Category: Emerging Threats

How to Survive the Cities During TEOTWAWKI, by Lara W.

Get out of the cities. Most would agree this is a key rule of survival during the end of the world as we know it.  After all, millions of people reside in cities around the globe. Supply store shelves can become bare in mere minutes, water can become rapidly contaminated by overwhelmed sewage systems, and riots can outnumber and overtake law enforcement. The urban environment also renders certain wilderness survival tactics unsafe, such as cooking over a fire. Cities are vulnerable to uncontrollable fires. They make prime nuclear targets. Disease spreads among city dwellers at an astounding rate. There are …


Letter Re: The Thinning of The Horde

Dear SurvivalBloggers, After reading “The Thinning of The Horde” by Matt B., I would like to make aware the realization that if TEOTWAWKI were to happen during the winter months, which may be as long as five months in the northern tier states, the Transportation Departments (state or local) will not be plowing roads making them impassable by most vehicles. I can imagine the local Good Samaritan plowing out a neighborhood, but in the urban areas, most people do not own plows. In rural America, the distance between neighbors is sometimes measured in miles. A foot of fresh snow would …


Letter Re: The Thinning of The Horde by Matt B.

Dear Survivalbloggers: I just finished re-reading JWR’s novel “Patriots“. Anyone who has read it knows that in Chapter 21 a number was given on the percentage of the population that perished during the Crunch. This has allowed me to open my mind. There will undoubtedly be a Golden Horde, but as you will read, it will quickly and overtime diminish considerably.   This last semester I took a human geography course which I found especially relevant to the way that a ‘Horde’ would move. In the course I have learned that in a typical East Coast suburb, there are about …


The New Century: An Era of Upright Spikes

We are entering an era of upright spikes. Clearly, the debt-driven global economy is spinning out of control. The aggregate value of the derivatives market is exploding and meanwhile food prices are spiking. Both of these are threatening huge economic dislocation and subsequent social turmoil that–just as I predicted five years ago–will topple governments. I stand by that prediction. (And, for the record, I’m not just talking about failed votes of confidence. I’m talking about revolutions.) Note: Because SurvivalBlog’s diverse readership expects access on mobile devices, I intentionally minimize the use of graphics in my blog. But this particular topic …


Letter Re: Google Earth — The Double-Edged Sword

Mr. Rawles, Thanks for the extraordinary services you provide and for being so generous with your time. The subject of this letter has to do with a recent article on survivalblog in which the author explained the benefits of searching for homesteads using free, online resources such as Google Earth. I recently bought and moved to a rural property. This was the culmination of over two years’ hunting for good homesteads at a fair price. So when I came across this place, I knew it was a bargain. In my searches, I found other rich sources of information: especially interactive …


Letter Re: Just How Bad Can it Get?

JWR, I will preface by saying that I have a much different opinion on the aftermath of a significant long-term or permanent collapse of the economy and the power grid leading to a collapse of the social structure.   I have read numerous studies that indicated that, in any long-term absence of modern technology, the sort of defended retreat with family and friends, not to mention the exposure you will get bartering and dispensing charity with third parties, will be only the initial phase of a total breakdown of a functioning society.  Some say the further degradation of what we now …


Letter Re: Adjustable Rate Mortgage Rate Resets

Dear JWR: Back in 2009, and even as early as 2007, many dire predictions were made about the massive wave of Alt-A and Option ARMs that were to reset in 2010 and 2011. See this widely-cited chart. (First mentioned in SurvivalBlog in January of 2009, in a link to iTulip.) Like many of you, I braced for impact, and then, nothing. What happened? This happened. Alt-As and ARMs have been resetting, but at very low rates, keeping the level of defaults lower than they would otherwise be. I don’t believe this is a coincidence. The Federal Reserve has been keeping …


Letter Re: The Vancouver Hockey Games Riots

Mr Rawles, I first posted this in a Survival forum I frequent often in response to the widespread, violent riots that broke out in Vancouver after the local hockey team lost in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I just was reading up on it this morning and you got to ask yourself: If your “countrymen” would essentially devolve into barbarian hordes over a stupid game – what do you think they’ll do when they have no food, water, heat, electricity and no government to bail them out or keep them in their place? I was speculating this morning that Vancouver is …


Our Community-Wide SHTF Contingency Plan, by T.M.

We are located in the Southeastern United States. There are nine families in our “block”, with the next neighborhood or community more than two miles away. I refer to it as a block because a major highway runs through it. The only dwellings on the major highway are three houses and one country store. The rest are on a “U” shaped secondary road that starts across from the store on the main highway and ends, back on the main Highway, 1 mile east, at a cross road. We are all contained in one square mile within that “U”. I should …


Three Letters Re: The Yellowstone Super-Volcano and the American Redoubt State

Mr. Rawles, I work for the US Geological Survey, and I have had discussions with the country’s foremost experts on this topic. For all intents and purposes, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. Your suggestion to locate upwind of the ash dispersal trend is good common sense, but not required. The missile sites in Montana are a far more relevant concern for anyone looking to relocate. Thank you, – H.D.   Mr. Rawles, Much of the hype regarding super volcanoes is based on the discredited “millions of years” historical time-line. The creation model of geologic history puts this sort of cataclysmic eruption …


Letter Re: The Yellowstone Super-Volcano and the American Redoubt States

Dear Mr. Rawles,   I am heeding your advice about looking at Idaho Montana, Eastern Washington, and Eastern Oregon for my retreat.  But I am very concerned about the potential super volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park. I have researched the past eruptions and their ash falls.  I see from those maps that these areas are very much in that zone.  I’m concerned not so much for my generation but for my children and my children’s children.  I want my retreat to be viable for generations to come.  What is your thoughts regarding this threat?   Thank you! – Guy JWR …


Letter Re: Are Mexican Drug Cartels a Threat in the U.S.?

Hi James et al.,   I’ve slowly got around to reading most survivalist novels and blogs, but one thing I see never being considered (at least not to a great extent) is the threat from Mexican drug cartels. While threats from foreign governments and biker gangs would surely exist a post-collapse world, I worry about the discipline, ruthlessness, and resourcefulness of the cartels (see article about seized cartel tank). I could be wrong here, but it seems they already operate quite capably in a post-collapse scenario of sorts, so it would be nothing to them to transition to operating in a post-collapse United States. Maybe they’re …


Getting Out of Dodge: High Time to Relocate to a Rural Area

This post will be brief, and pointed. I’ve written on this topic before, but I feel convicted to repeat the warning: The time to relocate to a lightly-populated rural region is now. SurvivalBlog reader Larry C. recently sent this web page link: Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Warns: ‘Those Who Can, Should Move Their Families Out of the City. That article includes a link the excellent two-hour Urban Danger documentary. It correctly identifies the nation’s power grids as the lynchpin. Please watch that documentary, and pray about relocating to the American Redoubt. If you feel convicted to move, then don’t hesitate. Move …


Survival Security Tactics–In All Locations, by Roy K.

I see little difference between a SHTF situation and a TEOTWAWKI situation in terms of self defense. The mission is identical; protect our family from predators whether it be for a month or years. Same challenges, same tactics, same end result. I will concede that the longer chaos prevails, then the greater desperation and violence we could expect. But, may I submit that if forced to use lethal force, a bullet doesn’t know the difference between a killer, rapist or looter. The end result is the same. No matter where you live.   The variables and subsequent permutations of survival …


A Guide to Chemical Warfare Preparations, by Bryan R.

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 …