Taking proactive measures makes you feel prepared for anything. However, even if you have canned food that can last for years and plenty of first-aid resources, accidents can happen.
The last thing you want is to face an emergency during a grid-down situation when you’re far from help. Learning how to help yourself and get assistance in those situations will ease your mind, even if society never collapses.
1. Satellite Phones
People accidentally get lost all the time. A Garmin study found that most SOS messages were triggered by people hiking and backpacking. Parks have trails and signage, which still don’t prevent everyone from getting lost. If you’re out in the woods without cell service, you’ll need another resource to help you connect with people.
Satellite phones don’t need cell towers to communicate with each other. You’ll only need to access the connected system to reach anyone around the globe. Unless a cyberattack makes satellites unusable, these phones are your best bet for getting assistance when you’re stranded.
Compare models and prices to find the best options for your budget. You’ll also want to explore their battery lifespans to get a phone set that lasts a long time. If it doesn’t need frequent charging sessions and doesn’t break your budget, you’ll know you’ve found a reliable communication tool.
2. Locator Beacons
If you know other people who prepare for societal collapse, you may want to form a community that relies on personal locator beacons. They connect to satellites to provide your exact location with a homing signal. They’re another option if the internet and local cell towers are down. Given the extensive number of satellites rotating around the Earth, you may feel comfortable investing in these tools due to the likelihood that they may not all go down at once.
3. Mesh Networks
Your off-the-grid community might also communicate through mesh networks. They allow people to send texts without satellites or cell towers. The long-range radios transmit messages, so they’re a better option if you’re planning for a world without any electricity.
If people can’t access resources like they used to, things will get more expensive. Rising resource prices precede an increase in resource-targeting crimes, like theft. Having a localized mesh network that no one can take away from you means you and your community can protect yourselves around the clock. If anyone ever needs support during a break-in, you’ll know exactly where to find them.
4. Two-Way Radios
Private communication is also a concern for emergencies. You may not want other people to hear where your community is living or where you’re stranded and vulnerable. Two-way radios have superior range capabilities, especially if you’re using a ham radio.
They’re private and don’t need cellular networks, so you can remain off the grid. You can even use emergency frequencies for special situations, like if you’re wounded and without any weapons.
5. Visual Signaling
You might worry that you’ll need help when you no longer have access to satellites, cell towers or electricity. Learning how to visually signal for assistance is another great way to prepare for any situation. The first telegraph systems required flags or other objects to communicate visually. You can do the same with mirrors or signal flares.
Carrying a signal flare in your backpack while going on an expedition will help you alert your friends if you need help. You can also use Morse code to signal SOS by flashing a mirror from a high sunny hilltop. Consider what you want to carry in your travel pack to decide the best visual signaling option for you and your team. The strategy is useful on everyday camping trips and possibly even in a world-ending scenario.
6. Ground-to-Air Communication
Look for aircraft during emergencies. You can communicate with them when you become stranded by using international distress signals. The key is figuring out a signaling form that people can spot from 10,000 feet in the air or higher. Arranging rocks that say “mayday” or setting fires in a triangle could catch a pilot’s eye. The bigger your signal, the more likely someone will see it.
7. Audible Signals
You may need assistance in an area where you can’t see the surrounding landscape. If you think someone might be close by, making audible signals could flag them down. Someone with average hearing abilities can detect frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hertz (Hz) without assistance. You only have to decide how you’ll communicate.
Whistles can travel long distances and reach frequencies that are easy to hear. You could blow into your whistle to create an SOS pattern or catch someone’s attention. Improvised signaling devices can also work during emergencies. Banging on metal objects or firing ammunition into the air will alert someone to your location.
Reasons for Delayed Assistance
Planning how you’ll contact people for help is crucial, but you should also understand your next steps. People may not be able to reach you quickly for numerous reasons.
1. Geographical Challenges
Terrain is an immediate concern when people are trying to reach someone who needs assistance. Present-day challenges include issues like climbing mountains, trudging through a flood after a natural disaster or scaling cliffs to access remote areas. If society collapses, people may lack the emergency responder resources to do those things.
Consider what people will need to overcome to reach you when you need assistance. You’ll get a more accurate estimation of when help will arrive. You can also let them know what they’ll face if you’re able to communicate with a phone or radio.
2. Communication Blackouts
Power outages and network failures may cause blackouts. Those are modern-day concerns without any societal collapse involved. Electricity demand will likely increase 2% annually over the next decade, but local grids are struggling to handle that demand. If you need assistance before or after a doomsday scenario, you may not be able to reach help because electric grids have failed.
3. Your Specific Emergency
Emergencies can change how quickly someone gets help. If you’re living near another post-collapse community and need to fix a water purifier, people may only have to walk a short distance to reach you. If you’re out hunting and get stranded with a sharp object stuck in your gut, you’ll need help as fast as possible.
Your remote location and immediate health concerns make getting assistance more challenging. Preparing for things like communicating off the grid or signaling with sound could make your chances of receiving help better.
Proactive Ways to Prevent Communication Loss
You don’t have to hope that cell towers remain online during an emergency. You can also fortify your ability to communicate with other people before and after society-ending events.
1. Build Strong Community Ties
Some individuals prefer to prepare for economic collapse or martial law by themselves. Even if you have a fierce independent streak, you should build strong community relationships. Having alliances with your neighbors or other preppers gives you more people to contact in an emergency.
People strengthen their relationships when they’re responsive and supportive of each other’s needs, even if society hasn’t collapsed. Share your prepper knowledge. Ask others how they’re doing and brainstorm solutions together. If everyone knows they can rely on each other, they’ll come running if you ever need assistance.
2. Establish Emergency Protocols
Help may not be able to arrive where you get stranded. Terrain might keep people from accessing your location. Therefore, setting up emergency protocols before everything falls apart might save the day. You could agree to meet your loved ones at a chosen evacuation point if you’re unable to contact each other. You might create a code word for a specific emergency, like if you run out of medicine.
These safety measures ensure there are backup plans for any situation. You’ll also create ways of communicating that other people won’t automatically understand, giving you a potentially lifesaving layer of privacy.
3. Practice Using Preferred Resources
Once you determine how to get help or respond to a distress call, you should rehearse your plans. You’re only going to remember that SOS is three short, three long and three short signals in Morse code if you practice. Run through drills with people who are also using your plan, like meeting at your evacuation point in an improvised scenario where no one has radios.
You could also signal to each other at night after getting home from work by using flashlights in your second-story windows. Set a schedule to rehearse together often, so your emergency contact methods are instinctive if you ever need them.
How to Help Yourself While Waiting for Rescue
If you’re in a situation where you’re waiting for rescue, you should be able to help yourself as much as possible. Remember a few quick strategies to keep yourself stable as people look for you.
1. Conduct First-Aid Assessments
Injuries can happen no matter what’s going on with society. You should know how to conduct first aid in a trauma situation. Follow steps like checking the scene for safety concerns to prevent further injuries. If you’re out of the way of falling objects or wild animals, you’ll immediately improve your safety.
Check your vitals by visually assessing yourself for injuries. See if you can move your limbs and determine if your temperature feels high. Think about when you last had water and food. If you understand the fine details of your current situation, you’ll know how to address your most immediate health needs.
2. Note Your Surroundings
If you’re able to communicate with loved ones and get assistance, you should describe where you are. Check for landmarks they might easily spot, like rocky outcrops in specific shapes or a waterfall. You can communicate what you see over your radio to mark your location if no one has GPS locators.
As you browse your surroundings, you should also know what could put people at risk as they try to find you. Look for any evidence of animals or other people living nearby. Understanding your current danger levels will inform rescue parties about what safety precautions they need to take.
3. Find Water and Shelter
Even if you think people might find you quickly, things can go wrong. You should have water and shelter in case of delays. Consider what happened before you found yourself miles away from help, like if you walked a far distance. Exercise, altitude and humidity cause extra water loss, making you more susceptible to dehydration.
Try to find water sources if you can move safely. Carrying a portable filter might save your life one day. Make a temporary shelter, as well. You could lean branches against a tree or hang a tarp to shelter yourself from rain. Establishing a heat source will also be important if you’re stranded in the cold, which could require learning how to start a fire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions you may have about getting help when you’re on your own.
Q: What is the 3-3-3 rule in survival?
A: The 3-3-3 rule in survival means you can survive for three minutes without air, three hours in difficult environments without a shelter and three days without any water. You can also go three weeks if you don’t have food, but you have to find water and shelter. People who remember the 3-3-3 rule could use it to ground themselves if they feel panicked in a survival situation.
Q: What are the steps to take in first aid?
A: The rules of first aid include ensuring safety, checking for responsiveness, calling for help, inspecting injuries and administering care. They work for yourself or other people if you’re the person someone contacts for help.
Q: How do you find your location using stars?
A: You can find your location using stars by looking at which direction a specific one is moving in. Descending stars mean you’re facing west, and ascending stars mean you’re facing east. If you get stranded at night and can’t find landmarks, you’ll know how to determine your direction and find help with celestial navigation.
Prepare for Any Scenario
Even the best preppers can’t prevent every emergency. Whether you get lost on a camping trip while the world is still functioning or become stranded after a grid-down situation, you should know how to get help as fast as possible.
Develop communication tools with people you trust, learn how to assess your health and gauge your safety concerns to respond in the best ways while you’re away from help.
