“After Armageddon” is a docu-drama narrating the tale of what changes occur to North America after the region is struck by a severe flu pandemic, wiping out an overwhelming majority of the population. Depicting the lives of a family hailing from L.A. who struggle to survive among the epidemic struck region and battles all odds. The father in this family is a paramedic and takes every precaution to keep the disease at bay. The film also has a narrator who informs the viewers about the severity of the situation.

The son and wife of the man wants to move to a safer location but he refuses to oblige them. It is quite horrific to see armed gangs looting houses for scarcity of food and essential commodities. Finally, the family is forced to leave their house and find a safer location. The filmmaker excels as he depicts the process of degeneration among humans in such a severe situation.

https://trakt.tv/shows/history-channel-after-armageddon/seasons/all

Tendencies for governments to plan for the normal – disasters arent normal, may become overwhelmed and not ready

People form together in gangs to obtain resources needed

No law and order – predators appear

Find things along the route that will be useful and your going to take them

Going to have to forage which is a nice term for looting

Without food, water, or power cities become waste lands

Variations of skill sets required to survive

When cities become inhabitable youll have to leave

Will have to become invisible to be passed by

Harder to protect family members

If enough people try to evacuate at once, roads will become jammed and impassible.

Major gridlock a secondary event

Desperation rises after exits blocked

People will pretend to be authorities

Who are really officials and who arent

On average a pandemic occurs every 30 to 40 years as a predicable cycle. Its been almost 100 years since seeing a rapid moving virus such as swine flu, combined with a mortality rate of avian flu.

Takes dense populations to allow a pandemic to arise and then spread. Cities most vunerable.

2007 is the first time that most of the worlds population has lived in cities

Transmissionability relys on person to person proximity

Global networking can mean a disease can now spread in hours or days, faster than we can react.

When warned a few times before, the level of sensible reaction goes down

When a potential pandemic first appears and it cant be identified, they will transport a patient to specialist hospitals where two hospitals will then be infected.

Potential for vacine production, but not time or volume needed.

Initially many will try and leave cities, this may be one way of letting it spread to the country side

Not many examples of mass migration that have gone peaceably

Hard to evacuate a small space in a short ammount of time without there being complete chaos

Trying to maintain critical services when many wont turn up exactly when and incease in servies is required

Medical care providers will do best but will be overwhelmed

Hospitals will become full and be closed/barracaded. They will become places of infection and wont have drugs or vaccines anyway

LA County has 10 mil people, average hospital have beds for 25,000. 4000 available on any given day. When close to capacity maybe only several hundred beds.

Medical supplies in critial ammounts

Antibiotics will be worth their weight in gold

When or if, will care givers say “I have a family, their at risk and leave patients”

When point comes to say lets close the borders the damage will already be done

Individuals will recognise that survival and well being is in their own hands and may not be prepared for it

9 Meals to anarchy, in less than two weeks the world may be changed

Infection rates rise, not containable (reduce travel)

Mass communication systems break down from overuse adding to general chaos

Effects police, ambulance, fire, rescue services, the people that look after power supply and internet

Global internet designed to survive a nuclear strike but cant withstand failure of human labour

When internet fails then transport, freight, logistics, goods and services stop production lines

Mother of all dominoes liquid fuels. When fuel slows or stops then other domino’s start to fall

No trucks then no grocery’s, shops replenish every few days

Most people have 3 days of food in the house, to go to ground would need 3 months

When you no longer have goods or services, then you have pandemonium

How thick in the veneer of civilization is how many days to anarchy

Pandemic may last 90 days, very few people have supplies to last long enough to not need to go out and resupply during that time

Staff and fuel shortage trigger multiple power and fuel outages and power station failures

102 nuclear power plants in US but only 5000 workers to run them

When system out of balance there will be a series of shut offs, with commutations down. Dependant on information by electronic means

Domino Effect – Power, Water, Communications, Food, Fuel

First Immediate problem in cities in an aftermath are unburied bodies with no organized services for removal

After pandemic burns out then survivors succumb to cholera, dysentery, famine

Disease declines, people become immune for atleast that cycle

Sit and wait it out – gripped by despair and boredom, no electronic entertainment

Some will not be able to emotionally transition this stage of nothing being the same as before – State of disassociation when cant deal with situation

Reliant on freezers to store food before that they used cold stores

With blackouts sewage stops. How to deal with sanitary issues along with water supply

When hungry one way or another youll need to feed your family

When garbage piles up a city closes

Dead bodies have pathogens and require burying asap

People can become predatory to secure supply’s for themselves

Prisons effected, cant keep criminals locked up

Stores Cleaned out by third day, thats when things get crazy

Gangs formed to obtain resources

Security becomes first and foremost

Become invisible by making house look like its already been looted

Better not to be seen than to try and fight

Reduce interior lighting to blackout conditions, reduce smoke and cooking smells

At some point in a crisis the city becomes uninhabitable and will need to leave

Sheltered in place for so long and exhausted food supply – will have to leave city

Lots to think about and lots to plan in that event

Fuel – mileage of vehicle, ability to carry goods by foot or push bike

Bug Out Bags – water is heavy and bulk of weight

Use easy to carry foods with lots of calories, shelter

Security will become paramount – people will kill for what you carry

ID for in case situation stabilizes

Making it to another state may be more difficult but making it out of the city may be even harder, blocked roads etc

Avoid roads chocked with dead cars

Traveling light and fast by foot will be a challenge

Main roads will be ambushed, this will be the most expected way to travel. Use alternative routes

Find routes to travel sector to sector to get through difficult points

Larger towns will be abandoned to try and find better places, hoards of people will strip the countryside as they go, refugees will swamp surrounding city areas

Safer to travel by foot but may not be practical, or efficient to reach a safe destination

We will become Opitunivores – find things along route and take advantage of them

Every level you rise in survival, competition gets different

People in smaller communities block roads and arm themselves to keep out contagion and reduce impact on resources

Lifeboat Scenario – If lifeboat is full after ship sinks, do you pick up people in water and kill everyone too or do you row away

Parents have to worry about taking care of their children on top of taking care of themselves, adds to stress and vulnerability

How would people react to no matter where you go it will be dangerous and my children might die

Abandon cities in search of food

Sources of water most important when bugging out

Need to remain invisible by not taking an easy path

Most of the time to maintain safety and security youll want to avoid roads even if clear, they will still be the most frequently traveled

People are capable of barberism and selfishness but also great generosity when banded together against a common enemy. There is a limit to generosity – not infinite

Obvious food sources will be emptied earlier, check nooks and crannies that may have been overlooked – industrial complexes

First things most critical after a disaster are food and fuel

Food will be power as a resource

Bartering worth more than money

Fuel – Cary extra fuel containers and check every vehicle when passing. Dont need a syphon, just pierce tank with a hammer and screw driver or use drain plug and wrench. Destroying the tank wont matter with no fuel to replace long term use.

Farms are reliant on fossil fuels for fertilizer and mechanical agriculture

3 months into scenario, easy pickings already gone. Youll have to be creative and know where to look for food and resources

Longer the senario lasts the more food will spoil

Filtration of water becomes important – either treat with chemicals, filter or boil

Under dire circumstances people look at pets as a source of food, usually other peoples not their own

Children adapt faster to famine states of mind

Order may become established faster within smaller towns – secure borders and limits on who enters like nations do but in smaller regions

Authority is local but power to enforce is through coercion and threats

Phases – destruction, reconstruction and resurgence

Amateur radio requires no infrastructure to work

Living by wits

No prisons, penalties are shooting on the spot

We like to think that progress has made us nice people but were nice mainly because were rich and comfortable. When not comfortable we wont be that nice

Areas will be repopulated due to water resources

Limited health care, will go back to 1700-1800s no immediate pain relief or antibiotics

Without medications mortality rate rises

Salvage for trade will only be worth transporting high value commodities