The closest I have to a bail out bag is that I keep all my camping gear packed in a few bins - tent, tarp, dishes, camp stove, lanterns, axe, rope, misc. If I wanted to go camping, I’d just need to restock batteries and propane, fill the cooler with food and throw it all in the back of the car.
For me, it’s just a strategy to avoid driving two hours only to realize I left the matches behind, but it would serve me well in a zombie apocalypse.
I don’t, and never considered that people seriously felt that this was a thing outside of zombie apocalypse movies. With two pre-teen kids, and our 4-person family who’s rarely in the same place at the same time between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., “grabbing our gear and going” is unlikely to ever happen. In the event it does, I have credit cards with high limits. If those don’t help, I guess we’re fucked.
An earthquake is the only reason I can rationally come up with for having a BOB. Everything else would have enough warning to allow one to pack a bag.
I do have something similar, though; what I’ll call a “travel whim bag”. My SO and I have a bag of clothes/toiletries/etc. in the car in case we decide to travel (or stay) somewhere on a whim. We’ve used it, too.
Remind me, how much advance notice do heart attacks give?
Although I guess you’re covered:
For those of us living in parts of the world unplagued by earthquakes: what happens if there is one? I guess if the building collapses you need to go somewhere else. How is that typically done? But most of the time, wouldn’t you just stay at home and be without electricity/gas/wire-line communication for a bit?
why would I be worried about a “bug-out-bag” if I’m having a heart attack? The ONLY thing on my mind would be getting my ass to the hospital ASAP.
The “wilderness survival” type emergency kits always seemed silly to me, especially if you live close to any halfway-urban area. Having to cycle out of Chicago because of a dirty bomb attack? Really? Keeping your ammo ready, what, in case you need to go hunt some dinner or fend off a hoard of zombies? Those types of things get a big eye-roll out of me.
It’s probably prudent to have enough supplies in case your power or water goes out for a few days. If you’re in hurricane territory, yeah, you might have to evacuate, although you typically have at least some notice. The only thing I really do is have some stuff in my car in case I have to spend the night in a ditch in the snow: blanket, water, flashlight, chocolate, shovel, small first aid kit. I try to keep at least half a tank of gas in the car during the winter, although I’m not always good at doing that.
When I’m in Afghanistan, I have one in case our guesthouse is attacked. It has prescription meds, first aid kit, energy bats $500, passport, change of clothes, and bandanas (bandanas are awesome and have a million uses).
I’ve always had a certain “be prepared” streak but the entire notion of a bug-out bag always seemed ridiculous. The vast majority of likely disasters leave plenty of time for prep. Frankly, unless there is some immediate threat to your life, leaving your home in the first few minutes of hearing about the disaster is probably the wrong choice, and you should probably spend at least a few moments tracking the news and considering the right course of action.
Worst comes to worst, the only things I need to survive for 72 hours are the clothes on my back and a few liters of water. Carrying a spare iPod in case I end up at a boring hospital? Absurd.
Admittedly, if you take meds or have small kids or something, these things start to make a lot more sense.
I agree that in the states, they are silly, but I know quite a few people who have had to make a hasty exit in the field. One guy I know ended up naked on a roof during a coordinated suicide attack and I was on the roof watching when the UNDP a couple blocks away was hit by a coordinated attack in Kabul in 2011. During the Sadr uprising, I got stuck outside of Baghdad and had to flee to the Turkish border, I was glad to have my bag. Mostly you need to be prepared to beat feet to an airport and be able to hangout there until you can get out.
madmonk: so did you carry that bag everywhere?
It’s really variable depending on what the damage is.
Obviously, some people do have to evacuate - building collapse, fires, gas leaks, floods (from damage to dams, for example) are all possibilities that could leave you totally homeless.
For most people and situations, you’ve basically got it right. You might lose your utilities and the roads might be too screwed up for easy travel, so you need to plan on sitting tight for a few days (or even potentially weeks) before life can return to normal. Having enough food, drinking water, fuel, medication, etc. is important. Many people will store emergency supplies outside of their home, just in case the earthquake causes a collapse that could block access to it.
There’s also the possibility that you can’t return home. If you commute an hour to work everyday, the roads might be so bad that getting home might be impossible. (Especially if bridges are involved). Thus, it’s not a bad idea to keep some emergency supplies in your car.
I had one–more for ‘Earthquake forces abandoning the domicile’ (we’re provisioned for 1 to 2 weeks should we need to stay in the domicile) basically change of clothes, some toiletries, some cash–not a crazy amount but enough for a few meals/gas or a mundane “bribe.”
This. And the way I figure it, if in the extremely unlikely event the situation is so dire I don’t even have time to pack the essentials, I’m totally fucked anyway so it doesn’t really matter.
During the floods last year I know several people who had to abandon their homes to the rising waters and climb up into the hills. From my friends I think the longest was about 6 hours until rescue but I heard about several people who took days to be found. So there are practical reasons to live quickly to live in the wild even in the US. For me I keep a cold weather survival bag in my trunk and I keep meaning to pack a full go bag but haven’t gotten around to it.
Here in the Midwest, the biggest threat is tornadoes, and a BOB isn’t going to do much good in a situation like that should my home take a direct hit.
When I worked 40 miles away, I did pack a change of clothes, etc. a few times, when ice or heavy snow was lurking, and in the 3 years I worked there, I only stayed in a motel once, and that may not have been necessary.
p.s. If I would ever have to evacuate, I ain’t going nowhere without the cats.
I live in Hoboken, NJ, a heavily urbanized area just over the Hudson from Manhattan. Even with Hurricane Sandy, blackouts and 9/11, I have yet to see a situation that warranted a “bug-out bag” more comprehensive than shit I would pack for a three day stay in a hotel somewhere.
I did like the video on “top 10 bug out bag mistakes” the OP linked to. It seemed practical and counter to the overly “tactical” or “Bear Grylls bushmaster” mindset of most “preppers”.
One company I worked at issued “bug out bags” to their employees after we were dislocated by Hurricane Sandy. The bag contained:
High school chem lab goggles (they do nothing!)
Mylar space blanket
Surgical mask
Roll duct tape
Rubber gloves
Flashlight
Whistle
I suppose it also doubles as a rape kit.
Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
I’m curious. What about that seems silly, unrealistic, or astronomically improbable to you? I figure the most probable kind of terror attack is a suicide bomber or assault weapons in a shopping mall, but in second place would be a dirty bomb or airborne pathogen release in a crowded downtown on a workday midmorning. When discovered, there will be 500,000 people trying to leave the Loop at once, but only one commuter train per line will be sitting at the downtown terminal with a crew. It will be hours before any effective bus transport can be organized. I figure I could walk to Oak Lawn if I really had to, or I could bicycle all the way to Joliet along back roads, in good weather, to await further transport.
Even in the wildly improbable scenario of an effective attack of that kind, do you really think it’s a good idea to be walking around outside? A large dirty bomb would scatter radioactive dust everywhere. Just relax at home for a few days until the dust falls to the ground or blows away.
Even if you absolutely had to leave, you would have plenty of time to prepare a kit specialized to the situation at hand.
I haven’t needed one in the first 69 years of my life; I’ll just live without it for the remainder.