Porto went dark this Monday, 11:35 local time, and lights were not back up before ten hours later. Within a few hours, telephone and internet networks went down as well, and some areas didn't have any water towards the end of that period. Had the blackout lasted another ten hours, things would most definitely have looked pretty bleak, and my family and I would have found ourselves stuck in the chaos.
Clearly, we were totally unprepared for what happened. A bug out plan cannot be made after the fact. It has to be prepared in advance.
First thing to understand is that the only safe place in case of a prolonged blackout is a place with its own water and electricity. It's therefore essential that our plan includes such a place. I don't own such a place, but I have a friend who owns an off grid house fairly close to Porto so I plan to ask him for an option on staying there in case of an emergency.
Secondly, we should have enough petrol in our car to get to our bug out place without having to stop for petrol. Our car should always have at least half a tank of petrol. Whenever the tank nears half empty, we fill it up completely.
Finally, we need to have enough cash in the house to get us through a week without electronic payments.
None of this is expensive to put in place, but it may mean the difference between misery and relative comfort in case of an emergency. As they say, it's better to be safe than sorry.
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By Valtov at fi:wikipedia - Originally from fi:wikipedia, Public Domain, Link
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