Transportation for Disasters

 My favorite pair of Matterhorn boots for all around living. I will do a write-up on boots in a future entry.

A couple days after Sandy hit, someone sent me a message suggesting everyone should get mountain bikes. The knee jerk reaction was “that makes sense.” After pondering further, I am saying NO! I do believe mountain bikes are good around transportation for people who are used to riding them. Living at a trailhead in the Cleveland National Forest, I get to see lots of mountain bikers coming back from the local trails. Not surprisingly, I get to see a fair number of injured people hobbling by too.

Here is my thought: People who are not experienced riders (and will not become experienced riders in spite of best intents when buying a mountain bike for disaster use) will become hazards on their bikes – especially after they try to tie belongings on for escape or carry a heavy backpack filled with groceries. Disaster scenes have broken glass, road debris, and all matter of other obstructions. You are definitely going to be dealing with flat tires and the odds of serious injury compounded with infection are greatly increased. If you want to buy a mountain bike because you want to use one on a regular basis for transportation – excellent idea. You will then have it available during a disaster also. Do not get one for disaster.

So what should we have for transportation? This topic was casually discussed a little at a recent prepper dinner party and we must concur there is no single best answer.

Most of the group had a Jeep or some type of aggressive off road pick-up truck. The latter provides space to haul more gear than a typical Jeep. Either one would be a good solution to travel wilderness roads out of a disaster area – and circumnavigate problems on the highway. Generally very sound solutions for pre-disaster evacuation and some types of post disaster escape.

One of the families had quads set up and had explored various routes including following alongside train tracks to avoid most of the traffic. Carrying capacity is somewhat limited and long distance travel may not be comfortable – but it is a functional option for many scenarios.

Living in Southern California, my primary concerns are wildfire and major earthquakes. Wildfires are much like most other natural disasters in that you usually know they are coming. It could start right beside your home and overcome you immediately – but this is rare. I have seen several wildfires in this region and you normally have several hours notice that the fire is heading your way. Time for a somewhat orderly evacuation under an eerie orange sky. The main vehicle concern at this point is one that you can shove stuff into. Of course, having your stuff prepacked for evacuation can help – but many of the new small cars just don’t have much cargo space or what they have is oddly shaped which hinders loading boxes and crates. My actual preference for planned evacuation is a plain, full-size cargo van. These can be parked discreetly just about anywhere, have a good amount of cargo space (especially if configured with shelves and your gear is prepacked in crates that fit the shelves), and they can be effective mini campers when outfitted with cots, sleeping mats or hammocks. If you can set it up with four wheel drive and oversize fuel tanks – so much the better! Since there are so many of these on the road, and several models share components with pick-up trucks, spare parts should be relatively easy to scavenge.

Full size dual sport motorcycles are the pack mules of modern transportation.

Earthquakes are a different and arguable answer. Since there is no advance warning of earthquakes, we must shift our thoughts from pre-event evacuation to post-event escape. Earthquakes can range anywhere from minor nuisance to complete destruction. Somewhere short of complete destruction, there will be major regional collapse with hoards of people trying to get out of the destroyed areas. Traffic will be a major concern. With this in mind I set up my dual sport motorcycle with a narrow wheel base trailer which can split lanes and travel on fire roads. The bike is designed to carry fairly significant loads as it did on a recent cross country trip. Even so, the total chaos on the highway will probably mean there are limited paths through the traffic. Also, anyone utilizing any successful means of escape when everyone else is trapped will automatically become a target. Someone told me their first response in seeing me riding by would be to grab a broom or hiking staff and knock me over to take my cycle. Hmm, that was the same someone who recently made the suggestion to use mountain bikes…

That brings us back to boots. They will allow you to wade, climb, walk, run, and clamber through all sorts of debris. You will have some ankle support and protection from bumps, clunks – perhaps even snake bites! Get a good pair. Then get out and walk/hike in them. Get comfortable wearing the boots for long periods of time. During any kind of disaster (even if you are driving a truck!) a good pair of solid boots will get you further, safer.

Guess there may be a clear best all around answer for survival transportation after all!