SURVIVAL BLOG: How to Survive the Cities During TEOTWAWKI, by Lara W.

Get out of the cities. Most would agree this is a key rule of survival during the end of the world as we know it.  After all, millions of people reside in cities around the globe. Supply store shelves can become bare in mere minutes, water can become rapidly contaminated by overwhelmed sewage systems, and riots can outnumber and overtake law enforcement. The urban environment also renders certain wilderness survival tactics unsafe, such as cooking over a fire. Cities are vulnerable to uncontrollable fires. They make prime nuclear targets. Disease spreads among city dwellers at an astounding rate. There are many reasons why cities are dangerous in a  TEOTWAWKI situation. Therefore, the logic to abandon them for a less populated area remains largely undisputed.

But what if one of the following scenarios makes leaving the city impossible?

Quarantine

A 2005 CRS report for the United States Congress, Federal and State Isolation and Quarantine Authority, states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services can give authority for the Director of the CDC to determine that measures taken by local medicine powers to prevent the spread of disease have been ineffective, and intervene directly by taking the “necessary measures”.

Simply put, the United States government has the power to quarantine sections of the country, as do governments in various parts of the world. Below are just several cases of quarantined cities throughout the world in the last ten years. Read and research the facts for yourself through the provided hyperlinks.

In 2003, over 8,000 people were put under quarantine in their homes and watched through installed video cameras due to an outbreak of SARS in Taipei City, Taiwan. More than 7,000 people were also put under quarantine due to SARS in the city of Toronto, Canada.

In 2006, over 60,000 people were put under quarantine due to an outbreak of bird flu in the city of Bucharest, Romania. Over 23,000 more residents were quarantined in the city of Codlea, Romania.

In 2009, the world’s second largest city with a population of 21 million, Mexico City, was put under quarantine for five days in the midst of a Swine Flu outbreak.

These quarantines, lasting anywhere from four days to a couple weeks, are a far cry from what could potentially occur should an outbreak threaten the long-term freedom of urban residents. The general rule of quarantines is simple: No one gets in and no one gets out.

Flooded Roads

Rain storms, broken dams, overflowing rivers, melting snow, and tsunamis are several occurrences which may cause sudden and dangerous flooding of major roads leading out of cities around the world.

In October of 2010, flooding left the city of Gisborne, New Zealand with only a couple round-about ways of entering or leaving the city. Had debris obstructed these roads, the city would have been completely isolated from the outside world.

In January of 2011, nearly 1,000 flooded roads and several closed bridges around the city of Brisbane, Australia only left one unclosed bridge as access to Southern Brisbane.

Also in January of 2011, the city of Rockhampton, Australia was completely cut off by flood waters. Here is a blog written by someone in the city describing their experience of urban isolation.

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