Surviving an EMP Attack in La Yacata

Up until recently, I was completely oblivious as to what an EMP attack was. (See Dirty and Ragged) So for starters, an EMP is an Electro Magnetic Pulse that could be caused by solar flares or by various weapons that have been developed by a variety of nations. The result of this pulse would be irreparable damage to electronic devices. Preppers predict the lack of electrical power will cause complete societal collapse. I’m not buying that. Societies have existed prior to electronics, so there is no reason why they could not continue to exist, just altered. But then, I’m not a full-fledged Prepper, so maybe there’s something they know that they aren’t sharing. Maybe.

Regardless, I recommend La Yacata as the place to be for surviving an EMP attack. After all, we don’t have electricity and have been managing just fine so far.

Just looking at the list of recommendations from a variety of sites will show how perfect La Yacata is for surviving this event:

Buy a bike and learn to use it. There here is a no-brainer. Each of us in La Yacata not only has a bike but know how to ride it.

Get a horse but don’t try to ride a horse without proper training. Since the expected result of an EMP is the return to the pre-industrial age, horses will again become a major means of transportation. We have horses in La Yacata (See A horse is a horse). Our neighbors also have horses in La Yacata (See Hate thy neighbor). The Lienzo Charro (See Jaripeo) is right across the street from La Yacata. I think we’ve got this one covered.

Assemble a survival group. Not all of our neighbors are rateros (thieves) (See Good Fences Make good neighbors–unless your neighbor steals it) We have several neighbors that have skills that would come in useful after the EMP attack. There are the plomero (plumber), the herrero (metal worker), the carpintero (carpenter), and my husband the albañil (bricklayer). There’s also Super Prez who is a constructor (builder), several campesinos (farmers) and even a few puerqueros (pig keepers), chiveros (goatherds) and polleros (chicken keepers).

Avoid large cities. La Yacata doesn’t even qualify as a village, so it’s not on anyone’s first attack list. While we aren’t so very far from Moroleon, which has delusions of grandeur and believes itself to be a city, we’re far enough outside the boundaries that we have no public utilities, hence, not a place where people would think to flee. We’re good with that.

Don’t wait for the government to save you. We’ve already experienced first-hand the mechanisms of local government here. (See Pleading in the Presidencia and Justice for All?) There’s no reason to expect that anything would change in the event of an EMP attack. It’s every man, woman, and child for himself or herself these days.

Use up all your cash. We do have some cash but don’t have it stashed away in a bank account, which in the event of an EMP attack would be zapped anyway. Cash will not hold its value very long after the EMP thingy, so knowing how to barter is a far better currency. This we can do. We have traded a horse for wood rental for construction (See Up on the Roof that nearly wasn’t), traded goats for pacas (alfalfa bales), traded chickens for harnesses, traded classes for a bicycle, and so on.

Move away from nuclear reactors. The only nuclear power plant in Mexico is in Veracruz, far, far away from La Yacata. In the event of electronic discompuesto (breaking down), radioactive contamination should be minimum in La Yacata.

Farm at home. We do this. (See Sharecropping and Container Gardening). We’ve even won an honorable mention from Mother Earth News for Star Modern Homesteaders in 2014. No worries here.

Do laundry off the grid.We can hand wash in our laundry room or go to the arroyo (stream) and wash there. (See After Ecstasy, the Laundry and Water Woes) We are in a better position not to become dirty and ragged as so many will do after their washing machines go caput.

Go low tech.The more electronic devices you are dependent upon, the more you will end up losing after the EMP attack. Our kitchen is completely electricity free. (See No Spark–All Sizzle). Our hand tools are just that, hand tools. We like to watch a movie or two but are perfectly capable of creating our own fun if needed. My son has been learning the guitar, non-electric good times there! I even have a treadle sewing machine that provides me with hours of creative entertainment.

Make the decision to survive and keep your spirits up.Yes, this is an actual tip. Attitude is everything. Despite the hardship, tragedy, and heartbreak that we’ve experienced in Mexico, we always try to look for the positive. It’s really our default family dynamic.

With all these things going for us in La Yacata, I think we’d survive an EMP attack and not take up cannibalism as society collapses around us.

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