Ebola and Pandemics: A Prepper’s Guide

While many Preppers tend to be more concerned about a violent societal collapse, it is just as important to be prepared for any type of catastrophe that threatens our families. So thinking about the Ebola virus or another pandemic is not typically at the top of the consciousness of someone who is constantly looking for economic collapse.

However, the two are not at all mutually exclusive. The thing about a violent societal collapse is that you see it unfold. A pandemic catastrophe is like a slow-motion train wreck.

All of the critical utilities and municipal services that city dwellers depend on for life are contingent upon the engineers, maintenance personnel and other key workers being healthy enough to do their jobs. A pandemic’s greatest threat is that if it reaches a critical mass of disabling these workers, then the infrastructure of our society will disintegrate.

Imagine is the key people at the water department get sick and the purification stops, or the nuclear power plant doesn’t have enough healthy employees to keep the reactor going? It’s easy to see how a pandemic, or even the fear of a pandemic that causes people to stay home, can cripple a modern society pretty quickly.

So any responsible prepper needs to think about two contingencies in the area of pandemic preparedness, whether it is the Ebola virus or something else.

The first thing to consider is your ability to stay at home and hunker down until the Ebola virus or other threat has dissipated. That means that you must have enough food and water to enable you not to go out and be among possibly infected people.

The second thing to consider is the worst case scenario of having supplies to weather the Ebola virus, but not the independence from utilities and other municipal services.

Unless you are in a very urban environment, stockpiling water is not always necessary, provided you have a water source, such as a river or lake nearby, and the means to purify it. It is much better to know how to purify an inexhaustible source of water than to try to purchase and store “enough” water for a catastrophe.

The key to being able to survive an Ebola virus breakout or another pandemic is the ability to stay away from those who can infect you and your family. No matter how much food you have stockpiled, if the tap runs dry and you are out of water, you must risk your life going to the store or the FEMA water distribution points to get some. This is where people are, and your exposure to people puts you and your family at risk.

By the way, do you want to learn how to get started with an easy Food Storage plan? If so, download my free MP3 HERE.

And to learn what 5 things you should always have in your car to be prepared for any emergency, you can go HERE.

By Mike Kuykendall, Prepping Consultant