It’s every urban dweller’s worst nightmare: an extreme weather event and there is a power outage. Water and internet stops running. You’re left without access to your most basic needs. In moments like this, it’s important to be prepared with the right urban survival gear. But what is urban survival gear used for, exactly and is now the time to get yourself an urban bug out bag? Keep reading to find out
In times of peace, living in the city is a breeze. However, in times of emergency or disaster, city life can be perilous. If you’re like most urban dwellers, you’ve probably thought about how you would survive if the unthinkable happens. We’re not talking zombie apocalypse. But in an urban environment, there are a number of potential hazards that could occur. From natural disasters to essential service interruptions, having the right urban survival gear packed in an urban bug out bag can go a long way towards keeping you safe.
What is urban survival gear used for?
Urban survival gear describes the tools and items designed to help you survive in an urban environment when things go wrong, like a mass power outage, natural disaster or civil unrest. Urban survival gear is custom built for the obstacles you might face in a large city environment.
When most people think of survival gear, they picture a rugged individual in the bush, armed with nothing but a knife and their wits. However, urban survival gear is a different thing entirely. For one thing, you’re much more likely to face obstacles like traffic, broken glass, and concrete in urban environments than you are Bear Grylls-style hazards. Urban survival gear helps you deal with these types of obstacles.
An urban survival kit is a preassembled kit of this gear.
Resurgence of emergency preparedness
Survivalism was previously a niche sector, largely occupied by the military and serious bush crafters. However, urban survivalism has experienced a resurgence. Here are some reasons why:
- due to growing global mobility to more intrepid locations and independent travel,
- urbanization in locations vulnerable to natural disasters,
- increased terrorist risk since 9/11 and heightened global tensions since the pandemic.
Survival in the form of ‘Preparedness‘ for major incidents in urban environments, at home and abroad has become mainstream and is now just part of being a responsible citizen.
How is urban survival gear different from other types of survival gear?
Differences
Your urban survival gear needs to be different from your standard-issue survival gear. This is because urban settings can produce different types of hazards. For example you may find yourself:
- Traversing through debris and broken glass in the aftermath of an incident.
- scavenging water and food from abandoned buildings.
- encountering lots of humans – this may be beneficial or harmful depending on the attitude of those involved and your own outlook.
- with buildings around and debris to take shelter in if need be.
For starters, you’ll need a good pair of walking shoes, since you’ll probably be doing a lot of walking (or running). You’ll also need a mobile phone and charger, because there’s nothing worse than being stranded without any way to call for help. In addition, urban survival gear should include items like spare clothes and emergency food rations, in case you get stranded.
Similarities
There are some similarities between urban survival gear and wilderness survival gear. Think about if the internet goes down. Do you know your local urban setting well enough to get to where you need to go, or will you need a map?
In essence, you still need to be able to provide for your own basic human needs when emergencies happen in urban areas: your basic need for water, shelter, warmth, food, communication and light all need to be met.
Natural disasters can lead to hasty evacuation orders even in the city. You may need to go to to a safer area, which necessitates having some other tools in your kit.
With the right urban survival gear, you can be prepared for anything the city throws your way.
What is urban survival gear used for in Australia – from self-defense to first-aid
So what exactly are you going to use your urban survival gear for down under?
We’re not talking doomsday prepper scenarios like economic collapse causing you to navigate abandoned buildings with pepper spray at hand. Here is a more realistic urban survival scenario or two we might actually face in Australia.
An urban emergency!
In Australia, that looks mostly like a natural disaster. Flash flooding, fires, and cyclones in particular.
I remember when a freak hailstorm and rain event hit Brisbane city a few years ago, taking out the local power network and all train and bus services out of the city centre.
It happened right on peak hour. Roads were clogged, infrastructure was damaged and thousands of people were stranded in the concrete jungle.
I walked an hour out of the city to a collection point, where luckily I was picked up by family.
It really made me think; “What would I do in a survival situation if no one was there to help me?’
I wasn’t even slightly prepared…
Human hazards
We see the stories on the news in America. An active shooter on the rooftops of commercial buildings. People with gunshot wounds or trapped inside their places of work.
Luckily we are less at risk of these kinds of incidents in Australia. But we have had some crazy stuff go down in our big cities before, leading to immediate chaos and disorder.
Who doesn’t remember the Lindt Cafe siege on 15–16 December 2014, when a lone gunman Man Haron Monis held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate cafe in the centre of Sydney’s CBD.
According to wiki there have been 20 terrorist attacks in Australia since 1971 – all in major cities. It’s worth considering what you would do if caught up in this kind of emergency.
Industrial hazards
Chemical spills, explosions or noxious gas leaks can be real risks in an urban jungle, presenting significant safety risks for those around.
Many of these scenarios can lead to an immediate evacuation, either on your own initiative or by order from the government. If this occurs, the roads may be clogged with others trying to evacuate. Like me, you may need to leave on foot. An urban survival kit will help you evacuate calmly and face the potential for hazards more confidently than if you were not prepared.
Travel abroad
Let’s face it. Before and after the pandemic, Australian’s love to travel. And some of our favourite destinations have become more and more intrepid over time. Places where civil unrest or military coups are possible. Travel abroad can be a great reason to get prepared with an urban survival kit as part of your travel pack.
Types of urban survival kits
You can pack your urban survival gear in different types of kits. The kit you build should be based on how you think you might be impacted in an emergency or evacuation, and whether emergency services will be there to help you.
- Everyday carry kit
These are the items you carry on your on a day to day basis, like mobile phone, cash, safety pins, pocket knife, marker, water bottle.
- Get home bag / car emergency kit
A bag designed to help you get home if stranded in your car. An example might be the major freeway incident that caused Americans to be stranded in their cars for over 24 hours in subfreezing conditions during January 2022.
- Urban Bug out bag
A bug out bag (or BOB) is a comprehensive survival kit that you can use to evacuate urban environments and ‘bug out’ to a third location. A bug out bag is the full ‘kit and caboodle’. If you’re reading this and you’re in Australia, you may not feel the need for an expansive kit like a bug out bag. Here is a great article about what is typically in a bug out bag if you want to know more.
Read on for out ultimate list of urban survival gear you might need to pack in your own urban survival kit – whether it’s a more comprehensive urban bug out bag, or just get home bag you opt for.
What is the most popular urban survival gear on the market today?
In an urban survival situation, you may have to ‘bug out’ quickly, or you may have to hunker down and ride out a disaster. Either way, it’s important to be prepared. Here are some of the most popular urban survival kit items on the market today:
1. Food and water.
Obviously, you’ll need food and water to survive. Look for non-perishable food items that can be stored for long periods of time, as well as water purification systems that can help you make safe drinking water from contaminated sources.
2. First aid supplies.
A good urban survival kit will include a comprehensive first aid kit. Bandages, antiseptics, pain relievers, and other medical supplies can be vital in an emergency situation.
3. Lightweight tools.
In an urban environment, you may need to improvise a lot. Having a good multi-tool or Swiss Army knife can come in handy if you need to break glass to escape or access closed off areas. A roll of duct tape and some rope or cordage can be invaluable to fashion a shelter, repair rips or tape limbs. Flashlights, batteries, and matches are essential items to light your way in a power outage and start a fire for warmth if you need to.
Should you buy a preassembled urban survival kit?
You can buy preassembled survival kits online. For example you can buy a preassembled bug out bag. However, you might find these a bit expensive and over the top for your specific needs here in Australia. It’s also difficult to find kits customized for urban survival.
If you build your own kit using our ultimate urban survival gear list, you get a custom kit with exactly what you need at a more affordable price. The trade off is it will take more time. But urban kits are smaller, so 1 to 2 hours should cover it.
How to pick what urban survival gear you need
The gear you might consider when preparing for major incidents in urban environments should similarly reflect your:
- Location – are you in a high rise in the city centre on on the outskirts
- Areas of political / civil / military unrest
- Terrorist targets – typically western city centres, especially business districts.
- Your occupation, skills and abilities
- How close you are to safety
- Whether you are travelling abroad
The ultimate urban survival gear list
As you go through this list think about the relevance of each item and whether it should have a place in your kit. This list of items has been compiled from expert sites across the internet to save you the research hours.
Best of all, there is nothing on this list that requires a high degree of skill, specialist survival training or know how. Some of them you’ll already carry on your person in day to day life.
Water
- Bottled water or water purification tablets – you’ll need 3 litres of water per adult per day. If you can’t carry this around or don’t want to, iodine tablets can help you make safe drinking water from contaminated sources. You just need to know where to access those sources.
- Metal water container – durable and holds both hot and cold liquids.
Shelter and warmth
- Space blanket – keeping warm is important and a space blanket is an extremely effective and light weight way to help maintain body heat and stay dry if you need to.
- Fire starter kit – it sounds extreme but if you are struggling to stay warm or need to boil water, you’re going to need fire. You can pick which type of kit suits you best – waterproof matches, flint, or just a good cheap lighter.
- Change of clothing and warm jacket. You might consider two types of urban survival clothing – reflective clothing for dangerous traffic and dark clothing to blend in. Both could be useful.
Food
- Trail mix or fruit and nut mix
- Energy bars or protein bars
- Beef jerky – to keep you full for longer.
Communication
- Mobile phone or cell phone – this can come in handy to stay connected with emergency services apps, communicate with friends and family, and provide things like light.
- Emergency radio – emergency radios are a great idea if the internet goes on and you need to stay connected to how an emergency is unfolding. You can buy hand crank radios that don’t need any batteries.
- Prepaid sim card – if your provider’s infrastructure goes down. Telstra might be the best bet.
Light
- Headlamp or flashlight with spare batteries – so you have light while you work at your own survival. We don’t suggest relying on your phone as you may need preserve your phone battery for other things!
First aid and personal hygiene
- Mini first aid kit – a good kit will include a first aid kit with bandages, antiseptics, pain relievers and other medical supplies that can be vital in an emergency situtaion.
- Toilet paper
- Sanitary items for women
- Any critical short term medication, such as for diabetics or asthmatics
- Wet ones or baby wipes – quick and easy personal hygiene on the move.
Tools
- Folding knife or multi tool – mostly for getting out of tricky situations but could be a self defense weapon
- Duct tape – this stuff has multiple uses and is one of the most valuable items in any kit
- Safety pins – because who doesn’t need a safety pin sometimes!
- Small pry bar or crow bar – to get you out of a tight situation.
- Work gloves – to protect you from things like broken glass as you traverse different hazards.
- Safety goggles – Airborne dust, smoke, haze and other particulate can damage your eyes, and collisions or falling rubble can easily create high-speed projectiles that can put an eye right out of your head. If this is a risk for you, pack some safety glasses.
- Para chord – because you never know when you might need to tie or hoist something up…
- A plastic bag – zip lock bags can come in handy as can sturdy garbage bags which double as a rain poncho
- Waterproof pack protector or waterproof bags – to keep the essentials like electronics and clothing dry.
Other items
- Emergency cash in small bills
- High visibility vest – if you need to travel along congested traffic routes.
- Power bank – to charge your electronics!
- Permanent marker – to record information or leave locational markers
- USB stick with critical documents – you may need these after your evacuation.
- Survival watch – These are durable, wearable multi tools perfect for rough situations. They can bundle features and functions you might need, like navigation and health or heart monitoring and monitoring body heat to protect from hypothermia.
A word of warning on self defense
Hunting down things like pepper spray is a bad idea in Australia. It’s illegal for one. We also don’t face the kind of personal security threats in urban environments here that might unfold in the United States.
How can you use urban survival gear to help you in an emergency situation?
When most people think of urban survival gear, they think of things like flashlights and first-aid kits. But urban survival gear can be used to help you in multiple scenarios. For example:
- If you are stranded in an urban area without power or water, you can use a portable solar charger to recharge your cell phone or other electronic devices.
- If you have a mobile phone and internet, use this to stay connected with social media to find out what and where the hazards are in your immediate surroundings.
- You can also use urban survival gear to help you stay warm, dry, and hidden from the elements.
- Maps can help you navigate your way to safety if you’re not familiar with the surroundings and an emergency radio can help you keep connected if power and internet goes down.
- A multi tool can help you open food packaging or get access to things that are screwed down.
In short, urban survival gear is essential for anyone who wants to be prepared for anything.
5 tips for staying safe in an urban environment
With an ever-growing urban population, it’s important to know how to stay safe in an urban environment.
Tips for urban survival in Australia
1. Be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention to the people and things around you and be alert for anything out of the ordinary.
2. Travel in groups whenever possible. There is safety in numbers, so stick with a friend or group when walking around urban areas.
3. Keep your belongings close to you. Pickpockets and other criminals are often looking for easy targets, so don’t make yourself one by carrying valuables in plain sight or leaving them unattended.
4. Know where the safe places are. Familiarize yourself with the location of police stations, hospitals, and other places that can offer help in an emergency situation.
5. Stay calm in an emergency situation. Panicked reactions can often make a bad situation worse, so if something does happen, try to stay calm and think clearly about what you need to do next.
6. Avoidance is the best form of protection. If you know where the hazards are, whether natural or man made, give them a wide berth when you’re attempting to evacuate. Don’t be tempted to rubber neck as this could get you into danger yourself.
What type of bag to get
A backpack is going to leave you the most mobile if you need to evacuate. Just make sure you get one that allows easy access to the essentials when you need them. Internal pockets are great for this.
While military type backpacks are the top rated they can also be a bit conspicuous. Your may need to think about whether this would put a target on your back and go for something equally functional, but more discreet.
We recommend buying the bag after you have built your kit. That way you’ll know the exact size and weight requirements you need to cater for.
What about your family?
An important question to consider! If you have family you will need to pack some specific items just for them. Like nappies, a sling and formula for an infant or extra food, water, special medication, and provision for warmth and shelter.
You’ll really need to think about how much weight you can carry and how far you are from help in this situation. We’d recommend packing no more than 25% of your body weight in your pack. Anything heavier than this will inhibit your ability to stay mobile. How are your children going to move about with you? Can you share the load with other adults? On the upside, the tools you pack will serve the whole family without the need to pack extra.
What are some tips for storing and caring for your survival gear properly over time?
If you’re serious about being prepared for urban survival situations and have invested in quality gear, then you need to make sure that your survival kit is properly cared for and stored.
4 tips to help you get the most out of your gear
– Inspect your gear regularly for signs of wear and tear. Replace any worn, damaged or expired items as soon as possible.
– Keep your gear clean and well-oiled, especially knives and other tools. A sharp knife is a key tool in any survival situation.
– Store your gear in a cool, dry place. Moisture can cause rust and other damage and damp can cause mould. Keep your survival kit out of direct sunlight and away from sources of heat or cold.
– Invest in quality storage containers or a back pack. Cheap plastic bags are not going to protect your gear from the elements or from pests. Get tough, durable containers that will keep your gear safe.
Following these simple tips will help ensure that your urban survival kit is ready to use when you need it most.
Don’t forget your emergency plan!
In any urban survival scenario, the most important thing is to have an emergency plan. Without a plan, you’ll be lost and confused, and you won’t be able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
So what should your emergency plan include?
First and foremost, you need to know how to exit your building and where you’re going to go. You need to know different paths out of the city if you must evacuate. If you can’t stay home, you’ll also need to find a safe place to wait out the event or get help. Is there a local shelter you will use? Or will you evacuate to a friend’s place?
Once you have a destination in mind, you need to gather supplies. Our list should help you complete this step.
Talk to you family about your plans. Make sure everyone is on the same page about what to do so there is less stress in the moment.
And finally, you need to have a way to stay connected to information flows and in touch with your loved ones. A cell phone is fine, but it’s not going to do you much good if the power’s out. A handheld radio is a much better option, as it will allow you to stay informed and make contact even when all other forms of communication are down.
For tips on how to prepare your emergency plan take a look at this government emergency planning advice.
So don’t wait until it’s too late – start preparing your plan today.
Conclusion
Emergencies and disasters can happen anywhere, at any time in Australia. That’s why it’s important for city dwellers to be prepared and have urban survival gear ready to go in case of emergency. The items on our ultimate urban survival kit list will help you make it through an urban emergency situation, whether you’re stranded in your apartment during a blackout or caught in the middle of a natural disaster. Make sure you are fully prepared for any emergency by packing an urban survival kit today.
What urban survival gear do you have? What would you add to our urban survival gear list? Let us know in the comments below.
