Where do I start?

[snakedoc257]

I am fairly new to this site and I would like to educate myself on disaster preparedness. Where should I start? How do I know what I need?

I would like to be somewhat prepared for anything. Where else can I go for the education?

Thanks,

[mallowpufft]

I found The Disaster Preparedness Handbook to be a good starting point.
It covers a lot of the basic situations most of us will encounter and provides good advice. I found it especially effective for getting SWMBO on board.
Also, ready.gov has a few good points...

[Renegade3745]

I am fairly new to this site and I would like to educate myself on disaster preparedness. Where should I start? How do I know what I need?

I would like to be somewhat prepared for anything. Where else can I go for the education?

Thanks,

A good starting point is to consider the area you live in, and what disasters, natural or otherwise, may occur where you live.

Example: I was recently transferred to Georgia after living in Arizona my entire life, so instead of needing to prepare for 120 degree summers, I'm repacking for hurricanes, floods, and heavy rain. Start with realistic prepping.

Two sites that I've found useful.

http://72hours.org/

http://survivalcache.com/bug-out-bag/

[smm345]

There are Links to informational sites in "The Library" Sticky thread at the top of this Index.

[mercop]

Get education and training before spending money on tools.- George

[nimdabew]

Get education and training before spending money on tools.- George

This. There are other forums that are dedicated to disaster perp, and one of the young and cheek ones is Zombie Squad. Their whole premise is "if you can survive the zombies, then you can survive anything." Don't let the name fool you though. If you go over there ranting.about how zombies aren't real and everyone is dumb for thinking so, then you will get a quick lesson that zombies are a metaphor and the site does a lot of charity work and disaster prep for real life disasters for an AO.

So say we all!

[Beat Trash]

Get education and training before spending money on tools.- George

This.

Get a notebook and make a list of incidents that you may face in your area. Go from most likely to least likely to occur. Next to each event list how long you feel the event would last. Then list what items you might need.

As you read and learn, refer to your list. You may add or move SHTF events on your list. You'll most likely start to see some common items that are needed for most types of events.

Without some direction and planning, it's easy to spend a lot Of time and money and still have holes in your preps.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Only you know what you need to live day to day; prescription medications, amount of food/water, clothing/shelter (for your environment).

Chances are you probably already own a couple cans of food, packages of pasta, flash light, pocket knife, etc. Build on that, each trip to the grocery store pick a few extras and put them back. That way while you are reading/researching you are still "prepping". Being on a gun forum I'll assume you own a firearm. So each trip to Wally mart or the like pick up another box of ammo until you can get it by the case.

It all adds up brother, you just got to start.

[NHCraigT]

This section of this site, is pretty small. There are other sites that focus on SHTF survival and preparedness. Some have more traffic and information than others.

Here are some that contain a wealth of information, including getting started:

http://www.survivalistboards.com/index.php

http://www.survivaltopics.com/

http://www.survivaltopics.com/forums/

http://www.survivalblog.com/\

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/forum.php

http://backwoodshome.com/

http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/

[Dave L.]

Where should I start?

Out of all the books I have read so far on the topic, I wish I had read this first:
How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times.

On a budget? Cody Lundin's book is a good reference in using what you most likely already have around you.
When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes

I hope that helps... keep reading, then start buying slowly. The more you learn, the more your prepping priorities are bound to change.