The Real Survival Series – Cut Off and Isolated – Part Two

The Real Survival Series – Cut Off and Isolated – Part 2

(link to part 1)

“Sipping his sake and eating his "Disaster Sushi Set," a local construction planning company president reminds me and my colleague that modern Japanese descend from samurai warriors and kamikaze pilots who were willing, without complaint, to meet their fate.”
(Steve Herman from Koriyama, Japan, March 16, 2011)

(Cover: Horst von Dach - Der Totale Widerstand - Kleinkriegsanleitung fuer Jedermann
"Total resistance - Guerillia Warfare for Everyone")

This is the second sequel of the survival series. I was inspired by requests and catastrophic events in Japan to write a bit about this subject. After talking about essential supplies you should have at home to sustain the unexpected for a little while. The description below assumes that you are several days into a disaster and there is no foreseeable aid coming in. Under these assumptions your emergency supply (see my previous post) will already be close to depletion and you have to organize in a group to sustain. Note it makes no sense at all and it would probably be counterproductive to put resources to the described activities below, if aid is coming in the near future or local authorities already put evacuation plans in place.

After watching the news today the major concern about 5 days after the earthquake and tsunami seems to be to supply remote villages and cut off areas given the very poor condition of public infrastructure. Unfortunately, traditional survival literature that explains you what to buy to go on an Amazon rainforest trip or adventure trip to the Thorngaard Mountains does not really cover what to do in such a situation. Assuming your small village or town is cut off, the local authorities collapsed or were simply not allocated in the first place, you need to figure out what to do.

Since the early 1950s Switzerland did prepare their population for the event that neutrality could be put at risk by a cold war escalation. It was the understanding of many officers, including Hans von Dach, that in the event of a foreign occupation the Swiss forces would be swiftly defeated or dispersed by a much larger force (Americans or Russians at the time) and it is the duty of everyone in that country to resist to the last breath. Most of that scare was motivated by the events of WWII. As he pointed it out: “You should not surrender to communists; and you actually can not surrender to fascists”.

Back from these past days remain several manuals how to organize civil resistance and guerrilla warfare units. His very early books from the 1950s have been translated into English and were allegedly unsuccessfully used by Iraqi insurgents. From my perspective, had they actually used the more modern German publications, these efforts may have been much more successful (but that is just my personal opinion).

Ignoring all the tactical information and the nasty details how warfare in such an environment works, it still contains valuable lessons how you can organize a small group of people that are determined for a common goal. In this case it is primarily the survival of the group and secondary to keep peoples occupied. The anxiety and the shock resulting from a disaster that you see in Japan right now could turn your mind into a daemons workshop; especially if there is uncertainty about when aid will arrive. I will make major adaptations and supplement some of the ideas by Major von Dach, since we have a peaceful application in mind.

Composition and organisation of your group

(photo credit)

Depending on who you get stranded or cut off with you may actually end up having a number of very useful talents. Assuming your village/group has about 40-70 people. Anything beyond a hundred people becomes hardly manageable because you will incur major inefficiencies in distributing supplies and keeping track of the current state of the group. An option in an urban setting or for a larger group is the sub organization into different groups. In a more populated such a group could be formed by an established community (your church, your bowling buddies, your local karate club, families that have children in the same class, etc.). And actually that is where things already deviate from a guerrilla warfare scenario.

1. In a traditional guerrilla warfare setting you would set up staff, core services, mobile several detachments and a strict command chain to ensure readiness and efficiency.
2. Implicitly part of that deal is that you voluntarily give up basic human rights (i.e. freedom of expression, democratic voting…) for the better cause of your country.
3. The group will mainly consist of volunteers and not of people who got mixed up by the same fate.
4. If a natural disaster hits, people will already have many of their own problems and imposing such a structure is rather counterproductive or even impossible.
5. Most of the people will actually be idle during non-fighting periods and perform simple chores or training. Such activities are not needed or even counterproductive when it comes to preserving supplies in a disaster situation.
6. The driving factors in guerrilla warfare are agility, deception and cover; when a disaster hits you should be more concerned about sustainability and conserving resources than being agile.

Therefore the setup and (democratic) organization of your group will largely depend on the group itself. You should strive to set up a credible leadership and a set of core services while maintaining the rights and needs of every individual of your group and applicable law.

Leadership

Be careful about establishing leadership. Choose someone (or a group of people) who has a sense of authority, that is respected, that can inspire people. The tasks encompass to organize the group, resolve conflicts, council individuals on their problems and provide technical support. The last point should be empathized. Leverage existing authorities such as remaining police forces and firefighters. Disaster situations are less about big leadership decisions and more about achieving the most with simple practical means, such that core services are provided by and for the group.

The Core Services

Note that not the entire group is needed to provide these services. It is actually rather a minority who acts on behalf of the group. That said these services should be tailored to the specific situation and be populated by experts in your group. Some fundamental services can also be carried out in rotation to assure fairness.

Supplies:

Goal: assure and improve food, water, equipment, and combustibles supply

Examples: Anyone who is willing and physically fit.

Medical:

Goal: provide aid and medical care, care for elderly that need attention

Examples: local medical staff (nurse, doctor, midwive…), people with first-aid experience

Communications:

Goal: Monitor news, establish contact with aid forces

Examples: HAM radio hobbyist, postman, people with working (cell-) phones, CB or GMRS radios, computer geek with working satellite communications link

Engineering:

Goal: Provide and restore very basic infrastructure for the other services to function.

Examples: carpenters, construction worker, electrician, (car-) mechanic, engineer

Equipment

• Shelter: Depending on the disaster homes may still be in-tact such that available space can be shared. In severe cases, such right now in Japan, it may be useful to organize tents or establish other forms of shelter. If no other form of shelter is usable tents can be ‘required’, be donated from local camping stores or be established from the ruins (more in future posts).
• Pots, Pans, Cutlery, Food containers may be readily available, and should be shared by individuals if needed.
• Same applies for blankets, coats, warm undergarments in winter-scenarios that we now for example see in Japan.
• Any form of radio equipment or media should be made available at a central spot. To conserve energy, battery-operated equipment should be shared by the entire group. For example von Dach suggests having two radios per detachment (80-100 people). One radio that is mains operated for places where power is available and one that is battery operated otherwise.
• For minor repairs or other needed equipment by the individuals that can be shared see my previous post.

Food supply

In a nutshell you have to live with what you have or what you can organize.

• You can organize it from local farms, food processing companies, shops and depots.
• By any means respect applicable law and avoid looting. Conflicts should be avoided by paying for the supplies.
• In severe cases scavenging foods in durable containers from the ruins may be an option.
• Hunting and fishing may only marginally improve the food supply and are just stated for completeness.
• Note since the arrival of aid is uncertain, save food in durable containers and ration available supplies.
• Do not ‘require’ or take existing supplies food from individuals. This is a quick recipe for your group to dissolve fairly quickly. In extreme cases, individuals will eventually start sharing or other arrangements can be found.

Engineering

Depending on the disaster, shelter as well as public infrastructure may be severely damaged. The composition and tasks will largely vary with the situation that you encounter.

• The core services, especially the medical one may need electricity. In subsequent articles I will write how you can provide such basic necessities.
• Severely damaged shelter will need to be temporarily repaired.
• Basic means of transportation (for example to get medical attention for the elderly or injured) need to be established
• The infrastructure needs to be cleared to get aid workers in, obtain external supplies and facilitate the evacuation process (e.g., helicopter landing zone).
• Maintaining equipment that is used by the other services.

Medical

Also this service will largely vary by the situation. In general there are the following tasks:

• Make them transportable for further care on-site.
• Locate and provide first aid for injured.
• Collocate the injured to focus the attention of the medical staff and reduce their overhead. Existing facilities should be used. If not this effort should be supported by the engineering service that provides the basic infrastructure and restores the needed shelter.

Communications

The key objectives of communications are

·       establishing contact with aid forces,

·       reporting on the condition of the group,

·       coordinate supplies in cut off areas (i.e., air drops),

·       Receive and distribute news to inform the group and keep the moral up.

Special topics

Basic Weather Rules

(photo credit)

This is a collection of symptoms by von Dach and my flight school manual that allow crude nice weather predictions. Given that your infrastructure and possibly shelter is destroyed, you will be much more vulnerable to weather changes. Since the description leaves lots of room for interpretation, develop an eye for them over time.

If you search on the web you will find numerous website that elaborate on simple farmer rules and other forms of crude weather predictions. You do not have to be a meteorologist but mastering a few basics is always handy.

Signs for improving weather conditions include:

• Evening fog,
• Dispersed piled clouds moving into the wind direction,
• High-altitude cirrus clouds under which piled clouds move with a faster velocity.

Nice weather signs

• sunset afterglow,
• high-flying swallows and croaking frogs,
• early morning fog that disappears on sunrise,
• massive dew in the evening and the first-half of the night is a clear sign that there is no rain the next day,
• a few large piled clouds indicate good and dry weather. Note in warm weather they can also be light indicators for thunderstorms.

Bad weather:

Indicators for bad weather are usually animals. Birds or fish chasing for insects that move lower in anticipation of rain. Mountain goats or -sheep also sense rain quite accurately and move lower. Other indicators according to Nehberg include,

• red sky in the morning,
• glowing moon and twinkling stars,
• absence of morning dew in the summer,
• clear views (i.e., clear day),
• mix of different cloud types,
• sudden wind changes by more than 45 degrees,
• raising fog from mountains,
• surprisingly far sound propagation.

Nehberg recommends the use of a barometer in mountain regions. The limited far sight and the formation of mountain chains make even short-term weather predictions difficult.

Supplemental Emergency Food

(photo credit)

If your emergency supply is depleted, you have to sustain on what nearby fields and forests can offer. Elaborate hunts or trips into forests for berry collection are counterproductive for your assumed group size. In addition, these supplemental foods are not a sustainable source of food but may bridge severe shortages until aid arrives. Moreover in urban areas your choices may be even more confined to scavenging. The recipes below are a collection of Major von Dach.

Basic sources

Vegetables, fruits, potatoes, berries, mushrooms, herbs, deer, birds, fish, frogs, snails, etc…

Soups

Most of the above sources can be prepared as soup. Preferably use cereals. Squish the corn, add water, and, if possible salt and cook it.

Potatoes

Roast in open fire or cook in water.

Substitute bread

Cereals that aren’t ripe yet can be used to create a substitute for bread. Squish and grind the corn, mix it with water to form dough. Add salt when possible. Put it flat on a steel plate or put it around a branch and bake it over the open fire.

Substitute coffee

Use ripe barley corn or alternatively acorns. Roast them on a steel plate over open fire until they are dark brown to black. Grind them to powder and infuse them in hot water.

Herbs to be used as supplemental spices

Von Dach has an elaborate collection on herbs that could be used to replace traditional spices. However that list is confined to the central-European vegetation and might be of little use elsewhere.

Various interesting hints:

• The soft inside of tree-bark can be eaten raw. Cut off the soft skin that directly surrounds the hard wood. It can be eaten raw or cooked as soup.
• The inside bark of willow-, birch-, pine- trees can be dried, ground to powder and used as flour.
• You can eat sweet corn even if it is not ripe yet. The best way to do so is to roast it on the open fire.
• Various kinds of nuts can also be eaten if they are not ripe yet.
• Fruits that are not ripe yet can be cut in small pieces, cooked soft and eaten. Drink the cooking water warm as juice replacement.

Preparing Meat:

Soak it in cold water then the water can later be used as strong soup. Same applies to bones.

Fish:

Cut the fish open starting from the tail to the front. Peel the guts out with a finger. To prepare:

• Roast: Keep the head, eyes etc on. Add some salt and fry it on open fire.
• Cook: Take the eyes out, put in water and let it sit for some time.

Basic Field Well

In case water supply becomes a problem, there is no freshwater nearby to purify, consider building a small field well. For areas like deserts or below-freezing point temperatures this is not an option. I’ll write about these scenarios on future.

For this well:

• Dig a trench to reach a bit beneath the ground water level
• Take a barrel and remove the bottom
• Put about 30 cm of gravel/large stones and sand as filter layer into the bottom of the well.

The water should be purified as follows:

• Filter the water through a clean cloth
• Boil the filtered water for at least 1 minute
• Always use clean containers. When cleaning containers for storage also clean the caps and the thread.

“Kosovo” Generator

This story is based on a circulating rumour in the battle engineering company that I did my service in more than a decade ago. According to that story, a local car mechanic and machinist went off and built this generator from scrap car and bike parts to supply electricity to surgeons in the local hospital during the Kosovo war in 1999. They successfully deployed that generator in the river of the town while being under constant threat to get shot by enemy forces.

In a nutshell they joined two bike frames together in a rather simplistic wood construction. The tires from the back wheels were removed.

They cut off either side of the inside wheel hangers of the two frames and connected the outer wheels with the gears facing outwards to the frame. Panels of wood were fasted into the spikes of both rims to build something that is like a waterwheel of a mill. Note that the width (i.e. the spacing between the two bike wheels) determines the torque that the mill can generate. The alternator can be driven by a belt and the alternator and the needed battery can be enclosed in a simple wood construction. A schematic is shown in the following picture.

Above the waterwheel, where usually the rack of the bike sits they fastened a panel with an automotive alternator and a car battery sitting on top. A belt was used to connect one side of the rim to the alternator and to generate power.

Note that alternators require a relatively high RPM that is unlikely to be achieved by the ratio of the rim to the alternator. You can account for that by adding resistors in the circuit. If it is properly hooked up, the generator should output around 13.8V to 14V which is enough to charge the connected battery. Note that the design of the alternator mandates that a battery needs to be connected for it to work. Alternators compared to traditional generators do not have magnets, such that the magnetic field needed for the power generation is initially supplied by the connected battery. Hobbyists picked up that idea as well and the circuit is well described here.

Summary & References

These were some thoughts on how you could organize a small to medium-sized group to survive hardening circumstances, when you are cut off from any outside aid. Note that these lessons here are not useful or even counterproductive if aid is on the way. Look at the previous series of my blog posts how to survive short periods of privations.

In future posts I’ll probably blog a bit more on selected topics of survival.

References:

• Ruediger Nehberg
• Hans von Dach
• Total Resistance Book
• Watermill Battery Charger
• Steve Herrmans Article