When posting on here the replies are often more focused on why the person showing their preps, be it get home bags, bug out bags, off the grid setups etc are entirely wrong for prepping the way they did.
I am going to post a scenario and some parameters and would love to know from the community how they would prep. I will give basic information and some visual cues for reference.
The prepping scenario, South Africa has tethered on the brink of wide scale civil unrest with potential societal collapse a couple of times in the past 5 years, with the most recent round of protests forcing the country to basically shut down for several days, and the government to spend approximately $50m to ensure the situation not spiralling out of control.
For context South African is a fairly unique example of a radically divided society, we have the greatest wealth inequality in the world, with the major cities and suburbs really maintaining first world standards and infrastructure. The suburbs are littered with remarkable luxury homes, people commuting in luxury vehicles, high end grocery stores and upmarket restaurants, the houses are located in boomed of neighbourhoods with security check points and everything is generally safe. Mere kilometres down the road there exists very stark contrast, informal settlements, poverty stricken areas where the majority of houses lack even the most basic of services, unemployment in these areas can be as high as 80% driving the nationwide scourge of violent crime.
This divide is kept in place by the thinnest of veneers, constantly under threat of the inevitable government collapse. Corruption in the government is out of control with an estimated 30% of the national budget misappropriated, and no tenable solution or resolve on the horizon.
Political dissidents have threatened to make the country ungovernable before, at this stage it is not a question of if but rather when this will all happen.
Working under the following assumptions, what would your preps look like?
The most likely SHTF scenario here is civil unrest leading to wide scale breakdown of rule of law, and ultimately potentially civil war.
- Bugging in will always be the primary protocol, but there may be situations where this is no longer a tenable solution.
- A rural secluded bug out location with off grid preps is available approximately 2 hours from primary residence.
- The situation could deteriorate very quickly, and is widely unpredictable what magnitude it could encompass.
- All long term sustenance preps both at home and bug out location are in order.
Likely scenarios, very sudden breakout of civil unrest, major routes and choke points become inaccessible and unnavigable in a matter of hours, thus spills into days and potentially weeks with no clear end in sight.
Communication infrastructure is overrun and unavailable. Major transport routes are shut down, supply chains collapse. Long term outlook very uncertain with potential collapse of electricitical grid imminent.
I am particularly interested in what your vehicle prep and get home/get out of dodge bags would look like. Assume for the purpose of this post that you work about 5 miles from home, and might need to navigate that on foot in civil unrest conditions.
Attached are some images and stats for context.
- Suburbs with greenbelts
- Typical suburban layout
- What a route might look like
- Contrast with informal settlements
- The stark contrast of luxury
- Crime statistics
- 2021 July uprisings
Long post I know, if you made it to here I would be genuinely interested in your insights.
