Evaluation

[Pestweazle]

I think it may be time to regroup and assess where we are going. This is a UK forum. What is it that we are prepping for in the UK?
I am prepping for:

Sudden food shortage
Sudden fuel shortage
Civil unrest - unsafe streets/curfew
Power outage
Epidemic
Economic collapse
Catastrophic climate change
Meteor strike
Huge EMP
Flood
Earthquake
Tsunami
Hurricane
Unknown situation

I know there are other situations but the question is: in UK how far do we go?

I carry a large EDC in my car (72hrs) I also take out with me a GMHB. Out walking I have a pocket EDC.

It gets to the point where I start to think I have OCD!

The key is as others have said 'Its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.'

I would value the opinion of others as to your current thoughts.

[12mp82]

My thought on this are that I need to be as realistic as possible and use past events to help prep for anything that is likely to occur in the future.

I have been within a mile of two major fires in the past 22 years, one resulted in an evacuation to a safer place for a few hours, the other didn't.

So looking at this I may need to have an over night bag packed.

In the last 16 years I have been unemployed just once, just a few weeks, but they were not easy weeks, although I was just waiting for the nod to start after the old company folded and a new company was created, so more of a holiday than unemployment, but there was no money coming in, so I need to save a months wages to help through another occassion, but also remember that any job is better than no job.

I have a back up power supply if the power goes off, I have food for a few months should there be none in the shops (very remote, but possible)

I have taken out insurances for long term illness or injury and for my family incase I should die.

[unsure]

i think they are all real possabilities with the exception of a huricane or tsunami .
i don`t think you can realy cover every possable event that might happen , at best you can give yourself peace of mind that your doing all you can do in any given situation . storing food fuel ect will only last so long , hopefully longer than the event itself . at best its going to be a case of keep your head down on pray .

[short circuit]

I am prepping for;
Power outs=generation of power
Asteroids=ready to move ect
Cold weather= heating and the growing of frost hardy veg
Tornados and extream weather....

[dizzydays]

I'm doing some urgent reevaluating this week. I've changed my diet recently to deal with some health issues, so now find I'm not eating some of the stuff that I stored, and I need to rethink which foodstuffs I do want to store.

In addition, I was fired yesterday morning, and reinstated last night. That was a horribly scary few hours and I need to rethink my finances fairly urgently. I have some debts which I now think it would be more sensible to try and clear than worrying about bags of rice.

Longer term I would say power outages, colder winters, possible pandemics and of course zombie invasion

[Hamradioop]

IMHO the likely threats are Severe Weather, Energy supply and terrorism. All of which are Bug In situations to me living on the edge of a town.

[Ferricks]

I'm doing some urgent reevaluating this week. I've changed my diet recently to deal with some health issues, so now find I'm not eating some of the stuff that I stored, and I need to rethink which foodstuffs I do want to store.

In addition, I was fired yesterday morning, and reinstated last night. That was a horribly scary few hours and I need to rethink my finances fairly urgently. I have some debts which I now think it would be more sensible to try and clear than worrying about bags of rice.

Longer term I would say power outages, colder winters, possible pandemics and of course zombie invasion

Apols for just picking this up after a few weeks - but I think there's a really good point being made here - the 1st priority for those who have debt is, I believe (An opinion only!), to clear the debt before all else as this will offer greater security against the most likely threats in this country at present - i.e. financial misery for most! I would still build a degree of food stocks but the bulk of my disposable income would be directed to pay offs.

Having recently managed this ourselves - WHAT a difference to how you feel! We didn't have unmanageable debt, we weren't struggling, we weren't under threat - there was no urgency to us paying it off. But it's a HUGE tick on our prepping list and it's great to get that cash diverted to areas where we feel it's of more benefit now.

In short Dizzy - a good point well made

[Arzosah]

Totally agree that dealing with debts is a really important prepping step - after all, many of the things on the list that the OP made at the top of the thread are *slow* events - if you couldn't pay off your debts, there's a chance that things like court appearances, bailiffs, etc, would all still be operating in some fashion, and might be a lot more rough and ready than they are now.

As for a hurricane or a tsunami being unrealistic (I think Unsure made that point) - no, they're not, not at all. The Great Storm that the south of England suffered in 1987 (and you can still see the effects on the forests in Sussex) overnighted with hurricane winds, not just the odd gust, but hours of it. And since the weather is becoming more variable/more extreme, there could be more.

A tsunami - less likely, admittedly, but not impossible, not at all. After the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, there was a lot of research done, including assessments of the historical records - and somewhere in the 17th century, there was a tsunami came up the Bristol Channel - I've seen copies of the broadsheets that were printed at the time, showing a great "inundation", drowning people, flooded farms, etc, all the things you'd expect. They don't call it a tsunami, of course, thats a Japanese word, but the effects are the same.

[TorNicho]

In the 50's, there was a flood in my area.

The combination of wind, high tide and low pressure had the effect that the water level exceeded 5.6 metres (18.4 ft) above mean sea level in some locations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_flood_of_1953
Tsunami or no, this was a big event and will happen again at some point. After all, it was only sixty years ago, and did affect the entire east coast.

The North Sea flood of 1953 was one of the most devastating natural disasters ever recorded in the United Kingdom. Over 1,600 km of coastline was damaged, and sea walls were breached, inundating 1,000 km². Flooding forced 30,000 people to be evacuated from their homes, and 24,000 properties were seriously damaged.[1]
Probably the most devastating storm to affect Scotland over the last 500 years, the low crossed between the Orkney and Shetland Isles. The storm generated coastal and inland hazards, including flooding, erosion, destruction to coastal defences and widespread wind damage. The storm's wrath was widely felt across Scotland, with 19 fatalities reported.[2] The fishing village of Crovie (then in Banffshire, now Aberdeenshire), built on a narrow strip of land along the Moray Firth coast, was abandoned by many of its inhabitants as entire structures were swept into the sea.
The surge raced down the East Coast into the southern North Sea, where it was exaggerated by the shallower waters. In Lincolnshire flooding occurred from Mablethorpe to Skegness, reaching as far as 2 miles inland.
In individual incidents, 38 died at Felixstowe in Suffolk when wooden prefabricated homes in the West End area of the town were flooded. In Essex, Canvey Island was inundated with the loss of 58 lives and another 37 died when the seafront village of Jaywick near Clacton was flooded.[3]
Reis Leming, a US airman, was awarded the George Medal for his bravery in rescuing 27 people in the South Beach area of Hunstanton.[4]
In East London, water poured out of the Royal Docks into Silvertown, where it drained into the sewers only to flood back out of them again in Canning Town and Tidal Basin. There was one local fatality: William Hayward, a night watchman at William Ritchie & Son, who avoided drowning but died of exposure to gas from a damaged pipe. However, almost 200 people were made temporarily homeless and took refuge at Canning Town Public Hall.[5]
The total death toll on land in the UK is estimated at 307. The total death toll at sea for the UK, including the MV Princess Victoria, is estimated at 224.

[Hamradioop]

http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/1607-flood.shtml article describing the Bristol Chanel Tsunami.