How to survive civil unrest

What is civil unrest?

Civil unrest is when the authorities struggle to maintain law and order against large amounts of civilians who are committing or encouraging crime. This can be anything from a rebellion forming to a large fight at a sports game, as long as the authorities cannot control the situation and it involves many people, then it is classed as a case of civil unrest.

The most common example of this would be rioting, where the police cannot disperse or control the rioters, and possibly includes the looting of shops, mass arson, or any act of violence or destruction caused by numerous people that the authorities cannot stop.

How to prepare for civil unrest?

One of the scariest things to realize is that every single person you see could be a possible threat. When people realize they can do things and not get caught, they can turn nasty fast, so be careful who you call for help and who you tell about your plans. When it comes to deciding what to do, planning ahead will make the difference between life and death, and this type of event will be much more dangerous than just getting stranded in the wild, so don’t mess around with your course of action. As for what to do, here are a few things to consider.

(Riots can and often do turn violent. If you get hurt within the police-free areas of the riot then no help will come for a long time)

Evacuation plan

If there were mass rioting or any event that meant people could get away with crime, then the most important thing to do would be to get away from people. Your plan should include a specific route you can take and several backup routes or workarounds for anywhere your journey might get blocked. Get familiar with up-to-date maps that cover the entire journey and don’t rely on the satnav to get you there because it might not be available when you need it.

The most important thing is to leave as soon as possible and avoid all the people you can. It’s very likely that without law enforcement someone will crash and block up a road very quickly, and with no one to clear them and everyone panicking, this will be repeated across the country. If you don’t leave right away then you might not be able to leave at all, at least not to your chosen spot.

Bugout Bag

After having a good plan, the next most important thing would be to have a bugout bag ready for each person you’re leaving with. A bugout bag is a pre-packed bag or container that has everything you’ll need to survive for the next few days. The reason they are so important when it comes to civil unrest is you might not have time to pack but might have to leave right away.

(A cheap pre-packed bugout bag you can buy online, better than nothing but not as good as one you could make yourself)

Fuel

Fuel stations are one of the first things that will get looted, and the workers might turn off the pumps and take the keys before leaving. It will be extremely difficult to find a working station in an area of civil unrest and the only option will likely be to siphon fuel from other vehicles. It is always worth having extra fuel both in your vehicle for the journey and at the location you plan to go to.

There is also the very real chance that power stations will turn off, with the workers leaving to be with their families instead of finishing their shifts. Accidents or deliberate damage could also cause a grid to go down leaving you in the dark and reliant on whatever you have prepared. Gas bottles are the longest-lasting and most reliable way of cooking and creating heat after a fire, and can easily fit into any car or backpack.

Security

You WILL need to protect yourself against other people, and the worse and more widespread the civil unrest, the more violent people will become. You will need to develop a way to defend yourself or hide from trouble, which won’t always be an option. If the laws of your country allow, then purchasing a firearm would be the most effective way to defend yourself, but if not then any weapon you can actually use should be present in your bugout bag. It can also be worth having a scare-off weapon, which is more effective than you’d think, like a machete or something scary-looking. If it realistically came down to it, there are very few people on this earth who would happily try and rob someone holding a sword.

(Since 2011, the amount of riots around the world has increased 282%)

Communication

A way of staying in touch with the people in your group and a way to monitor the situation are essential to your survival. The government and news will be broadcast to tell people what to do and where to go, which will tell you which areas you need to avoid. Keep in mind that it isn’t difficult to tap into a radio wave and someone could be listening in to anything you say on the radio, making it worth referring to places using a code.

Safe room

A basement or attic are easy places to hide and defend, but also easy to get trapped in. The best option would be a basement or a room that can be fortified and has walls stronger than something you can break through with a hammer. When it comes to a safe room, one of the best defenses is people not knowing it’s there in the first place, and it can be easy to disguise attic traps and basement doors. Make sure you have a way to escape the saferoom in the event of a fire, preferably one that doesn’t involve going out the same way you went in.

Avoid going anywhere public you think it would be a good idea to go

The obvious locations for both help and supplies will be the worst places you can go in widespread civil unrest because everyone will be going there and more people means more danger. The government will do what it can and in the worst situations designate evacuation zones or temporary checkpoints, but they won’t take a long time to get overrun with scared people looking for protection. It will be the same when it comes to places like supermarkets and hospitals, with many people looking to claim the last supplies before anyone else does.

The worst-case scenario for civil unrest

Civil unrest stops being civil unrest when it progresses into something else, like a series of riots against the government turning into a rebellion. At this point, it is no longer civil unrest and classed as a war, so there’s only so bad a situation can get before it is no longer civil unrest. Here are the worst-case scenarios for anything that can be classed as civil unrest.

Martial law

This is when the army takes over control of the police and sometimes the government itself. This will be implemented when the police and local government forces are no longer able to contain what’s going on or prevent the large-scale destruction of property. If martial law is brought in, then there will be checkpoints, curfews, armed patrols, and possible property raids. The soldiers will be on edge and will likely shoot anyone they suspect of being a threat, which includes moving vehicles and large groups of people.

If this happened then it wouldn’t take long before someone got shot, making the amount of panic in the population explode. It will be extremely difficult and risky to move any real distance during martial law, so if you have to leave then you must do it before this happens.

Mass Blackout

If things got bad enough, there’s a good chance that a group of nutjobs would sabotage a power station, possibly with the intent of committing mass crimes when cameras, alarms, and security systems above the level of a lock are disabled. If the power went out on a large scale then all the signal towers and communication hubs would also go out after their backup generators ran out of fuel.

All communication that wasn’t through a battery-powered radio would stop, and at night it would be pitch black in the middle of a city. Crime would be at its worst at this point because everyone would realize no one could call for help or see them coming at night. This combined with martial law is the worst things can get before it is no longer classed as civil unrest and has progressed into something else.

Possible causes of civil unrest

Political disagreements

Either the supporters of major political groups mass fighting during marches, or flareups of long-standing disagreements, such as the conflict between the Catholic and Protestant groups of Ireland.

Food shortages

It will only be civil unrest when people are at the stages of raiding food stores, a common sight in places like South Africa. Frequent food riots have caused many major supermarkets to simply leave the area as the riots are getting bigger and more violent.

Government screwups

A high-ranking figure being arrested for corruption or the government letting the people down in a major and direct way has sparked many riots and even rebellions throughout history. There’s no telling when the government will mess up badly enough to cause people to take to the streets and start damaging things, but the only thing to be certain of is that the government WILL screw up.

Mass homelessness or high-crime areas

The United States has decriminalized the use of all drugs within several cities in an attempt to cut down on crime. This obviously backfired and has caused areas with such a high crime rate that the police just don’t bother going there most of the time. Anywhere that is dangerous enough for the police to avoid going to is the closest thing a rich country has to a state of permanent civil unrest. Now and then they explode with violence in a territory war or some other stupid reason and cut off the authorities from accessing certain areas. If you live in a place like this and care about survival in the slightest then just moving somewhere else will be better than any bugout bag or hunting rifle.