essentials of survival

THE ESSENTIALS OF SURVIVAL
part II of a series
(volume 1 issue 4)
17 November 2006


In todays blog entry I will address more specific issues concerning survival in a crisis situation or other widescale
natural disaster and/or catastrophe. This blog posting is part II in a series of blogs addressing the essentials of survival.
Two very important aspects of survival are assessment and logistics.

Assessment, according to the dictionary is defined as: "to set a value for; to impose an amount, as a fine, tax, etc.;
to evaluate, as a situation."

For our purposes, assessment shall mean to evaluate as a situation. Basically, we have an obligation to insure the safety,
health, welfare, and well being of ourselves, our family, or possibly the group we may be associating with. In order to maintane our
obligations and responsibilities, we need to know what we need, what we can get, and how and when to get it.

Generally, there are two types of assessments, passive and active.

A passive assessment is done in preparation for any incident or accident or other unforseen eventuality that can, and most likely, will adversely affect the survivor, their family, and the group the survivor may be associated with. A passive assessment is basically the presumption of need prior to any unforseen eventuality or natural disaster or national catastrophe.

An active assessment is done when the survival finds themselves and/or others in a predicament that presented itself with little or no forewarning. The active assessment is generally a spur of the moment sort of a thing. It is therefore essential that the survivor have a keen sense of needs to be done, and what needs to be acquired. An active assessment requires an immediate response to the present situation and environment. Simply put, the survivor must be reasonably able to assess a situation and respond to it quickly, intellegently, and responsibly. With proper mental discipline, foresight, and instinct all apllied to the situation, the survivor should be able to cope with situations quite adequately.

To simplify: passive="what if...?" and active="what now?".

There are two specific types of active or passive assessments the survivor must be concerned with. They are the physical and logistical assessments.

The survivor can do a physical assessment by simply asking the following question as it applies to themselves, their family, or possibly the group they are associated with. The survivor must ask themselves:

Do I, or any member of my family, or member of the group require any medical care and treatment, sustained or otherwise, and/or any special medical equipment, apparatus, or supplies to facilitate ongoing treatment of illness or disability? I can not stress the importance of this question enough. The survivors anwser to that question could be the difference between life and death for themselves and others.

The second type of assessment is the logistics assessment. Logistics is simply the control and management of available resources. A logistical assessment can be done by simply asking the following question:

What do I, my family, or the group I am associated with, require to manetain our safety, health, welfare, and well being?

The reader is reminded that the word "require" is defined as immediate need and not, immediate want. The survivor may want that big screen color television, but, the baby needs pampers, wipes, and formula.

Best regards and wishes
Christopher Griffin (archeangelsk2002)
archeangelsk2002@yahoo.com

Tojours L'Audace