One of the most important tasks in a survival situation is prioritization. In a dire situation, doing the wrong thing first can literally mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, there are so many potential situations that prioritization of an emergency is not a one-size-fits-all methodology. With that being the case, I have some general guidelines that I think could be helpful.
Knowing What is Important
I have written a few times on the five basic human needs. These needs exist every second of every day, but ensuring that you have potable water to drink, food to eat, shelter from inclement weather, energy for heat and cooking as well as security from those who might mean you harm should be your priority in a survival situation.
Knowing When it is Important
There is a general survival rule called “the rule of three’s,” which states that the average human can last:
3 minutes without oxygen
3 hours without shelter in severe weather
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
Putting the What, with the When
This might seem over simplistic but using those two in conjunction should help prioritization in any survival situation. Take a look at both and apply them to your situation. Meeting the 5 basic needs is the goal, now start to apply the rule of 3’s to your situation.
Do you have clean oxygen to breathe? If not, this is a dire emergency! Getting out of the smoky area, breaking the choke hold or getting to the surface of the water is your priority.
Do you have shelter from the weather? For the majority of situations, our homes will be our shelters. If your home has taken damage from a storm, is it safe to stay in? If not, taking temporary shelter somewhere else might be needed. If you’re lost in the woods without shelter, making shelter is a priority. I believe another aspect of shelter is security, but I’ll cover this later.
Do you have enough potable water, or access to water, to last your group three days? I think saying the average person can go three days with no water is a bit misleading. Sure, one might not die for three days without water, but you’re going to be feeling pretty rough after even half a day, especially if you’re exerting more energy. This isn’t to say that you must have 3 days’ worth of water stored for each person in your group. If you have access to water and a means to filter and purify it, then the danger is lessened.
I think food is one of the needs that people think about first and probably most. The truth is that food should often be lower on the priority list. In a survival situation, there is a good chance we’ll be exerting ourselves more than normal and we eventually need to be replacing those calories, but missing a few meals is something most of us can handle.
Out of the five basic needs, the rule of 3’s covered shelter, water and food. Energy and security remain. This makes sense because energy and security don’t have strict guidelines.
Everyone will need to use some type of energy to cook, boil water or possibly for heat, but the amounts and types of energy will vary greatly. Fuel is kind of the oddball of the five needs in that the importance of having enough fuel completely depends on your situation and circumstances. If you’re stranded in the bush, gathering fuel (wood suitable for burning for example) is much more important than for someone who is at home on the third day of an extended blackout, who might need to ensure enough propane for the camp stove.
When it comes to security, the chances are low that one will need to use violence to defend themselves. But, if/when the need to use force presents itself, it is absolutely the most important need. This is not to say that security can just wait until all of the other needs are fully met. I mentioned above that I believe that an aspect of shelter has to do with security. As long as humans have been building shelters to live in, it has been in part to make us more secure from wild animals and those who would do us harm.
The Discovery channel hosted a show called The Colony for two seasons, both of which are available on Netflix and I recommend them. The premise of the show was a group of people thrown into a mock situation. For example, one season was a TEOTWAWKI pandemic event. The group had to come together to meet their five basic needs.
***Spoiler Alert***
If memory serves, they put off security until “bandits” raided their compound during both seasons. In the beginning, they were gung ho about finding shelter, clean water and enough food and later found ways of generating energy. If they would have told one person a day to work on securing the shelter, and making some improvised weapons, they would have been so much better off.
So when is security a priority? When in the midst of an attack, it is the number one priority. Otherwise I think it should be woven amongst the other needs until your shelter is secure and your means of defense are seen to.
For the record, I don’t think The Colony was something to follow as an example. There aren’t that many TV shows that thrust people into actual survival situations. You can learn from what the members of the Colony did wrong and decide what you would’ve done differently.
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