Lesson 11

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Survive In Place Lesson 11
The Ultimate Step-By-Step guide to creating your Urban Survival Plan
SurviveInPlace
Lesson 11
Lessons Learned From Katrina
By
David Morris
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 Natural Disasters vs. Man-Made Disasters
Katrina illustrated one of the unfortunate new realities that we have in our
entitlement-minded America: The response of criminals and entitlement-minded
people who have nothing to lose to a disaster may be worse than the actual
disaster.
There is no doubt that Katrina had a devastating effect on Louisiana and Mississippi,
but many of the biggest lessons that we can learn from the event had to do with
what happened afterwards. Most of the horror stories of Katrina were man-made.
On one hand, that fact sickens me, but on the other hand, it means that the lessons
can be applied to all disaster situationsÈ and that the people who went through the
experiences didnÓt do so in vain.
Timing is Everything
The first lesson that we can learn from Katrina is the importance of timing.
Regardless of the disaster, if you decide to bug out, you must make sure that it is
still a practical option before you actually leave the driveway.
People who left New Orleans early had no problems at all. The roads were clear,
gas stations had gas, food, and drinks, and hotel rooms were available a few hours
away.
As an example, in the days before Katrina made landfall, the travel time from New
Orleans East across the Twin Span Bridge was only 15 minutes.
As more Ðlast minuteÑ evacuees started leaving town, the travel time increased to
17 HOURS. The problems werenÓt Ðlinear,Ñ but rather compounded as time went on
as a result of cars running out of gas, accidents, and a lack of available fuel. From
talking with people who were there, it was like someone slammed a door shut.
There were several factors that compounded the problem, but one of them was that
many evacuees started out with near-empty gas tanks and were prepared for a 15-
20 minute drive across the bridge. They were not prepared for 17 hours with their
engines idling. As their cars ran out of gas, they blocked the cars that DID have
gas.
One of the biggest factors came into play between T-24 hours and T-12 hours. It
was during this time that almost every gas station within 100 miles of New Orleans
ran out of gas (and stopped getting resupplied). One man reportedly paid $1,000
for a tank of gas during this time. In addition to running out of gas, convenience
store supplies were wiped out (including toilet paper for the bathrooms).
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If you are ever in a mass evacuation like this, it will be important to keep your
food/water close to you and hidden. Also, eat/drink discretely so that you donÓt get
wiped out by people around you who are in need and see that you have food and
water. If your vehicle permits, it would be smart to have multiple small
bags/containers of food/water so that, if necessary or advantageous, you can show
people a single small bag/cooler and appear to have very little.
If you have a problem with the mentality of not sharing your survival provisions
with other people who are in need, that is fine. Just make sure to game it out in
your mind in advance. You need to decide whether it would be easier for you to
watch your loed ones or strangers complain that they are hungry/thirsty. DonÓt
wait until you are in the middle of a disaster situation to address these questions.
Predetermining your decisions for these kinds of moral dilemmas when you are well
fed and rested will allow you act decisively and efficiently when youÓre operating
under stress.
As an example, imagine being stuck on the Twin Span Bridge for 17 hours. People
will not live or die of dehydration based on whether or not you share your water
during a 17-hour situation. They may ÐsufferÑ, but they will not die if they keep
their heads screwed on.
On the other hand, YOUR strength, YOUR ability to see, YOUR brainÓs ability to
communicate with YOUR muscles, and YOUR brain performance will start dropping
noticeably when you are dehydrated by as little as 2 quarts (or liters) if you weigh
100 pounds or 4 quarts (or liters) if you weigh 200 pounds. Keep in mind that you
will lose this amount of fluid to sweat and bodily functions in as fast as 1-3 hours if
you are hot and under stress.
The same rule applies to food. People around you may ÐsufferÑ some if you donÓt
share your energy bars with them, but theyÓve got weeks before they are in danger
of dying of starvation. On the other hand, if you run out of food because you
shared too much of it, you are going to start experiencing an increase in irritability
and a loss of mental and physical function due to low blood sugar.
The loss of Ðhigh speedÑ functioning due to either dehydration or low blood sugar is
not something that you want to have happen in a survival situationÈespecially if
youÓre surrounded by hungry, thirsty, irritable people.
Just remember that the people around you made a conscious or unconscious
decision to NOT be prepared, just like you made a proactive decision to be
prepared. Unless you are a few days into a disaster, giving away your survival
provisions wonÓt make the difference between life and death for someone else, but
it will hinder your ability to operate at 100% if you run out of food or water.
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This doesnÓt mean that you shouldnÓt share anything with anyone. If you have your
provisions split up, you can easily show someone a small cooler with a few bottles
of water, fruit, sandwiches, bars, etc., and tell them, ÐI donÓt have much, and I
donÓt know how long weÓll be here, but you can have some.Ñ You can still be a
Ðgood guyÑÏjust do it smartly.
DonÓt Believe Everything That You See/Hear On TV
Many of the breakdowns of post-Katrina were related to communications, and one
of the biggest problems was misinformation spread by the media.
TV, radio, blog, and newspaper reporters were all too happy to publish any horrible
story that they were told. HORRIBLE things happened after Katrina, but nothing
like what was reported in the news. There were reports of horrendous crimes at
the Superdome, including babies with slit throats, but they were never found.
There were also reports of ÐthousandsÑ of bodies floating in the streets, ÐsnipersÑ
shooting at helicopters, and cannibalism.
There WERE bodies floating in the streets, and I have a link on the resource page to
pictures, but there werenÓt Ðthousands.Ñ There were stupid thugs shooting at
helicopters because they were stupid thugs, but they werenÓt Ðsnipers.Ñ And there
were no substantiated reports of cannibalism.
Unfortunately, there was a real consequence to this irresponsible reporting. Steve
Sailor from iSteve.com said it best with this observation,
ÐSure, rumors outrun the reality, but think about what it would
be like to be a cop or fireman who is supposed to go out in a
boat and rescue people. You're putting your life vest on
because there's a chance that some desperate survivor in the
water might pull you in. But then your wife rushes in and says
there are reports of snipers (thugs) shooting at rescuers, and
she insists you put on your bullet-proof vest instead. But that's
heavy and would drag you right down to the bottom. So, you
say, screw it, I'm calling in sick.Ñ Î Steve Sailor
(changing ÐsnipersÑ to ÐthugsÑ was done by me out of respect
for true snipers.)
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If you were a police officer and you knew that this kind of activity was going on,
would you stay home and protect your family and your neighborhood, or would you
go out and try to protect people who might thank you by shooting you?
Compound this with the fact that 80% of New Orleans Police Officers reportedly lost
their houses to the storm and subsequent flooding and 2/3 of them basically quit
the department after the levees broke, and youÓve got a serious staffing problem.
These news reports had consequences. They emboldened criminals, they broke the
already fragile will of much of the New Orleans Police Department, and they made
ordinary citizens more scared than they needed to be.
The takeaway here is that you need to have a good mental filter in place when you
listen to the news after a disaster. DonÓt believe everything that you hear, and
donÓt let news that you donÓt have any control over affect you.
Remember that it is the job of TV and radio stations to keep you tuned in for as
long as possible, by whatever means necessary. ItÓs not their job to help you
survive or to give you accurate, actionable information that you can use to survive.
ItÓs a bonus when they do this, but their primary purpose is to keep eyes and ears
tuned to their station and watching/listening to their ads.
ItÓs important to realize that all of this mis-reporting was most likely the result of
simple sensational journalism and a thirst for ratings rather than a coordinated,
malicious effort of putting out mis-information. WeÓll discuss this more when we
cover the mental aspect of survival, but if you donÓt have control of how your mind
deals with news, it will react to sensational journalism as if it is true, regardless of
whether it is or not.
Adapt and Overcome
Seventeen television stations and 79 radio stations were forced off the air by
Hurricane Katrina. In an example of adapting and overcoming, FEMA still managed
to get pertinent information out to residents telling them about dangers to be
aware of, locations of shelters & aid stations, and how to deal with waste/water
issues. HowÓd they do it? By printing up flyers and delivering them door to door.
Unfortunately, in what looks like a rare success for FEMA, they screwed this up as
well. You see, firemen from across the country volunteered to go to New Orleans
and Mississippi to help out in the wake of Katrina. FEMA decided that they all
needed to get Ðtrained upÑ in Atlanta before being ÐdeployedÑ to their assignments.
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