The Very First Thing

[CharlesHarris]

When an event is evolving is not the time to make last-minute purchases or trying to reach family members on the public telephone network, which will likely be jammed beyond its carrying capacity with everyone trying to call at once. This is exactly what happened in DC and NYC on 9/11.

Everyone in the family needs to know what the triggers are and what the plan is. If your trigger trips, everybody executes the plan and there is no need to muck things up trying to stop by the grocery store to pick up the last bog roll on the way home.

If you don't already have food storage in your home for at least a month, and sufficient supplies, including some cash to get by for a few weeks to a month when all the cash point machines stop working, when the excrement is sucked into the propeller and blown over the aircraft, is a bit late to catch up.

Basic to our family plan is a nearby meeting place in the neighborhood, where everyone gathers to count noses after a fire, etc. We have made arrangements with a neighbor within walking distance for a safe place for people to go and wait. In town nearby we have a designated meeting place at our church, which serves as our community shelter and soup kitchen. I volunteer there on Wednesdays to help cook, serve meals, clean up and get to know others in my community. It is a good place to catch up on local news and intel, as several serving military personnel, law enforcement and public health people are church members who support the program and participate on their own time, unofficially.

If our entire community were affected and we had to evacuate, we have prior arrangements made with friends in an adjacent state about an hour's drive away. Our home would be a potential evacuation point for them as well. We have established, Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency plans, routes and locations, which have been pre-scouted and actually driven and walked or biked.

Backup communications are important. While everyone has a mobile phone, vehicles are equipped with 2-meter band amateur radio, which provides state-wide coverage using established repeater networks, and longer range capability using voice over Internet protocols, IF the internet is working. If repeater systems were off-line and the Internet non-functioning, the mobile radios are reliable for 5-25 miles in direct unit-to-unit simplex, depending upon terrain. Everyone also has a portable hand-held 2-meter radio which can access the repeater systems, or provide short-range local area communications without them. There are other radio options which don't require a licence.

In the UK you have PMR446 which is a low-powered UHF radio service for use by small businesses, family farms and the general public. I believe you also have low-band CB radio in the 27 Mhz band, which is another viable option. While both are relatively short range, being able to communicate within your area of operations is vital.