There is a great deal of writing and discourse about how to survive an emergency, be it as simple as a severe thunderstorm to all-out nuclear war. The survivalist gurus fall into two main groups: those who “hole up at home” in an urban environment and others who decide to try to live off the land when “*stuff* hits the fan” in the country. Both groups have good reasons for their choice of action in a disaster, but both have flaws as well.
Advantages of Urban Survival
Familiarity
The most important part of surviving a high stress situation is being in an environment you are used to. Seeing as most people in the modern world live in large cities, this means survival in an urban setting would be preferable for them. There is a great chance that these people have little experience in the wild, and would not make it in the brush for very long. There is a wealth of knowledge on how to survive a disaster, and being able to apply that to somewhere you know very well can pay off more than having to apply it to a rural or wilderness setting you are unfamiliar with.
Shelter
If you are staying in your home in the city then you already have a shelter that will keep you out of the rain, warm in the cold, and out of the sun in the summer. You have blankets, you have a fireplace, and you have central heating and air (which hopefully lasts). You do not have to worry about pitching a tent, building a cabin, or improvising an earthen shelter. There are no extra tools to learn to use and no extra equipment to buy and maintain.
Having a Large Stockpile Ready
When the world suddenly collapses on itself you will need supplies. If you are wise, you will have at least several weeks’ worth of supplies. This means food, water, first aid, any medications you, your family, and your pets are on, and enough barterable items to thrive in a world that may or may not include power for your debit card or money that means anything. If you are already at home then you are supplied immediately, instead of either having to carry your supplies on your back or find them on your way in the wild. When things go wrong you sure do not want to run out of anything.
Services
Depending on the emergency, you may still have access to things like fire and rescue, police, water, and electricity. If the disaster is substantial then these services will likely come back fairly quickly, meaning that you only have to hold out on your supplies for a few days or weeks. Remember however that in a real emergency like a full-scale war, nuclear, biological, or chemical attack, or complete economic meltdown these services and the infrastructure designed to support them may fade away quickly.
Disadvantages to Urban Survival
People
Humans are tricky animals. They can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Can you defend yourself from the hordes of rioters, looters, and other thugs ready to pounce at this new opportunity. Are you ready to defend yourself? Can you turn “home sweet home” into a fortress? Can you pull the trigger and kill another human when they are trying to do the same to you? Do you want to risk getting shot or stabbed in a fight with a brigand and have to tend to your wounds with or without emergency services? For most people the answer is no. Most people in society simply cannot imagine having to fight for their lives, and the ones who can either have military training, years of hunting experience, or a lengthy criminal record.
When the emergency starts there will be death. If the emergency is big enough there will either be not enough room in the morgue or not enough people to take them there. Bodies can lay in homes, streets, gutters, and pretty much anywhere else for days, weeks, or longer. This means the bodies will decompose and spread disease. The stench will be unbearable. Flies, rats, other scavengers will feast on the dead and they will spread even more disease. Can you handle this? Do you have that much stored water? Do you have antibiotics? If there is a biological attack and you did not become infected initially are you vaccinated against anthrax? Smallpox? Ebola? You probably haven’t unless you were in the military and deployed to a combat zone, and even that might have worn off unless you just got discharged. Ready to risk a slow, painful death yourself? Ready to watch your spouse and children fall in this way?
If you are in the wilderness or small country towns then you can feel more comfortable in surviving this contingency as there will be fewer people or none at all depending on how far you actually go. The bodies will get buried. The disease will not spread as quickly.
Human waste will become a major problem during a serious emergency. You might not be able to flush it, and in a large city there will be little space to bury it. This produces even more disease and stench. In the country you can simply bury it in a spot away from your main camp.
While you may have prepared, others haven’t. Suddenly you are swarmed with neighbors, friends, and relatives you have not seen since the last reunion asking for food and water. Your month that you planned on eating suddenly turns into two weeks if you double your group. That may not be enough time. In the country there are less people to deal with, even in a town. They are also probably better prepared, as there is land around and animals to shoot. Country folks love hunting.
Your own family will become a problem as well. Yes, I said it. Your children will be a major hindrance in such a choatic time. Kids eat. Kids need water. Kids get sick, especially in conditions that you may be facing. And there is one problem with having kids during a survival situation in the city: they really can’t help you much. However they can do things like gather firewood, carry water from a river, pick berries, and other simple tasks in the wilderness.
Conditions
In a real bona fide disaster there will be destruction all around. Burst pipes will flood the streets. Fires will spread. Buildings can collapse. In a war you will have to deal with bullets, bombs, artillery shells, rockets, and mortars. These dangers may make life in such conditions simply impossible, and you may have to flee. But with the power out, you had better have a large supply of fuel ready, because the gas pumps will not be pumping. Rural areas will be less affected by destruction and war because there is less for a tornado, earthquake, or other natural disaster to ruin and a forest is of less strategic value than a major city.
In the most “unthinkable” event of a nuclear detonation, life in a city will be decimated. Even if you have built a fallout shelter it may not provide protection from blast unless it is underground and you are far enough from the explosion. If you have not, you risk your home being destroyed in seconds, burning to the ground from heat, or being heavily contaminated by fallout. All of these events will kill you without a doubt. Even if you are far enough away from the detonation you will still experience fallout unless you have a shelter. It may not kill you, but it will make you sick. If you are in the country far away from the nuclear bombs then you may very well be fine, with minimal exposion to fallout particles carried by the wind.
Food/Water
Food will be a precious commodity in a serious survival situation. Even if you have stocked several months’ worth of food it eventually runs out, especially if you decided to help your neighbors. “But…but…I’ll go to the store!” Even if you go to your local supermarket within hours of a disaster situation starting the store’s food stocks will have vanished, either by purchase or theft. If you are one of the lucky few who gets to it first then there is only so much you can carry. And of course your refrigerator can only hold so much. You better hope those jars of pickled pigs’ feet will get you through… You may have stocked water, but it will go quickly as you need it to drink, cook with, and occasionally bathe. If the water shuts off or is contaminated then you are simply going to die of dehydration once your supply is gone.
In the country you have a much better food and water situation. You bring what you have with you and then live off what nature provides. This means killing a deer or wild hog that will last you for many meals if you know how to smoke it. It means catching a squirrel or rabbit in one of many makeshift traps. It means catching a fish with a rod and reel or a net. It means harvesting wild fruit and nuts. It means growing your own crops in a garden. You could also find a local farm and ask to stay there and eat with them in exchange for your labor. Crops will have to be harvested, and without machinery that has become useless because the diesel isn’t pumping it has to be done by hand. You can find water made safe for drinking in fast running rivers and streams, and you may be able to dig a well if you know where the water is and how to get it. The water in the country is at far lower risk of contamination as well.
These things being said, you can see how a situation where survival hangs in the balance strongly favors you being in the country in many ways. You may have to make camp, and your food supply will be limited initially, but you can make due. The best bet is a good medium between the two options. Know someone that lives in the country, or live there yourself. At least have a cabin if possible. Stock this place with food in a manner that you have planned with the people living there or who you expect to join you at your location. Make a break for it with the weapons and barterable items you have stored in your home and survive off of both your reserves and what nature has to offer.
