I wrote most of this post last year, I have updated and added some more information. I feel this is a very important subject and wanted to get the information out again and maybe reach a few more people. 

So you are sitting at your computer drinking coffee and checking all the latest going’s on in the world when all the sudden you power goes out. There is no storm so you assume that maybe someone ran into a power pole or maybe they are working on the lines. You have a few phone calls you need to make, you pull out your cell phone and it isn’t working, darn, thought you had charged it last night. You go outside to go to your car thinking you will just plug your phone into your car. When you get outside you notice there are cars stalled on the road. Now you are starting to get a little concerned. You notice it is awfully quiet, you live in the country so there isn’t normally a lot of noise but now it is unusually quiet. You try to start your car and nothing, won’t even turn over. By now you are starting to get a pretty good idea of what is going on, there has been an EMP or CME.

Do you have food, water, food for your animals, some way to cook, keep warm, protect yourself, do you have a get home plan for family members that may be already gone for the day, do you have any idea what you need to be doing right now, do you have a radio and other electronics in a faraday cage, have a garden planted or a place ready for a garden, how many do it your self-books do you have, How many skills do you and your family possess to survive this ?

And a few things a lot of people don’t think about, Is the laundry caught up?  You don’t want to have a massive amount to do by hand. Are the dishes caught up? What about all the food in your freezer? Do you have enough jars and a way to can it? Is the mending caught up? Is the weeding in the garden caught up? You are going to be so busy with other things in the beginning that the last thing you want to be behind on is weeds, you don’t want the weeds to overtake the garden before you can get to it since that garden is now more important than ever before.

So just what is a EMP or CME.

EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse It is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that results from an explosion (usually from the detonation of a nuclear weapon) and/or a solar flare (CME A coronal mass ejection same effect but from a major solar flare ).  Electro-magnetic pulses were discovered in the early days of nuclear testing. The pulse was actually a side effect of a nuclear blast and early tests of nuclear weapons found that electronics were severely affected by these pulses, rendering electronic equipment useless. They are so high up that there isn’t any risk of radiation fallout. Today, the electronic circuitry in every-day devices is more complex and even more susceptible to this type of attack. It is a little scary knowing that there is a weapon that can do this is all our electronic equipment and thus sending back to early 19 century.You can go here to read more detailed information about EMP’s

So you have figured out what has happened, Are you thinking I really should have done all the above or at least started. Or you didn’t really think it would happen or happen this soon, or I fully intended to do these things but other things got in the way. Or are you thinking I am so glad I put up food and water, figured out how to cook with no power, can keep my family warm in the winter, have light sources (and can find them), have a way to protect yourselves. Are you able to go into the house and get things done that you have already preplanned and do a rough calculation as to when the rest of your family members should be home or get ready to go or get them at the designated meeting spot. There has been so much talk lately of EMP’s, N. Korean Russia, and Iran are just a few who would like to do us in.

Not only do we have the threats of EMP’s our power grid is so very vulnerable. If there is a cyber-attack or an attack on the power grid, how much fuel is in your vehicles? How much cash do you have on hand to run to the store for a few last minute things before the rest of the populace figures out what is up?

I read One Second After by William R. Forstchen it was a very eye opening book. It follows a small town that has been hit with a EMP. I highly recommend this book. Newt Gingrich wrote the forward to this book. He and several other congressmen have been trying to get the government to take steps to protect our power grid form and EMP. Because this isn’t something we will recover from in a few months it will take years to get everything back on line and that’s if they can. And they feel it isn’t a matter of if but a matter of when.

You can check out the book here.

I feel that if you are ready for a EMP with a few extra things you pretty much are covered for most all other things that could happen.

I would like to add with all the things that are going on in the world right now ( civil unrest all across our nation, Fukushima, record high stock market What goes up must come down , just to name a few)  it would be very wise to stock up an a few things

So how ready are you?