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My small group of feal friends and I could survive without power for quite a while. A couple of us do need certain medications that we would run out of pretty quick so that's a bit of an issue. We'd have to supplement with natural plants and herbs which is actually a pretty viable option for the issues we have.
The urbanites who elect to stay in the city or bug out with zero knowledge of how to survive outside their gated condos will have a problem. The cities would suddenly become a more dangerous place o be than the wilds though. I'd rather deal with prowling mountain lions and bears than the two legged predators that would be running amok in the cities.
We have a fall back place. My buddies ranch. Between allof us we have stocked up a large supply of non perishable food, we have a fresh water source we don't need power to tap, we've stocked up best we can on medicines we need regularly and have a good supply of emergency medical supplies, fuel enough to keep the generators running for quite a spell if we're careful and of course we have a wide variety of weapons and ammunition put up. We have no illusions that someone won't come looking to take what we have.
But it would take a large, well organized force to do so. The ranch is a seriously hard target. And we're self sufficient. There are neighboring places close enough by that are set up the same way and we can counton each other o our own forces are pretty formidable. We can muster up a fairly large and well armed force needs be. No roving bandit rabble could handle us.
If the power gets taken down long term from a hack or even an EMP burst we'll be totally survivable. We'll give it a helluva go anyway...
POWER DOWN
: : : : : : : : : : : : :
Can you survive a long term loss of electrical power / grid down?
Do you have a substitute for :
_ _ potable water (without electric pumps)
_ _ artificial light
_ _ furnace (& powered ventilation)
_ _ food storage (alternative to the refrigerator / freezer)
_ _ delivered fuel (gas, oil, electric, etc are all dependent on the grid)
_ _ communications
_ _ cooking food
_ _ transportation
_ _ lack of resupply
_ _ computer records and ebooks
– – – – – – – – –
Having some experience with long term "camping out" I may believe that I can endure a bit longer, but that may be foolishness on my part.
The comfortable civilization that we've become accustomed to would collapse into a world of drudgery, fear and violence, as predators would rise up to take what they need from others.
With technology comes the ability to support a vastly higher number of people than the land can naturally support (i.e. cities and infrastructure). If resources were managed correctly, and we focused on renewable energy, maybe we can fit a few billion more, rather well.
Resources will NOT be managed correctly!
Also, without technology, cities especially, have far more people than the land can support.
If you reside in a city, you will have to do some horrible things to not die. Many hundreds of thousands will die within weeks due to starvation and raiding. The following couple of months competition will be deadlybas reources dwindle. The last part is speculation, either people will mellow out as competition literally kills itself off OR, the dominant raider warlords (or whatever) would turn the areas feudal and miserable.
However, if you are a city dweller (and I am one) who thinks bugging out in the wild amongs country folk that know the land better than you, without having people that know you, the first time you fall asleep will likely be your last. People WILL be more plentiful than deer or raccoons...
The next case study will be Puerto Rico... an example of a location isolated largely without power for months... more study is needed before I can offer up anything else.
The next case study will be Puerto Rico... an example of a location isolated largely without power for months... more study is needed before I can offer up anything else.
Not a very good case study.
Puerto Rico had food, medicine and other needed supplies flown onto the island.
There's no possible way to duplicate that in the US.
The Berlin Airlift was 2 Million people, not 320 Million and not even 8 Million (the population of New York City).
Those aircraft were able to fly round-trip from Frankfurt am Main and other air bases without refueling.
Once an aircraft lands in the US, it would be permanently grounded. There's no JP-fuel available to refuel the aircraft. Before anyone says the tanks at major airports could be rigged for gravity-flow, the US no longer uses mechanical valves.
All valves are electronic, and in the event of power-failure, the valves are designed to close for safety reasons. Once they're closed, that's it.
That's true for the dozens and dozens of tank farms along the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers that hold diesel and gasoline fuel. Barges bring the fuels up-river and off-load at the tank farms, and the tanker trucks deliver it to gasoline stations.
When things calm down, given enough time, you could probably scrounge enough tubing to siphon it out or use a mechanical pump.
Ships can cross the Atlantic in two to three weeks, but those are container ships and without electrical power, you can't off-load the ships.
Even if you managed to somehow off-load the ships, there's no way to distribute the goods. No vehicles are running and the roads and interstates would be clogged with dead vehicles making travel impossible. If people suspected there was food and supplies at the ports, crowd control would be impossible.
Even if you could manage to control the crowds, whenever you have large numbers of people gathered together, cholera, dysentery and typhus always manage to wipe them out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NVplumber
My small group of feal friends and I could survive without power for quite a while. A couple of us do need certain medications that we would run out of pretty quick so that's a bit of an issue. We'd have to supplement with natural plants and herbs which is actually a pretty viable option for the issues we have.
You should map out all pharmaceutical distribution facilities, not only hospitals, drug stores and pharmacies, but also local distribution warehouse. You may or may not have one nearby.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NVplumber
The urbanites who elect to stay in the city or bug out with zero knowledge of how to survive outside their gated condos will have a problem. The cities would suddenly become a more dangerous place o be than the wilds though. I'd rather deal with prowling mountain lions and bears than the two legged predators that would be running amok in the cities.
The New York Black-out is indicative of what will happen, only it will be worse, starting as soon as people learn the law enforcement is powerless and helpless, unable to communicate with anyone.
Many families will be separated, father and mother at their jobs, kids in schools, and they may never see each other again, unless they have established a Rally-Point in a reasonably safe place where everyone can make their way to and meet up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NVplumber
We have a fall back place. My buddies ranch. Between allof us we have stocked up a large supply of non perishable food, we have a fresh water source we don't need power to tap, we've stocked up best we can on medicines we need regularly and have a good supply of emergency medical supplies, fuel enough to keep the generators running for quite a spell if we're careful and of course we have a wide variety of weapons and ammunition put up. We have no illusions that someone won't come looking to take what we have.
But it would take a large, well organized force to do so. The ranch is a seriously hard target. And we're self sufficient. There are neighboring places close enough by that are set up the same way and we can counton each other o our own forces are pretty formidable. We can muster up a fairly large and well armed force needs be. No roving bandit rabble could handle us.
If the power gets taken down long term from a hack or even an EMP burst we'll be totally survivable. We'll give it a helluva go anyway...
You only have a problem for about the first six weeks. Once the food and water run out, many people will become sedentary and physically incapable of any violence, because they're too weak.
Mass migrations will be a problem within that time frame. However, people will stick to major thoroughfares and not move off that path unless they see something to consume.
If you can weather that, then you only have to deal with marauders, and once they're killed off, the incidence of violence will decline dramatically.
A coronal mass ejection, such as the big one in 1859, or an EMP, causes a huge disruption to the magnetic field surrounding the earth. That creates a huge electric field. In 1859 it caused railroad ties and fence posts to ignite from the huge currents flowing through the rails and barb wires.
Those electric fields were estimated at about 200 volts per meter.
You car, if it is newer than about 1975, has an engine control module that is always turned on even if you have the car turned off and the key removed. An excitation from a large magnetic flux will induce currents that will break down the semiconductor junctions that are normally reverse biased in the integrated circuits in that engine control module. When that happens, those chips burn up. The engine won't start.
To avoid this, get an old car. For example, a 1962 VW Beetle would work fine. It has a classic Kettering points-and-coil ignition that would likely survive the event.
I can believe that some, or many, semiconductor devices will fail, but I'm not convinced that it would be all of them, everywhere.
With technology comes the ability to support a vastly higher number of people than the land can naturally support (i.e. cities and infrastructure). If resources were managed correctly, and we focused on renewable energy, maybe we can fit a few billion more, rather well.
Resources will NOT be managed correctly!
Also, without technology, cities especially, have far more people than the land can support.
If you reside in a city, you will have to do some horrible things to not die. Many hundreds of thousands will die within weeks due to starvation and raiding. The following couple of months competition will be deadlybas reources dwindle. The last part is speculation, either people will mellow out as competition literally kills itself off OR, the dominant raider warlords (or whatever) would turn the areas feudal and miserable.
However, if you are a city dweller (and I am one) who thinks bugging out in the wild amongs country folk that know the land better than you, without having people that know you, the first time you fall asleep will likely be your last. People WILL be more plentiful than deer or raccoons...
The next case study will be Puerto Rico... an example of a location isolated largely without power for months... more study is needed before I can offer up anything else.
How would they manage? You don't think a wind tower is affected by EMP? Even if it wasn't do you understand a wind tower needs ELECTRICITY to start and does not have the ability to operate isochronous. They are useless by them selves.....
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