Thread by @startupdaemon

14 Vital Emergency Skills and Preps for Everyone

Most people are helpless in regular life, let alone exceptional conditions.

Being prepared to deal with disasters and emergencies doesn't just help you survive - it gives you a special level of confidence no-one else has.

1. Have an emergency plan to get CASH.

This is not just an emergency skill, but an essential life skill for most.

Make a list of people you can borrow from, things you can sell quickly and always have some cash stashed away at home.

If can't cover 6 months of forward expenses, you're not prepared.

Remember: cash in the bank is not cash. Only cash is cash.

Bitcoin is not cash either. It’s bitcoin.

2. Learn how to light a fire.

It’s not rocket surgery. Put light kindling and flammables like paper & dry grass at bottom, making sure there’s plenty of room for air to get in. Light it up, then put larger twigs and branches over it to grow.

Always set up your fire in a dip or surround it with stones, so the grass around doesn’t catch on fire.

Avoid lighting fires indoors unless absolutely necessary. You don't want to get poisoned with smoke and carbon monoxide.

Keep matches and lighters in store for emergencies.

3. Learn how to cook safely over an open fire.

You should know basic precautions and have the utensils to do this indoors and outdoors if you have no gas and electricity. It works the same as cooking on a gas stove, just be careful not to burn down the house or yourself.

4. Learn how to purify water for drinking.

Water purification is an essential reason to learn how to light a fire. If you have access to running water up in the mountains, it’s most likely clean – you just need to boil it to kill the microbes and avoid getting the bubes.

You can use fire to set up a more complicated distillery to desalinate and decontaminate water if you must. You will need a large metal container for the still, some tubing or piping to lead the steam out and a bucket of cold water to condense the steam back into purified water.

5. Figure out how to keep warm when the power is out.

In a wintry place without heating, food and water won’t be your first concern. They may not be a concern at all if you don’t manage to keep warm.

Learn how to set up a fire and stay alive long enough to get hungry.

Learn to use an indoor propane heater safely and how to light a woodstove/fireplace. You can also bundle up in a tent and sleeping bags inside the house or dig a hole in the ground and cover it with branches and snow to survive a blizzard.

6. Know the most likely disasters in your area and how to deal with related emergencies.

Common emergencies include hurricanes, floods, snowstorms and earthquakes. Know which apply to you and the best ways to handle them.

7. Learn how to use water-purifying tablets and keep some on hand.

Most people don't realize how it easy it is to die from a basic gastro-intestinal infection or parasite when you don't have clean water.

In an emergency, clean water is second only to keeping warm.

8. Take classes in first aid and martial arts.

Even if you learn nothing else, you still get the biggest benefit - how to keep it together under stress. While others are panicking and being stoopid, you are a unshaken. Your survival is about composure more than anything else.

9. Take classes in home and self-defence.

A martial arts teacher might teach you ways to avoid conflict, getting burgled or being mugged. But such classes tend to focus on technique, practice and fighting rather than big-picture self-defence and security strategies.

If you have children, you should teach them from a very early age how to keep safe at home and when they’re out. They should know how to identify potential attackers, hide, take cover and use firearms – even if you don’t have any.

10. Get a combat knife and a basic axe and learn how to use them.

Knives and axes are more valuable as tools than as weapons. They won’t help you much fend off a group of assailants determined to eat you or someone sticking a gun in your face.

Knives and axes are incredibly useful to get and prepare food, build a shelter, make a fire and keep warm, open cans of food and even do repairs around your home.

Have some of these essential tools on hand.

11. Get ready to survive and thrive without electricity.

No electricity means any food that requires refrigeration will go bad. It also means you can’t cook anything if you only have an electric stove.

Always keep some canned food – beans, fruit, meat are available in cans.

12. Know how to keep clean without running water.

This means you have to know a nearby water source that isn’t your tap in case pump power goes out or tap water gets contaminated. Buying some from the supermarket is not a solution because that’s where everyone else is going.

13. Learn to wash and dry your clothes by hand.

If you get filthy, it's much easier to get sick or get dispirited. Know how to wash your clothes with minimal amounts of water.

14. Binge on essential knowledge about foraging, fishing, gardening, hunting etc.

There is loads of content on the tubes about how to get your own food in the wild, and it’s not even all on ‘prepper’ channels. Food gathering only begins to matter in apocalyptic scenarios.

In cases like hurricane Katrina, you just can’t get any food, with or without skill. But getting the knowledge alone will make you a lot more Aware of the fragility of the systems you rely on get food. Instead of watching cat videos, put on something that could save your life.

15. BONUS: Learn how to keep, clean and shoot firearms.

When things go south in a big way, you will need to find ways to protect yourself and your family - from being eaten, among other things.

Even if you don't own a gun, learn how to use one. It's a vital skill and it's fun!

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