Volcanic Winter and Other Famines

Food scarcity and the threat of famine are severe crises. In most historical examples, after a disaster like a massive volcanic eruption, the chain supply is shot down for an undetermined period. The real scary thing is that a volcanic winter can occur in any country, regardless of economic status. At any time.

Watching an old TV documentary, (the effects of the 536 AD Krakatoa eruption) I realized the odds of such an event in the future will be a real threat in the long term. It will happen someday again and that´s inevitable. My worst fear? the associated drought and the effect on the pollination agents.

Mind you, I hate the idea of my great-grand-grandsons (or the ones that come behind) having a hard time. I could at least leave behind some blueprints, land, protocol manuals, and stuff to help them endure the hardships. (Sorry, lads, but I don´t think there will be too much money left. You´ll have to make it with what you got, and the stories/books and digital library I’ll leave for you.)

How much space would it require to store goods to survive a nuclear winter?

Anyway, I came up with the idea of doing a theoretical exercise: to calculate how much floorspace would be necessary to store enough supplies for 10 years without sunlight for five people as a means to survive another eruption like the one in the year 536. The eruption effect in 1883 was much better documented, obviously, and it seems to have been less severe.

The calculations gave these estimated results:

A 2.10-meter high cellar (once things get hairy, you’d better be underground) or storage area: (7 rows of one-foot high cinderblocks) for a floor space of 250-300 sqft, give or take depending on your needs, stocked from top to bottom with 10 metric tons of supplies. The cost of groceries couldn´t be easily calculated because of the many variables involved in such an equation. I will leave that for the reader to research

Water storage for such a long period is a different fur animal, but generally speaking, it will be a very big task to store some supplies for a couple of years. Half a million liters, roughly. The access to an underground well seems to be the best way to cope with this. Surface water will be contaminated by ash and debris. Unless we have prepared some means to filter it, will be unusable for drinking. However, unless we have previously built a suitable sanitation system for the refuge, away from the water source, we could find ourselves in a tight spot.

Natural disasters are characterized by a widespread lack of access to food and possibly water, leading to starvation, malnutrition, and death. A famine as a byproduct of nuclear or volcanic winter is a complex issue with many effects, and it is important to remember that it is a natural disaster such as that one can be prepared for even if it doesn´t happen in our lifetime. Let´s discuss some useful advice to make it through a widespread severe food scarcity or famine in a four-season location. It will cover various topics, including preparing for famine, finding and storing food, and coping with the psychological effects.

Preparing for a Famine

The best way to survive (and maybe the only one unless you have a payload of weapons and a crew ready to loot the supermarkets and stores as soon as the chaos begins!) a famine is understanding that it is a real possibility regardless of their cause. And to be prepared for it. Believing that mighty UK/Canada/(insert your favorite world power name here) “won´t fall down” is naive and foolish. If you´re here reading this, very probably you don´t belong to the crowd destined to the gov bunkers anyway.

1. Learn how to preserve food for extremely long periods. Some preservation methods that should be part of our daily life are mason glass home canning, drying, salting, smoking, waxing (for cheese), freeze-drying, and so on. In our current weather (tropical, over 28°C year around and humid) it is not easy to preserve food without freezing units. Side note for those interested: I´ve been doing research to build a cooling prototype without almost moving parts, intended to preserve home-canned food for a couple of years. Nevertheless, the lack of resources for funding has stopped me from moving from the paper sketch to reality. Mind you, with a CNC machine and enough time, one can create a whole bunch of useful stuff. Once a working prototype exists and under our extreme conditions is proven to work flawlessly, the instructable to build it, and possibly open-source assembling kits will be a reality.
2. Develop a plan for how you will get through the famine. This includes a plan to store food and water, protecting yourself and your family. I know, the volcanic winter seems somehow unlikely in our lifetime, but…after 2020 anything can happen. Search for alternative media to power the devices and vehicles you may need.

Finding and Storing Food

In a famine, too many people will compete for the same limited resources. Here are some things you can do to find food during a famine:

1. Grow your own if possible, pressure can it, and forage wild edible plants.
2. Hunt, forage, and fish. If you have the skills and the resources, hunting and fishing can provide a source of protein.
3. Barter or trade for food. If you have skills, you can get food from other people.
4. Buy from a community garden or farm. This means affordable, fresh produce.

Protecting Yourself and Your Family

This includes physical harm from roving bands and the psychological effects of the whole thing. The first months will be a living nightmare, and bugging in is essential. Here are some things you can do to protect yourself and your family:

1. Stay in the safest place you can get. If possible, stay in a safe place outside other people´s reach.
2. Stay healthy. Eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep, and some exercise.
3. Stay positive. It is essential to stay positive and hopeful during a famine. This will help you and your family get through the crisis.
4. Support each other. Talk to family, and even with friends (via radio) to keep sanity and a positive mind setup.

Psychological Effects 

Food scarcity can have a strong impact on people’s mental health.

These days haven´t been exactly easy. Our income is dramatically reduced because of the chronic health issues our father is presenting, (he lost his job last year because of age, and a lot of medical expenses: the doctor is not free, nor the medicines) and he´s been the breadwinner of the house forever. My kid gets mad sometimes when he craves a cookie, or some candy, ice cream, or some other stuff and we can´t afford sweets as we once used to. I try to bake things like some homemade sugarcane rolls whenever I can, as they can be stored for some time and even frozen and reheated. Or our traditional sweets like guava jelly, or plantain snacks.

If you don´t solve it and deal with it, it can eventually lead to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. I assure my son that this is temporary and we will make it through sooner or later. I told him that should we have stayed in Peru, putting together the money to come back would be now much more difficult and that we´re relatively lucky to be here just in case Grampa´s illness get worse.

Some things we can do:

1. Try to take it easy. Listening to relaxing music, meditation, or painting, reading, writing, or whatever activity you like and relaxes you.
2. Drink herbal teas. This may sound odd, but replacing our afternoon snack (which is more necessary after a meager lunch) has helped us as a family, to distract us from so much stress. They supposedly increase the immune system strength, too.

Recent Examples of Famine Worldwide

There have been many examples of famine (unrelated to volcanic winters, but still notable) in the world these last 100 years. Some of the most notable famines include:

1. The Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, was a human-induced famine, killed millions of people in Ukraine.
2. The Chinese famine of 1959-1961, (“the Great Leap Forward”) the man-made famine that killed tens of millions of people in China.
3. The Bengal famine of 1943 killed millions of people in India.
4. The Somali famine of 1992 with hundreds of thousands of victims in Somalia.

Although these were not motivated by volcanic winters, it´s plausible to consider famine as a consequence a real possibility. We have experienced recent events like the Eruption of the Tambora Volcano in 1815, the 1883 Krakatoa, and the occurrence of eruptions is simply unpredictable.

You need as many supplies and production means as you can have, simply put.

This, along with a previous network of people with stock or with the capabilities of producing,

If you want to monitor just in case that Krakatoa boy, click here.

Thanks for your sponsoring! Much appreciated these rough times.

Be safe, and keep tuned!

J.

About Jose

Jose is an upper middle class professional. He is a former worker of the oil state company with a Bachelor’s degree from one of the best national Universities. He has an old but in good shape SUV, a good 150 square meters house in a nice neighborhood, in a small but (formerly) prosperous city with two middle size malls. Jose is a prepper and shares his eyewitness accounts and survival stories from the collapse of his beloved Venezuela. Jose and his younger kid are currently back in Venezuela, after the intention of setting up a new life in another country didn’t  go well. The SARSCOV2 re-shaped the labor market and South American economy so he decided to give it a try to homestead in the mountains, and make a living as best as possible. But this time in his own land, and surrounded by family, friends and acquaintances, with all the gear and equipment collected, as the initial plan was.

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