Urban Survival, What happens if you are Stuck in a City

urban survival

Whether you live in a city or just visit on rare occasions, there is always the possibility of being stuck in an urban survival situation in case of a collapse or disaster.  So how do you survive?  If you live there, you should have preps and know the area well.

You should know where water is available.  This could include ponds, fountains, streams and reservoirs.   Many multiple-story buildings have hundreds of gallons of water trapped in their plumbing systems, you just have to know how to access it.  Your urban survival kit should include a Sillcock key, or at least pliers or vise grips.  Sillcock Keys, The key to Finding Water In the Cities.  A Sillcock key will let you turn on many taps that are missing the handle.

One water source that you need to avoid in many areas is fire sprinkler systems.  In cold areas, they may contain antifreeze, which will kill you.  If you live or work in a high rise or multi story building, make friends with the maintenance people and show an interest in how the building functions.  Learn about the water system and how access it.

Food may be more available than many people think in the early stages of a disaster.  A friend of mine, who was broke, supplemented his food by hunting pigeons in the parks and on the roofs with a pellet pistol.  City pigeons are not scared of people.  Lots of wild food may be available in parks and vacate lots, if you know what you are looking for.

If you plan to live in your apartment or home and live on your preps be careful what you do with your trash..  There is a saying in the military, “If I can find your MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) trash, I can find your base”.  This also applies if your neighbor sees your trash.  He knows what you are eating.  What are you doing with your trash?  Can your neighbors see where you are throwing your food wrappers?  Burn your waste if possible and bury or hide what is noncombustible.  Can your neighbor smell your food cooking?  Cooking odors will carry a long way.  You need to be carefully about how you dispose of bodily wastes, keep them away from where you are hiding.

See also  Survival Rule Of 3

If you are planning to stay in an multi story apartment or hotel, always know the escape routes in case of a fire. Be careful about being trapped on upper floors without an escape route.

One of the biggest dangers in urban survival will be other people.  Your best bet is to avoid contact with others as much as possible.  In large building there are many hiding places, don’t hesitate to use them.  Fight only as a last resort and use whatever weapons you have.

Whether you live in the city or are just visiting you should have an escape route planned and a bug out or get home bag.

Urban Survival takes planning and training just like wilderness survival.  If you live, work or visit a city near you, take the time to plan how you will survive or escape.  Urban survival is not impossible, in many parts of the world people are doing it right now, but it will be hard.

Howard

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9 thoughts on “Urban Survival, What happens if you are Stuck in a City”

  1. Water which is in the fire suppression system piping is stagnant, filthy and non-potable. It will suppress a fire and may extinguish a fire, but it must be thoroughly treated before it is potable.

  2. when I worked for the Dayton water dep. ALL of the water came from the same pipe in the street. Why would the put two pipes at tremendous cost, when one was enough. at most intersections was a valve that was closed and opened every 3-5 years. the hydrants were opened, flushed and closed on some schedule to make sure that they still worked. if we were thirsty, we opened a hydrant and filled a cup. other cities may have been different. check several intersections. if most have 2 or more water valve covers (cast iron with W or water cast in the lid), then they may have two systems.

  3. In the 1980’s I learned a valuable lesson as a grade 3 water treatment specialist in Arizona. The fresh effluent would get pumped into a large pond that had many hoses with small holes that were aerated by two large air pumps which stirred the crappy water with oxygen. We often had to maintain the aeration system and wear rubber gloves up to our elbows to service and repair the system. Best advice the Chief Engineer ever gave ( and sticks with me 35 years later ) is this: when working with poopy water KEEP YOUR MOUTH Closed!! 🙂 The other two ponds would gradually sift out the urine and poo and by the time the water flowed into the third pond the fish lived very well and the overflow back into the Gila River was clean.

    So here I stand 35 years later with a lesson: always keep your gloves on and shut your mouth.

    Peace out! May G-d bless you!

    Snake Plisken

  4. I have been in need of a long term survival shelter tent for a long time and someone shared it on facebook, usually these dome type structures are 5 to 10 grand before acccessories or add ons so picking up the dome for 2500 bucks was amazing. I get the dome in 1 week, which is way faster then I was quoted from the wall tent shop so I am stoked. Now I just gotta get some funds to get a wood burning stove put in. lol

    Have any of you had a dome tent before? Whats your thoughts? Anyone have pictures or ideas on how to live in one? (The picture below is just he one from their website) I think I will be getting a second one for a Green House Dome

    When crap happens I will bug out with this shelter so I’m not stuck in the city dealing with all of that

    https://www.vitaldomes.com/img/dome/panorama.jpg

  5. It looks wonderful, but I fear it may be too big and heavy to take with you when you’re bugging out. Perhaps you could buy some land a reasonable distance away and store your bug-out stuff there, including your new dome. Then you won’t need to carry as much when you bug out.

    1. Want a , light weigh, quick and easy to assemble, wind and water proof, fits on the roof of a car and is insulated, for about $300.00? – NO WAY! – way! – youtube – hexayurt – at Burning Man, they had many of these set up. some had battery powered, solar charged, swamp coolers attached. – – – – – – Burning Man – – WIKI – – youtube – -ask friends – – just go – –

  6. in the book – Hawke’s Special Forces Survival Handbook By Mykel Hawke – Captian, U.S. Army Special Forces – the portable guide to getting out alive – – – this is my condensed version – – – pg 47 ideally, 10 minutes of boiling if you have the fuel. if scant fuel is available, one full minute at a rolling boil will do the trick most of the time, and, in fact this is all I ever do.

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