2021 is not exactly in a friendly mood, what with the current pandemic still raging around while other natural disasters all around ravage the world.
However, while a pandemic is an uncommon occurrence, natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes are not. To that end, it pays to be prepared for the worst with survival tools, especially if you have to evacuate from your own house.
But these survival tools are not just limited to natural disaster-scenarios, as many of them can be applied whenever plausible. What happens if your car breaks down in the woods and you do not know when help will arrive? Or what if you accidentally get lost from a mountain trail?
With that said, while all tools have their uses, some are more flexible than others. Therefore, this article will outline these more useful tools that you should always have on hand. They may save your life.
Survival Knife
Any survivalist out there will instantly point you out to a good survival knife, as you are likely going to be doing a lot of chopping and cutting in the wild.
Whether it’s skinning your hunt or sharpening your tools, a good survival knife should be one that is razor-sharp and strong to cut things with ease.
Make sure to carry a backup with you as well, it’s all too easy to lose a knife in the heat of the moment and you do not want to be caught without one.
Survival Whistle
A survival whistle’s use is primarily to alert people that you are nearby and need aid. You can’t yell out for help all day without your voice giving out at some point, so having a survival whistle make all the noise for you will help garner attention your way.
First Aid Kit
One of the worst things that can occur to you in a natural disaster or in a survival situation is obtaining injuries of any kind or getting sick. In natural disaster scenarios, nearby hospitals might be filled up, while in survival situations, you have no hospitals to help you, meaning that you are on your own.
Sure, that small cut might not mean anything, but it could also cause your skin to die out without proper treatment. Having a first aid kit negates most of this, as you can treat any forms of bleeding by using pressure dressings and bandages, as well as antibiotics when you feel sick.
Even a basic first aid kid can save your life.
Water Filter Bottle
It goes without saying that you should always pack lots of water with you whenever you are going out on an excursion, but what if things head south and you need to survive?
Having a water bottle with its own filter will save you a lot of trouble. It works as a container to store water, and doubles as a filter to clean water that you encounter of any contaminants before you drink. This is very important, considering how much bacteria, viruses, and parasites may be polluting what may seem like a clean water source.
Signal Mirror
In a survival situation, you are likely not going to be doing any proper cleaning, considering your lack of bathing materials when you prioritized survival.
However, a mirror of some sort can still prove invaluable for the most important thing: Rescue.
Waving your hand or using smoke from the cinders of your fire may not be enough. Redirecting light to shine at the faces of your would-be rescuers from their helicopter using mirrors might be the difference between you being saved and you being missed out on.
Cellphone
It’s boring, but practical.
Seriously.
Having a working phone will make most of your survival issues nonexistent, as there is a high likely chance that rescuers will be able to instantly deduce where you are, as you would be able to give them detailed descriptions. Plus, you will also have access to the best library in the world: The internet. It will greatly help aid in your survival.
The only catch, however, is that you will need a good signal to keep it going, but considering how technology is continuously evolving, it’s only a matter of time before even the most remote of places get signal.
Oh, and watch its battery! A phone is only as good as its battery, and a dead phone is just a worthless brick.
Portable Flashlight
Sure, you can use your phone flashlight, but your phone’s battery is limited and valuable. It is best saved for other uses, like making emergency calls.
Pack a portable flashlight instead, to help you see in the dark when you need to move around for whatever reason. Solar flashlights help make them last longer than ones that require to be plugged in or batteries.
Fire making materials
If you believe that you will need to hunker down for quite some time, then you will likely need to be able to make a fire. (Cooking, Boiling, etc.)
Having fire starters will save you a lot of effort and time from having to obtain them yourself, giving you much more time to deal with other things, So pack fire starters like lighters, waterproof matches, and tinder.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, most of the items on this list reduce the amount of effort you need to survive. If you have a water filter, you will not need to filter water every time you scoop some up from the stream. If you have fire starters, you do not have to scavenge for materials every time you want to start a fire.
All of these items make your survival more likely as you wait for help to arrive.