An inevitable disaster that can occur on a global scale is by an EMP(Electro Magnetic Pulse) weapon. The threat of EMP attack on the US is inevitable, proof of which is the formation of EMP Commission. The goal of this commission is to identify and protect the US army and its citizen from EMP threats.

To quickly estimate the results of such an incident, we have to determine the daily life products and activities which work on any electricity – So basically more than 90% of things. The scale of an Emp Disaster will be enormous, the power grid of the whole country will be down, 4000+ commercial planes will be left with no communication, no navigation and no support at all in mid-air. Your mobile phones, laptops, computers, internet services, everything, will be down and useless. For ordinary people, there will be no way to communicate to each other, no way to order food, no way to travel. All the modern buses, trams and cars use any computer to function, so they all will be useless in such an event.

What Could be the Worst Place to be in such an event?

An EMP attack will affect everyone, just because we are so dependent on electronics in our lives. But, there are some places which you wouldn’t want to be in the case of an EMP attack.

Elevator:

If you take an elevator daily, you might have a higher chance of getting stuck in one when the EMP is fired. The best thing to do in such case is to make people aware that you are stuck inside elevator by banging on the door and screaming. If you are alone, then you are probably out of luck unless you have prepared in advance. But if there are more than one person inside the elevator, then you access the service latch of the elevator which is present on the roof. Some of the latches will require tools to open, so this is where your multipurpose toolkit comes in handy. You should also have a handy flashlight with you all the time to encounter such emergencies.

Commercial Planes:

At a given time, about 4,000 domestic planes are flying in the US. Getting stuck inside a plane while mid-air is possibly the worst thing. The pilots will have no way to make contact with the land; they will have no way to navigate except for their eyes(which obviously isn’t the best way to navigate a plane). Even if we try to consider the best case, i.e. pilot has full visibility and the landing strip is nearby and is empty, even then without any power source the pilot will not be able to control the plane. Even the emergency power backup will be useless in such a case.

Near Nuclear Power Plants:

If you live near a nuclear power plant, you need to plan “bug out.” In the event of an EMP attack, even the backup power system will be fried, and we will be left out with a nuclear meltdown, which will be disastrous. Radiation leaks will make it impossible to live in that area.

How to Prepare in Advance for EMP Attack?

Save Important Data Offline

In the scenario of an electromagnetic pulse, all your electronically stored data will get corrupted and will be useless. So, your best bet in such a case will be to print some of the stuff and keep them in a safe place. Some of the important papers you should keep printed are:

• Mortgage paperwork
• Car titles
• Insurance policy documents
• Passports
• Id proofs
• Birth certificate

Saving offline will only apply to those things which can be printed. But there are some other valuable data which can not be printed, so for that type of data, there are different solutions.

Faraday Cage

Faraday cage is an enclosure made of conductive material, which cancels out the external electric fields. Thus, protecting anything that is kept inside it from EMP. Michael Faraday invented the Faraday Cage.

If you are not looking to spend a lot of money for a Faraday Cage, then you can take DIY approach and build one using Old ammo box. They are not as effective, but still, a good choice if you are on a budget. You just need to modify the lid to have a metal contact with rest of the box. You can also use Old microwave to protect your data from EMP.

What to Keep inside Faraday Cage?

• Flashlight
• Radios
• Batteries
• Extra ECU for your car
• Useful and valuable data in a USB drive
• It might also come handy to have a smartphone with offline maps downloaded

Solar Flares

A solar flare is high energy radiation that is emitted from our Sun, which can cause electric and magnetic disturbances on Earth. Solar storms have occurred and affected the earth in the past and are even recorded in 1859 and 2012. So, there is a very high probability of it happening again sometime in the future.

So to conclude everything, EMP attack by another country is highly unlikely at this point. EMP Commission is keeping an eye on such threats and possibilities 24/7. But as long as solar flares are concerned, no one can be sure about that and an event that large would wipe out a huge part population and infrastructure.

The post Preparing for an Emp Disaster Scenario appeared first on Survivalist FAQ.