SHTF, will you stay or will you go?

[JamisJockey]

Lots of talk about bugging out, not much about staying put.
Lets say, SHTF. Excluding blue helmets, we're talking some sort of breakdown in civilization due to natural disaster or something similiar. Your domicile is still standing, albeit maybe slightly damaged, as are most in your area. There might be random looting, and there are mobs on the streets in certain parts of town. FEMA and the National Gaurd might be coming in to establish martial law. Local law enforcement is setting up roadblocks.
Are you prepared to stay put, or will you even bother trying?

 

[TallPine]

Well, since I live on 40 acres in a relatively remote area, I'm not going anywhere.

The looters around here are all 4 legged ...

 

[larry_minn]

I think most everyone hopes to stay in their home. BUT if you live in apt in major city (no room for storing water/food/heat/etc) you will have to get to safer area. Also even living in the sticks it is possible I would have to leave all the comforts of home. I am very likely going to have to get family. Wife is out of range for me to get or her to get to me. Depends on your situation and abilities/resources. Personally I wish I could afford/plan/set up a secondary location to stock/set up for no power/water/etc from outside. Kinda a retreat cabin to get away from the world. But I don't see that being possible. I have always said when reading SHTF type books (Why don't the idiots split up supplies incase they get chased out by either BGs,Gov,fire,etc.
So my BOB is geared more for daily survival in MN winter. I use it in car/truck and if I break down/stuck/etc I KNOW I can walk miles in below zero weather with little risk of frostbite. I have food and drink(mt dew) as well. Fire (candles) and metal to melt snow. Very comforting feeling.

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

'leave'? Hah. You've never seen the traffic in the SF Bay Area on a Friday @ 5pm have you? Now imagine the road traffic after a major disaster/SHTF.

Nope. My chance of clearing the city, are slim and none. We're surrounded on three sides by water, have only two bridges out of the city proper and only two major freeways out. The gridlock will be of Biblical proportions.

My plan is to stay put and deal with the situation.

 

[one-shot-one]

not a question i'd normally respond to

each person (should this actualy come to pass) will have to acsess the situation a the time. if you are really worried about it go ahead and prepare. the thing to remember is that the same mobility problems you are facing will effect the "mobs" too. i'm 35 miles from the major city and 8 miles from the freeway so in most cases i would probably run into more trouble tring to move my family around.
i work in the city and leave in the deep suburbs and i think more on how i would get home should a situation arise while i'm at work. the answer that i come up with is to "procure"a motorcycle...........

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

Well, if things get THAT bad the QuarterBoreCoâ„¢ LLC Pre-Packaged Disaster Kitâ„¢ EXTREME EDITION! goes into the back of the QuarterBoreMobile along with the QuarterWife with her Benelli riding (literally) shotgun. The cats go into the Kevlar Kat Karrierâ„¢ with supplemental Kat Scratch Fever Trauma Platesâ„¢ added.

Then it’s just four wheel-low until we can hit the clear highway. Then we point the nose east until we get to my father-in-laws place out in the central Cali Valley. He’s got 10 acres and is completely self-sufficient. Him being a hardcore endtimes believer, he is TOTALLY Rapture Ready.

Man was he disappointed when the world didn’t end when Y2K rolled around. He’s been eating his stockpiled MREs since then.

 

[JamisJockey]

magnus,
You're leaning towards some sort of end-of-the-world scenerio in your description. Thats probably a whole new ball of wax...most scenerios will be short term, like Hurricane Andrew.

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

most scenerios will be short term, like Hurricane Andrew

This is my point exactly- where I am my biggest concern is earthquakes. If/when we have a serious 7.5 of bigger the government of my fair city has flat out told us to '...be prepared to be without city and/or municipal services for three to four days.' That means very possibly no water and no police for that period.

ANd THAT is what I'm prepared for.

Mutants/Zombies/The Four Horseman/Godzilla... well, I guess my plans will have to be a bit more flexible.

 

[wingnutx]

I'm staying put. I'd rather have my 8" thick brick walls around me and all my guns and supplies at hand. Nowhere else to go, anyway.

I think I can hold off a small army of determined looters with no problem.

 

[Trigger]

I'd stay put. I don't run from much.

Interestingly I new a LEO who was so obssessed with a potential urban riot that he stock piled plywood in his basement so that he would could board up the windows. Installed two whole house fans in the attic one pulling, one pushing so he would get the tear gas out quickly if the bad guys shot it in the house. Steel doors and all! Had quite the set up.

 

[Mannlicher]

I am of the opinion, that blue helments are as about likely here as Space Aliens. Based on that, the worst I envision, is some civil unrest following a natural disaster, and here in Miami, that means Hurricanes. Andrew, some 10 years back is a good example.

If its not a good category 5, there is not much reason to leave. Even that won't be that much a danger as far inland as I am. All my plans are built around staying put.

 

[c_yeager]

Well, around here (western washington) i think a major earthquake is the most likely event that would cause major dissarray. Since i'll have already wethered the quake itself im not about to abandon what remains of my possesions to looters. I'll be standing on whatever i have left in the world (rubble though it may be) and keeping the jackels at bay. Not that i expect much looting in suburbia.

 

[Feanaro]

My house would be the perfect place to stay(on a steep hill) in the event of a none war like break down of social order, if it weren't for the dense Alabama forests all around. Poor LOS, not much in the way of easily stolen/scavenged supplies. If running water quit...

I'd probably load up the truck and drive to my Uncle Ronald's. Lotta open land and good water/food supply.

 

[LASur5r]

Outvoted

I started my daughter shooting officially when she was 12 and was allowed to shoot at an indoor range. She is now 17 and is my shooting buddy. So when the L.A. riots happened and then Y2K was almost here, I asked her opinion as to what she would do.
We both had our BOB's ready to go. My wife being more emotional said that we would stay and defend the house (she won with her one vote). So I spent my time before Y2K setting up trip wire and alarms, fortifying inside house defenses...set up two firing positions, etc., etc. We are on a hill and have a commanding view of most of the hills. If the folks got too close, we had an escape route to another hill where there is a water shed and a cache of our stuff...from there we can disappear to some non-populated areas and survive.

 

[tc300mag1]

Since i live in the city here i will split and head for my place up north where im not at citys control for food water etc etc and the looters.

Just think it would be smarter to head out to the country i think

 

[Schuey2002]

When the S hits the F, I'm Audi 5000!!

 

[Ironbarr]

No place like home.

'Sides, with only three highways out, two bridges and three tunnels, the ocean on the right, 1.5 vehicles per house, an area population of about 800,000, I'm pretty much a land-locked old sailor.

No - I'll just sit in the porch rocker, smoke my pipe, cradle my Homeland Defense Rifle (yes, I know where it is), and let the traffic jam(s) to themselves.

-Andy

 

[gulogulo1970]

Unless the angry mob burns you out, I can't see defending a car instead of a house. I can keep a whole lot more food, water, medicine and ammo in a house than in a car.

I've thought of reasons to leave my house. The only reason I can think of that would make me leave is if the Commache Peak Nuclear plant blows. If that happens and the wind is from the SW (which is the prevailing direction in north Texas during the summer) I'm gone. Short of that, I don't see the advantage of bugging out unless you have a farm or family/friends has property in the sticks.

 

[hillbilly]

I'm two miles down dirt roads in the Ozark Mountains. I'm already out of the urban areas.

I live where all the folks with Bug Out Bags are going to bug out to..

As such, we're prepared to repel boarders.

And thick forests are about 25 steps off the back porch should we need to flee for some reason.

Best set up, however, are the neighbors with whom we are friendly, and with whom we occassionally share some treat or something fun: Homemade cookies at holidays, range time, ammo reloads, etc.

Handy to have friends when the S H's The F.

hillbilly

 

[Ironbarr]

hillbilly...

If we could get Oleg to make us up some THR ID cards, might we expect a bit of cooperaton?

Not that I expect I'll ever be able to get through the parking lot on I64/I95 and other "I"'s.

-Andy

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

If we could get Oleg to make us up some THR ID cards, might we expect a bit of cooperaton?

Hey! I like that! The 'THR Mutual Assistance Network' or something. I know that there are at least seven or eight THR members in SF and considering the extremely left leaning of the populace, other than the PD (and I’m being generous here) we’re probably most well armed group in the city.

 

[mr_dove]

I think the decision to leave to stay varies a great deal depending on the circumstances, although most situations would call for the prudent person to stay put.

Civil unrest is the most likely SHTF scenario but I don't think its that dangerous to a well prepared person. The time to leave is when there's a poison cloud coming your way.

 

[grnzbra]

If you're in a major city, any thoughts of getting out are dilusional. Ask anyone who tried to get from Manhattan to New Jersey on 9/11. The tunnels were closed and the only public transportation going out was from Penn Station and all departures were canceled. If a train showed up, they decided on what to do with it. I saw one leave and it looked like one of those busses you see in movies about the outback of South America; packed solid with people who are willing to suffer any indignity just to get somewhere. The only reason it didn't have people on the roof was because of the overhead electrical power source.

Very similar thing happened Aug 14, 2003.

 

[JamisJockey]

Interesting responses, keep 'em comin'!
I primarily posted this for one reason: Plenty of 'bug out' posts, very few 'stay put' posts.
For most urbanites, bugging out is going to be a difficult proposition. Clogged roadways, freaked-out peole, and nervous authorities will all stand in your path.
I challenge those intent on bugging out to stop and think about why they would go and why they would stay.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

While reading Halffast's SHTF novel, "Lights Out" (http://mfco.net/surv/fiction/), I began to ponder the question.

I live in the `burbs. My house is surrounded by my neighbors' houses. I am dependent on city water, city electricity and city natural gas.

If the electricity went out and the gas stayed on, my generator would keep us cozy indefinitely. If the gas and electric went out, it would get cold in a hurry.

If the water went out, too, well, we would be stuck.

There is a lake a block away -- I suppose we could haul water by the bucketful and boil it on the gas grill, but, sheesh.

If the Mutant Nazi Zombie Bears come, the house is just way too vulnerable -- too many doors and windows, too many adjoining houses to hide behind.

We would have to leave, but where would we go?

(shakes head)

Hmmm...