When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes

by Cody Lundin

  I had a client from Ohio who claimed his entire neighborhood caught water from conventional, asphalt-shingled rooftops, which funneled rain into aboveground cisterns hidden by shrubbery. He caught the rain, which supplied all of his family's needs and pumped it directly into his home, using no filters whatsoever—and the man was a physician. Ironically, your home's roof might supply you with all of the emergency water your family would need during a crisis. Check what type of roofing your house has and research whether it's recommended as a safe surface for gathering water for human consumption. Remember the above snippet from the doctor who took my course and realize that companies will be conservative with what they tell you for fear of lawsuits. If push comes to shove, short-term contaminants in water do not override dying of dehydration.

  To figure out how many gallons of rain you could collect from your roof in a year, first measure the outside dimensions, or true "footprint," of your roof to determine its surface area. Heavily sloping roofs don't matter, as they catch no more rain than flat roofs. Next, find out what the annual rainfall is for your area—my high desert is twelve inches, which we will use in this example. To find the gallons per cubic foot, we'll take the above information and multiply it by 7.48. The formula to use is as follows:

  Surface area, or footprint, of gathering surface × annual rainfall × 7.48 = gallons of rain (on average) collected per year.

  Let's try a sample equation using a hypothetical twenty-by-forty-foot roof (800 total square feet) in an area with twelve inches (one foot) of annual rainfall: 800 × 1 × 7.48 = 5,984 gallons per year.

  If you get eighteen inches per year, multiply by 1.5, if you get twenty-four inches of rain per year, multiply by two, and so on.

  Because some of the rain will be lost to overflowing gutters, wind, evaporation, and seepage into the roofing material itself (with the exception of metal roofs) multiply the above number by 0.95.

  5,984 gallons × 0.95 = 5,684 gallons of rain per year.

  Keep in mind this tremendous amount of water was gathered upon a very small surface area using annual rainfall calculations from the desert! Take the time to do the math for your roof's footprint, coupled with your annual rainfall, and you will be astounded at the number of gallons you could gather from your home. With a little bit of effort, this free, life-giving substance can be directed into large-capacity water tanks for the enjoyment, and survival, of your family.

  Some people who lack conventional roofing materials because of their lifestyle choice (teepees, wall tents, etc.) use other nonpermeable barriers to collect rain. Tarps and sheets of plastic can be suspended above the ground to catch large volumes of water that is then directed into waiting containers or garden areas. I once collected more than forty gallons of rainwater in one storm by finding a natural hole in the ground that was located within a small wash (arroyo), which I then lined with plastic. Grommeted tarps are much more durable and easier to hang than plastic sheets but any nontoxic, nonpermeable barrier is worth considering for catching and holding moisture.

  Melting Snow and Ice

  Depending on where you live and the time of year, melting snow and ice can provide emergency water for your tribe. For the Uruguayan rugby team that crash-landed high in the Andes Mountains in the 1970s, their only option for water during their seventy-plus day forced stay came from ice and snow. They created this water daily by placing highly reflective metal panels salvaged from the downed aircraft at a slight angle facing the sun. The panels heated up from the sun's rays and were dusted with snow throughout the day, which melted and funneled down to waiting containers.

  Newly fallen snow contains more than 90 percent air, thus it contains less water than snow that has been around for a few days or weeks. This high air content and minerals present within the snow are the main reasons people complain about bad-tasting water and scorched pans when trying to melt snow. To effectively melt snow, start with a small amount in your metal container before you put it on the heat source. As this amount melts, add a bit more snow. The more water you have in the pot, the more snow you can add as it will dissolve the snow. I have tried packing a pot full of snow and putting it on the wood stove, but it takes a lot longer for the snow to melt, thus using more fuel, and it can scorch the bottom of the pot. If you have water to spare, put an inch or so in the pot before adding any snow and let it heat up, as this will assist in melting the snow when it's added. If you feel your snow turned to water is unsafe to drink, simply boil it per the disinfection section. Follow the same strategy for melting ice, which will contain much more water value than snow. Gather snow and ice from clean areas and don't eat yellow snow.

  Unless you use the Uruguayan rugby team's melting method, or have the time and space to bring large amounts of contained snow or ice into some part of your house to slowly melt, transforming ice and snow into water will require fuel and a suitable container. If fuel is in short supply, you will once again have to prioritize your needs. Think ahead and always try to kill two birds with one stone, such as melting snow for water on or around the woodstove that is keeping the family warm and cooking their food.

  Water is a biological necessity down to the cellular level. Without it you will die. Thus, if it's not readily available from your environment, storing potable water for the entire family, including pets, is of prime importance.

  Dehydration adversely affects your physiology and your psychology. Many factors increase the risks for dehydration such as chronic illnesses, living at altitude, exercise, hot and humid weather, cold and dry weather, pregnancy and breast-feeding, and being either very young or very old.

  Thirst is never an indication of adequate hydration. Your body is maximally hydrated when your urine is clear. Lesser indicators are how often you pee and how much you pee. Vitamin B and certain medications will color the urine regardless of how hydrated you are.

  It may be necessary to strongly encourage family members to drink to avoid becoming dehydrated, especially during very hot or cold weather. Most people will not drink enough water on their own to stay hydrated.

  If you choose to use them, electrolyte and rehydration solutions should be used with caution. Don't overuse them as they can make you sick in concentrated quantities. First try to alleviate the dehydration with adequate quantities of plain water.

  For families without access to natural water sources, plan ahead by storing potable water in containers. Store a minimum of one gallon of water per person per day. If you live in an arid environment, storing three gallons of water per person per day is highly recommended. Don't forget about pets and realize that your stored water will also be used for cooking and sanitation needs. There are many types of water storage container options. Choose what works best for your family, don't store them all in one location, and remember to store water at the office and in vehicles as well.

  If applicable, beware of contaminated water entering your home after a disaster from the municipal water intake pipe attached to your house's plumbing system. Know where the shutoff valve is and pay attention to local emergency broadcasts about if and when to turn off the water supply entering your home.

  Fill as many preexisting water storage containers, such as bathtubs, extra sinks, and pots and pans, as you can with potable water. Know how to access other water options such as hot-water heaters and the backs of toilets.

  Nonpotable water should be disinfected before drinking using a method such as household chlorine bleach, iodine, boiling, filtration, pasteurization, distillation, or UV radiation. For water sources suspected of being contaminated with chemicals and pollutants, use the filtration and/or distillation methods.

  As a general rule, use great caution when disinfecting nonpotable water sources for drinking. If in doubt, re-treat the water in question!

  Scout your neighborhood now for possible alternative emergency water sources in case your home runs dry. Streams, rivers, ponds or lakes, fountains, and random water spigots may be available. Don't reduce your survival options by h
aving only one alternative source of water. Use extreme caution when using man-made sources of water such as artificially created ponds at golf courses. Such water sources can be laced with chemicals and pollutants.

  Harvest rain whenever possible using a variety of nontoxic, nonpermeable materials such as the roof of your home, or suspended tarps or plastic sheeting. Disinfect rainwater before drinking using the described disinfection methods.

  Melt snow and ice for water. Ice contains much more water than snow by volume.

  Don't use nonpotable water to wash dishes, brush teeth, prepare food, or make ice.

  14

  FAMILIAR yet Fantastic FOOD

  "Thou shouldst eat to live, not live to eat."

  —Socrates

  While food is not a priority in a short-term survival scenario, which lasts on average seventy-two hours or less before you are rescued, for an extended emergency it's a must-have commodity. Food is a hotly debated item in survival and everyone has their opinion about what you should have on hand and how much. As psychological stress is such a huge part of every survival scenario, knowing where your food is coming from and having enough for your family will do wonders for everyone's peace of mind. Consider storing a few snacks in your car and office as well.

  In a nasty, long-term crisis in which you are unable to resupply your cupboard, you will be forced to ration your family's food. Take the mind-set now that your survival rations, in their truest sense, are just that, THEY ARE RATIONS; and rations are to be rationed. Beware, as the Earth's history is full of fools who willfully chewed through their survival supplies in short order, their deaths being the only proof of their bad planning. If you want to live high on the hog for a few days, purposefully storing and eating gourmet supplies at the beginning of your ordeal, that's your choice, but be able to get down and dirty with a food supply that is supernutritious and easily stored and rationed, at the expense of taste if need be. Much about your food storage strategy, of course, revolves around the wants and needs of your family.

  The Big Three: Macronutrients in Food

  Foods contain three macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, along with trace amounts of micronutrients such as minerals and vitamins. Each type contains a certain amount of kilocalories (kcal) or units of food energy and metabolizes or "burns" differently within the body. Fats contain the greatest amount of kilocalories at a whopping 9.3 kilocalories per gram. Carbohydrates come in second with 3.79 kilocalories per gram, and then proteins with 3.12 kilocalories per gram. Each kilocalorie is equivalent to 1,000 calories and is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of pure water 1 degree C. One pound of body weight equals around 3,500 kilocalories. At 280 kilocalories a pop, that's nearly thirteen Snickers candy bars!

  The largest energy reserves are found in the largest parts of the body, principally muscle (around 28 kilograms) and fat (15 kilograms). On average, a healthy body contains a storehouse of energy: around 1,200 kilocalories of carbohydrates, 24,000 kilocalories of protein, and 135,000 kilocalories of fat. As stated earlier, the burn rates of macronutrients, how their kilocalories are metabolized by the body, vary. Just as adding various types and sizes of firewood to a fire influences the burn size and time duration of the flame, so the three macronutrients influence the body in much the same way. Fats, as an example, like larger fuelwood, contain the most calories per gram, but also require more oxygen to oxidize their components down for metabolism by the body. Simple sugars (carbohydrates), like hard candies, act the same as smaller kindling wood and don't contain many kilocalories, but they break down very quickly and thus are metabolized by the body very fast. Putting kindling-size wood on a fire will produce a huge flame in a heartbeat but it's short-lived.

  Almost everyone at some point has "hit the wall," as an athlete would say, having burned up their available carbohydrate supply. Eating a few simple sugars and carbohydrates might be all that's necessary to jump-start your body's system. If your survival tasks become extremely physical, working at less than 60 percent of your maximum exertion level uses more fats than carbohydrates, thus helping to prevent blood glucose depletion. This physiological rule is one that aerobics instructors use to their advantage in helping clients lose fat while they maintain the energy needed to keep exercising during their class. If the weather is cold and available body carbohydrates are drained, heat production starts to fail and you become hypothermic much easier. In this situation, you must eat simple carbohydrates to tap into your body's remaining fat reserves.

  Subjecting your body to cold weather without the protection of adequate clothing or shelter will cause your body to burn more calories. In other words, having adequate clothing or shelter for the climate and season will make your emergency food supplies last longer. Not only what you eat, but also how you eat can affect your body's thermoregulation in cold weather. Eating smaller, more frequent meals increases the body's metabolism, thereby burning more calories for digestion, a process referred to as diet-induced thermogenesis. This thermal effect of food, or "TEF" principle, increases your metabolism, which in turn increases the amount of calories burned. These increased calories produce more internal heat for the survivor when needed.

  * * *

  POTENTIALLY PROBLEMATIC PROTEINS

  Proteins are not ideal survival foods in hot environments for several reasons. If water is scarce, proteins should be avoided, as the metabolism of protein depletes body water stores. Protein metabolism produces urea, a toxic compound excreted by the kidneys. The more protein you eat, the more water the body devotes to the production of urine in order to rid the body of urea. Eating quantities of protein in a limited-water situation hastens death through dehydration long before starvation. However, in long-term survival scenarios where starvation is a possibility, the body consumes protein anyway by cannibalizing muscle tissue. Unlike proteins, the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats, to a certain extent, contribute to body water stores up to twelve to seventeen ounces per day depending on the type of diet. Furthermore, the metabolism of protein produces a higher metabolic rate, thus using more energy and creating more heat. Use common sense and adapt to your particular situation. Proteins are a wonderful thing in cold, low-elevation environments with plenty of available drinking water.

  * * *

  As already mentioned, if your survival situation goes long term, survival rations, in their truest sense, should not be considered substitute meals. Their main focus is to provide the survivor with sugar in order to minimize catabolism and dehydration in order to increase survival time. Ideal survival foods, provided there's adequate water to drink, consist of mostly fats and carbohydrates. While fats are packed with calories they take time for the body to metabolize into the simple sugars or glucose required for energy. In addition, fats are not well-tolerated as an energy source at high altitudes. If you live at altitude, store extra carbohydrates in the place of some fats and proteins, as carbohydrates are already partially oxidized and thus require less oxygen from the body—up to 8 to 10 percent less—to convert into energy. More than any other nutrient except water, a reduced carbohydrate intake depletes muscle glycogen stores, decreasing your endurance. For short-term survival (one to three days), a lack of calories is not nearly as important for performance as a lack of carbohydrates. Simple sugars and carbohydrates provide fast energy as they metabolize very quickly and are required for the body to be able to access its stored fat deposits. For the long term, however, if not accompanied by certain complex carbohydrates and proteins for stabilization, this quick source of energy leaves your body just as quickly, resulting in the infamous "sugar crash."

  The Glycemic Index (GI) was developed in 1981 and is a numerical system for measuring how fast carbohydrates in various foods trigger a rise in blood sugar or glucose. Foods containing high amounts of fats and proteins don't cause blood sugar levels to rise nearly as much as those containing carbohydrates. In essence, the higher the GI number, the greater the blood sugar response.
In general, a GI of 70 or more is high, 56 to 69 medium, and 55 or less is low. Until the early 1980s, scientists assumed that only digested simple sugars produced rapid increases in blood sugar levels. In truth, many simple sugars don't raise glucose levels any more than some complex carbohydrates, as not all carbohydrates act the same when digested. Foods producing the highest GI response include several starchy staples that folks commonly eat including breads, breakfast cereals, and baked potatoes. Even table sugar is low on the GI list in comparison. Lowglycemic foods include beans, barley, pasta, oats, various types of rice, and acidic fruits among others.

  Consuming food with a high GI will cause your blood sugar to go through the roof. In response, your pancreas releases insulin in an attempt to combat your body's rising sugar levels. Ingested proteins contain glucagons that swim around the bloodstream trying to stabilize the blood sugar, helping to prevent the crash your body experiences by consuming simple carbohydrates or sugars alone.