Skills For the Trek Home
You’ll need to develop some skills necessary to survive a trek home under potentially difficult circumstances. These include:
Physical Fitness
Your physical fitness is fundamentally important. If your only regular exercise is from walking to and from the subway, you’re going to have a hard time walking 20 blocks to your apartment in any reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, you won’t be able to run away from danger if you need to. Remember that rule #1 is cardio! There’s a lot of good information available on
basic survival fitness. It’s something you can do for little or no cost.
Situational Awareness
A lack of
situational awareness can get you killed. A normal urban environment is a cacophony of sounds, sights and smells, which you’ve probably gotten pretty good at tuning out; however, in a disaster scenario, things will change quickly and you need to be aware.
Unarmed Self Defense
You don’t need to become a black-belt ninja, but even some basic self-defense skills can potentially get you out of a dangerous encounter alive. Many groups offer free or low-cost self-defense classes in urban areas. You can also get involved in some of the more structured martial arts like Krav Maga.
Parkour
Parkour is probably optional, but having the ability to move quickly through complex urban terrain could make a huge difference. If I had known about this back when I was in my 20’s, I definitely would have partaken.
First Aid
You’ll need to know how to effectively use the items in your first aid kit. Therefore, you should take at least a
basic first aid class. Many urban businesses, fire departments, colleges, and medical schools offer low-cost or even free first-aid training, so do some research for your area.
Bugging In
With regards to your apartment, you need to ask yourself, “Can I survive here for X weeks/months?” You need to define your “X” goal, which is how long you think you might be able to survive, and against what types of threats. If your main concern is short-term survival (as in days or weeks) for things like blizzards, hurricanes, and the occasional riot, you probably don’t need much. However, if you want to be able to handle medium-term events (for weeks or months), there’s a lot more you can and should do. As I mentioned earlier, long-term survival (months or years) probably isn’t practical in an urban environment (outside of the movies). For this reason, I’ll focus on the medium-term stuff.
Water
The general rule-of-thumb is that you can survive for three days without water. Clean water is critical, and it will probably be one of the most difficult-to-obtain items in a post-disaster, urban environment. For cooking and drinking, an average person needs about one gallon of water per day to stay healthy. This measurement doesn’t include water use for sanitation. (I’ll have more on that later.) The first thing you should do after a disaster is to fill as many containers with water from your faucets as you can, since you don’t know how long clean water will be available.
Collapsible water containers [P1] don’t take much storage space when empty, and you can use them to collect and store a lot of water before your supply shuts off.
If you have a bathtub, you should also consider having a
WaterBoB or
AquaPod [P2] on hand. They allow you to store up to 100 gallons of water in your tub. (And your tub doesn’t even have to be clean!) You should continue to use water from your faucets for as long as you can before using your stored supplies, but keep in mind that municipal filtration systems may fail any time after a disaster, so you may have to start purifying it.
Storing Water
Since you can’t be sure that any water will be available from your faucet immediately after a disaster, you should also plan on pre-storing at least 10-20 gallons of fresh water per person [P1]. There are various sizes and types of water storage containers available, including the
Aqua-Tainer, WaterBrick,
Jumbo-Tainer, et cetera. Find something that you can fit into your available storage plan. Put eight drops of plain liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water into each container when you fill it to prevent mold. Store the containers in a dark location, and plan on emptying and re-filling the containers every year or so. Keep in mind that water weighs 8.34 lbs. per gallon, so don’t stack more in one place than your floor can support. (That’s why waterbeds aren’t allowed in some buildings. For you younger readers, read
this.)
Collecting Water
No matter how much water you store, eventually you’ll run out. Therefore, you’ll need some way to collect and process more. If the government’s still around in some form, they’ll probably be distributing water, so refill your containers any chance you get. If there’s no water being delivered or it’s too dangerous to leave your apartment, you should have some way to collect rain or snow [P2]. You can buy a
drain tarp with a hose connector that you can hang up on your balcony, roof, fire escape, or from a couple of poles stuck out of a window, or you can make your own for a couple of dollars with some clear plastic sheeting, a
drain fitting, and a length of garden hose.
You should cover the drain opening at the bottom of the tarp by duct-taping down a piece of cloth to filter out dirt, insects, and other suspended particles. Do not assume the water is safe to drink as it’s collected. Take down your water collection system when it’s not in use to cut down on dirt, bird poop, and other contaminants as well as to protect it from potential wind damage.
Other potential sources of water in urban environments are the fire and water systems in commercial buildings. You can open many of those types of
valves with an inexpensive
sillcock key.
Contaminants
There are two types of contaminants you need to worry about with untreated water– biological (germs) and metal/chemical. If you collect rain water, your primary concern will be germs picked up from your collection system. If you collect water from a ground source, like a nearby river or lake, you also need to be concerned with metal and chemical contaminants.
Rendering Water Safe To Drink
There are a number of options available for rendering water safe to drink, depending on possible contaminants:
Chemical Treatment (For Germs)
This can be through the addition of eight drops of plain
chlorine bleach for each gallon of water. Or, you can use
water purification tablets.
Boiling (For Germs)
Boiling will kill most of the organisms in the water that could impact your health. However, this will require a significant long-term heat source to boil the water.
UV Light/ SODIS (For Germs)
You can use UV light from the sun to kill germs in water, with some caveats:
- The container must be completely clear to allow sunlight in.
- The water must be perfectly clear. Any sediment in the water will reduce the effectiveness of the process.
- Since the sunlight loses effectiveness as it passes through water, the biggest container you should use is a standard 2-liter soda bottle.
- It takes about six hours of full sunlight to purify a 2-liter bottle of water.
Filter (For Germs/Chemicals)
This is probably your best bet. It’s important to pay attention to the type of filter. Some filters, like the
LifeStraw or
Sawyer Mini, are good at filtering biological elements, but they don’t filter chemicals. You want a filter that has a 0.2 micron or smaller element to stop germs and also includes an activated charcoal element if you need to filter chemicals. At the high end, you can get something like a
Berkey water filter, which is generally recognized as one of the best available and can provide over three gallons of clean water per hour. You can also purchase a
kit and make your own countertop filter using a couple of
plastic buckets.
More compact and less expensive
options with replaceable elements are also available. Just be aware that they don’t provide the same rate of filtering per hour.
Whichever option you chose, you need to have some hoses and connectors to transfer the water into the filter and back into your clean containers. Make sure you
clearly mark each container and hose to indicate if it’s for clean or dirty water.
Distillation [For Germs/Chemicals]
Distilling involves collecting evaporated water that condenses on a colder surface. Evaporation can be from natural exhalations from a plant, natural humidity in the air, or from water that’s been heated. When water evaporates, it usually leaves most impurities behind, so the evaporated water tends to be drinkable. Collecting water using plastic around trees, in the ground, or heated by the sun produces water slowly. Using a heated still to produce steam requires a source of fuel. So these two methods aren’t generally suitable for most urban environments. The one big advantage to using a solar or heated water still is that it can produce drinkable water from salt water. So, if your city is on a coast and you have access to a consistent heat source, it might be worth buying or
building a still.
There’s a lot of
good information on the web regarding purifying water (as well as a lot of bad information). I recommend you do some research and pick a solution that works best for you.
Food
Food is only slightly below water in term of its importance to survival. An average person can survive (but not necessarily function effectively) for two to three weeks without food. There are a lot of variables involved in that number, such as weight, age, gender, and level of activity. While a lot of prepping advice revolves around stocking up on canned and bulk items and growing and canning your own food, much of that isn’t practical in the limited space available in an urban apartment.
With the considerations of cost, storage volume, and preparation requirements per meal, the best option for urban dwellers is probably freeze-dried (FD) food in #10 metal cans. They have a long shelf life (20+ years), only require water (hot or cold) to prepare, come in a wide variety, are rodent-proof when unopened, and the average #10 can contains around 20 or more servings. Assuming three meals per day with two servings per meal, ten #10 cans should be roughly enough for one person for one month.
Stocking Up Food
Here are some notes on stocking up on food:
- Prices of #10 cans of freeze-dried food can vary from $8 to over $50, depending on the type of food. Check around for sales and compare prices at local camping and Walmart stores when buying.
- Some vendors, such as Mountain House, provide individual FD meal pouches as well as #10 cans, so you can try them out to make sure you like them before buying a full can.
- Plan your food stocks with an eye towards variety and nutritional requirements. Stock a good selection of both full meals and extras, like crackers, vegetables, and fruits, and include some condiments like sugar, honey, butter, and spices sealed in mylar bags.
- Include some cold FD breakfast meals, like granola and fruit.
- Include some drinks, like fruit juice powder, instant coffee, and hot chocolate.
- Shelf-stable non-FD foods should be in your preparations, like food bars, for situations where you might not be able to prepare your FD food. These are useful in case you need to leave your apartment for a while and want to take food with you.
- A lot of people think of military MRE meals (Meal, Ready to Eat) when they think of survival food. Most people that have had to eat MREs for any period of time tend to dislike them, but I’ve met some folks that love them. My recommendation is to buy a few and try them. Then decide for yourself. Keep in mind that they tend to be more expensive per meal than #10 FD cans, and they only have a 5-year shelf life, but they can be easier to prepare. (There’s no need to add water.)
- Keep a decent measuring cup handy for measuring the food and water portions.
- If you’re going to be storing metal #10 cans someplace that can get wet or has high humidity, consider getting some packing protection or put them in plastic bags with moisture absorbers to prevent rust.
- Don’t forget to store can openers!
Additional Bulk Foods
If you want to store some additional bulk foods, like rice, pasta, beans, or grains to extend your FD food supply [P3], use
mylar bags and oxygen absorbers inside of
square plastic buckets. The square buckets store more efficiently than round ones, since you don’t have the gaps between them. And you can get them in smaller sizes. Check out your local bakeries and delis. A lot of them get their food supplies in food-grade plastic buckets, and they may be willing to give them to you for free.
Preparing Food and Heating Water
In order to prepare stored FD food, you’re going to need a method for heating water. There are a lot of low-cost compact stove options available, including propane, butane, wood, white gas, et cetera. The best option for an apartment dweller is generally a simple alcohol camping stove [P1]. Most apartments don’t allow you to store compressed flammable gas, like propane, and having even small wood fires burning inside your apartment probably isn’t a good idea.
The alcohol stove usually involves two parts – the burner and the stove or pot support. You can buy an inexpensive
burner, or you can
make one yourself from a couple of soda cans. The stove/pot support holds the pot above the flame and can be a
folding unit. Or, you can
make one yourself for almost nothing. A
quart of fuel costs around $8 and should last a few weeks. Make sure you also stock a small funnel for pouring fuel into the burner. You’ll need a stash of Bic lighters or
ferrocerium rods for lighting the stove, and a
small pot for heating up the water.
It’s critical to remember that burning anything, even alcohol, in an enclosed space consumes oxygen and can produce dangerous gasses. While this shouldn’t be much of a problem even in a small apartment, pay attention to your physical condition while using the stove. If you begin to feel dizzy, nauseous, have trouble breathing, or get a headache, extinguish the stove and get some fresh air immediately. Also, keep a fire extinguisher handy.
Caution About Odors of Cooking
Once all of the normal pollution and other odors in the city dissipate and people are starving, the smell of cooking food may carry a long way and attract a lot of people who firmly believe they are entitled to your food. (These people may be
inclined to use violence to enforce that belief.) If you have enough to feed a large group on a regular basis and chose to do so, then bless you. If not I’d recommend that you plug the gaps around your door and keep any windows or outside vents closed until the smell has dissipated.
