Have An
Evacuation Plan
Below is an exact copy of an e-mail a
friend sent to me. It's real, written in dialogue
form, of the talk he had with his family about their
evacuation plan in case of an EMP attack or virtually any
other type of emergency. I did not write this, nor
did I change a word. If you do not have a family
evacuation plan, what follows will give you the
guidelines you need for an evacuation plan for family
members within a fixed location.
If you have family spread over a
considerable distance, more planning will have to be
done. I may have to drive to Northern California to
bring back our daughter and granddaughter, so I have
printed maps of all the side routes, logging roads, etc,
to avoid driving in the Interstate freeway. I also
have enough fuel in 5 gallon cans to make it all the way
there and back. None of the service stations would be
working (electric pumps from underground tanks?), and I
would not want to go near them in any case because the
"local authorities" would be guarding that fuel for their
own use.
Doubt the need for these plans? Many
nations are preparing for a paralyzing EMP first strike! The latest word -
May 27, 2005 - is that Iran
is now equipped for an atomic weapon, news that
reportedly stunned President Bush. The
"possibility" has now turned into a "probability," not
if, but when we get hit with a terrorist EMP bomb.
Miles
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Message from a friend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last night we had a "family meeting",
primarily to discuss EMP with our teen aged children. I
started with a brief history of nuclear weapons, the cold
war and ICBM's. Then proliferation and the current
religious war that we are calling a war on terrorism.
And, what could happen if a long list of enemies were
able to pull off an air burst and resultant EMP. We
pointed out that the odds of it happening are not great
but the repercussions would be huge as it would end our
society as we know it and therefore very tempting to
those who hate us. And actually would not be that
difficult to pull off. So, a prudent person would have a
plan.
"So, what s the plan", daughter asked. Bottom line is the
entire family has to get home (home base).
Step one is a threat assessment. Most likely such an
attack would occur during a weekday and relatively early
on the west coast (where we live) (meaning mid-morning to
mid-afternoon attack in the Midwest or east coast so
earlier our time). Wherever you are these days, if the
power goes out you have to investigate. First, check to
see if phones are working, both Cell and land line. Start
calling people you know to see if their power is out. If
your power goes out but the phone is working and you call
grandpa and their power is on, its no big deal. Also, go
outside and look around, if you can see streetlights (or
anything electric) functioning five blocks away, no big
deal.
No power and no phones, the alert level goes up a notch.
Next you need to see if cars are working as an EMP pulse
would likely make most cars inoperable, some simply dead
in the middle of the road. Some will work but most will
not. At that point daughter asked "which cars will
work?". Mostly older vehicles and especially diesel
vehicles. I told her. To which she replied, "why don't we
have any of those?". We have other plans I told her.
"Like what?" First we ground all our vehicles when parked
and second our garage is mostly metal and is grounded
also.
Okay, no power, no phones, cars not working, its an oh
sh*t situation and time to act. If you are at school you
have to get out of there and get to my office pronto
which will be our staging area. The teachers might not
want you to leave but I don t care. Tell them whatever
and don t worry about getting in trouble. If you leave
and it is not a major problem I will take the blame. It
is two miles from school to my office, your in good shape
so you should be able to make it in 20 minutes or less.
Here is a map of the route I want you to use and a key to
the office. If I am out and you are the first one there
just lock yourself in and wait for the rest of the family
to arrive.
The next day I drove the route I wanted them to take. To
which daughter asked, "why did you choose this route, we
never drive this way?" (questions questions!) Two
reasons, first it is off the main arterials on
residential streets which will be safer and second there
is a lot of shade in case its hot. She liked that. But
the main point is that if our vehicles are working and we
come looking for you we have to know exactly where to
look!
Now, everyone is at the office, step two. It is 14 miles
from office to home. In the office basement there are
bicycles for everyone (purchased at pawn shops for a
song, little oil and tune up and they will do the job), a
backpack with spare tubes, pump, tools, water, energy
bars and comfortable shoes. I described the route we will
take and explained we should have no trouble making it
home in less than two hours given there is some
significant elevation gain.
What if you are working from home and we are in town? ,
she asked. The simplest scenario is if we are all at our
normal work/school locations, we all know what to do. Yet
there are a multitude of scenarios where we would not all
be able to meet at the office in a timely fashion. What
do we do then, its not like we can call each other.
That s what our radios are for. What radios? Do you
remember those little walkie-talkies we take to the mall
and Disney Land (FRS), Yes. Well I bought four radios
like those that are high powered GMRS).
They say their rated for 5 to 8 miles range yet I have
tested them and they will work much farther than that. I
climbed to the top of the hill above our house and I was
able to have a very clear conversation with you grampa at
his house (over 15 miles as the crow flies). That s
crazy , she said. They work on a principal of line of
sight though so the more in the open you are the better
they work. I have put the four radios in small Faraday
cages so they will still work after the EMP. There is one
in the office basement, One in my truck, one at moms work
and one at home. Inside each box is two sets of
batteries, a head set and instructions as to the channels
we will use and power settings. With these we should be
able to communicate. At my office, they will work best if
you go up on the roof and at home we will have to climb
up on the hill.
Last thing, there is also a small radio in my desk that
is EMP protected. It gets AM/FM and Short Wave stations.
The first person there opens it and checks for news. If
you girls have to travel home alone the .357 S&W snub
nose revolver is also in my desk. Wear it inside your
waste belt in the small of your back like we have
practiced. The Sigg 9mm with two 15 rd magazines is in
the fanny pack which stays in the SUV, Okay? Sounds like
a good plan, Can we have some Ice Cream? Sure
