Posted by Kromey at 8:24pm May 24 '10is an economic collapse. Bar none, this is the scenario that trumps all others in likelihood of actually happening, but it's made more worrisome by the fact that it won't happen suddenly. There will be no point when you realize "Oh shit, shit just got real!", but rather your life will simply fade into this apocalypse while you're none the wiser, until one day you think back and realize that, at some point back there, things went wrong and you've been in a bad way ever since.
Take the time to read the article linked below -- it's a real-life account of someone who went through this exact scenario. Do keep in mind that the author's accounts are far from typical -- he was wealthy, both pre- and post-collapse, and had a lot of resources to draw upon. Nonetheless, he did experience a lot, so it would behoove you to read and learn from his experiences.
I don't, unfortunately, have a viable plan for this scenario. I have maybe a week's worth of food for [private] and myself stored up, but a week from now we'll be right back to having nothing in the pantry. However, I do have a significant geographical advantage -- my town is small enough that it won't become a serious hotbed for crime, yet large enough that there are more than enough people to form some semblance of a workable society; at the same time, there's ample natural resources just outside of town, providing for clean(ish) water, as well as hunting and trapping opportunities for food.
I do have a close-knit group of friends with varied skills. I think this, above all, is your best bet for surviving any apocalypse -- people you trust and can count on to get you through it. Small groups are best -- small enough that feeding everyone isn't too much of a chore, but big enough that you have enough of a range of skills to make do no matter what disaster has befallen your world.
In the future, I hope to buy a house just outside of town -- far enough away that it would be a suitable refuge should the town become a cesspit of chaos and crime, yet close enough that we could still rely upon the town and its resources. (No, that's not why we want a house in that locale -- we simply want to live in the country(ish), but also need to stay close enough to where we work and shop.) I've also begun making a point to buy a few extra canned goods and dry foods every time I go shopping, so that they can be stored should the need arise.
Beyond that, I have quite a bit of wilderness survival training. I can, for example, build a still to purify water, as well as find/build suitable shelter in almost any natural terrain (about the only place I'd truly be at a loss would be a desert). I also have considerable first aid training, and, should things get way out of hand, I am a good shot (although I do not (yet) own any weapons aside from a few knives).
My plan consists of banding together with my friends (again, who each have their own skills to add to my own), taking stock of our available resources, and then making do with what we have where ever we can. No, it's not very precise, but that's necessarily so -- in addition to the old adage that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, exactly what we'd have to do to survive would depend a lot upon what the disaster is. For example, in an economic collapse I could likely still find work with computers (the author of the article linked below is in a similar line of work), but an EMP as discussed in great detail below would of course obliterate that career path almost entirely; at that point I could fall back on my somewhat limited electronics knowledge to fix what electronics can be repaired.
No matter the disaster, any survival depends on having a small group you can trust and rely upon, with varied skills, and to take an honest assessment of your situation and adapt in whatever way becomes necessary.
Yeah, I'm way late to this party; I kept meaning to come back to this thread, and never did, so finally made myself write this post. No one will probably read this, but that's okay.
Take the time to read the article linked below -- it's a real-life account of someone who went through this exact scenario. Do keep in mind that the author's accounts are far from typical -- he was wealthy, both pre- and post-collapse, and had a lot of resources to draw upon. Nonetheless, he did experience a lot, so it would behoove you to read and learn from his experiences.
I don't, unfortunately, have a viable plan for this scenario. I have maybe a week's worth of food for [private] and myself stored up, but a week from now we'll be right back to having nothing in the pantry. However, I do have a significant geographical advantage -- my town is small enough that it won't become a serious hotbed for crime, yet large enough that there are more than enough people to form some semblance of a workable society; at the same time, there's ample natural resources just outside of town, providing for clean(ish) water, as well as hunting and trapping opportunities for food.
I do have a close-knit group of friends with varied skills. I think this, above all, is your best bet for surviving any apocalypse -- people you trust and can count on to get you through it. Small groups are best -- small enough that feeding everyone isn't too much of a chore, but big enough that you have enough of a range of skills to make do no matter what disaster has befallen your world.
In the future, I hope to buy a house just outside of town -- far enough away that it would be a suitable refuge should the town become a cesspit of chaos and crime, yet close enough that we could still rely upon the town and its resources. (No, that's not why we want a house in that locale -- we simply want to live in the country(ish), but also need to stay close enough to where we work and shop.) I've also begun making a point to buy a few extra canned goods and dry foods every time I go shopping, so that they can be stored should the need arise.
Beyond that, I have quite a bit of wilderness survival training. I can, for example, build a still to purify water, as well as find/build suitable shelter in almost any natural terrain (about the only place I'd truly be at a loss would be a desert). I also have considerable first aid training, and, should things get way out of hand, I am a good shot (although I do not (yet) own any weapons aside from a few knives).
My plan consists of banding together with my friends (again, who each have their own skills to add to my own), taking stock of our available resources, and then making do with what we have where ever we can. No, it's not very precise, but that's necessarily so -- in addition to the old adage that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, exactly what we'd have to do to survive would depend a lot upon what the disaster is. For example, in an economic collapse I could likely still find work with computers (the author of the article linked below is in a similar line of work), but an EMP as discussed in great detail below would of course obliterate that career path almost entirely; at that point I could fall back on my somewhat limited electronics knowledge to fix what electronics can be repaired.
No matter the disaster, any survival depends on having a small group you can trust and rely upon, with varied skills, and to take an honest assessment of your situation and adapt in whatever way becomes necessary.
Yeah, I'm way late to this party; I kept meaning to come back to this thread, and never did, so finally made myself write this post. No one will probably read this, but that's okay.
By far the most likely scenario - Kromey