Have An Evacuation Plan

Below is an exact copy of an e-mail a friend sent to me.  It's real, written in dialogue form, of the talk he had with his family about their evacuation plan in case of an EMP attack or virtually any other type of emergency.  I did not write this, nor did I change a word.  If you do not have a family evacuation plan, what follows will give you the guidelines you need for an evacuation plan for family members within a fixed location.

If you have family spread over a considerable distance, more planning will have to be done.  I may have to drive to Northern California to bring back our daughter and granddaughter, so I have printed maps of all the side routes, logging roads, etc, to avoid driving in the Interstate freeway.  I also have enough fuel in 5 gallon cans to make it all the way there and back. None of the service stations would be working (electric pumps from underground tanks?), and I would not want to go near them in any case because the "local authorities" would be guarding that fuel for their own use. 

Doubt the need for these plans? Many nations are preparing for a paralyzing EMP first strike! The latest word - May 27, 2005 - is that Iran is now equipped for an atomic weapon, news that reportedly stunned President Bush.  The "possibility" has now turned into a "probability," not if, but when we get hit with a terrorist EMP bomb.

Miles

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Message from a friend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night we had a "family meeting", primarily to discuss EMP with our teen aged children. I started with a brief history of nuclear weapons, the cold war and ICBM's. Then proliferation and the current religious war that we are calling a war on terrorism. And, what could happen if a long list of enemies were able to pull off an air burst and resultant EMP. We pointed out that the odds of it happening are not great but the repercussions would be huge as it would end our society as we know it and therefore very tempting to those who hate us. And actually would not be that difficult to pull off. So, a prudent person would have a plan.

"So, what’s the plan", daughter asked. Bottom line is the entire family has to get home (home base).

Step one is a threat assessment. Most likely such an attack would occur during a weekday and relatively early on the west coast (where we live) (meaning mid-morning to mid-afternoon attack in the Midwest or east coast so earlier our time). Wherever you are these days, if the power goes out you have to investigate. First, check to see if phones are working, both Cell and land line. Start calling people you know to see if their power is out. If your power goes out but the phone is working and you call grandpa and their power is on, its no big deal. Also, go outside and look around, if you can see streetlights (or anything electric) functioning five blocks away, no big deal.

No power and no phones, the alert level goes up a notch. Next you need to see if cars are working as an EMP pulse would likely make most cars inoperable, some simply dead in the middle of the road. Some will work but most will not. At that point daughter asked "which cars will work?". Mostly older vehicles and especially diesel vehicles. I told her. To which she replied, "why don't we have any of those?". We have other plans I told her. "Like what?" First we ground all our vehicles when parked and second our garage is mostly metal and is grounded also.

Okay, no power, no phones, cars not working, its an “oh sh*t” situation and time to act. If you are at school you have to get out of there and get to my office pronto which will be our staging area. The teachers might not want you to leave but I don’t care. Tell them whatever and don’t worry about getting in trouble. If you leave and it is not a major problem I will take the blame. It is two miles from school to my office, your in good shape so you should be able to make it in 20 minutes or less. Here is a map of the route I want you to use and a key to the office. If I am out and you are the first one there just lock yourself in and wait for the rest of the family to arrive.

The next day I drove the route I wanted them to take. To which daughter asked, "why did you choose this route, we never drive this way?" (questions questions!) Two reasons, first it is off the main arterials on residential streets which will be safer and second there is a lot of shade in case its hot. She liked that. But the main point is that if our vehicles are working and we come looking for you we have to know exactly where to look!

Now, everyone is at the office, step two. It is 14 miles from office to home. In the office basement there are bicycles for everyone (purchased at pawn shops for a song, little oil and tune up and they will do the job), a backpack with spare tubes, pump, tools, water, energy bars and comfortable shoes. I described the route we will take and explained we should have no trouble making it home in less than two hours given there is some significant elevation gain.

“What if you are working from home and we are in town?”, she asked. The simplest scenario is if we are all at our normal work/school locations, we all know what to do. Yet there are a multitude of scenarios where we would not all be able to meet at the office in a timely fashion. What do we do then, its not like we can call each other. That’s what our radios are for. What radios? Do you remember those little walkie-talkies we take to the mall and Disney Land (FRS), Yes. Well I bought four radios like those that are high powered GMRS).

They say their rated for 5 to 8 miles range yet I have tested them and they will work much farther than that. I climbed to the top of the hill above our house and I was able to have a very clear conversation with you grampa at his house (over 15 miles as the crow flies). “That’s crazy”, she said. They work on a principal of line of sight though so the more in the open you are the better they work. I have put the four radios in small Faraday cages so they will still work after the EMP. There is one in the office basement, One in my truck, one at moms work and one at home. Inside each box is two sets of batteries, a head set and instructions as to the channels we will use and power settings. With these we should be able to communicate. At my office, they will work best if you go up on the roof and at home we will have to climb up on the hill.

Last thing, there is also a small radio in my desk that is EMP protected. It gets AM/FM and Short Wave stations. The first person there opens it and checks for news. If you girls have to travel home alone the .357 S&W snub nose revolver is also in my desk. Wear it inside your waste belt in the small of your back like we have practiced. The Sigg 9mm with two 15 rd magazines is in the fanny pack which stays in the SUV, Okay? Sounds like a good plan, Can we have some Ice Cream? Sure