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The Things that People Miss the Most
When Those Things are Not Available

 Copyright © March 7, 2022 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

Introduction

Snow Covered Home When a hurricane, or a severe snow storm, or some other event strikes an area, then the people who live in the area impacted by the really bad weather will sometimes have to live without some of the comforts that they may have taken for granted during normal times.

The purpose of this short article is to briefly discuss the things that people miss the most during one of these events, and to offer some suggestions on how a family can prepare for these problems in the future.


Discussion

The following list begins with the most important thing that people miss when it is not available. Then the other things that people miss are listed in decreasing order of importance to a family's survival. However, most families are usually not deprived of everything in the following list at the same time except on rare occasions. Usually a family is only forced to do without a few of the items in the following list for an indefinite period of time. The things that are not available will vary based on a variety of different factors.
  1. Water that is Safe to Drink: If it rains periodically in your area, and if you can catch the rainwater before it makes contact with anything, then you can replenish your drinking water each time it rains. You will need two or three heavy-duty tarps to catch and channel the rainwater, some strong nylon or polypropylene twine to secure the tarps into a "V" shape with one "V" end lower than the other "V" end, and some clean water storage containers to catch the rainwater at the lower "V" end of each tarp. Food-grade 5-gallon buckets with a removable lid are a good choice because they are affordable, they can be stacked two or three high, and each container will weigh about 44 pounds when filled with water. When the water buckets are full, each family member can refill his or her own personal water bottle from the water bucket on top of the stack. When the 5-gallon buckets are empty they can be nested inside one another and they will require very little storage space.

    Cap with Ear Muffs
  2. Warmth During Very Cold or Freezing Weather: During cold weather each person in your family will need to be protected from hypothermia. If your heat is still working then this will probably not be an issue. But if your heat is not working then each person will need to stay warm. The easiest way to do this is to have several layers of warm clothing that each person can wear. This will allow each person to put on more clothing if they are cold, and each person can take off one layer of clothing if they get too warm. Warm socks, warm gloves, and a warm ski mask or a hat with ear muffs, should also be part of each person's emergency clothing. Warm blankets, or a good sleeping bag, will help when it is time to sleep. Each person can also sleep in their clothes inside a sleeping bag to help maintain their body heat when the temperature drops at night. This is a solution that almost every family could easily implement, and this solution is portable if a family has to vacate their current residence for any reason. If a family has a fireplace, then firewood would also be an option. However, getting up several times during the night to add more wood to the fire is not conducive to a good night's sleep. A non-electric propane heater is also an option but it will require a backup supply of propane, and when the propane is used up then the heater will be of little value.

  3. Protection from Rain, Snow, and High Winds: Staying indoors during bad weather is the best solution. If you are away from home, and you are temporarily stranded in your vehicle, then remaining inside your vehicle until the bad weather passes is usually the best solution. If you have some emergency warm clothing and warm blankets in your vehicle then this option becomes more attractive. If you must travel during bad weather, then you will need waterproof footwear, a waterproof poncho or other waterproof clothing, and a waterproof hat of the type suitable for your climate. Please do not overestimate how fast you can walk in bad weather. And please do not underestimate the impact that the bad weather will have on your strength and endurance.

    Emergency Food Supply
  4. Food: Most families have enough food to last between 1 to 3 days. If most of that food can be safely eaten without it having to be cooked, then most families can survive between 1 to 3 days before hunger will become an issue. The simple solution to the food problem is to buy and store some emergency food before it becomes unavailable during a hard times event. Each family should have enough emergency food to last at least 30-days. More food would be preferred if you can afford it and if you have a cool place to store it where it will not be seen by people visiting your home. Most of your emergency food should be ready to eat directly from the can or container, such as cooked canned beans, vegetables, pasta, meat, and fruit. These foods are available at most grocery stores and they are usually reasonably priced (unless a hard times event is currently in progress). The really nice thing about this type of food is that it does not need to be refrigerated or frozen, and it can be eaten and replaced on a first-in first-out basis during normal times so that you can be continually rotating your emergency food. Please remember to purchase a good quality stainless steel can opener that can be manually operated. If your electricity is off then your manual can opener will become one of your most precious assets. If your electricity is off then you can heat pre-cooked canned food over the flame of a short candle in a candle holder. The 1/2 inch tall tea candles, or tealights, are well suited to this application and they are extremely cheap and they do not require much storage space.

    Toilet Bucket
  5. Sewage Disposal: Everyone needs to periodically relieve themselves during normal times and during hard times. If you still have running water, and if your toilet stool still flushes, then sewage disposal will probably not be a problem. However, if clean water is in short supply, or if your normal sewer system isn't working properly, and if you are still living at home, then you will need to manually collect and safely dispose of human waste. Any 5-gallon or 6-gallon bucket with a tight fitting lid may be used as an indoor toilet bucket. An ordinary toilet stool seat can be attached to the top of this bucket to make it easier to use. These bucket toilet seats may be available for sale on Amazon and on ebay and at some Army-Navy stores. Liquid waste can be collected in one bucket, and solid waste can be collected in a different bucket. After a person has deposited human waste (poop and toilet paper) into the solid waste toilet bucket, sprinkle a little sawdust, or crumbled dry leaves, or dried grass clippings, or chopped brown pine needles, or shredded paper on top of the solid waste to help control the odor. Then replace the bucket lid to keep the smell inside the bucket. Both buckets will need to be emptied in a hygienic way on a reasonable schedule. (Note: Most people will not truly appreciate their current sewer system until their sewer system stops working.)

  6. Hot Water: Most people in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, and Europe have had hot water available 99.9% of the time during their entire lives. Therefore hot water is one of the things that the average person takes for granted. Trying to bathe in cold water during cold weather is not a pleasant experience. There is no simple solution to the hot water problem that could be easily implemented by a lot of different people. Heating hot water in a pot takes a lot of energy and moving hot water between locations requires extreme care. If you are aware that hot water may not be available during a hard times event, then you may be able to adjust your life style without constantly complaining to the other people in your home.

  7. A Peaceful Night of Sleep: If things do not return to normal in a day or two, then criminal activities may begin to escalate in a manner that you never believed would be possible. If this happens then being able to get a good night's sleep will become more challenging with each passing day. Sleep deprivation can impair your ability to make good threat assessments and to make good decisions in difficult circumstances. If you have at least two or three other people that you really trust and who can rotate on guard duty on different nights, then each of you may be able to get one good night of sleep every other night. This may help to improve your efficiency during the day and it may help you from making a quick decision that you will eventually regret.

    Solar Battery Charger
  8. Light During Darkness: Most people have a flashlight "app" on their mobile phone or tablet. However, this app will consume your battery power. A better long-term solution would be to purchase an LED lantern for about $10 to $15 that uses 3 or 4 AA batteries. Also purchase a solar battery charger on Amazon or ebay and purchase several rechargeable AA batteries. This will allow you to recharge your batteries while the sun is shining so that you can have light at night if you need it. A good LED flashlight that uses AA batteries would also be a good investment. If possible, each member of your family should have their own LED flashlight. Please explain to each member of your family that their flashlight is for emergency use during the night and it is not a toy. (Note: I suggest that you avoid the really cheap flashlights that sell for $5 or less.)

  9. The Ability to Start a Fire: During normal times most people rarely need to start a fire. However, during a hard times event this could quickly change. For example, a match could be used to light a small candle, and the flame of the candle could be used to heat some canned food that was already fully cooked.
    Matches a. A butane lighter cost about one-dollar and it will start about 3,000 fires. But most butane lighters do not have a long shelf life in storage.
    b. A Zippo type lighter uses lighter fluid and the lighter fluid inside the Zippo lighter will completely evaporate after three weeks in storage (or in your pocket).
    c. Matches have a indefinite shelf life if they are vacuumed sealed until you need them during an emergency.
    Paper matches in a matchbook of 20 matches are a good option but they may be difficult to find in the year 2022. Stick matches are also okay but they require a lot more storage space. The purpose of a match is to quickly ignite and then it is used to start a bigger fire. When you stop and think about this you will realize that one small paper match will do the same job as one big wood match and the smaller match costs less and it takes less storage space.
    There are a variety of other devices that will start a fire but before you invest in one of these other devices may I suggest that you evaluate the price of the device against the size of the device and the number of fires that it will start.

Conclusion

The above discussion was focused on how life can change during a natural disaster. However, the above discussion also applies to life during a manmade disaster, such as war.

Many of the people in some countries, such as Russia, China, Africa, Mexico, and South America live their entire lives with the intermittent availability of clean water, and food, and electricity, and gas. Some of these people live in constant fear of criminals of all types (gangs, cartels, corrupt police officials, corrupt government officials, and evil neighbors). These people would find it very easy to adjust to a World War because they probably would not notice any significant change in their normal daily lives.

On the other hand, most of the people in some countries, such as Europe, and the United Kingdom, and Canada, and the United States of America would find it extremely difficult to survive a World War if that war disrupted the normal services that they have become dependant upon, such as clean water, a steady supply of food, electricity, natural gas, gasoline, diesel fuel, working sewers, and the availability of some form of entertainment on demand 24-hours per day 7-days per week. A World War would thrust these people into a lifestyle that they have only seen in the movies and these people would not be intellectually, emotionally, or physically able to survive in the type of conditions that the majority of the other people in the world have to live with every day of their lives.

Is your family prepared to survive in an 1800s lifestyle? Do you know how people survived in the 1800s? Would this type of information be of use to you if World War III begins during your lifetime?

If you would like to know more about a wide variety of primitive survival skills, then click on some of the links at the top of this page. The information on my website is free and it can be easily accessed if the internet is still working. If you find some information on my website that you think might be of real value to you, then you may wish to print a hard copy of that information for future reference purposes because no one knows if electricity or the internet will be available during a hard times event.

Respectfully,
Grandpappy.

Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com

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