While people are asking themselves this very question, the “online experts” are telling you where you should be once the SHTF. The problem is you do not currently live in any of the “safe areas” that they recommend. There are, of course, areas that for whatever reason would be better suited over other locations, but no one really knows until something actually happens.
There is essentially no history of events from which to harvest information. It’s all conjecture at this point. What happens if one of the best places to be according to the experts is attacked, destroyed by a natural disaster, or overrun with panicked citizens?
Then what, the home you bugged out from may not look so bad once you have figured out that the grass is not as green on the other side of the fence as you had once thought.
Ted Koppel’s “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath”.
The United States, according to the book, is woefully unprepared, and that a cyber-attack on the power grid in this country is not a matter of if but when. Stark assessments, and yet more likely today than yesterday, according to some experts.
Mr. Koppel is a noted journalist, and so you cannot simply brush off what he is saying. People are taking a second look. The ones that brushed off all the other proclamations may be paying more attention today. They may be asking themselves what happens if, and living where I live, does it put me in more danger.
Most people cannot simply pick up and move to a safer area, even if one existed. How do you know it’s safer? On one hand, some are saying that the golden hordes will overtake rural areas so using this logic then, the cities would be a better place during a catastrophe, because of less competition for resources, well that is if the experts writing on blogs and websites are correct.
Still following this line of logic all the recommended places would be quickly overrun with refugees from metropolitan areas. People, because of the Internet would know where to go during a crisis. Thus the problems associated with heavily populated areas would simply be moved from one location to another.
From one pile to another as the saying goes, it doesn’t go exactly like that, but you get the meaning. This, of course, assumes that people are paying attention and realize they may be confronted with this very question not too far into the future.
If you are reading this then you are paying attention and you may even be confused at this point. Do I stay or do I go.
Well you have a home now, a shelter, so that right there may be a deciding factor. Unless your home is destroyed by fire, flooding, or some other disaster, you have a shelter, a home, and common sense tells you the best place to be is there regardless of what the experts are touting online. The best place to be may be right where you are when the SHTF.
If as Ted Koppel predicts the power grid will go down, then the problem will be nationwide and any area would essentially have the same problems. Obviously, if you had an established homestead you would be better off than say someone living in an apartment in a heavily populated area, but again those living in an apartment today cannot just decide to start homesteading, and be set up tomorrow, and they certainly cannot decide to do this once the grid goes down. Therefore, the circle has come back around to the fact that you will have to survive where you currently are.
You Have To Decide
You cannot move, you do not own property out in the country, and you barely have enough resources to survive day-to-day let alone gather enough to survive a year or more once the grid has gone down. Many people are facing this very problem. They may know what they need to do, but simply cannot do enough to ensure they have all the bases covered.
There are things that you can do that only cost you some time and energy. Once left with only one option, then you have to make the best of that option. Learn what resources are available once the grid goes down. Know what is available just outside of town.
Are there lakes, rivers and streams, are there public parks with ponds within the city, for example. Of course these resources are temporary ones, and you would have to move quickly to gain any use from them, but knowing where to go before disaster strikes gives you the advantage.
Do a resource analysis in your area now to identify any resources than can be used during a crisis, and remember others will be thinking of the same things. One thing a city has is structures, which can be used as shelters. If you live on the fifth floor of an apartment building, for example, you would probably want to relocate within the area. You would not want to be on the upper floors when the grid goes down.
Learn how to survive where you are now, because it does no good to wonder if somewhere else is a better option. It is not an option when you simply do not have the means to get there. If you have the financial means to make a move now then so be it, otherwise structure your survival plans around where you live now.