spacecase0

The flashlight above has to be pointed - good for walking or looking for things, but not good to be making dinner with, for that sort of thing the flashlight to your left is the way to go, but remember that if you plan for it, you will not need any light at night.

Safety is a big issue, if you have something, someone else might want it.

The hurricane flood showed us that attacks will come in small groups, some well armed.

The black case is there to get you thinking, you must pick what you will use, and if you don't want to own a weapon, I understand and I don't want you having one either in that case. But having a crow bar can be useful anyway, and can be a very effective weapon when you change your mind after the world has turned to shit.

Staying out of sight is by far the best way to stay safe.

Tactics for dealing with small raiding groups: If you have a single shot weapon such as a crossbow (very quiet), remember that people will fight if they might die, but if you pick a person (the leader would help) and tell him that you know that you cant hurt them all, but you can guarantee that he will die, and he should convince his friends to leave. It might work, but repelling the gangs of Oakland and Richmond might be really hard.

Staying clean is really important, some really bad things are very small and need to be washed off, studies show that health really deteriorates when you stop washing your hands.

I also have a stainless steel cup in my earthquake kit, it is strong enough to cook in if I need to.

A blanket can be nice, something just to stop the wind can make a few pieces of a fallen house into a livable place for the night.

This is my favorite piece of linen, blankets are bulky.

Sunglasses may seem like an extra, but being outside for days can hurt my eyes.

Communications with the outside world, this radio can receive and transmit on the ham radio bands as well as talk with aircraft and police frequencies, it costs about 350 $ it is an Icom W-32a with legal modifications done.

Extra car keys in your kit can really help, your car is a great shelter even if all the roads are destroyed.

People may value cash, so it might help to have some.

Brushing your teeth is important, and what else you think you might want to keep you comfortable.

The watch ? I know that time can be helpful, even if it is not set correctly, it might help to know about when the sun will set the next day, or how long is the walk to fresh water.

Some food, I can live on this for 3 days with comfort. But water is a bigger issue, have a water filter in a separate bag that I always have with me.(below)

A set of clothes, if you run out at 3 am with nothing on, you will really want this in the bag in your hand, don't forget shoes of some sort.

I have another bag I carry almost everywhere. It has soap, the good tasting kind so I can wash my teeth if I need to. Knives, titanium plate, cup, water purifier gloves, telescope, and a few other things.

This has my portable kitchen in it, including a stove, pans, food and oil, remember that dried seeds (beans, rice, lentils, quoina, ect...) are the lightest and have the most energy, and the oil will balance the meal enough to be workable. I also have another type of water filter system and extras such as string.

Who gets rescued in the dark ? that is right, the one with the 10 $ strobe light from the boat supply store.

My favorite ax.

Never know what you will be trying to cut, someone free of a fallen whatever, or just trying to get out your front door, or making something to get out of the rain.

This is a really effective water purifier, will treat 10 thousand gallons of water.

The laws in California make it hard for this to be sold here, but you can get it here, or an out of state REI when on vacation.

It is meant to be used with a 1 liter sports bottle, very easy to use.

If my apartment is left standing I have a big kit that has nice stoves and a tent, sleeping bag, 2 months of food, rope, pulleys, GPS, a big short-wave radio transmitter, 10 pounds of soap, and it is all on a luggage cart that I can get out of my apartment in 45 seconds.

The down side is that earthquakes tend to mess up things like this.

It is great if I know something is coming.

Remember that earthquakes toss things about, --- keep everything in an easy to find container --- water proof if you can, I use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.

if it is just me, I have at home about a year of food in this can, it is stored in duffle bags so that I can empty it fast. I store the grain in metal so that mice or rats have no chance of getting to it. I don't think rodents will be a problem, but they are so hard to get rid of if they ever move in. and If I ever use my seeds, I will need a place to put the harvest.

I also have a grain mill and other things,

did you know you can cook beans in 3 min. if you start with bean flour.

I also have books that have lots on infrastructure design and basic technology.

This sort of thing is of more use in your head than on a shelf.

And I have enough seeds to grow a garden in just about any conditions and enough of them so I could feed about I don't know - 20? people after harvest time.

metal box sealed air tight and with silica gel that keep them dry. They should be good through at least my life.

Some seed saving technology is relay easy to learn, and a few bags of organic beans, lentils, ect... can be plenty of seeds, just test them in pots in your window.

Http://www.seedsavers.org this website has good simple instructions.

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All this took me 6 weeks to put together in my extra time.

I was actually preparing for a zombie attack with all this, I figured that would cover everything.

Remember that something is better than nothing, do what you can, and revaluate every year.

I would recommend to others to have at home:

full set of clothes, extra car keys, some way to clean up water, a few days of food, soap, a hand towel, a small umbrella that can take high winds, a blanket and if possible, flash light, pepper spray and a small weather radio. And all in a backpack or some easy to grab container that is next to your bed, and some would say tied off to it, but if you do that use light string that can be broken with a very hard pull.

In your car:

you figure it out...

In your mind:

don't panic, think, don't lock up. people are smart for a reason.

People are very fragile, don't take risks, infections can kill very fast.

In your heart:

most people are nice, plan for the worst, hope for the best.

Some weekend just turn the power off at the breaker to your dwelling, and see what it takes to live, things become clear very quick.

The movies rarely get things right.

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Good luck