MAY-DAY MAY-DAY MAY-DAY Part 1

Friday, April 18 2008 Filed in: Tips & Tricks

What to do when it all goes horribly wrong.
Why a well prepared Emergency Survival Kit could save your life.
by Peter Baile

Image courtesy of Pitel on Flickr

Tragically people die from thirst and exposure in the Australian bush on a fairly regular basis and often in circumstances not nearly as extreme as the one I'll outline below. If you need convincing, read this coroners report into the death of a 28 year old Austrian tourist in 1999 near Lake Eyre - they found her body over 24 km from her vehicle and still with 6.5 litres of water in her pack.

So why did she die? Because she left her vehicle, didn't DRINK enough water and was overcome by the heat. Once she passed out and collapsed the sun would have finished her off very quickly.

So your off on your big adventure, your 12 month trip around Australia.

You've spent a lot of time selecting the best 4WD & Caravan/Campervan, got all the right gear to take with you, researched your journey, looked at all the right websites, visited all the Expo’s and talked to all the right people, got it all setup and awaaaay you go!!!

Hang on a minute; let me build a little scenario . . .

Your three months into the trip and decided that the next stop will be a little more off the beaten track, you know, turn right at the black stump and head for those special rock paintings that are dated to over 500 years old and yes it is worth the journey. Its only 180kms off the main track, not many people go there but hey why not? You plan to bushcamp when you get out there and check out the paintings in the morning.

Not far from the site there is crossing of an old dry creek bed, very rocky, narrow with steep sides. You get down the first side OK and are heading up the other side when the bank gives way under the back wheel. Your truck tilts over crazily and hovers on the verge of a roll over but no not quite, however the roll was severe enough to break the battery loose and crack it. All of a sudden there are great volumes of acrid smoke pouring out from under the bonnet and from under the dash board as the wiring shorts out.

Time to exit your vehicle NOW!!

So you grab your emergency kit, (sitting handily between the front seats) help your partner out and move off far enough to be out of harms way then watch your vehicle go up in flames and as the fuel tank bursts the fire engulfs your trailer also setting fire to the spinifex grass completing the conflagration.

There is nobody else around.

You are on your own and your 150 kms from the road you turned off.

It will be dark in an hour.

It could be days or even weeks before anyone else comes down this track and no-one knows you are here.

All you have is your wits and your emergency kit.
You do have an Emergency Survival Kit, don’t you?
You know that backpack with some basic essentials to help sustain you for several days until you are missed and a search is organised (that's assuming you've lodged your journey with the police or friends and family).

No you don’t?

Oh well, I suppose you can hope that help will turn up before it is too late.

Yes you do?

Great, so now we can take stock of our situation and plan to survive.

A simple Emergency Survival Kit like this one could save your life!

So what did you pack into your Emergency Survival Kit?

Let’s consider what you need to deal with . . .

1. Water
2. Shelter
3. Fire
4. Food
5. Medical
6. Signaling
7. Miscellaneous

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – YOUR MENTAL STATE! IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN SURVIVE – YOU WILL!

ALL OF THE ITEMS YOU HAVE PACKED SUPPORT YOU’RE ATTITUDE TOWARDS SURVIVAL

PEOPLE HAVE DIED WITHIN HOURS OF BECOMING STRANDED BECAUSE THEY HAD NOT THE WILL NOR A PLAN TO SURVIVE !!! – PLAN & PREPARE

I’ll explain further on why I have included these items in my survival kit
If you never have to use this survival kit well and good but it is a very small
investment in your future.

I found that if I collected the items during usual shopping trips over a period of months prior to the journey I didn’t notice the costs.

Emergency Survival Kit

My kit laid out - see further down for close up pics

BACK PACK
This must be big enough and strong enough to include all these
Items but not too big to get in the way of being handy for use when needed

WATER
I pack at least 6 bottles of water 600-750ml - multiple bottles in case of a leak
Remember to change them fairly regularly just to keep them fresh
4 large, strong garbage bags – the ones with the draw string at the opening
2 metres of 6mm (approx) plastic / rubber tubing & 2 metres of heavy duty string
2 bladders from wine 4 litre casks – for collected water
1 supermarket (cotton?) carrier bag – for the wine bladders
.5mtre (1/2) square muslin or pillow slip – to strain any collected water

SHELTER - I keep this simple
A 8 x 6 blue tarp – a better, if more expensive, one is the silver finish
2 x painter’s plastic drop cloths - I as a ground sheet and 1 as a solar still
1 x 30 metre braided nylon cord approx 70 kg breaking strain
2 x15 metre braided nylon cord approx 70kg breaking strain
Plastic “Poncho” rain coat(s) – will help keep the wind out
Optional – Mosquito netting

FIRE
2 Box's of water proof matches
I BIC lighter
6 Hexamine tablets (Army type fire lighters)
1 small bottle metholated spirits – glass with a metal screw lid
25 cms of sash cord – cut into 25mm lengths as needed, soak in metho, great fire starter

FOOD
1kg of rice
6 assorted stock cubes – For flavour
6 assorted energy bars – compressed apricots and the like – add to the rice
Salt & pepper sachets
Packet(s) of barley sugar
Tea & Coffee bags & sugar sachets / cubes – to taste
Salt & sugar require water for digestion – Don’t overdo it

MEDICAL
24 Pain Killers - Paracetomol for headaches, Ibuprofen for inflamation - take both
Eye Drops
Small bottle antiseptic – I like tea tree oil
Basic first aid kit – from camping store or similar
Pack of Water purifying tablets - enough for 40+ litres
Tube of sunscreen - SPF30+
Tube of insect repellant – BUSHMAN PLUS
Tube of “Stingoes” or similar
Refresher towellettes or baby wipes - great for personal hygiene
Snake bite bandage

SIGNALLING
Handheld UHF radio (AA Batteries)
EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon)
Torch (AA Batteries)
Whistle
Metal Signaling Mirror
Signal Flares - buy these from a boat shop
1 set of spare batteries (radio & torch) change regularly!

MISCELLEOUNEOUS
Folding knife with a belt sheath – good & strong with about an 8 - 12 cms blade
Multi Tool – get a good one like a Leatherman
Swiss army knife – a real one
25 assorted small / medium snelled fish hooks plus small sinkers etc
100 metres of 10kg fishing line
A small hook with a blob of sticky rice will potentially catch birds when ground feeding
3 metres of (stainless) steel general purpose wire
Hand full of big rubber bands – ex the postie
4 Zip lock bags – approx 1ltire capacity
Note paper & pencil
3 metres of aluminum foil folded up
Compass - small survival style or orienteering type
Toilet paper – very important
White floppy hat(s)
Space / Survival blanket(s) – Silver
Tin cup(s) – Tape the handle, they get very hot
Hiker’s mess kit or ex - Army ‘dixies’
1 450g (baked bean) tin, suitably punched to make a small hexamine / twig
stove, works very well, uses a lot less fuel than a normal Hex stove - see picture
Dark lipstick – in lieu of sunglasses, applied under the eyes to reduce glare
4 tea candles - even a small light will boost your morale
Tube of super glue gel – It will also seal a wound
Roll of wide ‘Gaffer”- Duct tape

SURVIVAL TIPS BOOK
The WA Police have a beaut 100+ page survival guide – Read it, pick the eyes out of it and include with your pack in a zip lock bag.

Click here to download it as a PDF that you can print before you go.

You can add any other items you feel are necessary or desirable
ie: special medications, extra food - adjusted for the number of people involved

This pack and its contents are predicated on the assumption that you will

STAY WITH THE VEHICLE

It is a lot easier to spot the vehicle than someone lying exhausted under a tree kms away.

Look to your vehicle for anything helpful ie: external mirrors (signalling) any rubber (tyres) or plastic, seats, floor mats, rubber side mouldings – they will burn with dense black smoke. Winch cable, shovels etc, bumper mounted water bag.

Extra clothing even if a little singed or smoke affected, days can be hot and nights very cold

Plan and prepare a signal file – in a clearing as close as practical to your site.
Smoke can hang up in heavily treed areas and be difficult to see from the air.
If you have ever flown across inland Australia, there are always fires and tall columns of smoke and almost invariably it is white.

A black column of smoke will stand out.

Once you are safely away from the vehicle – STOP, TAKE A DEEP BREATHE, AND START TO SURVIVE

You are now in a survival situation so plan and act accordingly

• Set out your plan of action
• Deal with any injuries
• Look for somewhere that will serve as a base camp and move there, NOT a creek bed and not under a ghost or white gum tree.
• Spread out a ground sheet and layout the contents of your survival pack
• Sort out what you will need in the next hour and repack the other items
• These should include * Shelter * Torch * Fire * Radio * Knife & Multi tool – add to your belt
• If you have an EPIRB reread the instructions and activate accordingly
• If you have a radio, check and ensure it is working ie: add the batteries and test
• It is important that the information that you have lodged with the authorities describes the type of radio you have and the channel you will be using and at what times - possibly listen 10 minutes and transmit 5 minutes on either side of the hour and half hour, this will save the batteries and allow you to concentrate on survival for the rest of the time.
• Even if you have an EPIRB, rescue could be 24 – 48 hours away and with a radio up to several days so get setup for at least a couple of nights in the bush
• Don’t get distracted with idle thoughts and conversation, focus on the task at hand – Survival. The ‘what if ‘ factor is not helpful nor “You should have been more careful”

In the next edition I discuss more about what to do next - how to survive and make sure you have a great story to tell rather than becoming another unfortunate statistic.

Peter Baile

Here are some pics of the contents of my kit.
Personalise yours to your own needs but use my kit as a starting point.

A knife for every occasion

wire and wire saw