Preppers Of The City

According to the UN, more people live in an urban setting than in the countryside. Four billion people live in an urban area of some sort across the globe. By 2050, it is predicted that two-thirds or seven billion people will live there. An urban area is a region surrounding or within a city where people live. These regions are so densely populated that human structures dominate the land, leaving no room for agricultural development. Urban zones are often highly targeted by terrorists, especially if it’s an important one, like New York or Washington DC. Here are some useful survival tips if you live in one of these areas.

Apartment Survival

The goal of urban development is to squeeze as many people as you legally (and sometimes illegally) can in one spot. To do so, contractors depend on the development of high-rise apartment complexes. 16% of the US population lives in an apartment. Living in an apartment means you have very little space to store your belongings in. Leaving many people to get creative with their storage needs. Invest in prepping supplies that are multi-purpose. Take advantage of door organizers and under-the-bed storage bins. Rally the entire building together and establish a prepping team, with each apartment assigned to a task. Some apartment buildings give you a small storage unit in the basement that you can convert into a Doomsday shelter storeroom. Have a way of cooking indoors during an extended blackout. If your apartment is on the ground floor, make sure you have a security plan in place to handle rioting and looting.

Evacuation Is Important

If it is a disaster, you have a couple of days’ warning for government officials will want as many people as possible to leave. The least amount of people that stay behind, means the least amount of money rescuers will spend saving survivors. But mass evacuation means mass chaos, leading to gridlock traffic. Imagine rush-hour traffic and multiply that by ten. Once you are told to leave the area, do so as quickly as you can. The faster you hit the road, the higher the chance of you getting stuck in gridlock. Having a Bug Out Bag for each person in your house ready to go eliminates hours of stressful packing and lessens the risk of you forgetting something important. In my experience, the more important the item is, the more likely you are to forget it. Having a pre-determined destination in mind also helps you pack better. If staying in a hotel, call them the very second evacuation is declared to book your room. Know the alternate routes out of the urban zone that avoid the major highways and interstates. If you stay, remember that you’ll be on your own for days, and sometimes weeks. Emergency personnel will be very thinned out and overwhelmed, so they often rate calls by priority and pick the high ones first. Your cell phone needing to be charged will fall far behind the guy trapped in neck-deep water.

Brace yourself

Just because you live in a city doesn’t make you immune to Mother Nature. Familiarize yourself with the local weather patterns. If you live near the ocean, prepare for hurricanes and tsunamis. If you experience snow, have a blizzard plan on hand. Due to all the concrete and asphalt, heat waves will pack a harder punch in the summer. With all these people crammed in one town, diseases can spread faster than the wildfires that threaten areas with a lot of forests nearby. Riots and looting are becoming a major issue that you should prepare for (for riot survival information, visit https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/surviving-a-riot%3C/a%3E%29. Flooding is common everywhere, even in areas you don’t think are possible. Make sure your flood insurance policy is up to date prior to the disaster, even if you rent get one. Consult with an insurance company about getting Renter’s insurance. That way, you are protected from disasters, both natural and man-made, as landlords are under no obligation in most states to protect you from such damages.

Downtime

During and after a disaster you’ll have plenty of downtime, and with no power to charge your phones, laptops, and tablets, you’ll need to find something to do. Invest in items to keep you and your family entertained, like board or card games. Puzzles and coloring books are another fun way to pass the time. Read those books you’ve been putting off. Organize a room or two. Buy some supplies for a hobby you’ve been wanting to try. Prior to the crisis, put together a Rainy Day Kit (https://shopping-feedback.today/lifehack/making-a-speciality-kit%3C/a%3E%29 to make sure everything you need to get through the boredom is ready and available. During the aftermath, when things settle down, volunteer with the clean-up effort to help restore normalcy to the community. Help those displaced by the disaster by helping at the shelter by handing out food, blankets, and other needed supplies.

We Can Rebuild

Urban areas are known for their strength and resilience. New York overcame 9/11. Hurricane Katrina caused the most financial damage than any other hurricane in history, and New Orleans is just as lively as it was before she hit. The Joplin Missouri farms were hit by the deadliest tornado, and second recorded F-5 tornado, in US history in 2011, but they came back in full force the following spring. COVID got us all bonding together in ways we haven’t seen in years. We as a society have overcome many things in the last couple of decades, and each time we’ve gotten stronger together from it. Mother Nature hasn’t beaten us down yet, despite her many attempts to do so. Urban communities are home to many trades and businesses. If one goes down, we all feel it. So, keep your head held high and remember, help will always be there when you least expect it, in ways you never thought possible.