Risk Management Approach
            to Survival Preparations

      Objective   Understand your survival risk exposure

 

Using risk management principles and tools will give you much better results than attempting to plan for everything using a shotgun approach.  While this approach may seem awkward at first, if you discipline yourself to follow it, things get easier and you avoid going of on tangents which wastes time, money and resources.

Risk Management Steps

1.  Identify each possible event
2.  Assess each possible event
3.  Prioritize probability of each possible event
4.  Risk Treatment
5.  Create a Risk Management Plan

Identification of risks
There are several accepted risk identification processes. For the purpose of identifying survival risk events,  the best process is scenario based. To identify possible risk events, use the criteria such that each specific man-made or natural event scenario must result in any of the following:

1.  Loss of power & other utilities
2.  Interfere with normal procurement of food
3.  Prevent normal transportation
4.  Create civil unrest
5.  Disrupt the flow of goods and services
 

EXAMPLES - not all inclusive

Natural events may include
1.  Hurricanes
2.  Volcanic Eruptions
3.  Flooding
4.  Tornados
5.  Earthquakes

Man-made events may include
1.  Terrorist attacks - internal
2.  Attacks from outside borders
3.  Civil Riots
4.  Financial collapse

Assessment of risks
For each risk, what is the potential severity of impact on your survival and the probability of occurrence of the risk?  If you live on a mountain or plateau, the potential for flooding is nil. In the assessment process it is critical to make the best educated guess possible in order to properly prioritize need for planning to control the risk. 

Also, regarding survival, remember:

1. You can die of Hyper or Hypothermia in a matter of hours if exposed to high or low temperatures.

2.  You can live for 3 days without water

3.  You can live without food for 15 to 20 days

4.  You can die instantly from a gunshot or tornado

Prioritize Risks
Things to consider include how to weight preparation for a high-probability-low-impact-short-term event versus a low-probability-high-impact-long-term event.

Prioritizing risk is the process of listing risk for actions from High to Low.  Where your survival is at stake you need to rank events based on current resources and geographic location (Urban, Suburban or Rural). As an example:  While urban power outages do occur, they are generally restored more quickly than in rural areas, however, services  in urban areas are more adversely affected than services in rural areas.

Risk Treatments
Once survival risks have been identified and assessed, the techniques used to manage them fall into one or more of these four major categories:

• Avoidance - eliminate the risk - Example: Move away from a flood zone
• Reduction - mitigate the risk - Example: Store Food and Water
• Transfer - outsource - Example: Be able to go to a safe place maintained by others

Use Risk Management Principles to Create Your Survival Plan
Your survival plan lists the actions you will take and resources you will use to prepare for a specific event and whether you will work to avoid, reduce or transfer the risk.  Every person's risk management plan is different. Based on your resources, you may choose to apply resources to surviving high-probability low impact events or engage in a more comprehensive plan that provides for more high-impact event survival.  It comes down to your location, your responsibilities, and your resources.

Next   Understanding Survival Stress

See the ADVANCED Area for Specific Plans