Mods;
There a a few posts under the WCF MRE. Mine and another are a bit off topic so perhaps they should be merged.
Another good point of living abroad is to let your local embassy know you are here and how to contact you. Keep watch on emergency developments and be ready if things go from bad to worse. If things start to look bad, stay in closer touch to know where and when you should be there.
Don’t count on cell phones. They need to know where you are and keep it up to date.
I’m not saying that Taiwan is unsafe. I am just saying to use common sense. Taiwan is one of the safeest countries (out of 35) in which I have spent time. On the other hand, things can go bad very very fast. The posts are meant, not to scare but to give some good advice for you regardless of any country you may find yourself whilst abroad. I know others have vast experience travelling abroad and I thought it might be helpful to give some suggestions for being prepared to protect yourself while therein.
I always to keep a “to go bag”, I call “grab and go bag”
My wife has one and so do I. They are smaller size back packs, each with a sleeping bag but mine has a small pup tent.
Both bags have one light change for dry clothes and an extra set of light hiking shoes (not boots)
We each have a small lunch box with some basic food supplies for about 2 weeks (4 in a pinch) and some water purification tablets
Flashlights and one set of extra batteries. (keep it as light as possible). Forget cell phone batteries, laptops and chargers
Food mentioned from the merge from WCF.
Local basic maps because, in a disaster, things are going to look differently. Mine are laminated.
6 First aid kit of basics:
Large size bandages
Scizzors
Decent sized folding knife
A small roll of Duct Tape in each bag
Disinfectant - iodine is popular here and neosporin, etc, difficult to find
Fem hygiene pads for larger scale sterilized bandages
Any prescribed meds enough for 4 weeks - especially things like diabetes meds that can go without refrigeration (ask doc)
More suggestions? Keep it light and mobile.
It generally makes sense to have a documents case which you can take out of the house in the event of a fire. Inside is your passport and those of any loved ones. Plus rotate your credit cards so that one of them is in there. Plus any title documents you have to a house/car etc.
And any bank books, chops, extra ATM card so that you will have ready access to cash.
This way if your house catches fire you have at least the basics to get things moving again.
IF there is a national emergency such as a major quake you can depart to the airport and take a flight to a nearby country to ride out the aftershocks provided the airport is functioning. Being on an island if you can’t get out, then you are there for the duration.
If the commies attack , the airports will be closed and therefore you are there for the duration as well.
What about weapons? Guns are illegal here but machete knives and brickbats are popular, and I think you can get archery equipment.
But the most important thing is to be part of a group of people you can count on to help each other and work together. That way you can overwhelm the well-prepared people and take their food.
[quote=“Zla’od”]What about weapons? Guns are illegal here but machete knives and brickbats are popular, and I think you can get archery equipment.
But the most important thing is to be part of a group of people you can count on to help each other and work together. That way you can overwhelm the well-prepared people and take their food.[/quote]
Homemade black powder firearms (but making them is also illegal)?
It really helps to live next to a police station, because in the case of social breakdown/zombie apocalypse there’s always an armory you can break into for essential weapons…
As for how to make blackpowder, there are instructions over the net, but the type of charcoal makes a significant difference in the quality of the powder. BBQ charcoal makes crappy powder that won’t do more than burn like matches.
This is Taiwan where people actually care about what other people think of them and not New Orleans.
I don’t think there will ever be a complete social breakdown in a country like Taiwan. People here are still bound to their culture which can be annoying sometimes/many-times.
However, why should they start shooting each other? The only thing I could think of, far fetched anyhow, is that the Taiwan Indian tribes in the mountains gear up to fight the Taiwanese with a Chinese background.
It will never happen and if, don’t get between the lines.
So, go teaching now and if the $$ collapses this or next year, it won’t be the biggest single event in human history.
I guess the new currencies are printed already and after a year or so of discomfort everything returns to normal on a lower standard.
No new I-Phone every six month.
The LCD must last 6 years at least and so does your PC.
Farmers will throughout such an event take care of their fields and sell their goods for whatever currencies available.
Keep mixing your gunpowder and don’t blow up the house. :roflmao:
Go out and do it from time to time. All the kit in the world is not going to save you if you are not cut out for it - and learn how to ration, learn how to use the stuff that you have effectively and learn how to improvise with the things that can be found around you.
I don’t do it so much now, but when i used to spend time in the mountains or other outdoor places I would take a supply of food and necessary equipment, but I would use it sparingly, instead using what is around me first and relying on what I was carrying for emergencies.
And get a good, useful knife. This will see you through anything.
Survival knife
Fire-starting supplies (lighter, waterproof matches, flint, tinder)
First aid supplies
Para cord
Space blanket
Water purification tablets
Water filter
Food with a long shelf life (power bars, dehydrated camping food, etc.)
Headlamp & spare batteries
Compass
Spare clothing
External hard drive with all your important files backed up on it regularly
You can get most of these at outdoor stores like Ting San Iou or MetrOasis.
I bring some of this stuff along with me when I hike, and it can prove useful during a simple day hike in the woods.
Make sure the hard drive isn’t anything mechanical that can fail! either use flash disks or SSD. They have a long data retention and can be dropped without affecting its data. A CD/DVD backup is also good too…
[quote=“Zla’od”]What about weapons? Guns are illegal here but machete knives and brickbats are popular, and I think you can get archery equipment.
But the most important thing is to be part of a group of people you can count on to help each other and work together. That way you can overwhelm the well-prepared people and take their food.[/quote]
Stock up on chemical weapons. Some of that BPA-tainted yogurt, for example.
[quote=“Zla’od”]What about weapons? Guns are illegal here but machete knives and brickbats are popular, and I think you can get archery equipment.
But the most important thing is to be part of a group of people you can count on to help each other and work together. That way you can overwhelm the well-prepared people and take their food.[/quote]
This thread is a pile of doggy do-do. Taiwan functioned fine without electricity and running water for centuries, it’s not going back to the dark ages even in the event of economic issues.
People would just go back to their families and communities and work it out from there.
In the last century, Taiwan’s population has risen from a couple million to ten times that. Major cities have a few days’ supply of food. So when the earthquake / cut-off of oil deliveries / zombie apocalypse happens, all those millions of city-dwellers are supposed to live off of their relatives’ gardens…? I’ll stick with cannibalism and debauchery, thank you very much!
I think we need to know for what contingency we prepare for:
Lets say level 1 is an emergency only involving your own house. Say a fire. This is easier to prepare for as the primary methodology involves simply leaving the residence in a timely fashion. IN which case a plan of evacuation should be worked out. Assuming hallways may be dark and even filled with smoke. One should work out how many doors to the emergency door and how many flights of stairs to go down. And perhaps put together a small briefcase containing paper that is of importance. Such as I.D. or passports or titles to cars/ houses, etc. Bank books. Credit cards , other things of this nature.
A level 2 emergency, say involving your neighborhood would mean much of the same as above. Planning a route of escape and having some necessary paperwork to smooth your progress. Credit cards, I.d. and money.
A level 3 emergency, say one involving a city. Such as dust storms, water rationing, transportation shut down, etc. One needs to devise a way to escape the city to another place where one can obtain shelter, food and communication.
A level 4 emergency on a national level. Again the primary objective would be to depart the country in order to escape hardships brought on by civil strife, earthquakes, storms, floods and other calamities.
Assuming one survived the initial event, the only other thing of importance is a method of escape. Bring your “escape bag” containing I.d. passport, credit card, CASH, etc.
IF you are prevented from escape in any of the upper scenarios you are in for the duration and could possibly simply not survive.
[quote]This thread is a pile of doggy do-do. Taiwan functioned fine without electricity and running water for centuries, it’s not going back to the dark ages even in the event of economic issues.
People would just go back to their families and communities and work it out from there.[/quote]
Every country functioned without electricity and clean running water for centuries. Electricity has only been widely used for nbout 110 years.
[quote=“Super Hans”][quote]This thread is a pile of doggy do-do. Taiwan functioned fine without electricity and running water for centuries, it’s not going back to the dark ages even in the event of economic issues.
People would just go back to their families and communities and work it out from there.[/quote]
Every country functioned without electricity and clean running water for centuries. Electricity has only been widely used for nbout 110 years.[/quote]
Back in those days they did not have the population density of modern societies. Sure you can function perfectly fine without electricity but with a high population density of modern cities, a lack of electricity means the city cannot function, because electricity is needed to keep foods fresh while it is being transported, and sometimes electricity is needed to transport them too (if transported by rail with electric locomotives). Electricity is also needed for buildings over 10 floors, because without elevator the building simply cannot function and no one will live in it. Air conditioning is also necessary for taller buildings since the wind is going to be so strong that windows cannot be opened. Not to mention you need electricity to pump water to those high buildings.
One must realize it is things like refrigeration, elevators, that cities were able to expand and that buildings taller than 5 stories became possible. Before electricity people had to live close to their food source, otherwise they would only eat canned food or preserved meat.
And how are we suddenly not going to have electricity? There is plenty of oil, gas and coal left to burn. So how is that actually going to happen anytime soon? The only half realistic scenario is a Chinese blockade and even that is highly unlikely at this stage.
As for registering at an embassy, what embassy and why?
[quote=“Zla’od”]In other words, “Let them eat deer!”
In the last century, Taiwan’s population has risen from a couple million to ten times that. Major cities have a few days’ supply of food. So when the earthquake / cut-off of oil deliveries / zombie apocalypse happens, all those millions of city-dwellers are supposed to live off of their relatives’ gardens…? I’ll stick with cannibalism and debauchery, thank you very much![/quote]
If it got that bad a survival kit is not going to do much good for long. Having a machete might come in handy but. You would have to band together with other people and join some type of farming community.
It really helps to live next to a police station, because in the case of social breakdown/zombie apocalypse there’s always an armory you can break into for essential weapons…
[/quote]
This is Taiwan where people actually care about what other people think of them and not New Orleans.
I don’t think there will ever be a complete social breakdown in a country like Taiwan. People here are still bound to their culture which can be annoying sometimes/many-times.
However, why should they start shooting each other? The only thing I could think of, far fetched anyhow, is that the Taiwan Indian tribes in the mountains gear up to fight the Taiwanese with a Chinese background.
It will never happen and if, don’t get between the lines.
So, go teaching now and if the $$ collapses this or next year, it won’t be the biggest single event in human history.
I guess the new currencies are printed already and after a year or so of discomfort everything returns to normal on a lower standard.
No new I-Phone every six month.
The LCD must last 6 years at least and so does your PC.
Farmers will throughout such an event take care of their fields and sell their goods for whatever currencies available.
Keep mixing your gunpowder and don’t blow up the house. :roflmao:[/quote]
The dollar is doing fine, it’s the Euro that’s in big trouble.
Yes, HH and Taiwan Luthiers - I was just commenting on HH’s premise that people survived without electricity and water for centuries and so it would be fine again now, or did I misinterpret your meaning?
[quote]And how are we suddenly not going to have electricity? There is plenty of oil, gas and coal left to burn. So how is that actually going to happen anytime soon? The only half realistic scenario is a Chinese blockade and even that is highly unlikely at this stage.
As for registering at an embassy, what embassy and why?
[/quote]
A survival kit in the sense we are talking about is useful for things like natural disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes, where electricity is out or is rotated; or there is limited or rationed water. These are very likely scenarios and they will occur at some point in the future. It doesn’t take much to disrupt supply chains, communication lines and encourage disease. A survival pack could mean the difference between spending the downtime in relative comfort, perhaps even being of assistance to other people, or spending the time wet, miserable and hungry. A few days to a few weeks is a very long time when the current way of life has been interrupted.
