If the SHTF . . . where will you go?

[melensdad]

Just curious but there is a SHTF thread that got me thinking. So you have stored up food, ammo, supplies. Seems to me that is only a small part of survival. I didn't want to try to hijack that thread so I figured I'd ask the question in a new thread. ​

If you live in a city or suburban area and the SHTF where will you go? Or, if you plan on staying put in your city/suburban home then how will you keep yourself/your family in tact while all your neighbors crumble into chaos?

NOTE: This thread is NOT for rural landowners. Those who live miles outside of town will face completely different situations.​

So if you live in Carmel, or Fishers, or Ft Wayne or Munster, or Jeffersonville or any other reasonably urban/suburban environment where homes are often placed 3 to 6 per acre, where apartment buildings/complexes are common, where urban blight is just "across the RR tracks" then how will you keep your house safe?

If you have lights on people will know you have something that can be taken. If you have a generator then you probably have stored gas/diesel and you probably have food in your freezer. What will keep the random hoards from simply overwhelming your home? Can you defend all your windows & doors at once?

 

[Royal-1]

Plan "A" is that the SHTF, is only a depression like history had, low food availability, high cost, but no mass hoards of looting.

With that we stay put, turn our yard and maybe our entire neighborhood into a garden. Food prices will be high but the garden should help to control the cost of needed items.

Plan "B" with a true SHTF, with the hordes inbound would require a bug-out in a bad way. We are working on plan "A" first then we will figure out "B".

And I wanted to live in the city.

 

[Lars]

Depends on where the SHTF....
on the list of locations to travel to...

Milwaukee Area (Family there)
Gatlinburg Area (Good Friends there)
Cincy area. (Good friends there)
or Greene County. 35 acres of undeveloped land in the boonies a friend owns there.

 

[rhino]

Staying home.

Two thirds of my household are not significantly mobile on foot. We'd do much better lasting here as long as we can.

I think most people would be best served by "bugging in."

 

[melensdad]

Plan "A" is that the SHTF, is only a depression like history had, low food availability, high cost, but no mass hoards of looting.

Ahh but people were polite back then. There was a greater sense of 'community' toward others and people pitched in to help others. That life doesn't seem to exist, at least not to the same extent. So presume that your Plan A is mostly correct and that times just get very very hard . . . but then add in some bad guys and some roving gangs that look for homes that they can target to attain food, ammo, supplies.

Staying home.

Two thirds of my household are not significantly mobile on foot. We'd do much better lasting here as long as we can.

I think most people would be best served by "bugging in."

I suspect that most people, by default, will stay home because that is where there supplies and shelter exist. People who have campers, travel trailers, etc would probably be the first to get out because they can take their shelter and supplies with them.

But for those who 'bug in' which is probably the majority, how do you protect your home from roving bands of ne're-do'ells? Have you thought about making your house less inviting? What about blacking out or sheathing over the windows?

Presuming most of your neighbors are sheep they will turn to the strongest neighbor for supplies, shelter, etc. How will you protect yourself from the neighbors who did not plan, and who now are begging at your door?

Will running a generator simply act to attract bad guys to your home? What signals (visual cues) will your home send to the neighbors/passers by, and goblins?

 

[indyninja]

what the heck are you guys planning for?

 

[Scutter01]

I plan to mooch off my neighbors long enough to fill the water tank in the camper.

 

[Lock n Load]

what the heck are you guys planning for?

Pres. Obama or Pres. Clinton!!!opcorn2:

I live "out" so hopefully I would be around the house when "it" hits. I love these threads.

 

[Royal-1]

what the heck are you guys planning for?

A depression, followed by a total economic collapse, looting, panic, hyperinflation, rioting, cats sleeping with dogs....

 

[abnk]

what the heck are you guys planning for?

I'm wondering that myself. It sounds like the OP is talking about civil unrest.

I think many have wet dreams about these scenarios where hordes of people will attempt to storm your house for food, etc. However, you'd be surprised how well order is maintained in an anarchical situation by people themselves. Just keep a low profile and help organize a neighborhood watch group and you will likely be okay in a residential area.

 

[melensdad]

I'm wondering that myself. It sounds like the OP is talking about civil unrest.

I think many have wet dreams about these scenarios where hordes of people will attempt to storm your house for food, etc. However, you'd be surprised how well order is maintained in an anarchical situation by people themselves. Just keep a low profile and help organize a neighborhood watch group and you will likely be okay in a residential area.

Well not too far off.

There is another thread here about people getting their supplies ready to bug out. I was curious where they would go??? Many people have a Bug Out Bag for when they get stuck in the car, or other short term event. Its probably a lot more important in the real wilderness than it is here in the wilds of Indiana.

HOWEVER, suppose we do have some economic calamity, steep depression that lasts for a year or more, and crime really picks up as people start to rob for food/survival.

I read where people will have a generator and some gasoline . . . but if you run the generator will you not be 'advertising' to everyone that you have stuff? In fact if your generator is one of those portable 3000 to 9000 watt units sitting outside what will prevent people from walking off with it? Do you have it chained to your house?

As for the concept of neighbors banding together, I understand that, but lets say you are the only house on the block that has a year supply of food, and lets say the other 20 houses around you are full of people who went to the grocery store last friday but don't have much more than a refrigerator full of food. Will they be knocking at your door? If they know you have food then it is likely they will. A 1 year supply of food for a family of 4 will shrink to a 1 month supply of food for an entire neighborhood.

If a typical house has a big sliding patio door, and windows on every side of the house, and a group of hungry neighbors sees your house as the next best thing to a grocery store, then do you have the ability to board (wood or steel bars) up your windows to keep them out?

What will prevent the "have nots" from turning on the "haves" given that you are one of the "haves"?

For anyone in the 'suburbs' or 'urban' environment there are some very interesting tactical questions they need to face.

 

[Lars]

This is one of the few advantages to not really being friends with any of your neighbors. They kick my doors of windows in, and the same thing happens to them as any other intruder.

Regarding the "SHTF" scenarios.

1) major earthquake near Evansville actually destroys most of that city, and damages major infrastructure in Indianapolis.

2) major tornado goes through the heart of Indianapolis

3) terrorist strike at the Indianapolis 500 / First game at Lucas Oil Stadium / or other major event in Indianapolis

4) terrorist strike in a major city within a few hours drive of Indy.... Louisville, Cincy, Chicago.

All of the above could cause some serious problems for those of us living in the Indianapolis area. Mostly likely short term, maybe a week or two. This does still require some planning on the prepared family's part.

 

[abnk]

melensdad, I don't rule anything as impossible, but an event of the scale you describe is very improbable. In my previous country, I lived through at least three major anarchical events. The police agencies were a joke; deserting repeatedly every time SHTF. During the worst one, there was no police presence for almost two months. Electrical power and water were strictly rationed for several years. There were gangs of thugs galore, but rarely messed with the average citizen as they were more concerned with blackmailing, robbing, and "offering protection" to prominent folks. The nascent private industry was so primitive that it isn't even comparable to our industry.

Yet, no one starved to death nor broke into houses for food. As I mentioned earlier, if you keep a low profile, you will likely be okay.

I am more worried about preparing to buy a new house in a good neighborhood and putting my kids through good schools than preparing for a SHTF.

 

[melensdad]

I started that thread because of another SHTF thread because it strikes me that many people over prepare for some things and ignore other things completely. I'm not one who thinks we will see the type of events that are described. But I wondered about others here and what they are planning for given some of the posts in the other SHTF thread. It seems like some here are planning to live in a bunker and survive off buckets of rice and MREs.

You point about the LOW PROFILE is well taken, but again in other threads people talk about running generators. Last time I checked, those are loud and not low profile. Same with many other activities that people can/may do.

While I live MILES from town I choose to do that because I like the country, I probably have more food/supplies than the typical suburban dweller and could easily last a couple weeks eating good food, not worrying about fuel issues, etc, without poking my head out of my hole, but that is because we lived through an 8 day power outage during sub-zero temperatures, with the only road in closed for the first 3 1/2 days. We were PARTIALLY prepared for that. We are better prepared for a localized problem than we were. But in our very rural situation we have had to rely on ourselves and learned how to do that far better than when I lived in Munster where houses are packed cheek to jowl on small lots and pampered princesses panic when they break a nail. We've had 45 minute response times from our county Sheriff on 2 occasions when our burglar alarm was triggered, and one of those was a fly-over with the helicopter where they "talked" to me over a bullhorn why hovering over my driveway!!! How the heck did they know I was the homeowner???

 

[obijohn]

my plan a is to bug in. if the zombie hoard looms, i've had a plan b in place for years. of course i may have to run up north to get rhino before bugging in, he's my reserve food source. hehe.

 

[indyninja]

cats sleeping with dogs....

 

[indyninja]

I agree with this post 100%. I think there is some really good info to be had in this forum but these mad max beyond thunderdome type threads make me laugh.

where am I going? I'm staying right in my house. where the heck else am I going to go.... into the woods where I have stashed my years supply of rice

melensdad, I don't rule anything as impossible, but an event of the scale you describe is very improbable. In my previous country, I lived through at least three major anarchical events. The police agencies were a joke; deserting repeatedly every time SHTF. During the worst one, there was no police presence for almost two months. Electrical power and water were strictly rationed for several years. There were gangs of thugs galore, but rarely messed with the average citizen as they were more concerned with blackmailing, robbing, and "offering protection" to prominent folks. The nascent private industry was so primitive that it isn't even comparable to our industry.

Yet, no one starved to death nor broke into houses for food. As I mentioned earlier, if you keep a low profile, you will likely be okay.

I am more worried about preparing to buy a new house in a good neighborhood and putting my kids through good schools than preparing for a SHTF.

 

[rhino]

abnk knows what he's talking about.

If we lay in a few extras of what we normally use, plus keep well stocked on absolute necessities, we should be good for most of what could befall us here in the cushy US of A.

 

[baldmax]

I plan on staying put. I live out in the country, with a lake near by. Fishing and hunting is good. Plenty of water from the lake (it will need to be purified). Off of some major roads, but plenty of back roads. If we have to bug out, friends in NC.

 

[longbow]

Plan A - stay put
Plan B - Stay at Parents if plan A won't work. They have a massive home