SAS Urban Survival Handbook (115 page)

During the flood

• ◑ Keep listening to reports on your portable radio.
  
• ◑ Keep a constant watch on what’s happening outside.
  
• ◑ Stay where you are, unless told to evacuate—travelling could put you at even greater risk.
  
• ◑ NEVER drink floodwater—it may carry disease.
  
• ◑ Do NOT use telephone except in dire emergency.
  
• ◑ Obey officials if told to evacuate.
  
• ◑ If life is endangered, get onto the roof and signal for help.
  
• ◑ Only in extreme emergency should you attempt to make a raft—flood water moves very fast and you may put yourself at greater risk.
  

After the flood

• ◑ Do NOT go outside until you know it’s safe—more storms could be on the way.
  
• ◑ Boil or purify ALL water, until local authorities declare municipal supply safe. Flood water could have contaminated the cold water mains supply.
  
• ◑ Do NOT use fresh food or water that has come into contact with flood water.
  
• ◑ Do NOT turn on electricity or gas until told to do so.
  
• ◑ In likely areas, beware poisonous snakes or spiders seeking refuge in your home.
  
• ◑ Beware contracting diseases from paddling in flood water.
  
• ◑ Wear strong shoes when walking through subsided flood water—you could step on sharp debris or broken glass.
  
• ◑ Check drains carefully for blockage—they could pose a hygiene threat if not cleared properly.
  

LIGHTNING

Every year there’s an average of six lightning strikes per square mile in Britain alone—that’s about 4200 just over London. Amazingly enough
few people are actually killed (around 12 per annum is the national average), though many are seriously injured or burned. If you are outdoors in a thunderstorm and you feel your hair start to stand on end, that’s a sure indication that lightning is about to strike.

• ◑ Drop to your knees IMMEDIATELY. Bend forward, putting your hands on your knees. That way if lightning strikes the electrical charge may pass through your limbs to the ground, bypassing your heart.
  
• ◑ Do NOT hold metal objects (such as golf clubs) and keep away from metal structures—they will attract lightning.
  
• ◑ Do NOT stand under a tall isolated tree in an open area—it could act as a lightning conductor.
  
• ◑ Do NOT stand on a hilltop where you would project above the landscape—YOU could act as a lightning conductor!
  
• ◑ Seek shelter in a low area in dense shrubbery.
  
• ◑ Even rubber-soled shoes are no guarantee of safety.
  

DROUGHT

Recent years have seen an unparalleled awareness of drought in Britain and many other countries. No longer is it something that happens to other people! From hosepipe fines and car-washing bans, even tap water cannot be relied on for drinking as reservoirs sink to new lows. Yet for many countries, drought is a simple fact of life. In parts of the Middle East, for example, the only drinking water comes from the sea, having undergone processing in huge desalination plants. In many other areas of the world, drought survival is about water conservation, eking out every precious drop in the hope that supplies will not run out before the next rainfall.

The city of Perth in Western Australia is a case in point. Every household is allotted a certain amount of water, and anyone exceeding it has to pay for their excesses. Television news bulletins report overall weekly consumption compared to existing water supplies, and set new low ‘targets’ in an effort to reduce expenditure.

Fire, sanitation and disease are the main problems associated with drought, and if the current climatic changes are attributable to the much-vaunted ‘greenhouse effect’, we may have no choice but to learn to live with them.

THE ′GREENHOUSE EFFECT′

Thanks to the burning of fossil fuels, use of CFCs and intense cultivation and deforestation, man is increasing the concentration of ‘greenhouse’ gases in the atmosphere. This, say scientists, could change the global climate, causing floods in some regions and droughts in others. It is estimated that the average global surface temperature increased by 0.5°C (0.9°F) from 1900 to 1989. Unless we change our ways we may accelerate the trend.

Living with drought

• ◑ Do NOT waste water. A hosepipe BAN means exactly that, and could signal the start of severe water shortage.
  
• ◑ Do NOT drink tap water if local authorities issue warnings to that effect. Shrinking water levels can result in contamination and, in extreme drought, dead animals may pollute water sources. Boil, purify, or buy bottled water.
  
• ◑ If your water supply is cut off and mobile water tanks or standpipes are installed in streets, this is designed for drinking water ONLY. The situation is too severe to waste water on other uses.
  
• ◑ Do NOT use the toilet, but leave enough water in the bowl to act as a barrier to prevent smells and possible disease spreading from sewers up the pipes.
  
• ◑ Buy a camping chemical toilet. Alternatively, you may have to face making an outdoor latrine.
  
• ◑ Re-use water as much as possible.
  
• ◑ Ensure food is always covered—flies could prove a problem.
  
• ◑ Try to practise good hygiene, despite lack of water, especially when preparing food. Hot unsanitary conditions are a breeding ground for germs.
  
• ◑ Try to eat foods with a high moisture content (such as fruit) and which need little preparation or clearing up.
  
• ◑ NEVER throw cigarette ends casually out of cars or anywhere else. Grass could be tinder-dry and fire-fighting services severely hampered.
  
• ◑ If driving any distance, carry your own water in case the engine overheats. In Western Australia, it’s quite common to see the following sign in petrol stations: ‘Do not ask for water as a punch in the mouth often offends’!
  
• ◑ Watch out for structural damage to houses, particularly those built on clay. You may have to fell trees too close to the house to prevent the roots causing damage to foundations.
  

THE BIG FREEZE

The picture postcard romance of a snow-laden landscape soon begins to wear thin when the harsh reality of winter sets in—blizzards, snow drifts, arctic winds at more than 55kph (35 mph) and freezing temperatures which, with the wind chill factor, can be the equivalent of −40°C (−104°F).

Even areas which normally experience mild winters can suddenly be hit with blizzards and extreme cold, rendering entire cities powerless for days. The result is always human suffering and, all too often, death.

Unlike Britain, where two centimetres (less than an inch) of light snow can bring the nation to a standstill, many countries such as Norway and Finland have had to invent ways of coping with the extreme winter conditions as part of everyday survival. In Alaska and regions of the Soviet Union, for example, houses are built on stilts because conventional foundations would buckle in the permafrost soil.

Canada sees 140 days of snow every year, and there are many lessons to be learnt from their approach to winter living. House insulation is paramount, pipes are submerged below the frost line, a second set of ‘storm windows’ is the norm, and people can even buy plastic draught excluders which fit into electrical sockets on exterior walls to prevent every tiny bit of heat escaping! Cars are ‘winterised’ with snow chains, gasahol (anti-freeze for petrol), plug-in block heaters to keep the engine warm overnight. People never drive with less than half a tank of petrol in case moisture in the air in the tank freezes and causes the vehicle to stall.

Winter complacency, underestimation of the severity of conditions, lack of preparation and, often, lack of common sense are all contributing factors to unnecessary deaths—from what is after all a seasonal event. But with a little preparation before the cold starts to bite, you can be ready for the worst that winter can bring.

Getting prepared

• ◑ Ensure your house is well-insulated, especially the loft. Lag pipes to prevent freezing and insulate the hot water tank to prevent heat loss. Don’t continue loft insulation under a cold-water cistern—the small amount of heat beneath it may keep it from freezing.
  
• ◑ Check for draughts around exterior doors and windows. A heavy curtain over the front door can make halls warmer. Plastic sheeting taped over windows is a simple, cheap alternative to double glazing.
  
• ◑ Service central heating—it has a habit of going wrong when it’s most needed.
  
• ◑ Kitchen foil, fixed shiny side out on walls behind radiators, will reflect heat.
  
• ◑ Check electrical fires are in good working order. Many winter deaths are caused through occasionally-used electrical fires which prove to be faulty.
  
• ◑ Electric blankets should be serviced ANNUALLY.
  
• ◑ If you have an unused fireplace, get it cleaned and unblocked and stock up on fuel. It could prove a last-resort.
  
• ◑ Check emergency kit and supplies (see beginning of this section). A camp stove could be vital, especially if you have an electric hob or oven.
  
• ◑ Food is fuel for the body. Ensure you have enough supplies for at least three days, but resist the temptation to stockpile. You don’t really need 15 loaves of bread to see you through a winter emergency in a town or city and you could cause hardship for other people.
  
• ◑ Make sure you have enough winter clothing.
  

During bad weather

• ◑ Listen to radio/TV for weather reports and emergency information. Call social services if you need help for yourself or a relative living alone.
  
• ◑ Have emergency supplies at hand in case of power failure.
  
• ◑ Live in one room, if you can’t keep the whole house heated.
  
• ◑ Do not block all ventilation—avoid build-up of potentially toxic fumes from fires and heaters.
  
• ◑ Drink plenty of hot drinks to make you feel warmer.
  
• ◑ If your pipes freeze, shut off water at the mains and turn on all taps to drain the system in case of burst pipes. Drain water into containers to ensure an adequate supply.
  
• ◑ If there is power failure, do NOT open freezer. A closed freezer should stay frozen for up to 48 hours.
  
• ◑ If central heating does fail, turn it off as a safety measure.
  

If you must go outside

• ◑ Dress accordingly. Several thin layers are warmer than one thick one. Mittens are warmer than gloves, and hats will prevent heat loss. Frostbite and hypothermia are SERIOUS hazards.
  
• ◑ Avoid over-exertion. The combination of excessive physical activity and cold can KILL.
  
• ◑ Do NOT drink alcohol. It lowers the body temperature.
  
• ◑ Do NOT dry wet clothes on or too close to heaters—it’s a major fire risk.