I’ll be adding to this list periodically, you can use these survival tips to help keep those you love alive during a disaster.

Figure out how prepared your neighbors are.
Periodically bring up survival skills, weapons, and food surpluses to your neighbors. Don’t mention that you have prepared yourself, but instead say things like. “I’ve been meaning to get some food storage in case we have a hurricane. Have you ever set up anything like that?”

Depending on their response, you can gauge which neighbors houses you should target for invasion if your supplies run short.

Use parts of your body as survival resources.
This is obviously a last resort, but if you’re stranded without resources, sometimes you can use parts of your own body for survival. Hair can be used to start a fire. Teeth or finger/toe bones can be used as arrowheads. Fingernails really can’t be used for anything, but a leg or arm could serve many uses: Shelter (tent pole, etc), weapons (club, knife, etc). Make sure to use a tourniquet if you need to amputate any part of your body. Remember to collect blood, as it can make a tasty drink in a survival situation…or be used as bait to capture scavenging animals—likewise, there is plenty of meat on a leg to last for days, so don’t let any of that go to waste if you’re only after the bone.

Don’t wait until after a disaster to discover you are allergic to dog meat.
During a disaster, everything that bleeds becomes a potential source of nourishment. Even though white people weren’t heavily effected by Hurricane Katrina, we can still learn some valuable lessons from what the black community put themselves through. Watching television we saw plenty of hungry people and plenty of stranded dogs. Though none of us relish the thought of eating the family pet, it may become necessary to survive.

Before you get into a situation where you have to cook up some canine on a campfire, it’s best to give it a try under more ideal conditions. Don’t eat your own dog! Dogs can be purchased inexpensively from any local animal control “pound”. If you’d prefer not to purchase a dog for the purposes of eating it, most neighborhoods have plenty of dogs whose owners don’t keep them properly confined. Set a trap for one of them and enjoy your dog feast!

Find a good place to hide some guns, away from your home.
When the government turns bad, they’re going to send the troops to your house. The last thing you want them to do is find all your guns. Find a spot that’s easily accessible, but not on your property, to keep a secret stash. This will also be useful in the even of a natural disaster that destroys your home.

Our family lives very close to an elementary school. On the playground is a rubber mat at the bottom of a slide. Under that mat I’ve buried a plastic container with enough guns and ammo to protect our family should we be forced to evacuate our home, or protect ourselves from the government.

Prioritize the importance of each member of your family.
In any disaster scenario we are forced to make quick decisions. Make sure you know which family members are critical to your survival before a disaster strikes. Be sure every agrees on the list ahead of time, chaos and argument are both poisons that can ruin any good survival strategy.

Remember, this list could come in handy when trying to determine whose life to save first, who should get the freshest rations, and, God forbid, in the unlikely event food supplies run short, who should be consumed first to save the rest of your family.

Difficult decisions require proper planning. Make a list of what each member of your family is able to provide in an emergency situation. Consider the following:

1. Who can build a shelter the best?
2. Whose body requires the most food and water to survive?
3. Who is the smartest (not book smart, but SURVIVAL smart)?
4. Who is still fertile and could help repopulate the Human race?
5. Who has the best personality? Who has the worst personality?
6. Who came up with your survival plan?
7. Does anyone have a disability that would require special attention?
8. Are any of your children adopted?

Your family may have unique requirements, make sure to consider all possible scenarios before finalizing your list.

Keep an eye out for bloated bodies you can use.
I learned a lot from Star Wars, I think we all did. One of the greatest survival skills I took from the movie series was how to make a quick overnight shelter from a warm-bodied creature.

After being attacked by a Wampa on Hoth, Luke Skywalker appeared to be doomed. Luckily Han Solo was able to save his injured friend, against all odds, by opening up the chest cavity of a Taun Taun with the light saber given to Luke by Ben Kenobi while they were still together on Tattoine.

One of the first things I noticed during the news footage from both Hurricane Katrina and Tsunami [insert the name of the tsunami here before posting…what the hell is the name of that wave? honey…you have to edit this part for me and then press “post article” evertything else is set up for you. please…look it up on google or something…when you finish the rest of the to do list I left for you tonight you have my permission to not finish the last two chores until tomorrow and do this instead, I’ll see you when I get back from bowling. Please don’t forget to Iron my shirt and vacuum tomorrow, I’ll be sleeping in but will check your work when I get up. Good night.] was the ample supply of bloated bodies that could be easily split and the chest cavity hollowed to house a small child for the night. Several bodies could be used as sort of a human sleeping bag for an adult.

This isn’t a pleasant thought, I know, but God has a way of giving us the things we need to survive in a disaster situation, it’s up to us to figure out what those things are and how to use them.

Drink the pee of others.
On a recent episode of the Discovery Channel’s hit series, Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls shows us that when you run out of water in a survival situation it’s good to drink your own urine to rehydrate yourself. What he didn’t explain was that as the body becomes dehydrated the condensed urine concoction can be detrimental to your health, and in many cases it’s better to withstand the ill effects of dehydration rather to consume your own waste water. My solution to this: drink the fresh urine of those in your survival party who are well hydrated and feel that drinking urine is disgusting. Use the later to your advantage—you can directly influence others into thinking their urine IS disgusting. It’s important to remember that when you realize you’re in a survival situation you need to start telling those you’re with things like, “I’d rather die than drink pee…wouldn’t you agree?” and “Drinking your own pee is sort of gay…wouldn’t you agree?” As soon as they pee you need to find a way to discretely collect it. Tell them you’re practicing Leave No Trace guidelines and offer to “throw out” their pee for them. You could suggest they pee in your cup so you can pack the urine out. Alternately, you could tell your friends that bears will often follow the scent of urine and eat those who match the smell…again, suggest packing out the waste in your cup.