5 minutes

[TwoDo]

if say it's a 2 megaton nuke landing on Plymouth, the best bet may be for bunkerless me to go outside with my family and wait for the show

No not at all. Plenty of people survived the Hiroshima bomb including some who were a relatively short distance away from the blast center. I recall reading that there was one one young girl only 300 meters or so from the blast who apparently was down in the family bomb shelter getting some veggies for the family (it doubled as a root cellar) when it hit. The blast pretty much sealed her in and that is what saved her. Much of the radiation has a pretty short half life and dies out within hours or days. Since she was underground and behind a bunch of rubble she couldn't get out and run around madly absorbing radiation like the other survivors. By the time they got her out a few days later much of the short term radiation had died down.

Ok it wasn't 2 megaton but the moral of the story is clear. Get underground or under cover and stay there for as long as you can after the blast. The most dangerous thing, which everybody of course wants to do, is attempting to leave the area immediately after the blast. People doing that will just get trapped in a sea of refugees and bake in the radioactive glow along with everybody else.

[junmist]

Like a lot of other's said it depends if it was a chemical/gas leak just grab the 60 second bag and go any thing else get in front of the crowd or have a cup of tea and wait for a couple of hours as I'm not going out on the road with all those ideates blocking my way

[nickdutch]

to the most part its unlikely to be a bug out situation, unless it was a house fire. So if I dont burn the place down I would put the kettle on and mull things over and thats probably the best thing to do.

[Arzosah]

Yep, with only 5 minutes - house fire, chemical leak, gas explosion a door down, a flood, whatever - its grab the BOB (which I set up to cater for a house fire), grab my mobile and my handbag - during the day, that'll have my purse in it, my diary, a coat, any other stashes of money ... I might think of things of sentimental value then, depending on what the situation is - or if its a flood, I'd try to put wooden furniture, which would absorb the really dirty flood water, onto the top floor. Deal with the utilities according to what the problem is.

[grenfell]

stuff

just think back a few weeks to the tidal surge police were running the streets braying on doors telling people to grab some stuff and get out....

I was thinking with relation to the tsunarmi that being in Central England , for it to reach me it would need to be large enough to wipe out most of the country anyway so there wouldn't really anywhere to run to.
Some of the other possibilities mentioned by Arzosah could happen and then yes I'd probably skip the tea and leg it. I mentioned this thread to the other half and whilist we haven't got BOB's in the "conventional " sense we could grab a case with documents and valuables in it at a moments notice which would smooth things over assuming we return. Then in that five minutes one of us could stuff a bag with other bits and pieces and Robert's your mother's brother

[Mustachio]

Unless Moses is back in town I'm not at any risk of flooding, I wouldn't be going outside if there was a chemical leak or a bombing ... as many have said, unless it's a house fire, I'll be staying put.

Padlocking the gate, locking the doors and windows, closing the curtains .... if there's a power cut, I'll start cooking off the persihable foods in the fridge and getting as much food down my neck and the necks of my family as possible, and then get along with checking all my equipment ready for what happens next.

I only intend to bug out once the food and water runs out at my house.

If there's an asteroid hitting .... well, I'm off to sit on my roof and watch it all come flying in!

[Malthouse]

5 mins is just enough time for me to get my extras. I carry a good amount of stuff with me every day, is there a BOB thread?, so some warning time would allow me to get my good medical kit and some other choice portable items.

Though the chances are I would be mobilised just before or just after anyway, but depending on what it was of course.

[preppingsu]

is there a BOB thread?.

A whole section.....

viewforum.php?f=42

[Malthouse]

A whole section.....

Silly me

I did try the search function, but I think I may have melted the server a little bit

[Cromicon]

So, imagine, You got 5 minutes warning before SHTF (don't know what kind), how would You spend that time? What would You do? You will have to leave when time is up...

Five minutes? Crikey, let me think. I'd stress about where the kids were and where my partner was. My actions would be totally dependant on that, what the nature of the SHTF event was and where I was. I'd try to contact everyone or confirm locations. After that, generally speaking I'd be able to grab my EDC wherever I was and make my way to our meeting place by whatever method available. Even Shanks's Pony.