Tomorrow is never certain.  We never know when there might be a dissonance which can disrupt the comfortable nature we are used to on a daily basis. There are many different emergency events which some people prepare for but, unfortunately, most of us tend to ignore. At some point in our lives, we will have to deal with some form of natural calamity, and that is exactly why we put together this post.  In the following article, we’ll highlight some of our favorite survival skills for natural calamities for you to learn from.

Survival Skills

1. Making Shelter

You should consider your situation before planning or building any survival structure. Your shelter must be able to provide protection from excessive wind, sun, rain, snow or any kind of weather. A shelter is mostly for comfort and protection. It should protect you against animals, weather or from insects. Likewise, it must be relatively comfortable since you will have to sleep in it.

A shelter may have many different forms:

• Natural shelters include caves or fallen thick-foliaged trees
• Intermediate shelters include a ditch dug next to a tree log and covered with leafs, debris shelter, or snow caves
• Completely man-made structures which may include houses, tents or tarps

2. Gathering & Filtering Water

Human beings are able to survive for an average of 3 to 4 days without water intake. Water is highly needed in hotter temperatures. The need of water also may increase with exercise. A normal person may lose between 2 and 4 liters of water in a day under the normal condition – more in extreme weather conditions. It is suggested that you consume between 3 and 6 liters of water per day to stave off dehydration.

In survival situations where running water is not available, you need to have an adequate water supply or a way to consistently produce clean water. Without clean water, you won’t survive a prolonged calamity and therefore, you need a source that will not only provide clean water but also easily accessible every time without going long distance. Other sources of water may include; having secrete water reserves, rainwater harvesting, or storing the large quantity of clean water.  There are numerous ways to generate clean water from questionable sources filtering, purifying and boiling.

3. Creating Fire

Fire have been recognized to significantly increase an ability to survive from both the mental and physical states. It can help you warm your body, boil water, cook food, or dry your clothes. In addition, fire can also provide a psychological support by creating a sense of the safety and security.

Lighting fire without matches or lighters is a common subject in survival books and courses. You should, therefore, practice the fire making tactics before venturing to wilderness. Making the fire in adverse conditions have been made easier by introductions of fire equipment such as fire piston and solar spark lighters.

4. Food Storage

You might be surprised seeing food being low on a survival skills list. We can survive without food for much longer compared with other basic needs. According to the rule of three, a typical person can survive for up to three weeks without food.  That being said, surviving and being somewhat comfortable can be two very different things.

Having food stores in place prior to a calamity is the best way to ensure you don’t go hungry during a natural disaster.  In the off chance you’ve run out of everything, you can resort to the following means of food acquisition:

• Hunting
• Foraging
• Trading

Please make sure you can properly identify edible plants if you intend to forage.

5. Improve Your Outdoor Skills

The more you understand the nature, the better you will be able to survive. For instance, to effectively locate wild animals you will need highly tuned wildlife tracking skills.The best way to acquire basic natural knowledge is to read about plants and animals in your area and then get outside and tune your knowledge. This approach will allow you identify means of survival in the outdoors in good times or bad.

6. Improve Your Attitude

Attitude is very important in survival skills. It can even determine whether you are going to make it out of a situation alive. Your attitude will help you plan for your situation and, by doing so, you will keep your body and mind active. A positive attitude is also contagious.  If you are in a group of folks who are in dire straits, a positive attitude may help bring people together and allow them to get to safety.

7. Build Your Relationships

Solid relationships with other community members is an essential aspect of survival and readiness. One individual can’t do as much as two can do. If you involved your friend or a neighbor about it, they might agree and create a readiness plan for the entire community. Solid relationships will add an extra reliability which will help you prepared for anything.

8. Communication Is King

Communication is one of the most critical survival skills to keep up to date with.  Ensure that you have backup forms of communication such as radios, radio phones, auxiliary phone chargers or satellite phones. All these are a flexible and viable form of communication.

Moreover, have a communication plan and make sure that you practice in calm times to make sure that your plan works when things go sideways.

9. Have An Escape Plan

Having a plan to escape from different situations is key in a survival situation.  Your plans should start with your central location – do you have an escape plan for your house if it’s on fire – and build outwards.  Where do you go from work if there’s a disaster? Where do your kids go if they are at school? Where do you go if your primary escape route is blocked? Do you have a tertiary escape route?

10. First Aid Knowledge

Don’t let its ranking fool you – first aid knowledge is one of the most critical of the survival skills that you should develop. Build up your first aid kits both in your homes and in your vehicles and, above all else, build up your knowledge to treat everything from simple to severe situations. You can enroll in basic first aid classes and other natural survival tactics at some of the institutions such as Red Cross. Additionally, you can read more books that provide first aid information. Once you’ve developed your basic first aid skills, you may want to develop a knowledge of medicinal herbs and remedies.

Conclusion

Natural calamities come at the most unanticipated times.  Only developing proper survival skills will allow you to make it through these situations as unscathed as possible.

What do you think of these tens tips? Let us know in the comments below.

Communication is important – both in normal, everyday life and in a SHTF scenario.  Suburban homesteaders have the benefit of being nearby people and, often, don’t have to worry about being stranded without normal communication equipment functioning.  That doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from Jim Cobb’s latest offering, Prepper’s Communication Handbook.  This book will not only walk you through communication equipment and strategies you may need but also talks about communications methods that will increase your quality of life – both in and outside of disastrous situations.

Book Set-Up

In what has become typical Jim Cobb style, Prepper’s Communication Handbook is laid out in a concise, intelligent manner.  Each chapter is precise in its information and to the point.  There’s no fluff or extraneous information – “Just the facts, ma’am!”

The chapters are as follows:

Chapter 1 – One-Way Radio: Receivers

Mark Hortsman of Manager Tools (completely non-prepping related, I know…but I do have a real job that I have to work at and improve in) always says “Communication is what the listener does.”  In this sense, it makes sense that Jim starts his book with ways to listen to communication.  Receivers are an important part of a communication plan and this chapter covers AM/FM, satellite, shortwave and National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) or weather radios.  Radio scanners are also addressed.  Overall, Jim spends a lot of time on how to collect information as opposed to sending, or broadcasting, information.

Chapter 2 – Two-Way Radio

Listening to and gathering information is great, but sometimes you need to interact with people or send out critical information.  This point is where two radios come into play.  Jim talks about the power required for different radios and goes in depth on items such as telephones, Citizen Band (CB) radios, Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) radios and Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS) radios.

Chapter 3 – Amateur Radio

FRS, GMRS and MURS radios are great for local communication, but HAM radio is really where it’s at if you want to communicate over long distance.  This chapter of Prepper’s Communication Handbook is dedicated to the HAM radio: licensing information, test taking, local clubs, emergency communication versus normal operation and required equipment.  This topic is so broad that Jim cannot possibly provide everything there is to know about HAM radio in this chapter but he does a great job of setting the stage for further investigation by the reader.

Chapter 4 – Online Communication

We live in a digital world and I would hazard that a majority of our current communication is done online.  Jim would be remiss if he didn’t devote a significant portion of this book to such things as instant messaging, email, message boards, blogs and the myriad of social media networks out there.

Chapter 5 – Putting Together A Plan

This chapter is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, for me in this book.  All the background information is great, but how do we pull it all together into an actionable plan?  While there’s no template to follow, Jim does one better – he provides a structure one should follow and can use to author their own plan.  This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

Chapter 6 – Emergency Business Communications Planning

Think emergency communication only pertains to you and your family?  What about your place of business?  Corporate emergency communication plans are just as important today as are personal plans.  Jim uses this chapter to discuss how and why a plan should be implemented.

Chapter 7 – Codes And Ciphers

It’s easy to foresee a situation where you would want to safeguard your communications from prying eyes (or ears, as it were).  This chapter of Prepper’s Communication Handbook explains the differences between codes and ciphers.  It also talks about way to safeguard your communications and situations in which you might want to do just that.

Chapter 8 – Essentials For Effective Communication

The next three chapters of Prepper’s Communication Handbook could just as easily be found in a management training handbook as in a prepper communication handbook.  Jim doesn’t talk about gear and codes and strategy here.  Instead, in this chapter, he talks about how to increase the effectiveness of your communication by doing things like active listening, not interrupting, giving feedback and tailoring your language for your audience.  Sometimes how you communicate is just as important as what you communicate.

Chapter 9 – Body Language

Body language can tell you a lot about a person.  Are they telling the truth? Lying? Are they defensive?  This chapter is useful in understanding certain “tells” in body language and may also be used to help you learn how not to have these tells if you’re put in certain situations.

Chapter 10 – Conflict Resolution

Strategies for conflict resolution such as concession, consensus, mediation, arbitration, compromise, collaboration, and competition are discussed.  Jim also suggests some tips for conflict resolution in a leadership role.

Final Thoughts Section

Jim summarizes the books and gives a few parting shots of wisdom.

Resources Section

As with most books on this topic, Prepper’s Communication Handbook is gear and information heavy.  Jim outlines a bunch of recommended resources – both knowledge-based and hardware – in this section.

Why I Liked Prepper’s Communication Handbook

As you might have noticed by now, Jim has a basic style when he writes a book.  There’s solid information provided in a no-BS kind of way.  In addition, the topic of communication is very broad and can be quite confusing.  Jim does a good job of providing introductions that allow the reader to continue a self-study off of.

What I Didn’t Like

What I didn’t like about this book was the same thing I liked – it’s high level.  If you’re looking for communication plan templates and the like, this isn’t the book for you.  This book is more of a “teach a man to fish” kind of book.

Overall Thoughts on Prepper’s Communication Handbook

I think Prepper’s Communication Handbook by Jim Cobb is a solid addition to your long-term survival library.  The book is not just a gear guide but talks about communication methods and theory – both of which are important in stressful situations that preppers may face.

Disclaimer: Jim Cobb supplied a copy of Prepper’s Communication Handbook for me to review. I can assure my readers that I gave it a fair and honest review.