Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,
Preparing for an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) has not been on the radar for many of us lately. As we focus on our financial prepping for the next inevitable economic downturn, it is often easy to forget that a few other threats still loom.
Because of that, I’ve put together this fairly simple guide to help you prepare for an EMP. This event or weapon creates a short burst of electromagnetic energy that can disrupt or even destroy electronic devices and systems. It can also potentially destroy the electrical power grid. An EMP can occur naturally, such as the pulse from a massive solar flare, but EMPs are also created by technological devices, typically nuclear weapons.
No Electricity? No Problem!
The first step is to make sure you can use your food without electricity. You’ll want a handheld can opener, a manual spice/coffee grinder, a solar oven, and a way to get water when the power is out. Getting water without electricity could take some creativity if you are on city water. If you have your own well, it’s a lot easier, however.
Bartering
If the grid goes down completely and you can’t use your debit or credit card, make sure you’ve got some items to barter with on hand. Precious metals are the obvious things that come to mind first, but you can also likely trade distilled liquor, ammunition that doesn’t fit your firearms, or personal hygiene items. You might be surprised what a personal will trade you for toilet paper in a pinch!
Lights
You’ll want to be able to see, you stock up on candles and flashlights and some extra batteries. while candles can be considered “EMP-proof”, they are dim, messy, and vulnerable to the wind. You could invest in a few oil lamps though. One suggestion is the lightweight Dietz Original lamp. This lamp works indoors and outdoors, through wind and rain. And at less than $22, it’ll burn for 11 hours. Don’t forget to grab some lamp oil too if this is the way you’d like to light up your space.
Self-Defense
Others may not be as prepared for an EMP (or any grid failure for that matter) so you should understand that it’s possible that you’ll have to defend yourself and your supplies. The obvious answer is to get a gun you’re comfortable using, but for those who are not certain they’d like to use a firearm, there are other options. The important thing to remember is that humans can become violent very quickly when they get hungry or feel like their survival is in question.
Those are a few simple ways to prepare for an EMP. In the event that vehicles no longer work and people cannot get food from the grocery store with their credit cards, civilization could quickly erode. Prepare by understanding what this country would look like when people are unable to use the electricity they have become dependent on and you’ll get an idea of what else you’ll need to survive and thrive if the unthinkable ever happens.
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With a nation wide EMP – 90% of the population will die – in about 1 month. Fuck the candles.
Look who’s best able to survive a famine…
Jesus! If it’s winter, keep her stuffed in a snow bank and feed the community throughout the winter.
Soylent Black
It’s all dark meat
Fat is white.
There will be similar chaos when the long-predicted earthquakes hit the west coast!
So, have a few cans of tuna and a basement full of liquor. Check.
You think EMP is a problem? Just wait until Yellowstone blows. Mammals may die off and the world could be taken over by insects. Of course, some would say it already has been.
I used to be really into prepping and planning to survive the dreaded EMP attack. I was very surprised to find out from my travels in Russia in the early 1990s that they had never planned to nuke the cities….instead they had planned all along to use EMP’s. Then the US population would die off and the Russians would walk in from Alaska and have a country with infrastructure intact.
No pesky radiation, nuclear winter, etc….
There is no way to prepare for such an event…..you have to live the post-SHTF life today……or you won’t be able to do so later. Prepping just means you die slower.
Now more recently there is debate as to the actual impacts of an all-out EMP attack…would all vehicles with electronic ignition be rendered useless…..not all that clear they would. Would the grid be taken down? Maybe but not certain that it would be ubiquitous. We have spent some money hardening the grid and stocking up on transformers etc (at least for the military facilities) so the restoration could happen. The standard claim with an EMP is that with the grid down and no spare parts and no ability to use mechanical means to restore the grid (bucket trucks are dead) the grid stays down. That is no seen as pretty unrealistic.
Still, an EMP would likely be enough of a nudge in the larger cities to create significant chaos particularly if combined with a massive hack of government/business networks….no FSA support…..Walmart goes dark along with the Welfare offices and even if power is restored in part the systems are dead.
So don’t delude yourself…..having some food, water filters, bandaids and bullets are really pretty meaningless when 100 hungry desperate free shit army gang bangers descend upon your neighborhood and start to strip it like locusts……..you can run or die.
You are wrong. Wanna know why Custer’s last stand was such a big and shocking event? Well, it is because it was the first time that organized white soldiers had ever lost to the “mob”. Such is the superiority of organization that Custer felt no fear in attacking an encampment of 10,000 people with 210 men. The only reason Custer lost was that his men, a third foreign born, panicked.
When the FSA appears, they will find a well organized adversary in me.
Hey good luck with that….numbers have a quality all their own..and BTW the “mob” will be equally or better armed and unlike you have zero regards for morality or life….yours or their expendable minions. A solo family is just going to get steamrolled….and you are not able to mount a successful defense of neighborhood…..though you could likely delay the horde and leave the area. Even the ex-urban and rural areas are at significant risk as the horde shows up at a time of their choosing and you will not be able to keep enough bodies ready to go (work/life needs to get done and go on). So bravado while admirable is functionally irrelevant.
Custer didn’t know what he didn’t know…..as to the panicky troopers well….how do you think prepper amateurs are going to fare? Living around many native American reservations, I can’t imagine anything more terrifying than a couple of thousand screaming braves who want to torture you to death…..except for a bunch of felons with firearms, numbers, and nothing to lose……get real man.
Actually Custer did know he was approaching many 1,000s of Sioux and others. He had been following the mass of Indians for days and was well aware of their numbers from the vast amount of flattened grasses and horse manure. His more then able scouts warned him that he would not see another day should he push on.
Some of his troopers(there were others besides the 7th nearby also under attack) did panic but they were no where near a majority. You’re correct, it was just numbers and Custer was on the short end.
The tribes here in MT are big bastards and extremely impressive physically. Crow, Blackfeet, Northern Cheyenne, etc. Most would have had 50-70lbs on Custer’s troopers and would have been incredibly scary…..it is equally impressive that our US cavalry (Blue Bellied Devils) were so effective with limited numbers. Modern Americans are so soft….even compared to the Depression-era/WWII population our modern citizens can hardly mow the lawn much less conduct an effective low-intensity conflict in their neighborhoods.
Reading a history written by a British officer of Colonial times… His horror and revulsion regarding scalping and barbaric native behaviors is clear. When the Brits engaged tribal warriors they made them promise to NOT SCALP LIVE PEOPLE.
The natives saw no reason NOT to scalp them. Maybe it had something to do with all those villages of theirs pillaged.and destroyed.
Again…is why the Greeks tossed the babies from the walls of Troy.
“Son Of The Morning Star” is a great book on Custer and everyone else at the battle. Reno and Benteen are quite interesting.
In the book “Custer’s Myth” there are accounts of whites fighting with the Natives against Custer, in particular one ex-Confederate.
Custer was greatly over-rated as an “Indian Fighter”.
Custer had one tactic in the Civil War and in his last fight: Charge hey diddle diddle right up the middle.
The boy general was personally fearless in the Civil War but as a tactician his aggression was his overwhelming impulse tactic, he had his headed to him (literally) when ‘Custer’s luck’ eventually ran out.
Your right Ginger that was a wonderful book!
TYPO ALERT!!!
Custer had one tactic in the Civil War and in his last fight: Charge hey diddle diddle right up the middle.
The boy general was personally fearless in the Civil War but as a tactician his aggression was his overwhelming impulse tactic, he had his head handed to him (literally) when ‘Custer’s luck’ eventually ran out.
Your right Ginger that was a wonderful book!
People clamoring for the WAR to start should Duke it out one on one.
Dude, most of the Founding Fathers were not born in the USA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZD4ezDbbu4
Imagine yourself on foot with these fine folks. I never did get the bugging out thing. if anything just die with some amount of honor. The point of diminishing returns happens when these idiots encounter armed people. big cities will be the worst place with limited gun ownership.
I realized they taught me all I needed to know in grade school. That in the event of a nuclear attack we should bend over and put our heads under our desks. That knowledge has served me well over the years, I now realize that resistance is futile and I shall be the one climbing into the FEMA camp/s
Get away from the cities.
Yeah, if any of those big transformers blow it would take years to get them built and sent over from China. Doomsday fer shurr
Your microwave oven is a good “container” for resisting EMPs
Are industrial-sized microwave ovens sold by Amazon?
Want to get an idea of what you will really be facing after an EMP…and what you will need to do to prepare? If you haven’t already read: One Second After:
“In One Second After, New York Times bestselling author William R. Forstchen brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real. A story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, that sends America back to the Dark Ages. A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) . . . that may already be in the hands of our enemies.
Months before publication, One Second After was cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read. It has been discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at a weapon and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. It is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warned could shatter America. In the tradition of On the Beach, Fail Safe and Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future . . . and our end.”
Even this book is a romanticized/sanitized version of reality…..every small cut is potentially a lethal wound…..the strong will prey on the weak…..
I didn’t think it was romanticized. The situation the protagonist was in was some deep shit. Even the nasties were realistic.
That was the point I was making….One Second After is incredibly popular because of its gritty realism….diabetic kids dying, betrayal by neighbors, military becoming warlords etc. I am simply suggesting that even in this level of realism will pale in comparison to the actual situation where we lose power, modern conveniences, access to professional medical treatments (x-Rays, MRI, ventilators, auto-claves etc) as well as ready access to food and clean water all in a swirling milieu of barbarity on a unfettered basis.
Sure communities will pull together but after three weeks without food humans start resorting to cannibalism……people sell themselves and their kids…..and on and on….
I’d never sell myself – although I might give myself away.
Martel, with all due respect for your sage and well-founded cynicism, I want to offer an observation, which you may already agree with, having qualified some communities as having some potential.
I glanced at, but did not read, the post about Government/Walmart redistribution in case of TEOTWAWKI or something. I really do have a lot of outside work to do here and, believe it or not, find connection to the earth and soil just about the best way to prepare for anything.
So, your comment about some communities may be directed at the true rural towns and small cities across the country or it may not.
The personal experiences related here on TBP regarding things seen during travels across this country recently made me think about what has changed around me the most. (The man from down under shares about the US and Europe when he visits, and others, including BB, keep us updated on various things across the country as they witness them and I find their perspectives offered here valuable. I like to look through your eyes at the changes in landscapes and cities across the country and even, the world.
What struck me most profoundly during my crazy coonskin crosscountry carousel ride this summer was how much every city seems to be SPRAWLING and CONDENSING all at the same time. An EMP would be disastrous no matter how prepared you are.
But, out here in the country, where my nearest neighbor is a quarter mile away, such an event seems to be less threatening. The ability of small communities to form a defensive posture around natural geographic boundaries (ahem, rivers and mountain ridges) is obvious to some of us. We think we could form a true remnant and make a difference. Perhaps we are naive, but we do not see the impossible when the possible still lives.
That is why we are here.
So, do you think there is hope for a rebirth of the pioneer spirit?
If not?
Cest Le Vie…
Great novel.
I’ve met and have talked with Bill Forstchen a few times. I think the last time was around 2004. We were discussing his “outside class” progress (classes he taught on his own time and not attributable to Montreat Anderson College for course hours) on the subject of WW2. I did not attend those classes.
As per usual, we soon ended up discussing other topics. At that time I was surprised to hear him admit that of all Presidents of the US, he thought Lincoln as far superior in all ways and decisions.
As I recall, he was in touch with Gingrich discussing prospective new book collaborations.
I’ve always wondered if he bought the plane he was looking at. It was a Marquart Charger biplane.
I am a nuclear professional. I am currently researching and wtiting the facts on EMP waves. No such thing as an EMP weapon beyond small local chemical powered ones. Requires a smaller thin metal nuclear bomb without the fusion/thermo component which is known to counter the intensity of the EMP. Of the FIVE major impacts the EMP does not kill living animals or people. The power grid is not all connected. And for last 6 yrs critical backup components are being stockpiled by private utilities which ALL ARE PRIVATE. Also according to the most accepted scientific data on the impacts of nuclear bombs our power grid is the MOST. Resistant to EMP from nuclear blast. WHY? Because there are three EMP waves to address. Lightning solar flares and a nuclear EMP. All three enormous energy two of which hit the grid daily. Hype and more hype. I am thinking an attic rolled out material could protect an entire house, apartment complex etc. It is ONE fastly deminishing wave. Check out EPRI and note their science focus. What is not being said commonly is withheld to deceive the public and pad pockets of politicians selling out Americans. The books are much like Left Behind for Christians who are too lazy to study their Bibles to determine it is unbiblical and a fiction movie. Just like the notion commercial reactors can become a nuclear bomb. So is the notion that there are massive EMP weapons that threaten all of us. God Bless.
Cele,
I’m not a nuclear professional…but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last week!
Your post and Martel’s Hammer’s are the ying and the yang on this thread/threat.
I hope you are correct (that science is so far over my head I may have to ask .22 for the correct Mathis link to remind me there are no real nucular threats) but from my view as a long term practicing liver and self-deliver of the Self Sufficiency, Homesteading, Prepper, Government kiss my Mick/Wop Ass Movement (we halfbreeds call it the M.W.A.M.)…getting ready to survive an EMP has only enhanced my ability to sleep soundly with no need for pills, or booze (although I am a happy hour – or two – kinda guy) as preparing for it does make one ready for just about everything.
So there is always that?
Weak.
I believe the EMP data is flawed. I had read the science behind it and most of the data taken as gospel is based on power stations in Hawaii during nuclear testing.
The researchers who analyzed the data found that many of the burnt out street lights and substation issues existed before the detonation but we’re attributed to it afterward. Maybe to get government $ like Puerto Rico using the hurricane for their decrepit system?
EMP article…
DPS,
I’m not looking to argue because I know nothing about EMP but 1300 feet is hardly “high altitude”. The solar wind while usually far less energetic could in the right scenario wreak havoc. Better to have some preps along those lines because of storms, tornadoes, earthquakes…even if EMPs are BS
Cooking and heating water for “sterilization”, bathing, washing, etc can be critical without any power. I’ve had a sun oven for years and this one is awesome. I recently bought the silverfire stove. Bring it on…
https://www.silverfire.us
https://www.sunoven.com
Thanks…looks right up my alley!
You know what they say, one is none…three your done.
I’ve been thinking (scary huh?) about what type of future crisis we are facing.
I boiled it down to two paths, government or nature induced.
If government induced, economic or civil war, I’m thinking since they control the timing, it won’t happen until 6 weeks after they go for hardware confiscation; as it will be easier to convince the masses to give up their firearms if there is not a crisis going on.
If nature induced, cosmic or geological, the government will not be in control of that scenario, which means those who have prepared will be able to outlive the unprepared and the government will be in no position to conquer and take over; this will be for those who have prepared, the best position to rebuild apart from big brother having a hand in it.
So as weird as it sounds, it would be better to face a natural calamity, rather than a government induced calamity, as surviving a natural disaster would be more in our favor than facing a coming government crackdown on dissenters, before they engineer a crashing world disaster they would eventually control.
Not Sure,
Sound reasoning…deep shit timing/planning control vs. unpredictable deep shit.
Then there is the reality of both happening in predicted and detailed sequences…I’d call that unfulfilled Bible prophecy coming to a planet near you.
Thanks for the reply, I sometimes wonder if I’m writing to myself if I post late at the end of a long thread.
Maybe it is good to note a final thought; it really doesn’t matter which door we get in the end, for all doors end in the eternal kingdom of our Savior and King Jesus!