Surviving an EMP Encounter
If you’re a prepper, then I’m sure you know all about an EMP attack (Electromagnetic Pulse) and how great a threat it poses to us. Without a doubt, it’s one of the world’s most dreaded disaster scenarios that would make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like child’s play in comparison. Experts have suggested that it would send a country clear back to the dark ages while wiping out 90% of its population in less than a year. Unfortunately, there are a few countries that have this weaponry capability, and they’re not considered our allies. Let’s talk about surviving an EMP encounter and what that may look like.
Surviving an EMP Encounter
Just a single EMP event set off miles above the earth would be enough to entirely wipe out all three power grids in the United States. It would cut off all forms of communication, commerce, and transportation to our country in a single hour. Please get this book if you don’t have it, “Lights Out” by Ted Koppel.
Grocery shelves would be empty in less than a day, planes would literally fall from the sky, and you’d be left with no way of communicating with your loved ones. Pretty scary, huh? But that’s actually not the worst of it. It’s the people around you and how poorly they would react should a situation like this ever happen. Here are critical tips on how to survive an EMP encounter.
Food Production Supplies
Let’s be honest for a minute. If an EMP event was ever to occur in our country, it could take one or two years before power (this is way too optimistic for me) is restored in your region (I really believe 15-20 years but I will leave it at that). Eventually, your stockpile of non-perishable food and your stash of MREs will come to an end. About that same time, game and other wild animals will probably be hunted to near extinction. How will you then provide for your family?
It will be vital that you have land that you can use, along with the knowledge of how to grow your own crops. This includes having the seeds already on-hand along with the experience before this type of event takes place. Livestock would be another important asset that you would need. Chickens would be able to supply you with eggs and cattle for meat, but you would have to know more about livestock breeding.
Lighting
You’ll need to have several good quality flashlights and a large arsenal of batteries to see your way around in the dark. Candles are another lighting option, but they’re dimmer and not favorable in windy conditions if you’re outdoors. Camping lanterns, as well as oil lamps, will also do the trick during an EMP, but you’ll need thousands of hours’ worth of oil to keep it going. You will need solar lighting or hand-crank flashlights the very most.
Related: What to Use for Emergency Lighting
Non-Electric Appliances and Tools You Will Need
With no electricity for your power tools and kitchen appliances to cook your meals, you’ll be needing a couple of different manual tools to get you by. Here’s just to name a few of them:
- Manual Can-opener
- DIY Solar Oven Use the sun to cook and boil your food when you’re not able to have a fire.
- Meat Grinder
- Solar Powered Flashlight This multi-purpose flashlight will not only light your path extremely well, but also comes with a compass, glass breaker, and rope/seatbelt cutter.
- Battery-operated lights for your home.
- Multitool carrying all the tools you need can be heavy, but not with this 12-1 tool.
Items You Can Barter
Since you will no longer be able to depend on cash and credit cards to buy what you need, people will resort back to the bartering system like the good old days. Think about what items people would consider valuable following a long-term power outage. Batteries, flashlights, lanterns, and canned food would be like gold.
Gasoline, ammo, blankets, hygiene products, cigarettes, and alcohol would also be extremely smart supplies that you could stock up on in order to barter. Even chocolate, board games, and playing cards for entertainment wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Build a Faraday Cage
If you were to build a Faraday cage, you’d be able to protect your electronics from an electrical pulse. You’d want to put your walkie-talkies, shortwave radios, electrical parts for your car and generator, and important medical equipment in them so that they’d still work afterward. As it turns out, they’re actually very easy to build, while some preppers even use an old microwave oven to build one. Here’s how.
The bad thing is if your “stuff” that can be damaged is not in the Faraday cage it will be fried. I can’t picture putting my laptop, cell phone, etc. in a Faraday cage each night. It’s not going to happen. I admire those who may do it. I won’t do it, I have to be honest, here.
Communication
Your cell phones will no longer be of any use to you following an EMP attack, so you’ll need other communication options ready to go and stored in your Faraday cage. You’ll want to get your hands on a CB or ham radio for longer distances, and a pair of walkie-talkies for closer communication. That way you can stay in touch with your loved ones that live within a reasonable distance, as well as your own family if you are separated for some reason.
Home Defense
I know for some of you reading this, that you feel strongly against owning, let alone, bringing guns and other types of weapons in your home. I totally get it. But an intruder isn’t going to feel sympathetic to your beliefs, especially when they realize that your home has everything that they need in order to sustain them.
Chances are, there will be numerous visitors who come a-knockin during this time. You’re going to need arms to defend yourself, whether you decide on a handgun, shotgun, or a rifle that you can also use to hunt wild game. You certainly don’t want to go light on ammunition.
Having a dog will also be helpful so that they can alert you of anyone lurking on your property in the dead of night. Homemade booby traps that you can strategically place around your home could also be a deterrent.
Survival Skills
Being prepared for an emergency by stockpiling food, water, and supplies will be absolutely necessary, but you can’t survive for a long period of time on these alone. You’ll need a handful of survival skills so that you know how to collect fresh water, build a fire or a shelter, outdoor cooking, along with hunting and gathering your family’s next meal. This is an important step in surviving an EMP encounter.
Draw Less Attention
Following an EMP encounter, you don’t want to paint a big red target on your back so that people start to become curious. By this point, many of them would turn savage towards humanity, and would closely resemble characters from The Walking Dead.
I would encourage you to use the least amount of light at night and as little noise as possible so that you aren’t drawing attention to yourself. A bug-out location that’s further away from civilization would be a necessity if you’re living near a highly-populated area. Please note, I do not have a bug-out location and I will be staying put in my home. It’s how I roll, I have everything I need right here.
Final Word
An EMP encounter is just one more thing we need to prep for. No one reads this information to scare themselves, but to be more aware, and thus, better prepared. Make sure you are trying your best to prep for even the craziest scenarios. What tips would you add to this list of suggestions to help you survive an EMP encounter? May God Bless this world, Linda.
Copyright Images: EMP Typeset AdobeStock_345352887 by IHX , EMP AdobeStock_89387314 by refresh(PIX)
Another book to read is One Second After. Can’t remember the authors name, but he has written several books. That book is one that started me on the serious prepping journey.
Hi Deborah, I read that book as well. I wish it had gotten to the point quicker. I felt like the author was dragging out the points of older cars we can drive after an EMP strikes, the lack of life-saving medication, and the need to barter. Oh well, if it gets someone prepared, so be it. Linda
I do haveTed Koppels book. I’ve started reading it. It’s pretty interesting. Everyone should read it if possible.
Hi Deborah, I worry more about our antiquated power grids than an EMP. Ted Koppel’s book is the real deal. We have 3 power grids that funnel power to parts of Canada and the US. There will be no way to repair them. Our Country should have been working on replacing those and switching to solar. It’s a HUGE mess. I have read the book about 10-12 times now. We must be prepared for no power for many many many years. God help us, Linda
Oh Linda, I agree. I feel that for whatever reason the power grid goes down, it’ll take years to get it back up. That is if it ever gets back up. Without power, we do t get water out of our faucets. It will set us back to the late 1800s to early 1900s. Just my opinion. We don’t realize how often we use electricity until it’s gone.
Hi Deborah, I totally agree with you. It will be a mess. Linda
Oh, that book is sooo good! The author is William R. Forstchen. He also wrote a sequel, One Year After. It got more into military maneuvers and quasi politics. But it was still quite good. It concluded some of the characters’ storylines.
I get the 2 books mixed up but the one guy on “the other side of the mountain” who always had real coffee…the book addressed where he got it all. K-Cups from a semi truck! LOL That just goes to prove how important bartering will be and what goods will be desired! :o)
One Second After – by William R Forstchen was the book that got me started prepping! I mean really into it! I had started prepping to some degree just prior to Y2K. Then I read Alas, Babylon – by Pat Frank published originally in 1959. One Second After could have been basically a technological update of Alas, Babylon!! They mirror each other on so many counts.
Hi Leanne, interesting. Linda
We tried the old microwave for a faraday but it didn’t work so we opted for some small galvanized trash cans that are small enough to store & move easily & still big enough to hold radios & other necessities. They work great & are not expensive. Thanks for all your information as usual.
I read that you could line a box, inside and out with aluminum foil and it would work as a faraday cage. I do t know for sure though.
Hi Deborah, I would have to question that but, I’m not that techy. I have never wanted a Faraday Cage because I doubt they will work. Linda
Oh boy here we go lol
I read a lot about the faraday cages. Having actually used some in my line of work I can tell you it’s not a microwave.
I’m not sure about specifics but if I can get any kind of signal into it I’m not happy. So how do you test it? Well I put a radio and a cell phone in it and I call them. If it rings or I hear the voice then again I’m not happy. I know EMP isn’t on the same frequency as a cell phone but it’s the only way I have to test it.
The truth is there are so many variables to an EMP it’s hard to know what the effects might be so we plan for the worst.
I don’t know about the true survivability of most because if you look at even as recent as the 1800s a 40yr old was an old man/woman. Without modern conveniences it’s just not feasible. My goal is to live long enough to build something that my kids can build off of it for the grandkids. It’s a harsh reality.
Hi Matt, I’m with you on this. I love the 1800s when a 40-year-old was an old man/woman. LOL! So true! There really are so many variables to an EMP, I had to stop looking at getting or making a Faraday Cage. My concern is a major power grid outage. It will happen, not sure when but it will more so than an EMP. In my humble opinion. Linda
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington-secrets%2Fballoons-called-top-delivery-platform-for-nuclear-emp-attack
Hi Matt, I was going to send you an email on this very thing. It was over Montana, Air force base, ND (Air Force Base), WY, Air Force Base, and Nevada Nellis Air Force Base. I”m not sure it’s flown over all the other bases, but come on, checking temperatures, yeah right. Linda
“Lights Out” is a very good book. I would recommend reading it after the Pandemic, while preparing NOW for a time without electricity. We know we are being hacked, prepare for them to possibly be successful.
Hi Janet, wait, is there a book called the Pandemic? We are being hacked, we must be ready. We are being censored, I feel like it’s 1984!! Linda
I wasn’t clear on that. I thought that reading all the technical stuff during a pandemic, could be overload, but preparing for no electricity, is important. This has been a really tough year.
Hi Janet, gotcha! I agree reading too much technical stuff during a pandemic may be too much. This really has been a very tough year. Linda
Linda ~
” there are a few countries that have this weaponry capability,” – AND the USA is one of them!!! Hopefully, we are our own ally!!! I have also read – cannot quote sources – that we (USA) are also tampering with other countries’ grids/communications. I doubt there are many countries that do not have some sort of capability to disrupt our life as we currently know it!
I believe that the best we can do is the best we can do! I have at least 6-8 months of preps on hand and if I am very frugal with food, I could make it last 8-12 months. I think, as well, that if/when an event of this type occurs, watch out for the “well fed” people! They are the ones with lots of food storage! I will be losing weight for sure if/when all h**l breaks out!
I read a lot of historical books and I am involved with primitive camping (ok primitive is a misnomer!) but… Anyway, I think we need to be looking at pre-1860 skills for when this type of event happens. Know how to garden, grow crops if you have the space (and have the seeds), make soap and candles (and have the basic supplies), learn to sew by hand or if you are fortunate as I am to have a treadle sewing machine in excellent condition. Not only learn about animal husbandry but also how to process that food – if you don’t know how to butcher an animal AND store it (canning, smoking, curing, etc.) raising animals for food will not be in your best interest; of course you also need to have the land to raise animals; you will also need to know how to keep your animals healthy and safe from predators.
I have been watching “Homestead Rescue” on Amazon Prime – I think it is also on TV but I don’t have anything but the very basic TV service. I have watched episodes from all over North America when this man and his son & daughter go to failing homesteads and with little money, help to get the homestead running and thriving. While not all of what I have seen will help me, I have learned a thing or two that will be beneficial after an event like an EMP.
Take care and have a wonderful Christmas. Praying for a much better 2021.
Hi Leanne, great comment! I agree we will be back to the 1800s. We have to keep prepping and learning in order to survive. We will make it. Merry Christmas! Linda
Leanne you bring up a good point on weight loss. We will all most likely be losing weight so having clothes and shoes that fit properly could be a factor.
Matt – this is also one of the reasons we need to be able to care for our clothing – i.e., the need to know how to sew. Fortunately for me, I was raised by a woman who sewed beautifully and all of my sisters (3) and I know how to sew. A few years ago, I was given a treadle sewing machine that appears to not have had much use. I have had it cleaned up and serviced and I know how to use it. That will be one of my bartering skills for sure.
Merry Christmas and stay well!
I will admit to not knowing how I feel about this issue. I do know, that when my uncle built a bombshelter in the 50s, my aunt said she would never go to it unless all the extended family was there. I know it doesn’t work to bury my head in the sand, but I just don’t know.
I agree, Chris.
I want to have the insurance of food, etc., for the what ifs but I am not going to panic if you will. I have always been interested in history so reading about pre-Civil War life has taught me a lot as well as the fact that I grew up on a farm where we raised our own fruits, veggies and meat.
I also believe that we can prepare for the absolute worst case scenarios and still not be prepared if/when that hits us.
Hi Leanne, yes indeed! We just do the best we can. Linda
Leanne, which pre-civil war books do you recommend ?? I refuse to get caught up in the predictions of a “dark winter”, but it will be an at-home several months, so I’d like to make the most of it.
Chris – I have a document on my computer that has a number of books listed as well as websites. Unfortunately, it is 7 pages long!! It is a document that I created to teach researching skills at an event that I go to each year (except this year due to the pandemic – hoping to teach this next year though).
So to name a few:
*The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself
*Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition
*Country Wisdom & Know-How
*Primitive Skills and Crafts: An Outdoorsman’s Guide to Shelters, Tools, Weapons, Tracking, Survival, and More
*Lost Skills of the 19th Century: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO A VARIETY OF USEFUL ARTS NO LONGER WIDELY KNOWN OR PRACTICED
*The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 50th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself
*Forgotten Crafts: A Practical Guide to Traditional Skills
*Little House Books/set
*Pioneer Women – Joanna L Stratton
*Our Own Snug Fireside, Images of the New England Home 1760 – 1860 – Jane C Nylander
I cannot say that all of these are still in print. I know that some are not easy to come by but search on-line as well as used book stores.
I have a number of websites as well but I know that Linda doesn’t like to have website addresses listed due to security concerns. Search for YouTube videos as well as Pinterest. Pinterest can get frustrating often though!!
What makes the document so long is that I also have many notes that I will be sharing with my students – the event is called Women’s Primitive Skills. It is held the weekend before Memorial Day each year and is for women and girls 13+ only. It is in Western Washington state.
Hope this helps. Merry Christmas.
Hi Chris, oh my gosh, I remember the bomb shelters in California when I was growing up. I was so young I had no idea what they were really for, I do now. I personally believe we will have a power grid outage before an EMP. My gut tells me this, none of us know for sure. All we can do is be prepared for whatever comes our way. We are strong and we will survive. Linda
Linda, We are a 30 minute drive from the Niagara Power plant, which makes 2.7 million kilowatts of power and across the border from the Canadian power plant which makes 2.2 million kilowatts. Together they could be seen as a major target.
Hi Chris, wow, I totally agree with you. That’s very close. It’s interesting because I would like to know where the three power grids are that Ted Koppel is talking about. I want to know now. I need to do some research. Linda
Linda, Please let us know if you find the answer.
https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/simple-fast-facts-on-americas-electric-grid-infrastructure/#:~:text=Three%20Grids%20in%20the%20United%20States&text=There%20is%20the%20Eastern%20Grid,they%20also%20also%20operated%20independently.
“Three Grids in the United States
There are three separate grids that actually come together to create the United State?s complex full network. There is the Eastern Grid, the Western Grid and the Texas (ERCOT) Grid, with the Eastern Grid being the largest of the three. While all three of these grids are connected, they also also operated independently.”
Hi Matt, thanks for sharing this, I saw this article as well. I did contact my friend Hank Brown, here is some info I copied from his book, Plan Bravo on Amazon. “Hank Brown is a retired Marine Corps Officer and was one of the original members of U.S. Cyber Command. He grew up out of doors: hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping with family and friends.
Active in (old school) Scouting, he advanced to the rank of Eagle Scout when he was 17 and later was Scoutmaster to an American Troop in Iceland in the late ’90s. On multiple occasions in the Marines, he applied a Scouting skill to prevent or mitigate accidents.
Hank pestered admissions at the Naval Academy for almost four years until they finally admitted him as part of the class of 1993. With an attrition rate of over 25%, only his parents believed he’d make it, or at least said they did. No one was more surprised than Hank when he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marines.
Upon completion of The Basic School, 2ndLt Brown went to Fort Sill for Artillery training and was subsequently ordered to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for assignment to the 5th Battalion, 10th Marines. He progressed through several billets, was qualified as an Artillery Officer, Range Safety Officer and certified as a Small Unit Leaders Advanced Marksmanship trainer. He deployed to the Far East, the Caribbean, and did four Combined Arms Exercises during his first tour in the Fleet Marine Force.
Promoted to captain, Hank’s second assignment was to Keflavik Iceland for duty as the Guard Officer and Second in Command of the Marine Corps Security Force Company. Assigned a mission of base defense with a secondary role to be prepared to protect and evacuate the American Embassy in a contingency, Hank had the opportunity to train with his Marines in a variety of northern climes in Iceland, as well as in Greenland, Norway, Germany, and Scotland.
After a year of Marine Corps, “post-graduate work” at the Amphibious Warfare School, Hank took command of Battery C, 1st Battalion 12th Marines in Kaneohe Hawaii. “Charlie Battery” trained in the Pohakaloa Training Area on the island of Hawaii, then forward-deployed to Okinawa Japan, Hijudai Japan and Thailand for 7 months. Upon their return, Hank was promoted to major and assumed duties as the Battalion Operations Officer and Regimental Fire Support Coordinator. He traveled regularly around the Pacific Rim to support Marine Corps training and operations.
Following four years based out of Hawaii, Hank was accepted into the MBA program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California – which was followed by a three-year assignment teaching in the Economics Department at his alma mater, the Naval Academy. During the summer training blocks, Hank evaluated midshipmen who wanted to be Marines in Quantico and Camp Lejeune.
At the end of his tour in Annapolis, now Lieutenant Colonel Brown was transferred to the III Marine Expeditionary Force Fires where he participated in exercises and combat operations in the Eastern hemisphere. During his time in Iraq, he met two Marines in Al Faw Palace who was planning to start USCYBERCOM. They recruited him to their team, and he received orders to Fort Meade Maryland.
In the early days of USCYBERCOM, Hank’s team designed procedures to be used to support military operations with effects delivered through cyberspace. Their challenging work is continuing today through the dedication of their successors at the command.
After retirement from the Marines, Hank joined the industry in order to continue to support military cyberspace operations. It was during this time he became more aware of how fragile our infrastructure is and started taking small steps to protect his family from a disruption to the grid.
After studying and practicing this on a personal level for several years, as a matter of conscience, he feels compelled to share what he’s learned with others so that you don’t have to be a prepper to be prepared.”
I wanted to know what he thought about the reason attack on a software company called Solarwind. This is what he said “This is a very serious attack and the AFTER effect will not be known for several months. It should be noted that this was a nation-state conducting a systemic attack on a central piece of software and we should all be concerned.”
Linda
Hi Chris, Matt put a link above in a comment about the three power grids. I’m trying to find a map, I would love a visual for them. I will drop a link when I find a good one. Linda
Chris – I grew up on the Columbia River in WA state. I also worked on a couple of the dams on the Columbia. All of those dams are hydro-electric and all that needs to happen is one or two of the dams to be destroyed and everything downstream would be a disaster, to say nothing of the loss of the power! So, I believe that the Columbia River would also be a major target.
Leanne, Thank you so very much for sharing your resources and wisdom. My youngest son and daughter-in-law have purchated 17 acres along a creek with a home built in the 1840s. They are homeschooling 3 boys ( long before covid19) while remodeling the home. Our contributions this spring will be trees for the beginning of an orchard. I am sharing everything I am learning with them. Please everyone, stay safe, stay healthy , and have a Blessed Christmas.
Chris –
You are so welcome to the resources that I have shared.
It is so good that your son and daughter-in-law have been able to purchase a place! Something that I would suggest in addition to the trees for an orchard is a seed bank (long term storage of heirloom seeds: both vegetables and herbs). Right after the pandemic lockdowns started, I was able to get my order in and delivered for a seed bank. It is good for up to 25 years as long as it is kept cold as in the fridge. I live in an apartment so I didn’t need some of the larger seed banks but this was just an insurance policy! My deck will become my “farm”!
Hi Leanne, I love this!! Linda
Linda, this is a good primer on surviving an EMP. One thing I want to point out is that the authorities may get very heavy handed in attempting ot preserve their power. Be careful about setting booby traps. If and when law and order is restored, you could find yourself in deep trouble.
Oh, the simplest faraday cage is a metal trash can. I’d line it with cardboard or bubble wrap to keep the contents away from the metal.
Hi Ray, I have heard about metal trash cans. Lining it with bubble wrap or cardboard is a great idea. Merry Christmas!! Linda
LInda,
One thing about bartering. If someone “needs/wants” ammo I would not, under any circumstances, barter ammo to them. If they are requesting a particular caliber I would be even more leery. I am assuming, (yes, my husband continually tells me I am making an a** out of you and me when I assume) they have the weapons (rifles/shotguns/handguns) that could then be turned on us.
Nope. I’ll barter HBA, perishable food, clothing, etc. but certainly NOT ammo.
Also as far as gardening. We use AeroGardens inside our home to grow fresh veggies. Yes, the gardens do require electricity but in a grid down situation we have Goal Zeros that we could run the gardens on.
“Alas, Babylon” is one of the oldest books I have (and I am “old”) “Lights Out” is superior, also try “Lights On” by Jeffery Yago (superb) and for general prepping “The Provident Prepper” by Kylene and Jonathan Jones.
But! Everyone should have two copies of our fearless leader’s book “Prepare Your Family For Survival”. One for using and the backup when the first one falls apart (as it will from steady use). Linda’s book is rather exceptional as it gives charts for different size families. It is my husband and myself so our needs/requirements are very different than say a family with two parents and two children.
Merry safe and quiet Christmas to everyone. Cheryl
Hi Cheryl, oh you just made my day, girlfriend! Thank you for your kind words about my book. I gave a Goal Zero unit as well. Thank you for the other book titles. The more books we have the more we learn. Which Aerogarden did you get? My daughter and I are looking at getting one or two. Merry Christmas!! Linda
Hi Linda,
We have a Harvest 360 and use it constantly. My husband made a stand so it is a bit higher on the counter. We’ve got tomatoes, lettuce (4 kinds) and spinach going right now.
Love being able to grow veggies when it is 28 degrees outside!
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl, I love hearing this. I looking at the website and most are sold out. It looks like we have to buy the seed pods from them, correct? I’m excited to read more about them. I would love to grow food year round. Thank you!! Linda
Hi Linda, No, you don’t have to buy the seed pods just from them. They sell a “kit” called”Grow Anything”. It contains just the coir liner, the white holder, labels for the top and I think there was also a bottle of fertilizer. Our first purchase was the machine itself and some of the seed sets. If I remember correctly we could choose one set of premade veggies/flowers/herbs or whatever.
We got yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, and the three of the lettuce sets just for variety.
I’ve since been using the “empty” ones with our own seeds and it works just fine. One small thing though – I did try using some older seeds from last year (2019) and they just didn’t grow well. I used 2020 seeds, lettuce, 5 kinds, spinach, & kale. Everything that was “new” grew very nicely! I may try some herbs next! Basil anyone?
Hi Cheryl, thank you for this information. I want to order one of these now. I love this, thank you!! Linda
Knowledge is power. 🙂 Thank you so much for your efforts to educate. It’s crazy to imagine how drastically life would change in the event of an EMP attack and I think it would be a shocker to nearly everyone with how dependent we are on electronics.
Thankfully my husband loves to garden because we just may need to depend on being able to grow our own food.
Hi Katie, I totally agree with you. The more knowledge we have the better the survival rate. We can do this! Linda
hate to spoil everyone’s EMP fantasy gameplay >> but a few realistic facts ….
that “EMP device” was a nuke – even with an enhanced nuke for a specific purpose like death-dealing neutron energy or EMP waving producer >>> there’s radiation involved
and – the US would be retaliating likewise against nuke foreign power that attacks the country >> any EMP attack would be combined with a massive volley of their entire arsenal ….
and – any terrorist group lucky enough to get their hands on a nuke(s) – wouldn’t be making some attack that would some possible death count months down the road >>> they’d be taking out the center of any of the major US cities …..
Hi Illini, thanks for your perspective on an EMP. I’m more worried about an attack on our 3 power grid systems. An EMP is less likely to occur in my opinion, for what it’s worth. Linda
All I can think of besides running out of supplies and all the hardships and things we have to work around, is how these cell phone clinging, technology dependent people will have the hardest time trying to adjust to a world without on call digital communication, internet access and being able to play with their electronic toys.
Looking at things practically, a lack of electricity does present some dangers and real hardships, but with good preparation I do think we can manage and adapt.
Hi Frank, the cell phone clinging is for sure an issue for some. I sure hope people have hard copies of recipes and emergency prep books. We can mage but it will not be fun. I pray people learn how to cook from scratch, the drive-through fast food places will not work. We will adapt! Linda
Excellent article, Linda. EMP is indeed scary and I agree that people need to be more aware of its dangers. In that vein, desperate times call for desperate measures so don’t forget about vegetable oil lamps. They date to biblical times. They’re simple. They work. It’s comforting to know that when all the flashlight batteries in the world are dead and gone you can still have some light. Here’s what is perhaps the world’s longest link to a book on olive oil lamps: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Olive-Lamps-Non-Electric-Lighting-ebook/dp/B00KB7F9SU/ref=pd_sim_nf_6?pd_rd_w=BFDXu&pf_rd_p=90765e8c-a52e-4c61-b338-0577ef37d819&pf_rd_r=N1HN8PDPNAKRRA2A5R9G&pd_rd_r=ecdd1815-e7ae-4462-9eb1-bf45ffa1ff45&pd_rd_wg=i33dC&pd_rd_i=B00KB7F9SU&psc=1
Hi Ron, thank you for your kind words. Plus the “longest link”! LOL! I LOVE it! Thank you so much! Linda