The Area Study focuses your preparation efforts and saves time & money. An Area Study will not only help you prepare, it will also make you much more aware of your situation and improve your quality of life. It assesses your own, and your team’s, assets and liabilities. It can be useful not only in preparation, but in choosing where to live as our environment is changing around us.
Everyone’s situation is unique. We’re different individuals. We have varying households/situations. We live in places with differing climate, terrain, and potential natural and man-made disasters. Thus, before we begin to ‘prepare’, we must know what specifically we’re preparing for and what we’re working with.
By doing a good Area Study, you save time and money because you’ve focused on your priorities. You need to know your assets and your threats. You also have to get the right supplies, training, and gear for your specific situation.
Too often, preparation is looked at as a one-size-fits-all.
When my Special Forces A-Team received a mission packet while in Isolation, the first thing we did was an Area Study. We had to understand where we were going and how that impacted the mission.
This is what we all need to do where we live, work and go to school. This process is what you will do in this workbook with the mission being preparation and survival.
We’ll work outside in. What that means is we start with your Area of Operations, examining climate and terrain, then potential natural and man-made disasters, cover disaster checklists, then zero in on our your family/team, home, work and school. Finally, we’ll cover preparation in terms of a grab-n-go bag based on what you now know, bugging out, and finally notes on scavenging and sustainment.
Area Studies can have non-emergency uses, such as if we’re considering moving to a new place. An Area Study can provide valuable decision-making data. Given climate change, there are many locales where purchasing a home or starting a business might not be a smart idea.
Evaluate your Area of Operations in terms of climate and terrain.
You want to examine your environment for a lot of things. What can harm you? What can help you? What can hide you? What are your enabling factors? What are your disabling factors? What is the terrain and how can it help you or hamper you in movement? What and where are the roads, trails, rail lines, tunnels, etc. What effect does your environment have on you? What are choke points, particularly river crossings, mountain passes, bridges and tunnels?
Then you must be concerned with the man-made and natural events you should prepare for in order of likelihood.
80% of natural disasters include flooding. Do you live in a flood zone? Would you be cut off if your area floods? Note that there are many areas that were not in flood zones just a few years ago, that are now included. A new map includes 6 million more homes than previously mapped.
There are also man-made disasters. Here is a partial list: Car accident, boat/ferry accident, train/subway accident, tall building evacuation, fire, power outage, burglary, robbery, carjacking, civil unrests/riots, firearms accidents, nuclear power plant accident, nuclear weapons, biological weapons and infectious diseases, chemical weapons/accident, and industrial accident.
What industries are in your area? Are your power lines buried? What are you downwind, downstream of? What toxic materials and/or gases would be emitted if there was an accident? Is there a rail line or waterway near you? What is transported on those trains/barges? Where is the closest nuclear power plant and/or storage area? Are there labs in your area that work with dangerous biological agents? What about the local university? Are you in the flood zone of a dam or levee breaking?
This is just the beginning. But by answering these questions you will begin to frame the priority of preparation. This will determine your plans and what supplies and equipment you need. Of course, there are baseline survival supplies every household should have, such as water, first aid kit, emergency radio, etc. but beyond that, an Area Study will give focus.
Yourself and your team: What special skills and background do you have? The people on your team? The key is to know what you can and can’t do, and what those around you can and can’t do. These skills include medical, military, gardening, hunting, survival training and experience, pilot, boat operation, camping, weapons, cooking, land navigation, swimming, communication (personal and technical), construction, problem solving, fire starting, knot tying, the list goes on and on. It also includes the physical condition of yourself and your team members.
Evaluate your home, work and school in a way you haven’t before. What are the dangers that need to fixed? What preparation needs to be done? What plans need to be made?
