What to Do When an Emergency Happens Away From Home

Now, a lot of prepping assumes that you're at home when something goes wrong.

That would be ideal.

But many real emergencies happen when you're at work, at school, commuting, grocery shopping, church, gym, all kinds of places.

I remember on 9-11, I was in a hospital room with a friend of mine when the first plane hit.

These emergencies occur not always when we're home.

Now, the not home problem is an under-discussed area of prepping because it forces us to think beyond our pantry, our gear room, and our bug-out supplies.

Today's episode is about the emergency that happens when you're not standing next to your supplies.

And our sponsors for this show today are 1791 Gun Leather and Buy Me a Coffee.

Also, we have a special podcast to share with you that has really inspired us, and we'll tell you more about that later on.

So let's start with why not-at-home emergencies are different.

When you're away from home, you lose access to many of your advantages.

At home, you may have stored food, water, tools, medical supplies, defensive options.

You may have backup power, radios, and neighbors that you know.

But away from home, you only have what's on your body, what's in your vehicle, what's in your bag, and whatever knowledge is in your head.

Now, a couple of other things that you might have, and that's people who may be with you or whatever public infrastructure still works.

This shifts the prepper mindset from shelter and sustain to assess, communicate, move or shelter, reunify with family, and adapt.

At home, your supplies are your advantage.

Away from home, your decisions are your advantage.

That's important.

Number two on the list are the five big questions.

Now, when something happens and you're away from home, your immediate decisions often come down to five questions and they are, am I safe where I am? Can I communicate with my family? Should I stay, should I move, or should I relocate nearby? What do I need in the next one hour, six hours, and 24 hours? And fifth, how do I reunify with my family? My kids are at school, so who's going to pick them up? What's the checkout process? My spouse is at work.

What if communication is breaking down? Now, these questions can keep you from immediately defaulting to, I have to get home right now.

Right.

Because sometimes getting home is the correct decision, or sometimes it could be the worst decision.

Hey, there's nothing like ambiguity, right?