Survive Infinite Dangers: The Family Survival Guide of 21st Century Dangers (8 page)

This can cause havoc if your group begins to fight within itself. I can’t stress this enough. You may end up in tight quarters with others for months on end. Can everyone handle this? Make sure they can and develop means to reconcile disputes and stick to them.

Can you repair any of the electronics made inoperable by an EMP pulse? The author is an electrical engineer and I’d say “probably not”. Protect as much as you can in advance then guard what you have that still works. Stock up on batteries and rechargeable batteries as long as you can also find quality solar cell or crank rechargers. The solar cells are silicon as well so they also need to be protected as do solar chargers (they probably have control diodes and transistors in them). Any batteries you buy will be the last ones ever made in your life time. A crank recharger is like gold since it might have a diode in it but that’s it. The crank charger of the Kaito radio also puts out voltage to recharge cell phones and other devices. It may end up being the most valuable item you have short of guns, food and water. Take good care of it. It will be your life line to the world for a long time.

Chapter Four

Anthrax Aerial Spray and

Pandemics

Anthrax aerial spray: Anthrax occurs naturally in nature. It is in soil but never “pure weapons grade”. Unfortunately, during the last ten years manufacturing “weapons grade anthrax” has become much easier and much cheaper to do. In fact, rumors persist that plans written in Arabic have been found in the Northern Mexico desert to manufacture such anthrax. Anthrax is a white powder that looks like sugar. Fortunately, the government now carefully keeps track of aircraft capable of crop spraying, but what about just across the border in Mexico? An aircraft can be over San Diego with minutes.

Or the thousands of private planes in the United States can be stolen or purchased by terrorists who appear to be law abiding Americans. And almost ANY aircraft can be modified to be a crop sprayer. Or, actually, spray anthrax powder. The number one impediment to spraying of anthrax is that it decays in strength very quickly. It is highly lethal as it becomes “weapons grade”. Those manufacturing the powder would have to be highly trained and outfitted with the very best protection garb and equipment. Even if they planned to die and wore no protection garb they would be dead or incapacitated well before the anthrax could be loaded into pods and a pilot reached a large city then begins spraying back and forth. The FAA would, hopefully, take immediate action and military aircraft would force the aircraft to the ground. Still, before that happens the aircraft might have sprayed 500,000 people. Anthrax (and nuclear radiation for that matter) is just like rain. The more protection you have above you the safer you are. The anthrax returns to a harmless state within days if not weeks. In the meantime all people should seek cover as far under ground as possible. There are other liquids and powders that can be sprayed from the air but anthrax is, by far, the most likely. “Properly” sprayed on a windy day for, say, ten minutes over a major urban area can result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Even anthrax sprayed into the ventilation system of a large building or any confined space such as a subway in which moving trains would quickly spread anthrax dust for miles can be lethal to tens of thousands.

Many major cities now have automatic radiation detectors so that an attack that includes radiation would be spotted in seconds; not so with anthrax. Unless the aircraft or other means of delivery was spotted and quickly identified first indications that anthrax had been sprayed over a wide area would be a sudden influx of people rushing by the thousands to emergency rooms who would quickly become almost useless unable to handle thousands of people with the typical sized staff of an entire hospital, much less just the emergency room. By this time those most infected are probably hours away from death and cannot be saved. As soon as the poison is identified as anthrax and the authorities immediately begin to react (they DO have thorough and well planned out reaction plans to many types of WMD attacks including anthrax but time is NOT on their side. Within minutes the “command post” in that particular city has mapped out the area where the spraying was done, the direction and speed of the cloud or clouds of anthrax that has not yet reached the ground and much information that will save lives. Their goals (for anthrax) will be (1) notify the people as fast as possible with facts of what happened and what each person should do and (2) begin to transport (for anthrax) the antibiotic Cipro to areas that need it most. Cipro administered very early can render anthrax no more harmful than baking soda. What to do will probably be to immediately go to the lowest location possible, a sub-basement with poor outside ventilation for instance. The more concrete and other solid material between you and the falling anthrax the better but this is not correct if the anthrax was disbursed in that low level area (such as a subway). Information from the authorities becomes critical in such a time. Was it an aircraft, a balloon or released in a subway or the ventilation system of a large building? Knowing that will tell you where you do NOT want to be and where the best places to be are. In times of gas attacks (i.e. mustard gas or anything poisonous) ventilation and air movement is the LAST thing you want to have happen. Hopefully, building owners, city subways and all other man-made means of ventilation have “kill switches” that not only STOP ventilation but isolate areas into “compartments” as small and as many as possible. Unfortunately, the author is only aware of such isolation system in military and high security buildings.

Every major city and most cities above the size of a small town now have at least one person in charge of “emergency preparedness”. Large cities have departments of as many as hundreds of people. “First Responders” such as police, fire and paramedics as well as “Second Wave Responders” such as National Guard receive training on all dangers covered in this book as well as other training meant to save lives. The federal government also has their own people stationed in many cities (mostly FEMA) who work in coordination with local authorities.

IF the disaster is anthrax then FAST distribution of Cipro will become paramount. This author has yet to see a government plan of distribution that factors in mass panic that is part of human nature. The authorities (mostly FEMA) are still working on this difficult problem. The author believes strongly that human nature (especially in a life or death situation) must be a large part of any plan be it preparation, protection, saving lives and so forth. The most recent proposal heard is to have the post office go door to door distributing a few days of Cipro to each resident. To the author that assumes a calm and reasoned population who will patiently wait in their homes for the mailperson to show up as they know anthrax is filling their lungs and every extra minute without Cipro is one minute closer to death. To the author this plan illustrates government bureaucracy at its worst.

The government is concerned with having ANY antibiotics in the hands of the general population. They are concerned people might take their supply of Cipro to treat a cold and, gradually, these people would become immune to Cipro and it would NOT be effective when is needed! You have probably heard the continuing debate over prescribing antibiotics in general for this very reason. Some authorities favor no antibiotics except for use in severe illnesses while others have more faith in people’s judgment and favor giving each person a few day’s supply of Cipro should an anthrax attack occur. Then the post office or police/fire/etc. could provide more Cipro without putting people in danger. Imagine what would happen if you knew a postal worker was coming SOMETIME (but when?). The author’s common sense of human nature is that postal trucks would be mobbed by thousands of people WITH guns to get their Cipro NOW! It wouldn’t even be safe for the police to distribute Cipro. Two police officers could not hold off a stampeding mob of thousands who know the police car contains boxes of Cipro. Just a suggestion but TRUST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE! Currently some Cipro is kept on hand in every major city then large supplies are “strategically” located around the country to be moved to the problem area or areas on a moment’s notice. But keep in mind we’re dealing with hours; not days or weeks. Let’s hope our government decides to trust us all. So far they have not. The author does not encourage having unused prescription medication or obtaining medication under false pretenses! Cipro is also the drug of choice for other illnesses, most specifically diverticulitis (infection of the colon). There are other antibiotics besides Cipro such as doxycycline, penicillin and amoxicillin that neutralize anthrax; just not as well. Also, Cipro given to children whose adult teeth have not come in yet MAY cause their adult teeth to come in discolored to varying extents. In the case of children amoxicillin is the drug of choice for anthrax. This is NOT a detailed medical book so I encourage you to read on your own or consult your family doctor for a professional opinion.

As this book was being written the president signed into law a Cipro distribution system that is based on the post office. No words can express my dismay at the lack of factoring in human nature. I doubt 10% of the Cipro will even reach post offices. Thousands of armed panicked people will surround every post office watching for the trucks. They’ll quickly abort the use of trucks and just throw Cipro from helicopters to the mobs below. Those who stayed at home as ordered will just quietly die. Their only hope is if they went to their basement immediately, own and use N95 rated breathing masks (better yet – gas masks) and cover up all skin. Wrap yourself in foil! This is true for radiation as well where the post office is supposedly going to deliver Potassium Iodide (see nuclear chapters). You can at least buy Potassium Iodide right now (no prescription required). Everyone should own five bottles. Read the chapters covering radiation.

The author suffers from diverticulitis (as you age it becomes quite common to where by age 80 well over half the population has the illness). Depending on your diet you may never notice you have it. It is “pockets” in the colon wall where hard objects such as nuts or popcorn can lodge and then cause an infection over time. If your colon area has ever hurt for an extended period of time and especially if you ran a fever with the infection then you have the VERY common illness. Just watch your diet (no hard objects such as nuts) and, hopefully, after the first attack your doctor will give you an extra prescription for the next time you forget and eat popcorn at a party. You don’t have Cipro but with doxycycline you have the next best thing. You’re prepared for an attack of diverticulitis or a spraying of anthrax.

Also, as I say, there are masks that are very inexpensive and filter out 95%+ of particles the size of anthrax. A painter’s mask has breathing holes that are too large. Buy masks rated N95 or above. Refer to the Resources chapter for more information. A box of a dozen N95 face masks costs under $25 so some people carry a few in sealed plastic bags in their car along with some of the described antibiotics they might have and a bottle of Potassium Iodide (see the nuclear chapters). Remember: the softer the pill the shorter the shelf life. So that Cipro you have that is five years old may be useless or may be OK. The author has NO medical or pharmaceutical training other than to know in some very rare instances certain medications can turn poisonous after too many years. What would I do if faced with anthrax falling from the sky (if you can see it you’re probably going to die no matter what as you were unlucky enough to be within a few thousand feet of a major anthrax release) as an unseen no smell cloud and had some Cipro that had been stored in a temperature controlled low humidity no sunlight area but was a few years past the expiration date? I’d take the pills! But that is strictly my decision and NOT advice. Make up your own mind. Always store medications as directed (usually shown on the container or ask a pharmacist). Liquids are the most dangerous to take past their expiration date just like wine can turn to vinegar some liquid medication might turn to poison or at least become worthless. Some hard pills properly stored can last for over 20 years. We’re in luck! Cipro is rock solid and so is potassium iodide (PI) which is what you’ll take if exposed to radiation (see the two chapters on nuclear bombs). One last point on storage of medication is that prescription medication is rarely dispensed in vacuum sealed bottles. If you plan to store such medication increase its life-span by years by vacuum sealing it (as simple as an air-tight plastic bag).

Preparation: Cipro is the prescription medication of choice. Supposedly the government has many millions of doses ready to be distributed to citizens of the affected area or areas within hours airlifting the medicine from “strategic locations”. Cipro for you and me the government has talked about the post office delivering it house to house! How idiotic! Sorry, I am blunt when people’s lives are at stake. Post office trucks wouldn’t make it three blocks before being taken out by mobs with shotguns to get Cipro for THEM. Sit at home and wait and wait and wait. I have no idea other than the government needs to trust citizens with this prescription antibiotic. But they won’t. Millions will die and they’ll hold “blue ribbon commissions” on what went wrong. If you’re “lucky” enough to have diverticulitis, Cipro is also prescribed for it. Doxycycline and penicillin also works, just not as well. Children who do not have their adult teeth should NOT take Cipro as their adult teeth may not come in white. They should be given amoxicillin or penicillin. I do not encourage or endorse anyone obtaining medication for purposes other than what it is intended for but having one or more extra bottles of antibiotics can provide peace of mind. I’ll leave it at that.

Doxycycline is prescribed in quantity for Lyme disease. The author has Lyme disease so he has plenty of doxycycline. Properly controlled and treatment quickly administered anthrax will be most dangerous to the evil people attempting mass murder. This fear keeps anthrax from being the number one danger. IF you hear an anthrax spray disaster has occurred take a hot, soapy shower as soon as possible leaving your clothes outside to decontaminate over the next few weeks then burn and bury them after a month. In addition to a GOOD shower with a strong brush, gargle with antiseptic mouth wash and attempt and swallow some of it. You are in a race with time of the anthrax powder going through the walls of the lungs into the blood stream. Anthrax that gets into a cut is treated someone differently. This is not a medical book so consult information on the Internet if you really want to learn about anthrax. Some people carry a breathing mask with a rating of at least N95. Painter masks used by painters and carpenters are of NO use in filtering out nuclear particles, anthrax or any other weapons grade powder or dust. Or buy actual gas masks. Basic ones are not that expensive today. A box of N95 masks for an entire family is well under $25. Simple gas masks aren’t much more. As horrid as it sounds roving gangs may use tear gas to get you to open your secured area containing the provisions they desperately want. Gas masks will provide you “staying power” far more than N95 masks. As I’ve already written, after a disaster your greatest danger is other people! Especially people who haven’t eaten in weeks but they do have guns! Information on these masks will be listed in a later chapter.