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In The Event Of A Crisis
Having a Preparedness Plan
By Matt S. June
With all the work on “Bug Out” bags and “Bible Preparedness” another area of preparedness comes to mind, and that is the idea of having a plan of action in the event of a crisis.
It really is worth thinking about what you would do in the event of a crisis.
If you have a family or are by yourself, thinking about a “Plan A” and a “Plan B” and even a “Plan C” in the event of a major crisis puts you well ahead of most of your fellow citizens.
So, what do I mean by this?
To give you an example, I live quite a long way from my work place.
In the event of a crisis, big earthquake, EMP/Solar flare I may have to walk home. In this event (as previously mentioned), I have a “Bug Out” bag. This contains enough provisions to see me through a 3-day period. It also contains maps of the local geography between work and home, just in case I need to take an alternate route.
My plan incorporates having emergency provisions to get me home by foot, just in case my normal means of transport is not available.
My plan also includes maps of alternate routes, just in case the normal route is blocked or unavailable for some reason.
My “Plan C” is to remain at work (last choice) where there are some civil emergency supplies at hand. I would only do this as a last resort though.
So, what kind of emergencies are we talking about?
Earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes, storms, floods, fires, droughts, outbreaks of disease/pestilence, invading armies, terrorism, domestic terrorism, electro-magnetic pulse weapons, nuclear war, tsunami’s, tornadoes, conventional weapons, solar flares, biological weapons, financial collapse, martial law, societal collapse, asteroid strike, alien invasion, rapid regime changes, zombie apocalypse (you get the picture).
Whatever causes a crisis where the normal routines of life are severely disrupted for the majority of the population.
Whether you have a family or you are by yourself (you may also be the only one in your family who is concerned about emergency preparedness), it is worth looking at your circumstances.
Do you work, and if so do you travel far to work? Do you have small dependent children or do you have kids that will understand to get home from school in the event of an emergency.
Have you worked out with your family what to do if certain crisis situations occur?
It can potentially be a good meal time discussion to get kids to figure out a plan of action given a certain set of circumstances.
Just remember that even the best laid plans can fail with unexpected events occurring. What you are trying to achieve is a plan that will help you and your family survive a crisis.
Doing something rather than nothing (or worse panicking) will give you a much better chance of survival.
So, what is the first thing that you should do?
Well the first thing I would do is pray that God will give you guidance and help in your planning, that he will protect you and your family in the event of a crisis.
That He will make resources available to you and give you ideas and get your family on board if they are not.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says don’t try and work this stuff out yourself, put it to God and make him the one who you will rely on completely in any situation.
In emergency situations God knows what you need and if you put him in charge, he will make your paths straight.
The next thing is to work out the very minimum things that you need for a “bug out” bag/s for all in your family, (see article on “bug out” bags).
You may have many of the things already listed in your cupboards etc. If you need to get items, start to make a list of these things and get them as you can.
Food, water and clothing are probably top of the list as well as something to carry them in. Make sure that they are in a readily accessible place to “grab” in a hurry.
The next thing is to have some idea of how you will manage each type of crisis. Some say this is the first thing you should do but I would suggest that you do it as you plan your physical survival requirements.
There are some things that no amount of planning or preparing will get you through and will catch you unawares at times, your only course of action in this event is putting God first and firmly in front of you.
My suggestion is that you think through each of the emergencies listed, and how you might react to that situation, (also any that I have not added to the list that you may potentially encounter).
Earthquakes are sudden and come without warning, they can be moderate and the only damage done is frayed nerves, or they can be severe and life threatening.
They can cause massive infrastructure damage to water, electricity, roadways and commerce.
Make sure you have a good supply of water (hundreds of gallons/litres) if possible stored in a cool dry place out of the way where it will not be damaged by falling objects.
Have emergency shelter/tarpaulins in case your home is damaged and unliveable.
Be prepared to dig a temporary toilet. It is a good idea to have plenty of spare toilet paper as well. Ensure your family know how to get home, walking etc.
Cyclones, Hurricanes, Storms and Tornadoes, (with the exception of tornadoes) it is likely you will get some reasonable warning of these events.
If you have warning of a Hurricane the best thing you can do is get as far away from it as possible.
If you are leaving your home to escape a hurricane ensure that you take everything of value that you are able to carry or fit in your vehicle (there will always be opportunist looters).
With storms and cyclones it will be “batten down the hatches”. Make sure that all the family know a storm is coming and are at home before it arrives.
Have your emergency water available, an alternate lighting, cooking arrangements and additional supplies of food.
Storms and cyclones can become much worse in intensity at times and may last longer than predicted.
Have tarpaulins or alternate shelter available if your dwelling becomes compromised and no longer weather proof.
Remember the pets as well, they may not be able to go outside for a while so think of alternates for their ablutions.
Tornadoes are the least predictable with little warning.
Those of you who live in tornado country will probably have a bolt hole shelter, you may only have enough time to get yourself and your family into that bolt hole.
In New Zealand we get the occasional small tornado. Several years back I had a small tornado pass within 2 kilometres of my home.
Fortunately, there were no homes in its immediate path, however the destruction it caused to trees and farm sheds was considerable. We are totally unprepared for tornadoes in this country, but they happen.
Floods usually have some warning (unless you live in an area prone to flash flooding), however flood waters can rise quickly and unpredictably at times.
Be ready to evacuate if able, sandbag your home if able or simply get all your valuables to a dry spot in the house if your home is flooding internally, seeking higher ground or think about having a readily accessible elevated position above the flooding.
Fires are often unpredictable and rapid in their spread and can be overwhelmingly destructive to people and their property.
If possible have smoke alarms in good working order. These can save lives if nothing else.
Know all your exits in the house and consider how to crawl blind along the floor from any point in the house to them. This could be a fun exercise for kids (and big kids) as part of your planning.
Know where your hoses/extinguishers are, if you get to these quickly you may be able to stop the fire spreading.
Just remember fires spread rapidly particularly in timber homes and smoke inhalation kills quickly, you may have very little time to act. This is usually a good time to pray!
Droughts will usually have plenty of time to develop but may have far reaching consequences.
Having plenty of stored water for personal consumption and in severe cases food to last a while may be of use here.
You may ask your family for some ideas on water rationing to get them considering this. People need a minimum of 2 litres of water a day just to survive.
This does not include cooking, bathing or hygiene requirements.
Disease/Pestilence/Biological Weapons are becoming more of a reality all the time.
These could simply be in the form of an influenza epidemic, or could something such as Ebola or a biological terrorism event.
Be thinking how diseases may be spread. Influenzas and weaponised biological agents will be most likely airborne, and designed for rapid effective infection.
If infected, isolate yourself from the healthy and keep warm, dry, drink plenty of fluid and use whatever medications you have to reduce your symptoms.
If healthy and uninfected you will need to get away from any area of infection with your family and be prepared to survive longer term until the outbreak subsides.
If you cannot get away be prepared to isolate yourselves in your home until you hear and see that the outbreak has subsided.
Remain cautious always even after that. In preparation consider having boxes of disposable gloves and lots of soap and medications that may treat symptoms of influenzas etc.
Consider your long-term escape plan of where you might go and what you will take for a long term isolation from the infected, this should be considered a longer term “bug out”.
Terrorism/Domestic Terrorism will be an unpredictable event, however if you are aware of an increased risk in your area, avoid high density population areas such as malls, movie theatres, airports etc.
Under domestic terrorism I would include roving bands of looters or gangs who may be a secondary problem from an initial crisis.
Avoiding contact situations with any form of terrorist or terrorist activity is always the best thing but not always possible.
If you are unavoidably involved in the terror event you have 4 options.
1. Pray first that God will guide and protect you.
2. Get as far away from the event as possible.
3. If unable to escape hide yourself as best you can behind the path of the terrorists.
4. The 4th option is the last resort and only if you truly do not have any other option.
This option is to go on the offensive and attack the terrorists if you are at imminent risk of death. They will probably not be expecting this and it may even give a fighting chance to stay alive and thwart the attack to some degree.
You may also save other lives by doing this. If you are at risk from roving looters or gangs, avoid them is possible.
If this is unavoidable be prepared to defend yourself and your family. You may have to display a disproportionately aggressive response in order to deter them.
If it has got to this point in a crisis you will need to take a “no holds barred” approach to your survival.
It may be wise to relocate after deterring an attack as the looter gangs may return later, better armed, and in greater numbers to overwhelm you.
Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon/Solar Flares may well have similar effects however a massive solar flare may be more widespread in its effect than an EMP weapon.
It is likely you will have no warning for this event.
You can look at building Faraday cages to protect some of your essential electrical items but it is really unclear if homemade Faraday protection will actually work in the event of a massive EMP attack or Solar Flare.
You will be aware this has happened when nothing electrical works. This event will signal that you must go into very serious protection and preparation mode in order to survive.
It has been estimated that if the USA suffered an EMP attack that affected the whole nation, around 90% of the population could be dead within a year.
You will need to either bug out to a safe place or hunker down and prepare to defend your situation in the most serious kind of way.
This event will have the potential to reduce the human population to the most basic form of living not seen for hundreds of years.
“NO ELECTRICITY”!! What does that look like? This a situation where you will need to put God front, right and centre.
Things will be extremely tough, primitive and nasty.
There is a great E-Book PDF download written by John Little of Omegashock in his Ezekiel’s fire website that discusses the Biblical possibility of a massive solar flare, well worth the read.
Invading Armies, Conventional Weapons, Martial Law, Rapid Regime Changes are similar in many respects.
They may involve some initial violence and destruction until people figure out how to stay calm under occupation and restricted life styles.
This is not new in the world and has seen a huge upsurge in the last 100 to 150 years. In this situation you need to keep your resources well hidden in an occupation situation.
It is never a good idea to advertise that you have extra emergency provisions unless it is to people you trust implicitly.
You will usually have some warning that your region/country is being attacked or targeted for martial law or a regime change.
These events will happen quickly and you will need to decide if you are to stay in your home or leave depending on the type of threat posed to you.
Whatever the situation if you and your family are under immediate threat of harm, get out until it is safe to return.
People are usually useful to invading armies to provide resources (unless of course your face no longer fits), so if you produce food etc. you will probably be allowed to survive.
Nuclear War is nightmare scenario. It is possible to survive this but you need to be very skilled in how you manage the “fallout”.
There are some very good websites that deal with this but you need to assess if this is a likelihood for your area.
If you live near a nuclear power plant this could be a target for terrorists and or damaged by earthquakes or war or neglect.
There may also be a potential for radiation leakage from a damaged reactor (Fukushima).
If this is a possibility in your area then read up on how to protect yourselves or if you can move to an area away from this potential nuclear threat.
Tsunami’s are generally only a threat in low lying coastal regions and if the warning systems are working! you will have some time to get away to higher ground or further inland.
However, you may have very little time so being ready to grab all that is important to you very quickly, also remember that you will be joining the population of your area in getting to safety so roads and footpaths will be full of traffic and desperate people.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of people that go down to the beach area to watch for the tsunami coming in! please don’t be numbered amongst this group of very temporary citizens.
Get as far inland as high up as you can in the time available. If you are on foot, and this will be how it is for many you need to act very quickly.
There is evidence that some parts of the world have had huge tsunamis in the past.
The Chicxulub crater off Mexican Yucatan peninsula produced by a meteor strike may have created a tsunami kilometres high. In this case prayer is your only response.
Financial Collapse is becoming more a reality with each passing week, there are indicators that we are entering another phase of history akin to that prior to the “great depression” of the late 1920’s 30’s.
I watched an interview in which Stefan Molyneaux and Dr Reed discuss what caused the “great depression” and it became apparent to me that we have repeated history and are back in perhaps an even worse state than pre “great depression”.
A financial collapse will probably occur suddenly even though we are seeing many indicators of it occurring soon.
It will probably be carried out over a weekend, if you have money in the bank, most of it will go in what is referred to as a “bail in” to pay off the banks debt.
If people have little or no money and there is little likelihood of government assistance it is time to protect yourself and your family.
There may be rioting and general lawlessness in the days following a financial collapse, so be prepared to bug out to a safer more isolated location.
If you are unable to do this then you will need to hunker down and defend your family and dwelling.
There may be some attempt at some point by government to enforce martial law but expect to protect yourself as people will become desperate in their hunger.
Having some paper/cash money will be good for a couple of days post crash to get any necessary emergency items, as it is likely electronic banking will go down.
Asteroid Strike is certainly a certainty at some point if you read the book of Revelation.
An asteroid strike of huge magnitude (the Earth has had a few) may cause tidal waves, floods, hugely altered weather patterns, volcanic activity, massive loss of life, destruction and general mayhem.
It will depend how close you are to the point of impact as to how much you will be affected and how much warning you get as when the asteroid impact occurred.
Once again it will be assessing what type of action you need to take depending on what type of crisis affects you.
Will it be a tsunami or will it be the effects of massive weather disruption, you will need to act accordingly.
Alien Invasion, Zombie Apocalypse. I put these in half jokingly but also with a serious side.
It is possible that part of the great deception mentioned in 2nd Thessalonians 2 (yes read the whole chapter) that satan will use all manner of signs and lying wonders to deceive even the very elect (people of God) Matthew 24:24.
There are many in the Christian community that believe that a fake alien disclosure may occur with “Alien Space Brothers” coming to enlighten us in a new age.
There is the possibility this will be an invasion of demonic/fallen angelic entities masquerading as alien saviours.
You may want to get as far from these entities as you can but pray and see how God wants you to react in this circumstance.
As for zombies, 
it is possible that weaponised biological agents may cause all people addicted to mobile phones, iPods, iPads, and small personal entertainment devices to become zombies.
it is possible that weaponised biological agents may cause all people addicted to mobile phones, iPods, iPads, and small personal entertainment devices to become zombies.
That got your attention didn’t it! As much as I was joking about this matter, there is still the possibility that this could occur (the zombie biological agent thing I mean).
In this case you will need to get as far away from the infected as possible and isolate as per a biological epidemic situation.
Societal Collapse is something that is happening gradually in many parts of the world already but you may see it accelerated as in the case of Venezuela.
Whether this has been deliberately orchestrated or occurred through the sheer stupidity of rulers and governments, the effects will be the same.
This is something that you can see coming (if you are watching) so can prepare to some degree for the worst aspects.
I am going to go in a somewhat different direction here. The prepper movement by in large focus on the preservation of the individual and their family.
Christians need to take a different focus in this area. In the event of societal collapse there are going to be many folk who will need genuine help who for whatever reason did not prepare.
I believe that God will call on us to help many people, that many will come to know him in the adversity of the times to come.
As Christians our role will be to tell them of the hope of Jesus, to minister in prayer and in practical deeds, in short, to show them the love of their Father in Heaven and of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I believe God will act in massively miraculous ways for these troubled times of need, and he is going to need good people to help minister.
I hope that for all reading this article, that we can all be one of those people called by God to do great works through him.
Summary
The purpose of this article has been to give you some food for thought around preparedness planning.
There are many good websites dedicated to this area, and they mostly give good practical advice.
However, at the end of the day only you will know what is going to be right for your circumstances, and you will need to plan accordingly.
At least have a plan in your head of what you might do in any of these circumstances and get some basic supplies started.
If your family is not on board or you are by yourself, see if you can find some like-minded trustworthy folk in your area.
It is better to have some like-minded company in times of trouble.
Others may come round quickly when the trouble starts and you are showing some semblance of sanity and leadership in a crazy situation.
Above all Proverbs 16:3 says;
Proverbs 3:5-6 says
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”
God bless you and keep you safe in the times ahead.
A Minute To Midnite is brings you news, interviews, survival tips, and insights into the world as we watch Biblical Prophecy unfold in the 21st century. We believe in encouraging people to prepare for the End Time events that are ahead – as we watch the signs unfold before us! We who run this site, are bible believing Christians who believe in being proactive in waking people up, spreading the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and warning people of the evils of The New World Order to those who will listen.
A Minute To Midnite is brings you news, interviews, survival tips, and insights into the world as we watch Biblical Prophecy unfold in the 21st century. We believe in encouraging people to prepare for the End Time events that are ahead – as we watch the signs unfold before us! We who run this site, are bible believing Christians who believe in being proactive in waking people up, spreading the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and warning people of the evils of The New World Order to those who will listen.
We also strongly desire to see a return to an “Acts Chapter II” type of Christianity.
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Acts 2:47
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