for those was 51.82 km (170,000 feet / 32.2 miles) But that is highly unlikely. What is likely? A ground level detonation. The EMP footprint of fission bomb detonated near ground level on dead level ground (plains country) might be no more than a 45 mile radius.

Now on to the part that is impossible to predict: long range linear coupling.  Because telephone lines, power lines, and railroad tracks will act as giant antennas for EMP, the EMP waveforms will be coupled through those structures for many, many miles beyond line of sight (BLOS). Just how many miles BLOS is not yet known. I believe that if it were not for the advent of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963 (which banned atmospheric and space nuclear weapons tests), the DOD and AEC would have had the opportunity to conduct far more extensive tests to further characterize the panoply of potential EMP effects. But those test bans have kept us in the dark. In the absence of practical data, there is a lot guesswork, even among "applied physics" expert nuclear weapons physicists. We may not know the full extent of the EMP risk until after we see that bright flash on the horizon.

For planning purposes, you can probably safely assume that if you are living more than 280 miles from a major city, then your vehicle electronics will be safe from a terrorist  nuke's EMP. (Since you will be BLOS to the EMP footprint of a nuke that is set off below 75,000 feet ASL.) Your home electronics, however, anywhere in CONUS might be at risk due to long range linear coupling--that is if your house is on grid power. This, BTW, is one more good reason for you to set up your own off-grid self sufficient photovoltaic (PV) power system. The folks at Ready Made Resources. offer free consulting on PV system sizing, site selection, and design.

There may be other high altitude delivery methods that I haven't considered, that would provide a broader LOS. But at least the hydrogen bomb club appears fairly small, so there is less risk of widespread EMP . It is conceivable that a Russian fusion bomb might have fallen into terrorist hands during the chaotic 1990s, but if one had, then it probably would have been used by now. Thus, at present, the terrorist and rogue state threat is just for fission bombs, which makes the EMP threat much smaller and more localized.

Dear Jim and Family,
I recently read your book "Patriots". It was a great read and really scared me too. it brought to light all of fears I have in the back of my mind on how fragile society is and our economy. It is spurring me into action now although it will have to wait as I am deploying to Afghanistan in the next couple of months.

I just read your section on the Swine Flu and the question of N95 masks and wearing them. As an 11-year veteran career firefighter and sergeant in the Army National Guard, I felt I needed to inform your readers of one glaring life and death point about those masks that is being missed: You need to be fit tested for any mask, the word mask is a misnomer, they are respirators, if they don't fit right, they won't work. When it comes to diseases don't accept anything less than a 100% fit. Not all masks work for all people, I'm sure you and your wife aren't the same size, for example. Also, if you go on the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) web site there is Flu Pandemic information. The IAFF also recommends P100 masks, not N95 masks. This is because the P100s catch pretty much 100% of the [2 micron or larger ] particulates, so they are the best bang for your buck. Also a P100 is a long duration use filter, by that I mean, as the filter gets more and more saturated it will get harder and harder to breathe. The mask could be used for a day or a couple of days if need be. P100 masks are made by Moldex [, 3M, and several other makers] and sell for about $40.00 for a five-pack.

I live in Stamford Connecticut right outside New York City (NYC) and work for a large Fire Department. I fit test all 300 guys every year and about 20 size changes occur each year due to weight loss or gain. Hence another reason to be fit tested. I hope that this sheds some light on the issue of a proper-fitting mask.

Be Well, Stay Safe, and with God most of all, - SGT Joe L.

James,
An N95 or N100 mask is actually only good for a few hours of use. Once they become saturated with water from your breath, they loose their effectiveness as well as become a health hazard that makes it easy to literally asphyxiate you. The wet keeps air from going through that part of the mask and you end up breathing the air that makes it past the seal between your face and your mask. Also those of you (like me) with facial hair, out comes the razor. If you plan on spending a long time out in public during what ever the epidemic of the day is, you should carry several. This is good advice to those that have bought a single box of them and consider themselves "prepared". The best bet during a pandemic is just to stay at your retreat, away from others.. N100 masks are quite expensive even by the box and are the best choice. N95s will do if you don't have any N100s. - Frank B on the Border

Jim;
Referencing the letter: Recent Experience with an N95 Protective Mask: This may be a case of "pilot error". The standard N95 mask has a bad reputation, as a retailer of N95 masks there are several drawbacks to these masks, they are:

* Fit
* Filter
* And Fouling

First let's look at fit, because they are designed as a one-size-fits-all consumer product they obviously don't fit every face, and they tent to gap around the edges, especially if making facial movement like talking.

Second, the filter material they are using is deemed "to stop "95% of all particulate matter larger than 2 microns". There are several articles that show the manufacturers use every conceivable way to make their product match those standards and few of them are on actual human test subjects. [(The tests are done with mechanical test fixtures with tight edge seals.)]

Third and most important as your letter writer pointed out is "Fouling". With out an exhalation port the filter material becomes clogged with the water vapor you breathe out. This then forces you to either force your air in and out through an increasingly "full" mask or more likely, breathe around the gaps in the mask, making it completely ineffective.

Then you may be asking "Why buy them if they don't work"? Well the truth of the matter is that they do work, if you use them correctly and for the right reasons. The inexpensive N95 masks come in boxes of 20. That is so that you change them often. With heavy use, i.e. heavy breathing, they should be changed at least once an hour. The greatest utility for these masks is to help you to not touch your nose and mouth with your hands!

Although the Flu virus can be airborne, you are far more likely to get it by touching a contaminated surface like a door knob, stair rail, or a grocery cart handle [and then unconsciously touching your face]. So for that purpose they do a great job.

There are more expensive disposable masks on the market, (Those made by Triosyn are the best in my opinion, although very expensive and hard to find.)

Don't count out the great standby, the N95, I stand by them, but only if they are used correctly! - Kory

Dear Mr. Rawles-
I am writing to tell other Survival Blog readers about a recent experience I had with an N95 mask (with no exhalation port.) My husband and I just bought a 30 year old single wide trailer with 30 years worth of dust, mold, and cat hair. After day of being in the trailer I could feel my allergies start to grow worse by the minute. To clean up the dust, cat hair, and other allergens we went to the local hardware store and rented a Rug Doctor to shampoo the carpets. While shampooing the carpets (which was a bit labor intensive) I wore an N95 mask and let me tell ya' it was an experience. After 30 minutes I felt like I was breathing in thick jungle air. After one hour I felt like I was going to pass out. After two hours I began to feel claustrophobic. If there are readers out there who think they are going to throw on an N95 mask when the swine flu hits their area and run from room to room while caring for sick and dying relatives/friends they better think again. My suggestion is to put on an N95 mask this afternoon, mow the lawn, rake some leaves, take the dog for a brisk walk and see how you feel afterwards. Having survival gear is great but if you have no real world experience with it then it's useless. Know your personal limitations and the limitations of your gear. God bless!

More prepped than ever for the swine flu, - Heather

JWR Replies: In my experience, it takes time to acclimate to wearing a respirator mask. There is no substitute for hours in a mask. Particularly for a full-face military mask, and even more so for a full MOPP suit, limited field of vision, dehydration, claustrophobia and sensory deprivation are well-known effects, but heat build-up up is also an issue, particularly in summer weather. In full-face masks, being deprived of prescription lenses is also an issue, unless you have a prescription lens inserts. (BTW, these hard-to-find inserts are available from JRH Enterprises.) Also be particularly wary of dehydration. Even with masks that include a drinking tube, most wearers have a tendency to drink less than usual.

The bottom line: Practice wearing a mask regularly, in a variety of activities.

In descending order of frequency, the 78 readers that responded to my latest survey recommended the following non-fiction books on preparedness, self-sufficiency, and practical skills:

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (Far and away the most often-mentioned book. This book is an absolute "must" for every well-prepared family!)

The Foxfire Book series (in 11 volumes, but IMHO, the first five are the best)

Holy Bible

Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson

"Rawles on Retreats and Relocation"

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens

The "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course

Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival by Jack A. Spigarelli

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon

Tappan on Survival by Mel Tappan

Boston's Gun Bible by Boston T. Party

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

Survival Guns by Mel Tappan

Boy Scouts Handbook: The First Edition, 1911 (Most readers recommend getting pre-1970 editions.)

All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency by Matthew Stein 

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition by Abigail R. Gehring

Preparedness Now!: An Emergency Survival Guide (Expanded and Revised Edition) by Aton Edwards

Putting Food By by Janet Greene

First Aid (American Red Cross Handbook) Responding To Emergencies

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens

Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)

Cookin' with Home Storage by Vicki Tate

SAS Survival Handbookby John "Lofty" Wiseman

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables by Mike Bubel

Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen

Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America's Classic Preserving Guide by Carol Hupping

The American Boy's Handybook of Camp Lore and Woodcraft

Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton

98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive by Cody Lundin

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss

Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management by Maurice G. Kains

Essential Bushcraft by Ray Mears

The Survivor book series by Kurt Saxon. Many are out of print in hard copy, but they are all available on DVD. Here, I must issue a caveat lector ("reader beware"): Mr. Saxon has some very controversial views that I do not agree with. Among other things he is a eugenicist.

How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier

The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman

Tom Brown Jr.'s series of books, especially:

Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival

Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking

Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants (Field Guide)  

Total Resistance by H. von Dach

Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies by Hugh Coffee

Living Well on Practically Nothing by Ed Romney

The Secure Home by Joel Skousen

Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen

When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikesby Cody Lundin

The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO's Contribution to Warfareby John Poole.

Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book by Paul Tawrell

Engineer Field Data (US Army FM 5-34) --Available online free of charge, with registration, but I recommend getting a hard copy. preferably with the heavy-duty plastic binding.

Great Livin' in Grubby Times by Don Paul

Just in Case by Kathy Harrison

Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)

How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment by Chris McNab

Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance by John & Martha Storey

Adventure Medical Kits A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicineby Eric A. Weiss, M.D.

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener  

Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook (superceded the very out-of-date ST 31-91B)

Wilderness Medicine, 5th Edition by Paul S. Auerbach

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Longby Elliot Coleman

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition by Abigail R. Gehring

Government By Emergency by Dr. Gary North

The Weed Cookbook: Naturally Nutritious - Yours Free for the Taking! by Adrienne Crowhurst

The Modern Survival Retreat by Ragnar Benson

Last of the Mountain Men by Harold Peterson

Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness by John McPherson

LDS Preparedness Manual, edited by Christopher M. Parrett

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century by James H. Kunstler

Principles of Personal Defense - Revised Edition by Jeff Cooper.

Survival Poaching by Ragnar Benson

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses by Eliot Coleman

Jim,

I'm not very certain Solar Panels or photovoltaic (PV) Modules if you prefer) are up to surviving electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Solar Panel manufacture is akin to basically creating large scale photosensitive semiconductors and few manufacturers will quote even static electricity resistance, much less EMP resistance. Additionally, most PV modules have bypass diodes to protect cells. Some designs put these diodes in the junction boxes, while others incorporate them more integrally in the PV assembly.
Obviously the controllers are at great risk, but the modules themselves are not free from risk.

About the only references to PV and EMP you can find are discussions concerning space deployed PV Modules being at risk to solar flares, which have many characteristics of an EMP event.

I just made some queries with contacts at University of Manchester and Michigan Tech. They told me that there that almost no EMP test results have been released to public domain, but that their Aerospace departments feel that PV Arrays are vulnerable at the junction level as well as the wiring diode matrix and controller levels.

The [PV-powered] satellite literature repeats the observation that even a minor solar flare can wipe years to decades off of the life of a PV array and a full coronal mass ejection (CME) will take the array out. Though an EMP [cascade waveform] is not exactly the same radiation, the corollary is there.

Several of the Disaster Shelter Builders state that PV Panels are at risk in EMP and include shielded storage for "after the event panels." I wonder whether that is marketing hype or good science? For now, this is the best that I can find. - Steve W.

Mr. Rawles,
There is a very detailed 4-part article about EMP protection for Amateur Radio equipment. It's a study that was done by the ARRL in the mid 1980s. Product model numbers and such have changed, but the basic concepts haven't. If you want to just skip to the recommendations, go to "Part 4 of "Electromagnetic Pulse and the Radio Amateur".

In a nutshell, they make the following recommendations:
1. Your equipment will not survive a direct lightning hit no matter how well protected. EMP or near-misses can be protected against.
2. Install a high-quality surge protector on all AC power cords. You'll need to shop around to find one with the highest possible rating.
3. Install coax surge protectors (available from most ham radio suppliers) within 6 feet of the radio equipment to be protected.
4. Install a grounding antenna switch and keep the antennas grounded when not in use. (Note: antenna switches are often used when folks have multiple radios/antennas, such as a CB and ham radio or a 2 Meter VHF radio and a scanner. Make grounding the antennas part of your checklist when shutting down the station after use.
5. Get a piece of Copper plate or thick sheet metal, install it on the wall or workbench your equipment is on, and attach all equipment grounds and protection devices to this. Install a good Earth ground, per their guide. This basically consists of 2 or more standard electrical grounding rods connected with #6 solid Copper wire that is buried. I've found that the electrical panel bonding lugs sold in [building] contractor stores work great for this.

Finally, the book Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney [Available for free download] states that equipment such as hand held radios with short antennas (less than 14") should be okay against EMP. Grid connected electronics would be more vulnerable, and stuff with long antennas worse still.
Here are some quick links to EMP protection devices:

Solar Panel charge controller protection.

Coax lightning protection (manufacturer)

Cheers, - JN-EMT

Hello Jim,
I recently finished reading [the recently-released novel] One Second After [by William R. Forstchen].The potential realities of this story can grab you. [In the novel] a young girl who dies because her insulin supply deteriorated. Lack of adequate refrigeration degraded the quality and effectiveness of the insulin.

I was reviewing some bug out literature and ran across a list of equipment that included a portable 12 VDC cooler unit. This would be great for transporting heat sensitive pharmaceuticals during a move of some distance.

My question is this: What effect would an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack have on this kind of machine? Does it contain modern circuitry that would be susceptible to the EMP effect?

The second question:
Are solar panels susceptible to EMP effect?
I am referring to just the panels and not associated secondary storage, control and electrical connections.

The third question:
The chargers that come with solar panels, spotlights, hand held radios, scanners and the like seem to be simple transformers.
But do they contain any circuitry that an EMP wave would destroy?

I read your site every day. Cordially, - JWC in Oklahoma

JWR Replies: In answer to your questions:

Even if your refrigerator has some microcircuits, it is probably not at risk to an EMP waveform, especially if it is running from a stand-alone 12 VDC power system. (Generally, devices that are connected to grid power are at greater risk of EMP coupling.) But just to be safe, when your compact refrigerator is not in use, you should store it in a galvanized steel garbage can (with a tight-fitting lid), to act as a protective Faraday cage.

Solar panels themselves are not at risk, but charge controllers and possibly inverters are, because they use microcircuits. Since protection via zener diodes is not always reliable, the most practical solution is to buy a couple of spare charge controllers, and store them in ammo cans.

As a follow-up to my recent Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper interview, a German blog for ex-pats (and would-be ex-pats) called Auswandern - Adieu Deutschland! posted an interview, in both a German edition, and an English edition.

---

The bidding ends at midnight (eastern time) tonight! The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $1,350. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes:

1.) A Three-Color Desert Camo Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) size XL only, and a spare Woodland camouflage outer shell, kindly donated by BulletProofME.com. These items have a combined retail value of $960!

2.) A vehicle detection system, which includes: one MURS Alert Probe Sensor (MAPS) with 50 foot probe cable and one MURS Alert Hand Held (M538-HT) transceiver. The MAPS unit's probe can be covertly installed under the surface of a driveway or road to detect vehicular traffic and a voice alert is sent to the hand held transceiver when a detection occurs. Donated by MURS Radio. Retails for $303

3.) Two cases of Yoder's Canned Bacon, courtesy of CampingSurvival.com. (12 cans per case.) A $276 retail value.

4.) A NukAlert compact radiation detector donated by at KI4U.com (a $160 retail value). 

5.) Three Garden Security Collections, and two Garden Bean Collections, donated by SeedForSecurity.com. With included free shipping to any US postal address, this is a $100+ retail value.

6.) Two America Stone knife sharpeners (with belt pouches), donated by the manufacturer. (A $60 retail value.)

Thus, this auction has a combined value in excess of $1,800. Bidding ends at midnight (eastern time) tonight! Please e-mail us your bid. Your bid will be for the entire mixed lot.

James,

That was a great article by "J. Paramedic" on CBRNE events. Not that any of your readers have overly rosy predictions of first responders, but I wanted to add a few points.
All in our agency are issued PPE gear. One suit, one mask, one cartridge. We are better funded. Some agencies issue individual gas masks, but issue PPE gear "per squad" (as in, kept at station, enough for squad on patrol plus some.) The decision was made that it was better to lightly equip everyone rather than heavily equip a select team, especially due to extremely large patrol area and the need to have reduced response time. We do have a better equipped response team for larger, drawn out events, but it is not big. A few of us made it a point to purchase extra canisters, and keep them with us. This came to fruition after breaking the seal on my cartridge for [entering] a meth lab. After being told that a replacement "would come next fiscal year", I was able to secure one when a fellow officer transferred agencies and turned in his gear. Policy states we "SHALL" carry our PPE gear with us. Only about half actually do.

In the event of a CBRNE event as a individual incident, the immediate response would actually be fairly decent. As the incident wore on, in the 6-8 hour range, initial cartridges would be running out. Hopefully, as a backup team arrived, etc, good scene management would be continued.

My concern is a CBRNE event as part of a larger disaster, like a chemical leak after a natural disaster, when responders are already busy and taxed, and supplies are running low. The response would be less than stellar, to say the least.

My recommendation for people is to have PPE gear on hand, and have spare. Have an extra suit. They rip. Stuff falls on cartridges. Get a Camelbak [hydration pack], and keep it with your PPE gear. Those suits are saunas, and if it is a hot day, you run a serious risk of dehydration. We write the time the suit is sealed on the persons back in large numbers with a black marker, both for reference for cartridge life and dehydration prevention.

If you need to bug out in a CBRNE event, it may be wise to gear up depending on the threat. With certain types of exposure, we are told we will get none of our gear back (guns, etc) once you go through decon. Having two sets of PPE gear, while not a priority for all, would be wise for those that are fine tuning stores, and can spare the expense. Suits are not reusable, and masks are not fun to decon. Having a "throw away" gun (something easy to operate with gloves on....) would not be bad either.

J went over it, but Decontamination is very important. Anyone who has experience of removing bloody rubber gloves understands the idea.

Thanks, and God Bless. - Eli

CBRNE is an acronym for Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear-Explosive events. [It is most commonly spoken "Sea-Burn"] This article gives a general guideline for responding to such incidents, geared toward the individual or small group with basic medical/trauma care abilities and little to no rescue capability. Some details about each type of event are also included. Note that I am a paramedic; my training is geared toward that venue, and this essay reflects that. However, many of the same principles are relevant to anyone forced by circumstances to respond to such incidents, not just public safety personnel.

Deliberate Attacks Versus Accidents
Most CBRNE events will be accidents or natural occurrences - chemical spills, pandemics, etc. Some, however, may be deliberate attacks. The most likely candidates are explosive devices, which are relatively cheap, do-it-yourself, low-risk endeavors. Chemical, biological, radiological and especially true nuclear attacks are expensive and high-risk. For example, creating a nuclear device requires obtaining plans, a large team of scientists in multiple specialties, esoteric materials, and so on. And that is just to build the device - a delivery system is still needed. Bringing these elements together is expensive, difficult and time-consuming, and likely to attract unwanted attention. Overall, the cost and risk-to-body-count ratio is much better with conventional arms and explosives; accordingly, these are the most likely forms of deliberate attack.

Safety
The first priority must always be making sure that you and yours do not become victims. If you become injured, you cannot help others; furthermore, you require assistance, which draws resources away from other victims. Consider the following:

Scene Safety: Look for fires, unstable structures, weapons or dangerous persons. Look up, down, and all around - remember that not all threats come from ground level. If you do not have the training or equipment to help safely, then wait for those who do. Leave the area if necessary. Do not try to provide aid in an unsafe area - move victims if necessary. In some cases, you may even have to leave them behind. Remember, you cannot help others if you become a casualty.

Contamination:
CBRNE events pose a high risk of contamination. Do not expose yourself to chemical or infectious agents or to radiation. If you do not have appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) - do not approach the incident site. PPE is discussed in more detail later. Keep in mind the "Rule of Thumb" - get far enough away from the scene that you can completely cover it with your outstretched thumb. Remember to go uphill and upwind of the affected area.
Secondary Devices: In the case of a deliberate CBRNE attack, be aware that there could be additional threats or devices waiting for responders. While these are generally directed at police, fire, EMS or other official agencies, if you are trying to help, or have the bad luck to be at the scene, you share the danger.

Organization
In the case of CBRNE event, public safety agencies – police, fire and EMS – will have initial responsibility for scene management. Whatever you believe the long-term consequences will be, initially these agencies will be functioning. What follows is a description of their organizational model. If they are on the scene, you will be expected to function within that structure, if you are permitted to assist at all (for safety and liability reasons, you may not be). However, even if a CBRNE event occurs where public safety agencies cannot respond, the principles of this structure are still appropriate for your own use.

Overall responsibility for managing a given event will, at least initially, fall to a single person, designated as Incident Command. If the event can be managed with less than 7 or so responders, this person (and perhaps a Safety Officer) may be the only command personnel needed. However, a CBRNE event is likely to require a considerably larger response. It has been found that a single individual cannot effectively direct more than 3-7 people; 3-5 is an even better number. This is referred to as an effective span of control. Accordingly, for an event of large size, additional levels of organization will be introduced in order to maintain an appropriate span. Regional or functional divisions are used as necessary. For example, the Incident Commander may appoint a Rescue Chief, a Medical Chief, and a Fire Suppression Chief for a large-scale response. (Note that regional or functional elements and leaders are appointed by Incident Command. Some are standardized across the nation, while others will vary geographically depending on local organization, preference and tradition.) Each of these individuals will in turn direct about 3-5 subordinates. Depending on the number of responders, each of those subordinates could in turn direct a team of 3-5 responder, et cetera. The keys are that (1) each responder reports to one and only one supervisor, chief, or other leadership element; (2) each leader directs no more than 3-5 subordinates directly; and (3) overall responsibility for the scene falls to a single Incident Command. It is essential that there is no freelancing – a disorganized response can lead to inefficiency, an unsafe scene, oversights or mistakes resulting in poor outcomes, additional injuries [, needless contamination] or even deaths.

Zones
Geographically, a scene will be divided into three zones: a central hot zone, a surrounding warm zone, and a safe cold zone.
The hot zone is the immediate site of the incident, and may expand based on wind, spill or rainwater runoff, etc. Only trained responders with appropriate equipment should be in the hot zone. Depending on the incident type, this could mean fire department, HazMat or other type teams.
The warm zone surrounds the hot zone. Operating in the warm zone may also call for specialized training and equipment, but not always and not as much. Decontamination, which is discussed below, is usually performed in the warm zone.
Finally, the cold zone is the [ostensibly] safe area surrounding the warm zone. Basically this is the rest of the world. Additional resources and treatment centers will normally be located in the cold zone.

Decontamination
Decontamination will be necessary when it is likely that victims or responders have been exposed to chemicals, biological agents or radiation. The most common method of mass decon is gross decon. Essentially, victims are instructed to disrobe (it is estimated that in many cases this can remove up to 90% of contaminants) and are run through a large “shower” area, then given clean garments. On a smaller scale, you or your family members can self-decontaminate by disrobing and showering. It is recommended that garments that must normally be pulled over the head be cut off, instead. In some cases more detailed decon may need to be performed, for example a wound contaminated with radiological material. In this case, wash the specific site with soap and water, making sure not to contaminate others or other areas of the body while doing so (wear appropriate PPE). Note that victims should in most cases be decontaminated before receiving medical care or first aid. The exception is an immediate life-threatening condition, such as a severe hemorrhage, which may receive preliminary treatment prior to decon.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
This discussion will deal with two forms of PPE: medical PPE and chemical protective gear. It is essential to wear appropriate PPE in any CBRNE event to avoid becoming contaminated or spreading contamination to others.
Medical PPE includes gloves, masks, gowns and eye protection. Follow the Universal Precautions philosophy – assume that everyone is a potential carrier of dangerous infections, and behave accordingly. Wear gloves whenever providing treatment, and change them between patients. Also be aware of the following “special” situations:

Splash protection – when “splashes” are anticipated (for example with childbirth, massive hemorrhage or vomiting) wear eye protection, a mask and a gown
Contact precautions – some infections, such as certain MRSA varieties, can be passed skin-to-skin, and call for contact precautions; wear gloves and a gown
Droplet precautions – infections spread in mucus or respiratory secretions may be transmitted over short distances by coughs and the like; wear a surgical mask when in close proximity. (The CDC says within three feet [but coughs can project droplets 10 feet or more.])
Airborne precautions – infections with airborne spread, such as tuberculosis, call for an N95 mask; ideally, the patient should be in a negative pressure room

Chemical Protective Equipment comes in four levels:
Level A calls for a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and a sealed chemical protective suit. Note that no single suit type protects against all forms of exposure. Generally, Level A protection is used only by trained HazMat Technicians.
Level B calls for an SCBA and a non-encapsulated (non-sealed) chemical protective suit, such as a Tyvek suit.
Level C consists of a filter-type respirator and chemical protective clothing, gloves and boots (same as type B).
Level D includes standard work clothes – uniforms, surgical scrubs, turnout gear – which give some skin/splash protection, and no respiratory protection.

Triage
Once proper PPE is in place, the response has been organized, and the scene has been rendered safe, care for victims can begin. After safety, preventing or minimizing the loss of life is the highest priority. A CBRNE event is likely to produce a large number of victims, and could easily exceed response capabilities. When this happens, the goal must be to do the greatest good for the greatest number.
Haphazardly rendering aid to random victims will result in chaos and poor treatment priorities, which will in turn lead to unnecessary loss of life or poor outcomes for victims. It is important to apply triage procedures. “Triage” simply means “to sort,” and refers to sorting victims into groups based on severity. The first competent care-giver to arrive at the scene of a mass casualty event should begin triaging – sorting – victims. The following categories are pretty much universally recognized:

Red or Immediate – These persons have severe injuries, but are likely to be able to be saved. The are “salvageable.” Given the seriousness of their condition, they receive treatment (and transport to the hospital, if available) first.
Yellow or Delayed – These are the people with serious but not life-threatening injuries. They are the second group to receive treatment, after the Reds/Immediates.
Green or Minimal – These are folks with only minor injuries. After all the reds and yellows are taken care of, they can be taken care of.
Black or Expectant – These victims are dead or expected to die. Any victim who cannot breathe on their own should be triaged into this category. If manpower or resources are limited, they should not be expended on these victims, who will probably not survive anyway.

Once triage is completed, treatment can begin.

Treatment
Some comments specific to incident type will be included later. For now, consider the following general assessment and treatment priorities (note that this is a mere overview; detailed first aid skills should be sought elsewhere):
Mental Status – Assess whether the patient is awake, unresponsive, confused or lethargic, etc. An unresponsive patient should be considered Red/Immediate. A confused patient will probably be Yellow/Delayed, assuming no additional problems are found. Next check the ABCs:
Airway and Breathing – Check to see whether the victim is breathing. If not, open their airway by tilting the head or (if injury is suspected) by lifting the jaw forward. If the patient does not breath on their own at this point, consider them Black/Expectant. If they do, ask whether they are having difficulty breathing and listen to their breath. Difficulty breathing, rapid breathing or strange breathing sounds indicate at least a Yellow/Delayed patient. Severe or progressive difficulty breathing indicates a Red/Immediate patient.
Circulation – First, if a patient has no pulse, they are dead, and are Black/Expectant. Second, check for bleeding. If bleeding is found, it should be controlled. Place direct pressure on the site; this should control the bleeding. You may have to maintain pressure for several minutes, then place a dressing and bandage. If the bleeding does not stop, and is from an arm or leg, apply a tourniquet. In the past tourniquets were viewed with great caution, but it has been found that they can be safely used for up to several hours without long-term negative effects. At any rate, one cannot worry too much about an arm or leg when a victim – possibly a loved one – is bleeding to death. Finally, keep a bleeding patient warm (cover them with a blanket) and elevate their feet; this will help combat shock.

Those of you with CPR training will notice that I’ve omitted rescue breaths and chest compressions from this discussion. That’s because (1) in a mass casualty situation victims needing these interventions will be Black/Expectant, and will not be treated; and (2) unless high-level follow-on care – paramedic, ER and/or ICU – is available, CPR alone is unlikely to save a cardiac arrest victim. And I simply don’t have space to include such details here. I do, however, recommend that everyone seek out first aid and CPR training, at a minimum.

Finally, remember that scene safety comes before treatment. If necessary, move the victim. In general it is good to leave trauma victims in place, in case there is some spinal damage. However, when the scene is unsafe, you have to move.

Specific Incident Types

Explosives Events
Remember that explosive devices can also include some biological, chemical or radiological (“dirty bomb”) contaminant; and that there could be secondary devices waiting for responders. (Note that explosives will usually destroy any included biological or chemical material, making explosive dispersal of such agents unlikely to succeed.)
Explosives create blast-type injuries, which are classified as follows:
Primary Blast Injuries: pressure-related injuries from the blast wave, these can affect internal organs such as the intestines, lungs or inner ear without visible external injuries
Secondary Blast Injuries: these are injuries from objects (shrapnel, debris, etc.) striking the victim
Tertiary Blast Injuries: if a blast is powerful enough to throw a victim into the air, they will sustain injuries from striking the ground or other objects
Quaternary Blast Injuries: all other injuries, including burns and the like

Here are some basic treatment ideas:
Bleeding should be controlled by direct pressure and, if necessary, tourniquet.
Broken bones, sprains, etc., can be splinted
Burns should be covered with clean – preferably sterile – sheets or dressings; do not put any salves or chemicals on any but minor burns, as they will have to be washed out later – very painful for the victim
Victims with neck or back pain or tenderness, or loss of sensation or movement, should not be moved unless absolutely necessary, as they may have suffered spinal injury, which may be worsened by movement. However, this is much less likely than television and first aid instructors would have you believe.

Chemical Events
Chemical events require proper PPE; otherwise, follow the “Rule of Thumb.” Remember that wind and water run-off can spread contaminants. Also remember that chemical events may not be immediately apparent. Multiple victims with quickly-developing symptoms, as well as dead flora or fauna in the area, are the most likely signs.

A special note should be made for organophosphates. These produce a condition commonly called SLUDGE (salivation, lacrimation, urination,
diarrhea, gastrointestinal distress, and emesis), which in layman's terms is the sudden onset of soiling yourself, peeing on yourself, crying and vomiting everywhere. They merit special mention because these are the type of exposures for which Mark I kits and other atropine/2-PAM kits are indicated, as well as valium for possible seizures.

Biological Events
Biological events can be difficult to detect, and to protect against, because often there is no scene. Generally, multiple victims will present with “flu-like symptoms” or other complaints to multiple health care providers. The main signs are multiple patients with similar complaints, especially when the symptoms, the demographics, or the season are unusual. For example, large numbers of healthy young people complaining of flu symptoms in the middle of summer, clustered in certain areas, is a sign of an exposure or pandemic. Isolating the source is a matter of finding “common ground” between the victims – think of lots of people suffering from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after eating at the same restaurant.

Speaking of flu-like symptoms, I thought it might be timely to share with you the following guidance that I’ve received from my EMS agency regarding the current “Swine flu” –

1. Suspect swine flu in a person who:
- has a cough, runny nose or sore throat; and
- has a fever more than 101.4F; and
- has been to an “endemic area” in the last 7 days
Endemic areas currently include Mexico and affected areas of the USA.
2. Distance is considered adequate protection; however, if one must approach a suspected swine flu patient, a surgical mask is recommended.
3. Only if one must be in a confined space with a suspected swine flu patient is an N95 respirator recommended.
These recommendations come from our medical director based on CDC and other agencies’ information and advice.

Victims of a biological agent (i.e., an illness) can often be treated, depending on the agent; preventing further spread within a population can usually only be accomplished by isolation or – on large scales – by quarantine.

Nuclear or Radiological Event
As noted previously, deliberate nuclear attacks are relatively unlikely, due to their expense and risk when compared with conventional methods. “Accidents” are also rare, as modern-day reactors and the like are designed with multiple redundancies and dead-man’s-switches. We are many years removed from the technologies of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, or so experts say. Smaller radiological events are more likely. Of course the first thought in most minds is the “dirty bomb,” a conventional explosive with radioactive material.

Radioactive materials are usually divided according to the following types:

Alpha particles cannot penetrate clothing or often even skin; however, they are very dangerous if somehow introduced into the body
Beta particles can be absorbed by protective clothing
Gamma rays are stopped only by several inches of lead [or several feet of earth or concrete], and easily penetrate human beings, damaging organs along their paths.

The severity of radiation exposure will depend on time, distance and shielding – a shorter exposure, over a greater distance, with more shielding in between, will be less severe than the opposite. Radiation effects various bodily systems. Inhaled radioactive material can damage the lungs. Radiation can also produce severe burns; these will present as severe itching, but over time will reveal significant damage.
In evaluating the severity of radiation exposure, the easiest reliable measure is time to onset of vomiting. If a victim starts vomiting within one hour of exposure, their exposure is severe. Beyond two hours, exposure is probably mild to moderate.
You may find it useful to stock geiger counters, personal dosimeters, or potassium iodide (KI) for your family. Information on all of these topics is already archived on SurvivalBlog, so I will not go into them here.
Otherwise, without specialized facilities, the best you can do for a victim of radiation poisoning is to decontaminate and treat symptoms as they arise. Remember that with a sufficient dose of radiation the victim can themselves become a source of radiation, and pose a contamination risk.

Summary
In the case of a CBRNE event, essential include a scrupulous eye to safety, an organized response, careful use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and decontamination to prevent spread of contamination, triage of victims, and the best treatment available. Remember that you will probably not be able to do as much as you would like. You must do the greatest good for the greatest number. Finally, remember your priorities: after safety, preventing the loss of life comes first. Then you can worry about protecting property and/or the environment, and long-term recovery. These topics, however, are beyond the scope of this essay. I hope you find the information contained here useful in your preparations, though I hope you never have to use it in a true CBRNE event.

James,
Just a follow-up to the question about bicycle power: If you do a Google search on the phrase "bicycle power generator" then several interesting options come up. One is a web site that offers free plans.

JWR Replies: Just keep in mind that every hour spent trudging away on a bike frame generator is an hour that you could also use doing something else productive. Dollar for dollar and hour for hour, photovoltaic panels are the way to go--they make power every day with minimal maintenance. I consider bike-frame mounted generators fairly specialized devices for peculiar circumstances, such as when someone is cooped up in a fallout shelter. My general advice is: Yes, go ahead and build one, but make it readily adaptable to multiple purposes, by using perforated box beam construction for the back half. This is similar to the construction method often used for hobby-built electric go-carts and similar projects. With perforated steel box beams, you will minimize the amount of welding needed to fairly quickly reconfigure the back half. For example, you could attach various pulleys and V-belts that can in turn be attached to a Country Living grain mill, a meat grinder, or a metal grinding/sharpening wheel.

Jim,
When looking for places to store sensitive electronics, consider the old-fashioned galvanized steel garbage can. For about a buck a gallon, you can store just about any and all electronics a household might have, safety protected against EPM and other damaging fields. - Jake Stafford, publisher of the "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course and loyal SurvivalBlog reader

Sir:
Here is another perspective on the problems associated with a Carrington event [, from the Mostly Cajun blog]. Sol assaults Mother Gaia - for real? Regards, - Hunter in Alaska

Jim-
New Scientist magazine article recently published an important article titled "Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe." The article outlines possible scenarios for the risk of solar storms that could severely damage national grids and vital electrical and electronic systems. The effects would be catastrophic and devolve societies into a desperate survival situation for individuals.

One quote from the article:
"Over the last few decades, western civilisations have busily sown the seeds of their own destruction. Our modern way of life, with its reliance on technology, has unwittingly exposed us to an extraordinary danger: plasma balls spewed from the surface of the sun could wipe out our power grids, with catastrophic consequences."

Could off-grid standby equipment such as power generators or solar cells also be damaged? See the National Academy of Sciences report. (After registering, you can download a free PDF file of the report): Best Regards, - Gregg T

JWR Replies: I've received more than 20 letters in the past 48 hours from readers concerned about this article. In my opinion, this natural "EMP-like" effect is just another reason to get prepared. The probability in any given lifetime is quite low, but the impact if it were to happen would be devastating.

Most home non-grid-tied photovoltaic, micro-hydro, and wind power systems will probably be safe from a Carrington Event. (The field strength and coupling effects will be roughly analogous to that of nuclear EMP.) If you have a microprocessor-controlled battery charge controller, then one fairly inexpensive measure is to buy a spare. But for most of us, buying a spare large inverter is cost-prohibitive. In the event that your large (whole-house) inverter get fried, then perhaps your could plan to revert to DC-only system, and store a couple of spare small inverters for crucial AC loads.

As with any other "EMP redundant" radios and other electronics, you should store your spares in ammo cans, all-metal cookie tins, or similarFaraday cage structures.

Hello Mr. Rawles;
I'm a long time reader of your blog. I would like to recommend a new novel called, "One Second After" by William R. Forstchen. It deals with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event which occurs in the United States. The author apparently consulted with military experts, and it has an afterword by Captain Bill Sanders, U.S.N., and the Foreword is by Newt Gingrich.

Though the book is lacking in survival details, it does realistically convey the frightening impact on American civilization. The need for obtaining food is prevalent, and it does show the benefits of having a good food storage system. There are some weaknesses, for instance, I've wondered how they seemed to have an endless supply of gasoline, and how the military ultimately brings back civilization, much like "Alas Babylon". The author does a good job with characterization, and the plot moves along quickly. I would say it would be a good addition to a "survivalist" home library.

I'm looking forward to the next release of "Patriots" , it'll go on my shelf with my other two copies [of the earlier edition]. (I always keep a loaner copy). - Harry in the Adirondack Mountains

Jim--

A note regarding my own experience with remote property ownership ...I owned a wonderfully ideal 40-acre bug-out property in northern Minnesota for many years. It was very remote. Some of the closest neighbors did not even know there was a cabin back in those deep woods. It was backed up to a large, forested DNR property that was itself bounded by swamp. My other bordering neighbors were full-time residents who were kind of ornery (very protective of their property and thus unintentionally served as guardians of my property) and so that was a plus. We were a half-hour from the nearest towns. Several dirt roads eventually took us to our driveway which crossed over the land of a curmudgeonly Vietnam vet. The driveway was a mile long through his property and then on through the DNR land where in parts it traversed swamp. We had two locked gates on that drive, near and far.

I won't go on reminiscing about the cabin, the off-grid electrical system, and all the rest of it here. (BTW, I bought this property shortly after first reading "Patriots" , so you certainly had a role in my thinking.) What I thought I could add to the current discussion is this:

1. If you are not a full-time resident of a property, even remote property--you will have uninvited visitors, "legitimate" and otherwise. We had several occasions of snowmobilers, ATV riders, and even a couple of burglary attempts. We were well fortified, so they were only attempted. (However, if they had been serious about getting some very valuable stuff on the premises, they could have done so with the proper preparation. We also discovered that we had a couple of visits while we were not there by the county tax assessor who hiked the one mile in when he could not get past the first gate with his vehicle.

2. Owning and maintaining a second comprehensive property, if you are not living there all the time, is an expensive and time-consuming proposition. In fact, it requires a demanding lifestyle commitment that, if you have other things going in your life, can get quite burdensome. Eventually, I made the decision to put all my time and preparedness money into my primary homestead (and in my preparedness business). I sold the property and all that went with it to a very lucky and appreciative buyer and used the proceeds to install an NBC shelter under a new addition on our home. We're on the outskirts of suburbia and come hell or high water, we'll make our stand here. It was really quite a relief to go this route, as I always worried about how and when we would be able to make the decision to head for the hills and whether it would be when everyone else was doing the same thing--making ourselves very vulnerable on the roads until we got to the property.
Furthermore, I had to admit that I'm not the young lion I once was, which had allowed me to think about dragging my family anywhere in a chaotic environment, unless there is simply NO option to stay put.

Bottom line--when someone asks me about bugging out vs. hunkering down--I advise that if at all possible, you live where your refuge is. There is an awful lot you can do to make your home your castle--wherever it is located. And you can do that for less money than buying, equipping, and stocking a second property. It also eliminates having to put you and yours at risk on the road between Points A and B (assuming you do have a secure Point B) at a time when there are going to be a lot of panicked and desperate people out there.
Blessings, - Vic at Safecastle

Hi James,
Regarding the article "Some Thoughts on the Survival Vehicle" - I couldn't agree more with the choice of an older Ford truck. I love mine. The only part I take exception to is converting permanently from electronic ignition to a mechanical point type distributor. I understand the EMP and other concerns, but there is a caveat readers need to be informed of.

Some/most Fords with 302 or 5.0 liter engines in the mid- to late-1980s and on were equipped from the factory with a hydraulic roller lifter camshaft. The roller cams are made of very hard steel, harder than older hydraulic "flat tappet" camshafts. On these "Roller Cam" engines the roller camshafts must be mated to a special hardened distributor drive gear (a hardened gear is on the factory electronic distributor) or the roller camshaft drive gear will destroy the softer standard (ductile iron IIRC) point type distributor drive gear in short order. I found out the hard (expensive)way!

I know that there are some aftermarket hardened distributor gears that might be retrofitted to a point type distributor. Some racers use bronze distributor gears with roller camshafts, but these softer bronze gears are only intended for racing and would have a limited life when used on the street.

One might be able to retrofit a standard "non-roller" camshaft to a new engine, but that’s likely beyond the skill sets of the average Joe.

There is another distributor related issue to consider - assuming you already have or will have a points type distributor. There is an aftermarket electronic ignition kit made by a company called Pertronix. The Pertronix Ignitor made for Ford V8 point type distributors installs in place of the original points. (Pertronix make models for many types of vehicles, not just Fords). All the Pertronix components install under the distributor cap. I've equipped 10 vehicles with these ignitions over the years with no ignition failures of any kind. My truck has had a Pertronix Ignitor since 1999 making it almost maintenance free for day-to-day operation, as opposed to points. If, God forbid, an EMP or other factor rendered the Pertronix inoperable I keep a set of points/condenser in the vehicle to reinstall in the original point type distributor. I also keep a spare Ignitor in a sealed metal cookie can (EMP proof). Assuming you know how to change a set of Ford ignition points, reinstalling the points will take about 20 minutes or less. (Maybe longer if the engine is hot ;) ). I don’t work for Pertronix, I’m just a very satisfied customer. Food for thought.

Kind regards, - M. Artixerxes (a 10 Cent Challenge subscriber)

JR
Some of the March 12 comments in SurvivalBlog discussed belts, hoses and tires. Here is an additional consideration, and has served me well for 30+ years. I buy spare belts, hoses, vacuum lines and tires - before I use any of them, I coat the outside of each of them thoroughly and liberally with mink oil, all over the outsides and let "set up" for a few days before installing, or for longer term storage.

These items deteriorate from dry rot over time when exposed to harsh temperatures, and extremely small "cracking" appears, from which failure is born . Even yet-to-be-used spares deteriorate when stored in most instances. Mink oil coated/treated rubber extends the useful service life of these items far beyond expected shelf ( or use ) life, in my experience. I even work it down inside the treads on tires.For true spare use, I then wrap tires in plastic trash bags, or sealed bags for smaller items such as belt and hoses and assorted lines.

FWIW, the same idea applies to storing leather coats and boots. - KT in Texas

Dear Mr. Rawles:
First and foremost thank you for your novel "Patriots" which I am currently reading.

I live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. As of late there seems to be a rise in the number of "home invasion" type of crimes in this area. Every morning that I go to work I hear about a new incident in the metroplex. This has led me to put inside locks on my bedroom doors and purchase my first gun. I consider myself one of those "know enough to be dangerous" people, but am planning on taking a handgun safety course . I'd like to know your thought on preparedness for these "home invasion" crimes which are on the rise. Once again thank you for your novel which has opened my eyes to just how unprepared I am. Sincerely, - Geoffrey T.

JWR Replies: You've surely heard the phrase "caught off guard." In my opinion, almost the entire American citizenry has been systemically "off guard" since the end of the US Civil War. There are two fundamental weaknesses that make American homes vulnerable to home invasions: a condition white mindset, and appalling architectural weakness. I'll discuss each.

Condition White Mindset

First and foremost is an almost universal Condition White mindset. This refers to the Cooper situational awareness color code for "unaware and unprepared". The vast majority of the urban and suburban population spends 90% of their daytime hours in Condition White. They do a lot of idiotic things, like failing to keep their doors locked at all times, and failing to keep loaded guns handy. Most folks lock their doors only just before retiring each evening. So most daytime and early evening home invasion robbers simply stroll in to unlocked houses and catch the occupants flat-footed. By adopting condition yellow as your norm, and by taking the appropriate security measures, you will tremendously lessen you vulnerability to violent crime, including home invasions.

Architectural Weakness

Secondly, 150 years of relative peace, stability, low crime rates, and cheap energy have worked together to push American residential architecture toward very vulnerable designs. Modern American homes are essentially defensive disasters. They have huge expanses of glass, they lack barred windows or european-style security/storm shutters, they lack defensible space, and they often have no barriers for the approach of vehicles. Another ill-conceived innovation is the prevalence of floor plans that situate the master bedroom at the opposite end of the house from the children's bedrooms.

For the past 25 years, one of the hallmarks of "bad neighborhoods" in the US has been the prevalence of barred windows and beefed-up doors. These are neighborhoods where the prevailing crime rates have pushed the majority of the population into Condition Yellow as a full time baseline mindset. Given the upswing in crime rates that will undoubtedly accompany the coming depression, I wish that everyone in the ostensibly "good neighborhoods" had this same outlook. I don't find it all surprising that criminal gangs now specifically target wealthy suburbs for home invasions, for two reasons: A.) That is where the good stuff is, and B.) These residents are sheep for the slaughter (given the prevailing condition white mindset.)

One of the most chronic defensive lapses is American suburban architecture is exterior door design. Typically, entrance doors either have widows immediately adjacent, or set into the doors themselves. Even worse is the ubiquitous sliding glass door. Nothing more than a brick or a paving stone tossed through the glass and bingo, instant access for home invaders, with the fringe benefit of instant fright and surprise for the occupants just inside, who will likely be startled by the crashing noise and flying glass. SWAT and MOUT trainers call this a form of "dynamic entry". There are umpteen variations. You may recall the use of a piece of patio furniture in Robert DeNiro's dynamic entry of Van Zant's house in in the movie Heat. Another is the vigorous application of a 5- or 6-foot length of steel pipe or a more specialized tool, in (the proven "break and rake" technique preferred by the British SAS and SFOD-D (commonly called "Delta Team") to quickly clear any protruding shards of glass).

America in the Near Future = Welcome to South Africa

In South Africa, the crime rate has been so high for so long that it has changed the way that people live in a day-to-day basis. Every stranger is viewed with extreme suspicion. Automobile drivers regularly refuse to pull over if they are involved in a minor traffic collision, for fear that it is a pretext for a car jacking.

Threat Escalation and Proactive Countermeasures

Modern military planners often talk in terms of threat spirals. In essence, a given threat escalates and it inspires a defensive countermeasure. The ideal situation is "getting inside your opponents threat spiral"--meaning that your anticipate your opponent's next escalation, and proactively take countermeasures, insulating yourself from the future threat.With that in mind, here are some thoughts on potential home invasion threat escalation and countermeasures (perhaps some SurvivalBlog readers would care to add to this list):

1.) More frequent home invasions. The worse the economy gets, the more crime we can expect. Home invasions and kidnappings are likely "growth" areas.

2.) Use of dynamic entry tools by home invaders. We can expect them to use commercial or improvised door entry battering rams and Hallagan tools--like those use by police. This means that just standard solid core doors by themselves will be insufficient. Switching to steel doors and.or adding sturdy cross bars will become common practice.

3.) Possible use of vehicle-mounted battering rams.

4.) More frequent and elaborate police impersonation by home invasion gangs.

5.) Larger, better equipped, and better organized home invasion gangs. Larger gangs will be able to invade a home--conceivably even when there is a party in progress.

6.) The potential use of cell phone jammers.

7.) More elaborate ruses as pretexts to get homeowners to open their doors. For example, not only will the "point man" be dressed as UPS driver, but there will be a very convincing looking UPS truck parked at the curb.)

8.) More home invasions at any time of the day or night.

9.) More use of pepper spray and other irritants by home invaders.

10.) Use of large diversion such as explosives to draw law enforcement to "the other side of town."

11.) More elaborate intelligence gathering by home invasion gangs--researching exactly who has cash, fine art, gemstones, precious metals, or jewelry in their homes. (BTW, this is just another reason to practice good OPSEC.)

Given these possible threat spiral escalations, you might consider building a dedicated "safe room". I can think of no better way to get inside the bad guys' threat spiral. Such a room could serve multiple purposes, including "panic room", gun and valuables vault, storm shelter, and fallout shelter. (And hence, provide you family with solutions for multiple scenarios. The folks at Safecastle (and other specialty contractors) can build these both aboveground or underground, with special order inward-opening vault doors.

You mentioned putting a lock on your bedroom door. This is usually insufficient, since most interior doors are hollow core, they typically use lightweight hinges, and they have insubstantial strike plates. Most of these doors can either be knocked down or knocked though, in very short order. I recommend replacing your bedroom doors with heavy duty exterior type doors (preferably steel) with heavy duty hinges and one or more deadbolt locks. If your house has all the bedrooms isolated on one hallway, then I recommend adding a heavy duty door at the end of that hall, and keeping it locked at night. (Basically a "safe wing" for your house) Then, inside of that safe wing, you should have a far more secure dedicated safe room that your entire family can retreat to, before the outer layers of defense succumb to physical attack.

Redundant communications are important, so you can solicit outside help. Both the master bedroom and the safe room should have hard wire ("POTS") telephones that are serviced by underground lines with no visible junction boxes. Be sure to test using a cell phone, as a backup, from every room. Having a CB radio in your safe room also makes sense. OBTW, one of my consulting clients in New Mexico intentionally installed a vertical 3"-diameter air exhaust vent from the ceiling of his safe room/fallout shelter to his roof. Using a broomstick, he can pop the slip-fit flapper valve loose, and then use the pipe as a conduit for flares from his HK P2A1 flare 26.5mm flare pistol! He reported that he has tested shooting meteor flares "up the spout", and it worked fine. Very clever.

The Ultimate Solution: Designing for Security from the Ground Up

I most strongly recommend that the next time that you move, that you buy a brick or other masonry house and upgrade its security, or better yet, start with a bare lot, and custom build a stout house with and integral safe room, from scratch. As previously discussed in SurvivalBlog, two good starting points for house designs are Mexican walled courtyards and building with square bastions (also known as Cooper Corners). These projecting corners eliminate the "blind spots" that are common to typical square or rectangular houses.

For greater detail on this subject, I recommend Joel Skousen's book "The Secure Home." My novel "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse" also has some detailed design description for ballistically armored window shutters and doors, as well details on constructing neo-medieval door bars.

If you are serious about custom building or retrofitting an existing house for increased security and/or adding a safe room, then I recommend the architectural consulting services of both Safecastle and Hardened Structures.

Compsec is a subset of OPSEC that is concerned with computer security. It can not be ignored if you plan to use computers now and after a SHTF situation.
The personal computer is a powerful tool to help cope with any disaster or survival situation. The capacity for enormous data storage in a very small footprint makes it a valuable resource when the grid and net go down. You will have all the information you need at your finger tips; first aid and medical info, maps and topography, equipment and firearms manuals, personal records and pictures, and the list goes on and on. Just be sure you have back ups of your data on hard drives and DVDs and a spare system or two stowed away in an EMP-shielded cabinet. Laptops make sense as spares due to their transportability and lower power consumption.[JWR Adds: Like all of you other spare small electronics, any spare laptops should be stored in 40mm ammo cans, for EMP protection.] Make sure you have spare batteries and chargers, hard drives, etc. Consider having the rugged laptops that are shock, water and dust resistant. Here are some examples:

Dell Ruggedized Laptop
Panasonic Toughbook Laptop

See the recent article on how to power your PC with solar energy in Computer Power User magazine's November, 2008 issue. The article is titled: “Get Off The Grid”.
Solar Laptop chargers are available from:
Basegear
Ready Depot
[JWR Adds: Compact photovoltaic power systems are also available from Ready Made Resources, a loyal SurvivalBlog advertiser.]

Here are some sites with useful information that you might want to stow away before TSHTF:
USGS Topography Resources
KI4U Library
First Aid References
EquippedToSurvive (PDF)
NIH Medline
eBooks
There are many other treasure troves of information on the Internet. Look around and gather those free files now[, and make backups on CD-ROM].

You don't have to spend a fortune on software; if you leave Microsoft behind and enter the world of Open Source software where you will find a plethora of great software ranging from the LINUX operating system to office automation, databases, and hundreds of useful programs. Consider that most viruses and malware are written for Microsoft products, so open source is generally more secure for that reason alone. Check out these web sites for some alternative ways to go:
Ubuntu
Red Hat
SourceForge
Tucows
If you prefer to stick with the tried and true Microsoft, do indeed follow their security recommendations and make sure you get all the updates installed as soon as they come out. I recommend using the automatic updates for the operating system and software packages as well as virus and spyware scanners.

Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems once said, “You have no privacy [in the Internet era]. Get over it.” That is definitely a true statement. There are gigantic databases all over the world with data on any minutiae that may have been recorded from many diverse sources which can then be correlated by high power computers to produce a pretty good picture of you as an individual should someone wish to. Some of the data is obtained legally from public records and news sources; some is obtained illicitly through hacking or purchasing outright what should be private information. The data may also come from spybots and Trojan horses right on your very own personal computer.

Anything that is stored on a computer that is connected to the internet is susceptible to data harvesting. Anything you posted to an on-line message board, or an email you sent, or a form you filled out, may well still exist somewhere on the internet even after it seemingly is gone. In the unthinkably large database of Google it may live a long, long time or on a back up tape in some obscure data center somewhere. It may even attain near immortality in the “Wayback Machine”, a database that archives web pages.

Even though using the internet can be hazardous, there are ways to make your surfing safer. By all means install anti-virus and anti-spyware software and update it frequently. Another essential is to have a firewall. Most operating systems now come with firewalls so make sure it is enabled. It can be made even more secure if you do the homework.It’s not a good idea to leave your computer running on-line 24/7 unless you have a specific reason to do so. It gives the hackers a lot of time to work on cracking your system and once cracked hackers can use your PC in their zombie army to launch more attacks and collect more data, all in the dead of night while you sleep. You won’t notice the hard drive and network activity.

Use strong passwords, it’s a pain, but weak passwords are easily cracked and once that is done, you have absolutely no security at all. Change passwords regularly because even a strong password can eventually be cracked by brute force cracking which simply tries random character patterns until it finds the one that works. If you use words that can be found in a dictionary or even words slightly modified, be aware that these are much faster to be cracked.
You can learn about strong passwords here:
Microsoft Password Checker
LINUX Password Checker
Free Ultra-Secure Password Generator from Gibson Research
Pay attention to security settings on your web browser. I use the Firefox browser because it has better security features [than others like Microsoft Internet Explorer], such as clearing of private data when exiting, the ability to manage individual cookies, and the ability to disable the “HTTP referrer” information that tells the next web site you visit where you just came from.

Whatever browser and operating system you use, make sure that it is as secure as it can be and still be functional for your needs. The basic philosophy of system hardening is to close all the open doors, install locks, and only open up those that you absolutely must in order to operate. There are many open doors and loosely guarded doors in an unsecured system which comes right from the manufacturer that way. You need to look into all the setting and options that are available with what ever hardware and software you have, and then start tightening up as much as possible.

Another problem with most PCs running a Microsoft OS is that they become laden with junk over time. As you install new software and hardware your registry grows to a huge size and you accumulate startup programs that start up when you logon and run even if you may not need them. They make the login slower and slower as they accumulate and some of them may even be spybots reporting back to home base of your activities. I’m willing to bet that most PC users are running software for programs they never even use anymore.

Here are a few sites to learn about how to clean your PC of these start-up parasites:
Info on start-up programs
This a database of good, bad and optional programs that might be running on your PC.
Microsoft registry cleaner. There are other commercial products available, be careful to select the option to make backups before you clean up the registry. The cleaners occasionally clean too much and break a program that you need.
Here is a cleaner I have used successfully.

Visit these web sites to give yourself some good security check-outs:
Tons of good compsec information.
Free Tools and Utilities.
The Junkbusters site will tell you if your browser is giving out too much information.
Gibson Research. Click on the services tab and select Shields Up! to give your system a security check up. Check out all their other good security info.
This page will tell you about your Internet "persona" and check out other good information.

Surf anonymously. This will help keep those who do not have a need to know, out of your affairs. Just remember that ‘somebody’ will know what your internet IP addresses is, and that ‘somebody’ is the anonymity provider or proxy server. It can be traced to your PC.
Here are two free anonymizers:
CEXX.org
ComputerBytesMan

One note of caution about encrypted files and web sites that your browser accesses: The browser w