Disasters — natural and manmade — happen to regular people on a regular basis, driving them from their homes in search of a safer destination. Oftentimes, evacuees are forced to survive with their wits and the survival supplies they can carry on their back. You may have read my article here — How to Make a Bug Out Bag — or my book which that article inspired titled Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag. If so, you already have a head-start in building your own personal 72-hour disaster kit to help you and your family survive a potential bug out evacuation. This article is written with that same conviction — to help further prepare you for when the unthinkable knocks at your front door.

Here's the good news: survival knowledge weighs nothing.

This is true for those who practice and study survival and preparedness skills on a regular basis. But for those who don't, access to that survival knowledge only has to weigh about 1 pound – the weight of an Amazon Kindle. I'm not at all suggesting that the practice and study of survival skills should or can be replaced by ebooks. However, an entire survival library of information at your fingertips just may be the one survival tool in your Bug Out Bag that saves your life.