Earthquake Preparedness in Portugal

Hi there,

I was impress with your story about the pregnant woman ho was robed and then shot in the face... I guess I would never understand what that feels like, until it hits you very near, like, it´s not Mexican drug violence you know is far away... its in your neighborhood

I have being following your blog (and others) for one or two years now, just collecting information about preper and survival stuff. I guess I´m pretty new to the subject. But I have to say that your perspective about the subject of reality (society, economy, safety, your standard day-to-day life, etc) collapse is, for me, more real than other stuff I´ve been seeing. I never forget you telling that wen economy collapse, you kiss your wife and go to work the next morning.

A lot of things you say make sense to me.

Hi again, my name is Joao, I am a designer and a teacher and live in Lisbon, Portugal. I live in a nice rent house with my wife and two baby daughters. I start seeking for information after the Haiti and Chile's earthquakes. Two hundred years ago Lisbon suffer a huge 9.5 quake that literally wipe out the city. Yes, two hundred years is big time, but there is something of a repetitive pattern among quakes, I guess... you never know. But I got thinking that if something like that happen again I didn't know what to do. So I start looking for information that would help me, just in case.

I got a bog out bag, plan route and strategic place to meet with the wife if we are apart, we even got establish a place to leave a message in case of one of us need to leave the strategic place

...but then it was not just the earthquake phobia, I start to acknowledge that the earthquake could be also economic and social... but I play it cool, I don't want to stress to much my wife

I don't know what kind of mail this is, but I just want to give you my support, and tell you if this small country goes down the pipe like all hods point to, your blog have made a difference! at least to me and my family. You give a realistic approach to a scenario that tends to be very real.

now I have a "technical" question: how was gun laws in Argentina before the collapse? here in Portugal laws are very strict, and you have two ways to deal with it if you want a gun for protection 1- you go through and incredible bureaucratic process until you give up, or until they say your not very qualified to have a gun (been there, give up), 2- you go to the black market and you buy whatever your money can buy. I really don't want to go under the law so... no guns for protection. How you dealt with this subject? if you don't have access to a gun to protect your house, how can you build a defense system properly?

more than the technical question I want to send you my support, and hope that you and your family, your daughter specially, go trough this times of pain safe!

keep going!

sorry about the english, I tried my best!

Hi Joao, don’t worry, my English isn’t the best either. :-)
Thanks for the nice words, I’m glad you find my blog useful.
About your question, Argentina is probably still one of the best countries in Latin America in terms of gun laws. After the 2001 crisis the Leftist took control and are pretty “communist” minded about gun laws. According to them civilians shouldn’t be allowed to own firearms. Typical authoritarian BS.

You can own pistols, shotguns and rifles, but no semi auto rifles bigger than 22LR with detachable magazines. Here, you have to go through a lengthy bureaucratic process as well, but I did it all so as to get my gun user license.
Joao, my advice is to do everything you can to get a weapon. It is indeed a priority and I wouldn’t insist on it if I didn’t believe it. Do every bureaucratic set but make sure you have some sort of firearm, even if its simply a double barrel shotgun. A handgun would better but at least some sort of firearm is better than none at all. In most countries shotguns aren’t that hard to get because of their use in sporting and hunting.

Specially if you worry about earthquakes, self defense is of particular importance. My cousin lives in Chile, she was there with her family during the quake. Expect people to become desperate very fast, specially because they don’t have water and will go nuts soon. You bug out bag should include a solar charger for your cellphone, a spare battery is your cell phone admits removable batteries. A couple led flashlights (that use a single battery) and about 20 spare batteries. At least one of the lights should use commonly available batteries such as AA or AAA. In your pack include a spare set of clothes, food ready to eat, a sleeping bag for each family member an tent, and most of all at least a couple liters of water per person ready to go. You want copies of your documents, contact phone numbers and some cash (think a month’s worth of groceries worth of cash) This should be the minimum content for a BOB designed for an area where earthquakes are top priorities. Don’t forget the firearm, keep it close and ready. If you can keep a dedicated firearm for your BOB attacked to it with at least 50 shells. In Chile there was a lot of looting and vandalism, being armed became of extreme importance. Again, do not underestimate this. If you can't get one or in the meantime, get a big butcher knife, bayonet or machete, but its a distant second best choice to a firearm.

Sounds like you have a good plane worked out. A secondary location in another city not that far away would be of great importance. Consider friends or relatives.
Take care and good luck!

FerFAL

PS-Check the Earthquakes tab on the left column, scrolling down, for more information.