I follow the blogs, I watch TV and I must say, the talk about EMP strikes is gaining ground. Interesting? Yes – Concerning? Maybe!
It appears that an EMP strike on the US is the ONLY viable option for countries like Iran and North [not South] Korea as well as rogue regions like the middle east and South America. Why? Well, with ONE nuke, you can send the US back to the stone age. We would be scrambling internally to stay afloat and our focus would be damage control in the US and not abroad. Now – of course we would still be militarily effective, 20% of our servicemen are stationed outside the US and arguably, we have enough firepower under the sea to wipe out any government that messes with us. So yes, there is still the threat of mutual destruction. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to deter certain groups whose hatred for us is so deep that they are willing to do anything to hurt us.
The simple fact of the matter is that an EMP is the most effective way to hurt the US. Couple that with its straightforward deployment, and you get a likely and effective weapon. We may also be susceptible to a biological attack but the title of my article doesn’t say anything about that!
Whether shot from the dock of a ship which is then sank to hide the evidence or fired from a South American jungle, the enemy can deliver a crippling blow to the US with ONE nuke. What are you doing to be prepared????
Power: Your power is going down, obtain alternative sources of power. Get a solid generator and plan where you are going to set it up. Having it on the ground outside your house will not work. It will be stolen almost immediately. During the Gulf Coast disaster, generators were stolen item #1. I like the quiet Honda generators, then can run on your window sill and have a low noise profile. Oh yeah and get gas too. You may wish to consider a perpetual power source such as solar or wind. However, for the money and simplicity, generators are the better option. But if you have solar and if there is an EMP strike, your electronics are going to get fried with everything else, so store your generator and solar electronics in a Faraday cage.
Food: As I preach regularly, food is numero uno (#1) when it comes to survival. Get a lot and then get some more! An EMP will shut down gas stations and equipment – this means nothing is moving around the country including food!
Security: I know everyone likes to talk guns – I do too. But in an EMP scenario, it is less likely to be an issue. Here’s why – You will only have to deal with locals. Why? No cars (or very few) will be moving! Couple that with little gas and you have a stagnant population. (I know some disagree with me). As suburban preppers, our neighbors are less of a risk than our big city counter parts. Is there still a concern? Yes, But you will likely die of starvation before your neighbor the accountant tries to kill you.
This post is just a scratch on the surface of an EMP discussion. Think, plan and implement your own strategy!
REMEMBER, prepping is just insurance. It is better to have and not need it, then need it and not have it!
Keep Prepping and Good Luck!
-SP
Filed under: SHTF, suburban survival Tagged: | EMP
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I highly doubt South Korea will attack us…North Korea on the other hand…..
Where do you get some of the images you put in your posts?
Oh, c’mon. First, EMP can’t “send us back to the stone age.” Real-world testing proves it. Honolulu was easily within line-of-sight of the Starfish Prime test, and there was virtually no damage reported there. The lights stayed on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Starfish5.JPG . And that was a big nuke, a 1.4 megaton hydrogen bomb. Iran and North Korea aren’t even DREAMING of such weapons.
So EMP isn’t nearly as harmful as the scaremongers want us to believe. Given that our enemies pay more attention to physicists than novelists, they know that EMP is not the most effective use of a nuclear bomb. If they get one, and if they’re willing to use it, they’ll use it against New York or Washington, D.C.
And then the US Air Force’s Air Combat Command and the US Navy will compete to see who can make the rubble bounce higher in Tehran, Pyongyang, or maybe both just to be sure.
Our enemies know that, too, so they won’t try.
When did you become a prepper?
Gotta jojn the ‘EMP ain’t no big thing crowd’ here. One nuke is no way big enough to take out everything electronic in the US, not even hardly. The pulse has a smaller footprint than the blast radius.
Find something else to worry about ‘cos this aint’ it.
I might add a slight variation to the effects of the pulse. There is some research and testing that suggests vehicles may not be so thoroughly disabled as believed. Quite a few may run well, and even more might run with minor difficulties. Some tests show that a simple computer reset might get things going again. This reset can be a simple as turning the key to “off” and then back to “on” again. Or it might include disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes or so, and trying again.
If this is the case, the marauders will be mobile, looking ofr opportunities and the grid itself would likely be as dead as you suggest. With no big screen TVs to keep them occupied, they will be looking for entertainment elsewhere….
A strike in the form of an EMP disaster will likely be localized to a highly populated region (for greatest media impact- terrorists are all about ratings!).
The metropolis will be ground zero- and most inhabitants will be unharmed from the initial attack. Refugees flooding into the surrounding ‘burbs will be your #1 threat. They will be in shock, tired, cranky, hungry, thirsty, weather beaten, and panic driven with a mob mentality to rival any zombie attack.
My advice is to arm yourself and get out of dodge (avoiding possible curfews and other oppressive military measures used to regulate disaster sites). If you plan to ride it out then be prepared to help out; most large scale emergency responders rely on volunteers.
Noone preps to become a refugee; be useful or get the hell out of the way!
~Cheers
You are missing something VERY important when recommending generators. They will be useless in the event of an EMP attack. For the past twenty years (at least) almost all small engines have been fitted with ELECTRONIC ignitions. More reliable, no maintenance and mostly function forever. Oh yeah, and totally vulnerable to EMP just like vehicle ignitions!! The generators are also electronic. Gone are the brushes and other high service items. No electronic regulators can withstand EMP even if you have an old West Bend points and plugs engine that can be tied to your generator. ALL generating equipment today, engine, solar, wind powered and the like has electronic controlled power generation.
I am actually writing a thriller based on this, and have done TONS of research. To those above that say an EMP will not do anything to us (sighting Star Fish Prime, etc), please complete your studies.
Since Star Fish Prime, electronics have become smaller. IE: less EMP resistant. The military and various authorities have DITCHED EMP hardening in favor of saving money.
We are much worse off then those above would think. Read up, people.
Nasa has been Warning of a Solar storm in 2012-2013 that could cause a electronagnetic pulse. I just got Done reading a book called Preppers Road March that delt with that, I am on the second one of the Prepper triologies now that focuses on an EMP event
[...] EMP Talk Gaining Momentum (www.suburbanprepper.com) [...]
Unpopular opinion on these comments: EMP is going to happen, and it’s going to send us back to the dark ages. I believe this is going to happen. I’ve been into learning about EMP for a little while now since I first heard about it, and since this month was preparedness month, I’ve been listening to EMPact Radio’s Podcasts every day. Today they are having a guy named James Wesley Rawles back on their show; it’s LIVE at 6pm. He’s going to be answering people’s questions that call in, and he’s going to be talking about EMP and how to get prepared for a hit. I think you’d enjoy listening to this show. Here’s the link if you want to listen: http://empactradio.org/prepcast/ppc21-james-wesley-rawles/
[...] Ron the Cop is keying off an article that appeared this past week in the American Thinker, an article that will terrify you, and cause you to hold your children tightly while your mind races to think of ways to stockpile and survive. [...]