Escaping New York

Live Science has a semi-serious article on New York City preppers, even though it takes the time to bash preppers and survivalists in general. It reads to me as an assignment undertaken with the intent to ridicule prepping, but the reporter discovered that maybe these people weren't so stupid after all. 

Amazingly, for preppers living in NYC:

Urban preppers usually don't own guns, their political views are all over the map, and they are often people of color, Bounds said. Many have seen firsthand, in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, how long it can take for local and federal government agencies to restore order, she said. 

Urban survivalist culture also overlaps with sustainability and homesteading culture. Many preppers are interested in organic and local foods, farmers' markets and the reduction of toxic chemicals. Some meetings, for instance, have focused on such things  as how to make deodorant and laundry detergent at home, she said.

Not like us ignorant hicks in flyover country (sarc.).

The article suggests that there is a basic difference in strategy between the urban preppers and their suburban/rural counterparts:

Few New Yorkers are going to cram their fifth-floor walkup with 500 pounds (227 kilograms) of food (one estimate of how much food a person would need to eat for a year). So survivalists focus on getting out of the city fast. 

Bounds, a sociologist at CUNY who started studying a group called NYC Preppers after Hurricane Sandy, noted a key problem facing many New Yorkers:

Manhattan is an island with just nine bridges and four tunnels off the island, and a workday population of more than 3.1 million, which means there could be several chokepoints in the event of a disaster, she said. Some people even have inflatable kayaks on hand just in case. The best escape routes will depend on someone's origin and destination, but preppers often talk about the Catskills or even Upstate New York as potential safe havens, Bounds said. 

You just have to make it off Manhattan, through the Bronx, and continue due north.... Simple, really.

I wonder if anyone in the group has actually practiced their bug-out plan--especially those planning on evacuating on foot. For those with the kayak--have they kayaked across the East River, the Harlem River, or the Hudson? For the people on foot, have they walked over the bridges into the Bronx or Queens? Have any then walked through the Bronx or Queens to where ever they plan to rest overnight? I would suggest that if you cannot safely follow your bug-out route right now, you cannot reasonably expect to safely follow that route when a major disaster strikes. I would also suggest that anyone that has practiced their bug out plan would likely reconsider whether they want to store food in their walk up apartment.

I'm reminded of an early episode of Doomsday Preppers where a young woman had planned on evacuating  on foot from a city (Austin, TX, if my memory serves me). She had never practiced her bug out plan previously. She physically was unable to make the trip carrying her bug-out bag--I think she made it halfway within the allotted time. Also, she was alone and her plan was to make the trip at night. Watching the episode, I wondered what would have happened to her if she hadn't had a camera crew tagging along. Would she have been assaulted? Anyone's guess.

Also, I wonder about the people that only have half a bug out plan. That is, they have a plan for getting out of their city or town, but they don't have any definitive location to go. Trudging out of "Dodge" simply to become a refugee is a hell of a plan.

Related Links: Another article concerning Bounds and urban preppers at TechWorld.