Any list you make shows your priorities, and hopefully this list will help establish some in your survival planning!

by Leon Pantenburg

The idea behind SurvivalCommonSense.com started several years ago. As a journalist, I was often on the scene of natural disasters, catastrophes, accidents and search and rescue missions. My observations lead me to this premise: Survival is mostly psychological.

This is certainly no groundbreaking revelation on my part!

“The best survival tool is between your ears,” claims wilderness survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt. This idea is further reinforced by Cody Lundin, another wilderness and urban survival expert, who maintains that 90 percent of survival in any situation is psychological.

One goal of  SurvivalCommonSense.com is to help you develop the survival mindset that will keep you alive. So, let’s start with the baseline knowledge of what happens to people, mentally, in a survival situation. Until you know what might happen in your mind, or in the heads of the people around you, there’s no way to come up with a plan to survive.

With a survival mindset, you can survive anything. Without one, you won’t!

These five are among my favorite survival psychology books, and they deserve a place among your prepper or urban or wilderness survival tools. Here’s some good choices to get you started on creating your survival library:

Union prisoners are seen crowding near the main gate of Andersonville Civil War Prison. The prisoners had some of the psychological reactions anybody would have in an emergency!

“Survival Psychology” by John Leach

Some 20-odd years before the rash of “reality” or “survivor” shows, or anybody had ever heard of Les Stroud or Bear Grylls,  psychological studies resulted in a book which documented people’s  reactions  in emergency situations.

“Survival Psychology” by John Leach, PhD, of the University of Lancaster, England, was a groundbreaking study, that today is a reference source for many wilderness and urban survival bestsellers. If some of Leach’s writing or thoughts sound familiar, it is because you’ve read or heard them before!

Leach studied survivors’ reactions, including those of Union prisoners at the horrific Andersonville prison during the Civil War;  to shipwreck survivors; to people who made it through plane crashes and natural disasters.

Distilled down to one sentence, here’s what Leach found: Psychological responses to emergencies follow a pattern.

Survival situations bring out a variety of reactions – including some that make the situation worse. Leach’s studies show that only 10 to 15 percent of any group involved in any emergency will react appropriately. Another 10 to 15 percent will behave totally inappropriately and the remaining 70 to 80 percent will need to be told what to do. The most common reaction at the onset of an emergency is disbelief and denial.

“Survival Psychology” is out-of-print, as far as I know. But I’ve had no trouble getting a copy through the local inter-library loan program. Your library probably has a similar program, so check out Leach’s book. Survival Psychology

"I Sit and I Stay" is a practical book about how to keep your children safe if they get lost in the outdoors.

“I Sit and Stay: A Survival Guide for Kids (and parents, too!)” by Leah L. Waarvik

Kids need to be outside. They need to be taking advantage of our great outdoors as opposed to vegetating in front of computer or TV screens. But anyone who goes into wilderness areas needs to do so safely, and  “I Sit and Stay” teaches your children what to do if they get lost.

Author Leah Waarvik is a search-and-rescue professional who works as part of a canine team to find missing people in the wilderness. She wrote “I Sit and Stay” after hearing stories of children who were lost and unprepared. The title says it all: Teach your lost children to stay in one place and await rescue.

Written in interesting, easy-to-understand terms, the lesson of staying-put is taught through the characters of Emma and Koa, two wilderness search-and-rescue dogs. The book also mentions and discusses three simple tools that every child (I say every person, regardless of age!) should be taught to use and carry on every outdoor excursion:

• Whistle: Always carry one on a string around your neck when hiking or camping. The child should be taught that if they get lost, they sit and blow. Rescue Howler Whistle by Adventure Medical Kits
• A pocket-sized mirror: Use this to signal search aircraft or other people. Ultimate Survival Technologies 2×3 StarFlash Emergency Signal Mirror
• A large garbage bag: With training this is to be used as a shelter. (My two cents worth is that the bag should be bright yellow or orange to aid in being found.)

After being taught how to use these items, the child should also be trained to carry these survival tools in their pockets or pack. Pockets are probably the best, since a child will probably lose their backpack before their pants! Survival Kit for I Sit and Stay A Survival Guide for Kids and Parents Too!

“The Survivors Club” by Ben Sherwood

Most of us can’t take all the survival field classes and seminars we’d like to, and only a fool would create a real emergency to see how he might react!

Author Ben Sherwood interviewed people who have survived everything from the World War II Holocaust to the Twin Towers tragedy on 9/11. He was seeking a common ground, a kind of definition, about why some people survive catastrophes, disasters, and emergency situations and why others don’t.

His conclusion, after extensive research, is that the most important part of survival is in your mind. And – no surprise here – you must develop a survival mindset.

So where do you begin?

According to the U.S. military, you must first decide you will survive.  The US Army Field Survival Manual, in their official instruction for how to stay alive in hostile environments, offers this advice on the very first pages:

“Without the will to survive, your chances of surviving are greatly diminished,” the book states. US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76 , Illustrated

The next step to surviving is to accept that whatever is happening to you is not unique. We all want to think we’re special, Sherwood, writes, but any survival situation will cause people to react in established behavior patterns. The sooner you get over being incredulous, the sooner you can start reacting in a positive way and come up with a plan.

Then, a survivor must do something. The most common reaction, regardless of the circumstances, is to do nothing, hang tight and wait for someone else to react first, or tell them what to do.

But surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of panic attacks during an emergency. Researchers examining crises as disparate as the WWII London Blitz and the attacks of Sept 11 found people rarely lose total control and run around mindlessly. Rather, most just freeze until they’re told what to do.

So we keep reading “The Survivors Club,” because we all want to know the secret, the one thing that can make a difference between living and dying.

What is the secret of survival? Sherwood asked Ray Smith, former Marine Drill Instructor, with 27 years on active duty in the Navy as a survival instructor. Smith is the author of  How to Survive on Land and Sea. Smith’s answer is simple.

“Faith in God,” Smith says “It’s a major factor in all survival scenarios.”

“Man’s Search For Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl

I first ran into the writings of Viktor Frankl, eminent psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, when I was in graduate school. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning remains one of my favorite books. So it was no surprise to me that Frankl was mentioned in The Survivors Club. Frankl developed a survival mindset to get through Auschwitz.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:” Frankl observed, “The last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Purpose gives you the why – the meaning and mission – in your life. It also gives you the power to survive.

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Lawrence Gonzales

I read “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, And Why”  in a few marathon sessions. The fast-paced accounts of real life survival situations are mesmerizing. It’s a good survival mindset read and I couldn’t help wondering what I might do in some of the situations.

In the book, Gonzales mentions 12 points that disaster survivors seemed to have in common.  These points are definitely worth reading and thinking about, even if you don’t get anything else out of the book.

1. Perceive, believe: If there is any denial, it is counterbalanced by a solid belief in the clear evidence of their senses. In other words, survivors establish a survival mindset immediately. They see opportunity, even good, in their situation.
2. Stay calm (use humor, use fear to focus) In the initial crisis, survivors use fear, and aren’t ruled by it.
3. Think/analyze/plan: Survivors quickly organize, set up small manageable tasks. In other words, they’re using the STOP tool.
4. Take correct decisive action: Survivors were able to convert thoughts to action. They deal with what they can from moment to moment, hour to hour.
5. Celebrate successes: This is important to maintaining motivation and avoiding hopelessness.
6. Count you blessings: Be grateful you’re alive.
7. Play: Sing, play mind games, recite poetry, count things etc.
8. See the beauty: Survivors are attuned to the wonder of the world.
9. Believe you will succeed: All the above practices lead to the point where survivors become convinced they will prevail.
10. Surrender: Let go of your fear of dying. This is the type of thinking John Leach calls: “resignation without giving up. It is survival by surrender.”
11. Do whatever is necessary: Survivors know their abilities and don’t over or under estimate them. They believe anything is possible and act accordingly.
12. Never give up: There is always one more thing you can do.

"The Unthinkable" is a thought-provoking look at what happens during emergencies, before help arrives.

“The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why”  by Amanda Ripley

Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, writes about the human psychological reaction to disasters. Ripley covered some of the most devastating disasters of our time, and retraces how people reacted. She interviews leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists and other disaster experts. She comes up with the stunning inadequacies of many of our evolutionary responses.

Ripley’s book is not about disaster recovery: It’s about what happens in the midst  of one – before emergency personnel arrive and structure is imposed on the loss. Ripley describes a “survival arc” everyone must travel to get from danger to safety.

If you’ve ever thought about a disaster and possible reactions to it, then you’re on the right track. Ripley starts the survival arc process with the thought “I wonder what I would do if…”

Here’s the survival arc progression, according to Ripley, of a typical reaction to a disaster situation:

Denial: This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening to me.

Deliberation: We know something is terribly wrong, but don’t know what to do about it.

The Decisive Moment: You’ve accepted that you are in danger, deliberated the options and now it is time to take action.

Anybody with a “Be Prepared” mentality hopefully moves quickly through the initial denial phase. We’ll also hope that you have read and studied survival techniques so you will be able to deliberate effectively and move on to the decisive moment phase.

But even if you think you’re prepared mentally for surviving a disaster,  “Unthinkable” is a book you need to read.  You must understand what goes on in your head during a disaster before you can use your tools. You’ll need information and techniques to respond correctly.

Some of that information can come from “The Unthinkable.” The book’s information is a powerful survival tool.

For more survival book reviews,  click here.

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Suppose that significant other isn’t into preparedness. What is the first thing to do to get them thinking about the possibility about the “unthinkable” happening?

Hand them a copy of this book.

Amanda Ripley’s “The Unthinkable” is not about disaster recovery: It’s about what happens in the midst  of one – before emergency personnel arrive and structure is imposed on the loss. It’s about the human reaction to disaster and how you should act if you want to survive.

by Leon Pantenburg

Survival Book Review: The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why

By Amanda Ripley

This is a  fact: Nine of 10 Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquake, tornado, hurricanes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow you may have to make significant decisions to save yourself and/or your family. Or maybe you could have to make those decisions before you finish reading this!

Most Americans live in some area with great potential for a natural disaster to occur.

It may be in an urban or  wilderness survival situation. Or you may have run to the grocery store for a gallon of milk when the earthquake or tornado hits.

Regardless of where or when the incident occurs, you will have to take decisive actions to survive.

But the overwhelming response, of the great majority of people, to that concept is something along the lines of:…I, personally, will not be affected by any of those emergencies…. And even if a disaster happens, it somehow won’t threaten or engulf  me or my family… But if it does, there’s nothing I can do anyway, so there is no need to prepare…

This is denial. If that continues to be part of your mindset, then you have just gotten into the first phase of a deadly, downward behavior progression that could cost your life.

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, writes about the human psychological reaction to disasters. Ripley covered some of the most devastating disasters of our time, and retraces how people reacted. She interviews leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists and other disaster experts. She comes up with the stunning inadequacies of many of our evolutionary responses.

Ripley’s book is not about disaster recovery: It’s about what happens in the midst  of one – before emergency personnel arrive and structure is imposed on the loss.

Ripley describes a “survival arc” everyone must travel to get from danger to safety. The survival arc’s three chronological phases of denial, deliberation and the decisive moment make up the structure of the book.

And while the path to survival may resemble a roller coaster rather than an arc, Ripley writes, it’s rare that anyone gets through a disaster without passing through these main stages at least once.

If you’ve ever thought about a disaster and possible reactions to it, then you’re on the right track. Ripley starts the survival arc process with the thought “I wonder what I would do if…”

Prepare mentally before hand, so when a disaster does occur you'll have a plan of action.

Here’s the survival arc progression, according to Ripley, of a typical reaction to a disaster situation:

Denial: This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening to me. It’s all a bad dream. I’m imagining this. In a moment everything will be all right.

Denial is the most insidious fear response of all.“The more I learned, the more denial seemed to matter all the time, even long before the disaster, on days that passed without incident,” Ripley writes. Denial can manifest itself in delay.  Or it can cause people to freeze or become immobile in disbelief. Many, if not most, people shut down in a crisis, quite the opposite of panic. Denial can paralyze you.

Deliberation: We know something is terribly wrong, but don’t know what to do about it. How do you decide?

The first thing is the realization that nothing is normal. We all think and perceive things differently. We become, Ripley claims, superheros with learning disabilities. At this point, you need to have some training, or prior “What If?” planning  to fall back on. The overwhelming tendency will be for your mind to go blank, and you won’t have clue on what to do next. Let’s hope you learned the STOP mindset  exercise. (See story link below).

Your brain may be like the computer that has lost all its connections. Remember STOP as one of those vital links. Embed the acronym, and how to use it, into your psyche. To get through the deliberation phase and on to the decisive moment, you will have had to rely on your survival mindset and prior training.

The Decisive Moment: You’ve accepted that you are in danger, deliberated the options and
now it is time to make a plan to do something. If you’re in a group, about 75 to 80 percent of the crowd will do nothing, according to John Leach in “Survival Psychology.” Another 10 to 15 percent will do the wrong thing, and only about 10 percent will make the right decisions. And these people who react appropriately will do so because of previous training.

Anybody with a “Be Prepared” mentality hopefully moves quickly through the initial denial phase. We’ll also hope that you have read and studied survival techniques so you will be able to deliberate effectively and move on to the decisive moment phase. But even if you think you’re prepared mentally for surviving a disaster,  “Unthinkable” is a book you need to read.

The book  is not about stockpiling food, tools, weapons or prepping. You must understand what goes on in your head during a disaster before you can use your tools. You’ll need information and techniques to respond correctly. Some of that information can come from “The Unthinkable.”

The book’s information is a powerful survival tool. It should be in your prepper or survival library.

“This awful catastrophe is not the end but the beginning. History does not end so. It is the way its chapters open.” St. Augustine.

Click here to listen to earthquake expert geologist James Roddey on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why

For other great survival book reads, click here.

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Sometimes it takes a tragedy to focus attention on preparedness and wilderness survival.

Am Altoids tin survival kit is a valuable survival tool, but it does not have everything you need!

by Leon Pantenburg

The idea behind the Survival CommonSense.com Altoids Tin Survival kit started after two fatalities in Central Oregon in late 2006.

In November, veteran snowmobiler Roger Rouse, 53, of Bend, died of hypothermia in Deschutes National Forest, about 10 miles west of Bend. He and his son had intended to only be out for a morning ride when a fierce snowstorm overwhelmed them. (To read the complete story, click here.)

Less than a month later, in December 2006, Californian James Kim, 35, died in the Rogue River Wilderness after leaving his wife and children to get help. The family car was stuck in snow on a remote road. (To see Larry King’s coverage of  the Kim tragedy, click here.)

Shortly after the Kim tragedy, The editors of The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon, asked me to put together a practical winter survival guide.

“Talk to (Deschutes County) Search and Rescue, find out what the trends are, and what gear people need to take with them,” editors said. “Then, come up with a practical survival kit for our readers, based on the experts’ recommendations. This is an investigative assignment. Check out all sources, and test everything.”

The Altoids tin kit is a small piece of that project, and it is by no means all you should carry for survival!!! But you need to have something in your pockets, in the event you are separated from your gear.

This keyring kit is one way to keep some of the basic survival tools with you at all times. On the keyring: LED flashlight, fingernail clippers, whistle, Boy Scout Hot Spark firemaker and Classic Swiss Army knife. The other knife rides in a pouch on my belt, wherever it is legal.

I couldn’t find a pocket-sized commercial survival kit that was worth a damn. In some, the quality of gear was pathetic. In others, unnecessary or cheap filler items were included to flesh out the list of “necessities.”

One kit, I found at the local sporting goods box store is called “The Essentials Survival Can” and retails for $4.99. The components are: one book of “waterproof” matches; three feet of duct tape, four fish hooks, a whistle, and emergency cord.

In January, 2007, I asked the late Dr. Jim Grenfell of Bend to help develop a survival kit that would fit into a standard Altoids mint tin. This pocket kit would be limited in size to an Altoids tin, and weigh about five ounces. (That’s about what an iPod weighs, or my wallet, depending on which side of payday we’re on!)

An incessant tinker, Grenfell was also an Air Force combat veteran and graduate of three Air Force wilderness survival schools. I made an Altoid kit, too, and for the next several months, we added and subtracted gear, and tested, researched and refined the final kits.

Once the kit was completed, two veteran outdoorsmen took the prototype on a backpacking trip for final testing. Their input lead to further refinement. (To read their review, click here.)

The final kit is not cheap to make. It will cost between $50 to $60, depending on the quality of the materials. But I have several, and one rides in my coat or hip pocket at all times.

Carry your Altoids survival kit in a waterproof container for added security.

Here’s the list of what you need:

• Altoids tin

• Five pieces of duct tape, about 2-1/2 to 3 inches long, layered on top and bottom.

• Rubber bands cut out of bicycle tube. They can be used for firestarter, as well as keeping the Altoids tin cover shut.

These items go inside:

1. 12-inch square of aluminum foil

2. Bicycle tube rubber bands on outside of container

3. Two alcohol prep pads

4. Petroleum jelly: use for medical needs, and in conjunction with jute twine and flint stick for fire-making

5. Compass

6. Emergency whistle

7. Boy Scout Hot Spark wrapped in 18 inches of jute twine. Used with petroleum jelly and item 13 for fire-making

8. LED flashlight

9. Glover’s needle and 2 feet of dental floss

10. Signal mirror

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11. 6 feet of seine twine

12. Pills: aspirin, Imodium, Benadryl, water purification

13. Knife — (Swiss Army Classic: contains knife and screwdriver blades, scissors, tweezers and toothpick)

14. Safety pins and nail

15. 12 feet of 19-gauge annealed wire

16. Waxed fire starter

Not intended to be the primary collection of survival gear, the Altoids tin kit is designed to be compact, and easy and convenient to carry. It was never intended to replace a complete survival kit.

For information on making your own survival kits, click here!

 

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“Have you heard of Damper? It’s an Australian bread that’s made using few ingredients and cooked in a campfire. Stockmen and drovers would make it using their basic camping rations.” from Alex in SurvivalCommonSense.com Comments

Two cups of flour makes a skillet-full of Damper, Australia's survival bread

by Leon Pantenburg

Actually, I had not heard of Damper, but I never need much excuse to experiment with survival foods, and asked Alex for a recipe.

“Leon, I think there are as many Damper recipes as there are cooks, and nobody agrees on what the real one is,” Alex replied. ” The basic recipe uses flour, baking powder, salt and milk, and is cooked in a campfire (either in a pot, or wrapped in foil, or suspended on a stick, or straight on the coals). It’s usually served with jam or honey or something similar.

“My great uncle was a drover, and he used to make it for us when he visited. We never could get his recipe straight – whenever we asked, he’d just grab handfuls of ingredients and say:  ‘You just add a bit of this and a bit of that…’ His came out perfect every time. Ours didn’t.”

Every prepper, survivalist or emergency preparedness enthusiast should have a variety of these simple, tasty recipes as part of their survival kit! Food is a basic survival requirement, but sometimes, even hunger can’t overcome  monotony. Eat the same thing, day after day, and some people might just quit eating.

So survival cooking, of necessity, must be simple and tasty! It makes sense that every region has an emergency-type  ration based on simple ingredients such as flour or meal.

Bannock, that staple among trappers and traders in the Northwest in the early to late 1800s,  probably originated in Scotland. “Ramrod rolls” were common in the Confederate Army because of  a lack of  options. In this recipe, a cornmeal dough was wrapped around a stick or ramrod, and toasted over a campfire.

Fry bread became a favorite among some Native

Hardtack, a very simple, long-lasting survival ration, is very easy to make and has the texture and consistency of a fired brick!

American tribes after they were forced onto reservations and issued flour and salt for rations. Hardtack was a standard American military ration for over 200 years.

Since Australia was colonized by Great Britain, I’d guess Damper is a variation of a popular English bread.

Regardless, Damper is easy to make, and don’t over-think it! In any of the following recipes, mix the dry ingredients together, add the milk or water and form a smooth dough. Don’t knead too much. Then, either make biscuits or a larger loaf, and bake it however you want to. It look really cool (and is a great kids’ activity in camp) when the dough is rolled around a stick and toasted over a campfire. Put peanut butter in the hole, and you have a delicious, warm sandwich.

Another recommended  idea is to amend the flour with one tablespoon of soy flour; one tablespoon of dried milk and one teaspoon of wheat germ per cup of white flour. This combination makes a complete protein of the flour, and turbocharges the nutritional value of the bread.

Here are a few Damper recipes that could work well in your survival kit:

Plain Damper

2 c self-rising flour (If you don’t have self-rising, add 1-1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to every cup of regular or

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all-purpose flour)

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

water

Mix dry ingredients together first, then add water to make a soft dough. Knead until the dough sticks together, but not too long or the Damper will get tough. In a conventional oven bake at about 375 degrees about 20 minutes, or  until the edges start to brown.

Standard Damper

2 c self-rising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1-1-1/2 c milk

2 tsp butter

2 tsp sugar

Follow standard cooking directions.

• 4 c self-rising flour
• 1 1/2 c water
• 2 Tbs pecan chips
• a pinch of salt
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 c grated cheese
• 1 tsp chives
• 1 tsp crisp bacon, crumbled
• 1 small onion

Rub the butter into the flour. Add salt. When it looks like crumbs, add water and the rest of the ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until it is a sticky dough. Turn out on to a floured board and mold into a round. Place in a well-greased cake tin and cut across to make 8 or 10 servings. Bake (at 35 degrees) for 20 minutes or it sounds hollow when you tap on it. Turn out and serve hot with butter. (Recipe courtesy of About.com. camping.)

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At some point, you may need to attract a rescuer’s attention. It would be in any situation, from being lost in the wilderness to being stuck on a rooftop during a flood.

But when people are looking for you, though, you may be an insignificant object in a vast  space.

A signal mirror can help rescuers find you, as this photo shows, if it is used correctly! (Peter Kummerfeldt photo)

One way to speed your rescue is to bounce (reflect) a beam of sunlight from your position to that of a rescuer.  Remember, the person on the receiving end of the signal must recognize the reflected light for what it is – an emergency signal, and respond to it.

One way to bounce light is with a signal mirror. I have several, but the one that is always with me is a homemade, credit-card-sized piece plastic mirror material I bought in the automotive section of the local WalMart.

Along with the rest of my wardrobe survival kit, this small mirror may someday prove invaluable!

So how do you use a signal mirror?

Here is a post by survival expert Peter Kummerfledt that explains everything you need to know about this vital piece of survival gear!

To read the rest of the story, click here! - Leon

For more information on making survival kits, click here!

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Some parts of the country are sweltering under heat advisories and August isn’t even here yet! Here is some advice from FEMA about handling the heat!

 

Extreme Heat

Heat kills by pushing the human body beyond its limits. In extreme heat and high humidity, evaporation is slowed and the body must work extra hard to maintain a normal temperature.

Most heat disorders occur because the victim has been overexposed to heat or has over-exercised for his or her age and physical condition. Older adults, young children, and those who are sick or overweight are more likely to succumb to extreme heat.

Conditions that can induce heat-related illnesses include stagnant atmospheric conditions and poor air quality. Consequently, people living in urban areas may be at greater risk from the effects of a prolonged heat wave than those living in rural areas. Also, asphalt and concrete store heat longer and gradually release heat at night, which can produce higher nighttime temperatures known as the “urban heat island effect.”

 

 

 

Know the Terms

Familiarize yourself with these terms to help identify an extreme heat hazard:

Heat Wave
Prolonged period of excessive heat, often combined with excessive humidity.

Heat Index
A number in degrees Fahrenheit (F) that tells how hot it feels when relative humidity is added to the air temperature. Exposure to full sunshine can increase the heat index by 15 degrees.

Heat Cramps
Muscular pains and spasms due to heavy exertion. Although heat cramps are the least severe, they are often the first signal that the body is having trouble with the heat.

Heat Exhaustion
Typically occurs when people exercise heavily or work in a hot, humid place where body fluids are lost through heavy sweating. Blood flow to the skin increases, causing blood flow to decrease to the vital organs. This results in a form of mild shock. If not treated, the victim’s condition will worsen. Body temperature will keep rising and the victim may suffer heat stroke.

Heat Stroke
A life-threatening condition. The victim’s temperature control system, which produces sweating to cool the body, stops working. The body temperature can rise so high that brain damage and death may result if the body is not cooled quickly.

Sun Stroke
Another term for heat stroke.

Take Protective Measures

Before Extreme Heat

To prepare for extreme heat, you should:

• Install window air conditioners snugly; insulate if necessary.
• Check air-conditioning ducts for proper insulation.
• Install temporary window reflectors (for use between windows and drapes), such as aluminum foil-covered cardboard, to reflect heat back outside.
• Weather-strip doors and sills to keep cool air in.
• Cover windows that receive morning or afternoon sun with drapes, shades, awnings, or louvers. (Outdoor awnings or louvers can reduce the heat that enters a home by up to 80 percent.)
• Keep storm windows up all year.

During a Heat Emergency

The following are guidelines for what you should do if the weather is extremely hot:

• Stay indoors as much as possible and limit exposure to the sun.
• Stay on the lowest floor out of the sunshine if air conditioning is not available.
• Consider spending the warmest part of the day in public buildings such as libraries, schools, movie theaters, shopping malls, and other community facilities. Circulating air can cool the body by increasing the perspiration rate of evaporation.
• Eat well-balanced, light, and regular meals. Avoid using salt tablets unless directed to do so by a physician.
• Drink plenty of water. Persons who have epilepsy or heart, kidney, or liver disease; are on fluid-restricted diets; or have a problem with fluid retention should consult a doctor before increasing liquid intake.
• Limit intake of alcoholic beverages.
• Dress in loose-fitting, lightweight, and light-colored clothes that cover as much skin as possible.
• Protect face and head by wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
• Check on family, friends, and neighbors who do not have air conditioning and who spend much of their time alone.
• Never leave children or pets alone in closed vehicles.
• Avoid strenuous work during the warmest part of the day. Use a buddy system when working in extreme heat, and take frequent breaks.

First Aid for Heat-Induced Illnesses

Extreme heat brings with it the possibility of heat-induced illnesses. The following table lists these illnesses, their symptoms, and the first aid treatment.

Additional Information

An emergency water shortage can be caused by prolonged drought, poor water supply management, or contamination of a surface water supply source or aquifer.

Drought can affect vast territorial regions and large population numbers. Drought also creates environmental conditions that increase the risk of other hazards such as fire, flash flood, and possible landslides and debris flow.

Conserving water means more water available for critical needs for everyone. Appendix A contains detailed suggestions for conserving water both indoors and outdoors. Make these practices a part of your daily life and help preserve this essential resource.

After Extreme Heat

Follow the instructions for recovering from a disaster in Part 5.

Knowledge Check

You and a friend have been outdoors in the sun for some time. Shortly after coming inside, your friend complains of nausea and headache but tells you not to worry as it is probably a food allergy.

What would you advise him or her to do?

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All things considered, any emergency situation can be made worse by the weather!

How will you stay cool when the power goes out during a heat wave?

By Leon Pantenburg

What happens when an earthquake occurs along the New Madrid Seismic Zone (The United States’ second largest earthquake area, located near New Madrid, Mo., along the Mississippi River)? And how much worse will conditions be if this catastrophe happens during the winter when it’s -20 degrees?

On the other hand, how will you stay cool and safe, if an earthquake, flood, tornado, tropical storm etc. knocks out the power grid when the temperature is well over 100 degrees outside? If you don’t have to evacuate, how can you stay cool inside your house without power?

Shift into SurvivalCommonSense.com mode by educating and preparing yourself.

To start with: Don’t underestimate the danger of high temperatures!

About 400 Americans die each year from summer heat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, the National Weather Service claims excessive heat is the number one weather-related killer, causing more fatalities per year than floods, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, winter storms and extreme cold.

There are energy-efficient, environmentally-sound methods of dealing with the heat inside your house, says Bobbie J. Bourne, Emergency Services Director of the Bend, Oregon American Red Cross.

Start staying cool by taking care of yourself, and keeping hydrated, Bourne advises, and reduce physical activities during the hot part of the day.

“If you’re thirsty, that means you’re not drinking enough,” Bourne said. “Avoid caffeine and hot drinks and make sure you drink lots of water and drinks that replace electrolytes, such as Gatorade. Eat smaller meals, and eat something cold. Wear loose, light-colored clothing. You might want to put water in a spray bottle and cool yourself off with that.”

Keep the sunshine, and heat, out of your house by pulling the drapes shut.

Then take a look at your home and think about how you can reduce the heat coming in, and regulate the interior temperature naturally. That beautiful sunshine pouring through the windows also heats up the air inside, so a good way to reduce that heat source is with drapes or window coverings.

An effective way to use the coverings, Bourne says, is to pull them shut during the day when the sun is beating on the windows.

“Keep your windows open at night, so the cool air can come in, then shut the windows and pull the drapes in the morning,” Bourne said. “Your house will stay cooler during the day. When it gets cooler at night, open the windows and get the hot air out of the house.”

Depending on the emergency, there might not be electrical power to the area for months, or it might be sporadic. If the power does come back on, even briefly, a good, quick way to get the hot air moving out of the overheated house is with a pair of electric fans. Coleman Free-Standing Tent Fan

Place one facing in by the window where air is coming in, Bourne said, and one at an opposite window positioned to blow warm air out. This can create a nice “wind tunnel” effect in pulling air through the house, and that will cool the interior.Texsport FAN/LIGHT DELUXE COMBO

Let’s suppose that there is some intermittent electrical power available, but you can’t use the central air conditioning. Here are some tips from the American Red Cross for staying cool inside when it’s hot outside:

• Make a “swamp cooler” by putting a bucket or pan of water in front of a fan. This will help cool the air as it is circulated. (I lived in an antebellum house in Mississippi, with no air conditioning, for several hot summers. This technique works!)
• Minimize the use of your oven. Use your grill outside, Bourne recommends, or plug your toaster oven into an outside electrical outlet to cook.
• Wait until after the sun has gone down to run heat-producing appliances.
• Line-dry your clothes to avoid using the dryer.
• Use ceiling fans to create a breeze and to re-circulate air.
• Run the bathroom fan after you shower to pull the humidity out of the house.
• Trade your hot shower in for a cold one.
• Let your hair air dry after a shower, and enjoy the cooling effect of wet hair while you wait for it to dry.
• Minimize the amount of bedding you use.
• Make sure all air vents are free of obstructions. If they’re covered with furniture, the cool air won’t circulate.
• Close your fireplace flue to avoid losing cool air.

Survival of any emergency, be it in an urban or wilderness survival situation, ultimately all boils down to education and preparation. Think about possible weather scenarios – hot or cold - as part of your family’s preparedness plans.

(Here’s an unrelated poem by James Autry called Nights Under a Tin Roof. It’s here because I like it!)

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The Survival Template by John A. Heatherly

How do you encapsulate a survivor’s mentality into a personalized model that can be duplicated and personalized? That’s what John A. Heatherly teaches in his new book “The Survival Template.”

by Leon Pantenburg

So you are in a SHTF (Sewage Hit The Fan) situation, and starting from nothing. Before you do anything, the first step should be to use the survival mindset exercise STOP (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan).

Learn how to make a plan to survive anything, regardless of location or situation!

But, once you reach the Plan stage, what comes next? What exactly do you need to include in your survival plan? What aspects of survival have the highest priority? How do you decide what is most important?

If you have the concept of a survival template, or model,  in your mind, you will know how to proceed from that point. John A. Heatherly’s book  “The Survival Template” may be what is needed to help you focus and set up your personal short and long term survival plan.

The survival template concept came from a military training course in Washington, Heatherly writes, when he and several other trainees were about to go out on their first overnight solo. They had already completed several days of basic training, and their instructor told them to take out their notebooks and make a plan:

“Have you ever noticed that you are much more likely to take care of yourselves effectively if you write down what you want to do?” the instructor commented.

“Second only to positive mental attitude, the most important survival skill, the acquired ability to identify and enunciate in writing emerged as a surprisingly effective tool in the development of mental capacity and in the production of extraordinary physical results,” Heatherly writes.

“”The Survival Template” is a model for my son, who is now a toddler,” Heatherly wrote to me in an email. “Hopefully, someday he will benefit from the book and avoid some of the mistakes Dad made!)

"Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and thereby improved his chances for survival," - Viktor E. Frankl

Heatherly’s biography states that he is a 17-year student of survival, starting at Tom Brown Jr’s Trackerschool and that he has graduated from multiple military Survival Courses. His bio says Heatherly has practiced survival in the forests of Alaska, Washington (state), waters of the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, coast, rivers and forests of Oregon, mountains of Georgia and Tennessee. He claims a Bachelor of Arts in English from Carson-Newman College, in Jefferson City, TN; with a Master of IT Management from Webster University, St. Louis, MO.

The 59-page book is an easy read, full of information and suggestions for setting up your own survival template. Heatherly takes the

Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale chose to make his Vietnam POW experience a defining event in his life.

reader from no plan whatsoever to suggestions for one day, one month, six months, one year and on.

Along the way, Heatherly combines survival tips and thoughts from Vice Admiral James E. Stockdale, a seven-year Prisoner-of-War during the Vietnam War; Viktor E. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor; with comments from Bruce Lee.

A couple thoughts as I was reading:

• As a working journalist, a notebook and writing implement are part of my wardrobe and my multiple survival kits. You may need these tools to make lists, record GPS coordinates and compass bearings, leave notes for other people and to focus your thoughts. So the idea of coming up with a written, personalized plan for survival seems to be a very viable idea! (On a related note – I have a kept a journal, on and off for many years. You can get tremendous insight into yourself when reading them later!)
• A person’s reading list or bibliography tells a lot about them. When I saw “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl on Heatherly’s list, I knew we thought a lot alike. I read Frankl’s book decades ago in graduate school and highly recommend it!
• We need to learn from history. Frankl’s and Stockdale’s experiences provide us with insight that most of us will hopefully never be able to duplicate!
• Viable, practical instructional books are critical to learning about anything!

We need more books on the psychological aspect of survival, and “The Survival Template” will make a good addition to your survival and prepper library!

For more survival book reviews,  click here.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a tornado tore through the city of Joplin, Missouri, last week.

This photo shows a "textbook" tornado extending from the wall cloud of a classic supercell, with a "clear slot" cutting through the cloud base around the near side of the wall cloud. The slot represents part of the occlusion downdraft, an arc of sinking air believed to contribute to tornado development in many cases. ("Photo courtesy of NSSL")

This is in addition to the other storms that have devastated other parts of  the United States this spring.

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia have also been hit, by over 200 tornadoes so far this year.

by Leon Pantenburg

Obviously, tornado season is here!

If you live in area where these storms occur, a realistic preparedness question should be: What do I do to get ready for a tornado?

Here’s a place to start, preferably on a bright, sunny day with no storm clouds, when you have time to think logically: Realize that you could be in danger! If you live in tornado areas, it isn’t a matter of if the big winds will hit, but when!

Talk with family members about what to do, where to go, and how to re-connect after the event is over. But start the planning now!

To learn more about how to plan and what to do when a tornado threatens, click here.

For the latest update on the Joplin tornado, click here.

For more tips and stories about making survival kits, click here!

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BOOK REVIEW:  Survival Psychology by John Leach

One idea survival book authors may be able to agree upon is that mental attitude is critical to any survival scenario. Countless documented cases  prove  your attitude and reaction to the situation,  not your survival kit or survival knife, is the most important factor is staying alive.

by Leon Pantenburg

Swampy Lakes Trailhead is on the edge of the Deschutes National Forest and thousands of acres of wilderness. But still, many people who go there deny they will ever need emergency gear or training.

Some twenty years before the rash of “reality” or “Survival” shows, or anybody had ever heard of Les Stroud or Bear Grylls,  psychological studies resulted in a book which documented people’s  reactions  in emergency situations.

“Survival Psychology” by John Leach, PhD, of the University of Lancaster, England,  Survival Psychology was a groundbreaking study, that today is a reference source for many wilderness and urban survival bestsellers. If  some of Leach’s writing or thoughts sound familiar, it is because you’ve read or heard them before!

Leach studied survivors’  reactions, including those of Union prisoners at the horrific  Andersonville prison during the Civil War;  to shipwreck survivors; to people who made it through plane crashes and natural disasters. Distilled down to one sentence, here’s what Leach found: Psychological responses to emergencies follow a pattern.

One goal of  SurvivalCommonSense is to help you develop the survival mindset that will keep you alive. So, start with the baseline knowledge of what happens to people, mentally, in a survival situation. Until you know what might happen in your mind, or in the heads of the people around you, there’s no way to come up with a plan to survive.

Survival situations bring out a variety of reactions – including some that make the situation worse. Leach’s studies show that only 10 to 15 percent of any group involved in any emergency will react appropriately. Another 10 to 15 percent will behave totally inappropriately and the remaining 70 to 80 percent will need to be told what to do. The most common reaction at the onset of an emergency is disbelief and denial.Here’s the typical disaster reaction progression, according to “Survival Psychology”:

Denial: The first reaction will probably be: “This can’t be happening to me!” But an emergency, disaster, accident or crash can happen to anyone, and it can result in a situation where your life is at risk. This disbelief can cause people to stand around, doing nothing to save themselves. The 80 percenters in any survival situation will have to be ordered to help themselves.

Panic: Once you get past denial, there is a strong chance you may panic. This is when judgment and reasoning deteriorate to the point where it can result in self-destructive behavior. It can happen to anyone. To avert this problem, realize it may happen, and use the STOP mindset exercise. (See below).

Hypoactivity, defined as a depressed reaction; or hyperactivity, an intense but undirected liveliness: The depressed person will not look after himself or herself, and will probably need to be told what to do. The hyperactive response can be more dangerous because the affected person may give a misleading impression of purposefulness and leadership.

Stereotypical behavior: This is a form of denial in which victims fall back on learned behavior patterns, no matter how inappropriate they are. The Boss may decide to continue in that role, even though he/she has no idea of what to do. Sadly, the underling may also revert to that subordinate role, even though he/she may be better prepared mentally.

Anger: A universal reaction, anger is irrational. Rescue workers frequently come under verbal and physical attack while performing their duties. A few years ago in Central Oregon, the Search and Rescue team rescued a man who had dumped his raft just before going over a waterfall. Miraculously, he saved himself  by clinging to a mid-stream boulder. During the whole rescue effort, the rafter denied he was in trouble. After being plucked from the rapids, he flipped off the rescuers, and walked back to the parking lot. He never thanked anyone for saving his life

Psychological breakdown: This could be the most desperate problem facing a victim, and this stage is characterized by irritability, lack of interest, apprehension, psycho-motor retardation and confusion. Once this point is reached, the ultimate consequence may be death.

So, according to Leach, one key to a “survival state-of-mind” is to be prepared and confident that you can handle an emergency.

This brings up another deadly behavior pattern: lack of preparation.

People don’t prepare for emergencies (see denial), Leach writes, for three reasons: Planning is inconvenient, preparations may be costly and an ingrained folk myth says to prepare for a disaster is to encourage it.

This is all too common in Central Oregon.

Last November, I was at Swampy Lakes snow park near Bend, getting ready for a snowshoe trek. An older couple pulled up next to me, tourists, apparently, from the looks of their inappropriate clothing and rental equipment. They had no survival gear of any kind that I could see. They struggled to put their snowshoes on, then asked if there were any maps around.

I gave them one of mine, and offered to orient it for them with my compass.

They declined.

They also didn’t want the book of matches and a packet of firestarter I tried to give them. And here comes the quote that keeps the Search And Rescue teams busy:

“We’re just going out for quick outing,” the lady said. “We’re not going to do any of that wilderness survival stuff.”

…And she was absolutely right.

“Survival Psychology” is out-of-print, as far as I know. But I’ve had no trouble getting a copy through the local inter-library loan program. Your library probably has a similar program, so check out Leach’s book. The knowledge from it can be one more tool in your survival kit!

(To check out the SurvivalCommonSense.com survival kit blog, click here!)

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com