Survival Scout Tips
2018 Disasters in Review, How to Prepare for 2019
At the end of last year, I referred to 2017 as a monolithic disaster year. From Hurricane Maria to Southern California wildfires, we saw an extraordinary amount of damage and chaos due to a wide range of disasters. 2018 has definitely challenged 2017 for that title. With the recent California...
How to Prepare in the Event of a Volcanic Eruption
Whether you realize it or not, there are volcanoes everywhere. In fact, the American Geosciences Institute tells us that there are 169 active volcanoes in the U.S. alone. To put that in perspective, a 10th of the world's population lives within the potential footprint of volcanoes—with more than 800 million...
5 Hurricane Preparedness Lessons from History
Carolinas Face Flooding After Hurricane Florence Lumbers Through States (Photo by U.S. Air Force via Getty Images) As Hurricane Florence made landfall on the east coast of the United States, we’ve been reminded that hurricane preparedness is a must. On average, about five hurricanes strike the United States coastline every...
The Science Behind Solar Flares and the Grid
When you hear the term “natural disaster,” phenomenon such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes may be the first things to come to mind. However, natural disasters originating beyond our Earth’s atmosphere also have the potential to disrupt life as we know it. For example, a handful of solar flares over...
Rolling Brownouts Are Back as Emergency Plans Kick In
We call them natural disasters. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, etc. Mother nature cooks ‘em up and tosses ‘em at us. We either get out of the way or get sucked into their destruction. But wildfires? These are different. Some wildfires are natural disasters. When dry thunderstorms produce lightning without rain that...
Most-Read Preparedness Stories of 2018
While we’re only halfway through 2018, this volatile year has already seen significant developments that seriously affect folks like us who prepare. #1: FEMA Began on a Low Note – And Kept Repeating It The year started out with a bold proclamation from FEMA: “FEMA is broke. The system is...
Summer's Not Official Yet – But Crises are Already Boiling
Near Boiling: Warning Signs of a Volatile Summer Thousands of Tremors – A Prelude to What? A few weeks back, we did our first in-depth analysis on earthquake preparedness. You can read that article here. One of the key points about earthquakes is that they provide us with very little...
A Primer on Volcano Preparedness
A Primer on Volcano Preparedness On Thursday, May 3rd 2018, lava and volcanic steam found it’s way through a vent in the eastern flank of Kilauea, endangering the homes and lives of those living on Hawaii’s Big Island. Leading up to this event, Hawaii experienced hundreds of earthquakes, some a...
Out In The Ocean & Deep In The Earth, Danger Lurks
Out In The Ocean & Deep In The Earth, Danger Lurks 2017 was one of the most devastating hurricane seasons on record. It was the most expensive one in U.S. history – estimates are north of $200 billion over 17 named storms. We covered the stories of survival and loss...
Special Report: Building a Culture of Preparedness
Building a Culture of Preparedness In FEMA's 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, recently published and outlined in comments to the House Homeland Security Committee – the first strategic goal reads: "building a culture of preparedness." Seeing this intrigued me. As most in the prepper community, I've been skeptical of FEMA for some...
30 Million FEMA Meals Never Delivered - Urgent Bulletin to Prepare
"Do not ship another meal.Your contract is terminated." This was the simple, two-line email a rep from FEMA sent to Tiffany Brown, owner and sole operator of Tribute Contracting. Shortly after Hurricane Maria relief efforts were underway, Tribute Contracting was awarded a FEMA contract to deliver 30 million meals to...
More Volatility Means Increased Urgency to Prepare
More volatility means Increased urgency to prepare 2017 - A Monolithic Natural Disaster Year 2017 was a record year for natural disasters. According to an October report from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), we experienced 15 billion-dollar disasters from January through September. This number is calculated to include...