Convenience Comes at a Price
When I was younger, I aspired to live in New York City. It’s home to iconic buildings, Central Park, and famous celebrities. Some of the best movies ever made were shot in New York City. Taxi Driver, When Harry Met Sally, and Home Alone are just three classics set in the greatest city in the world. The Big Apple has high paying jobs, mass transit, and corner stores on every block. Who doesn’t love the convenience of Manhattan? Well, convenience comes at a price. I’m not just talking about rent, either. Big cities are especially risky following SHTF events. To help you prepare, I’ve shared three city survival tips below.
1. Bug-In
Escaping the city is not always an option if SHTF. Currently, the coronavirus has forced the sick into isolation and the healthy into quarantine. If an easily transmissible pathogen is the SHTF event you’re forced to contend with, bugging-in is the best city survival option. To ensure you’re prepared to bug-in 
It would be great if we could trust our neighbors. Unfortunately, SHTF events tend to bring out the worst in people. If you’re bugging-in, then you need to keep others out. City survival depends on your safety from both the SHTF event and the way others react to it. If you’re in an apartment, you’ll want to board up points of entry. Cities tend to have strict gun laws, so it’s important you have alternative means of protection. Bugging-in isn’t always easy. It can make people stir crazy, but I’ll take crazy over dead any day. Bugging-in is a good way to stay alive in the wake of disaster.
2. Bug-Out
Big cities are targets. I’ll never forget what happened on September 11, 2001. Neither should you. In the event of a terrorist attack, bugging-out is a better alternative to city survival than bugging-in. Leaving, though, isn’t so easy. Traffic will likely grind to a halt and public transit may shut down. Sometimes, escaping on foot is the only option. It’s important you avoid the major avenues and any other roadway that is likely congested. Encounters with others might turn hostile, so it’s best to mitigate the risk of clashing with others.
You should devise an escape plan well in advance of any SHTF event. Pack a bug-out bag, so you’re
prepared to beat the crowds out of the city. The most fortunate preppers should invest in boats or helicopters. Some conventional prepper wisdom suggests that threats can get to those in the middle of the ocean (or the Hudson). While we all don’t have the luxury, boats and helicopters are good insurance against SHTF events. Living in cities is expensive, but so is escaping them. Bear the price of city survival in mind when considering whether to live in one.
3. Find “Your People”
In an era of social media and technology, rates of face to face communication are declining. This trend is dangerous, since human bonds depend on a more intimate connection. If we turn the clock back 
thousands of years, we would find ourselves in tribes of people that loved and protected one another. These days, it’s common to live in a building where neighbors ignore one another altogether. If SHTF in the city, city survival may depend on having the right people by your side. Do you have your people? If not, I suggest you work to find them.
It’s easier to find safety in numbers. If the infrastructure of a big city fractures, then it’s important you have a group of individuals who work together survive a SHTF event. Groups with diverse and complementary skill sets are ideal. That said, you’ll need to proactively find the right group. The New York City Prepper’s Network is an example of a collection of people in the city that share tips about emergency preparedness with one another. Joining a group like this can help you develop the knowledge and network to tackle the next SHTF event.
City Survival Requires Advanced Preparation
Do you have additional city survival tips? Leave a comment below or contact me directly.
