I was watching this show on Netflix called “Doomsday Bunkers” about these people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on bunkers to protect them and their families in case of natural and man made disaster. These people seriously believe something bad is coming down and are stockpiling guns, food, equipment and preparing if need be to live in their bunkers for a year or more.
Now dont get me wrong, some type of short term is smart. I was down helping out after Katrina and anyone who lives near a hurricane zone, earthquake zone, or just about anywhere should be prepared to have at the minimum 2-4 weeks of emergency supplies on hand in their home. Plus one should think about where they would go if things went down.
Now I think this long term plan of being able to stay underground for a year or more and hopefully to start a fresh is going too far. If things really did go down requiring such a move, it would probably take more than a year for things to get back going and even then who knows?
I think it’s going way too far and unlikely to do them much good even if the huge disaster they feared actually happens. It reminds me a lot of the people who built fallout shelters.
If you’re downwind of Yellowstone, or liable to get snowed in over winter, then might 3-6 months be more appropriate?
But really, how is this different from the farmer or villager in years gone by laying in stores for the next year or in case the next year’s harvest fails?
Yeah, that was back when the movie “Red Dawn” came out and people were worried about a Russian invasion or nuclear war.
Its interesting that occasionally you talk to real estate agents and they every now and then sell a house with a hidden room or a property with some other secret like a bunker.
My opinion is it is a horrible life to have to live, so yes you may survive but at what cost, and would that survival and the word that emerges be worth living in. Also how quickly the tables can turn on a prepper and lose everything meaning all that effort bought nothing or perhaps went to someone else.
Reminds me of a coworker back when Y2K panic was in full swing. He was laying in supplies of ammo and jerky against the impending disaster. I’m guessing he’s still eating the jerky…
One thing I’ve always wondered (I never watch these shows, so maybe it’s addressed) - how do they intend to power their shelters? If the disaster is that widespread, the grid will go down and chances are you won’t just run down to the local gas station for fuel. Do they have gigantic tanks buried next to their shelters to run their generators? Do they have stockpiles of firewood or charcoal or propane?
Being prepared for a disaster is smart - we’ve got a generator that’ll keep our well pump and refrigerator going for a few days, and a small propane stove for cooking if necessary. Beyond that, I guess we go into camping mode and do what we have to do. I can’t help but think that those who have massive stores become targets for roving bands of the unprepared.
Frankly, I don’t think anyone can prepare for “doomsday” beyond having basic survival skills. Maybe I’m in denial.
Pretty much everyone in the continental US and the southern border region of Canada are downwind of a Yellowstone eruption, and if one happens, you’ll be in desperate survival mode more like 3-6 years rather than months.
And an underground bunker for that anywhere west of the Mississippi is useless or worse - your underground refuge would be buried under tens or even hundreds of feet of ash. You’d suffocate.
Is it worth it? Well it’ll definitely be worth it if The End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) comes.
A subset of preppers seriously believe that we’re heading for a total economic/social collapse caused by unsustainable government policies. For them prepping means being able to “go off the grid”, both in terms of being able to hide from/resist the death rattle of the current system and self-sufficiency afterwards. One gets the impression that they don’t fear TEOTWAWKI so much as they’re looking forward to it.
For others, it’s being prepared for a mid-term disaster (weeks or months), or simply enjoying mastering the skills needed to survive on one’s own. A good read imho is Sam Sheridan’s The Disaster Diaries, in which while researching his book (a combination of fiction and prepping advice), he learned various skills such as evasive driving, knife fighting and even mushing a dogsled. Sort of like the Foxfire books for the apocalypse.
My uncle is one of the people prepping for the Obamaclypse (he truly believes that president Obama will be sending in a SWAT team to take away all of his guns or whatever any minute now) and I got a good laugh at his expense this winter because of it. He bought a house out in the middle of nowhere in Texas with a pond and acres of land so he can fish, hunt and farm should the need arise. He set up a stockpile of MREs on a rotating stand in his garage. He has about 30 guns and enough ammunition to supply a small army. He thought he was ready for anything.
Then this winter there was a crazy storm in Texas that shut down roads and took out power in his area for days. Turns out having a frozen over pond and no veggies growing meant no real food that wasn’t an MRE or already in their house. Turns out that the amount of gas it takes to power the generator is insane and he can’t heat the whole house, so out to the barn he goes. Turns out having a truck with a full tank of gas to get away from the emergency doesn’t help if it is in your garage and your garage door is electric. In the end I think he had to go live with a neighbor until the city came and turned his power back on.
[ul]
[li]fire extinguisher[/li][li]flare gun and flares[/li][li]two empty five gallon cans, suitable for gas or water[/li][li]25 gallons of water[/li][li]water distillation kit and purification tablets[/li][li]two can-openers[/li][li]one case Sterno cans[/li][li]15 pounds canned Spam[/li][li]15 pounds canned tuna[/li][li]30 pounds canned assorted cooked vegetables[/li][li]powered milk and baby formula[/li][li]2 complete first aid kits, including syrup of ipecac and activated charcoal[/li][li]1 sting kit with epinephrine[/li][li]small collection of antibiotics and sulfa powder[/li][li]supply of batteries[/li][li]battery-operated shock-resistant radio [/li][li]handheld CB radio[/li][li]tool kit[/li][li]six rolls duct tape[/li][li]waterproof matches[/li][li]candles[/li][li]Coleman lantern and fuel[/li][li]compass and handheld GPS[/li][li]toilet paper and moist towelettes[/li][li]tampons[/li][li]three sleeping bags[/li][li]rain ponchos[/li][li]work gloves and work boots[/li][li]utility and hunting knives[/li][li]shovel, pick, spade[/li][li]12 ga. shotgun and shells - buck and birdshot[/li][li]5 Canadian maple-leaf gold coins[/li][li]$1500 cash[/li][/ul]
I used to have 15 gold coins, purchased when gold was around $400 per ounce. I couldn’t resist profit-taking when gold got to $1650 and I sold some.
I’ve always wondered why anyone would WANT to live in a truly post-apocalyptic world.
I would love to sit survivalists down and have them watch the early 80s TV movie The Day After — and then tell me if they still feel the same.
I saw it when it aired (prior to that, actually, at a special media pre-screening)…have never seen it since…and the emotions it stirred are still with me over 30 years later.
I consider myself a prepper, but much less than hardcore. I live in hurricane country, and my planning centers around that. I can survive in place, and I have enough stuff that I can bug out on foot if necessary.
My list is similar to Bricker’s, except I am weak on long shelf life food. The wife and I can live out of our pantry for about 2 weeks.
Being prepared for a natural disaster is a smart move, but the doomsday prepper types are just on another level. I’ve seen a couple of the TV shows and have known a couple “the end is nigh” types and they are delusional at best & dangerous at the worst.
I had a roommate a few years ago who got into the prepping thing. He started stockpiling water in every spare space in the apartment and had an entire closet devoted canned and dehydrated food, plus bags full of other gear. I swear he scheduled bi-weekly lectures on the subject for me. Every other time we would hang out it was all disaster talk. He was constantly asking me if my guns were in good working order and how much ammo did I have around. He was such a cheapskate that he couldn’t be bothered to spend the 300 bucks for a shotgun, so he just figured I’d have his back during whatever imagined scenario was in his head.
The strangest part was he panicked at the slightest problem and couldn’t stand watching movies with any kind of blood or violence. When the kitchen sink got clogged up & overflowed while roomy was doing dishes, he lost his shit completely. The time his car got a flat while we were running errands together, I thought he was about to start crying.
As for the violent movies, he could not even stomach Saving Private Ryan. I tried watching Shaun Of The Dead with him and he ended up running out of the room while yelling at me for showing him “that kind of stuff”. I swear he was barely at home for a week when I got the Band Of Brothers DVD set. At one point I asked him how he was going to handle himself during a disaster since the sink thing nearly gave him a panic attack, and how was he going to deal with all the supposed death & destruction when watching Army Of Darkness was too much to deal with. He mumbled a little bit about dealing with it when the time comes, then went back into his room. Such a weird guy.
Some use solar/wind (yes battery longevity is a issue - and I don’t know how easy it is to use them without some sort of storage), some have it combined with a generator (with lots of stored fuel). I’ve seen some engines converted to run on woodgas.
