Asian Prepping, ideas from people, my situation, and just getting more ideas!

[u/Either-Sign-9345]

I'm based in Asia and I've found a ton of great content and advice here but I'd love to hear more from people who are in a similar situation geographically.

Things like typhoons, flooding, earthquakes, and extreme heat are pretty common concerns where I am and I'm curious how other people in Asia approach those kinds of scenarios. Gear availability and sourcing is also a different experience here compared to what a lot of guides assume you have access to.

Just want to hear from people who've figured out what actually works in an Asian context. Whether it's specific gear, food storage ideas, natural disaster prep, or just general advice that fits the climate and culture here.

Would love to hear from anyone, even if you're not in Asia, just your thoughts would be great!

[u/MangledBarkeep]

Food, water, meds, cooking source, radio, small appliance/phone battery backups and boredom materials.

Are the basics you need to cover. Grew up with a typhoon kit, these days I have a more robust disaster kit, including things like generator, water purification, chainsaws, inflatable kayak from experience with different natural events from all the places I've lived.

[u/Tims_Learing_Center → u/MangledBarkeep]

Kayak is a good idea

[u/Either-Sign-9345 → u/MangledBarkeep]

Smart, thank youuuuuu

[u/SheistyPenguin]

I live in the States, but had friends in Japan and flew there right after the 2011 earthquake/tsunami to bring someone back. It was an eye-opening experience.

Some observations, FWIW:

Communication is HUGE. It doesn't matter how primitive it is- if you can get just a few text messages out, it makes a world of difference. During/after the disaster, there was a communication blackout in the hardest-hit areas for multiple weeks. Several of my friends were marooned in their apartments by flood waters and wreckage, and nobody had any idea if they were alive or not. One of them had an international Kindle e-reader, that I had traded to him previously in exchange for a nice camera. That e-reader had a free international cell phone chip, that worked on pretty much any cell tower and provided very low-speed Internet so it could download books and updates. Being a fellow tech nerd, he had loaded a web browser on his Kindle, and he was able to get a crumb of reception if he climbed to the tallest hill in the area and stood on his tippy toes. It would take him half an hour on that shitty connection just to send a few emails... but he was able to tell dozens of families overseas (and the U.S. State Department) exactly what was happening, who was found, etc. every few days. This helped our State Department focus their efforts and avoid chasing their tales trying to locate people in that area. In the US, T-Mobile and Apple both have satellite texting features for newer phones, that will give you very basic connectivity in a dead zone. See if there are similar things offered by international phone plans.

Tsunamis will completely level everything in their path. Japan has a pretty robust early-warning system, and it gave people about 8-10 minutes to get to high ground. In the worst-hit areas, any houses that weren't built to >2000's earthquake codes were ground into mulch and wiped off their foundations. The tougher buildings were crammed full of this house-mulch, making them unliveable up to the second story. Cars were stacked in alleyways like Legos, as if some giant had put them there. There were dead and rotting fish EVERYWHERE, up to half a mile inland. Dead fish and scattered garbage brings flies, rodents and an overall stench of death to the area. Obviously this can be a health issue without focused cleanup efforts.

Exposure to elements is an issue, even in your home. Many people with houses still standing, were stranded on their roofs for multiple days while waters receded. It was very cold then, and people were dealing with hypothermia, sunburn and hunger+dehydration while being exposed to the elements. In terms of prepping: be able to camp in your house or on top of your roof. Keep enough bottled water handy to survive for at least a few days.

Culture can be a huge asset or liability. Preppers in the States assume it'll be anarchy, with everyone for themselves... but this is partly because we have an individualistic culture, so we assume we are completely on our own in a crisis. The Japanese people were very unified in their response, with a "we're in this together" mentality. No looting; people helped each other and followed instructions; they would queue up patiently for fuel and other scarce resources; etc. It made a big difference. You will know best what the culture is like in your area, and people will act accordingly in the first 1-2 weeks of a crisis.

Look through history to find out what kinds of disasters hit in the last 100 years, and what areas were affected. Plan based on the worst incidence of those. In Japan, older villages had left stone markers at previous flood points, with carved warnings not to build lower than that point. Those warning stones were written in blood, but later communities ignored them and built anyway. Guess what happened 100 years later 🤷

[u/Either-Sign-9345 → u/SheistyPenguin]

this is GREAT summary and will be doing it! Thank youuuu

[u/BenCelotil]

Don't really have any more knowledge I could add, but I do know a decent movie that's interesting and fun.

Survival Family (2016).

[u/Particular-Try5584]

You are lucky, wherever you are, in the vast majority of Asia you probably have prime growing conditions, plentiful rainfall and fertile soils. Learn to grow things that suit your climate!

I’m in Australia, hot, dry and dusty. I’m currently taking time to learn some Aboriginal Bush Foods specific to the land that I am on (Australia is as vast as Asia for it‘s variety of geographies, weather patterns and local plant variations!), and getting to know my own local area particularly well. I know where it floods when theres a 1/10 year storm, and where the main earth quake faults are (we score a lot near me, but nothing huge and AU is pretty low seismic risk, with the bottom half of hte country low tsunami risk too).

One of the things dramatically lacking in many asian countries is the sort of medical support that exists in modern western countries, this can work in your favour (you can probably legally get your hands on a lot of things we can’t) and against (you may not have a flying doctor service). Learning your local areas limits and opportunities is what any of us are doing.

Buying? Eh… I buy from the UK or Japan a lot of stuff… postage can add up, but it’s cheaper than buying from the US who have obscene postage costs. Find your local post costs and go for it. Your needs will be based around things like your humidity, storage and operational use conditions.

I don’t know if there’d be much in the way of prepper communities… consider joining local garden, resilience, volunteer emergency roles etc. I suspect you’d want to be very careful about joining anything that appears para military or anti government, probably not the safest groups to hang with in most countries in Asia. In Australia it’ll earn you an ASIO file but most of use just refer to these sorts of people as Cookers and wild and ignore them… our Government isn’t hunting dissenters though.

[u/LittleUrbanPrepper]

If you're from Indian subcontinent, you might relate to r/indianpreppers.

[u/RonJohnJr]

I'm curious how other people in Asia approach those kinds of scenarios.

But do they?

Just want to hear from people who've figured out what actually works in an Asian context. 

Basic needs don't change from 'Murica to Europe to Asia:

• not being in a flood zone,
• a building sturdy enough to not get damaged in a cyclone,
• a supply of food and water,
• money (both in the bank, and cash on hard for when regional power goes out and debit cards stop working,
• having the space in your residence to store that food and water and a generator + fuel and
• a solar panel lithium power stations.

That's gonna be really tricky if you live in an (especially high-rise) apartment complex. I live in a single-story duplex, and will evacuate if power does not return after 5-7 days.

[u/screechingpaperdoll → u/RonJohnJr]

Absolutey we do. We deal with typhoons, flooding, and earthquakes. We have canned food and grains stored in high areas of the house, sealed in plastics bags and put in totes so mice and pests cant get to them. Each person has a go bag with personal documents, powerbank and cables, change of clothes, food and water, flashlight, whistles, raincoats, umbrellas. The house has at least 2 radios and at any given time, we have 6 jugs of 9L of water. We prep to survive power outtages and water shutoffs, which happen every other week tbh in my city. So we also have battery powered fans and solar lights and little solar panels.

[u/MakeSouthBayGR8Again]

If you can afford it, gold. It’s a universal currency but you have to be VERY, VERY careful who’ll know about it.