Narrowing down the Grab-n-Go Bag

[Raptorq7r13]

The idea is, that if a natural disaster where to hit your area, even so much as snowed in by a blizzard, you may not be able to get to town much less find an open store with stocked shelves. If you live in town, so much the better, but there is no guarantee that a grocery store or survival equipment store will be stocked or accessible.

 

[Prepster]

EDIT: Raptorq7r13 beat me to it

DHJenkins,

Your points are all valid. A bug out bag is not 100% necessary in most situations. However, when a nasty scenario rears its head such as a natural disaster, do you really want to go to a mobbed grocery store, pharmacy, gun shop, etc.? It's true that you can probably get most of what you need, but you might not get everything, and you might spend several frustrating hours attempting to do so when you could have already arrived at a safe location. It just seems easier to me, I'd rather have a leg up on the competition and get a good spot in a designated shelter, get on the highways and roads before they become completely unusable, etc. Anything to speed up the process of getting out or safely staying put is a plus in my book.

 

[theotherwaldo]

When creating your bag(s), always remember the Rule of Threes:
A healthy person can usually survive:
-three weeks without food;
-three days without water;
-three hours without shelter;
-three minutes without air, and;
-three seconds without thinking.

Set your priorities accordingly.

 

[DHJenkins]

Thank you for the answers; I realize now that I was considering only my own situation and not that of others who live in areas where natural disasters occur, or where neighboring towns and safety are not 20 minutes away.

I wasn't trying to insult anyone, I simply didn't 'get it' because the scenarios presented would never apply to me.

Again, apologies to those who thought I was just being cheeky.

 

[Raptorq7r13]

To me, it's still good to have a little stored away. The point of being prepared is you don't know what's going to happen.

Since you live in an area that doesn't have natural disasters:good! The worst I get is the occasional tornado. Now, someone in a hurricane zone probably needs to spend more time planning than you or I. As said by others (myself included) who would rather bug in, that's great. Bugging out is a more likely scenario in a hurricane zone or smiler disaster zone.

 

[DammitBoy]

Thank you for the answers; I realize now that I was considering only my own situation and not that of others who live in areas where natural disasters occur, or where neighboring towns and safety are not 20 minutes away.

Really?

Fires, floods, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, blizzards, civil unrest, terrorist acts, famine, fuel shortages, epidemics or any other kind of disaster 'can't' happen where you live?

Where is this special magical place?

 

[thesolidus]

Originally Posted by DHJenkins
Thank you for the answers; I realize now that I was considering only my own situation and not that of others who live in areas where natural disasters occur, or where neighboring towns and safety are not 20 minutes away.

Thanks to who asked where this magical land is.
Bug out doesn't mean the end of the world!
And NO Place is free from danger (or we wouldn't be in this forum...)

So, why have a go bag?
Easy scenarios...
Middle of the night. Pound pound pound on the door.
It's the Fire Department. "Your house is on fire, get out NOW!!!"
(Okay, your out... do you have... wallet? ID? Cash? Work ID? Bank Account numbers? Copy of Birth Certificate? Family Phone numbers? (I'm a big fan of paperwork either off site in a safety deposit box (Do you have the key? Is it a weekend?) or in a BOB.)
Now your outside. Maybe clothed and shod, possibly not. Do you have clothes? Spare undies? Toothbrush? No... wait for Red cross, stay with the neighbors, go to store in morning, (if you grabbed a wallet!)
Get into your vehicle... oops! Keys inside? What about the VIN and insurance and title etc..?

Change that up a bit...
Fire Department! Evacuate the area NOW! There's a chemical spill upwind! We need you to drive at least 5 miles east NOW!!!
Now there is no Red Cross help for a while, you may not know where it is, the local motel is full, and all your local neighbors are running too so whatever help there was is spread thin... I've personally seen this twice in my area, once in farm land with a mixed up spray vs fertilizer that evacuated thousands and a pesticide tanker that overturned 25 min from San Jose.
"Gas leak (or spill whatever)! Get out now! No cars! Walk that way fast!"
Kids are hungry, bugs are biting, sun is hot already or maybe looks like rain... Do you have a powerbar? Bugspray? Hat, garbage bags for poncho's?

Now... those are simple, lets get creative...
Local manufacturing plant stores too many Oxygen tanks, fire starts mass of explosions shooting e-tanks all over... Close to a running firefight and happened outside Houston...
Or a train derails and burns for 16 hours with tanks going BLEVE every few hours sending mushroom clouds hundreds of feet up and shaking houses miles away...
Small gunsmithing shop or computer shop etc accidentally dumps Sodium Metadeathall into a small creek, everyone downstream for miles had to bug out or tape the windows...
Hard rains knocking out a dam, week of 100+ temps and the power goes out, no AC and have to bail, no rush, but it's 120 inside the house...
Wildfires, floods, mudslide, water shutoff, power outage, local prison escape, record winds rip your roof off, sinkhole cracks your foundation and the fire dept gives you 5 minutes to grab your things, family calls and you have to be on a plane in 30 min to donate a kidney, may not come back for a month or more, all the power in 3 counties is out, planes fall from the sky and you have to WALK to New Jersey! your wife calls and without explination gives you a panic word (you have a family code for "get out" right!) You witnesses a gang shooting and the police tell you to leave town for a few days, the next door neighbor dies and the house now full of crack heads erupts in an all night shootout with the BATF in your yard...
Can we think of a BOB and not think EOTW scenario's? It's probably just a good idea to have a simple Earthquake bag for small, local, non-disaster situations.

And so i'm not incredibly off topic, my bag does have firearm in it too. (Glock 22.) Plus enough medical to patch a few holes (they might be in me!) If i leave the house though, I want to be able to keep going if the situation warrants.

"Be Prepared" Doesn't have to mean for the final call. Just Be Prepared for anything that can fit in one backpack...

 

[Readyrod]

Thesolidus that is so right on and says it all. Im going to print it out and pin it to my wall.

 

[HammerG26]

What do you all think about "commercial kits" like this one: http://www.survival-gear.com/emergency-survival-kit.htm

 

[LAK]

Only trouble with many commercially sold kits is the the quality of some of the more critical components. I do not know anything about the Coghlan's item. Might be very good, or very poor quality. A quality compass is a good idea. It does not have to be fancy, but it should be reliable. The Adventure Medical kits shown have probably been reviewed somewhere.

If you have a hands on look at the kit and can examine the contents, identify critical components and they are of acceptable design and quality, at the right price fine. Otherwise, better to select your own gear and put together your own kit.