“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
Leave a Reply