In an increasingly urbanized world, being prepared for disasters is of utmost importance. City preppers are individuals who go the extra mile to ensure they are ready for any conceivable situation, whether it’s a power outage or an evacuation scenario. This preparedness entails acquiring specific survival skills.
Here are some essential tips for city preppers to maximize their preparedness and ensure their survival. It’s crucial to prioritize readiness, regardless of others’ opinions.
By adhering to these guidelines, responsible citizens can be as well-prepared as possible for any potential eventuality.
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Know Your City
One of the most crucial steps for a city prepper is to become intimately acquainted with their city. This entails gaining knowledge about various neighborhoods, identifying areas to avoid, and becoming well-versed in the city’s layout.
Furthermore, it involves developing a thorough understanding of the city’s infrastructure and locating key resources.
By becoming intimately familiar with their city, preppers will be better equipped to navigate it during emergencies.
For instance, research nearby public underground facilities and buildings where you can seek refuge in the event of a nuclear threat.
Are you aware of the locations of bunkers in your vicinity? There are several options, including underground mines (refer to this interactive map), caves, and federal bunkers.
Be Friends With Your Neighbors
Building relationships with every single neighbor in your community can be a challenging endeavor. However, we strongly advise making an effort to establish connections with your immediate neighbors. In times of disaster, the need for interaction may arise. You could provide assistance to them, and they might extend a helping hand to you.
Furthermore, it’s possible that some of your neighbors are urban preppers themselves. In such a scenario, you might contemplate the formation of a prepper community with them. This collaboration could involve pooling resources and survival skills, ultimately enhancing your collective ability to endure a disaster.
Have A Bug Out Plan
In the event of an emergency, it’s crucial to have a well-thought-out evacuation plan for leaving the urban area and identifying at least one secure destination.
City preppers should meticulously map out multiple evacuation routes and pinpoint safe destinations beyond the city limits. It’s also essential to devise a strategy for navigating alternative transportation routes, especially if main roads become congested.
Having a comprehensive plan in place enables a swift and secure evacuation if the need arises. Obtain this information before disaster strikes, as being stuck in traffic is the last thing you want!
The decision to evacuate should not be taken lightly. However, when you determine that it’s the best course of action, ensure you follow a well-structured plan. Here are some ideas for what your plan should include:
- Prearrange your evacuation with multiple potential destinations.
- Create a checklist of essential items for your family, including pets.
- Compile a home inventory, which can be valuable for disaster aid applications and insurance claims.
- Collect important documents like prescriptions, birth and marriage certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, social security cards, credit card information, insurance policies, recent tax returns, employment details, wills, deeds, stocks, and negotiable certificates.
- Consider scanning some of this information and saving it on a USB stick or SD card to reduce the weight of physical documents you carry with you.
Bug Out Bags For The Family
City preppers should be ready to initiate a bug-out plan at a moment’s notice. This entails having a well-equipped bag prepared with essential supplies, including food, water, and first-aid provisions.
It’s equally vital to establish a clear plan regarding your destination and the means to reach it safely. Identify secure locations outside the urban area and ensure you have a thorough evacuation strategy.
Furthermore, consider creating a family bug-out bag to ensure that every member of your household is prepared for evacuation.
Take the time to research items specific to your region. Are you at risk of needing to bug out in cold or extremely hot weather? The more information and data you gather beforehand, the better prepared you’ll be.
A well-structured bug-out bag should contain these essential items and tools:
- Food and water: Store enough to sustain you for several days, ideally three weeks or more.
- First-aid kit: Equipped to handle various injuries.
- Flashlight and batteries: Essential for navigating in low-light conditions.
- Maps: Including local streets and the surrounding area.
- Radio: To stay informed about unfolding events.
- Clothing: Providing protection against the elements.
- Money: In case you need to purchase supplies.
- Self-defense tools: Such as a tactical pen, knife, gun, and ammunition (where legally allowed).
- Fire kit: Crucial for warmth and cooking when spending time outdoors.
- Emergency blankets: Economical and versatile, they help maintain warmth.
By having these items in their bug-out bag, city preppers enhance their chances of survival in adverse situations.
Equally important is acquiring proficiency in using these items and possessing basic first-aid knowledge.
Have A Bug Out Bag In Your Car
Disasters can strike at any moment, even while you’re in your vehicle, whether you’re commuting to work, running errands, or traveling around town. That’s why we strongly advise preparing a bug-out bag for all of your vehicles.
Keeping emergency supplies in your vehicle at all times can be invaluable if you find yourself stranded in your car or need to leave your vehicle to reach a safer location. Additionally, having these supplies on hand can be beneficial in the event of a car accident or if you come across an accident and wish to offer assistance.
Harvest Rainwater
Embracing a rainwater collection system for harvesting rainwater is an excellent approach to ensure self-reliance in water emergencies, particularly in off-grid living environments where access to traditional water sources might be constrained. This system offers a dependable off-grid water source for essential tasks like drinking, cooking, and small-scale gardening, promoting sustainable living practices.
Fortify Your Home
In certain emergency scenarios, leaving your home might not be an option due to heavy traffic on planned exit routes or worsening conditions outside the urban area.
To ensure your safety, it’s crucial to fortify your residence against potential threats like looters and criminals. This entails reinforcing entry points such as doors and windows and maintaining a supply of materials to defend your home if necessary.
When preparing for such situations, also consider the installation of security systems and cameras to discourage potential intruders. By strengthening your home’s defenses, you significantly improve your chances of surviving various emergency situations.
During a disaster, everyday items in your home can pose serious risks, potentially leading to injuries and damage. Some potential hazards to be aware of include:
- Defective Electrical Wiring: Faulty wiring can result in electrical fires or shock hazards.
- Leaky Gas Connections: Gas leaks can lead to explosions or suffocation if not addressed promptly.
- Heavy Objects on Higher Shelves: Objects stored improperly on high shelves may fall during an earthquake or other disaster, posing injury risks.
- Flammable Products: Common flammable items in homes, such as cleaning agents or paint, can ignite easily, increasing fire risks.
- Pesticides: Improperly stored pesticides can release harmful fumes or contaminate the environment.
- Damaged Roofs, Gutters, or Chimneys: Structural damage to your home’s roof or chimney can result in leaks, leading to further issues like mold growth or compromised structural integrity.
Survival Foods
It’s crucial for individuals to ensure they have an adequate supply of food and essential items stockpiled to survive in an urban setting during emergencies. This includes storing non-perishable food items and a sufficient water supply for such situations.
Additionally, it’s wise to consider stockpiling other essential items like medication, clothing, and batteries. These supplies can prove invaluable for treating minor injuries and maintaining mobility during a bugout emergency.
However, it’s essential to exercise discretion and avoid openly disclosing the presence of your supplies when circumstances are still stable. Broadcasting your preparations could potentially make you a target of interest.
Keep foods that do not necessitate extra preparation. Canned meats and beans, peanut butter, dehydrated fruits, jerky, and ready-to-eat survival bars do not require cooking. Moreover, they have a long shelf life and are rich in calories.
Stay Away From High Population Density Areas
Urban areas, including cities and suburbs, tend to be densely populated.
In larger cities, especially in the aftermath of a natural disaster like an earthquake, various challenges arise due to the high population density. Hospitals and urgent care facilities quickly reach capacity, evacuation routes become congested, gas stations run out of fuel, and grocery stores are overwhelmed.
Consequently, urban preppers must prioritize self-reliance and prepare to confront the unique challenges of surviving in densely populated urban environments, often without assistance from local government, disaster relief agencies, or fellow residents.
Communication Is Key For Survival
In the event of an emergency, it’s vital to have a well-thought-out communication plan and establish city-wide coordination. This involves having reliable means of communication with both neighbors and local officials.
Familiarize yourself with your network of friends and friendly services that may be necessary during such times. Maintaining this information with phone numbers and other essential details, well-organized, can potentially save valuable time. Proactive prepping is always a prudent approach.
Furthermore, it’s crucial to devise a plan for coordinating city-wide efforts in response to an emergency situation. Be prepared to take an active role in such coordination efforts. Many individuals use platforms like Facebook to locate relevant groups and access a wealth of freely available information.
A well-designed plan should also be adaptable to unconventional scenarios, leveraging the information you gather through your communication network.
Plan For Limited Natural Resources
Urban areas have extremely limited access to natural resources, often relying entirely on commercial sources for food. Few city residents engage in activities like harvesting, foraging, or hunting for their sustenance, nor do they cultivate home gardens.
Conversely, individuals residing in rural regions typically possess both the space and the knowledge to cultivate their own food and rear livestock. They can also supplement their diets by foraging and hunting on the land in and around their properties.
Plan For Power Outages
A prepper should establish a comprehensive plan for scenarios involving the loss of water and electricity. This entails securing access to both water and power sources. For situations where you remain at home (bug in), having a generator and a robust power bank, such as one with a capacity exceeding 10,000mAh, can prove invaluable. In bug-out scenarios, ensure access to a power source like a 10,000mAh+ power bank.
In the event of bugging in, it’s essential to store approximately one gallon of fresh water per person per day and have a plan for water purification.
For bug-out situations, it’s imperative to have a means of water filtration on the go. Ensure each person has at least one liter of fresh water readily available.
Additionally, you should develop a strategy for cooking food when electricity is unavailable. This might involve using a camp stove or barbecuing. Familiarizing yourself with techniques like Dutch Oven cooking over a campfire can also be quite useful.
Survival Garden
Explore the possibility of cultivating an urban garden to address concerns related to supply chain disruptions, food shortages, and depleted grocery store shelves. While urban and suburban spaces may be limited, numerous strategies can help maximize your growing potential within a confined area, making small vegetable garden ideas highly effective.
In addition to cultivating fresh produce in your survivalist garden, we strongly advocate preserving your bountiful harvest. Methods such as dehydrating, canning, drying fresh herbs, and pickling your homegrown produce represent excellent approaches to extending the shelf life of your food supplies.
Dedicate Storage Space For Urban Prepping
Prepping demands significant storage space. The most dedicated preppers often allocate entire basements, shelters, and pantries to stock emergency supplies, including food, water, and various equipment.
Nevertheless, this is quite different for urban residents. Those living in cities typically contend with restricted living space. Their properties are often relatively small, and they find themselves encircled by neighboring homes or buildings. Consequently, they have constrained storage capacity.
In urban settings, space is a precious commodity, requiring creative utilization to ensure thorough preparedness for diverse emergencies and disasters. Here are some space-saving tips to maximize your urban dwelling’s capacity:
- Make use of the space beneath your beds.
- Furnish your home with versatile furniture, such as ottomans doubling as storage or coffee tables.
- Organize tools and supplies on a pegboard for easy access.
- Utilize vertical space with floor-to-ceiling storage solutions.
- Install sturdy, heavy-duty shelves on unused wall space to accommodate additional items.
- Utilize the top of your refrigerator for storing essential supplies.
- Optimize existing storage spaces, like installing cabinets under hallway coat closets, below hanging items.
- Invest in multi-purpose items that save space while performing multiple functions, such as multi-tools.
Consider Your Transportation Options
If you reside in a city, you’re likely familiar with the everyday transportation challenges. Now, envision how those challenges might exacerbate after a hurricane inundates the city or during times of civil unrest when streets become congested with protesters.
As a result, having access to multiple dependable modes of transportation and a well-thought-out evacuation plan, complete with alternative escape routes, could make a significant difference if you need to quickly depart the city.
First Aid Skills And Tools
Regrettably, following a major disaster, the capacity of first responders, hospitals, urgent care facilities, and other healthcare providers may be overwhelmed and unavailable. The reality is that there aren’t sufficient healthcare professionals to meet the needs of everyone in the city.
As a result, possessing a fundamental knowledge of first aid and having the essential tools to administer first aid in an urban setting is crucial. Additionally, we suggest preparing a supply of essential over-the-counter medications and prescriptions, just in case pharmacies become unreliable.
Build A Panic Or Safe Room
Many parts of the United States are susceptible to tornadoes and hurricanes. Consider constructing a secure room within your home. Through proper construction, you can ensure the safety of your family inside the house when a natural disaster strikes.
A safe room is a sturdy structure that can offer nearly complete protection when a tornado or hurricane strikes your home. To get started, I recommend reading the informative pamphlet produced by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
This pamphlet provides detailed specifications that your builder will be able to comprehend and use to secure at least a portion of your home. The FEMA website is a valuable resource with additional support and information to assist you in planning, covering topics such as wall thickness, ground attachment, earthquake stability, and more.
Prepare For Civil Unrest
Regrettably, urban environments can descend into chaos and insecurity when facing a “SHTF” (S**t Hits The Fan) scenario. Fear and panic can paralyze individuals, leading to instances of criminal behavior. Additionally, many city residents often remain unfamiliar with their neighbors and struggle to trust one another. Consequently, self-preservation instincts may prevail over communal cooperation during the aftermath of a disaster.
