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The Disaster Preparedness Handbook: A Guide for Families
Let survival expert, Army veteran, NASA scientist help you and your family prepare for any kind of disaster—flood, civil unrest, hurricane, fire, war, earthquake.Ninety-nine percent of the time, the world spins like a top, the skies are clear, and your refrigerator is full of good food. But the world is a volatile place—storms rage, fires burn, and diseases spread. No one is ever completely safe. Humans live as part of a very complex ecosystem that is unpredictable and merciless. Could you protect your family in the case of an emergency—domestic or global?The Disaster Preparedness Handbook will help you to establish a practical disaster plan for your entire family (covering all fourteen basic human needs) in case the unpredictable happens. Additional information is also presented for those with special needs, including the elderly and disabled, children, pregnant women, and even pets.Well-researched by an army veteran and current NASA engineer, this is the essential guide every family should have, study, and keep handy, in case the unthinkable should occur.
676 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 20, 2011
211 people are currently reading
491 people want to read
About the author
Arthur T. Bradley
66 books171 followersEvents have made me who I am, neither a hardcore survivalist nor an all-trusting soul. I am a Boy Scout in the truest sense of the word—dedicated to family, country, and good citizenship. As you may already know, an enabling element of those ideals is being prepared.
It took the horrific events of 9/11 to wake me from my routine complacency. In one single moment, I came to realize that our world is not as safe as we would all like to believe. We have no guarantee of safety in this world. Disasters occur on an almost daily basis all around the globe. Major events in recent years have included the devastating tsunamis striking Japan and the coast of Sumatra, the rash of tornadoes that swept across the U.S. in 2011, Hurricane Katrina, the deadly earthquake in Haiti, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to name just a few.
I believe with all my heart that we have a duty to prepare our families for the dangers they face. I started my preparation by reading nearly every disaster preparedness book currently available. If you check Amazon, you will see that I am the #1 reviewer for many of these books. Even with all the material out there, I could not find a single book that offered a complete, well-reasoned approach to practical preparedness. As a NASA engineer, I took up the challenge by conducting very careful research – disecting fact from folklore. Three years and many thousands of dollars later, I have finally released a handbook that offers well-researched advice that can be put into practice in the real world by normal families.
I wrote this handbook for my own family, but I would be honored to share it with yours. If you are not fully satisfied with the Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family, send it back, and I’ll refund your money, no questions asked.
Arthur T. Bradley, Ph.D.
It took the horrific events of 9/11 to wake me from my routine complacency. In one single moment, I came to realize that our world is not as safe as we would all like to believe. We have no guarantee of safety in this world. Disasters occur on an almost daily basis all around the globe. Major events in recent years have included the devastating tsunamis striking Japan and the coast of Sumatra, the rash of tornadoes that swept across the U.S. in 2011, Hurricane Katrina, the deadly earthquake in Haiti, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to name just a few.
I believe with all my heart that we have a duty to prepare our families for the dangers they face. I started my preparation by reading nearly every disaster preparedness book currently available. If you check Amazon, you will see that I am the #1 reviewer for many of these books. Even with all the material out there, I could not find a single book that offered a complete, well-reasoned approach to practical preparedness. As a NASA engineer, I took up the challenge by conducting very careful research – disecting fact from folklore. Three years and many thousands of dollars later, I have finally released a handbook that offers well-researched advice that can be put into practice in the real world by normal families.
I wrote this handbook for my own family, but I would be honored to share it with yours. If you are not fully satisfied with the Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family, send it back, and I’ll refund your money, no questions asked.
Arthur T. Bradley, Ph.D.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 24, 2014
I feel qualified to pass judgement on the advice in this book, and I recommend it to all readers without hesitation.
It is fashionable to dismiss "preppers" as a bit too far out there: digging bomb shelters, armed to the teeth, eating snakes and rats. But the truth is, as is proved to us again-and-again and with alarming frequency, it's important to be able to be self-sufficient for at least a few days or weeks.
In the West we live a highly technological life, a just-in-time life, a co-dependent life. For the most part our systems are robust in daily operations but, when one takes the time to pull back the curtain of civilization, our systems are also extremely fragile.
The recent Russian Meteor could have been over your family. Hurricane Sandy "surprised" a lot of New Yorkers who'd become complacent. The record snows last week in New England are becoming more severe. Drought, Fires, Tsunamis, Solar Flares & Coronal Ejections (which can take out satellites, disrupting both electrical grids and telecommunications.) The list of probable inconveniences is endless. The list of possible disasters is lengthy.
Not only have I been on the fringes of the survivalist/prepper movement since the 70's, but I have also also spent time as a soldier, a decade as a cop, and 20 years as cruising small sailboats (our self-contained answer to "getting out of the way" if civilization collapses. Think of it as an escape capsule in paradise ;-> )
We have also spent the last 25 years as a Navy family, much of it on Guam, where we weathered 5 major typhoons in one year (including Omar & Yuri, both Super Typhoons) and earthquakes (an 8.1 in 1993 that wrecked island services --water, gas, electricity, telephone-- for six weeks. While on Guam we also housed, clothed, fed, and transported survivors as personnel were evacuated from the Philippines after the Mt. Penatubo volcanic eruption.
On a smaller scale, we survived Guam's chronic power shortages --enduring rolling electrical outages that left our area of the island without power for 3 hours per day, usually about dinner time-- by having our propane camp stove on the kitchen counter. We also became quite good at cooking pizza on the Weber charcoal grill.
To the book in hand, what I appreciate most about Bradley's writing is it's evenhandedness. Unlike many survivalists, Bradley emphasizes self-sufficiency first, but also community building. He's pro-gun, yes, but not just in the service of self-protection but also protecting your community. In Bradley's book guns are a tool, like shovel or an axe. Readers will find that no specters of mowing down hoards of the starving from your lonely mountain redoubt haunt this book, for which I am thankful.
Bradley's message is this: If you cannot help yourself, you are in no position to help others either. Your friends, your neighbors, your neighborhood, survive after a disaster.
BTW: I am an avid ebook reader. But in the case of a long-term disaster (an ElectroMagnetic Pulse attack or certain solar disruptions that may affect electrical power and communications), it's advisable to have all reference books in hardback. Medical, first-aid, vegetable gardening, auto repair, etc. This belongs book belongs in your hardback reference library.
It is fashionable to dismiss "preppers" as a bit too far out there: digging bomb shelters, armed to the teeth, eating snakes and rats. But the truth is, as is proved to us again-and-again and with alarming frequency, it's important to be able to be self-sufficient for at least a few days or weeks.
In the West we live a highly technological life, a just-in-time life, a co-dependent life. For the most part our systems are robust in daily operations but, when one takes the time to pull back the curtain of civilization, our systems are also extremely fragile.
The recent Russian Meteor could have been over your family. Hurricane Sandy "surprised" a lot of New Yorkers who'd become complacent. The record snows last week in New England are becoming more severe. Drought, Fires, Tsunamis, Solar Flares & Coronal Ejections (which can take out satellites, disrupting both electrical grids and telecommunications.) The list of probable inconveniences is endless. The list of possible disasters is lengthy.
Not only have I been on the fringes of the survivalist/prepper movement since the 70's, but I have also also spent time as a soldier, a decade as a cop, and 20 years as cruising small sailboats (our self-contained answer to "getting out of the way" if civilization collapses. Think of it as an escape capsule in paradise ;-> )
We have also spent the last 25 years as a Navy family, much of it on Guam, where we weathered 5 major typhoons in one year (including Omar & Yuri, both Super Typhoons) and earthquakes (an 8.1 in 1993 that wrecked island services --water, gas, electricity, telephone-- for six weeks. While on Guam we also housed, clothed, fed, and transported survivors as personnel were evacuated from the Philippines after the Mt. Penatubo volcanic eruption.
On a smaller scale, we survived Guam's chronic power shortages --enduring rolling electrical outages that left our area of the island without power for 3 hours per day, usually about dinner time-- by having our propane camp stove on the kitchen counter. We also became quite good at cooking pizza on the Weber charcoal grill.
To the book in hand, what I appreciate most about Bradley's writing is it's evenhandedness. Unlike many survivalists, Bradley emphasizes self-sufficiency first, but also community building. He's pro-gun, yes, but not just in the service of self-protection but also protecting your community. In Bradley's book guns are a tool, like shovel or an axe. Readers will find that no specters of mowing down hoards of the starving from your lonely mountain redoubt haunt this book, for which I am thankful.
Bradley's message is this: If you cannot help yourself, you are in no position to help others either. Your friends, your neighbors, your neighborhood, survive after a disaster.
BTW: I am an avid ebook reader. But in the case of a long-term disaster (an ElectroMagnetic Pulse attack or certain solar disruptions that may affect electrical power and communications), it's advisable to have all reference books in hardback. Medical, first-aid, vegetable gardening, auto repair, etc. This belongs book belongs in your hardback reference library.
March 22, 2018
I borrowed this from the library but really, in spite of it being a little dated since its 2010 publication, this is a better book to own and read/study as needed. It's very comprehensive in its scenarios, realistic in what an average person could have on hand as far as tools, and detailed. The best section of all is the last chapter "Trial by Fire" which gives specific drills which can be done ahead of time of various emergencies so that you have some practice when you need it.
March 16, 2020
A well-organized overview for the rational person who wants to prepare for the worst case scenarios without garnering the prepper label.
Bradley lays out mostly practical and achievable action steps to assemble the supplies an individual or family would need in a disaster. He goes through the pros and cons for these items, including sharing ideas for how to acquire some of the more expensive items. He offers both alternatives and ideas for scaling up your supplies over time.
A few sections got too bogged down in details for my reading taste. For instance, once Bradley started listing various food borne illnesses, I skipped ahead. Should these details be here? Absolutely. For reference. In a few other places, I found myself skimming those reference-type pages.
Additionally, since this book is older and the Internet keeps a changing, some of the links in the reference section no longer work. While some people have pointed out that the Kindle version of the book may not be accessible during an emergency, an advantage to an ebook is that if there’s an update, I’ll have the ability to download the newest version. Not sure if there will ever be an update, but I can hope.
At the end of the book, Bradley lists several challenges that he suggests families enact to test their planing, their supplies, and their ability to react. He also encourages families to consider creating their own challenges and drills for circumstances that may be unique to their location.
He definitely promotes creative problem-solving, critical thinking, and cooperation with other like-minded people.
Bradley lays out mostly practical and achievable action steps to assemble the supplies an individual or family would need in a disaster. He goes through the pros and cons for these items, including sharing ideas for how to acquire some of the more expensive items. He offers both alternatives and ideas for scaling up your supplies over time.
A few sections got too bogged down in details for my reading taste. For instance, once Bradley started listing various food borne illnesses, I skipped ahead. Should these details be here? Absolutely. For reference. In a few other places, I found myself skimming those reference-type pages.
Additionally, since this book is older and the Internet keeps a changing, some of the links in the reference section no longer work. While some people have pointed out that the Kindle version of the book may not be accessible during an emergency, an advantage to an ebook is that if there’s an update, I’ll have the ability to download the newest version. Not sure if there will ever be an update, but I can hope.
At the end of the book, Bradley lists several challenges that he suggests families enact to test their planing, their supplies, and their ability to react. He also encourages families to consider creating their own challenges and drills for circumstances that may be unique to their location.
He definitely promotes creative problem-solving, critical thinking, and cooperation with other like-minded people.
January 30, 2016
Booooooring. I'm sure I would go straight to it in an emergency but it's not too exiting now.
July 23, 2018
This an actual well planned and thought out hand book for real families. Good sound suggestions for average people, that don't involve you stocking a year's worth of food and not a hint of zombies or a coming apocolypse. There are even planned practice scenarios for families - live with out power for a full 24 hours. How was that what did you notice - this was accomplished by turning off the main breaker in the house. Simulate a boil water situation - fill the tubs and turn off the water coming into the house. How does everyone cope? There are plans even for your pets and those in your household with special needs. I particularily liked the make your own kits for winter driving on rural or remote roads - much better than store or ready made kits.
April 2, 2017
Every citizen should read this. It isn't about whacko preppers, its about what you would do if you were removed from the grid for a week. Think of Katrina or super storm Sandy. That's what this book is about.
February 5, 2016
Great book. Very well organized, with lots of checklists and ideas for family preparedness.
June 25, 2019
Despite my only giving this four stars, it is a very good beginners guide to preparedness. The author's intent is not to teach specific skills and tricks, but rather to cover such a broad range of areas that being prepared for emergencies entails.
Also, this is not really a "doomsday" prepper guide. This is a very practical and realistic compendium of how best to be situated better during ANY type of emergency or disaster. Whether it be the power going out for a week, or flooding, house fires, carbon monoxide leaks, blizzards, or yes, major events as well. There was a very good collection of additional information that I honestly didn't even know before. Such as, various types of fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, emergency alerts, and all sorts of useful introductory knowledge.
I very much recommend for anyone who even just wants their family to be safer for everyday occurrences. Just the statistics alone of how many homes will have a house fire are enough to make you snap out of your reluctance to think it could possibly happen to you. (have lived through bad house fire myself, btw)
Also, this is not really a "doomsday" prepper guide. This is a very practical and realistic compendium of how best to be situated better during ANY type of emergency or disaster. Whether it be the power going out for a week, or flooding, house fires, carbon monoxide leaks, blizzards, or yes, major events as well. There was a very good collection of additional information that I honestly didn't even know before. Such as, various types of fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, emergency alerts, and all sorts of useful introductory knowledge.
I very much recommend for anyone who even just wants their family to be safer for everyday occurrences. Just the statistics alone of how many homes will have a house fire are enough to make you snap out of your reluctance to think it could possibly happen to you. (have lived through bad house fire myself, btw)
June 10, 2018
The 'Disaster Preparedness' handbook has in it many things to consider if you are out to consider every event and/or eventuality to cover your back and family. I would keep this book as a reference book to help and guide you with regard to a specific topic you might be pondering over.
I thought there was too much concentrated information to get through and i got seriously board with the ongoing dialogue. To me, i would like to know how to start a fire and keep it going or show you how to stretch a can of baked beans than considering things that perhaps have no value in the moment of being hit with a disaster.
Overall a good guide book in covering things to think about; but be ready to have an articulated truck on standby to be able to store and furnish your needs.
I thought there was too much concentrated information to get through and i got seriously board with the ongoing dialogue. To me, i would like to know how to start a fire and keep it going or show you how to stretch a can of baked beans than considering things that perhaps have no value in the moment of being hit with a disaster.
Overall a good guide book in covering things to think about; but be ready to have an articulated truck on standby to be able to store and furnish your needs.
December 31, 2017
lots of info. I bookmarked the last pages of sections for re-reading. This is really practical and helpful if you are thinking about prepping at all. For some, it might be overwhelming--just the vastness of the subject is enough to make your head spin. This book gives you info to be prepared for literally EVERY kind of disaster. Thanks!
June 29, 2019
It had some good info, this is definitely more of a resource from time to time than a great read. I do appreciate that it wasn't a conspiracy theory pamphlet. It has plans for a pretty good First-Aid kit and accurate shelf life for food, and I extra appreciate that it informs people about the difference between Best by, Sell by, and Expires/Use by.
April 8, 2020
Good for noobs
This book is excellent for people who have absolutely no experience and no idea of how to act or what to do in any given scenario. I found myself skipping large sections of the book due to the excruciating detail of every tiny obvious action that should be taken in any given scenario.
This book is excellent for people who have absolutely no experience and no idea of how to act or what to do in any given scenario. I found myself skipping large sections of the book due to the excruciating detail of every tiny obvious action that should be taken in any given scenario.
October 30, 2017
Best basic, step by step for any situation, or the individual or family.
November 4, 2021
Provides a framework for evaluating potential risks and lots of reasonable things to think about and be aware of in creating your own preparedeness plan.
January 8, 2013
-eh, it was okay.
September 24, 2015
I liked it. It covers all the basics for preparing for those times when things fall apart.
August 8, 2012
Buy a Generac generator!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews