If the power went out - poll

[Kong Soo Do]

I moderate a couple of different forums that discuss emergency preparedness and self reliance skill. I started a poll in regards to the level of preparedness of the individuals participating in the poll. I wanted to try this same poll in a forum that wasn't necessarily devoted to this specific topic to compare the results.

Poll question: If electricity stopped, as the result of a large scale incident, with the strong possibility that it was going to a long term or perhaps permanent event how prepared to you feel you are currently. This takes into account any self reliance skill set you may have (ability to procure food, disinfect water, regulate core body temperature, ability to prevent and/or mitigate injury/illness, self protection in the event of looting/rioting/social disorder etc). It also take into account prior preparations you may or may not have made i.e. food, water suitable shelter, medical supplies if/when needed etc.

The specific cause of the electricity isn't necessarily the issue, only that it has ceased (could be a massive solar flare as happened in the past, massive EMP, terrorist attack on the power grid (many don't know that this has been successfully done multiple times on a small scale either through cyber-attack or physically assaulting a station). Could be a massive storm or natural disaster. Regardless of the event(s) the power is out and perhaps isn't coming back any time soon.

If it happened tomorrow, how do you feel you'd do?

I appreciate your participation

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I could go on for a long time with what I have on hand. That and I can survive without electricity with no problem. The big problem is water and I have that covered fairly nicely!

 

[Blindside]

I would be fine in the summer, but I can only heat the house for a week without electricity right now (generator and emergency propane heaters) so Nov to March would get very dicey very fast. After about a week we will be burning scrap wood and that isn't a long term solution. We have talked about putting a small wood burning stove/oven in the house, but haven't gotten to it.

 

[K-man]

I have no problem living without electricity but with the widespread disruption of electricity comes the problem of food production and distribution.
This may not be such an issue in a smaller centre but would cause massive problems in a big city.
:asian:

 

[drop bear]

Without the grid or has electricity disappeared as a concept?

Can generaters start, solar,cars?

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

I feel that my family and i are pretty well equipped to live off the grid for a couple of months. The real question would turn in to how well armed are you so you can defend your family and take what resources you need to take in order to survive.

Sorry i have minimal faith in general society and feel all hell would break out with in a week of power grid failure especially if it was a nation wife one.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

Well for some odd reason i cant edit the mistakes i made due to being tired as well as having my spell unassist on my iphone.

 

[Carol]

I have a Honda SuperQuiet generator as well as two size 31 Marine batteries and a voltage inverter that can keep essentials running if the generator cannot run. I have gas heat so I just have to run a 1/6 HP circulator pump + electronics to keep the heat going in winter. I also have an indoor-rated propane heater and live in a well insulated building. A big benefit to living in a small condo is minimal exposure to outside walls and it doesn't take much to keep it liveable. And because everything sucks without internet...in addition to my Comcast cable internet connection, I have an AT&T 4G access point plus a backup Verizon 4G access point.

Obsessed? No. I live in northern New England and I'm an engineer for an emergency communications company. Most of this was put together, between myself and my employer, before Hurricane Sandy. When human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria is happening everywhere else -- someone's gotta keep things going.

I could go one step further and say that I live within a few feet of a water supply. I have two personal filtration systems plus a disinfection drops. I also live half the week at a primitive campsite, in season.

What do I win?

Do I win anything?

 

[elder999]

Poll question: If electricity stopped, as the result of a large scale incident, with the strong possibility that it was going to a long term or perhaps permanent event how prepared to you feel you are currently. This takes into account any self reliance skill set you may have (ability to procure food, disinfect water, regulate core body temperature, ability to prevent and/or mitigate injury/illness, self protection in the event of looting/rioting/social disorder etc). It also take into account prior preparations you may or may not have made i.e. food, water suitable shelter, medical supplies if/when needed etc

Been looking forward to it for most of my life. I make electricity for a living-I've set us up with a diesel-generator that I can actuially run on rendered animal fat, as well as a wind-turbine. We hunt and farm. I can process foods and water. I've had a variety of emergency medical training. ....and we're relatively isolated, have stockpiled supplies, a supportive community of like-minded individuals- a police officer, a doctor and nurse among them -and we're all armed to the teeth.



"If the electricity stops," though? I'll just make more.....:lfao:

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Been looking forward to it for most of my life. I make electricity for a living-I've set us up with a diesel-generator that I can actuially run on rendered animal fat, as well as a wind-turbine. We hunt and farm. I can process foods and water. I've had a variety of emergency medical training. ....and we're relatively isolated, have stockpiled supplies, a supportive community of like-minded individuals- a police officer, a doctor and nurse among them -and we're all armed to the teeth.



"If the electricity stops," though? I'll just make more.....:lfao:

Based on our talk before you sound like you are way ahead of the curve compared to most people elder999. I feel well prepared but I think you are at that next level!!!

Like elder999 I am armed to the teeth and have a local support group. An off site bug out location, etc. I believe in being prepared and one only needs to look at what has happened in recent years with riots, natural disasters, etc. to understand that you should prepare.

 

[Buka]

I'm screwed. I mean, absolutely f'd.

 

[Carol]

I'm screwed. I mean, absolutely f'd.

Just come over. The coffee will be on

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Thank you, excellent posts so far and I appreciate it. I'm always encouraged to see folks that have a plan. This poll on the other site is into it's fourth page and over 1500 views so far with some good discussion. Oddly enough, a couple of members there didn't understand the gravity of such an event. I offered the following for consideration;

Modern industrial society revolves around electricity. Whereas a prepared individual with the proper skill set can forego electricity, society and the masses cannot. We need to consider the cascade effect, note that this isn't necessarily A leads to B which leads to C etc, but rather A, B, C and D happen at the same time which leads to further consequences.

As one example, no electricity means no fuel is being pumped (which doesn't even take into consideration if the stoppage of electricity was from a solar flare or EMP of appreciable size that causes the stoppage to be immediate). This means vehicles run dry in very short order (if they are even capable of still running). This means that the trucks stop running (and that's how 90% of goods get moved not to mention planes aren't flying either). This means no food is being delivered which means a panic and the store shelves are emptied in a couple of hours (a typical grocery store has perhaps three days worth of food on the shelves which is why they receive resupply on a daily basis. History has shown that in the event of a 'situation' that the shelves are emptied within hours).

First responders (police, EMT, firefighters etc) can't get to anyone...and that's if they even show up to work or if they can even get to work. And even if they do they can't go anywhere anyway. This means hospitals become understaffed and overwhelmed, police can't respond nor can firefighters put out fires (all of which will be out of control if there is mass panic, looting, rioting etc, which unfortunately is the probable reaction). This also means that jails and prisons can no longer operate and there are mass releases of criminals (what else do you think they're going to do?) back into what is left of society.

So you have people dying in the first hour due to car accidents, medical conditions and the inability to thermoregulate core body temperature (hypothermia or hyperthermia depending on the time of year and location). More are injured or become sick, yet first responders are drastically limited if not totally paralyzed. So you have more dying within the next several hours. Then you have the mass die off due to no sanitation, clean water or food. Then you have another mass die off due to the disease caused by the first die off. That isn't even counting the mass panic, looting, rioting and the criminals that are released back on the public from the jails and prisons. And that is just one element of several that will take place.

And what I've described is the short, kinder-gentler version. It would be much worse.

A prepared person that has a good skill set and the ability to hunker down in place till the initial shock passes (or bugs out to a place that is out of the way of the initial shock) will be okay. Maybe not comfortable in a modern 21st century way, but they'll be okay. The masses including and especially the coffee house entitlement generation....not so much.

Now the total extent of this rather gloomy prognosis depends on the overall scale of the event. But history demonstrates, unfortunately, that even on a localized regional scale the resulting reaction is less than encouraging.

I'm screwed. I mean, absolutely f'd.

Why? And what could you do to change that?

 

[Transk53]

It would cause pandemonium in the UK. Even with a brown/black out, I doubt many Brits would know what to do in the event of catastrophic event. I know I would not be able to rig up a back up system. I do keep a collection of candles though and make sure that I have a stock of lighters, plus a mini-maglite if the power goes out. That would be the extent of knowledge on this sort of thing.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

It would cause pandemonium in the UK. Even with a brown/black out, I doubt many Brits would know what to do in the event of catastrophic event. I know I would not be able to rig up a back up system. I do keep a collection of candles though and make sure that I have a stock of lighters, plus a mini-maglite if the power goes out. That would be the extent of knowledge on this sort of thing.

I put a link in another section a while back, but if it is of any interest/help here it is again:

Survival and Emergency Preparedness - excoboard.com

 

[drop bear]

As with everything else in life. Solved with MMA.

 

[oftheherd1]

Thank you, excellent posts so far and I appreciate it. I'm always encouraged to see folks that have a plan. This poll on the other site is into it's fourth page and over 1500 views so far with some good discussion. Oddly enough, a couple of members there didn't understand the gravity of such an event. I offered the following for consideration;

Modern industrial society revolves around electricity. Whereas a prepared individual with the proper skill set can forego electricity, society and the masses cannot. We need to consider the cascade effect, note that this isn't necessarily A leads to B which leads to C etc, but rather A, B, C and D happen at the same time which leads to further consequences.

As one example, no electricity means no fuel is being pumped (which doesn't even take into consideration if the stoppage of electricity was from a solar flare or EMP of appreciable size that causes the stoppage to be immediate). This means vehicles run dry in very short order (if they are even capable of still running). This means that the trucks stop running (and that's how 90% of goods get moved not to mention planes aren't flying either). This means no food is being delivered which means a panic and the store shelves are emptied in a couple of hours (a typical grocery store has perhaps three days worth of food on the shelves which is why they receive resupply on a daily basis. History has shown that in the event of a 'situation' that the shelves are emptied within hours).

First responders (police, EMT, firefighters etc) can't get to anyone...and that's if they even show up to work or if they can even get to work. And even if they do they can't go anywhere anyway. This means hospitals become understaffed and overwhelmed, police can't respond nor can firefighters put out fires (all of which will be out of control if there is mass panic, looting, rioting etc, which unfortunately is the probable reaction). This also means that jails and prisons can no longer operate and there are mass releases of criminals (what else do you think they're going to do?) back into what is left of society.

So you have people dying in the first hour due to car accidents, medical conditions and the inability to thermoregulate core body temperature (hypothermia or hyperthermia depending on the time of year and location). More are injured or become sick, yet first responders are drastically limited if not totally paralyzed. So you have more dying within the next several hours. Then you have the mass die off due to no sanitation, clean water or food. Then you have another mass die off due to the disease caused by the first die off. That isn't even counting the mass panic, looting, rioting and the criminals that are released back on the public from the jails and prisons. And that is just one element of several that will take place.

And what I've described is the short, kinder-gentler version. It would be much worse.

A prepared person that has a good skill set and the ability to hunker down in place till the initial shock passes (or bugs out to a place that is out of the way of the initial shock) will be okay. Maybe not comfortable in a modern 21st century way, but they'll be okay. The masses including and especially the coffee house entitlement generation....not so much.

Now the total extent of this rather gloomy prognosis depends on the overall scale of the event. But history demonstrates, unfortunately, that even on a localized regional scale the resulting reaction is less than encouraging.



Why? And what could you do to change that?

Interesting thing to ponder. We keep a good supply of toilet paper and paper towels. We should be OK for a while. :boing1::boing1:

I am not as well prepared as I would like to be, but I do have some survival skills; I would just have to make do as best I could. I would try to get to one of my daughters who both live in better areas with neighbors they could probably count on to aid in procurement and defense. I could contribute some to that also for being allowed to join the group.

You are correct that solar flares and cyber attacks could cause a catastrophe as we have seen on smaller scales already. Having to replace the entire electrical grid by starting from scratch would not be fun. From what is being reported in the press, cyber attacks are more likely than most expect.

 

[Tames D]

Just come over. The coffee will be on

Will you leave the light on?

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Interesting thing to ponder. We keep a good supply of toilet paper and paper towels. We should be OK for a while. :boing1::boing1:

Oddly enough, folks will stock up on guns and ammo and forget the toilet paper. Which are you likely to need more often :lfao:

 

[oftheherd1]

Oddly enough, folks will stock up on guns and ammo and forget the toilet paper. Which are you likely to need more often :lfao:

Even a prediction of a big snow storm will clear the toilet paper isles in the stores here.

Growing up in the country, I learned to use toilet paper, Sears catalogs, sticks, weeds, and leaves (one quickly learns to identify slippery elm leaves).