Author: Wilf Staton
A disaster can strike in seconds sometimes with no warning what so ever and leave whole communities without power, running water or even shelter. You must be prepared to survive. The best way to prepare yourself is to have the necessary equipment and supplies to ensure you and your family are provided with the necessities of life.

Survival equipment is really a form of life insurance. You never know when a disaster will strike and you need to be prepared before not after such an event. You should also try to ensure your neighbors; family and friends are prepared with their own survival gear otherwise be prepared to share yours. If others won’t take their survival needs seriously then buy them kits for Christmas, birthdays and even wedding presents.

Your survival kit should contain at the very least matches, fish hooks, fishing line, a string saw, a small knife, bouillon cube type

dehydrated soup stock, sugar, salt, antibiotics, antiseptics, aspirin, bandages, aluminum foil, a magnetic compass, a small mirror, a magnifying glass, and antihistamine. In a larger kit, you will need food and fresh water to survive at least for two weeks. Avoid foods that have to be cooked unless you have a portable cooker or barbecue.

In the case of floods or earthquakes your home may be destroyed or unsafe to live in so you will need shelter and warmth. Waterproof backpacking tarps can be tied to trees with rope and used as a shelter. For clothing, remember that wool insulates when wet and comfortable waterproof footwear is worth its weight in gold.

You need to know how to use your survival equipment, experience in the use of emergency survival gear will help you to choose what to include in your emergency survival gear kit. You should know some first aid basics and have a copy of a first aid manual.

As well as knowing how to use your survival gear everyone in your house must know where it is. You should keep an inventory along with use by dates and replace items as they become aged or pass their use by date. Store and record the date on items to indicate when it should be replaced or buy extra food when you can and rotate items.

You need to take a survival kit everywhere you go. In your car you should have a portable kit that contains some high energy foods, Sports bars, hard candy, MREs (meals, ready to eat), tropical chocolate bars, beef jerky, and nuts all work well. Basic first aid items, a flashlight and spare batteries as well as a map of the area. A couple bottles of fresh drinking water are must have items.

In some countries it is law to have a survival kit. Even in those countries where it isn’t you still need to be prepared. A good

survival kit will only set you back a few hundred dollars and this is a cost you’ll be happy you paid if one day that disaster strikes and you kit saves the life of a loved family member.

Learning to survive doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. In fact it can be an interesting family activity that all can participate in.

Even very young members of the family need to be survival aware because if anything happens to their caregivers they may be left to fend for themselves. Don’t leave it till its too late get prepared to survive now.

About the Author:

Christine Brockman is a keen advocate of people being able to survive a disaster, its a moral obligation to ensure your family is prepared to survive. Don’t put it off any longer find out what you need to know about putting together your ownSurvival kit. Increase your chances of being able to survive any disaster with the correct survival gear. For warned is for prepared.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/are-you-ready-to-survive-a-disaster-381971.html

It does not matter how careful you and the rest of your group are, if you are planning on going camping or hiking, first aid kits need to be packed in with the rest of your gear. Even the smallest cut or insect bite can turn into a major problem if it is not properly treated and many camping trips have been cut short due to infections. There are many different types of camping first aid kits available that you can find the one that will fit your budget as well as your camping needs. You can even make your own kit and save some money.

Common first aid kit items:

• Band Aids
• Gauze
• Tape (waterproof)
• Antiseptic
• Alcohol wipes
• Tweezers
• Aspirin
• Splint
• Ice pack
• Scissors
• Space Banklet
• Antibiotic ointment

For short stays in a public campground the camping first aid kits should include band aids as well as a topical antiseptic to clean wounds. They should also contain items for insect bites or bee stings as well as gauze to provide a sterile dressing in the event of a larger cut. Most public campgrounds will have emergency supplies available to major accidents so carrying a litter, splints and dressing for major emergencies probably will not be necessary.

Backcountry trips will require more planning and preparation. In the event of an emergency, you want to make sure you’ll have everything you need to survive until you can get proper medical care. Skimping on first aid supplies while packing, to save weight, could be a lethal decision.

Even if you go the entire season without opening it, camping first aid kits should be checked before leaving on the first trip of the year. You never know when someone may have grabbed a few band aids from the kit while at home and when they are needed in camp, is not the time to find out they have all been used.

Check First Aid Supplies Frequently

Ointments and astringents that are often part of camping first aid kits do have expiration dates and before every season, the kits should be checked to make sure everything is still valid. Antiseptics used beyond their expiration date will not have the same benefits as fresh materials and you could still end up with an infection. Additionally, using out dated creams and ointments on an open wound may actually invite an infection.

This is also a good time to check on the supply of band-aids and gauze to make sure there are enough in the kit. While most camping first aid kits are available in waterproof containers, it is always possible that some moisture has leaked inside and ruined all or part of the products inside.

At the end of every trip it is advised to replenish every item from the camping first aid kits that may have been used. It is easy to forget between trips that you might be out of something and the time to realize it is before that item is needed in an emergency.

by Trevor Paetkau

Six hours from the trailhead, 2 hours past his turn-around time and with storms filling in from the valley, Alex Theissen was at the edge of panic. What had started as a unremarkable spring outing in the White Mountains was going south quickly and the prospect of spending the night exposed at the timberline, with plummeting temperatures and not much more than some hard cheese and a foil survival blanket was becoming a distinct reality.

The impending sense of panic is familiar to any individual stranded on a windward shore with a gale coming on, disoriented in a maze of bike trails or caught, like Theissen on an exposed ridge with foul weather on the horizon. In many cases, what happens next is the crux moment wherein survival or full blown disaster ensues. In the case of Theissen, survival started with the acronym, S.T.O.P.

Sit … Think …Observe … Plan …

Rather than giving in to an all-too-human panic response, Theissen sat, took stock and acted in a way that likely saved his life. What follows is a briefing on what went through his head … it’s a lesson applicable to all hikers, hunters, canoeists and others who find themselves exposed and unprepared in falling or already frigid temperatures.

Shelter / Warmth:

In cold temperatures, exposure can kill before anything else has a chance. In Theissen’s case, staying above the timberline was untenable; thus getting below the treeline was his first priority. After that he would need to find or create shelter, and finally (if possible) create warmth.

While it’s beyond the scope of this article to describe shelter making or fire building in detail (shelter can be found in tree wells, in snow caves, and in the hollows of river banks; tinder is less available in winter than summer, none-the-less evergreens will often yield dry needles, pitch impregnated bark can often be sourced and if the snow-pack is not so deep as to disallow it, reserves of dry leaves and grass can be found under trees, rock overhangs and in tree wells), suffice it say that without either, chance of survival diminish.

What Theissen did was find a root cavity that provided both shelter and tinder; he sealed it as completely as possible with packed snow, and insulated himself from the ground using evergreen boughs. He managed to nurse a fire which, while it really never took, provided a certain degree of comfort and localized heat.

Route Finding:

There was no way Theissen was going to find his way back to the trailhead in the impending whiteout. And it needs to be stressed; there was NO way he should have tried … even descending to the treeline was a challenge. That said, he was not lost and he had to keep it that way.

Route finding depends on visibility; thus traveling at night, in a white-out or in heavily wooded terrain increases the chances of becoming lost. It’s doubly important in these conditions to think, observe and plan … and to acknowledge that it’s not always prudent to act. It’s often better to stay put than it is to flounder around in unfamiliar terrain risking further disorientation and injury.

By marking his return route to the ridgeline, and traveling only so far as required to ensure shelter, Theissen knew that once visibility returned he would be able to find his way back to the trailhead.

Creating Visibility:

If all went well, Theissen would hole up for the night in his makeshift shelter and walk out the following morning. This presumes of course, that he wasn’t lost. If he were, creating the conditions to be found would be his next priority. Experts agree that the three following elements will increase the chances of a rescue party locating a lost hiker…

Visibility - created by smudge fires, markers, signals.

Positioning - on ridgelines, open riverbanks, at the treeline.

Mobility (or lack thereof) - stationary targets are easier to find.

Had Theissen been lost, he would have returned to the ridgeline when conditions allowed, created visibility (stamped a signal in the snow, anchored his foil blanket, built a smudge fire … ) and not strayed from the area.

Hydration:

It hardly needs said, that if you’ve got fuel and a means to light it, the ice and snow you’re surrounded with are a viable source of hydration. If not, there are other sources. Depending on how cold it is, flowing water is frequently available under the snow pack in the bottom of creeks and at river bends. Animals and birds will keep patches of swamps and ponds ice-free. In the alpine, solar radiation can be powerful enough to create ice-melt against dark rock faces.

Nutrition:

Nutrition can be more difficult, and needs to figure heavily in any self-rescue plan. Cold weather requires more calories from the body and, while it is possible to live weeks without food, hunger is debilitating and lowers the bodies resistance to cold and the ability to cope.

There is good reason why survival literature frequently describes frozen landscapes as arid … there’s not much alive, and there’s not much to eat. As flippant as it seems to say it: getting out sooner than later is a very good idea. Once the situation has stabilized all efforts need to turn towards positioning one’s self to being found or logically and methodically finding one’s way out. One dies of starvation sooner in winter than summer.

As it turns out, the Theissen’s storm passed and by 3am the White’s were lit by a brilliant moon. There was enough light for Theissen to return to the ridge line and find the marked descent by dawn. The previous day he had stupidly decided to ignore his turn-around time. Every decision after that however was the right one, and by early afternoon the following day he was back at his car hungry tired and sheepish … but alive.

By Steve Gillman

Survival skills just for backpacking? Why not? For ultralight backpackers like myself, skills replace gear, and therefore weight. If you spend any time in the wilderness, it also just feels good to know you can deal with whatever comes up.

Survival means staying warm and dry, hydrated, uninjured, and finding your way out of the wilderness. Of course, eating is nice too, but not crucial if the situation is just for a few days. Here are some survival skills you can learn easily.

Easy Survival Skills

1. Put dried moss or milkweed fuzz in your pocket as you walk, so you’ll have dry tinder to start a fire, just in case it’s raining later. Cattail fuzz works well too, and you can experiment with different materials.

2. If it looks and tastes like a blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry - it is. There is no berry in North America that looks like a blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry, and can hurt you from one taste. Take a taste, and just spit it out completely if it doesn’t taste right.

3. Make a pile of dry leaves and dead grass to keep warm in an emergency. I have slept warmly without a blanket, in below-freezing weather, in a pile of dry grass.

4. Put a stick upright in the ground, and mark the tip of the shadow. Mark it again fifteen minutes later. Scratch a line between the first and second marks, and it will be pointing east. Techniques like this can save you when your compass is lost.

5. Clouds form in the Rocky Mountains just before the afternoon storms in summer. Hikers are regularly killed by lightning in Colorado. Birds often fly lower before storms. Learning to read the sky and the behavior of animals can keep you out of trouble.

6. The biggest wilderness killer is hypothermia, and getting wet is the biggest cause. Get in the habit of watching for ledges or large fir trees to stand under when you think that rain may be coming. Learning to stay dry is one of the more important survival skills.

7. To stay warmer, sleep with your head slightly downhill. It takes some getting used to, but it works.

8. Get in the habit of filling water bottles every chance you get, and you won’t have such a hard time with any long dry stretches of trail. Drink up the last of your water right before you fill the bottles too.

9. Break a “blister” on the trunk of a small spruce or fir tree, and you can use the sap that oozes out as an good antiseptic dressing for small cuts. It also can be used to start a fire, and will burn when wet.

10. Bark from a white birch tree will usually light even when wet. In a jam, you can also use it as a paper substitute if you need to leave a note in an emergency.

The above are just a few tips and techniques you can easily learn. There are many more, and they can make backpacking not only safer, but more interesting. Why not practice one or two of these survival skills?

by Henry Juarez

It is interesting to note that survival can be broken down into RULES OF THREE. These rules of three can be instrumental in providing a checklist or packing list for things to take on your next trip.

You can last 3 MINUTES without air.

If you are taking a scuba trip, you will want to pack plenty of air tanks for you and those traveling with you for the number of hours you wish to be under water. Another thing to consider is your altitude. Are you going to be high in the mountains where breathing could become a problem? Consider where you will be going and determine if sufficient air/oxygen would be present. If not, plan on how you will be provided with the amount of air you will need.

You can last 3 HOURS without shelter.

If you’re hiking (or lost) and the sun is about to set, you want to make sure you have a good shelter to protect you from the cold. Make it just large enough to accommodate you and not much else. This is important, especially in cold climates, because your body heat may well have to heat it. Be extremely careful if you are going to use fire to heat the shelter, as most natural shelter materials are flammable! Plan ahead, and use common sense. If you are hiking in a dessert, you’ll want a shelter to provide shade.

Most of the time, though, you’ll be trying to keep warm. Use everything you can think of for insulation. Crawling inside a big pile of leaves or pine needles is actually pretty warm and comfortable (do not attempt this near a fire). A large pile of fresh pine sprigs is not only a springy mattress, but is good insulation from the ground.

You can last 3 DAYS without water.

While you may be able to last three days without water, you will start to feel the effects of dehydration after only 12 hours or so. Your brain is made up of 70% water and will not think clearly without plenty of water. It is important to know ahead of time the kinds of water supplies you will have at the location you will be at. Is there a stream running through? Will you have to take water purifying items? Will you have to carry all of your water in with you?

You must drink plenty of water even if you do not feel thirsty. An adult should drink at least a couple of liters per day (more in hot climates). If you spent the night on high ground, then plan on moving camp. In most areas, just continue to walk downhill and you will eventually find water. Watch animals or follow their tracks. They will usually lead to water. Birds also tend to congregate near water. In dry areas, you may have to consider other means, such as a solar still. If you are getting water from streams or ponds, boil before drinking, or use water purification tablets or straw.

You can last 3 WEEKS without food.

Many people make food their priority. Even though your stomach may be growling of hunger, your body can last much longer without food than without water or shelter. Only after taking care of those needs first, should you worry about food. Will you be able to catch your food from the rivers or streams? Will there be game for you to hunt? Or will you carry all of your food with you? What about pots and pans? Will you have a stove to cook on or will you cook over a fire? Your camping location will determine what options you have for food. You will also want to consider dishwashing liquid, SOS pads, grill scrapers, aluminum foil, etc. Camping is more tolerable when your hunger cries are answered with enough food to sustain your activities.

With that being said, if you find yourself in an unplanned situation where you need to rely on your surroundings for food, as a general rule, avoid plant life unless you know for a fact that something is edible. Stay away from mushrooms and any plant that has a milky sap. Common edible plants include cattail roots, acorns, clover, dandelions, almost all grasses that are seed bearing and the inner bark of trees such as Poplar, Willows, Birches and Conifers.

The easiest rule to remember is that if it walks, swims, crawls, or slithers… thump it, and muck it on down! Small animals, fish and insect life are always your best bet (remember, do not eat spiders or anything else with more than 6 legs). Use the knife, hooks and line, make a spear, make snares with the 80lb test cord. Setting multiple snares and fishing lines in ways that you do not have to baby-sit them is a good idea. Check them from time to time for a catch. This allows you to “hunt” without expending much energy. Use your imagination! The facts are, ALL fur bearing animals are edible. ALL birds are edible with no exceptions. Grubs found in rotten logs are edible, as are almost all insects (6 legs).

You can last 3 MONTHS without companionship.

If you are alone for 3 months or longer you will either go insane or you will develop a relationship with God. Like Tom Hanks in the movie, “Castaway”, you will have to invent your own Wilson, or you will turn to God for companionship. Human beings were designed to interact with others, so if you are going to live on your own for longer than 3 months, consider bringing a companion along or plan on having someone “show up” for a weekend or two to help you get through the loneliness.

These rules of three can provide any camper with the proper frame of mind when faced with survival situations. I hope that you will be able to benefit from these rules and memorize them.

I learned these Rules of Three from Rodney East, a fellow Pathfinder Director. A portion of this content was also taken from the FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL.

Every year, weather disturbances wreak havoc in different parts of the world. In the coastal communities of the United States, residents will often experience hurricanes. In the northern areas, snowstorms and blizzards. But in the continental plains, there are tornadoes and wind storms.

What is a tornado? This is a act of nature where a funnel of spiraling air comes out of nowhere and tears anything in its path. Most of these are a half kilometer wide and will disappear almost immediately just like how it popped into the air.

Unfortunately, weather forecasters are not able to predict when this will happen. These move similarly to hurricanes and when one appears, people should hunker down and wait till its over. Before that happens, here are some tips that can aid in tornado emergency preparation.

1. People who live in tornado prone areas should have a silo built a few feet under the ground. Studies have shown that this natural calamity can easily destroy the home so this is the best place to stay when disaster strikes.

2. The silo should have an amply supply of food, water, medicine and other necessities. It will take time to rebuild everything if the home sustained a direct hit and insurance companies won’t shoulder the repairs.

3. There may not be time to run to the silo if the tornado suddenly appears. When this happens, the person should find a place to hide until it is safe to come out. Family members who are separated must go to the assigned meeting place and wait there until the other members arrive.

4. The best way to recover from this will be to have hidden stash of money at home or in the bank at all times. Some call this the emergency fund and this will be one of those times that victims will be happy knowing that everything will be all right.

5. The community will probably not have power, water and communication with the outside world if all the lines went down. Having a portable radio and a set of batteries will keep the people informed of what is happening outside since emergency services will also be out to assess the damage.

6. If the parents are not home and the tornado strikes, someone must be designated as the leader until the elders get back. This individual must be ready to handle the situation and make sure that everyone stays together until help arrives.

7. The family should also hold tornado drills so everyone will know what to do when it happens. Setting a standard like going into the silo in less than 5 minutes will help prepare everyone for the real thing.

The tips mentioned regarding tornado emergency preparation should be taken seriously because this can happen at anytime. It is better to be prepared than caught unaware of what is going on which could mean someone getting injured or even killed.

There is no way to escape a tornado should the home be directly in its path. Everyone should just stay inside the silo and wait until the all-clear signal has been given for everyone to come out. Afterwards, this is the time to try and get in touch with those that are not home to make sure he or she is all right.

These durable and versatile bottles have many uses, including:

• -The obvious: use as a canteen to store water or any other liquid.
• -As an ice pack in a cooler. Fill 5/6 of the way with water, freeze it and then put in a cooler to keep food cold. When it melts, it can be used as cold drinking water.
• -Dry food storage. Keep food free of moisture.
• -Use as floating, dry storage while doing watersports like kayaking or canoeing. Throw your keys, map and cell phone in it - close the top - and go.
• -A measuring cup. Using the measurement marks on the side, put together your favorite meals or drinks accurately.
• -A makeshift rolling pin.

32 oz. Colored Wide Mouth Lexan Water Bottle Tough, colorful Lexan plastic won’t impart any added flavors to your liquids or beverages.