Information Prepping is just as important as equipment and supplies prepping. An important part of this information is that in a SHTF situation, whether you are bugging in or bugging out, it is vital that you know your local area.  This includes routes home in the event you are away when something goes horribly wrong as well as both the geography and structure of your locality.  You will have short term and longer term needs and goals and even with the best prepping, there will be holes or shortages in your planning that would either be vital to rectify or would certainly be beneficial to you comfort or situation.

 

Getting Home

If you are away from home, at work for example, you will have prepped a GHB (Get Home Bag), covered in other posts here on the blog. Depending on your distance you are either going to use funds to get transportation home or you are near enough to get there on foot.  Using the transport option, you need to know the transport links in your local area including taxi ranks, bus routes and railway stations. Regardless of how you are getting home you need to know your way around where you are as well as the ideal and backup routes to get home.  If you need to take a detour, do you know how to get back on track?

Water sources

Whether you are getting home, bugging in or bugging out, you need to know where you can get water if you need it.  Your preps will already include water, including as part of your GHB or BOB (Bug Out Bag) but the situation may worsen whereby you need additional or alternative sources.  Assuming a simple tap water top-up is out of the question, it is import that you know at least some sources of drinking water in your local area. Take note of:

Shops with a potential supply of bottled water.

  • Offices or other businesses with a potential supply of a water cooler.
  • Streams, brooks or other water course where you can use a water filter to top up your supply.
  • If the moving water of a stream or brook isn’t available, is there a pond or lake that can be filtered?
  • Fire stations may have water in vehicles or bowsers
Fuel sources

Once the SHTF, fuel to keep warm and to cook with is going to be important, so you should know what your local area has to offer.  Think of all the types of fuel you can make use of and where you might get them from including:

  • Camping and outdoor stores for Gas cannisters
  • DIY shops, hardware stores, builders merchants for calor-type gas bottles as well as parafin or methylated spirit
  • Factories, garages and workshops which may also have portable heaters with gas bottles. Also gas-powered fork trucks
  • Garages forecourts for petrol/diesel.  Some factories and farms also have their own diesel storage.
  • Woods & forests for the most basic of fuel, wood to burn

 

Maps

Having maps available for your local areas as well as routes home if needed is advisable.  You can get different Ordnance Survey maps including different scales and laminated coatings.  I would recommend using Landranger (1:50,000) maps for more built-up areas and explorer (1:25,000) maps for open countryside areas as the large scale gives more detail.  For large towns and cities, you still can’t beat the A-Z maps, usually available in multiple formats as well.

An example OS Landranger Map (Amazon)

An example OS Explorer Map (Amazon)

An Example A-Z Map (Amazon)

 

The Lay of the Land

It is important to know the geography of your local area, beyond where you can get water from.  You may be in the countryside, a town or a city but it would be beneficial to know:

  • The quickest and/or easiest routes to get around.
  • Areas of shelter, should they be needed.
  • Areas likely to become over-populated (think indoor shopping centres, football grounds, parks etc.) which are best avoided.

 

Buildings & Structures

Know the buildings and businesses in your local area. What might they be useful for? Some would make ideal shelters either permanently or temporary.  Others would be perfect for secure storage of supplies and equipment.  Have a scan around your local shops and industrial estates and make notes of key businesses which may have useful stocks of supplies.  The list below is by no means extensive but it gives some ideas about what to bear in mind:

  • Food (or the means to get it)
    • Supermarkets
    • Convenience stores
    • Pubs & Restaurants
    • Supply warehouses
    • Large offices or factories with canteens, kitchens or vending machines.
    • Fishing tackle shops
    • Garden centres & nurseries
    • Farms
  • Drugs and Medical Supplies
    • Hospitals
    • Doctors surgeries
    • Vets
    • Dentists
    • Aquatic suppliers (fish antibiotics)
    • Offices/Factories (first aid kits)
  • Tools/Weapons
    • DIY shops
    • Hardware shops
    • Tool hire suppliers
    • Outdoor sports shops and distributors
    • Garages
    • Factories
  • Clothing
    • Clothes shops (obviously!)
    • Shoe shops
    • Sports shops
    • Outdoor/hiking/camping shops
    • Garden centre concessions
    • Workwear suppliers
    • Clothing factories/warehouses
  • Building Materials & Shelter
    • Building supply yards
    • DIY shops
    • Hardware shops
    • Building sites
    • Fencing companies & suppliers
    • Roofing companies & suppliers
    • Tool hire suppliers
  • Transport
    • Sports/cycle shops
    • Motorcycle dealers
    • Car dealers
    • Bus Depots
    • Farm suppliers (quad bikes?)

Others not to forget:

  • Haulage/shipping yards. You never know what will be either in the lorries or the associated warehouses and shipping containers.
  • Self-storage facilities could likewise be a source of supplies.
  • Whether you need to learn some new skills or just pass the time, we will always need books!

The trick will be to know places that others don’t as the obvious candidates will be easy pickings and then it will require much more imagination and some out-of-the-box thinking.

In all cases, getting hold of supplies will depend greatly on the severity of the situation.  If it is a total TEOTWAWKI then anything goes really but bear in mind that people will defend what is theirs and other people will be competing for it as well and there will be elements of bartering, scavenging and worse.  I’ll leave the morality of that for another article on the ethics of scavenging vs looting. In any case, doing it safely will be difficult so a general rule would be be aware and be wary.  For the time being, this article is just about knowing your surroundings as should a situation arise, those with better knowledge will be better prepared.