The threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) strike on this country is a very well documented one, I have written about the threat in the past and have used information from the EMP Commission report which was published in 2004 in several of my articles. Most recently I read an article published over on the Economic Collapse Blog which sums up nicely what impact an EMP strike would have on our country.
An electromagnetic pulse can range from a minor inconvenience to a civilization-killing event. It just depends on how powerful it is. But in the worst case scenario, we could be facing a situation where our electrical grids have been fried, there is no heat for our homes, our computers don’t work, the Internet does not work, our cell phones do not work, there are no more banking records, nobody can use credit cards anymore, hospitals are unable to function, nobody can pump gas, and supermarkets cannot operate because there is no power and no refrigeration. Basically, we would witness the complete and total collapse of the economy.
So what actions should you take immediately following an EMP strike? Remember that time will be critical, the first few hours (days at most) will enable you to get a jump on everyone else and set the stage for your success. You will immediately know that an EMP, be it from a nuclear weapon or massive solar flare, will have struck your area. Your car will no longer work, your cell phone won’t work, the power will be out everywhere, planes will have fallen from the sky. You will know it was an EMP but the vast majority of the public will not, they will be quite literally sitting around waiting for someone to tell them what to do. You won’t know how large the scope of the strike is but you will have to assume the worst, which would be a nationwide outage.
First things first, if you are at work, get home. Your boss no longer has authority over you, your co-workers no longer are a priority. They will be trying to restart a computer that will never again work, trying to restart their smartphone, sitting in the break room trying to call 911 and saying things like: “This is ridiculous, I’m going to miss my 3pm sales call!” You on the other hand will go to you car and change into the extra set of clothes and shoes you keep in the trunk. You will don your “get home bag” and start walking, hopefully your walk will not take more than a day.
Once home it is time to start implementing your plan. Remember time is absolutely critical and you only have a small window of it in order to set yourself up for success. During these initial hours and days people will still have faith that some sort of government agency will come in to make everything better. They will expect to see the power come back on any minute because someone will surely do something. They will tell each other to sit tight, just hold on for a day or so because eventually the HMMWV’s will roll in loaded with supplies and some military officer or government official will explain that this is merely a temporary problem, nothing to worry about, sorry for the inconvenience. You know better because you realize just how devastating an EMP strike is and the reality is that it could be months before systems start to come back online. It will only take a week or two (at most) before things start getting really ugly because people start going hungry. With all of that that in mind you take these 7 actions because you were prepared for this to happen.
1- Use your cash. In the first few days after an EMP strike cash will still have value. Take all of your cash and that radio flyer wagon your kids have and walk down to the corner store. Avoid the big retail stores, I suggest finding the corner gas station or local drug store. The owner of the store will no doubt be there, concerned that the items in the store are unprotected during a power outage. Explain to the owner that you are in need of some supplies, can pay cash and do not require change. Tell him/her that you will give them an extra $100 to allow you to “shop” for a few minutes. Load up your wagon with anything you can find to include medication, candy bars, water bottles, pop tarts, lighters, hand sanitizer etc etc. Of course you should be well stocked at home but you might as well get rid of your worthless paper money in exchange for any amount of extra supplies you can get your hands on. In a week (maybe less) most stores will be completely looted so you need to take advantage of this moment.
2- Fill up the tub(s) with water. Hopefully you have a water bob for each bath tub in your home in addition to several other water storage devices and water purification/filtration devices. Remember a down grid means that fresh water will stop flowing to your home very quickly. Fill up your tub as soon as you can, that extra hundred or so gallons could prove invaluable. If you are concerned about the quality of the water remember you can add 8 drops of regular Clorox bleach per gallon to help purify what you have in the tub.
3- Talk to your neighbors. This step is absolutely critical, you have to get out and talk to your close neighbors and explain to them what is going on. They will be in denial for the most part, hopefully you have copies of the EMP report printed off which you can distribute as you go door to door. Explain to them what is going on and that time is critical, let them know a worst case scenario means that there will be no help coming for quite a long time. Additionally mention the following to them.
a. Discuss a neighborhood watch. Tell them that in a few days or weeks things will get dangerous with hungry people roaming the streets. It is essential that you define your neighborhood’s boundaries and set up a neighborhood watch of sorts, assigning people to different shifts.
b. Offer to hold a meeting. Set a time that you will have a meeting at your home, say every day after sunrise in your garage. Tell them they are invited and that every day you will be there passing out information. At first you might not have anyone attend these meetings, in a few days there will be a handful and in a week you might have 50 or more hungry, scared, tired people demanding answers. If you are going to assume the role of a leader, be prepared to do just that.
c. Tell them to use their cash. Much like you should have already done, tell them that their cash will soon be worthless and that they need to get down to the market to spend it. Most people have no cash on hand, so this probably won’t be a real issue.
d. Tell them to inventory their supplies. Most people have 3 to 5 days food on hand in their home. You should mention that they need to start rationing what they have, and taking inventory of everything else.
e. Start identifying those with skills. I wrote about how to organize a survival community as well as what skills will be valuable after T-SHTF in a few recent articles While making the rounds in your neighborhood you should start identifying who has special skills and make note of it. Cops or military personnel could help with security, Doctors have obvious value, and so on and so forth.
4- Start rationing food. Hopefully you have at least a 1 year supply of food for your family, if not more. Start rationing immediately because more than likely you will have to share some of your food with your neighbors. It will be unavoidable, you will need their help to survive as a community and there is absolutely no way that they will starve while watching you and your family live high on the hog. This doesn’t mean that you cannot oversee how some rations are distributed, or seek out other sources of food, but just remember nobody gets through SHTF alone.
5- Hygiene preparations. Consider where you are going to dispose of your human waste, it might be a good time to start digging that pit. Also consider where you will dispose of your trash and if you will bury it or burn it. Remember the trash man won’t be around next Sunday and your toilets will stop flushing very quickly.
6- Listen to your weather radio. Prior to the EMP strike you had a small solar/hand crank weather radio secured in an old microwave in the basement, it still works. You should monitor NOAA Weather Radio frequencies throughout the day in case there is information being published which you can use to stay informed. Maybe the strike only covered 500 square miles and help will be on the way in a week, or maybe there is nothing but static…not a good sign.
7- Consider your own security plan. Despite all of the actions you are taking, trying to help those within your community by reaching out to organize them, realize that not everything goes to plan. There could be dissenters within your neighborhood or those outside of your community who might choose to take advantage of the situation. Looting will become prevalent very quickly and no neighborhood will be immune. Consider your security plan, this is no time to rely on the charity and goodness of mankind. Remain suspicious of all activity and never walk around unarmed. Never allow your family members to venture out alone and remember to stay in after dark. All of that said I would caution against using deadly force unless absolutely necessary. Protect yourself and your family but remember that there will come a time when the power does come back on and people will be held accountable for their actions.
An EMP strike on our nation will be an absolutely catastrophic event and while I’m sure all of us hope that something like this never happens, hope is never a course of action. Despite our best efforts to prepare for such an event there is a good chance that many will not survive. Some have predicted that within a year of a strike, 9 out of 10 Americans would be dead. In sports success or failure on the field of play is determined months before the actual game by how much dedication the athletes displayed during practice. In much the same way success or failure following an EMP strike will have been determined by how seriously we took our prep strategy in the months or years prior, as well as actions which we take immediately after. Life isn’t fair, plan accordingly.
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Charlie Mike
January 2, 2013 at 12:41 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
PJ,
An EMP is one of my greatest concerns too, so I ran off a copy of the article you wrote and placed it in the emergency manual kit. Since I will probably be at work if this occurs I have been making plans for the family to handle things until I get home. The electronics are in a faraday cage and my oldest son and wife are capable of what to do until I come home. Your priority list will surely help them get their minds right.
If an EMP does occur I hope my family and I are skilled, and wise enough to be part of the survivors. Better yet I hope we never have to find out and we don’t have an EMP.
CM
PJ
January 2, 2013 at 5:31 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
CM
Agree 100%, I hope it never happens but we still have to be prepared. Thanks for the comment.
PJ
Lux
January 2, 2013 at 2:09 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hello PJ,
Good article, The EMP issue can never be brought up too many times. I would like to add just one thing (although several come to mind). You can never have too much water. You can eat grass as a last resort but there is no substitute for water. In your scenario, you have a few days to react. Lets hope this is true. In the time that would be available water would be at the top of the list. I just increased my water storage capability (not stored water) by 140 gallons for about $30.00 and I am going to do it again this week. This is in addition to what I can put in the tub. Here it is:
http://beforeitsnews.com/self-sufficiency/2013/01/expandable-emergency-water-storage-2450866.html
I just hope there will be some running water for a day. If not I will be going for a little walk with a shopping cart.
Lux
PJ
January 2, 2013 at 5:28 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lux,
I completely agree that water is a top priority, you can never have too much water in storage. Thanks for the link as well.
PJ
Ditch Doctor
January 2, 2013 at 6:52 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I read many Prepper articles each day and this actually is a very good read. I have many items in my faraday cage which I made from metal filing cabinets and grounded them. The only items that aren’t protected are my generator and deep cycle batteries.
I like your idea of taking cash to a gas station or local drug store. I have cash at hand and my plan calls for my wife to go to the drug store and get medications, My adult children go to the food store and we all get gas for our cars.
My younger daughter fills bath tubs and our water containers and I do everything else. LOL
I have water stored but also have water filters that I use when backpacking. I have a neighbor with a pool and one with a pond.
I also like your advice to talk with the neighbors, most will be unprepared and scared to death.
Thank you for the article and Happy New Year!
PJ
January 2, 2013 at 7:18 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
DD,
Happy New Year to you as well! Sounds like you have a great plan in place already and many of your tasks delegated out which will help save time. I wouldn’t burn any bridges with your neighbor who owns the pool/pond, they will be a valuable companion if T-SHTF. I’m also glad to see you also have the faraday cage sorted, that is a huge bonus.
Thanks for the comment.
PJ
Graywolf
January 22, 2013 at 3:44 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Don’t worry about protecting your battery itself. It’s pretty much immune to EMP because it doesn’t have enough cross-sectional area to have the pulse induce any current. The problem would be the wires connected to it. Keep your wires short and shielded whenever possible.
Generaljoe
January 2, 2013 at 8:25 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great article especially your advice to spend cash on hand and go to the small stores. With all the big box stores using upc scanned codes for pricing, with no power you can’t get things very easily. Mom & Pop still put a price tag on individual items. STOCK UP
PJ
January 2, 2013 at 9:09 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In the initial days, cash will be king. Very quickly people will come to realize that paper money is worthless, so you gotta spend quick and spend it all!
PJ
Prepdog
January 3, 2013 at 8:44 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sanitation in a subdivision is a bigger issue than one person. It’s unlikely that most of the neighbors will dig the pit and start using it. Most will likely pour the sewage down a storm sewer: out of sight, out of mind. Multiply the problem by the number of houses in your subdivision, and you probably have a major problem. If the temperature is moderate, flies will find it almost immediately. Serious disease is not far behind. Remember: before WWII, more soldiers died of fly-born diseases than from battlefield wounds. Even then, there are examples of breakdowns in sanitation protocols that were disastrous.
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/PM4/Ch17-1.htm
The only real solution is to get out of the neighborhood. Military testing of EMP showed that automobiles are more immune (not immune, but more immune) than power delivery infrastructure. The closer the object is to the ground, the more likely it is to survive. Cars are not complete faraday cages,but the metal bodies provide some protection, apparently. There is a chance that your automobile will survive.
The most likely problem from an EMP will be with the car’s computer. Consider getting an older car. Even early models that have a single computer are good candidates. Buy computers and fuses for the car and learn how to replace them. Store the computers and fuses in a protected location, like an ammo can. Store gasoline and keep the tanks full. And try your regular car first. There is a good chance it will still work.
If anything, thinking through solutions to these scenarios emphasize the importance of building a prepping community that will identify needed skills, a BOL, and have the commitment to follow through. You need a place to go, you need people with skills that are dedicated to staying alive.
The only really decent Doomsday Prepper episode (IMHO) made a good point. The prepper stated that you need people. He said that he met groups that say “we have a doctor, we have an electrician, etc. Those are jobs. You need people.”
Amen.
PJ
January 3, 2013 at 6:59 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Prepdog,
Great suggestions, getting out would be optimal in some cases. Getting out to a predetermined BOL and linking up with a prepper community would be a best case scenario but unfortunately many will not have the capacity to do so. Like you mentioned hygiene (or the lack thereof) will be a huge issue which will have to be confronted early on or it will wreak havoc in the community. Thanks for the comment.
OK Preppers
January 3, 2013 at 10:11 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I would like to stress that an old microwave is NOT a valid EMP container. Microwaves and EMP’s do not operate on the same wave lengths and as a result a microwave will do nothing to stop the damage.
You have to have a completely sealed, metal container. Ammo cans, trash cans, paint cans, those big popcorn tins you get at the holidays, your gun safes provided they don’t have a whole for a dehumidifier, these are all valid EMP proof containers. If you’re not 100% sure of the seal on the lid then go by some aluminum ducting tape (not Duct Tape!) and seal the edges with it.
Also if the EMP regardless of source may be followed up by additional EMP’s, the sun doesn’t care about your preperations and following up with one nuclear based EMP a couple of days later to take care of all the things that people get out of their faraday cages, to catch all the vehicles that may have been missed the first time because they were sheltered in parking garages or in government bunkers etc after the first one would be a most excellent way to truly screw a country over.
PJ
January 3, 2013 at 7:02 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Good point, a microwave is probably inferior to a dedicated faraday cage. However I am still of the belief that a microwave oven would be able to provide some sort of protection, depending on the construction of the appliance of course. Ammo cans are a great idea too, very cheap and it’s easy to store small electronics inside of them.
PJ
Ditch Doctor
January 3, 2013 at 8:19 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
OK Preppers: I tend to agree with you about the microwave not being a faraday cage. I put a radio inside a microwave and it still played when the door was shut. I also put my phone inside and called it and it rang. I have done alot of reading and I think that the best way to protect yourself is a metal container that is insulated and grounded.
Graywolf
January 22, 2013 at 3:56 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The grounding is still a hotly-debated topic in engineering circles due to the grounding wire introducing a current path that wouldn’t have existed. The safest bet until the debate is settled is to nest your electronics in a cage inside of another cage with a good insulator between and then ground the outside one. I’m still torn on the grounding until I can run the calculations myself though.
The microwave won’t be a perfect faraday cage but it’s convenient and usually available, and will provide some measure of protection. The problem is that your electronics have to be inside. It would be easier to just wrap them in an insulator and then aluminum foil. The foil may not be able to hold up to a large burst but most RF would crawl on the skin right around it. And it’s super convenient.
DH
January 3, 2013 at 10:20 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I especially like that you talked about organizing neighbors. So many times people think prepping is hunkering behind sand bags with your assault rifle and shooting zombies.
I guess what you spend your extra cash on depends on your preps already established. The items on my last minute list are consumables that i already have stock in but will never go to waste or can be used for barter.
1. Toilet paper
2. Kotex
3. OTC medications
4. Dog food
5. Propane cylinders (hopefully the 20 pounders in the swap bins outside)
6. Soap of any kind.
7. Lye
8. Canning jars and lids
9. Pectin, pickling salts, etc
10. Batteries
I have a emp proof vehicle (old truck) so I may have an edge on how much I can haul. I have 1 small grocer about 5 miles on either side of me and know where these items are in those stores. Bring a flashlight.
PJ
January 3, 2013 at 7:04 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
DH
I am jealous of your EMP proof vehicle, you definitely have the advantage there! Your #1 item is often overlooked and under-prepped. If you don’t have quite a bit of TP, I suggest stocking up on phone books.
PJ
DH
January 3, 2013 at 10:22 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I use Montana rancher most of the time
jennifer
January 6, 2013 at 10:49 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is true about going shopping. After Katrina me and mother in law went shoping at a local gas station. It was flooded and there was quite a line, but we were able to get supplies that were gone by the end of the day. Alcohol, gas and cigarettes were the first to go and I was happy to pay double price for those items. It can be dangerous on outings so they should be done immediately. As always, cash is king in any situation. Good write
PJ
January 6, 2013 at 11:15 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jennifer,
Thanks for the first hand account and validation of my theory. It’s interesting that water would not be on that list of items which were first to go, especially in a situation where flood waters would taint the local supply. Thanks again for the comment.
PJ
Graywolf
January 22, 2013 at 3:59 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Another thing to think about is to make a good communication plan for your family that doesn’t involve electronics. There are many ways to do that but you have to set things up beforehand and try them out.
PJ
January 23, 2013 at 10:32 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I agree, redundancy is key and if there simply are no electronics one still needs to be able to communicate. Thanks for the comment.
Badger359
February 4, 2013 at 7:17 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Very good article, I several old microwave’s in my basement with thumb drives and CD’s store in them
PJ
February 5, 2013 at 1:58 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
While I agree with other sentiments that the microwave is not the best storage device, it sure beats nothing if in the basement and sealed up tight.
Lux
February 16, 2013 at 1:48 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How about this to protect you electronics:
http://www.prepper-resources.com/how-to-stylish-two-drawer-faraday-cage/
TR
February 17, 2013 at 1:29 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t know for a fact if this is true or not but in theory a car could act like a capaciter and store a charge from the EMP blast. I would hate to reach for the door handle and have it discharge through you and kill you. Want to bet your life on it. Just saying till we know for sure I plan to discharge my car before I touch it.
An old style TV will hold enough charge to kill you even after being turned off for a month.
PJ
February 17, 2013 at 5:57 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Interesting thoughts, I guess we won’t know until the time comes. Thanks for the comment!
sniglet
March 25, 2013 at 12:38 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
how do U discharge a car?
Chuck Little
February 22, 2013 at 10:34 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s expensive but, a 4ft. 8ft. 1/16 in. lead sheet will protect your electronics and even your brain should it need be. An EMP strong enough can also fry a humans brain and you can stand there afterwords as dumb as a stick weed.
Chuck Little
February 22, 2013 at 10:39 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks but, the main thing should be to protect your body because, an EMP can effect the human nerve system including your brain, I would hope that people would think smart about a lead shield of some sort. Lead sheets can be bought from supplyers from almost any thickness.