What large tent might be good for emergencies?

[campboss7]

Ever since I was a kid we'd have earthquake drills at school ALL the time and teachers would always tell us "you need to be prepared for when the big one strikes." Lately I've been thinking that ALL the time too. "What if there's an earthquake right now?" "Am I prepared?" "What if when the big earthquake comes, most houses collapse including mine?" While we have M.R.E.'s at home and some canned foods, I know for a fact that I'll need way more than that. I've been thinking that a good shelter might be a good idea. Maybe like a military style tent, but I don't know? What do you guys think? Maybe I'm getting paranoid with all the chaos in world but I think this is a good idea, right? I was looking at some of these...:aww:

http://www.usmilitarytents.com/

[MacGyver]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

If you have the means to carry one (and the wallet), I'd say go for one of those. Since you're thinking about possible long-term living, they're bound to be more durable than anything sold for recreational use.

[tplife]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

US Surplus tents: If you've ever had one, you don't want to ever set it up again. We used one to store belongings in the backwoods during home construction, and it took several people and a lot of adult beverages to get it set up. Dark as a cave, and hotter'n hell. A couple of 6-man tents from REI or, with budget limitations, maybe Costco big-box Coleman Weathermaster nylon tents packed away in the garage.

[Mike]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Have a look at cities that experienced major earthquakes like Tokyo. Study what it was like in the aftermath. After major earthquakes that would be bad enough for you to live in a tent, the whole city is a pile of rubble. Buildings fall on top of buildings. Road turn to fences.

All your tents and prepper stuff will be buried under tons of debri from your house. You won't be able to find your prepper stuff or your tent.

The best you can do if you survive an earthquake is to walk out of the disaster area and seek help from neighboring communities.

[Mike]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Have a look at cities that experienced major earthquakes like Tokyo. Study what it was like in the aftermath. After major earthquakes that would be bad enough for you to live in a tent, the whole city is a pile of rubble. Buildings fall on top of buildings. Road turn to fences.

All your tents and prepper stuff will be buried under tons of debri from your house. You won't be able to find your prepper stuff or your tent.

The best you can do if you survive an earthquake is to walk out of the disaster area and seek help from neighboring communities.

[tplife]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Have a look at cities that experienced major earthquakes like Tokyo. Study what it was like in the aftermath. After major earthquakes that would be bad enough for you to live in a tent, the whole city is a pile of rubble. Buildings fall on top of buildings. Road turn to fences.

All your tents and prepper stuff will be buried under tons of debri from your house. You won't be able to find your prepper stuff or your tent.

The best you can do if you survive an earthquake is to walk out of the disaster area and seek help from neighboring communities.

Mike, do you live in a high rise? Our drinking water and extra 20lbs propane is outside in sturdy coverings, next to mattox and shovels. There's a full-sized BBQ with side burner. Our garage is on the side of the house, in the front. In the event of collapse, there's only 2 X 4s and composite siding to pick through to get to our gear out of the garage, and we'll have plenty of time to get to it. Neighboring communities are likely to be in a similar circumstance and first-responders overwhelmed. Shelter in place with your non-perishable food, water, water purification tablets, guns & ammo, AGM power supply, extra firewood and fuel. Many in our family have lived through all-out war before, and the others of us are experienced in the forest. Everyone is urged to have provisions as SoCal is an earthquake-prone area. Life will go on, and things will get better...

[Mike]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?



"Where are my keys?"
"Wait a minute.... Where is my car???"

[Mike]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?



"Now... where is that tent?"

"Wait a minute... where is my house???"

[actad]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Might try a composite home http://www.zipflat.com/disaster.htm

or some of these solutions http://inhabitat.com/8-innovative-em...disaster-hits/

[actad]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

You might also consider an emergency services tent cot http://kamprite.com/shop/disaster-re...tent-cot-estc/
and an emergency treatment cot http://kamprite.com/shop/disaster-re...tment-cot-etc/
in your preparations.

[Malamute]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Having used them, Id suggest a heavy duty wall tent, the white canvas ones used for horse packing and heavy camps. Not as hot as the dark ones, and not as dark as the dark ones. I have a wood stove for mine, which helps a lot in the cold periods with the Sims folding wood stove. Ive used it with a heavy duty metal frame, and with wood poles lashed together, both work fine, the wood poles are much easier to carry and set up, and far lighter. Mine is 9x12 with 5' side walls and 8' ridge. Its a marine grade canvas, which helps with resistance to sun deterioration. I've had it about 25 years and used it in all seasons, for up to 3 months at a time staying in it. The only thing better is a tipi, but the poles for them are much harder to transport.


Keeping your emergency gear in a shed or outbuilding would likely be easier to recover them in event of a quake, assuming you don't have your shed next to a high rise in a city. I leave my basic camp gear in my truck all the time, a quake emergency is one reason. Nothing to fall on it. If my cabin wasn't safe, I could get my tent out. Cabins usually do pretty well in quakes though, from what I understand.


Canvas wall tents don't resemble common light duty canvas camping tents in any way, other than the name of the material. Serious duty wall tents are heavy duty items, the material is much heavier and stronger, and fully up to living in for extended periods and extreme conditions.

[astrowolf67]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

If you live in a metro area like Mike keeps suggesting, best bet is to have a stocked bug out bag ready to go to the nearest emergency shelter. However, in an urban or more spread out area, in my opinion, more important than the tent choice, would be some good tarps and ropes. You can build a good shelter with the tarps, and even pitch a seperate tent under the tarp shelter. The tarp will also help to protect items such as fire wood, and, give a place to store salvaged items from your home. Shelter in place would likely be the best choice, as, in a major quake, roads would likely be impassable for a while, even in a very capable vehicle.

[Happy Joe]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Yep! I would expect nearly any "Outfitter" quality tent, including good canvas wall tents, to give good hard duty service.


A short perusal of the evening news shows the popularity of tarps, as improvised housing, in third world disasters.


Earthquakes come in many intensities and very strong ones are rare (and seem to favor some locals).
As far as I can see, a bit of prior planning should leave basic equipment relatively accessible/salvageable for folks dwelling in single family homes.
Keeping an up to date, evacuation/bugout bag near the home's exit is only prudent, IMO.


Enjoy!

[Malamute]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

Yep! I would expect nearly any "Outfitter" quality tent, including good canvas wall tents, to give good hard duty service.


A short perusal of the evening news shows the popularity of tarps, as improvised housing, in third world disasters.


Earthquakes come in many intensities and very strong ones are rare (and seem to favor some locals).
As far as I can see, a bit of prior planning should leave basic equipment relatively accessible/salvageable for folks dwelling in single family homes.
Keeping an up to date, evacuation/bugout bag near the home's exit is only prudent, IMO.


Enjoy!

Having computer problems,.... hope this works.


We've all seen pictures of earthquakes, and tornado destruction. It can happen in an instant, and completely destroy your home and everything in it.


There was a very good story of a guy that survived Katrina, and things he learned. I looked for it but couldn't find it. A few things he mentioned were taking clear digital pictures of all family pictures, artwork, expensive possessions, your HOUSE, vehicles, important papers of ALL sorts, including insurance papers and bank records, pay records from work, vehicle titles etc), because in many cases, if you couldnt PROVE you owned something, including your house, insurance wouldn't pay. The devastation was so complete that banks records, and insurance records were destroyed. In other words, you couldn't assume anything would work in your favor, and couldnt assume there would be ANY other proof your things existed, period. He made a record of everything important and made several copies on zip drives (meant the tiny USB flash drives), one he kept with him at ALL times, one he sent to friends or relatives somewhere far away, and another kept in another safe place like a safe deposit box (keep in mind a safe deposit box may not exist after a bad disaster, so have more than the one copy "safely" stored there). They need to be updated periodically. He and his family ended up in Texas, and he ended up not being able to PROVE he had ever worked anywhere, had any education, bank accounts, or property whatsoever. It caused problems for many people.


The writer went so far as to unplug his laptop every night and keep it next to his bed in the travel case, along with important papers, so if he had literally a moments notice to leave he had a lot of important things available. I don't go that far, but keeping copies of the important things on hand is a good idea.


Just some thoughts about disasters that many don't think of, but can make a difference in recovering with less pain.

[Malamute]

Re: What large tent might be good for emergencies?

accidental double,...