Plan Implementation
Get out of the denial stage quickly. Seventy-seven days is a very short time and many of these days have already come and gone. Take the initiative and don’t procrastinate. Local officials should not wait until the mitigation stage is completed before shelter construction begins in earnest. The major governments of the world will use every available resource at their disposal to engage this threat and will declare failure only in the final minutes of the attack and then it will be too late. At that point the only thing that will remain will be panic and IMPACT.
Since surviving an extinction boundary will require severe hardship and endurance, relocation to shelters should only be on a volunteer basis. A strong will to survive is an important ingredient to the mix.
How does this implementation begin? I envision two parallel paths. One will be at the Individual Level and the other at the Local Community Level.
At the Individual level, one person will start to organize a shelter. Family members and extended family will start to form a nucleus, a core pulling other individuals into the group as needed. Resources will be a significant driver. The land for a shelter site is needed. A bulldozer operator is needed. Lumber is needed for shelter construction. Timber is needed for fuel. Grain is needed as a long-term food. Contributors (and their families) become stakeholders in the group. Construction will require significant labor. Labor is a resource. Organize the teams around the tasks that need to be accomplished. Get everyone involved.
At the Local Community level, key local individuals will form a core group. This group may be coordinated by local Civil Defense/Disaster Preparedness Representatives. They should have already organized long before the actual threat materialized. They will have identified initial building sites and other resources and established agreements in the event that this threat materializes. They will have adapted the general plan to the local environment. They will have assessed the suitability of shelter site locations. They will organize both local populations and migrating populations into shelter groups. They will coordinate resources such as bulldozers and relocate as necessary. They will coordinate with both the Federal and State levels to control the migration process and obtain resources from the government.
I envision both of these parallel paths as separate, equal and concurrent. Time will be very short and to maximize the largest quantity of constructed shelter complexes, both paths should be pursued.
Within a local community, shelter complex construction should work like mitosis, a cell division process. After the initial shelter complex is built, talent and resources will be diverted to the construction of the next shelter complex. Therefore the process is similar to cell division, beginning with one cell that divides into two, which in turn divides into 4 cells and then 8 cells. This process will be sustained as long as there are volunteers seeking shelter, resources and time.
As the time to impact counts down, it may be productive to consider round-the-clock operations. Rest after the shelters are complete and operational, rest after the impact event, not before. Stretch yourselves.
For those exiting cities and coastal areas, remember that you are guest in the small communities that you are relocating to. Get there early and become part of the solution. Lend your talents. If you have family in these inland areas, relocate there. Don’t be part of the problem. Don’t arrive late. This is one of these situations of "First Come! First Serve!" The small communities will have significant limits on resources and materials. Bring what you can and be prepared to rough it. I would expect small communities reinforced with the proper materials (lumber & plywood) and supplies could support populations in excess of 100 times their present number. Small communities will have to control the tap of people entering their communities to prevent over-saturation.
Remember to bring your contribution of building materials and shelter supplies with you. Don’t show up empty handed.
Security: It is imperative that all members of the shelter complex take responsibility for the security of the shelter complex.
(Postscript: There are a variety of Amish communities scattered about this country. I would suggest that Amish families be integrated into these shelter communities. If as an outcome of this disaster, we step back several hundred years in technology and civilization, what better guide than individuals presently operating in a minimal technology environment.)
Final comments: I will end by quoting from one of the more profound books that I have read in my lifetime. It is a book on house construction titled From the Ground Up.
During the first half of this century, most Americans "came to believe that specialist, and particularly scientific/technical specialists, are essential to the success of even the simplest and most basic endeavors of our lives. Our hair has to be cut, our teeth polished, and our children evaluated by specialists, just as our homes have to be built by architects, contractors, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, masons, glaziers, roofers, and backhoe operators. The very presence of these specialist derives from the concept that nature can be conquered. It has become "un-natural" for a person to conceptualize about building his or her own shelter. Many people are afraid to contemplate the prospect on their lives. They cannot take the first step towards their shelter without thinking they need an architect, an engineer, and a contractor. This is an industrial-age phenomenon; it has not occurred before in the history of humankind. Quite the opposite. Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was historically natural for man to build his own shelter."24