PEOPLE AND PLACES

PEOPLE AND PLACES

Sunday, March 24, 2013

PREPARATION FOR EARTH CATASTROPHE

 

 

In the market for a fixer-upper? Concrete bomb shelter fixer-upper featuring air-intake tunnels and decontamination showers goes on sale for $500,000. With the fear of meteor crashes rising, people looking for cover might just be in luck.

A concrete bomb shelter in South Florida is going up for sale for a cool $499,500, for anyone looking for a place to prepare for the apocalypse.

The structure was built during the Cold War, to 'withstand the big blast,' the real estate agent handling the sale told the Zillow real estate blog.

Home sweet home

Home sweet home: A concrete bomb shelter in South Florida is going up for sale for a cool $499,500, for anyone looking for a place to prepare for the apocalypse

Our humble abode

Our humble abode: The structure was built during the Cold War, to 'withstand the big blast,' the real estate agent handling the sale said

Features and appliances

Features and appliances: The structure has air intake tunnels and its own ventilation system that could be utilized in the case of a disaster

Since the 1980s the shelter has suffered vandalism and has fallen into disrepair it is in need of some tender loving care from a new owner.

The 30-inch-thick steel-reinforced concrete structure, with 17-foot-high ceilings sits on 6 acres of land. 'It’s something out of an old Japanese Godzilla movie,' Hoyt C. Murphy Jr., the listing agent for the property told the blog.'It was built to withstand the big blast.'

Repairs

Repairs: Since the 1980s the shelter has suffered vandalism and has fallen into disrepair so the shelter is in need of some tender loving care from a new owner

In case of emergency:

In case of emergency: There are spaces for decontamination showers in addition to vessels for water treatments

Help

Help: The property was build during the Cold War and is in need of a facelift

Original plans show the the property came with 200-kilowatt generators, air-intake tunnels, decontamination showers and a ventilation system that could be utilized in the case of a disaster.

Because of the property's deep history, the realtor has advertised the space to a group of South Florida Survivalists.

Since the area is plagued by severe hurricanes, the sturdy structure would be a selling point as a haven during the rough weather.

But not all potential buyers have necessarily been seeking an escape from Doomsday, one buyer enlisted the help of an architect to see about converting it into a residential space.

'It will be interesting to see who buys the space,' Mr Murphy commented.

'To turn it into a home, they will have to be creative and have deep pockets.'

Location, location, locatio

Location, location, location: The six acre property is located in Fort Pierce in South Florida

Doomsday

Doomsday: Because of the property's deep history, the realtor has advertised the space to a group of South Florida Survivalists

Vision

Vision: Not all potential buyers would necessarily been seeking an escape from Doomsday, one buyer enlisted the help of an architect to see about converting it into a residential space

Were the dinosaurs killed by a comet? Researchers says smaller, faster space rock sparked mass extinction

Study claims there's not enough debris to account for massive asteroid. For a smaller rock to cause such a huge crater it would have to be faster. Long-period comets hurtling in from outer space fit the bill, it is claimed

The extraterrestrial object that slammed into the Earth 65million years ago and sparked the extinction of the dinosaurs was most likely a speeding comet, new analysis claims.

New research has suggested that the 110 mile-wide Chicxulub crater in Yucatan, Mexico, was caused by the impact of a smaller object than previously thought.

But for a smaller object to have caused such a cataclysmic impact it must have been moving at speeds usually only reached by comets hurtling through our solar system from outer space.

Boom: A computer generated picture imagines how it might have looked when a suspected asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula 65million years ago. New research suggests that the impact may have been a comet

Boom: A computer generated picture imagines how it might have looked when a suspected asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula 65million years ago. New research suggests that the impact may have been a comet

It has hitherto been claimed that the the culprit was a large, relatively slow-moving asteroid, the disintegration of which left a global layer of sediments enriched in iridium.

But at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Woodlands, Texas, researchers from New Hampshire's Dartmouth College suggested that the amount of debris left by the collision indicates the object was much smaller. Their research suggests frequently cited figures overstate the amount of iridium left behind by the impact, BBC News reports.

Comparison with quantities of osmium left behind by the impact led them to deduce that the collision left less debris on Earth than has previously been supposed - suggesting a much smaller body was involved.

But for a smaller space rock to have produced a crater the size of Chicxulub, it must have been travelling at speeds more consistent with a comet careering through our solar system from outer space.

Cataclysmic: The impact would have caused some of the largest megatsunamis in Earth's history, as well as sending a cloud of super-heated ash and dust into the atmosphere

Cataclysmic: The impact would have caused some of the largest megatsunamis in Earth's history, as well as sending a cloud of super-heated ash and dust into the atmosphere

Dr Jason Moore, from Dartmouth College, told BBC News: 'You'd need an asteroid of about 5km diameter to contribute that much iridium and osmium. But an asteroid that size would not make a 200km-diameter crater.'

'So we said: how do we get something that has enough energy to generate that size of crater, but has much less rocky material? That brings us to comets.'

Professor Mukul Sharma, also of Dartmouth College, added: 'You would need some special pleading for an asteroid moving very rapidly - although it is possible.

'But of the comets and asteroids we have looked at in the skies, the comets are the ones that are moving very rapidly.'

THE EFFECT OF THE IMPACT

Whatever struck the Yucatan peninsula 65million years ago, the impact would have caused some of the largest megatsunamis in Earth's history.

As the impactor ploughed into our planet's crust a cloud of super-heated dust, ash and steam would have spewed from the impact site.

Excavated material, along with pieces of the impactor, ejected out of the atmosphere by the blast, would have been heated to incandescence upon re-entry, broiling the Earth's surface and igniting wildfires.

Colossal shock waves would have triggered earthquakes and volcanic eruptions across the entire world.

Dust and particles could have covered the entire surface of the Earth for several years, possibly a decade, making the environment harsh and inhospitable.

The shock production of carbon dioxide caused by the destruction of carbonate rocks would have led to a sudden greenhouse effect.

Over a longer period, sunlight would have been blocked from reaching the Earth's surface by the dust particles in the atmosphere, cooling the surface dramatically.

Photosynthesis by plants would also have been interrupted, affecting the entire food chain.

Thought to originate in the Oort cloud, a hypothesised spherical cloud of icy bodies in the outer Solar System, long period comets follow highly eccentric orbits around the Sun.

It is thought that gravitational perturbations caused by either the massive outer planets or passing stars periodically send them plunging towards inner Solar System at tremendous speeds.

The mass-extinction event 65million years ago that killed off 70 per cent of the world's species - most notably the dinosaurs - is now widely believed to have been caused by the impact at Chicxulub.

The impact would have caused some of the largest megatsunamis in Earth's history, as well as sending a cloud of super-heated ash and dust into the atmosphere.

Colossal shock waves would have triggered earthquakes and volcanic eruptions right the way across the planet.

Other researchers were cautious about the claims of the Dartmouth duo.

Dr Gareth Collins, who researches impact cratering at Imperial College London, expressed doubts as to whether geochemistry could be used to accurately determine the mass of the object which struck Chicxulub.

He suggested that some of the mass of the object could have landed close to the crater, or even been ejected from the Earth back out into space, skewing the results.

'The authors suggest that 75 per cent of the impactor mass is distributed globally, and hence arrive at quite a small-sized impactor, but in reality this fraction could be lower than 20 per cent,' he told BBC News.

 

 

Meteor streaks over East Coast: Millions of Americans witness fireball as yard-long rock enters Earth's atmosphere

The large meteor shot through the sky shortly after 7:50pm on Friday. Spectacle witnessed in at least 13 states, Washington, D.C. and two Canadian provinces .Described a fireball as a meteor brighter than Venus.A fireball is a meteor that is larger than normal. Most meteors are only the size of small pebbles. The sighting on Friday comes after the head of NASA warned that there was little that could be done on earth to protect against a meteor crash. In February, a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia injuring 1,500 people  and causing widespread property damage. A meteor has flown over the Eastern Seaboard with hundreds of Americans witnessing a bright fireball streaking across the heavens.

Bright enough to be classified as a fireball, it lit up the night sky over eastern North America on Friday, providing a spectacle witnessed in at least 13 states, Washington, D.C. and two Canadian provinces, the American Meteor Society said.

Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environmental Office said the flash appears to be 'a single meteor event.' He said it 'looks to be a fireball that moved roughly toward the southeast, going on visual reports.'

'Judging from the brightness, we're dealing with something as bright as the full moon. The thing is probably a yard across. We basically have (had) a boulder enter the atmosphere over the northeast.'

Spotted

Sighting: A local WWLP-TV viewer in Worcester in West Brookfield, Mass. submitted these photographs of the meteor blazing through the sky

Sighting

Spotted: A meteor has flown over the Eastern Seaboard with hundreds of Americans witnessing a bright fireball streaking across the heavens

The society verified more than 300 witness sightings from Ontario and Quebec down to the southern U.S. state of North Carolina with more than 100 reports yet to be reviewed, said Mike Hankey, an observer for the American Meteor Society.

'This was most certainly a fireball seen over a good portion of the eastern states,' said Robert Lunsford, the society's fireball coordinator.

The society describes a fireball as a meteor brighter than Venus and Lunsford said they can be brighter than the Sun, as was the case with the one that streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia on February 15.

Meteors are small particles from the solar system that burn from friction when entering the atmosphere. Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur each day, most of them unseen over the oceans or hidden by daylight, the society said on its website.

This one was seen up and down the East Coast and in inland states such as West Virginia and Ohio, the society said.

The fireball's likely trajectory showed it moving east from eastern Pennsylvania and across New Jersey, passing just south of New York City and then over the Atlantic Ocean, based on witness reports to the society.

Many witnesses called it the brightest meteor they had ever seen.

Hundreds over East Coasters flocked to social media to report seeing it.

'[I] definitely witnessed what appeared to be a shooting star around 8 o clock, which then burst into a beaming red/green glow,' one Twitter user wrote, with another adding, 'It was greenish blue in color and could be seen disintegrating.'

A Massachusetts woman, Eileen Claffey, lives in Worcester in West Brookfield and managed to photograph the bright fireball flash overhead.

On camera. NASA flash reports agree with meteor sighting

Eyeful

Eyeful: Security footage in Seaford, Delaware shows a bright flash of light streaking across the early-evening sky

Maryland

DC Area: Kim Fox captured this footage of the meteor flying over this neighborhood in Maryland  

VIDEO: East Coast meteor captured on security camera

She sent a picture of the meteor to her local news station WWLP-TV.

Kim Fox, who lives in Maryland, also managed to capture footage of the meteor passing overhead and sent the short clip to myFOXdc.

Initially a local TV station in Delaware claimed that the meteor could have landed near the Maryland/Delaware line but local officials in Delaware told the MailOnline that they hadn't received any calls about possible landings.

Usually the phone lines will light up when there is any unusual sightings so they suggested that if the meteor had come down and impacted local residents, they would have received an emergency call.

Unexpected sight

Unexpected sight: A terrifying meteorite shower left a thousand people injured, buildings devastated and the mobile network wiped out when it hit Russia in February

Spectacular sky

Spectacular sky: The Urals region was struck by falling meteorite fragments which fell in the city of Chelyabinsk, 900 miles east of Moscow and close to the Kazakhstan border

Speed

Speed: Russia's space agency Roscosmos said the meteorite was traveling at a speed of 19 miles per second and that such events were hard to predict

Chip Guy, Communications Director for the Sussex County Government, told the MailOnline that there were no reports of any landing sites or crash sites.

Coincidentally, Mr Guy was driving with his family and spotted the meteor himself earlier on Friday.

He posted the sighting on the county government Facebook page and immediately several other area residents also mentioned that they had spotted it.

Describing it as a 'thin streak that was bluish green,' he said it raced across the sky and fizzled out after eight to ten seconds.

Tracking

Tracking: The American Meteor Society released this heat map of the witness sightings for the 2013 Northeast Fireball

In Maryland, WBOC-TV Meteorologist Dan Satterfield said reports seemed to indicate that the meteor broke into three pieces and 'dissipated fairly quickly .. it doesn’t look like it hit the surface.'

Besides the chatter on social media, local residents have not called 911 to report any damage.

The American Meteor Society said they had received reports of sightings from witnesses along the Atlantic coast 'ranging from Maine to North Carolina. This object was also seen as far inland as Ohio,' the group said in a statement. 

'For those not familiar with meteors and fireballs, a fireball is a meteor that is larger than normal. Most meteors are only the size of small pebbles. A meteor the size of a softball can produce light equivalent to the full moon for a short instant,' the AMS statement continued.

'The reason for this is the extreme velocity at which these objects strike the atmosphere. Even the slowest meteors are still traveling at 10 miles per SECOND, which is much faster than a speeding bullet.'

Ice breaker

Ice breaker: An official standing near an 26 foot hole left by the meteorite in the surface of a frozen lake near the town of Chebarkul. Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, agreed that the sightings had all the hallmarks of a 'fireball.' These include lasting 7-10 seconds, being bright and colorful, and seeming to cross much of the sky with a long stream behind it. He said what people likely saw was one meteor — or 'space rock' — that may have been the size of a softball or volleyball and that fell fairly far down into the Earth's atmosphere. He likened it to a stone skipping across the water — getting 'a nice long burn out of it.' The sightings on Friday came five weeks after a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia. Nearly 1,500 people were injured in that incident and it caused widespread property damage in the area. The meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains in February is the biggest space rock to have hit earth in more than a century, scientists have claimed. The 100,000 ton rock, measuring around 55 feet in diameter, created a huge hole in a frozen lake when it crashed into the ground. The debris narrowly missed a direct and devastating hit on the industrial city which has a population of 1.13 million but spread panic through its streets as the sky above lit up with a blinding flash.

Keep calm and pra

Keep calm and pray: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden appeared on Capitol Hill on March 19 to say that there isn't anything the agency could do to prevent an asteroid crash. The sighting on Friday comes just days after the head of NASA had warned that there was little that could be done on earth to protect against a crash of debris from space. Speaking in front of the House Science Committee, NASA head Charles Bolden said on March 19 that the nation cannot even defend itself from an asteroid identical to the small one that detonated over Russia last month.  Details on the 2013 Northeast Fireball. Reports state a large, meteor shot through the sky shortly after 7:50pm on Friday. It is believed to have traveled from west to east in the northeast sk. Witnessed in at least 13 states, Washington, D.C. and two Canadian provinces. This object was also seen as far inland as Ohio. A fireball is a meteor that is larger than normal. Most meteors are only the size of small pebbles. A meteor the size of a softball can produce light equivalent to the full moon for a short instant. Even the slowest meteors are still traveling at 10 miles per SECOND, which is much faster than a speeding bullet. Fireballs occur every day over all parts of the Earth. Very few meteors actually reach the ground as 99.99 per cent completely disintegrate while still 10-20 miles up in the atmosphere. Source: Eastern USA Fireball March 22, 2013 from the American Meteor Society. When pressed on what NASA's plans were if they detected a similar one due to hit New York, Bolden replied, 'The answer to you is, if it's coming in three weeks, pray.'

Since the 55-foot-wide rock that blew up without warning over Chelyabinsk in Russia got the attention of the world, U.S. lawmakers wanted to learn about contingency plans in place for America.

Representative Bill Posey (R-Fla.) pointed out that while 'a good segment (of the country) thinks we can just call Bruce Willis in, we don't even have a shuttle anymore.'

The Russian meteor was not detected as it hurtled towards Earth because it arrived from the same direction as the sun, rendering land-based telescopes useless.

Feeling last month's near-miss was a wake-up call, the Committee heard how a direct hit by an asteroid only 55-foot-wide could potentially flatten a city - luckily the meteor over Chelyabinsk exploded 56-feet above the ground - lessening its effect.

Countering the Committee's concerns, White House science adviser John Holdren said that funding devoted to cataloging threatening asteroids had risen from $5 million to more than $20 million in recent years.

However, even at that level, NASA's Bolden said it would take till 2030 to identify 90-percent of near-Earth objects between 140 meters and 1 kilometer in width.

They compared this with NASA's knowledge in 1998, when the space agency knew of only several hundred near-Earth objects larger than 0.62 miles - the minimum size threshold big enough to wipe out all life on the planet.

By 2012, that tally had increased to 10,000.

Regardless, in 2012, an estimated 13,000 to 20,000 midsized to small asteroids came close to Earth in 2012 and only 10-percent of these which could devastate a continent were found.

The president's own science adviser told the committee that meant an estimated 10,000 passed without anyone knowing - because the proper technology to find and locate them was not in use.

'The odds of a near-Earth object strike causing massive casualties and destruction of infrastructure are very small, but the potential consequences of such an event are so large that it makes sense to take the risk seriously,' Holdren told lawmakers.

 

Ready for the apocalypse! One American family shows what it takes to prepare for the end of civilisation as we know it

Imagine if suddenly, and completely without warning, the world experienced a total blackout – no electricity, no mobile phones, no banks, no internet, no TV, no emergency services. Nothing

 

Apocalypse-ready and proud: The Douglas family is one of many stocking up for the end of the world. To stage this photograph, it took 15 people over six hours to move all of his stockpile - mostly kept in his basement - out onto his front lawn

Apocalypse-ready and proud: The Douglas family from Colorado is stocking up for the end of the world. To stage this photograph, it took 15 people over six hours to move all of his stockpile - mostly kept in his basement - out onto his front lawn

WHAT THE PHOTO SHOWS: THE DOUGLAS FAMILY STOCKPILE THAT TOOK SIX HOURS TO BRING OUT OF STORAGE

1. Staples in six gallon buckets include rice, beans, nuts, sugar salt, wheat, flour 2. Freeze-dried meals 3. Assorted canned foods, cheese, butter and meat 4. Water-bath canner 5. Vacuum Sealer 6. Pressure canner 7. Pots 8. Canned pork and turkey 9. Broth: beef and chicken 10.Salt:39lb bags 11. Aluminium foil 12. Portable first aid kits, lighters, UV light sticks, fast-acting glue 13. Candles 14. Sunflower seeds 15. Cough drops 16. Canned turkey 17. Stackable canned food 18. 72-hour backpacks 19. Charcoal chimney 20. Potatoes 21. Grill 22. Solar oven 23. Beef Jerkey 24. Vinegar, white and cider 25. Olive oil in cans 26. Wall-mounted first aid kit 27. Canned staples: rice dried carrots, dried onions 28. Powdered milk and eggs 29. Laundry detergent 30. The Douglas family 31. Heirloom seed bank 32. Bleach 33. Pasta 34. Dehydrated mashed potatoes 35. more assorted staples 36. Miscellaneous canned goods 37. Stackable canned goods 38. Powdered hot chocolate 39. Generator 40. Propane burner 41. Water filter 42. Hand warmers 43. Surgical masks 44. Empty jars for canning 45. Jars of roasted peppers 46. Rifle, shotgun and pistol 47. Buckets of honey 48. Cans of Sardines 49. Fold-out tent 50. Five gallon gas cans 51. Solar panels 52. Plastic hose

Imagine if suddenly, and completely without warning, the world experienced a total blackout – no electricity, no mobile phones, no banks, no internet, no TV, no emergency services. Nothing.

Highways quickly become jammed with cars that have ground to a halt; an aeroplane falls from the sky; a satellite view of the planet shows it rapidly plunging into darkness.

As it becomes apparent that the lights are never coming back on, nations are plunged into chaos, mass riots break out in major cities and, without electricity, governments are toppled. Into the vacuum step ad-hoc militias, armed and ready to enforce their own rule of law.

This is the apocalyptic premise of the hit American TV series Revolution, which begins on Sky 1 this week. In the first episode, viewers are pulled through this nightmarish chain of events.

So, what would you do? It’s a question that members of a burgeoning subculture known as ‘Preppers’ – people who are prepared for any kind of disaster – have been asking themselves for years.

It’s estimated there are three million Preppers in the U.S. alone, and the number is rising

Preppers look at the world around them and see all kinds of potential threats – economic collapse, global warming, terrorism, nuclear war, dwindling energy supplies, asteroid strikes and, yes, a prolonged blackout.

They’ve largely reached the same conclusion: the end of the world as we know it is just around the corner, and time is running out to gear up for the total collapse of society.

It’s estimated there are three million Preppers in the U.S. alone, and the number is rising.

Furthermore, the recession has seen ‘Prepping’ become a multibillion-dollar industry, with many American Preppers spending thousands every year stocking up on supplies to see them through the impending catastrophe.

Ron Douglas (pictured above, with his wife, six children and enough supplies to be self-sufficient for a year) has seen business boom in the past 12 months. A founder of the Red Shed Media Group in the States, he’s enjoying what might be described as the ‘profits of doom’.

Last year, Red Shed organised five Self Reliance Expos, which pulled in 40,000 punters at $10 a head, while its radio network has notched up over two million podcast downloads.

The company also owns the rights to a book called Making the Best of Basics, first published in 1974; it reportedly sold around 20,000 copies last year.

Douglas, in his late thirties, lives in Frederick, Colorado, around 30 miles from Denver. To stage the photograph to the left, it took 15 people over six hours to move all of his stockpile – mostly kept in his basement – out onto his front lawn.

If a disaster resulted in basic necessities such as food and water becoming scarce, the Douglas family would tough it out at home.

If they absolutely had to leave their house, they would get into a modified Chevy Suburban SUV equipped with emergency supplies that can do 850 miles before needing a refill.

Interest in what Douglas has to offer, as well as the Prepper movement as a whole, is growing, fuelled by the success of another TV programme, National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers.

'Prepper' Tim Ralston with his Jack Russell, and surrounded by guns and supplies in his bunker in Phoenix, Arizona. Ralston, who invented the 'Crovel' (see the Survivor's Toolkit below) is one of the stars of Doomsday Preppers

'Prepper' Tim Ralston with his Jack Russell, and surrounded by guns and supplies in his bunker in Phoenix, Arizona. Ralston, who invented the 'Crovel' (see the Survivor's Toolkit below) is one of the stars of Doomsday Preppers

It’s the channel’s highest-rated show in America, and the second series has just started in the UK. One episode features Derek Price, who runs a Wild West theme park called Deadwood in Bear Grass, North Carolina.

The park doubles as his compound in the event of the power grid being knocked out by a solar flare. Within the grounds there’s a golf course that has a series of sniper positions set up behind the greens, from which he could take out any rioters.

During the episode, Haven, Price’s 11-year-old son, is seen being put through his paces as a nightwatchman, clutching a 9mm rifle (albeit with the safety catch on).

The show hasn’t met with broad approval within the Prepper community, perhaps because it sheds light on a more sinister side of the movement, one that generated headlines when it was reported that the mother of Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza was a Prepper.

Nancy Lanza, Adam’s first victim, was shot four times before her son embarked on a killing spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School, murdering 20 schoolchildren and six teachers before taking his own life.

While there’s no evidence to prove that Nancy’s lifestyle directly contributed to the tragedy of Sandy Hook, it has prompted some commentators to suggest that Preppers are gun-toting, conspiracy-theorising, right-wing militia.

Much like the Australian punters who last year bet on the world ending after our planet is ‘consumed by the Sun’ (in which case, how would they claim their winnings?), there are radical elements within the Prepper community.

As Hurricane Katrina demonstrated to Americans how quickly a major city can collapse in the wake of a natural disaster, so England’s riots of 2011 provided many of our own Preppers with a ‘wake-up call’

But not all Preppers are armed and dangerous. Many are becoming self-reliant because they care about the environment and want to safeguard the future of the planet. Douglas insists he’s one of them.

‘We’re not saying, “Hurry up and buy your stuff, because Obama is going to ruin the country.” We don’t get into the political crap. We just want to teach people the lifestyle.’

In Britain, our strict gun laws shift the focus away from firearms to a more down-to-earth, subsistence approach to Prepping.

‘The thing we have to remember about Preppers is they reflect society,’ says British Prepper Michael Sanderson, 53.

‘There are some who are mentally unstable, but there are also those who are very intelligent, highly qualified and motivated individuals.’

Sanderson – nicknamed ‘Roach’ because friends say he could survive anything – spent 17 years in the military, serving in Northern Ireland and the Falklands. He subsequently became a paramedic and now lives with his wife and two young daughters in Luton.

In his garage he has enough food to feed his family for 12 months. He reckons he has spent around £5,000 on supplies over the past four years, despite saving money by bulk-buying goods such as pasta, flour, yeast, tea and coffee.

He has a trailer attached to his Land Rover containing three months’ worth of supplies. In an emergency, he and his family could be on the road within 15 minutes, bound for his camping retreat in Wales, where he keeps further stocks of food and water.

‘What I’ve tried to do is draw examples and knowledge from places in the world where bad things have happened to good people,’ he says.

‘Prepping is about being self-reliant. So if I’m made long-term unemployed, I don’t expect the state to feed my family.’

As Hurricane Katrina demonstrated to Americans how quickly a major city can collapse in the wake of a natural disaster, so England’s riots of 2011 provided many of our own Preppers with a ‘wake-up call’, followed last year by a false alarm over fuel supplies, which caused panic at the petrol pumps.

‘Do I expect the police and the fire brigade to come and save me if we have a resurgence of rioting  and looting caused by mass unemployment?’ asks Sanderson. ‘Hundreds of people called the emergency services and nobody came.’

Eric Kripke, the co-creator of Revolution, says this ‘back to basics’ lifestyle is the concept at the heart of  his show.

So is there anything we can learn from Preppers about how to survive a possible apocalypse?

‘As a survivalist, the rule of threes is paramount,’ explains Sanderson.

‘We can do without oxygen for three minutes. We can do without a viable water source for three days. We can live without food for three weeks. But after that, you’re dead.’ Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

‘Revolution’ begins on Friday, 9pm, Sky 1 HD. ‘Doomsday Preppers’ is on Wednesdays, 8pm, National Geographic

Last man standing: The survivor's toolkit

 

 

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