This is not a particularly easy post to write. It's a very sobering topic, but I think the information needs to be known. If you think you fall into one of these categories, the time to begin preparing is now.
This was prepared by several medical professionals that have dealt with crisis and natural disasters first hand, many more than once. They saw the effects of those that fell into these categories, and are now trying to spread the word, hoping to be able to save lives.
It's a commonly known fact that most religions believe in some kind of epic event that will deliver the righteous and destroy the earth. As a Christian, I believe in the Second Coming of Christ, and I also believe all of the events in the Bible (and Book of Mormon) referring to the Second Coming are events that will take place. These events are commonly thought of as *scary*, or maybe even perhaps *terrifying*. However, I firmly believe that "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear", from the Doctrine and Covenants. Being a mother, and my husband says simply being a woman, I somewhat alter that to say "if ye are prepared, ye shall fear less". I know I shouldn't fear at all if I am prepared, and I know fear is not a godly attribute. I'm working on that part. Definitely one of my weaknesses. Hence, this blog and my fanatics to get prepared. So... moving on.
The First People To Die When PHTF
(Poop Hits The Fan)
Category #1: The Physically Disabled
Physically disabled means -- Those dependent on prescriptions for survival (i.e. diabetics), elderly, those unable to walk (paraplegics, missing limbs etc), those that have respiratory issues especially those that rely on CPAP machines, obese individuals.
There are some situations that will require you to really haul butt, move quickly, get outta there, etc. For most of these individuals (save maybe some dependent on medication), they will not be able to move quickly. At least in current natural disaster situations, this is true. Who knows exactly what things will be like when it's the "Real Deal".
If you have a family member that falls into this category, please make preparations to help them. If you are obese, please work now to lose weight (I'm definitely labeled as someone that is "overweight" -- I'm workin' on it.) If you are dependent on prescription medications, do what you can to store medication. Talk to your doctor and see if he/she will work with you on this. If you have type II diabetes, change your diet and exercise so you can become less or completely insulin independent. If you smoke, work now to try and stop smoking (I know, easier said then done), but you are not going to want to suffer the affects of a smoker's lungs during these times. And unless you can store a years supply of cigarettes, you also don't want to have to go through serious withdrawal symptoms by being cut off cold turkey.
Category #2: Government Housing / Welfare recipients
When I first read this, I thought, "Oh boy. This is going to be a touchy subject." First point to make -- not all people receiving government assistance are like this. But a whole lot are. There are 2 types of people that fall into this category:
1. Those that have a cradle to grave "Help me I can't do anything for myself nor do I want to" type of mentality. This was extremely apparent after Katrina. This was also the most frustrating group of individuals for health care professionals to work with.
2. Typically some of these individuals become aggressors. These are the first people to go and loot. They are also the first to either get shot (rightfully so) because they are looting or to shoot someone else (Remember that looters don't go after just stores and businesses, they also loot private houses). This is a very dangerous group of people. These are also people that will take advantage of people from Category 1. BEWARE OF THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE. They are very common when looting takes place.
Category #3: Those addicted to substances
1. Druggies *THIS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS GROUP OF PEOPLE*
When a person addicted to drugs, especially benzos, opiates, or methamphetamines, they will do whatever it takes to get their drug. (Keep in mind that millions of people in the US alone are addicted to drugs. According to this article, 23 million Americans are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.) If they think that you possibly have something they want, they will do whatever it takes to get it, and heaven forbid they come for you. When people are detoxing and looking for whatever it is they want to get their fix, beware! Be prepared to defend yourself against these type of people. One or two rounds of a 9mm will not take them down. Shot placement is paramount -- if you don't shoot the head, heart, or major bone structure, they will continue to come for you. The reason these people die is either because A)other people have to kill them to protect themselves or their family, or B) their blood pressure spikes, they experience seizures, and then die.
2. Alcoholics
Alcoholics' blood pressure will shoot up, they will have seizures, and die. Generally speaking, an alcoholic can not go "cold turkey". They need to be weaned off of alcohol slowly, and death takes place much faster than a person addicted to drugs.
Category #4: The "Debt Up To My Eyeballs" group
This is a very wide swamp of people. These people have incurred so much debt and have so many monthly payments that they have been unable to prepare. They do not have a food storage. These people are generally thought of the "tryin' to keep up with the Jones'" kind of people. They have the newest and and best, but have incurred a lot of debt to do so, and are very deficient in supplies. These are also the people that react too late. They get so caught up in life that they miss many of the signs. And then they go into a state of denial. Denial is a huge part of this group. While they might go out to the shooting range, and they might have firearms, they will not be able to mentally cope with "Oh I was wrong and didn't prepare soon enough". They will get out too late. They will try and loot, but there is no way they will be able to survive on just what they loot. And besides, *looting is dangerous*, and they will not be prepared to combat all of the aggressive looting-type of people. You will be risking your life if you choose to loot.
Along with this group -- financial experts predict that in the coming months/years, not only will gas prices, food prices etc skyrocket, but they predict that interest rates will also go completely through the roof. If this happens, the people in this group have a good chance of losing everything they own because they will not be able to pay the high interest.
If you are in debt, try now to limit your spending and pay off your debt as soon as possible.
Category #5: "The right to bare NO arms."
Many groups of people that do not own firearms are the "peace-loving", green, lower your carbon foot print, tree hugger, live-off-of-the-land type of people. This kind of mentality is not wrong by any means. In fact, these people have great skill sets as far as agriculture, sewing, weaving, and general self sufficient skills. However, they are deficient in one thing: Firearms. They typically do not like weapons , and because of that, they become a perfect target. They are not able to defend themselves.
Other groups of people do not have firearms, for whatever reason, and this will become a major problem. If someone walks onto your property and they have a gun and are ready to do business to get whatever you have in your house, how are you going to protect yourselves?
If you do own guns: Buy additional safety locks for each gun, and store them in a safe or other kind of locked cabinet. If you have guns, be smart about it, especially if you have children in your home, or if you EVER have children in your home.
And there we have it. I would suggest that you look at your own lives, or the lives of your family members, and if you or they fall into one of these categories, please prepare now. If you are not equipped to take care of yourself, or your children, there will be some serious problems later on down the road. Evaluate what you need to, tweak or fix what you need to, and Get Prepared Now! : )
It is paramount to have a food and basic essentials storage, and to NOT go into debt to get this.
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